Wednesday, April 28, 2010

Recommended: In the Loop


The Film: In The Loop (2009)
Director: Armando Iannuci
Starring: Peter Capaldi, Tom Hollander, Gina McKee, James Gandolfini

Directed by Armando Iannuci, In the Loop is a political comedy and spin-off of the short TV series 'The Thick of It'. Peter Capaldi returns with a scalding performance as Malcolm Tucker - the head press officer of an unnamed British government. When MP Simon Foster (a role truly made for Tom Hollander) inadvertantly claims that war is unforseeable, Tucker leads a mass Trans-Atlantic cover-up. Meanwhile, competing forces within the American government are also waging a hefty battle of the egos over the upcoming war.

Already out of his depth, Foster is dragged further into the international affair by his equally inept new aide Toby (Chris Addison), whose fuck-ups only make him more determined to advance and overthrow a number of his seniors.

Nominated for Best Original Screenplay at this year's Oscars, the film is a relentlessly funny tirade of hilarious dialogue and biting insults. In the Loop is replete with fantastic performances from Capaldi, Hollander, Paul Higgins, and James Galdolfini, along with a cameo from the inimitable Steve Coogan.

If you love angry Scotsmen, pop culture references, and a fuckload of swearing, In the Loop was made for you.

[Image from LoveFilm website.]
Posted by Nicola Balkind 2 comments
Labels: comedy, drama, film, recommended

Wednesday, April 21, 2010

Classics: Jerry Maguire


The Classic: Jerry Maguire
Director: Cameron Crowe
Starring: Tom Cruise, Renée Zellweger, Cuba Gooding Jr.

The Excuse:
You may disagree with my classification of Jerry Maguire as a classic, but my definition of "classic" is pretty open to interpretation. Generally, I mean films that are a few decades old and are abiding favourites. Jerry Maguire is new in comparison, but people were always amazed to hear I hadn't seen it, so there you have it. Somehow, I just never got around to watching it. Cameron Crowe is a director I like, especially for making films with beautiful sound and great stories like Almost Famous and Vanilla Sky.

The Review:
Need I even provide a synopsis? Jerry Maguire is a football agent for a large company, and despite being great at his role, is a bit of a tortured soul. After sending out a memo endorsing smaller pools of contracted football players and more individual attention, he puts his job in jeopardy. He and his rival face off, leaving him with nought but two needy contracted players. Broke and clinging desperately to the bottom rung, with the help of Dorothy (Renee Zellweger) he vies to fulfil footballer Rod Tidwell's (Cuba Gooding Jr.) contractual needs and make it to the end of the season.

While it's a good story, and it's always amusing to see classic quotes in action (see below), Jerry Maguire as a character simply was not endearing to me. Though his flaws were never kept secret, the character development was excuciatingly shallow and his whining, while at times fair, didn't inspire empathy. Dorothy seemed far older than her alleged 26 years and desperate in a way only women in 90s films have achieved, and while Ray was cute, I guess the charm wore off a little over the past 14 years. Gooding Jr.'s Oscar was well-deserved, though, his performance entertaining without relying too heavily on stereotypes, and the relationship between him and his wife Marcee (Regina King) was excellent.

The Verdict:
Underwhelmed. Quotable, but not a veritable classic.

Favourite Quote:
"Show me the money!" - what else?!

Further Viewing for Experts:
Posted by Nicola Balkind 1 comments
Labels: classic, comedy, film, rom-com

Thursday, April 15, 2010

Review: Date Night

Tina Fey and Steve Carrell star in Date Night as Claire and Phil Foster; your typical "boring New Jersey couple" with full-time jobs, a house to keep, book groups to attend, and two children to tame. Their busy lifestyle allows for one date night per week: dinner at the local steak joint where they order potato skins and salmon and play "What's the Story?" judging the other couples in the restaurant.

When their seemingly happily married best friends independently reveal to Claire and Phil that they are separating, Claire and Phil realise that their routine married life could use some shaking up. The next date night, they decide to head to New York and try out one of the city's trendiest new restaurants. Unable to secure a table, they take the reservation of another couple -- the Triplehorns -- who appear not to have arrived. Their identities are mistaken and they become caught up as novices in a professional game of blackmailing, car-chasing, and double-crossing.

