Stuart OConnor's blog | Screenjabber

Screenjabber Podcast Special: Iron Man 3

Posted by Stuart OConnor | Wed, 24/04/2013 - 19:30

Excelsior! Join Doug Cooper, Tom Mimnagh, Simon Thompson and host Stuart O'Connor as they chat about the absolutely marvellous Iron Man 3. Nuff said, now go and have a listen ...

You can listen to and download the podcast here – or subscribe to it on iTunes ... plus you can follow us on Twitter and join us on Facebook.

PubQuest: We're looking to take the Screenjabber Pubcast on the road, and want your input. Know a great pub in London that we should visit to record the show? Then drop us a line and let us know.

WriterQuest: We're seeking some more writers, particularly those who want to cover video games for us.
Please get in touch if you're keen.

News Jab: Tom Cruise back on top with Oblivion

Posted by Stuart OConnor | Mon, 22/04/2013 - 05:36

By Rich Matthews

The only big new release this week at the US box office was Tom Cruise’s sci-fi mystery actioner Oblivion, directed by Tron: Legacy’s Joseph Kosinski. Oblivion easily took the top spot with a three-day opening gross of $38.2m, Cruise’s fifth-biggest opening weekend behind the first three Mission: Impossibles and 2005’s Steven Spielberg blockbuster War Of The Worlds. Costing Universal and Elliot Inc $120m to produce, Oblivion opened outside the US last week, so has already racked up a global gross of $150m.

Dropping to number two was Jackie Robinson biopic 42 with $18m, taking the baseball flick to a 10-day total of $54.1m. Starring Harrison Ford and Chadwick Boseman, 42 had the biggest opening for any baseball film and only declined 34% in this second weekend. Fox and Dreamwork’s The Croods held at number three, meanwhile, its $9.4m weekend helping it pass the $400m mark internationally.

Likewise, the week’s number five movie – G.I. Joe: Retaliation, grossing $5.78m – crossed the $300m global milestone, its $322.9m overtaking the gross of its predecessor G.I. Joe: The Rise Of Cobra’s $302m. Just ahead of Joe at number four was Scary Movie 5, dropping a steep 56% to gross $6.3m, taking its tally to £22.9m – it looks likely that the fifth parody in the Dimension Films franchise may well fail to even match the $40m opening weekend gross of part 4, let alone its final tally.

Elsewhere, The Place Beyond The Pines went wide to add $4.7m to its $11.4m total at number six, while Olympus Has Fallen’s total gross hit $88.1m at number seven. Bringing up the back end of the top 10, Evil Dead took $4.1m for $48.5m in total, Jurassic Park 3D eked out another $4m to reach $38.5m and current 2013 champion Oz The Great And Powerful magicked another $3m to swell its coffers to $223.8m.

Next Friday sees the domestic bow of Michael Bay’s bodybuilding passion project Pain And Gain starring Mark Wahlberg and The Rock, while mega-release Iron Man 3 opens internationally prior to its May 3 US release.

IN OTHER NEWS

• New Star Wars film yearly from 2015 | The BBC

• Tom Hiddleston in talks for The Crow remake | The Wrap

• Scorsese to talk Silence in Cannes | Screen Daily

• Cannes Film Festival unveils lineup with strong global focus | Reuters

Screenjabber Podcast: It's as easy as ABC

Posted by Stuart OConnor | Sun, 21/04/2013 - 16:20

Listen in as host Stuart O'Connor is joined by Doug Cooper, Stuart Barr for a bit of showbiz gossip and a chat about the films Rebellion, The ABCs of Death, The Lords of Salem, The Look of Love and Bernie. And please excuse the technical Skype-related glitches ... it's enough to drive a podcaster back to the pub!

You can listen to and download the podcast here – or subscribe to it on iTunes ... plus you can follow us on Twitter and join us on Facebook.

WriterQuest: We're seeking some more writers, particularly those who want to cover video games for us.
Please get in touch if you're keen.

Taking Out the (Trailer) Trash

Posted by Stuart OConnor | Sat, 20/04/2013 - 14:58

By Jake O'Neill

"They give away the whole film" is an increasingly common and justifiable complaint about the two-and-half-minute trailers that purport to "tease" upcoming movies. And while some trailers do indeed seem to include shots from the final scenes of a film, I believe they should be celebrated in their own right as hyper-distillations of features, or mini-films.

Yes, they can spoil a film, but they can also feel you with a sense of anticipation, excitement and awe which is, quite frankly, what cinema is all about. So without further ado, here is what will hopefully become a regular column exploring the world of "coming to a cinema near you".

