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t just shows what we all know that, back in 2004, nobody- NOBODY- would have predicted
hat arguably the second most highly-anticipated sequel of 2013 would be the long-awaitedollow-up to a PG-13 comedy starring Will Ferrell and Paul Rudd. In fact, nobody would have
redicted this even two years ago, as the Hollywood careers of all the leads par Steve Carrell
tarted to seriously falter. In this case, is Anchorman: The Legend Continues simply a way for
errell, Rudd, David Koechner , producer Judd Apatow (who hasn’t had a huge hit since
Bridesmaids) and director Adam McKay to top up their bank accounts and get in a little world
romotional tour? It certainly wouldn’t appear that way from the laugh-out-loud funny
railers that have been released so far (and there have been dozens of them) which feature
uch brilliant 70s-set jokes as Carrell’s Brick standing in front of a green screen wearing
reen trousers and, upon seeinghimself on a monitor, begins to
weep- thinking he has no legs! Ah,
ou couldn’t find that kind of
humour anywhere else this
hristmas! Also, a great marketing
ampaign including a special Ben and
erry’s flavour and an official Ron
Burgundy autobiography, Let Me Off
t The Top, isn’t exactly going toharm the box office takings!
The Legend Continues is released
on December 20.
BACK IN THE
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The year was 2001, and film and literature fans across the globe awaited the release of one of the
most ambitious motion pictures of all time. Peter Jackson, the little-known director of some cultorror films, had taken charge of bringing JRR Tolkien‟s epic trilogy „The Lord of the Rings‟ to the
ig screen, a task which for years had been presumed impossible to complete, at least with the
erson in charge‟s dignity still intact by the end.
The „Rings‟ trilogy focuses on Frodo, a young hobbit (small, hairy feet, lives in Hobbiton, Middle
Earth) given a task even more difficult than Peter Jackson‟s was, to destroy the One Ring in the
res of Mount Doom. Mount Doom is very far away from Hobbiton. He is given the One Ring by
Gandalf, a kind but mysterious wizard with a troubled past, who accompanies him and the trilogy‟s
ther main characters, the „fellowship‟, for a large part of the story. I will not say any more abouthe story, as if you are reading this, you probably know the story. Before Tolkien wrote the „Rings‟
rilogy, he published a one-volume children‟s novel called „The Hobbit‟, about the cousin of Frodo,
Bilbo, who goes on a long (but slightly less long) journey across Middle Earth.
Before „The Lord of the Rings‟ films were made, the Weinsteins and United Artists expressed
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nterest in making a film of „The Hobbit‟, but obviously didn‟t when LOTR was released with New
Line. In 2006, when the rights for „The Hobbit‟, now owned by MGM, were set to expire, MGM
expressed interest in making the film with Peter Jackson and New Line. The problem was, Jackson
had sued New Line for not giving him royalties of merchandise, games and other film memorabilia.
He thought that New Line would let him make „The Hobbit‟ when the lawsuit ended, but New Line‟s
boss called Jackson “greedy”, adding that the director would “never again make a film with New
Line”.
New Line had no major hits after LOTR, and so invited Jackson back on board to be an executive
producer of „The Hobbit‟ after paying a fee of $250,000 for not supplying accountancy documents to
he courts.
n February 2008, it was announced that the film would be released in two parts, in December of
2011 and 2012, under the banner of Warner/New Line. The budget was placed at $150m per film,
compared to the $94m per film for LOTR. Jackson said he would not direct as he didn‟t want to have
o live up to the standard of his previous films. Guillermo Del Toro, the man behind „Pan‟s Labyrinth‟
and „Hellboy‟ was hired to direct the films. They went through pre-production with his name still stuck
on until early 2010, when he dropped out due to delays in the film stopping him from pursuing otherprojects (the first of which turned out to be the very good Pacific Rim) Later that year, Peter Jackson
was announced to be directing, to the joy of fans around the world.
n Summer 2012, the film was split into three, as Jackson felt he had “more to work with than he
previously expected”. People were pretty nervous about this extra split, as it was clearly for purely
inancial purposes, and would result in three overlong, low-on-plot films rather than two excellent
ones. It has to be said, most people‟s fears were met with An Unexpected Journey .
