Most anticipated film of 2012

This may show my geeky inner self, but here is one of the films I am most excited about in 2012…it is the Spiderman Reboot!.

Reboots are often found in the comic book industry with new artists and writers taking on the old material in a new way for a new generation of readers. In fact comic power house DC, who are behind household favourites like Superman and Batman, have recently started their franchise again at Issue 1 in a bid to bring in new readers. So it is no surprise that Marvel, in this economic climate where safe bets are the new game plan, have decided to reboot their most popular and financially profitable franchise: Spiderman.

The reboot brings in a talented cast to help it stand out. Peter Parker is played by Andrew Garfield who impressed both Hollywood and audiences last year with his portrayal of Eduardo in The Social Network. Opposite him will be the hot young star Emma Stone who has gone back to her natural blonde roots to play Gwen Stacey. Gwen only had a short appearance in the last movie franchise, but fans will know she plays an essential part in the origin story of Spiderman; Stone will make Gwen a stronger character than your average damsel in distress (sorry Natalie, but we all know Thor could have been done without you). Supporting these two will be Rhys Ifans who plays Dr Conners and his slightly less human alter ego The Lizard, and Sally Field who plays Aunt May and has had experience with super hero offspring having played Martha Kent in the 90’s TV show The New Adventures of Superman.

This cast make it seem as if this reboot may in fact be good, add to it the chance that some of the roof top swinging may be filmed in 3D and people should get excited. However, it is hard to know who the target audience is. Fans who have already seen the Tobey Maguire version have formed their opinions on the wall crawler’s movie credibility, whilst new viewers may stay away from a franchise that has needed to be rebooted less than ten years after the original was released.

It may be that both fans and new audiences give the film a shot due to its likable and talented cast and if this is the case it could be a gold mine for Marvel; if people’s scepticism of reboots triumphs, however, this could prove a major blunder for the studio.

 

Mark Romanek

Mark Romanek is a polite soft spoken man from Chicago and is probably a name many of you won’t recognise. At the moment he only has three films to his name: ‘Static’ with Keith Gordan; ‘One Hour Photo’ starring a dark and twisted Robin Williams; and recent release ‘Never Let Me Go’ with young actors Carey Mulligan, Keira Knightley and Andrew Garfield. However, many readers might be familiar with Romanek’s music video history. He has got to work with some of the greatest artists of a generation including Iggy Pop (Beside You), Madonna (Rain) and Jonny Cash (Hurt) to name just a few;  of course his most famous music video is ‘Scream’ with Michael and Janet Jackson, which the Guinness Book of World Records has as the most expensive music video ever made. Strangely Romanek is not happy with this achievement and constantly protests that he doesn’t like ‘…being known as the guy who makes all the big budget things…’, and that in fact the ‘Scream’ video has been incorrectly labelled by Guinness and it is in fact not the most expensive music video of all time, ‘Michael Jackson’s ‘’Black and White’’ was $10 million (while ‘Scream’ was $7 million) and there  is a Guns n Roses video as well for the same amount. I am waiting for one of these interviews to get back to the Guinness people so they can correct it.’ No, Romanek brought up on avant  garde and independent film makers such as John Cassavetes, is much more proud of his less expensive projects ‘I did a music video for Beck of about $200,000 and it is one of the best things I have ever done.’

After about ten years in the music industry that were ‘a lot of fun’ Romanek had developed enough of a reputation to get on the radar of the studios and get into making films which as a self confessed ‘film brat’ was his true calling. He may only have a few films under his belt, but it is clear from the way that he talks about them that he holds a soft spot for each one. His first major production was ‘One Hour Photo’, which was released in 2002 and starred Robin Williams as mini-lab photo technician who becomes obsessed with the Yorkin family whose pictures he prints for over ten years.  The film got overall positive reviews and demonstrated a darker side to Williams that the audience had not seen much of before. Of course Romanek, who comes across as tirelessly modest, takes no credit for William’s transformation in the film ‘[Williams] felt a really deep connection with the character and understood him intimately’.

Romanek’s new release certainly has a lot to live up to and has been gaining a steady amount of buzz around it since its first premiere back in the summer of 2010. Adapting an emotional story like Kazuro Ishiguro’s ‘Never Let Me Go’ for the silver screen is a risky move since many people will have strong opinions about what is left in and what is taken out (just look at all the arguments on those Harry Potter film forums), but Romanek doesn’t seem intimidated by any of this. ‘Alex Garland did a great job with the adaptation…I wept at the end of the script like I did at the end of the book, so he successfully transferred the emotional mechanism of it.’ Romanek certainly has a lot to be confident about because not only did he have a great screenwriter involved (Garland has wrote the novel ‘The Beach’ and also the screenplay for films like ‘Sunshine’ and ’28 Days Later’), but Ishiguro himself was on board to help out ‘[Ishiguro] visited the set once or twice and always thought he would just be in the way, but it was a tremendous moral boost…’ The author even gave the film the ultimate praise by having tears in his eyes when he saw the final product. For Romanek this was a huge relief as ‘it would have been horrible if he had hated it.’