Fey and Carrell are charming as the Fosters, giving complexity to comedy characters that tend to be fairly 2-dimensional. Their shared quirks and sentence-finishing feels real, learned over years rather than forged over a table-read. Many of the jokes are improvised, which suits them well, having both started out as members of Second City, the infamous improvisation troupe in Chicago.

Although only an hour and a half long, it feels longer as they make a protracted effort to run from their pursuers, cajole those who are able to help them, and attempt to save their ailing relationship.

Much of the interaction with Mark Whalberg and some later scenes seem forced, giving Fey and Carrell little to work with. The result is a fairly typical rom-com style with unoriginal jokes and tepid physical comedy. The Fosters' clumsy charm runs dry towards the very tightly wrapped-up ending, making it a lukewarm comedy that will easily pass 1.5 hours, but is ultimately aimed at a more mature audience and has a short shelf life.

Date Night opens in UK cinemas this Friday, 16th April.

[Image from Filmofilia.]
Posted by Nicola Balkind 0 comments
Labels: comedy, film, review, rom-com

Wednesday, April 14, 2010

Recommended: Moon


The Film: Moon (2009)
Director: Duncan Jones
Starring: Sam Rockwell, Kevin Spacey

Moon is a haunting sci-fi thriller starring Sam Rockwell as mechanic Sam Bell, stationed alone on the far side of the Moon at a LUNAR complex that provides Earth with hydrogen power. Kevin Spacey voices his companion, or “assist robot”, GERTY.

Sam’s 3-year contract will soon expire and he will be able to return home to his wife and young daughter whom he has never met. When he has an accident on his way to repair a harvester, though, he soon discovers that there is more to the LUNAR mission than he had anticipated.

It is difficult to say much about Moon without giving away the startling and complex plot, suffice to say that it is superbly drawn and executed with finnesse. Rockwell's performance is excellent, and Kevin Spacey's reassuring robotic lilt keeps you guessing whether he is friend or foe.

Though it did not receive any Oscar nominations, Moon was widely considered as one of the films most snubbed by the Academy Awards. The film is currently widely available for rent and purchase.

[Image from LoveFilm website.]
Posted by Nicola Balkind 3 comments
Labels: drama, feature, film, recommended

Thursday, April 8, 2010

WonderCon 2010: The Sorcerer's Apprentice & Interview with Jay Baruchel

Based on the Fantasia sequence of the same name, The Sorcerer's Apprentice swept us up in the magic at WonderCon this weekend. Produced by Jerry Bruckheimer and directed by National Treasure's Jon Turteltaub, the film is one of three big summer blockbusters from Walt Disney Pictures.

Starring Nicolas Cage and Jay Baruchel, this is a true Bruckheimer creation. Cage plays the ancient Balthazar Stone, a sorcerer who has searched hundreds of years for his successor, the Prime Merlinean, played by Jay Baruchel. Alfred Molina co-stars as Stone's arch nemesis, the evil sorcerer and leader of the Morganians.

The panel comprised of producer Jerry Bruckheimer, Jon Turteltaub, Nicolas Cage, Jay Baruchel, and Teresa Palmer, the Aussie belle from Bedtime Stories who plays Baruchel's love interest. After discussing the film and screening a couple of exclusive clips, they fielded questions from the audience.

Before the panel, I met with Jay Baruchel for a quick chat about the film.

You've done some big films before, but nothing on the scale of a Disney summer blockbuster. What is it like?
  • It's a dream come true. This is the type of film I've wanted to do for my entire life. I grew up watching Fantasia and I think even had the Disney bedspread, so I woke up staring at Mickey Mouse as the Sorcerer's Apprentice every day. When I was a kid I loved playing superhero and shooting plasma out of my hands. It was fun to recreate this iconic sequence in the shoes of Mickey Mouse in modern Manhattan while fighting bad guys. It was long, hard work, with so many visual effects. But it was a lot of fun.

