Week of « Prev | Next »
1-20 of 111 items « Prev | Next »
In debt, out of luck: why Generation K fell in love with The Hunger Games
2 hours ago
The theme of rebellion in the dystopian fantasy – whose final instalment is about to hit cinemas – strikes a chord with teens and twentysomethings
The brutal, bleak series that has captured the hearts of a generation will come to a brutal, bleak end in November when The Hunger Games: Mockingjay – Part 2 arrives in cinemas. It is the conclusion of the Hunger Games saga, which has immersed the young in a cleverly realised world of trauma, violence, mayhem and death.
For fans of Suzanne Collins’s trilogy about a young girl, Katniss Everdeen, forced to fight for survival in a country ruled by fear and fuelled by televised gladiatorial combat, this is the moment they have been waiting for.
Continue reading »
- Sarah Hughes
In the Winter Dark rewatched: a psychologically itchy work
3 hours ago
The film adaption of Tim Winton’s novel In the Winter Dark blurs the line between drama and thriller and creeps towards a gut-busting crescendo
Director James Bogle’s barely seen or remembered direct-to-video 1988 debut, Stones of Death, is a low-rent schlock horror pic about a group of high school students who meet grisly ends after discovering they live on top of an ancient Aboriginal burial ground.
It plays out exactly as it sounds: like a quintessentially American B movie transplanted into an Australian setting. The performances are underwhelming at best and its by-the-numbers screenplay is patchy, but the film does show a modicum of flair atmospherically. Close one eye and squint out of the other and you might find it a little bit scary.
Continue reading »
- Luke Buckmaster
Steven Spielberg hints at fifth Indiana Jones as new Star Wars film approaches
3 hours ago
The director urged Harrison Ford to don the fedora again during Bafta’s Britannia Awards, where Amy Schumer had the audience laughing
Harrison Ford makes his much-anticipated return to the Star Wars franchise this December, as Han Solo in Jj Abrams’ massively hyped The Force Awakens. Steven Spielberg, meanwhile, wishes the actor would reprise another legendary role.
Related: Star Wars force awakens with standing ovation for Harrison Ford at Comic-Con
Continue reading »
- Nigel M Smith
It’s Star Wars v Hunger Games in a box office battle – but don’t rule out 007
9 hours ago
Cinema takings could hit a new record as the big franchises compete in a winter showdown
Fittingly, given the epic fights waged by their protagonists, only one can triumph. But will it be Katniss Everdeen, the heroine of Mockingjay Part 2, the final instalment of the Hunger Games series, or Princess Leia, who returns with Han Solo and Luke Skywalker in the latest Star Wars movie, The Force Awakens, who wins the battle of the global box office in the runup to the Christmas holidays?
And, in the case of the United Kingdom, will either be able to see off a certain secret agent in what could prove to be a record year for ticket sales?
Continue reading »
- Jamie Doward
Haunted half-hours – how the BBC made Christmas creepy
11 hours ago
To audiences hardened by the slick horrors of modern Halloween, the BBC’s ghost films from the 1970s can seem tame. But beware, these subtly unsettling works still have the power to frighten
In 1982, watching the trick or treating scenes in Steven Spielberg’s Et, I recollect sitting in the cinema shrouded in the spirit of anthropological curiosity as though it were a National Geographic instructional film, with me an outsider to a ritual I couldn’t entirely follow. Now, 33 years later, I have joined that tribe. This weekend I’ll be accompanying my children as they go trick or treating, visiting the neighbourhood’s “haunted” houses in search of chocolate, deep in the hope of being horrified, just part of the rhythm of the year. Halloween has become the default moment for celebrating the gothic, yet it’s salutary to remember that for 150 years before Et, the time of »
- Michael Newton
Amy: Winehouse biopic is simply perpetuating the myth
13 hours ago
In her own words, she was only good for making tunes. So why does this film feel the need to mythologise?
Amy’s opening minute is also its best. In the stairway of a north London semi, a 14-year-old Amy Winehouse joins her friends in an impromptu performance of Happy Birthday To You, only to break from the pack and launch into a transcendent solo rendition of the song’s final line. It’s a flash of brilliance rooted in something otherwise ordinary, which – the film suggests – is also how Amy saw herself. “The more people see of me, the more they’ll realise that all I’m good for is making tunes,” she says later on. “So leave me alone.”
From its glitzy opening title sequence onwards, however, Amy seems determined to prove its subject wrong, insisting that her life – and not just her music – was of some divine significance. »
- Charlie Lyne
Five great Australian children's movies: from Babe to BMX Bandits
20 hours ago
In an outstanding year for children’s films (Paper Planes, Oddball), we take a look back at a history of talking animals and cartoon capers
• Storm Boy at Adelaide film festival – listen to our podcast
Australian films have had a rockin’ good year at the box office, chalking up nothing shy of the biggest collective haul (not adjusted for inflation) from local cinemas in history. To bastardise/paraphrase the Beatles and Scarface: we get by with a little help from our little friends.