Man of Steel

Spoilers: nothing major unless you’re unfamiliar with any other Superman film. The long-awaited reboot of the Superman franchise comes from director Zack Snyder (300 and Watchmen) and producer Christopher Nolan (Dark Knight etc). Opening with scenes on Superman’s home planet of Krypton, the trailer follows the traditional Superman narrative arc which we all know and love.

The opening is fairly jarring as it contains more sci-fi scenes than is typically associated with Superman. Throughout, the alien-technology/General Zod snippets look like a remake of The Avengers that proved such a huge success last year. There’s been a great deal of discussion about Nolan’s involvement making Superman darker, reflecting his great work on Batman, but Superman is a completely different kettle of superhero and shouldn’t ever really be dark. Superman is the all-American hero (cleancut, honourable, never lies) and a true Superman flick should be blue skies and bright colours.

That’s why comparisons with The Avengers should be no surprise as Whedon managed to make a Disney film a great superhero film. Plus, with commercial pressures a constant consideration (and the trailer attributing up to 25% of the box office) selling it as this year’s The Avengers is a good route to take. Unfortunately, it may leave the film lacking in originality and an audience deflated; not to mention the inevitably unfavourable comparisons with Iron Man 3.
Trailer: 8/10 for excitement.
Film: 6/10 for not being able to match the hype.

The Great Gatsby

Spoilers: more than I care to mention.
Few film directors manage to present style in the way that Baz Luhrmann does, but with this trailer it looks like someone has struggled to swallow his previous films and brought them back up in one style-heaped mess. Using another classic work (and Leonardo DiCaprio again), Luhrmann has picked the story that epitomises hedonism, set in a time of prosperity that just hasn’t existed since. Unfortunately, the trailer does seem to give away a real cross-section of the narrative, and while it doesn’t have a clear arc in itself (which is arguably good) it does spoil plot points that are usually reserved for endings. That said, it is clearly about the look and style of the film, with the appeal being in Luhrmann’s ability to make almost anything look desirable.

With the likes of the ever-underrated DiCaprio and the increasingly-talented Carey Mulligan, there are plenty of reasons to flock in your thousands to see this film. In times of economic woe, Hollywood’s escapism thrives and this film is coming just at the right time. What the story lacks, the experience will more than make up for.
Trailer: 7/10 for looking so fine but spoiling too much.
Film: 8/10 for being everything it should be.

World War Z

Spoilers: Nothing major.
I feel like this trailer has been grating at my very existence for some time now. Who thinks this looks good? You’re wrong. First of all, pick a genre. A trailer’s worst trait is its attempt to appeal to everyone – if everyone has to agree, you end up with vanilla. Which is fine. Fine, not special. In World War Z we experience the full spectrum of genres: family drama, horror, disaster, zombie (is this its own genre yet?), adventure and thriller. The problem with large-scale storylines is that you can never do enough. I appreciate Brad Pitt is trying to be humanised with scenes of his family, but it just adds another dimension to an already busy advert.

The CGI zombie hoards seem to have been rendered again since the first trailer but unfortunately they still look like second-rate animation and frankly somewhat something of a backdrop to the drama unfolding with Pitt’s feelings about his family. Expect the film to be set in as few destinations as the trailer: American suburbs, military base, the Middle East and a plane.

The plane: what’s that about? It’s clearly going to come near the end of the film as Pitt is not with his family and he’s no longer in the Middle East. But in terms of its inclusion in the trailer, the editors have clearly said: "That’s exciting, put that in." Why no one said "Why?" is a mystery.
Trailer: 3/10 because it could be worse.
Film: 3/10 Expect The Day After Tomorrow but not as good.

Pubcast Special: What next for HMV?

Posted by Stuart OConnor | Fri, 19/04/2013 - 10:45

Now that HMV has been rescued, Screenjabber's Stuart O'Connor is joined by Anchor Bay's Rod Smith (@pompeyrod), Organic Marketing's Chris Warrington and The Raygun's Tim Murray (@theraygun) to examine what comes next for the retailer.

You can listen to and download the podcast here – or subscribe to it on iTunes ... plus you can follow Screenjabber on Twitter and join us on Facebook.

WriterQuest: We're seeking some more writers, particularly those who want to cover video games for us.
Please get in touch if you're keen.

News Jab: London premiere for Wallander film The Troubled Man

Posted by Stuart OConnor | Wed, 17/04/2013 - 17:13

The Nordic Noir Film Club will present the UK premiere of a new feature-length Wallander film, The Troubled Man, in London on Monday. This one-off screening will be followed by a Q&A with the original Wallander himself, Krister Henriksson.