What was it like working with Nic Cage and Alfred Molina?
  • In a word: Unbelievable. Nicolas Cage is one of the great actors of our time. He gives so much, it was a lot of fun getting  to work with him. Alfred was great, too. I have a lot in common with both of them.


Did they give you any sage advice?
  • Not exactly. We did talk a lot. The closest thing was with Alfred, since he played Doctor Octopus, it was mostly, "How can you wear a harness like this all  day?" He's great to talk to. But yeah, mostly harness talk.

Tell us a bit about your character in The Sorcerer's Apprentice.
  • His name is Dave, and he's into magic, although of course by magic we mean physics. He's the star physics student - if there is such a thing - and is working on his senior thesis and chasing (well, mostly pining after), Theresa's character. We experience and learn with Dave, get the story through him. Learning magic lends itself well to comedic moments, and that's what I do. When someone hires me they know that it's part and parcel of what I do - I love ad-libbing, doing pratfalls, that sort of thing.

Did you go back and study physical comedy, or is that something you've always done?
  • Yeah, I do. My absolute idol is Rowan Atkinson.

What about the silent clowns?
  • Of course! Buster Keaton is the man. The General is one of the greatest films ever. Have you seen the short with the one-roomed house?
The Scarecrow!
  • 
[He laughs] Yes, that's the one. Amazing.
You play a mixture of nice guy roles and the odd bad boy (e.g. Nick & Norah) - which do you like to play most?
  • 
It depends. The kinds of roles I'm offered are very different in Canada than they are down here. I love to pick characters that scare me - I find that the most exciting. I think I can do the most with those.

The Sorcerer's Apprentice is released in the USA on 16th July. It opens in the UK on 13th August.
Posted by Nicola Balkind 0 comments
Labels: disney, feature, film, interview, wondercon

Tuesday, April 6, 2010

WonderCon 2010: Toy Story 3


Director Lee Unkrich and Producer Darla K. Anderson took on WonderCon this Saturday to promote Toy Story 3, presenting new trailers and exclusive clips from the film to a packed audience.

Lee Unkrich announced that the film has 4 weeks left in production until its completion. At Pixar, the writing process is important, and Toy Story 3 was no exception: the team spent 2 and a half years of storyboarding and writing with Michael Arndt (writer of Little Miss Sunshine).

It is now 4 years since John Lasseter, Pete Docter, Andrew Stanton, Bob Peterson, Darla K. Anderson, and Lee Unkrich took a trip to a cabin in the north of California and spent 2 days working on the story that was to become Pixar's 11th feature film.


As we have come to expect from Pixar panels, they injected a little fun into the proceedings. Some of the film's main cast members were planted in the auditorium, posing as excited audience members chosen to read the script. John Ratzenberger (Hamm the Piggy Bank), Jeff Garlin (Buttercup the Unicorn), Kristen Schaal (Trixie the Dinosaur), and Toby filling in for Timothy Dalton (Mr Pricklepants the Hedgehog) joined Lee Unkrich at the lectern to read a scene from the film live on stage. After fielding questions from the audience, an exclusive, never-seen-before clip from the film was screened.

During the press conference, John Ratzenberger and Jeff Garlin both talked about their connection with the film. Jeff said that he found the film wonderful and funny, but more than anything, completely moving. Both agreed that the directors do all of the heavy lifting and that all they need to do when voice acting for Pixar is to read, listen, and try to give the directors what they want. John added that, despite having done 11 films for Pixar, he still finds himself emotionally invested in every character, and feels like he is a part of the story world.


Lee Unkrich discussed some of their key concerns in making Toy Story 3. This included getting around the tone of acceptance and sense of finality with which Toy Story 2 ended. Although the Woody and Buzz had made their peace with the fact that Andy would grow up and leave someday; just as a parent knows their kid will go off to college one day but is devastated when that day rolls around, the characters still have challenges to overcome.

