Surrounded by Plebeians Film4 Frightfest 13th Coverage

It is now just less than one week away from Film4's annual London based horror film festival Frightfest. This is the 13th year of what has become the biggest horror festival in the UK, but this will be my first time in attendance. To be honest I had hardly heard of Frightfest (let alone given any thought to going to it) before this year, but I was unquestionably convinced I had to go soon after discovering it would be playing the UK premiere of a film which I have been waiting to see now for quite a long while.

That film is Nightbreed: The Cabal Cut. Yes, my most anticipated film I'm going to see at a film festival is indeed a redux of a 1990 commercial and critical flop. It's not really that film at all though, as this is the years in creation extended cut of the film more in line with director Clive Barker's original vision for the film. Barker has long been one of my favourite horror maestro's (I'm a huge fan of the Hellraiser mythos) however due to the rarity of Nightbreed (particularly in the UK where it has never seen a DVD release) I've never gotten round to watching it. The film has had a troubled but interesting history involving horrific studio cuts, years of long thought lost footage, and an abandonment of the finished film by both the studio and Barker himself upon its original theatrical release. In recent years however fans of Barker's, and Barker himself have worked tirelessly to resurrect the film, find the lost footage and piece it back together so that the film may be released and seen in the manner it was originally intended. Now in 2012 this complete 3hour redux is being shown across a limited number of cinemas in hopes that the buzz will persuade distributor Morgan Creek to give the film a full remaster on Blu Ray - something that is looking ever more likely as each showing passes. Up until now the film has been shown only across the pond, but next week the UK will get it's first ever showing of the film at Frightfest and I couldn't be more excited to be amongst the audience.

Strangely enough my second most anticipated film is yet another film dug up from the archives, this time James Whale's masterpiece The Bride of Frankenstein. I've always enjoyed the old, Gothic charm of the 1930's Universal Studios horror films and I've been waiting for their Blu Ray remasters for as long as I've owned a Blu Ray player. A collection of the studios finest is about to hit streets in October, but in the mean time we have the new remaster of Bride of Frankenstein showing at Frightfest. I had the pleasure of seeing Frankenstein on the big screen a couple of years ago, so I'm really looking forward to being able to say I've seen the sequel too.

As for new films I've tried to go in with as little knowledge about them as possible, having watched very few trailers, so that hopefully I can be pleasantly surprised by a few of the films. The buzz surrounding a couple of the films however has me very excited, mostly Berberian Sound Studio which seems like a unique little claustrophobic picture, and V/H/S which despite getting mixed reviews overseas has developed a bit of a cult fanbase already. Also, let's not forget Rec 3: Genesis, which again has received mixed reviews, but I saw the first two films in the series a couple of nights ago and was utterly blown away.

Unfortunately due to work I'm unable to make the final day of the festival, so I'll miss out on films like American Mary and The Possession, which although I'm rather disappointed about, cannot be helped. During the festival I'll be posting tidbits and mini-reviews on my Twitter account, and in the week following I'll post full reviews and longer articles about the festival here on the blog.

Review: Batman Begins (2005, Dir.Christopher Nolan)

In 2005 fans of Batman living in a post Batman & Robin world really had no idea what was in store for them prior to watching Batman Begins - the first film in what would become the definitive trilogy of Batman films directed by a then relatively unknown Christopher Nolan who at the time was best known for his cult amnesiac thriller mind bender Memento.

Prior to Warner's decision to reboot the franchise in this new dark, gritty and realistic way the plan had been for a fifth movie in the Burton/Schumacher series, again directed by Joel Schumacher, with Clooney set to return as Batman. The film would once again feature a number of villains including Man-Bat, Mad Hatter, Harley Quinn and the Scarecrow who would cause Batman to hallucinate seeing the Joker in a much anticipated return for Jack Nicholson. After the monumental critical and audience backlash from Batman & Robin however the studio dropped the project and looked for a new direction to push the franchise. After toying with a Batman Beyond film (based on the TV series in which a future Batman has taken the mantle from an aging Bruce Wayne) and an ultra realistic take on Batman directed by an early in his career Darren Aronofsky (who wanted Clint Eastwood to don the batsuit) the studio finally settled on Christopher Nolan directing a loosely adapted version of the much lauded origin comic book Batman: Year One by Frank Miller.

