movie taco: october 2014

8/12/2019 Movie Taco: October 2014

1/26INTERSTELLCHRISTOPHER NOLANS BLEAK SCI-FI

THE INSIDE STORY ON 2014S MOST PROMISING FILM


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2 Movie Taco www.buzzhub.info


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Movie Taco October 2014 3

REVIEWS

04 THE EXPENDABLES 3

06 GUARDIANS OF THEGALAXY

08 BOYHOOD

10 DAWN OF THE PLANET OF THE

APES

12 TRANSFORMERS: AGE OF

EXTINCTION

FEATURES

14 THE WORK OF CHRISTOPHER

NOLAN

16 OUT OF THIS WORLD The Story of Interstellar.

FROM THE EDITOR

Hello, and welcome to this fine edition of MovieTaco Magazine. This months cover features ourMost Anticipated Film of 2014, Christopher NolansInterstellar, and its stars- Matthew McConaughey,Anne Hathaway and Michael Caine- grace it.Inside we have a comprehensive feature on theNovember sci-fi drama with some beautiful,exclusive stills.Plus, reviews of the Summers biggest films-Transformers, Guardians of the Galaxy, The

Expendables 3- and the Summers best films-Boyhood, Planet of the Apes.

Next month, Jennifer Lawrence returns to MovieTaco for The Hunger Games: Mockingjay- Part 1.Until then, enjoy the issue!


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Its ironic that in a film with perhaps the most distinctive and memorable characternames ever, every actor is merely playing themselves. Arnold Schwarzeneger may beplaying Trench, but at one point, during one of the films laughably (and somewhatdeliberately) overblown action scenes he even shouts get to the chopper!, one of TheGovernators most famous lines.

Back for more fun are Sylvester Stallone, who directed the first Expendables and wasthe screenwriter on 2 and 3. Joining him at the start of the film are Jason Statham,Dolph Lundgren, Terry Crews and newcomer Wesley Snipes, the man who is being

broken out of a moving-train-prison. The opening is about as entertaining as amoving-train-prisonbreak could ever be, especially one involving a helicopter and Jason Statham. The rest of the film fails to hit this level of fun, and is merely a badly

THE EXPENDABLES 3

Whereactionheroes goto die


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Theres nothing funor memorable here.Move along!

assembled montage of team assembling,back-breaking and tank-shooting. Thefranchises right-wing, pro-militarypolitics (which surely attracted knownRepublicans Kelsey Grammar, Mel Gibsonand Arnie) are extremely questionable,and I pity Harrison Ford (long-time friendof Bill Clinton) for having to put up withso much nonsense.When Terry Crews character (HaleCaesar, if you must know) is almostkilled, Stallones character (Barney Ross)decides to retire his old friends from theteam and recruit some fresh blood. Heand Grammer go on a little tour to find

some young folk willing to fly around theworld on a plane blowing up people, andalong the way they pick up Kellan Lutz,

Victor Ortiz and Ronda Rousey (tokenfemale character alert!). Their first mis-sion: to take down Gibsons evil mega-lomaniac CONRAD STONEBANKS, who isevil.. . so hes evil.The problem is- CONRAD STONEBANKSis a sneaky fellow, and he captures thenew recruits, leaving Sly and ANTONIOBANDERAS? to save the world all bythemselves! Then the old team return.And Harrison Ford turns up. Flying a heli-copter. And Jet Li pops his head in for twominutes and gets THIRD BILLING!The problem with criticising theExpendables films is that they often

seem fully aware of how bad they are,but they think that the prolonged actionscenes are stupid fun rather than bor-

ing and stupid. Since everyones playingthemselves, the actors who are knownto be despicable people in real life areeven harder to watch than usual, and theonly people who seem to be awake areBanderas and Rousey (and no, she isnta strong female character. Her only pur-pose is to wear a form-fitting jumpsuitand jump around, and she says abouttwo lines).

