60 http://www.empireonline.com/empireblog/ Rants, raves and randomness from the Empire office 12/02/2012 21:27:29 james@empireonline.com (James Dyer) http://www.empireonline.com/empireblogs/under-the-radar/post/p1193 Mark Duplass continues to be a Sundance fixture, this year starring in two very unlikely romantic comedies. The first, Lynn Shelton's Your Sister's Sister, is technically a Toronto movie, since it premiered there, and, although I en... http://www.empireonline.com1193 http://www.empireonline.com/empireblogs/empire-states/post/p1192 Jamie Benning is an outstanding human being. The man behind the fan-made video commentaries for the original Star Wars trilogy - 'Star Wars Begins', 'Building Empire' and 'Returning To Jedi' - he's poured hours, days, weeks, months into collating and cutting together videos that illuminate and educate would-be Jedi knights about the ways of The Force. Well, the ways of the people who made A New Hope, Empire and Jedi, anyway. Benning returns with another fantastic 'filumentary' in the form of 'Raiding The Lost Ark', doing the same thing for - you guessed it - Raiders Of The Lost Ark. As he explains in his exclusive blog below, the task was nowhere near as easy as it was for Star Wars, requ... http://www.empireonline.com1192 http://www.empireonline.com/empireblogs/empire-states/post/p1191 As a blog about movie tie-in toys and the spoilers they reveal, the following images will contain details you may not want to hear about just yet. So consider the spoiler horn firmly sounded. *Honk*. ... http://www.empireonline.com1191 http://www.empireonline.com/empireblogs/under-the-radar/post/p1190 By chance, one particular day brought together two very different movies on the theme of inebriation. The first, Smashed, is the sort of movie that often screens at Sundance, starring an actress better known for more glamorous roles in a part that requires a lot of crying and looking ugly. In the past we've had the likes of Sherrybaby (Maggie Gyllenhaal, good) and Come Early Morning (Ashley Judd, not so good), so I was perhaps a little cynical when I read that Mary Elizabeth Winstead was now giving the whole serious thing a go, with a starring role in a film about a woman wrestling with sobriety. It is, for certain, not the most lavish film to screen at the festival, and wait-line gossip suggested that it had been readied in superfast time since shooting as late as October last year. But for all that, it's a well-written and nicely observed comedy-drama, with a really good central performance that will hopefully win Winstead some better roles in the new year.She plays... http://www.empireonline.com1190 http://www.empireonline.com/empireblogs/under-the-radar/post/p1189 Beasts Of The Southern Wild, by Benh Zeitlin, was an amazing discovery, a film that certainly swelled to fit the confines of Park City but may struggle when it crosses into the wider market. Fox Searchlight picked it up, which was certainly brave of them, since it's not likely even to make a fraction of the figures that The Tree Of Life did for them. Terrence Malick is in some way a good starting point here, since its fractured voiceover and opening, montage-like scenes of an anarchic rural idyll in some ways recall his 1978 film Days Of Heaven. But that film is like Citizen Kane in comparison; where Malick's film saw a very complicated story from a rather simple girl's point of view, Beasts Of the Southern Wild shows a much younger girl wrestling with her immediate circumstances in the aftermath of a huge and devastating Katrina-like weather event.It promises to be a slice of fashionable poverty-row rural porn, more in the vein of Le Quattro Volte than Winter's B... http://www.empireonline.com1189 http://www.empireonline.com/empireblogs/under-the-radar/post/p1188 With its strangely chipper demeanour and wry view of the near future, Jake Schreier's Robot And Frank plays a little bit like a throwback Disney TV movie, from the days when the studio made oddball curios like The Computer Wore Tennis Shoes. It stars Frank Langella as Frank, a man of retirement age who is starting to lose his marbles, much to his family's dismay. Frank doesn't see what all the fuss is about; his memory may be fading but his instincts are still sharp – when he shoplifts, it's deliberate, not an act of befuddlement – so he is outraged when his son (James Marsden) presents him with an an android careworker. The robot, who never gets a name (and is voiced by Peter Sarsgaard), tries to set a daily regime for Frank, but Frank has other ideas. Frank, we soon learn, is a former cat burglar, and in the guileless robot he sees t... http://www.empireonline.com1188 