You'd think that after the debacle of Batman & Robin any actors worth their salt wouldn't touch a Batman film with a barge pole, however a cracking cast soon assembled who obviously believed in the script and vision of the film which helped add a lot of credibility leading up to its release. Admittedly however, thinking back the hype for the film wasn't really all that big before the reviews started rolling in. The film looked slow and was a stark contrast to the colourful Batman the public was accustomed to seeing at the time. It grossed a moderate amount at the Box Office but nothing compared to its sequels.

Anyway, as the titles implies its an origin story starting the tale of Batman afresh, however where the previous series merely touched on Bruce Wayne's childhood and subsequent maturation into becoming the Batman this film's purpose is to establish the forces and events which led Bruce Wayne to become the saviour of Gotham, explaining everything from his martial arts training, to the reasoning behind the choice of his bat based persona. For the first time on the big screen Batman/Bruce Wayne (played perfectly by Christian Bale who puts his trademark intensity to great use in the trilogy) becomes the star of the show instead of his gallery of villains who take an influential but more reserved role in this film. Interestingly for the first time also Bruce/Batman's gallery of allies play a large role in the story, every bit as much as the villains. This makes sense though as they are there throughout the trilogy and grow along with Bruce Wayne, but perhaps their most important role is to add credence to the Bruce here being an ultra-determined but altogether "normal" man as opposed to being the psychopath loner that Burton was so interested in depicting the character as in his films.

Nolan's finest achievement in the saga though is his characterization of Gotham City. Throughout all three films he continually builds upon the layers of the city - from the criminal fraternity run by the mobsters and gang bosses operating in the slums, to the rich, oblivious and often easily corruptible people who reign supreme over the upper city, as well as the outside forces manipulating the populace. The way the characters influence and attempt to control not just the other characters but the city itself gives Gotham it's own identity and it's parallels with American history compliments well the air of realism the city exudes from it's pseudo-Chicago architecture shot in beautiful warm orange hues by Nolan's long time collaborating director of photography Wally Pfister. Not only does it give the film a distinct look, but it invokes a pulpy neo-noir style which fits in well with the heavy emphasis on Gotham's criminal syndicates and gangsters which seem more at home in a 40's detective film than the kind of outlandish villains you'd expect to see in a superhero film.

The Dark Knight is consistently credited as having set the bar for the superhero film genre, but Batman Begins laid down the foundations. I'm a firm believer in the idea that not every superhero story needs to have an origin film, but anybody would be hard pressed to argue against Begins as being not only a great film in it's own right, but a marvellous introduction to Christopher Nolan's vision, without which the succeeding two films would have far less weight.

My Notes on Bringing He-Man and the Masters of the Universe to the Big Screen

This week came the news that finally a new version of He-Man and the Masters of the Universe was back on track towards getting a live action feature film helmed by Jon Chu, director of the upcoming G.I. Joe Retaliation. With that franchise and the Transformers movies churning out box office hits and with a Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles reboot on the way from Michael Bay's production company Platinum Dunes it was inevitable that the other big 80's Saturday morning cartoons would be adapted before long. The two remaining ones which immediately come to mind from my youth are Thundercats - which has just aired a new anime style TV series which I have yet to see, but which appears to have been cancelled after just 1 season - and He-Man, the story of... well I'll just let the opening theme tell you-

As a child He-Man was a perennial favourite of mine so naturally the thought of a re-emergance of the franchise give me both nostalgic excitement and a bout of terrible nervousness. I thought the first live action Transformers was an interesting enough adaptation, but both sequels are absolutely horrible. G.I.Joe: The Rise of Cobra was just too far separated from its roots to really excite me, thought the trailer for its sequel looks at least a marginal improvement. In both instances I've found the emphasis on putting the characters in dark, realistic situations to be their downfall and the story and mythology behind the series' comes second to visual effects and painful attempts at humor. I still often get the urge to watch both the Transformers and G.I. Joe animated films on a regular basis, but never their live action counterparts, because frankly they're better in ever conceivable way.