As well as a strong team working on the script, Romanek was fortunate enough to get an equally strong cast in front of the camera. Andrew Garfield, who has quickly come to the public eye thanks to being in ‘The Social Network’ and also being cast as the new Spiderman, was Romanek’s first choice to play Tommy, ‘I wanted Andrew because I saw his performance in ‘Boy A’ ,which was astonishing, but not widely seen, which is a shame’. They also had Keira Knightley‘s agent approach them for the part of Ruth and that just left the part of Kathy to be filled.

‘We were having trouble finding a Kathy because we just couldn’t get the right person and at the time we knew about Carey, but she couldn’t get a film financed with her as the lead. But then the head of the studio at the time saw the world premiere of ‘An Education’ at Sundance and sent a text to all of us saying ‘’Hire the genius Mulligan’’’

Carey Mulligan was then cast as Kathy and ended up giving one of the strongest performances of the film.

All these factors make Romanek sure that his film will be well received here in Britain ‘…we have screened the film and it seemed like British audiences were deeply moved by it, even though British people don’t like to admit when they are moved by something.‘ In fact at the time of the interview, Romanek was more nervous about the speech he had to give when the film opened the London Film Festival than how the film will be received ‘I have to get up and speak in front of 2,000 people, my friends and family are there. I have my little spiel but it is still terrifying. Public speaking is the scariest thing-people are more afraid of it than death, which means they would rather die than give their own eulogy.’

 

 

The Social Network

First off this ‘The Social Network’ is as much about Facebook as ‘The Queen’ was about the death of Princess Diana; it really isn’t about it at all. Instead the film looks at the relationships and dynamics of the key players and what happened between them while Facebook was founded; anyone who doesn’t have a Facebook page (do such people still exist?!) can still enjoy it without feeling they are missing a crucial bit of information. This comes as no surprise when you see that the writer is Aaron Sorkin who made ‘The West Wing’ watchable for those who are not interested in American politics. With ‘The Social Network’ he has made a film that doesn’t require a degree in computer science to understand, and has also managed to capture the thoughts and feelings of a very recent part of history which Hollywood is usually very slow at picking up on.

Adapted from Ben Mezrich’s non-fiction book ‘The Accidental Billionaires’ the film moves along three different time lines. Zuckerberg is in the middle of two different, simultaneous lawsuits, one by the Winklevoss twins and their business partner Divya Narendra, and the other by his best friend and former CFO Eduardo Saverin. During the discussions around these lawsuits the story of Facebook’s founding comes out. It all starts off in Harvard 2003 where Mark Zuckerberg is unhappy with his present social standing, and wants to become part of elitist society by being a member of a Final club (think Oxford’s Bullingdon Club or Yale’s Skull and Bones). He gets the attention of club members Tyler and Cameron Winklevoss after his site ‘FaceMash’ crashes the Harvard servers, and they ask him to write the code for a social website exclusive to Harvard students. Zuckerberg takes this idea and turns it into Facebook; from there the film follows what happens next, from the website expanding to a few schools all the way to it reaching 1 million members. Between all this the film mainly concentrates on the relationships surrounding Zuckerberg and how he pulls people in and pushes them away.

The film for me was made by the great characters who are all very well developed and layered, but also don’t fit with the usual film dynamic; the ones you end up rooting for are not necessarily the ones you expected when you walked into the cinema. The stand out performance was easily Jesse Eisenberg who delivers Sorkin’s zingy dialogue expertly and shows a very complex picture of Zuckerberg. It would have been too easy to demonise the Facebook founder since a lot of what he is portrayed as doing was sneaky and underhanded., however Eisenberg manages to show enough of a weak side to make him relatable. There is a very cold, logical, calculating side to him and this side is what made him a genius, but there is also a side that is incredibly insecure and human. For instance I have found out since watching the film that the reason Facebook is predominatly blue is because Mark Zuckerberg is colour blind and blue is the most obvious and clearest colour he sees.  He just desperately wants to be cool, popular and recognised, as he believes that is the gateway to a better life, but does not have the social tact to do so. He is clever, there is no doubt about that, but he can’t seem to properly connect with other people, at least not in the conventional way, so he created a medium he would be able to do it in. The greatest irony is even when he has all the success, is the world youngest billionaire and is recognised by millions of people he still can’t be the life of the party or connect with those who matter to him and this makes an ultimately tragic character.