The UK premiere will take place at London's Leicester Square Theatre on April 22 from 8.30pm. Tickets for this one-off event are available from the theatre's website.

Based on the best-selling book by Henning Mankell, The Troubled Man – which is set for a full theatrical run later in 2013 – follows inspector Kurt Wallander down an investigative path which, following the death of a deep-sea diver, uncovers links to classified State Affairs involving Sweden's most powerful political offices and the CIA.

Also embroiled in the case are members of Wallander's own extended family, including Håkan von Enke, a retired forefront officer from the Swedish Navy. As events and people from the past resurface, Håkan goes missing. After discovering a series of undercover espionage operations from the Cold War involving the now-missing Håkan, Wallander is forced to start an unofficial investigation of his own...

Krister Henriksson was introduced to UK fans as Wallander when BBC FOUR first aired the series in 2008. Krister is by far the most-loved incarnation of Mankell's character, and this is an unmissable opportunity to hear one of Sweden's most venerated stage and screen actors discuss his interpretation of the character and his illustrious career.

Henriksson is currently making his London west-end stage debut in Doktor Glas, which runs from April 16 to May 11 at Wyndham’s Theatre.

IN OTHER NEWS

• Man of Steel trailer released | New York Daily News

• Britney Spears to contribute song to Smurfs 2 | Variety

• Cybermen and Daleks to take on Doctor Who for 50th | Virgin Media

• Murdoch looks to past and future with 21st Century Fox | The Australian

Zombier: a tasty treat for the undead

Posted by Stuart OConnor | Tue, 16/04/2013 - 08:35

By Pollyanna McIntosh

I have a soft spot for zombie movies. Ironically, for someone who has played a murderous cannibal, I'm not a healthy horror watcher.

The thing is I get scared. Really.

After the film is off my brain is just getting started on the terrifying danger I'm in from the film's killer/vampire/ghost/clown/child. But with zombies, I don't carry that fear with me to bed. I can enjoy them on screen but can't imagine they'll come after me. And, if they do, if the end of the world really does bring undead flesh-craving slow-walkers, I know it won't be personal. I can just feed them my flatmate and make a run for it.

So, a zombie fan I am and when I heard the folks at Fyne Ales (my brother-in-law's award-winning Scottish brewery) were about to release a zombie beer, I knew I had to try it. To get my hands on a few bottles, I told them I'd like to tell more horror fans out there about their new brew, to share it with lovers of life, and death. Well thank you guys cause it worked and this Scottish lass got herself some free beer. Problem is, now I've tasted the 6.9% malty black porter that is ZOMBIER, I am a slave to a new craving of my own.

The first thing you notice about ZOMBIER is that the label is just plain cool. In a retro movie poster style, the bloodied undead reach out for you under two dismembered, rotted hands clinking pints together with ZOMBIER emblazoned across the middle in metallic red, like a warning. The names of proud brewers, Chris Lewis and Jake Griffin rest under the title, "IT'S THE END OF THE WORLD AND I FEEL FYNE". Lewis and Griffin won a nationwide home brew competition and were asked to collaborate on the project with Fyne Ales.

It's the kind of outgoing, community-spirited inventiveness you'd expect from a brewery that has brought a beer, food, music and comedy festival to the valley it nestles in and now attracts hordes of campers every summer to FyneFest. Perhaps it was these campers rising from their tents every morning clutching a half eaten venison burger that inspired ZOMBIER in the first place.

Then there's the taste; rich, deep, treacly. It's so malty without being thick or sweet and though black as night and strong at 6.9% it's ever so smooth. If I had only one word to describe I'd use "roasted" and that's exactly what you'll be after you get your first taste.

It may be in the family but I'd choose this porter in a blind taste test every time. ZOMBIER is so devilishly moreish I could drink it Day, Night and Return for more at Dawn.

I've watched Fyne Ales grow from a passionate husband and wife team, making the best of the soft Highland waters on their farm by Loch Fyne to become Scotland's most asked for craft beer with many an award under their belts. Those in the know from the UK to Ireland to Japan (the brewery hopes to extend its reach to the US and Italy next) have enjoyed Fyne Ales' best known beers: Highlander, Jarl, Avalanche, Vital Spark, Maverick, Hurricane Jack and Piper's Gold and beer buffs will also know their new experimental and absolutely delicious seasonal ales, of which ZOMBIER is the latest.

They say it goes best with barbecue, smokey ribs and anything chocolate but if you choose to drink it with a good friend, this cannibal lady won't hold it against you. Enjoy!