http://www.empireonline.com/empireblogs/under-the-radar/post/p1187 Watching I Am Not A Hipster, screening as part of the Next strand, I came to realise that neither am I. Although Destin Cretton's film was well-made and performed, I found it hard to relate to the central character, Brook Hyde (Dominic Bogart) an indie musician who returns to his San Diego roots after the death of his mother and the minor success of his debut album. Hyde is a talented but cynical multi-instrumentalist who finds himself sickened by the shallowness of the world that worships him, populated mainly by men with pencil moustaches, skinny jeans, woofly hair and black-rimmed Real-D nerd glasses. Hyde's plight isn't so sympathetic to anyone who already finds the hipster scene beyond parody, but for those open to Hyde's surprisingly unselfconsious music, of which there is a lot, this is a sweet, offbeat comedy that will surely find underground favour.Cult status certainly beckon... http://www.empireonline.com1187 http://www.empireonline.com/empireblogs/empire-states/post/p1186 There's been a bit of back-and-forth online over the last couple of days about whether or not The Adventures Of Tintin qualifies as animation. It appeared on the BAFTA nominations list in the Animated category, but was absent from the Oscar list* so we can't be sure whether it qualified there or not, or simply didn't win the votes. So is the entirely-performance-captured film real animation? Do we need to redefine our categories? What's going on?Here's my position so far: I am inclined to think The Adventures Of Tintin is animation. At the same time, I'm OK with calling Avatar live-action - but no less an authority than animation guru Andrew Osmond, occasionally of this parish, would call that an animated film as well. Why do I consider one animation and not the other? Well, I'm not sure I can entirely justify it but let's give it a go.Those who consider Tintin live-action do so on the basis tha... http://www.empireonline.com1186 http://www.empireonline.com/empireblogs/under-the-radar/post/p1185 The Raid isn't technically a Sundance movie,since it premiered last autumn in Toronto, but it certainly found the right audience here. As Chris Hewitt reveals in the current issue of Empire, it is a powerhouse of an action thriller: brutal, super-violent and, despite an ominous 100-minute running time, a surprisingly fast-paced thriller that never drags. The director is Gareth Evans, an Indonesia-based Welshman, and the most thrilling aspect of The Raid is not how stunningly it captures its Asian fight-movie set-pieces but just how beautifully it sites them in a grindhouse context. Which means that just as it recalls such 70s cult items as Streetfighter and Enter The Dragon, it also captures the early pulp-indie spirit of George Romero and John Carpenter. Indeed, The Raid not only gives the latter a run for his money, thanks a neat midway twist it also combines Assault On Precinct 13 and Escape From New York into one breathless two-for-one bloodbath.T... http://www.empireonline.com1185 http://www.empireonline.com/empireblogs/under-the-radar/post/p1184 Sundance 2012 began with a rare audience at the Bing Bar on Main Street with the man himself, Mr Robert Redford, true Hollywood superstar, festival founder and self-confessed documentary nut. Though something of a will o' the wisp at Sundance, Redford still definitely has a firm grasp on the event, which he took pains to explain is simply one aspect of the Sundance Institute. Much of his work in Park City, he explained, takes place behind the scenes, notably at a filmmakers lunch on the opening weekend, at which he gets to meet the filmmakers and discuss their movies. Far from being a Meet The Queen kind of thing, it's a chance for Redford to share his own experiences – which, he told me, aren't quite so removed from the trials and tribulations of the average independent director. He said, “I tell them, 'You don't know me, but, believe me, when I started to make films, I went though a lot of what you'r... http://www.empireonline.com1184 http://www.empireonline.com/empireblogs/empire-states/post/p1182 As we've done in years gone by, here are two Empire staffers discussing this morning's BAFTA nominations. This is just to get the discussion going: add your own comments below!Helen: Well, here are the BAFTA nominations for another year. It’s like another Christmas for film fans, albeit one with slightly underwhelming presents and that sick and guilty sensation that you get after eating too many chocolate coins. The Artist is out in front – which I’m OK with – followed by Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy (benefitting from British double-dipping; it’s eligible for more