Apart from the opening moving-train-

prisonbreak and a karaoke scene invok-ing Neil Youngs Old Man, theres nothingfun or memorable here. Move along.


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GUARDIANS OF THEGALAXY

When we reviewed Transformers: Age of Extinction, we made great mockery of Michael Bays use of the slow-moNOOOOO!, which made an appearance as Mark Wahlbergs character pounded his meaty fist into the ground.There is also a dramatic slow-mo NOOOOO! in James Gunns Guardians of the Galaxy, but we have a very strongfeeling that, in this case, the filmmakers are in on the joke.

Tongue-in-cheek from start-to-finish, never resorting to clichs without immediately pointing out their clichdnature, this is a refreshingly unique work from Marvel Studios, the team who- like Pixar before them- have

fallen into somewhat of a rut over the past year or so, with Iron Man 3, Thor: The Dark World and Mays CaptainAmerica: The Winter Soldier all following a similar narrative formula and lacking any new or interesting char-acters. Guardians, meanwhile is packed to the brim with new and interesting characters, from Chris Pratts PeterStar-Lord Quill to Vin Diesels Groot to Xandars local pawnbroker. There isnt a single person onscreen who isntintriguing to look at, and the detailed sets arent bad either! Pratt, who has done a superb job as the likeable,buffoonish Andy on Parks and Recreation for several years, provides the charm and wit necessary to make theexperienced but arrogant Quill a tolerable, never mind likeable, leading man. Joining him for the McGuffin-basedadventure are Zoe Saldana as the mysterious Gamora, Dave Bautista as hulking, big-hearted fighter Drax andBradley Cooper and Vin Diesel as Rocket Raccoon and Groot, the undisputed stars of the film and serious contend-ers (along with Apes Caesar and Koba) for the best CGI characters of 2014. Rocket is not only one seriously cooldude, but brings the required cynicism to the screen whenever things are about to get too obvious/emotionallymanipulative/boring. He is the soul of the film, and Groot is the true heart, with kindness and loyalty runningthrough his branches and showing in his eyes. Both are an absolute delight to watch, and get the best of Gunnsexcellent, fast-paced script to play with.


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The opening scene (unusually taking place BEFORE the Marvel Studios fanfare has played), sees Quill lose hismother to cancer before being captured by Michael Rookers Yondu, a snappy space pirate, and propelled into thedark realms of outer space to fend for himself. Hence having not been on Earth since the late 1980s, all of Quillscultural references come from and from shortly before that time, as do the songs on the films soundtrack- BlueSwede, The Runaways, Bowie, 10cc, The Jackson 5 and Marvin Gaye- whose music also played a substantial partin The Winter Soldier. Conveniently, Quill is a big fan of making cultural references, and so his fellow Guardiansare introduced to, at least the idea of, Footloose, Shel Silversteins The Giving Tree and Diana Ross. Whilst thispeppering of references does make Guardians substantially less timeless than the films it pays tribute to (StarsWars and Trek), it does give it an added sense of nostalgia, and harks back to such minor classics as Joe DantesExplorers, which had the idea of aliens being introduced to our pop culture at its core.

While James Gunns screenwriting brings this film up a level from its recent MCU, his directing style isnt par-ticularly unique, and theres nothing interesting visually that Shane Black, Alan Taylor or the Russo Brotherscouldnt have done. That said, the whole tone of the film, and its reliance on hip, niche references, would appearto be Gunns sole doing, and gives his involvement a major purpose.As expected, the film descends into formulaic, stuff-exploding-over-city nonsense in the last act, and Lee Paceand Karen Gillan are utterly forgettable as the primary antagonists who join Chris Ecclestons Dark Elf in the jailof Bad Marvel Villains. Give us Robert Redford any day!

Not sophisticated or unique enough to be truly excellent, but surprisingly intelligent and witty all the same, thisentry into the Marvelverse has the heart and the humour that we feared would be beaten out of it. Youll laugh,youll cry, youll stop crying because a talking raccoon tells you youre being pathetic.