Another challenge for the filmmakers included finding ways to make the human characters in the film more visually pleasing. Andy, who is now 18 years old and leaving for college, is a key character. Lee said that they worked very hard to stay within the design aesthetic from Toy Story, but to create humans that were sophisticated, subtle, believable and - above all else - appealing.

Despite the gap between sequels, Lee, Darla, and John are all confident that Toy Story 3 will maintain its audience. People who were kids at the time of Toy Story's release have now grown up. The youngest are graduating from high school, and many have gone through college and are starting their own families. Lee says that they have found that interest in the film is supercharged due to this nostalgia factor. Jeff added that the film will hit parents who remember taking their kids to see Toy Story and have since sent their own children to college.

Toy Story 3 is released in the USA on 18th June, and will reach UK screens on 23rd July 2010.

[Image from OWF, photos by me.]
Posted by Nicola Balkind 0 comments
Labels: 3d, animation, comedy, events, feature, film, interview, wondercon

Monday, April 5, 2010

WonderCon 2010: Radical Axis Studios


Radical Axis is an animation studio based in Atlanta, Georgia. The studio produces animated TV shows such as Aqua Teen Hunger Force, Squidbillies, 12oz. Mouse and Perfect Hair Forever for Comedy Central. Most recently, the studio animated FX's latest show: Archer.


The Radical Axis panel comprised of Radical Axis founder Scott Fry; vice president of production Craig Hartin; animation director Todd Redner, and their special guest and co-creator of Aqua Teen Hunger Force, Matt Maiellaro.

The panel was fairly free-form and informal but, displaying some of that infamous Southern Hospitality, the guys handed out free schwag to everyone who asked a question.

They also screened this brilliant short film: Behind the Scenes of Radical Axis Animation Studios:



The Radical Axis crew also invited the audience to participate in a game of Finders Keepers. Todd designed a piece of artwork - a mutant shake - and stashed it away somewhere in the city of San Francisco. If you find it, you get to keep it. More details of this are available on , and you can find updates about it on their .



The Interview:

A lot of people at the panel asked what inspires you when you make a new show, but what are your influences? What did you grow up watching?
  • Craig: I grew up watching traditional Disney movies and just sort of grew from there. I couldn't have been happier with anything Disney did as I was growing up, they were just amazing. Tom and Jerry, too, I loved Tom and Jerry.
  • Todd: I'm a huge Tom and Jerry fan! Also Warner Brothers: Road Runner and Wylie Coyote, Bugs Bunny was my favourite. Rabbit Season, Duck Season… those things were always just crazy cool to me.

Was it always the wackier animations that drew you in?
  • Todd: Yeah, yeah. For me, the wackier the better.
  • Craig: If it came out of left field, I loved it. Anything that kept me on the edge of my seat!

How much cross-pollination is there between your shows?
  • Craig: In our studio, it's quite a bit. People tend to float from project to project and we keep moving people around. Some people are stronger at a certain style than others, so we'll move them over for temporary use on another show and move them back if we need them on the first show again. There's a lot of mixture and collaboration going on in the studio with people working from show to show.
  • Scott: It's amazing because it keeps the creativity flowing and keeps everyone in the studio in contact with each other.
 Trish Tunney Photography
Left to Right: (Me), Scott Fry, Craig Hartin, Todd Redner, Matt Maiellaro

Tell me about the process when you all work together. Do you do a lot of real-time collaboration in the studio via instant messaging and so on?
  • (They all laugh.)
  • Matt: Craig has a whole monitor dedicated to IMing! Wall-to-wall IM!
  • Scott: We were at lunch the other day and Craig didn't have his iPhone with him, he was freaking out.
  • Matt: He spent three days at my house like this! (He mimes texting). Dinner, watching a movie… all day like that. Yes. IM is all over.
  • Craig: Yeah, IM is great, especially since we can send files, get things approved, all that stuff. We can do a quick post on an FTP site for them to download and approve for Aqua Teen, or we can send files back and forth via instant messenger and email.