No doubt coming to the Winchester soon but for now you can find ZOMBIER at Scottish pubs including The Inn Deep, Hanging Bat and Mash Tun and, of course Fyne Ales' own onsite tap. Also in off licenses and online from www.fyneales.com

• Pollyanna McIntosh is on Twitter: @PollyAMcIntosh

Zombier: A devilishly strong black Porter
Abv:Size: 330ml bottles, 12 per case
Hops: Target, Junga, Nugget
Malt: Various varieties of undead malt and bits of brains
Tasting notes: A deep black porter with a caramel tan head. Big aromas and flavours of treacle, toffee and liquorice with hints of chocolate and coffee. A lingering roasted malt bitterness returns from the dead with bite.
What makes it special?: Zombier is a Fyne Ales collaboration brew with home brewers Jake Griffin and Chris Lewis, prize winners at the 2012 IBD Scottish home brewing competition. The beer has an incredibly complex malt build, the most complex Fyne Ales have ever used, making it very dark but surprisingly smooth.
Food pairing: Great with BBQ burgers and smokey ribs and with anything chocolate.

• To keep up to date with the ever-evolving Fyne Ales follow them on Twitter and Facebook

News Jab: Biopic 42 hits home run at US box office

Posted by Stuart OConnor | Sun, 14/04/2013 - 20:38

By Rich Matthews

Warner Bros' baseball biopic 42 knocked expectations out of the park by scoring $27.3m at the US box office this weekend. Starring Chadwick Boseman as legendary player Jackie Robinson and Harrison Ford as Brooklyn Dodgers manager Branch Rickey (best name ever!), 42 is directed by A Knight’s Tale’s Brian Helgeland and was taken to Warners by producing partner Legendary Pictures. While the audiences skewed older, the gender balance was evenly split and it appealed across demographics.

It certainly appealed to more people than Scary Movie 5, which The Weinstein Company’s Dimension Films opened to $15.1m at number two. Featuring Charlie Sheen and Lindsay Lohan (yes, car-crash casting), the fifth installment of the 13-year-old parody franchise only cost $19.5m to make so should end up in profit, despite this opening being far below Scary Movie 4’s $40m launch.

Last week’s number-one film, Evil Dead, fell a hefty 65% to land at number five with $9.5m, hitting $41.5m in total so far. Sitting in number three and number four slots, respectively, were The Croods with $13.2m for a total of $142.5m domestic and $385.1m worldwide, and GI Joe: Retaliation with $10.8m for a reasonable $102.4m US and $270.7m global tallies. Jurassic Park 3D settled at number six, meanwhile, making $8.8m and adding a total of $31.9m to the 1993 dinobuster’s domestic gross ahead of the title’s home entertainment bow next week. In limited release, Danny Boyle’s Trance added $995,000 to Fox Searchlight’s coffers, while Ryan Gosling/Bradley Cooper thriller The Place Beyond The Pines just made it into the top 10 with $4.1m for a total of $5.5m.

Internationally, Tom Cruise’s Oblivion opened at the top spot with $61.1m. The sci-fi actioner from Tron: Legacy director Joseph Kosinski opens in the US on Friday. And the biggest film of the year so far, Disney’s Oz The Great And Powerful, managed to increase its global total to $471m. All mega box office attention now falls on the upcoming release of Iron Man 3 on May 3 to see if The Avengers' stratospheric success translates back to a single Marvel character.

Sources: Box Office Mojo and The Hollywood Reporter

IN OTHER NEWS

• Jonathan Winters dies at 87 | The BBC

• 3D films set for popularity slide | The Guardian

• Crime and vampires driving Nordic film boom | Reuters

Screenjabber Podcast: Oblivion awaits us all

Posted by Stuart OConnor | Sun, 14/04/2013 - 17:33

Once again the gang takes to the Skype-waves to talk all things filmy. Join Doug Cooper, Stuart Barr, Louise Bolotin, Simon Williams and host Stuart O'Connor as they rabbit on about Oblivion, The Place Beyond the Pines, Scary Movie 5, Love Is All You Need, Olympus Has Fallen, the new Evil Dead remake and the Blu-ray release of Evil Dead 2, as well as the latest episode of Doctor Who. Groovy.

You can listen to and download the podcast here – or subscribe to it on iTunes ... plus you can follow us on Twitter and join us on Facebook.

WriterQuest: We're seeking some more writers, particularly those who want to cover video games for us.
Please get in touch if you're keen.