The first film, released to a $1bn haul last December, was hugely disappointing, with an insane
running time, relentless action and awful character development for pretty much everyone exceptMartin Freeman‟s Bilbo and, the star of the film, Andy Serkis‟ Gollum. Gollum‟s presence was so
welcome for many reasons. Firstly, it came a good three-quarters of the way into the film, and
ollowed 2+ hours of eating, scowling and unnecessary but somewhat welcome Christopher Lee
cameos. Secondly, as we all know, Serkis is magnificent in the role, and should have won an Oscar
or the original trilogy. Finally, seeing a familiar face from LOTR aside from Bilbo was a great relief,
which clearly explains the hugely marketed appearance of Orlando Bloom‟s beloved Legolas in The
Desolation of Smaug . Legolas wasn‟t exactly audience‟s favourite member of the Fellowship (Viggo,
ake your prize), but was certainly an important part of the trilogy, and has gone down in history ashe ONLY GOOD ROLE ORLANDO BLOOM WILL EVER PORTRAY. Luckily, Bloom doesn‟t have
o carry the Elven-portion of the film by himself. No, he will in fact be joined by three other Elves.
Most interestingly, Tauriel, played by Lost ‟s Evangeline Lilly (read more in our huge Lost feature,
September 2013 issue), a character not featured in Tolkien‟s original book. In fact, there are,
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ccording to Peter Jackson, no female characters referred to directly in the novel whatsoever. No
aladriel, no Tauriel. Obviously, releasing a major Hollywood film featuring characters who
epresent barely 50% of the world‟s population is utterly impossible, so Galadriel was stuck in Film1 and Tauriel is said to have an important role in #2. It‟s almost impossible that this decision will do
he film any harm, as Lilly is a reliably good actress and the character appears in promotion to be of
reat depth.
he other Elves featured are Luke Evans‟ Bard The Bowman, a respected resident of Mayor
tephen Fry‟s Laketown, and Lee Pace‟s Tharanduil, previously seen in Journey choosing NOT to
elp the Dwarves when Smaug first attacked Erebor. Tensions between this all-talk no-action Elf
nd Richard Armitage‟s Thorin will be at a franchise-high, so look out for some shrugs and shuffles
pon Tharanduil‟s appearance. he three-film divide has helped fans figure out how the remaining installments will be divided. As
he first film concluded with the flight of the Eagles, this shall with Bilbo‟s visit to his good friend
maug The Dragon, voiced by a little-known actor called Benedict Cumberbatch.
xcited? You probably are!
he Desolation of Smaug opens December 13.
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IN MARCH’S DIVERGENT ,
SHAILENE WOODLEY’S
TRISS LIVES IN A WORLD
WHERE SOCIETY IS
DIVIDED INTO 5
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Days before time of writing, it was
revealed by an anonymous source that
Bryan Singer’s X-Men: Days of Future Past
has been 20th Century Fox’s second most
expensive film ever, after a little flop
called Avatar . This news came as quite
unexpected, showing not only how much
faith the studio has in their mutants to
bring in the big bucks, but also in veteran
X director Singer, whose return to the
franchise after almost 12 years has been
welcomed unanimously by fans, and is
almost certain to produce a very good, if
not spectacular, film.
And why not spend a ton of money on this
film? It is extremely ambitious, in a
different way perhaps to Avatar , which
spent its budget on set design, CI and
action scenes. The budget of Days of
Future Past is undoubtedly going towards
ensuring that Singer would be able to
unite Patrick Stewart, Ian McKellen,
Michael Fassbender, James McAvoy,
Nicholas Hoult, Halle Berry, Jennifer
Lawrence and… oh yes… Hugh Jackman
on the big screen.
Will the film make its money back? Let’sbloody hope so!
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MITY
We don’t know if you’ve ever tried it, but explaining what a “Wes Anderson film” is
like to an Anderson-virgin is a pretty impossible task. The beautifully charming mix oflong shots, quirky characters and, well, all the other great stuff continues to result in
magical films from the director, but unlike with the work of some of his
contemporaries, you have to see it to believe it.
The Grand Budapest Hotel will clearly continue this trend, starring- like his last film,
Moonrise Kingdom- a young newcomer (Tony Revolori) alongside some of the best
thespians working today- among them Ralph Fiennes, Harvey Keitel, Ed Norton, Owen
Wilson, Jude Law, Bill Murray, Adrien Brody, Willem Dafoe, Jason Schwartzman, Jeff
Goldblum, Tom Wilkinson and an unrecognisable Tilda Swinton!