Of-course MOTU itself had its own live action film long before Transformers and G.I.Joe, and even the original series of live-action TMNT films. Though the film is oft forgotten for good reasons I honestly find it to be enjoyable in a cheesy, campy way so long as I don't think of it too much as being a He-Man film (but then again I have a soft spot for trashy un-ambitious sci-fi and horror). It has a lot of charm, something which cannot be said of the recent revivals of its fellow cartoons. The one area where everyone can agree it did hit the nail firmly on the head (or skull to be exact) would be in He-Man's arch nemesis Skeletor, played by screen legend Frank Langella who absolutely stole the show from a well cast but poorly written He-Man played by old Drago himself - Dolph Lundgren. I've always thought that the villains of these old cartoons' were the most important and interesting characters of all, and Skeletor here is every bit the bad-ass villain you want him to be - a stark contrast to the live action versions Megatron who is just another indistinguishable CG render, and Cobra Commander who got all of 2 seconds screentime. The final fight between Skeletor and He-Man sits in the same part of my memory as the Luke vs Vader vs Palpetine fight from Return of the Jedi (with which is shares a lot of parallels) as blowing my mind as a young boy.

It's hard to think of anyone who could top that performance off the top of my head however my personal choice would be Michael C Hall who seems to have the right facial structure at least, and would probably be an interesting contrast to Channing Tatum who seems to be the front-runner for the He-Man role, though I'm not sure he could muster the over the top evilness he would have to bring to the role. As a more "out-there" choice however I think Michael Keaton would be very interesting and could bring just the right mix of tongue-in-cheek sinisterness that's required. Being slightly older I think he'd also compliment well my choice for He-Man...

...Matthew McConaughey. The man can do no wrong at the moment and has the long hair and physique that are perfect for the character. The hair in particular I think would be difficult to pull off for most of the potential actors going up for the role, but I think it's an iconic part of the character and needs to be kept. His diversity as an actor too gives me confidence that he could pull of the duality of the character as the bumbling Prince Adam as well as He-Man.

As for the tone and story of the film I would simply say keep it simple. There's no need to get hung up on complicated origin and back stories or making it dark and gritty. I just don't think it would suit the material. Make it a simple story of goodies vs baddies in a fantasy world and make it as fun as possible. I really don't see the harm in making the target demographic children. Childrens films seem to be dominated by original Pixar and Dreamworks creations, but I don't see why you can't put a big, colourful, live action cartoon up there on the big screen. I guarantee fathers and sons would eat it up, especially if the big name stars where there to give the film some credibility.

Review: Batman & Robin (1997, Dir.Joel Schumacher)

Here we are- Batman and Robin, one of the most universally despised and frequently slammed films of all time. Though, believe it or not I prefer it to Batman Forever. Controversial I know, but if you care to stick around for just a minute I would like to try to convince you to see eye to eye with me on this one.

Joel Schumacher returns to the directors chair for the second time here, back with Akiva Goldsman on full time scripting duties and Elliot Goldenthal composing. Val Kilmer is replaced rather oddly by George Clooney who has very little to do to show off his talents, but Chris O'Donnell is back as Robin, and Michael Gough is back to play Alfred for (sadly) the last time. Interestingly Gough and Pat Hingle who plays the rather minor role of Commissioner Gordon are the one 2 actors to star in all 4 of the Burton/Schumacher Batman films. Rounding out the cast is top billing Arnold Schwarzenegger as the puntastic Mr.Freeze, Uma Thurman as femme fatale Poison Ivy, and Alicia Silverstone as the unnecessary Batgirl.