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BOY HOOD

The average mainstream American film gives the viewer between 20 and 30 minutesworth of thought. Those who paid to see Michael Bays Transformers films think why didI put myself through that? while more intelligent fare like Gravity raise some simplifiedmoral issues about the human experience. Boyhood is the first film ive seen in a long,long time that has provided me with what I expect will be many years of thought- manyyears of reflection on my own life through the eyes of Richard Linklater, the writer-direc-tor who has spent over 12 years creating and perfecting this cinematic marvel, this poemon childhood (and parenthood).

Ellar Coltrane, the much-publicised lead of the film, whose real childhood was docu-mented on film between the ages of 7 and 19, is an absolute pleasure to watch in everyscene. From about half an hour until an hour in, the focus shifts from his character Masonto his sister Samantha (Lorelei Linklater) and his parents, and it is a great relief when hetakes control of the camera once again in Act 2. Richard Linklater must have had psychicabilities to know Coltrane would grow into both such a confident and competent youngactor and such a handsome, photogenic man!It has been discussed in the media that Boyhood is only one minute longer thanTransformers: Age of Extinction, the unwatchably stupid fourth entry into the blockbusterfranchise, but while Michael Bay uses his three hours to fill the screen with racial ste-

reotypes, underwritten and underdressed female characters and talking cars, RichardLinklater shows us the results of a decade-long experiment by which, in the oppositefashion to the modern dramality show formula, in which real people are placed inengineered situations, he puts actors in very real situations, and lets them do their work.


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In fact, this calm, steady film may be the perfectantidote for Bays explosion-fest! If you must seeTransformers, make sure to watch this beautiful workimmediately afterwards!

Whilst the majority of the film is simple, genuine sit-uations (moving house, camping trips, teenage par-ties, applying to college), there are some moments

of intellectual and existential maturity which raisethe quality of the script even higher. Mason and hisfather (Ethan Hawke)s conversation about the real-ism of elves, and the fact that whales are just asmagical as fantastical creatures, and a darkroom-setconversation between Mason and his teacher areabout as intense as the film gets. A few short scenesof domestic violence aside, there is nothing dramaticor soap opera-esque about Boyhood. Remember- its

simple and its real!When Linklater was making the film, he gathered theactors together for about a week every year and shota portion. Some are longer (the final, 2013 portion isabout half-an-hour) and some are very brief, but thetransitions are consistently subtle, and often wouldbe impossible to notice were it not for Mason andSamanthas changing looks. Each portion focuseson a particular time/event in the familys year (wedont get to see February 2006 AND October 2006,for example), and hence many things change duringthe quick transitions. One of Masons mother (Patricia

Arquette, the emotional core of thestory)s husbands, who plays a large rolein the story for two or three years, dis-appears entirely before the next scene,without a trace. Why? Because this filmis like Masons memories of his child-hood. He doesnt remember the cine-matic, clichd, dramatic moments, like a

wedding or a break-up. He remembersthe simple but important moments,and those brilliant moments are whatthis film is made of. We dip in and outof a boys life not at random moments,or moments of significance, but of themoments that made that boy the manhe is in the films final frame.

There isnt a person alive who willwatch Boyhood and not be able torelate deeply to a significant amount ofwhat happens on screen. The constantcharacters (Mason, Samantha, mom,dad) are so varied in their outlook onthe world, and the situations they areplaced in cover so much ground, thatthis truly is, by its closing scene, a filmfor EVERYONE.

Never flashy or overdramatic, Linklatersfilm is like childhood itself: natural,simple and mesmerising.