Do you consider your audience as you create, or go with what's funny to you?
  • All: It's all about us!
  • Scott: Actually, I think with most of the things we do, we entertain ourselves. I can't speak for Matt…
  • Matt: We just write what makes us laugh, then these guys make it even funnier.
  • Todd: Yeah… we don't really think about the audience, it's just all about us.
  • Craig: … And the celebrities we can get on the show.
  • Todd: Yeah! We like to get celebrities onto the show so we can hang out with them. Who do we want to hang out with this week?
  • Craig: Tom Cruise! We really want to get Tom Cruise on the show.

Do you ever watch the shows back, and does it ever remind you of a particular moment when a joke was formed or the idea that sparked it?
  • Craig: We'll be working on jokes for the show and then go, "Oh, we had that funny thing that we did for that other episode!" Then we'll either pull assets from it, or we'll go back and watch it. Things that happen every now and then will make us laugh because it reminds us of something from an earlier episode.
  • Scott: It's funny. When we are working on the shows and we're laughing it's a little bit different because Matt and Dave wrote it. What's really funny is when Matt and Dave are there and you hear them laughing at the stuff. They come up with this great thing, then we get to execute it. That way we feel like we're doing a good job because not only do we entertain ourselves, but we get to put it out there. It's a lot of fun.

Does having your own company and a fairly exclusive audience make it easier to have explicit content, or do you still have things censored and sent back?
  • Todd: Oh, no. They have a legal department and things get flagged a lot, so we come up with different and fun ways to figure it out… Well, we send it to Craig and he does it!
  • Craig: Usually, "Find a way to cover that up, and it will be okay."
  • Todd: And it works!
  • Matt: That's very collaborative, too. It's great!
The first two episodes of Archer premiered on UK screens in February. The series screens on FIVER on Thursdays at 10pm. Archer is also currently free to watch at the Channel Five website.

[Additional images from Todd Redner's .]
Posted by Nicola Balkind 0 comments
Labels: animation, comedy, feature, interview, wondercon

WonderCon 2010: Day 1


Comic Con International kicked off its 24th annual WonderCon convention this Friday at the Marscone Centre in downtown San Francisco.

Smaller than its sister convention, San Diego Comic Con, it is a celebration of comic books, art, popular culture, and film. This year’s big events include the Disney panels for upcoming summer blockbusters Prince of Persia and The Sorcerer’s Apprentice, as well as the much-anticipated Kick-Ass panel (released April 16th in the USA), plenty of content from IDW Publishers, and much more.

Day 1 was a short day for me. Taking a leisurely stroll towards the registration desks at around 2pm, the first stop was:
 
Disney’s Art of Princess and the Frog Panel




You may think: this film has been out for a long time already, what else could they have to show?
The panel comprised of a number of distinguished Disney animators, including the film’s co-directors, John Musker and John Clements; man of a thousand voices and director of Pocahontas, Eric Goldberg; visual effects supervisor Marlon West, and veteran Disney colourist Ian Gooding.

The idea for The Princess and the Frog was conceived some years ago, as an adaptation of fairy tale book The Frog Prince. Disney and Pixar studios worked independently on versions of the film, none of which were completed. When John Lasseter took over as Creative Head for Disney, he enlisted Musker and Clements to look over the material and create a whole new Princess and the Frog film.
Lasseter’s stipulated that, though previous versions were set in Chicago, the film was to take place in 1920s New Orleans.



John Musker and Ron Clements talked us through a series of photographs from their numerous research trip to New Orleans, introducing us to the locals who inspired key characters including Ray the firefly, Mama Odie, and Princess to-be Tiana. They also discussed the process of styling the characters and developing the tone and style to reflect the setting of New Orleans. Eric Goldberg drew for us, demonstrating how he developed Louis the alligator and how his research of alligators allowed him to add style and detail to the character to make him less human and more reptilian.

They also screened a couple of scenes in crude animation, which is simple yet fascinating to watch. The will include the option to watch the entire film in this fashion. Marlon West showed exactly what his special effects supervision adds to the film, and Ian Gooding finished up by talking us through his choices of colour and everything that each element of this bright film represents.