categories). Let’s start with what’s here a... http://www.empireonline.com1182 http://www.empireonline.com/empireblogs/small-screen/post/p1183 It returned to our screens a mere three weeks ago, but that’s it for season two of the Beeb’s utterly-brilliant Sherlock. Mirroring the superlative first season, the second began with a dizzying, Moffat-written opener, dipped slightly in the middle with a self-contained mystery and finished with a tantalising, event-packed finale which will have us formulating theories in our mental palaces until next year. Although for all the high-functioning sociopaths reading the following should be obvious, it goes without saying that this article will contain spoilers…Admittedly, I was a tad anxious regarding this one since writer Steve Thompson was responsible for last season’s weakest instalment and a duff recent episode of Doctor Who (Curse Of The Black Spot, more commonly known as ‘the Pirate one’) – but he really pulled it out the bag here. Whilst Moffat’s Irene Adler-focussed opening was an ingenious, frequently-dazzling Russian doll of plots-within-des... http://www.empireonline.com1183 http://www.empireonline.com/empireblogs/off-the-wire/post/p1181 So that was the Golden Globes 2012, then. Frankly, the experience of watching this year’s event was less one of blogging, more one of slogging. Though everyone was wondering what wacky, insulting antics Ricky Gervais would get up to as host this year, it would appear that the Hollywood Foreign Press had actually found a way to insert a tiny poison bomb into Gervais’ leg, which they’d threatened to detonate if he strayed too far from the bounds of his cheeky chirpy, smug-for-pay persona. So we were treated to far fewer cracks at the expense of celebrities, and seemingly more at his bosses and NBC, the American network the show was on: "Tonight you get Britain's biggest comedian hosting the world's second biggest awards show on America's third biggest network. Sorry, it's fourth. For any of you don't know, the Golden Globes are just like the Oscars, but without all that esteem." And comparing the ceremonies again: "The Golden Globes are to the Oscars what Kim Kardash... http://www.empireonline.com1181 http://www.empireonline.com/empireblogs/small-screen/post/p1180 So last week I thoroughly enjoyed the marvellous season two opener of Sherlock, which welcomed the Beeb’s modern day story of Arthur Conan Doyle’s legendary sleuth back to our screens with assurance. Like the first season’s opening instalment, it was penned by co-creator Steven Moffat and offered a frequently-breathless plate-spinning act of knotty plotting, dazzling dialogue and Watson-impressing deductions. Admittedly, there were one or two niggles (as Ali Plumb pointed our in his well-reasoned blog piece), but on the whole it was sufficiently superior viewing to result in many critics and industry bods gushing with enthusiastic praise via Twitter and elsewhere.The problem was, as I sat there afterwards trying to collate my thoughts and play mental catch-up, I began to anticipate what lay ah... http://www.empireonline.com1180 http://www.empireonline.com/empireblogs/empire-states/post/p1179 I awaited the debut of Eternal Law on ITV last week with some glee. It's a show about barristers who are also angels, and from the adverts I hoped for some massive legal clangers of the sort one used to see on Judge John Deeds. When the first episode failed to deliver anything completely outrageous* (beyond the obvious concept of barristers as angels), I got to thinking about which professions are most victimised by TV and film, their jobs distorted out of all recognition by the screen. I think I'm going to need input from our readers, especially those with first-hand knowledge, to really get to the bottom of this, but let's consider a few case studies first.First of all, the law. I qualified as a barrister before chucking it all in to become a penniless journalist, so this one's closest to my heart and easiest to judge. Speaking of judging, there's the aforementioned Judge John Deeds, which saw a member of the judiciary interview witnesses while sitting on a jury, and regu... http://www.empireonline.com1179 http://www.empireonline.com/empireblogs/empire-states/post/p1178 Let’s get the uncontroversial out of the way first: Meryl Streep is utterly brilliant in The Iron Lady. Not only does she utterly convince as the Margaret Thatcher the world was all familiar with as PM, but she also convinces as an old lady facing the disappearance of her world. The problem is more with the film: it feels like the wrong film, at the wrong time, about the wrong woman. And it left me quite seriously conflicted and more than a little angry. Since