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DAWN OF THE PLANETOF THE APES

The plot of Dawn of the Planet of the Apes goes a little like this: monkeys live in forest, humans live incity. Most humans hate monkeys because they think monkeys made millions of other humans die. Somehumans know that it was in fact a few other humans who made millions of humans die- not monkeys.Monkeys do not like humans because humans do not like monkeys. When humans trespass in monkeyforest, monkeys get angry. Monkeys retaliate by trespassing in human city, and humans get scared.Humans try to ask monkeys for help. And so on and so forthThis may seem simple, and thats just what 20th Century Fox want you to think it is- a simple film. Thetrailers boast HUGE ACTION SCENES and LOTS OF HUMAN CHARACTERS, but fail to show what makesthis film (and its predecessor, 2011s Rise of the Planet of the Apes) so special- its sophistication, itsintensity and its heart.Andy Serkis, who has over the past 15 years proven himself to be one of Hollywoods finest actors, getshis first top billing here, in the role of Caesar, the ape adopted by James Franco (who is, ten years afterthe events of Rise, nowhere to be seen), but who later started the simian revolution. Now, he is theleader of the thousand-strong ape community living in the Muir Woods outside San Francisco, and themagnificent opening scene sees him lead his comrades into battle with a pack of deer and a very bigbear. Like all great leaders, Caesar is charismatic (the most charming blockbuster lead of the Summer?)and, at heart, a family man. As the film begins, his second child is born, and his eldest son (Nick Thurston)struggles with supporting his fathers controversial ruling decisions. Caesar and the orang-utan Maurice(Karin Konoval, returning after Rise) ponder if there are any humans left alive, minutes before JasonClarke, Keri Russell and a band of San Franciscan survivors show up at the apes home. Clarke is Malcolm,the de facto leader of the survivors, who answers only to Gary Oldmans Dreyfus. Along with his partnerand son (Russell and Kodi Smit-McPhee), he is attempting to access a damn located within the apespart of the forest which will provide the human community with much-needed power. His relationshipwith his son looks set to be mirrored with Caesar and his sons, but is never really explored. In fact,none of the human characters are ever given much depth, and the presence in particular of Oldmans


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character- whose motivations become extremely vague in the final act- is somewhat questionable. Thatsaid, Smit-McPhees short-lived friendship with Maurice, and their reading of a book together, is one ofthe films most moving moments.

Good human characters are not necessary in Matt Reeves film, however, as Serkis, Thurston, Konoval andToby Kebbell excel in their motion-capture performances as the apes. As the audience can see genuinewarmth in Caesers eyes, so too can they see a lust for power in the eyes of Koba (Kebbell), the secondmost influential ape and the cause of the human-ape tensions eventual eruption. Serkis and Kebbellwork brilliantly together, and when they fight each other brutally, its easy to forget that these are twomen in leotards rolling around on the floor.

The cinematography (by Prisoner of Azkaban DOP Michael Seresin) is at times spectacular, with the con-trast between the apes bodies and blazing fire being a particular visual highlight. Michael Giacchinoprovides a beautiful and haunting a score as he always does, with hints of Lost and Jeff Russos workon the Fargo miniseries. As for Reeves, who takes over from Rupert Wyatt, who directed Rise, he does agreat job of keeping the story as fresh as it could possibly, giving the humans enough screen time to bedifferentiated from the apes in their behaviour, and pulling off some of the most interesting filmmakingtactics of the Summer- for example, a long, single take of Malcolm running through an abandoned build-ing as bullets fly from all sides which is very reminiscent of Children of Men.

Andy Serkis didnt get an Oscar for The Lord of the Rings or King Kong, and he probably wont get onefor this, but for his captivating, heartbreaking performance as Caesar, with pain and love on his mo-capape face in equal measure, the least you can do is support this brilliantly-directed, brilliantly-acted film.


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eaten lots and lots of birthday cake. Theres just as much slow-motion action as always, but this time Bay hasadded the ultimate Hollywood Parody joke, something I dont believe has ever ACTUALLY been done beforein a film/ETC of this scale- the slo-mo NOOOOOOOOOOO!, as Marky Mark pounds his fist into the groundas his daughter is kidnapped in a giant net by the evil robot with a gun in his face.