Terrestrial TV Highlights 13—19 April

Posted by Stuart OConnor | Sat, 13/04/2013 - 07:39

By Louise Bolotin

For a little bit of fluff to start the weekend’s viewing, and family-friendly too, The Story of Are You Being Served? (Saturday, BBC2, 5.30pm) fits the bill nicely. The classic 1970s sitcom set in a department store regularly pulled in 20 million viewers eager to catch up with Mrs Slocombe’s pussy and the rest of the punning smut it dished up. Cast, crew and co-scriptwriter Jeremy Lloyd gather to share anecdotes and discuss the show’s inspiration, plus archive clips aplenty. First shown in 2011, The Suspicions of Mr Whicher (ITV3, 9pm) stars Paddy Considine in the title role of the real-life Victorian detective who set out to catch a brutal killer who slaughtered a toddler in his home. It’s a gripping feature-length dramatisation of Kate Summerscale’s bestselling book about the murder.

After a hugely successful pilot last year, the Inspector Morse prequel Endeavour (Sunday, ITV, 8pm) was recommissioned and the first of four two-hour self-contained episodes sees the young detective Morse investigating a murder under the watchful eye of mentor DI Thursday. Shaun Evans is perfectly cast as the ambitious maverick cop and he’s supported by a top-notch cast that includes Roger Allam and Anton Lesser. When Frost Met Bakewell (BBC4, 9pm) sees the two legendary broadcasters go head to head as he interviews about her 50-plus years on TV presenting arts, politics and religion. She’s still razor sharp at 80. Paul O’Grady presents a thoughtful take on strippers in Perspectives (ITV, 10pm), looking at the origins of burlesque and the likes of the legendary Gypsy Rose Lee.

I don’t normally mention individual episodes of series already underway, but I can’t resist a quick plug for Paul Hollywood’s Bread (Monday, BBC2, 8.30pm) because he finally settles the argument about the correct pronunciation of scone. So there.

The Secret Life of Rockpools (Tuesday, BBC4, 9pm), presented by palaeontologist Richard Fortey, looks at the mysterious life forms that lurk at the beach, almost untouched by evolution. Later Live… with Jools Holland (BBC2, 10pm) features Primal Scream and Everything Everything as the main attractions. In Royal Paintbox (ITV, 10.35pm) Prince Charles guides us through a surprisingly good collection of artworks painted by his ancestors. It seems most of the royal family have been accomplished artists down the centuries and there are some fab little surprises in this roundup.

Months into the civil war in Syria, award-winning documentarist Olly Lambert has made an extraordinary film about both sides of the conflict. Syria Across the Lines (Wednesday, C4, 10pm) was filmed in the rural region of Hama, which is one of the least-known frontlines and depicts the likely bloody aftermath in store if Assad is ever toppled. It’s not a pleasant scenario but one we shouldn’t avoid watching.

Danny Baker is such a consummate broadcaster, he can turn what might appear rather dull subjects into a funny froth of facts and throwaway irreverence. In Brushing Up On… (Thursday, BBC4, 8.30pm), he brings his knife-sharp wit and offbeat comments to a motley collection of BBC archive clips. In this opening edition, he turns his attention to tunnels. Maureen Lipman: If Memory Serves Me Right (BBC1, 9pm) tackles the subject of memory loss in all its forms, using some family history as her jumping off point into areas like dementia and amnesia. For such a serious subject, it’s very entertaining – she chats to Terry Pratchett about his Alzheimers and takes part with actor Larry Lamb in an experiment set up by scientist Michael Mosley. Paul O’Grady presents The British Animal Honours (ITV, 8pm), the gong ceremony for the working beasts who perform extraordinary feats for us. Lots of awards for military bravery, as you’d expect, but some heartwarming tales too.

ITV is completely on a roll right now with superlative crime dramas (Broadchurch and Scott and Bailey currently rank as the two best dramas on TV). Ice Cream Girls (Friday, 9pm) stars Jodhi May and Lorraine Burroughs star in this haunting three-part psychological drama based on a Dorothy Koomson novel. Poppy (May) is finally released from jail for a vicious murder she has always claimed she didn’t commit. She sets off in search of childhood friend Serena (Burroughs) in the hope of unravelling the truth behind the killing. It’s a slow burner, but gripping, told in flashback as each woman struggles to cope with their suppressed teenage memories of the crime.

The Genius of Josiah Wedgwood (Friday, BBC2, 9pm) explores the artistry of the Stoke industrialist who gave his name to a whole era of ceramics. Historian AN Wilson, himself Stoke-born with a father who worked at the famous factory, presents the genuinely fascinating story of how Wedgwood brought science to pottery then became a campaigner against slavery. If you want your BBC4 music fix, it’s yet another repeat of Martin Scorcese’s superb documentary, Arena – George Harrison: Living in the Material World (from 9pm, both parts). The station’s milking this for all it’s worth, but seriously, if you’ve still not seen it grab the chance while you can – it’s a career-defining masterpiece from Scorcese.