In case you haven't heard the next James Bond film has a title – Skyfall.
It’s interesting to note that the announcement of a film title can become an event itself.
True, it’s been 50 years since James Bond first graced our screens and despite a couple of delays threatening to kill off Bond for good (a legal wrangle threatened the franchise between Timothy Dalton’s and Pierce Brosnan’s turns as the super spy; and the recent financial problems of MGM) he has been able to live not just twice, but three times.
So it was probably not much of a surprise that at the announcement of the film’s title at the West End’s Corinthia hotel Bond himself, Daniel Craig, was there sporting a beard while one on side was French actress Bérénice Marlohe as one Bond girl and British actress Naomie Harris as another.
Of course producers Barbara Broccoli and Michael G Wilson were there too along with the fictional head of MI6, Dame Judi.
What really made this movie buff get excited were the appearances of Oscar-winning director (and fellow Reading boy) Sam Mendes at the top table as well as everyone’s favourite bad guy, Javier Bardem.
The news that thesps Ralph Feinnes and Albert Finney will be in the film too can only add to the impact.
Let’s be honest how many other Bond actors and actresses can you name beyond the main man? Christopher Lee, Grace Jones, Gert Frobe, Honor Blackman, Christopher Walken, Eva Green. There are plenty more (Teri Hatcher for instance, and film buffs will remember a youthful Benicio Del Toro in Licence To Kill) but it’s difficult to pin them down – yes, I’m sure you will be able to remember others I’ve temporarily forgotten, Famke Janssen, for example. But now we’ve got an ensemble cast and director that’s almost worthy of a Christopher Nolan film.
Have the Bond producers set themselves up for a fall? There’s so much weight on the screen, combined with the three year delay (although that’s hardly the producers’ fault) there will be a lot of expectation for delivery of the goods (there are rumours that Mendes wants this film to be less Bond and more Smiley).
Twenty-three films is no mean feat for a franchise although I can imagine many of today’s blockbuster film making a considerable run.
But now I wouldn’t be surprised if a press conference was called for future franchise instalments.
After Christopher Nolan’s Dark Knight Rises he has said he will hang up his hat, but something tells me that if he comes back for a fourth, there will be a similar buzz about that one as there is for this.
And what of other franchises and other comic books? The Pirates of the Caribbean episodes, another Bourne movie, the list goes on.
Perhaps 007 can be more than just a series based around one character – it could have been the inspiration for all the movie blockbusters we have today.
And once again, perhaps that could be down to the success of Bond’s cinematic home, Pinewood Studios, and British technicians.
Sunday 6 November 2011
Saturday 5 November 2011
Jack Goes Boating
Director: Philip Seymour Hoffman
Starring: Philip Seymour Hoffman, Amy Ryan, Joe Ortiz, Daphne Rubin-Vega.
Jack Goes Boating is the directorial debut for acting wonder kid Philip Seymour Hoffman highlighting a role reversal that has become endemic in the world of cinema.
A long time ago in a galaxy far, far away – well, some considerable distance for mere mortals in Leicestershire – Hollywood was a social hierarchy.
Directors wanted to be in front of the cameras as well as behind; writers and cinematographers wanted to direct while the technicians who actually made the movie were just happy to be.
Then actors wanted to show they were more than just a pretty face. Luvvies like Richard Attenborough were the first get behind the camera and were swiftly followed on the other side of the Atlantic by Clint Eastwood, Robert Redford and then the likes of Sean Penn.
It was inevitable that a man known for playing Truman Capote, an actor who could easily be considered the best of his generation would want to direct.
He made difficult films like Happiness watchable; he stole Mission Impossible 3 from under Tom Cruise’s, his own star vehicle blockbuster. In short he can’t put a foot wrong.
And the same can be said with Jack Goes Boating when he’s in front of the camera. Every second on screen Hoffman is engaging and he performs his role as Jack, a socially awkward middle-aged limo driver in New York with aplomb.
He has all the tics and mannerisms you would expect of someone who is nervous around women, and when betraying thoughts and emotions, even down to a well-placed cough like a drying throat. Hoffman does everything you would expect him to and more.
A tenderness rarely seen in Hollywood actors shines through his performance especially when he confronts his phobia of being in water and his determination to cook a meal.
Co-star Amy Ryan also puts in a fine performance as Connie, a sales woman trying to turn her life around despite a lot of emotional baggage.
She is more than a match for Hoffman while Jack and Connie develop their relationship at a patient pace while they plan to go boating in the summer.
But perhaps Hoffman’s acting in front of the camera is distracting him from his first experience at helming.
The film plods along at just too slow a pace and while less can be more at times, in this case the more you get, the better it is.
Joe Ortiz as Clyde and Daphne Rubin-Vega are welcome additions to a film about real people with real issues but they are not utilised as much as they should be.
There’s a hidden issue about what happens the trials and tribulations and couples that is looked at, but never explored to its full potential.
For a first stab at directing, there are moments of brilliance.
In the moments leading up the film’s climatic scene the fast editing and hallucinatory sequences are awesome, and clearly an influence of his previous boss Paul Thomas Anderson. But more of that is needed.
Starring: Philip Seymour Hoffman, Amy Ryan, Joe Ortiz, Daphne Rubin-Vega.
Jack Goes Boating is the directorial debut for acting wonder kid Philip Seymour Hoffman highlighting a role reversal that has become endemic in the world of cinema.
A long time ago in a galaxy far, far away – well, some considerable distance for mere mortals in Leicestershire – Hollywood was a social hierarchy.
Directors wanted to be in front of the cameras as well as behind; writers and cinematographers wanted to direct while the technicians who actually made the movie were just happy to be.
Then actors wanted to show they were more than just a pretty face. Luvvies like Richard Attenborough were the first get behind the camera and were swiftly followed on the other side of the Atlantic by Clint Eastwood, Robert Redford and then the likes of Sean Penn.
It was inevitable that a man known for playing Truman Capote, an actor who could easily be considered the best of his generation would want to direct.
He made difficult films like Happiness watchable; he stole Mission Impossible 3 from under Tom Cruise’s, his own star vehicle blockbuster. In short he can’t put a foot wrong.
And the same can be said with Jack Goes Boating when he’s in front of the camera. Every second on screen Hoffman is engaging and he performs his role as Jack, a socially awkward middle-aged limo driver in New York with aplomb.
He has all the tics and mannerisms you would expect of someone who is nervous around women, and when betraying thoughts and emotions, even down to a well-placed cough like a drying throat. Hoffman does everything you would expect him to and more.
A tenderness rarely seen in Hollywood actors shines through his performance especially when he confronts his phobia of being in water and his determination to cook a meal.
Co-star Amy Ryan also puts in a fine performance as Connie, a sales woman trying to turn her life around despite a lot of emotional baggage.
She is more than a match for Hoffman while Jack and Connie develop their relationship at a patient pace while they plan to go boating in the summer.
But perhaps Hoffman’s acting in front of the camera is distracting him from his first experience at helming.
The film plods along at just too slow a pace and while less can be more at times, in this case the more you get, the better it is.
Joe Ortiz as Clyde and Daphne Rubin-Vega are welcome additions to a film about real people with real issues but they are not utilised as much as they should be.
There’s a hidden issue about what happens the trials and tribulations and couples that is looked at, but never explored to its full potential.
For a first stab at directing, there are moments of brilliance.
In the moments leading up the film’s climatic scene the fast editing and hallucinatory sequences are awesome, and clearly an influence of his previous boss Paul Thomas Anderson. But more of that is needed.
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