It's easy to look at Batman Forever and Batman & Robin and simply say that the latter film is everything its predecessor is only amplified to 11 (neon EVERYWHERE, a huge array of two dimensional characters, action figure fodder left, right and centre), though it actually has something Forever doesn't have -  a sense of continuity. Where Forever's turbulent development process had resulted in an off-balance, un-commited and focusless mess of a film Batman and Robin is fully devoted to its purpose for existence - to be as over the top, tongue in cheek and campy as possible - and whilst that perhaps is something nobody back in 1997 really wanted from a Batman film, now that we have Nolan's seminal trilogy it's actually a curious oddity of a film which isn't actually too unwatchable if you put yourself in the right mindset. You can see Christian Bale play a straight up broody and serious Bruce Wayne 3 times, this film has an Oscar winning actor surfing through the air dressed as Batman - roll with it.

Review: Batman Forever (1995, Dir.Joel Schumacher)

After Tim Burton's (let's just say) overly auteuristic take on the legends of the caped crusader in Batman Returns didn't fuel the kind of box office numbers and merchandising opportunities that Warner Bros would have obviously wanted, it was inevitable that the studios would go back to the drawing board for Batman Forever. New Batman (Keaton out Val Kilmer in), new director(Burton out Joel Schumacher in), new composer (Elfman out Elliot Goldenthal in) and most importantly of all, new tone(Gothic out, Neon in). Despite these changes it should be noted that Burton's influence is here in some very minor capacity (for the final time in the franchise) though its obvious that the final product is as far removed from any vision that Burton would have had that its barely worth him having the Producer credit at all. Reportedly there is a "lost" extended cut of the film out there, parts of which can be found in promotional music videos and trailers for the film, which offers a much darker version of the story, whilst also helping to explain some of the more out of place and often toyetic scenes in the theatrical cut.

That remains hidden though so for now we're stuck with the theatrical cut of the movie which is just frankly not very good. And I'm not saying that it's terrible, just simply not very good. It just feels really disjointed both from an editing point of view and tonally. Its tongue in cheek moments are played too seriously and it's dark moments are shot too colourfully. It doesn't help that Gotham itself is utterly bland and lacking in character itself. Gone is the deco/expressionist architecture which created the world for Burton's characters, instead being replaced by some very shoddy looking CG buildings which lack any interesting attributes. Absent too is the misty, moody and dirty aura that drenches the scenes of the previous two films, instead being replaced by jarring neon lights covering well, just about everything. Everything just ends up looking too clean and uninhabited - not really Gotham City at all.

I hear a lot of people say they really rate Jim Carrey as The Riddler in this film, but this is just people from the general populace as opposed to people who's opinions I actually value. I love Jim Carrey don't get me wrong and I think he takes on the character his own way using his own personality traits to his benefit much the same way that Jack Nicholson did with the Joker. Catching that lightning in a bottle again though proved too much and as an interpretation of The Riddler character it just doesn't work for me. The wacky antics of the character and really rather rubbish riddles just make it hard to believe in him as a credible foe even to Kilmer's unenthused looking Batman. Still, as I said, I consistently have people trying to tell me they love Carrey in the role so obviously something here worked in the eyes of a lot of people (just not mine).


Tommy Lee Jones is equally as dumb and unimposing as the poorly translated to screen and horribly fleshed out Two-Face - notably in place of Billy Dee Williams who played Harvey Dent in Batman '89 and was contracted to reprise the role in a subsequent film in the franchise. His small part in Returns - where he was to be shocked by Catwoman and transformed into Two-Face in the finale - was re-written for Christopher Walken's character, and when it came to Batman Forever Joel Schumacher ousted Williams in favour of Jones (in return for a handsome pay off). Strange in that Jones never really seems invested in the character at all, but I guess it was just another step in separating the film just enough from its predecessors.


Batman's long standing sidekick Robin finally makes his debut in the series(again after being shafted out of the Returns script) played by Chris O'Donnell who seems to enjoy playing the character, but never really embodies the Robin we know. That was always going to be an uphill struggle with that naff earring in though - a poor effort to make the character seem hip and somehow relateable to younger audiences, but now serving only to date the film more than the terrible CG could ever hope to. The saving grace here really is that Christian Bale would thankfully fail in his audition to be cast in the role so he could go on to become Batman a few years down the line.