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In Divergent , the Dauntless faction
consists of leather-wearing, train-jumping
adrenaline-junkies. Tobey Marshall, Aaron
Paul’s character in the live-action film
adaptation of the popular Need for Speed
games, would fit in well with these people.Just out of jail, Tobey- a street racer
framed by a wealthy business associate-
joins a cross country race with revenge in
mind. However, his ex-partner has placed
a massive bounty on his head, resulting in
some big-ass action scenes and car-
battles. It’s like Fast and Furious, but
grittier and with more realism!
The action-packed, surprisinglyphilosophical trailers make this look great,
and Paul is a magnificent actor, but will
audiences actually be able to view this,
let’s be fair, relative newcomer as
anything other than Jessie Pinkman?
Opening weekend screenings of Need for
Speed will hopefully not be accompanied
by shouts of “Yeah Bitch, Magnets!” and
“Yo, Mister White!”
Paul doesn’t have to carry the film alone,
however, as he is joined by Fifty Shades’
Dakota Johnson, Michael Keaton and
Dominic Cooper. Yeah, bitch, actors!
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C NDOR
Batman. Beetlejuice. Jack Frost.
Where did Michael Keaton go? He used to be in so many big movies. Well, he’s been in a
lot of big movies recently- Toy Story 3, Toy Story: Small Fry , other Toy Story -related
shorts. Yeah, It seems Keaton has been stuck in Ken mode for a while now, but that’s all
about to change, as he has a proper comeback in 2014 with roles in Need for Speed
opposite Jessie Pin- we mean, Aaron Paul, comedy Birdman- in which he stars- and this
remake/boot of RoboCop, Paul Verhoeven’s classic tale of good-versus-evil, man-versus-metal.
Joel Kinnamann stars as the titular android-lawmaker, whilst Samuel L Jackson
provides some co-supporting acting for Keaton.
This has been delayed a bunch of times over the past few years, so let’s hope it isn’t as
bad as we think it’s going to be!
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BNEG TIO
“With great power comes great responsibility” said firstly
Cliff Robertson back in 2002, and Martin Sheen again in
2012 (slightly differently). Although it has been shouted in
poor young Peter Parker’s ear many a time, that message
still doesn’t appear to have rung true as he seems to keepmessing up, letting more evildoers invade NYC. 2014’s
sequel to Mark Webb’s hugely problematic 2012 reboot
promises to be far better a film than the first, with Jamie
Foxx and Paul Giamatti (currently starring in Saving Mr
Banks, Parkland and 12 Years A Slave) on board as villains
Elektro and Rhino, Shailene Woodley having had to be cut
as Mary Jane due to “too-much plot”, Dane DeHaan’s debut
as Harry Osbourne and Emma Stone’s Gwen’s imminent(spoiler) approaching!
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Saving Mr. Banks
Thomas Newman, composer of Finding Nemo, A Series of Unfortunate Events and now Saving Mr.
Banks, does two things in his music- and he does them very well. One is the accompaniment tocenes of fast-paced work (punching piano keys) and two is very emotional and grim themes
high pitched violins). John Lee Hancock‟s account of Walt Disney‟s attempts to persuade Mary
Poppins author PL Travers to sell him the rights to her novels is very similar to Newman. It
eatures fun, brilliantly nostalgic scenes which show the pre-production and planning of the soon-
o-be masterpiece, and less impressive portions involving Travers‟ childhood in Australia and her
elationship with her troubled father. Emma Thompson leads the 1961 section, giving an
stoundingly sympathetic and emotionally charged performance as adult Travers. Despite her
egular illogic and Disney (Tom Hanks in his second great turn of the year)‟s immense likeability,
he pain on Thompson‟s face as she recalls the times both joyful and difficult she lived during her
me in Australia while being near-forced to accept that her beloved character of Mary Poppins will
e taken away by the “capitalist monster” that is Disney.
This is a film produced by Walt Disney Studios (and their original logo card is displayed at the
pening of the film, naturally), but despite some people‟s predictions, the story nor the character
ppear to be softened or Disneyfied in any way. Hanks‟ Walt at times appears to be, reasonably,
ompletely ruthless, and not entirely the „bundle of pure joy‟ he was presented as. His mission to
eep his 20-year old promise to his now-adult children that he would adapt Travers‟ novel is
hown to dominate his life, even as he attempts to run his theme park and make several other
lms. As we now know, it was worth it.