The true victim of the story, at least it seems from the film, is Zuckerberg’s friend and CFO Eduardo Saverin, who stuck with him through everything, but was forced out of the company when his shares were diluted a thousand fold. It will always be a complete mystery to me why a guy as caring and compassionate as Eduardo would be around someone as self centred as Zuckerberg could be. Andrew Garfield plays the part fantastically well and allows the audience to sympathise with him as he gets slowly pushed aside without forcing it on us. These sympathetic feelings cannot be placed on the other major male lead that is Justin Timberlake’s Sean Parker. Parker is the co-founder of Napster and Timberlake portrays him as cool, swathe and enticing, but he is ultimately the antagonist of the film. He manipulates and blinds Zuckerberg and never accepts responsibility for the damage he causes and the rift he creates between Mark and Eduardo.  The most surprising characters for me turned out to be the Winklevoss twins. Both played by Armie Hammer, at least one was Armie Hammer and the other one was Hammer’s head digitally placed on another’s body, these twins seem to have it all; looks, money, brains (they are in Harvard after all) and a sporting career that saw them in the Olympics and more recently row for Oxford in the Oxford Vs Cambridge boat race. However given all this they come across as likable because in the end they are also victims of Zuckerberg. They came up with a similar idea and approached Zuckerberg with it and he then stole the idea. Originally the twins did little to stop him as they saw themselves as gentlemen and above any rumour spreading or cashing in, but as soon as the website went global they snapped and demanded they got the recognition they deserved. Their gentleman like behaviour redeems the two character in the audiences’ eyes and makes us root for them as much as we do Eduardo.

Not only are the characters and actors superb, but the entire film fits together beautifully and this all down to director David Fincher (Fight Club, Seven). All the cinematography, music and on site shots fit perfectly together to give the film a sense of grandeur, which it rightly deserves since it is the origin story of something that has changed and defined a generation. With the help of Aaron Sorkins’ script the film does have some hi-tech jargon, but this is only used to demonstrate the characters’ knowledge and expertise and is easy to follow. The multiple time lines also fit really well together and don’t become skewed or hard to follow as can often happen. Neither of these two men have Facebook accounts or any interest in Facebook so they were able to create a film that did not concentrate too heavily on the subject matter itself, but more on the websites effect on people and on a generation. It is strange to think of a world without Facebook, but it is in fact a world that we have all lived in. Stranger still is going on Facebook after you know all the blood, sweat and tears that went into making it.

Degree: 1^st

A fascinating insight into the lives and tribulations of three geeks as they

revolutionise 21^st century communication. The only thing missing is

the real Mark Zuckerberg’s reaction.

(If you are confused about the rating system please click on the ‘About This Blog Page’ which will explain it all)

You Have 2 New Friend Requests

Social networking has revolutionized the way we live and altered communication, advertising and most recently the law. So it comes as not surprise that the experience and dangers of social cyberspace have been made into a film; 2 in fact. There is ‘The Social Network’ which I have already mentioned and there is also ‘Catfish’, which looks at the darker side of it all.

Catfish is a fly on the wall documentary about  New York photographer Nev Schulman who pursues an online relationship with Megan Pierce who he meets after her half sister Abbey sends him a picture of one of his photos. We are shown, through the perspective of Nev’s friends, how the relationship grows as they start to text, call and email each other constantly. But with a the title of the film meaning ‘ a person who pretends to be someone they are not using online social networks’ we know it won’t be ending well. In fact the ending has been described by ‘JoBlo.com’ as ‘an emotional roller-coaster ride that you won’t be able to shake for days’, while the Financial Times said the film was ‘ the best Hitchcock film that Hitchcock never directed’. With such great recommendations it is a shame that UK viewers will likely never get to watch it, but I would love to hear from an American readers what the film is like. It will be released state side on 17th September 2010.

Luckily for UK audiences we will get to watch ‘The Social Network’ which will be out in the UK 15th October 2010. However, until then here is a sneak preview of some of the film’s scenes.

The Social Network

It’s Facebook the Movie! Jesse Eisenberg, Andrew Garfiled and Justin Timberlake star as the feuding geeks behind the phenomenon that has changed a generation, revolutionised communication and made sure the Internet isn’t just for porn. Gone With the Wind it isn’t but the trailer certainly makes it look epic. ‘Like’. The movie will be out 15th October 2010.

Never Let Me Go

The film is based on the highly acclaimed novel ‘Never Let Me Go’ by Kuzuo Ishiguro and is set in the english countryside, at a boarding school called  Hailsham. The children at the school are called ‘special’ and kept on a very strict routine. They are given all the food they need, clothes to wear and friends to play with, but they are forbidden to leave the grounds. This all strangely changes when they reach 18 and have given their ‘3rd donation’. This baffling ritual, as well as the feel that the kids are being bred for something, shows the film has more to it than originally meets the eye. The film has gotten great reviews from critics at many film festivals, including the one in Toronto.

The three central characters are Tommy, Ruth and Kathy who are played by Andrew Garfield, Kiera Knightley and Carey Mulligan. It is exciting to see the love triangle that will form between them and also to witness the rising of two new stars. Both Mulligan and Garfield have shown their acting talents in previous films and I can’t wait to see them sink their teeth into these ones. Is also great to see Knightley  doing what I think really shows off her talent by taking part in a gritty drama, such as she did in ‘Atonement’ and ‘The Hole’.  I am greatly anticipating the release of this film in January 2011.

Here is an extra feature; an interview with Keira Knightley on her character Ruth and her dynamic within the film.