Which is to say that youngsters in the audience have been instrumental in putting bums on seats. While the biggest box office performer this year by a country mile was Mad Max: Fury Road, viewers not old enough to properly appreciate unfettered carnage and a feminist role model with an amputated arm went elsewhere. Kids flicks such as Blinky Bill: The Movie, Paper Planes and Oddball »
- Luke Buckmaster
The Storm Boy Film Club Episode
20 hours ago
Recorded live at Guardian Australia's Film Club, film critic Luke Buckmaster discusses what makes Australian films succeed or fail as well as examples of how misguided restoration can lead directors to destroy the legacy of their films. Also involved in the panel are film critic Margaret Pomeranz and Michael Loebenstein from the National Film and Sound archive
• Five great Australian children's movies – from Babe to BMX bandits
This month Guardian Australia's Film Club in Adelaide screened the debut of the restored 1976 Australian classic Storm Boy at the Mercury Cinema. After the film our critic Luke Buckmaster hosted Margaret Pomeranz and Michael Loebenstein from the National Film and Sound archive in a panel discussion.
They discussed the highs and lows of the Australian film industry, what it takes to make Australians go and see a film and how directors need to avoid the temptation of attempting to change their films during »
- Luke Buckmaster, Miles Martignoni, Margaret Pomeranz and Michael Loebenstein
George Osborne plays a double game with C | Letters
30 October 2015 11:13 AM, PDT
I’ve no knowledge of the authenticity of the photo with the “No Irish” sign (Letters, 29 October). But I do remember as a child seeing “No Irish” signs in windows in Moss Side, Manchester, in the 1950s and 1960s. When I asked my (Irish) father what they meant he explained that the poor people in those houses had no Irish people lodging with them, so they were on the look out for a few of us to bring a bit of “good craic” into their lives. It wasn’t a bad lie to tell to an Irish child.
Mary Kirrane
Altrincham, Cheshire
• Please stop publishing letters from the likes of Mr Lloyd (It’s neither grim nor expensive up north, 30 October). Those of us who live comfortably and economically in the north don’t want to be invaded by wannabes from the south, thanks.
Ray Woodhams
Barnsley
Continue reading »
- Letters
Samantha Morton backs Benedict Cumberbatch's refugees appeal
30 October 2015 11:05 AM, PDT
Actor ‘incredibly proud’ of Cumberbatch’s on-stage speeches asking for donations to Syrian refugees and criticising UK response
Actor Samantha Morton has backed Benedict Cumberbatch’s criticism of the government response to the refugee crisis, and said she “cannot fathom how certain individuals within our government can sleep at night”.
Cumberbatch has been making nightly speeches after his curtain call at the Barbican in London and asking for donations to help Syrian refugees. On Tuesday night he raised eyebrows among the audience by reportedly saying “fuck the politicians” during a speech about the refugee crisis.
Continue reading »
- Hannah Ellis-Petersen
Does The Hunger Games: Mockingjay – Part 2 mark the end of appointment cinema?
30 October 2015 10:40 AM, PDT
Studios once filled their festive rosters with Lord of the Rings and Hobbit movies, but are being forced to think again as they run out of popular material to adapt
The early years of the 21st century were bountiful times for fantasy fans. Each time December rolled around, a new Lord of the Rings movie arrived to give everyone a festive lift with tales of hairy-footed homunculi, brave men of Númenórean blood and grumpy, pipe-smoking wizards. Then between 2001 and 2011, no fewer than eight Harry Potter movies plugged the gap, culminating in annual debuts for the final three tales of the boy and his chums at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. And only last year we sat through the final instalment in Jackson’s overblown prequel trilogy to The Lord of the Rings; The Hobbit: The Battle of Five Hours … sorry, Armies.
Related: How The Hunger Games inspired the revolutionary »
- Ben Child
Roman Polanski 'very happy' Us extradition rejected
30 October 2015 9:04 AM, PDT
Polish court rules Us breached human rights convention with application over director’s conviction for having sex with 13-year-old
The film-maker Roman Polanski has won the latest round of his battle to avoid extradition to the United States over a 1977 child sex abuse conviction, after a Polish court rejected a Us application.
Judge Dariusz Mazur, at Kraków district court, said he accepted claims from Polanski’s lawyers that the application was in breach of the European convention on human rights because Polanski has admitted guilt and served a prison sentence for the offence. The case is open to appeal.