I can’t afford therapy on an Empire salary, let’s discuss those feelings here.Full disclosure: I don’t like Maggie Thatcher. Like many people who remember her time in power, and anyone with a left-leaning bone in their body, I find her politics obnoxious and her policies destructive (we’re still feeling the effects of initiatives started under her reign). It’s interesting that, on the few occasions in this film where she actually articulates a specific policy, the result is black,... http://www.empireonline.com1178 http://www.empireonline.com/empireblogs/small-screen/post/p1176 Back at uni, I studied the Sherlock Holmes stories as part of a module on Crime Literature. Raffles The Gentleman Thief was also on the reading list, as were Father Brown, Lord Peter Wimsey, Poirot and Miss Marple. If you consider yourself a Sherlock fan, I heartily recommend them all, especially Lord Peter Wimsey. Start with The Nine Tailors, you won’t regret it. I'm not calling myself an expert here – far from it – but I mention all this because although I’ve studied Conan Doyle's work, I don’t think of myself as a Holmes purist, and I genuinely enjoy the new Guy Ritchie films and the Moffat / Gatiss TV shows. This includes the latest episode, A Scandal In Belgravia, which despite the problems I mention below, I genuinely did enjoy. But after looking forward to seeing Benedict Cumberbatch and Martin Freeman return for so long, I can’t help but feel slightly disappointed – even t... http://www.empireonline.com1176 http://www.empireonline.com/empireblogs/small-screen/post/p1177 Even though Guy Ritchie’s Sherlock Holmes sequel A Game Of Shadows has been receiving positive-enough word of mouth, for many of us the real return of literature’s most iconic sleuth was always going to be the second season of Sherlock. Co-created by Steven Moffat and Mark Gatiss, it was an intelligent, playful and brilliantly-written take on Arthur Conan Doyle’s short stories which seamlessly transplanted the high-functioning consulting detective from the Victorian era to the modern day. Although the middle instalment was comparatively average, the opening episode (penned by Moffat) of the three-part first season was sparkling, top-class television and the finale was a dizzying, often-dazzling affair which left us begging for more.Picking up exactly where we left off – a tense stand-off between Holmes, Watson and Andrew Scott’s brilliantly-impish ‘Jim’ Moriarty – the Moffat-written season opener was a confident, fun and head-spinningly twisty return... http://www.empireonline.com1177 http://www.empireonline.com/empireblogs/empire-states/post/p1175 There’s a reason why, even now, Macs refuse to come with Blu-ray drives. It’s not (just) because the late Steve Jobs wanted you to download HD films off iTunes but because the visionary technologist believed that physical media was in the midst of its death throes. Whether he was overstating the matter or not, the rise of digital media and the emergence on these shores of UltraViolet (the studios’ downloadable answer to DVD) certainly mean that digital copies of movies are increasing their foothold in the home entertainment market. The problem is that for most people it’s hard to know how to make the most of it all. Broadly speaking there are three principle methods of enjoying digital media in your home. The first is to stream directly off the Internet via services such as Netflix or LoveFilm. The Second is to stream your own media files across your home network (which we’ll cover in some depth in an upcoming article). The Third, and arguably the simplest, is to stor... http://www.empireonline.com1175 http://www.empireonline.com/empireblogs/empire-states/post/p1174 Today we saw the first trailer for GI Joe 2: Retaliation, and it looks like it's another case where The Rock, added to an existing but slightly limp franchise, reinvigorates said franchise and makes us all love it again. He already did it with The monumental (emphasis on "mental") Fast Five, and now he's doing the double. But which other franchises could benefit from the unique input of the Team Bring It captain? We consider a few options. Step Up 5: To The RingWe're assuming it's too late to insert The Rock into Step Up 4, but in any case the fifth instalment seems an auspicious spot for him given Fast Five's success. We've seen street dance meeting ballet, and meeting 3D, and meeting all sorts of world dance and even the semi-martial art capoeira, but you know what they haven't crossed it with? Wrestling. That's where His Rockness comes in. He would teach the undoubtedly-obscure stars of the film his wrestling moves to combine with their dance moves for so... http://www.empireonline.com1174