One noticeably altered plot point is Travers‟ eventual enjoyment of the finished film, which we
witness as the camera closes in on her face at the World Premiere. In fact, Travers hated the film
nd refused to sell any more of the rights to her books to Disney. Honestly, the scene of her
watching the film is arguably the best in the entire film, so maybe Hancock made a good decision!
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There is a line early on in Saving Mr. Banks, when Emma Thompson arrives in her LA hotel room
efore going to meet Disney only to find it filled with gaudy Mouse House merchandise. She shoves
massive Mickey doll into a corner and says “you‟ll stay there until you learn about the art of
ubtlety”. Subtlety is this film‟s only major problem. The flashbacks to Travers‟ childhood which are
prinkled awkwardly throughout the first third and intercut more seamlessly later on feature some
esperate writing which is clearly intended to S-P-E-L-L E-V-E-R-Y-T-H-I-N-G O-U-T F-O-R U-S
why don‟t they just spell supercalifragilisticexpialidocious instead?) For example, it is set up early
n that Travers‟ banker father, played by the usually reliable but miscast Colin Farrell, suffers fromlcoholism. However, he continues to be shown drinking as if his habit is a revelation, and his line of
Give me a
rink… I
mean, give
me a hug!”
uring a
articularly
istressing
ccurrences laughably
wful. The
ver-
manipulative
cenes that
ome in
ater
ashbacks
o the film a
errible
ustice and
ull the
udience away from the charm and joy of the 1961 antics, and not in a good way.
As someone who considers Poppins one of the best motion pictures ever made, I really couldn‟t
ave been happier with how this film treater both the making of and finished product. Jason
Schwartzman and BJ Novak as Richard and the recently deceased Robert Sherman, genius
ongwriters of Poppins as well as the superior follow-up Bedknobs and Broomsticks and The Jungle
Book , are absolutely fantastic, doing a great job of singing the magnificent songs as if they are their
wn and interacting with Thompson even as her sourest of moments. Speaking of the songs, they
re treated with as much respect and love as they could possibly be, and one of the film‟s highlights
nvolves a delightful echoing of Poppins„ „Let‟s Go Fly A Kite‟ sequence.
While all that charm is to be expected, it is the depth and emotional level of the third-act theme of
he fictional characters and story of Poppins seeping into and helping the lives of both Travers and
Disney that is the film‟s true saving grace and the reason why it should definitely receive some non-
cting awards attention. It spoke personally to me, a cinephile and die-hard Mary Poppins fan, and
m certain it will to millions of other people. A potential sequel to Saving Mr. Banks could involve aroup of modern day film fans discussing their appreciation of, say, Bedknobs and Broomsticks (my
econd favourite film, a good few places ahead of Poppins). An independent comedy-drama,
tarring Jessie Eisenberg sounds about right. Someone get to work on a screenplay and we‟ll sell
he rights to Disney!
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t’s time to play the audaciously bombastic music. It’s time to light the blaring strobe
ights. It’s time to meet the tributes on the Hunger Games tonight. The Muppet Show ran
rom 1976 to 1981 and began the same way every week. Repetition, they call it. TV is abig fan. Criminal Minds is basically the same thing every week with some characters
nd crimes varied. The Hunger Games Colon Catching Fire, Francis Lawrence’s big-
budget, big-release date sequel to Gary Ross’ comparitively small 2012 teen sci-fi
hriller, is like Episode 2 of The Muppet Show- the first, but with bells on. That first
daptation of Suzanne Collins’ bestselling and largely OK young adult trilogy featured
young heroine Katniss Everdeen forced to contend in a futuristic TV gameshow where
he young players must kill each other until one remains. This film sees pretty much that
ame thing happen, but with bells on. It picks up months after The Hunger Games‘udden ending, which saw Katniss and her boy/friend Peeta Mellark cheat the usual
ystem by threatening to both kill themselves until they were declared joint winners.