As is always the case for Disney panels at this type of convention, it was well-structured and fascinating to watch, adding a deeper understanding to an already brilliant and sure to be classic film.


Nickelodeon Animation Studios Panel




This one was a bit of a disappointment. Nickelodeon’s animation model involves optioning stories and characters from popular CG-animated films. Recent examples include the penguins from Madagascar and Kung-Fu Panda, both originally from Dreamworks Pictures. The emphasis of the panel was on the ways that they streamline production in order to make shows quickly, efficiently, and – above all – on a tight budget.

Perhaps I’m spoiled after having attended so many well-structured and engaging Disney and Pixar panels, but the Nickelodeon guys are as new to conventions as they are to animating CG television shows in 3D, rather than traditionally animated 2D cartoons. Unfortunately, their talk on adapting and remaking shows with known characters from film was not tailored to its audience’s level of understanding.


Kevin Smith




After a half-hour delay, Kevin Smith graced the stage of WonderCon’s Esplanade Ballroom to a near-full audience. A veteran of Comic Con International, Smith has been attending San Diego Comic Con and San Francisco Wonder Con for over 10 years. His panels continue to be popular, with fans in the front row whom he claims to recognise. The “panel” – if you can call it that – is a maxi Q&A session wherein Smith ostensibly digresses and relays detailed accounts of his sexual escapades and other TMI-related incidents.
Despite the adult, often TMI content, his ability to work a stage is impressive. His primary interest is in conversing with his fans and opening a dialogue on certain issues. Interestingly, he did not take back his harsh words about critics, but did admit that his tirade was a product of disapointment and anger.
Not my sense of humour, but definitely a worthwhile panel visit every ‘Con season.

Day 1 rounded off with a Last Man Standing Star Wars trivia contest.
Posted by Nicola Balkind 0 comments
Labels: animation, comic con, events, feature, film, review, wondercon

Thursday, April 1, 2010

Classics: The General


The Classic: The General (1927)
Director: Buster Keaton, Clyde Buckman
Starring: Buster Keaton, Marion Mack

The Excuse:
Well, I took a silent comedies class during my first quarter at UCSB. I loved it to bits, and watched quite a few Buster Keaton films as part of the course. Since then, I've revisited Keaton's shorts, but none of his features. Since we just got Netflix streaming set up on the X-Box, and I posted about Buster and Charlie Chaplin earlier this week, they were first on my must-watch list.

The Review:
The version I watched was fully restored with music from The Alloy Orchestra circa 2003. I am by no means an expert on film music, but this score definitely added to my enjoyment of the story. Set in the South during the Civil War, Buster Keaton plays Johnnie Gray, a railroad mechanic. His two loves are a girl, Annabel Lee, and his engine, The General. Annabel Lee falls out of love with Johnnie when the army refuses to enlist him. On her way to visit her wounded father, she finds herself aboard his train. During a dinner stop, the train is stolen and - unbeknownst to Johnnie - Annabel is captured by enemy soldiers. Naturally, an endless chase ensues, full of boobie-traps, foolish acts, trickery, and quantum mechanics.

Fittingly, The Alloy Orchestra provides a score that chugs, screeches, and trembles along with the action in classic Mickey-Mouse style. Less kitschy than it sounds, it lends a certain element of rhythm and excitement.
As with all Keaton films, the mechanical tricks and physical comedy are impeccable. The battle scene is just as grandiose and impressive as one can imagine it was on its first screening. Who needs CGI when you have a train firing across a burning bridge and a river bursting its banks?

Favourite Quote:
Just kidding!

The Verdict: A classic, no doubt. Since I was first introduced to Keaton through his shorts, I'm spoiled and have a tendency to pout when the emphasis is on story over physical comedy. However, on the railroad, Keaton is in his element. I'm willing to retract my lower lip and say that  this is one of Keaton's most exciting adventures.

Further Viewing for Experts:
Oh, I don't know. How about the entire movie?!

(Follow the links, but don't tell them I sent you!)

[Image from LoveFilm website.]
Posted by Nicola Balkind 0 comments
Labels: classic, comedy, film, review, silent
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