In all fairness, knocking the performances here feels like cheap and easy prey as they're just set up to fail from the get go thanks to the absolutely dreadful script which was obviously rewritten to death by so many scribes over the years that any semblance to the characters we hold dear are just scrubbed away and moulded into whatever ridiculous caricatures they need to be to fit the direction any particular scene wants to take regardless of the overall plot. Whilst Batman '89 finds the perfect middle ground between the darkness of Returns and the über-camp of Batman & Robin, it's curious that the instalment that is actually sandwiched between them manages to get it so, so wrong.

The Dark Knight Rises: Immediate Reaction [Spoiler Free]

After 7 years of waiting I have now seen the concluding chapter in the saga that started with Batman Begins way back in 2005 and it's literally all I've been able to talk or think about since I left the cinema yesterday. I don't want to give a full review right now for two reasons- one being that I still want to review the other Batman films first so I can review this one in context to those, and two because quite frankly it was just so damn epic. Now that's a word which I really do dislike these days as it's just thrown around so bloody casually it's practically lost all meaning (the infinite cosmos is epic, the latest Saw film is by no means epic) however there's really no better superlative to sum the film up than just that.

This is absolutely all you could ask for as the finale to the trilogy. The stakes are higher, the villains are more dangerous, and at long last Nolan seems to have managed to work some emotion into his films. On three occasions I had a lump in my throat and other people in the cinema were actually physically crying. It's an extremely dark film, and at times everything seems hopeless, but the ending just balances out the film so perfectly that the film seems incredibly rewarding especially if you do watch it as the 7.5 hour singular film I honestly think it should be looked at as being.

I really feel like I don't want to give a lot more away at this point, but I just need to spread the word that despite the few bad reviews the film has garnered, just forget about them, go see the film and decide for yourself. In my mind it is by far the best film I've seen this year and I absolutely cannot wait to go see it in IMAX in the next couple of weeks. Every single person involved in the film both in front of and behind the camera delivers in every possible aspect and it's just an absolute joy that the film has turned out the way it has.

The Dark Knight Rises Pre-Screening Ramblings

At long last The Dark Knight Rises, the third and final chapter in Christopher Nolan's Batman Magnum Opus is in cinemas. Although I was hoping to write reviews for all the previous Batman films prior to the release of TDKR, thanks to a combination of busy work hours and devoting most of my spare time to catching the rest of the Summer Blockbusters' released already in cinemas my time for writing about other films has been severely cut into. As I am now less than an hour away from hopping on the train down to Cambridge to catch a 1pm showing at the Picture House I just wanted to throw together a very quick piece setting my expectations down on the table.

Wednesday I watched Batman Begins and The Dark Knight for the first time since probably about 2009 and, for the first time on Blu-Ray. Having watched Batman Forever and Batman & Robin just a few days prior it really put into perspective just how amazing it was that we managed to go from such a dire extreme to what will undoubtedly be not only the greatest superhero film trilogy of all time, but in-fact probably one of the greatest film trilogy's ever. That may sounds like hyperbole I know, but if you actually take the time to think about series' of 3 films which consistently deliver and leave you with a satisfying beginning, middle and end they are very few and far between. Of the top of my head I can think of- Toy Story (definitely), Lord of the Rings (certainly), Star Wars (just the Original Trilogy), Indiana Jones (Dips a little in the middle) and Back to the Future (maybe). In the huge canon of cinema that's a pretty small list.

Christopher Nolan more or less single-handedly turned the world of superhero filmmaking on it's head back in 2008 with The Dark Knight, but it's obvious watching both films back to back that Batman Begins laid those foundations even further back in 2005. Not only is it equally as good as TDK, but I think perhaps after repeated viewings of both films that it actually holds up better. I don't want to give too much away on what I think about the films here as I do still plan on writing full reviews for the remainder of the Batman films in the coming weeks. Needless to say however I am a big fan, and am as a stalwart Batman fan eternally grateful for what Nolan has done with the franchise. I'm practically trembling in anticipation for The Dark Knight Rises right now. Thinking back the last time I was this excited for a film would be The Dark Knight. Nolan delivered the goods then and I think that unless he somehow manages to miss the mark completely here I'm just a few short hours away from one of the best cinema experiences I will have this year.