Speaking of that giant net, there are lots of things in this ETC which seem to be heavily inspired by the clas-sic musical Chitty Chitty Bang Bang. Mark Wahlbergs character, like Caractacus Potts, is an INVENTOR. He,along with two children, goes on a magic journey with a magic car, only for a giant net to take away (oneof) the children. The similarities dont end there, but if we continue well never be able to watch CCBB again!About two-thirds of the way into the ETC, Bay decides to take the action to CHINA! Why? Because he wantsto show America the sights of his second favourite country? Because Hong Kong would be a great place tostage a giant Robot battle? FUCK NO! The reason is that China is now the #2 biggest market for cinema ONEARTH, and that- unsurprisingly- at time of writing, Age of Extinction has just become the Highest GrossingMotion Picture in the history of China. After 11 days. This. Transformers 4. Ever. And, when we get to China,does Bay show us some usually unseen, beautiful locations? Not in the least. We get a laughably unneces-sary helicopter shot of the Birds Nest Olympic Stadium and a scene of the Decepticons ship flying over theGreat Wall. Like we havent seen that before!

Explosion BOOM. SEXXXXXXX! EXPLOSION. BOOM BOOM BOOM BOOM BAZOOOOOOOM! TSEX! CARS! FAST CARS! FASTER FASTER FASTER! SCREEEEEEE! KABLOOOOMBAMMMMBAAAAAAARGH! SCREEEEEEE! EEEEEEEEEECH! USA! USA! THE MILITARY! AMERICA! USA! F-WORDFUNNY FAT PERSON! KABLEEEEEEEESH! BIG GUN! FACE-GUN! GUN-SWORD! WOMAN WITH GUN! PERSON WITH GUN! FUN! GUN! FRAISER WITH GUN! SMOKE MONSTER WITH GUN! WAHLBERG WISEXXXXXX!

Calling Michael Bay a filmmaker is like calling Kim Jong-Un a Democratic Leader. He doesnt know one endof a film from the other, but he sure makes nice-looking commercials. Its funny how they get released incinemas though, and people have to pay to see them, and they make billions of dollars at the box office. Howdid we get here, and more importantly, how do we get out?


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THE WORK OF C


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RISTOPHER NOL

1. INCEPTION (2010)

2. BATMAN BEGINS (2005)THE DARK KNIGHT (2008)

3. THE PRESTIGE (2006)

4. THE DARK KNIGHT RISES (2012)

5. MEMENTO (2000)6. INSOMNIA (2002)

7. FOLLOWING (1998)


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OVER THE PAST DECADE, CHRISTOPNOLAN HAS PRODUCED SOME OF

GREATEST AMERICAN FILMS OF THE 2CENTURYIN NOVEMBER, HE WILL UNVEIL HIS LA

CREATION:INTERSTELLA


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OUT OTHISORL


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The premise for Interstellar was conceived by film producer Lynda Obst and theoretical physicistKip Thorne, who were long-time friends. Based on Thornes work, the two conceived a scenarioabout the most exotic events in the universe suddenly becoming accessible to humans that wouldattract filmmaker Steven Spielbergs interest in directing. The film began development in June2006 when Spielberg and Paramount Pictures announced plans for a science fiction film based onThornes treatment. Obst was attached to produce the film, which Variety said would take severalyears to come together before Spielberg directed it. By March 2007, Jonathan Nolan was hired towrite a screenplay for Interstellar. To learn the science, Nolan studied relativity at the CaliforniaInstitute of Technology over the course of four years while writing the script. Later in 2007, Thorne

told The Australian that the film was based on warped space-time. Thorne also said people want-ed him to be cast as himself in the film.

The film remained in development for several years. In January 2013, Christopher Nolan enterednegotiations with Paramount and Warner Bros. to direct Interstellar. Nolan said he wanted toencourage again the goal of human spaceflight. He intended to write a screenplay based on his ownidea that he would merge with his brothers screenplay. He cited the films 2001: A Space Odyssey,


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Star Wars, and Blade Runner as influences on Interstellar. By the following March, Nolan was confirmed todirect Interstellar, which would be produced under his label Syncopy and Lynda Obst Productions.