Continue reading »
- Alex Duval Smith in Kraków and Joanna Walters in New York
Sandra Bullock and Billy Bob Thornton: 'Political consultants are as well known as politicians now' - video interview
30 October 2015 8:31 AM, PDT
The stars of Our Brand Is Crisis, a comedy-drama about a political consultant (Sandra Bullock) recruited by a candidate in the Bolivian general election, talk to Nigel M Smith about how much more aware the public are about politics now, whether they trust politicians, and what their film can teach us in the run-up to the Us presidential election. Our Brand Is Crisis, which stars Sandra Bullock, Billy Bob Thornton and Anthony Mackie, is out now in the Us and will be released in the UK in January
Continue reading »
- Nigel M Smith and Henry Barnes
Sacha Baron Cohen spies comeback in Brothers Grimsby trailer
30 October 2015 8:30 AM, PDT
The Borat star will return in his first leading role since The Dictator, as the football hooligan brother of Mark Strong’s secret agent
Sacha Baron Cohen has kept an uncharacteristically low profile since the controversial 2012 comedy The Dictator, but he will be returning to the big screen in next year’s The Brothers Grimsby. The trailer has just been released.
Related: Grim outlook for Grimsby as Sacha Baron Cohen sets comedy in town
Continue reading »
- Benjamin Lee
Spies like us: which movie secret agents fit MI6's new recruitment drive profile?
30 October 2015 8:00 AM, PDT
The British secret service says James Bond would struggle to get a job as a spy in 2015, so which big-screen operatives would cut the mustard?
The new James Bond film, Spectre, is taking the nation by storm with its vision of a suave, ladykilling agent with maverick tendencies. Clearly spotting a bit of free publicity, MI6 has launched a well-timed recruitment drive. But which movie spies would make the cut, and which might find themselves getting the ejector-seat treatment?
Related: Spectre: the villains, the women, the ending – discuss the film (with spoilers!)
Continue reading »
- Ben Child
Daniel Craig: five best moments
30 October 2015 7:42 AM, PDT
As Spectre opens, we look back at the Bond star’s most memorable – and surprising – roles
It’s safe to assume that Daniel Craig doesn’t just want to be known as the sixth actor to play sexist super-spy James Bond. The 47-year-old actor recently claimed that he’d rather slash his wrists than play 007 again. (Granted, he also recently said he would play Bond as long as he could.)
Craig has been an impressive agent, but it’s worth remembering his work outside of the role he’s best known for. As Spectre lands in cinemas, here’s a look at some of his earlier career highs.
Continue reading »
- Benjamin Lee
Rival studios 'eye James Bond distribution rights' as Sony's deal expires
30 October 2015 6:14 AM, PDT
Japanese-owned studio has released all of Daniel Craig’s outings as the secret agent, but now faces its Hollywood competitors
Daniel Craig is not the only 007 stalwart who might be about to bid farewell to Aston Martins, precisely mixed Martinis and megalomaniac nemeses, after Spectre, the latest James Bond movie. The Wall Street Journal reports that studios are set to battle for the rights to distribute future films in the long-running spy saga, now that the credits have rolled on the current partnership between the rights holders and studio Sony.
Related: Spectre breaks box office record with £6.3m opening day gross
Continue reading »
- Ben Child
The Guardian film show extra podcast: Ocean's 11 gender swap, Alien 5 lost in space and top Halloween films
30 October 2015 6:04 AM, PDT
Now showing ... Hollywood's planning an all-female Ocean's 11, Neill Blomkamp is jettisoned from his Alien sequel and our top picks for Halloween
Your daily update of the latest news and reviews from the Guardian film team. Now showing ... Sandra Bullock is heading up a new, all-female Oceans 11 movie. Is this the end of Hollywood sexism (clue: no). And, can there be such a thing as too many Alien films? Plus, our favourite halloween movies and Ben's spooky surprise.
We're Still looking for a name for this podcast. Please leave suggestions in the comments bellow.
Continue reading »
- Presented by Benjamin Lee with Henry Barnes. Produced by Rowan Slaney
This week’s new films
30 October 2015 6:00 AM, PDT
Spectre | Under Milk Wood | Taxi Tehran | Black Souls | Vaaliba Raja | Fresh Dressed | The Vatican Tapes | Outcast | Do I Sound Gay?
After the upheaval of Skyfall, the hallmarks of the traditional Bond movie are very much back in place here – and the good news is, Bond’s lightened up a bit too. There’s the expected polish to the action set-pieces and international intrigues, which acknowledge both Bond movies past and the post-Snowden present. On the downside, there’s little for the women to do apart from look alluring, and a lot of nonsense to forgive in a plot that feels more retro-fitted than meticulously planned.
Continue reading »
- Steve Rose
This week’s new film events
30 October 2015 6:00 AM, PDT
Aesthetica Short Film Festival | Leeds International Film Festival | French Film Festival | Into Film Festival
Culture is king at this classy festival, now in its fifth year. Like its host magazine, it’s a survey of what is hot, or just plain interesting, across the broad sweep of visual arts. So as well as categories such as drama, comedy or documentary, there are also selections in fashion, advertising, music video and experimental – within which you might find anyone from Ruth Wilson (in Eleanor) to Ai Weiwei (The Sand Storm). There are also speakers and industry sessions for the professional end of the clientele, and screenings take place in a variety of interesting venues around the city.
Continue reading »
- Steve Rose
1-20 of 111 items « Prev | Next »