Donald Sutherland’s villainous caricature-of-a-leader President Snow is not happy about
his, and comes to visit Katniss minutes into the opening act. The first film consisted of
wo acts- Katniss preparing for The Games and Katniss in The Games. Catching Fire,
however, has three, which seriously effects the running time. The first 50 minutes is
Katniss After The First Games, going on the ‘Victory Tour’ and encountering the
mpending revolution she has caused. The middle 45 minutes is Katniss preparing forThe Second Games, as it is revealed that for the 75th Anniversary, all contestants will be
ormer winners. The last hour is, as you might expect, Katniss in The Games. Unlike in
he previous film, it isn’t only about Katniss once we enter the arena. Her fellow tributes
The Hunger Games: Catching Fire
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play a much bigger role
than last time, most
likely because they are-
apart from Peeta- adults,
played by accomplished
actors who are capable
of appearing beside thesuperb Lawrence
without looking silly.
Lawrence is a truly great
actress, as most people
on Earth are aware of.
However, it’s awful that
she was awarded a token
Oscar this year for Silver Linings Playbook , undoubtedly her worst major performanceto date, as she could have gotten one in a year or two for a far more memorable film.
Her face is rarely off screen during Catching Fire, and when it is the focus is put on
Philip Seymour Hoffman in, frankly, a cameo as head ‘gamesmaker’ Plutarch
Heavensbee. THG saw the only cutaways from The Games go to Wes Bentley’s
‘gamesmaker’, but one would expect the more important characters of Woody
Harrelson’s Haymitch and Elizabeth Banks’ Effie to get some Games-time scenes here-
they don’t. In fact, The Games themselves- starting halfway through a tremendously
long work of cinema- feel incredibly obtuse. I have come to the theory that the reason
for the film’s length is to make the audience even more sympathetic to the Tributes’
ordeal, as they sit and wait for their torture to end. Katniss knows not when she will be
killed, but Peeta leaving The Games alive is her main goal throughout. The fact that two
more of these films are set for release, and that Katniss is possibly the most beloved
franchise hero currently in a Hollywood series suggests everything may not turn out as
planned. Josh Hutcherson does a surprisingly good job as Peeta here, far more likeable
and watchable than before. In THG, he was a wimpering, soppy teenager whom Katniss
had no passion for, and hence it was hard for the audience to like. As Katniss starts to
fall for Peeta during Catching Fire, so do we, seeing his kindness and selflessness come
to the fore through all his actions. Liam Hemsworth, meanwhile, is a total waste of
space once again as Katniss’ little-seen childhood friend Gale, and gives a bad name to
young Aussie actors with the surname Hemsworth. That aforementioned supporting
cast of tributes do fine work, Jeffrey Wright charming as tech expert Beetee, Amanda
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Plummer oddly charismatic as Wiress, Jena Malone terrifyingly tough as Johanna and
Sam Claflin not as revoltingly over-handsome as the trailers would make out. That’s
the thing about these films that makes them different from Twilight: even if the
marketing makes you think there’s a token hottie male about to turn up, there isn’t.
Every character in this film (and there are LOADS) is there for a reason! The problems
with the film come mostly with it’s time and timing (ironic, as ‘time’ is a major theme).
Aside from the 2.5 hours of action, The Games are very rushed. Every time a ‘badthing’ happens to the tributes, something else happens straight away. Hence, all the
very well made action scenes meld into one memory, taking away strongly from the
film’s lasting impression. If the middle section, the Muppet Show section, of all the
stuff Katniss did in the first film had been cut to 15-20 minutes and The Games
extended to 80, the over all package would have been seriously improved. If you’ve
read the novel, you’ll be aware of the massive cliffhanger ending- surprisingly unique
for a YA work, which here feels like a total anticlimax- coming halfway through a little
built-up scene. After the first film’s terribly constructed finale and this film’s extremelength, it would have been nice if they added just a little bit of a proper ending, apart
from the epic, literal, collapse of the system. Considering how the tone of the whole
film echoes Harry Potter and the
Deathly Hallows- Part 2, from the
beautifully quiet opening scenes tothe fiery middle section, it’s odd
that Francis Lawrence wouldchoose to practically lead straight
into next November’s unnecessary‘Part 1′ of the final
film, Mockingjay. With the
explosion-heavy, military pornography that is Transformers 4
ust around the corner, it’s hard not
to appreciate a major blockbusterwhich uses violence only to showhow horrible it is and which carries
an important but in no way preachy
message for teens. Lawrence proves
once again how amazing she is,Katniss being the role she was born
to play, while the seriously
problematic running time achieves
one positive thing in giving the
supporting cast time to shine. A
bloated but consistently engaging,
gloomy but sexy adaptation, this is
another high quality action film to
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If he were to ever give up filmmaking, Alfonso Cuaron could easily make a career as a
hypnotist. With an uncanny ability to exhilarate millions of innocent people into a state of near
unconsciousness with simple imagery and sound, the man is an expert magician. However,
let‟s hope he remains a film director until he takes his dying breath, as someone capable of
producing such an astoundingly beautiful, deeply moving and shockingly heartbreaking work
as Gravity should never, ever give up the day job.