Though Paramount and Warner Bros. are traditionally rival studios, Warner Bros., who released NolansBatman films and works with Nolans Syncopy, sought a stake in Nolans production of Interstellar forParamount. Warner Bros. agreed to give Paramount its rights to co-finance the next film in the Friday the13th horror franchise and to have a stake in a future film based on the TV series South Park. Warner Bros.also agreed to let Paramount co-finance a to-be-determined A-list Warners property. In August 2013,sources reported that Legendary Pictures finalized an agreement with Warner Bros. to finance approxi-mately 25 percent of the films production. Although it failed to renew its eight-year production partner-ship with Warner Bros., Legendary reportedly agreed to forego financing for Batman v Superman: Dawnof Justice in exchange for the stake in Interstellar. Nolan filmed Interstellar with anamorphic 35mm andIMAX film photography. IMAX cameras were used for Interstellar more than any of Nolans previous films.The director had practical locations built to minimize the use of computer-generated imagery, such as theinterior of a space shuttle. Some sequences of the film were shot with an IMAX camera installed in the


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nosecone of a Learjet. Nolan, known to keep details of his pro-ductions secret, strove to ensure secrecy for Interstellar. The WallStreet Journal reported, The famously secretive filmmaker hasgone to extreme lengths to guard the script to ... Interstellar, justas he did with the blockbuster Dark Knight trilogy. As one securitymeasure, Interstellar was filmed under the name Floras Letter. Forthe films production, cinematographer Hoyte van Hoytema washired for Interstellar. Wally Pfister had been the cinematographeron all of Nolans past films but was not available for Interstellardue to working on his directorial debut Transcendence.

Part of the filming in Iceland took place at the SvnafellsjkullglacierThe films principal photography was scheduled to last for fourmonths. It began on August 6, 2013 in the province of Alberta,Canada. Towns in Alberta where filming took place includedNanton, Longview, Lethbridge, and Okotoks. In Okotoks, filmingtook place at the Seaman Stadium and the Olde Town Plaza.Filming in the province lasted till September 9, 2013 and involvedhundreds of extras as well as approximately 130 crew members,most of them local. Filming also took place in Iceland, where Nolanhad previously filmed scenes for his 2005 film Batman Begins. InIceland, a two-week shoot was scheduled. A crew of approximately350 people, including 130 locals, worked on the shoot in Iceland.Locations included the Svnafellsjkull glacier and the town ofKlaustur. After the crew finished filming in Iceland, it moved toLos Angeles, California to film for 54 days. Filming in the state wasrelatively unusual since Californias tax credit was not availablefor films with a budget greater than $75 million. Filming locationsinclude the Westin Bonaventure Hotel and Suites, the Los Angeles

Convention Center, a Sony Pictures soundstage in Culver City, anda private residence in Altadena. Filming concluded in December2013, and Nolan started editing the film for its release in 2014.

Composer Hans Zimmer, who scored Nolans Batman film trilogy,is scoring Interstellar. Zimmer and Nolan plan to move away fromthe trilogys scores and to come up with a unique one. Zimmersaid, The textures, the music, and the sounds, and the thing wesort of created has sort of seeped into other peoples movies abit, so its time to reinvent. The endless string [ostinatos] needto go by the wayside, the big drums are probably in the bin.[34]Zimmer also said that Nolan did not provide him a script or anyplot details for writing music for the film and instead gave thecomposer one page of text that had more to do with [Zimmers]story than the plot of the movie.

Right:

Topher Grace, Michael Caine, Casey Affleck andWes Bentley in Interstellar.


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Above:

Anne Hathaway, Mackenzie Foy and JessicaChastain.


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Above and below:

Matthew McConaughey


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IN NEXT MO

MOCK


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NTHS ISSUE

GJAY PART ONE


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movie taco: october 2014

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