movie taco: december 2013

8/13/2019 Movie Taco: December 2013

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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



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



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,



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.



IN MARCH’S DIVERGENT ,

SHAILENE WOODLEY’S

TRISS LIVES IN A WORLD

WHERE SOCIETY IS

DIVIDED INTO 5



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!



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!



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!



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!



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!



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!



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!



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



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



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



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



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.



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



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



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.



IN NEXT MONTH’S

THE

WINTER

SOLDIER

THE EXCLUSIVE FIRST LOOK

AT MARVEL’S CONSPIRACY

PLUS

THE HOBBIT & ANCHORMAN- REVIEWED

REVIEW OF THE YEAR 2013- FILM & TV

JACK RYAN: SHADOW RECRUIT

movie taco: december 2013

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