Much has been said of Gravity „s brilliance, and those who assume they “wouldn‟t like it” for
such trivial a reason as not enjoying previous Sandra Bullock films or “hating space movies”
have most likely become sick and tired of all the hype over it. Those people are wrong. Plain
wrong. Whether you have a passionate dislike of Sandra Bullock, 3D, space, George Clooney,
Alfonso Cuaron, David Heyman, IMAX or any of the other small components which combine to
create this work of genius, there will be a part of you which leaves the cinema (and I truly hope
nobody “waits for the DVD” on Gravity ) thinking about the art form that is cinema, and howspectacularly it can be used when placed in the right hands. The story is simple, and there‟s
nothing wrong with that. Sandra Bullock is Ryan Stone, a rookie NASA engineer on her first
mission with astro-veteran Matt (George Clooney) and a number of other „nauts. During a
routine spacewalk and series of repairs, the Russians accidentally hit one of their own
satellites with a test missile and millions of tons of rubble are sent hurtling towards our
protagonists. By the time the rubble arrives, halfway through the film‟s utterly immersive 15-
minute opening take, the great hypnotist Cuaron has drawn the audience so cleverly and
expertly into the jerky movement of the characters‟ bodies around their spacecraft that, as theaction kicks in, it‟s an utterly terrifying and heart-stopping rollercoaster experience. Bullock was
scorned for being awarded Best Actress at the 2010 for the relatively mediocre The Blind Side,
Gravity
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but I doubt anyone would argue that a second trophy would be fully deserved. Bullock threw
herself head-first into this role, displaying the kind of unique involvement with a character rarely
seen in Hollywood any more, and reserved for method actors. If the film careers of everyone
involved in this film were to dissolve into thin air immediately, Bullock could probably become a
genuine astronaut- if her entirely believable work here is anything to go by- and George Clooney
could forge a successful life as anything he wanted- he‟s just that charming. This is his best work
in years, and considering he almost never appears in bad or even average films, that‟s quite anachievement. His character is the anchor for Bullock‟s, the one thing she can spot in the distance,
float towards and grab onto whilst lost in the vast wilderness of outer space. His charisma is his
strong point, but the real depth of Matt lies in his ability to remain composed throughout all the
turmoil of the two characters‟ scenes together. Any scared astronaut would be lucky to have him
for a companion.
While the fairly standard plot isn‟t a huge problem for the film, it‟s only real problem does lie with
the stor y, and in an extremely clichéd dramatic beat of a character‟s arc that arrives towards the
end. Mainstream audiences looking for a blockbuster „popcorn‟ movie won‟t even notice the
problem with it, but those crossing their fingers for a masterpiece as this writer was will be quite
dismayed that Cuaron and his writing-partner son Jonas made the mistake of not changing it. As
the visuals, performances and general structure remain top quality, it‟s the one small factor
of Gravity which prevents it from reaching the heights of recent masterpieces like Inception- in my
opinion, a perfect film. It‟s just as well that the only issue arrives late in the story, as it allows one
to spend at least the first 70 minutes fully immersed in Ryan‟s adventure- whether she be climbing
the side of a space station, escaping a fire or encountering more space-rubble that we‟ve ever
seen on film! Religion, whilst used far too often by less imaginative directors in similar films
as Gravity , is never raised as a major issue or part of Ryan‟s mental state, a great relief.
Though I will personally always choose Harry Potter when pitched against any other film, most
people will agree that this is Alfonso Cuaron‟s best film, and the best space film of the 21st
century. JJ Abrams and his Enterprise crew have the fun, the sex and the laughs. Ryan and Matt
have brought the imagination, the breaking of the limits of what we once thought possible to put
on a screen. Gravity makes Avatar look like a Saturday morning cartoon, and it‟s a good thing that
very few settings, actors or props feature in this film, as you will never see anything in Gravity thesame way again.
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have great sympathy for the marketing team of Peter Landesman‟s Parkland , a by-the-book
account of what the US government tell you happened to John F Kennedy on November 22,
963. They have had to promote this film in a way which gives the impression that it features
omething interesting, engaging or- perish the thought- controversial, when in fact it is simply
00 minutes of famous actors dressed up all silly talking about a historical event which
obody is really mourning anymore. If you are a person who wakes up every morning and
bursts into tears at the idea of Kennedy not being alive, you will adore Parkland . If you are
nyone else on Earth, you will simply shrug and most likely say either “Oooh.. I do like Paul
Giamatti” or “Zac Efron‟s hair gets better every time I see it”. Both Efron and Giamatti give
ecent performances as a man who filmed the assassination and one of the Parkland
Hospital doctors, respectively. Also on the bill is Iron Man 3„s James Badge Dale as Lee
Harvey Oswald (who, according to this film, is the ONLY POSSIBLE SUSPECT)‟s brother,
ackie Weaver a standout as their mother and Billy Bob Thornton as an extremely clichéd
CIA official. As you can see, there‟s nothing new in this film, nor is there anything even mildly
tillating or memorable in the script or on-screen action. A sign of a good real-life drama (a
ecent example being the superb Captain Phillips) is that, despite the story‟s ending being
nown to all, there is still tension and suspense. Neither feature in Parkland . There is only
acting, talking, more acting and eventually the utterly unmoving (at least to this born-after-
963 Irishman) recreation of JFK‟s funeral.No laughs, no tears. Lots of acting!
Parkland
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Eponymous films are a rarity in Hollywood these days. The name of a character appearing in a title has
hroughout the early 21st century been reserved for biopics (Lincoln, Diana, Mandela: Long Walk to
reedom) and the Harry Potter series. However, there‟s a new kid on the block who‟s name is plastered
cross the marketing and dialogue of his film- Ender Wiggin, played by Hugo and The Boy in the Striped
ajamas star Asa Butterfield, one child star who has proven himself to have equal dramatic range and
creen presence as his adult contemporaries in recent years, working with Martin Scorsese to magical
esults and appearing in a recurring role in BBC‟s Merlin. His star-power has truly been tested for the
rst time, however, with Ender’s Game, which features neither the behind-the-camera talent of Hugo norhe literary source of Pajamas. Butterfield does not, mind you, have to carry the weight of this $110m
roduction alone, as Movie Star Supreme Harrison Ford has tagged along for the ride, scowling and
mirking his way through surprisingly honest scenes in equal measure.
he themes of self-professed homophobe Orson Scott Card‟s decades-old science-fiction novel, on
which the film is based, are apparently far darker than those that appear in Origin: Wolverineleader
Gavin Hood‟s adaptation. In the book, Ender is six rather than Butterfield‟s sixteen- a decision made
oth to make the film less emotionally disturbing and to add a pathetic and utterly unbelievably romantic
ubplot between Ender and Hailee Steinfeld‟s Petra (a frontrunner for Worst Token Female of 2013).
hen again, why can‟t two six-year olds fall for each other? It would fit perfectly in the surreally old-ashioned and unusually odd universe of Hood‟s film.
Ender’s Game is a film that isn‟t really worth seeing. However, it‟s better to see it and make up your own
mind about why the hell it exists than read someone else‟s opinion of it. There is a recurring plot in
which Ender plays a video game featuring a mouse hero, which eventually gets more and more
errifying and warped until a major twist reveals its true nature. Make of it what you will, including this in
family-oriented holiday blockbuster, but the thought of a sequel being made no matter how this does
nancially is laughable!
Ender’s Game
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THIS MONTH IN… 2011
Robert Downey Jr made the first of many cover appearances in December
2011 as he headlined our Sherlock Holmes special issue. Inside were features
on his film, A Game of Shadows, and the second season of BBC’s Sherlock (thehird of which is set for January 2014). Plus, we reviewed Hugo, Tower Heist ,
mmortals and Arthur Christmas.