5 Foreign Films You Need To See

5 – La Haine (Mathieu Kassovitz, 1995)

La Haine (or Hate) is a stylish film. Purposely in black and white, and with plenty of thought out cinematography it’s a real treat for the eyes. The film depicts approximately 19 consecutive hours of three friends who live in the slums built outside Paris, specifically for housing foreigners. A lot of the actors were not professional, and actually lived in the slums. It also started the career for Vincent Cassel, who starred in the critically acclaimed Black Swan. It’s masterfully constructed to make plenty of social comments, from class systems to racism. Winner of best director at Cannes Film Festival, it deserves a watch.

4 – Amores Perros (Alejandro González Iñárritu, 2002)

Amores Perros, Mexican slang for Love Is a B***h, tells the stories of three different people, who are all connected by one car crash. It’s a brutal film, dealing with loss, regret and life’s harsh realities. Set in Mexico City, the film is shot, edited and acted phenomenally well, whilst the structure of the film is unique and interesting. The film continues to be analysed by film students, delving into the hidden meanings and symbolism in the film. Winner of the BAFTA Award for Best Film Not in the English Language, and nominated for the Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film, it’s a must see.

3 – City Of God (Fernando Meirelles, Kátia Lund, 2002)

It’s hard to describe how brilliant this film is. Like the previous two films, the themes here are power, poverty and conflict. Set in the favela’s of Rio de Janeiro, and loosely based on real events, it depicts the growth of organized crime and drug trafficking. The film has its fair share of hard hitting moments, as the majority of the cast are children and teenagers who get caught up in the gangs. This film provides a fantastic social commentary on life in the slums of Rio, from the corrupt police to the fact that no one can escape to a better life. What’s more is that almost all the actors in this film were just residents of the slums, but they all act astoundingly. Nominated for four Academy Awards, this is surely worth some of your time.

2 – Pan’s Labyrinth (Guillermo Del Toro, 2006)

Pan’s Labyrinth takes place in 1944, five years after the Spanish Civil War. The film is half a historical drama, and half a fantasy film. The main character is a little girl named Ofelia, whose mother has married a fascist captain, called Vidal. The film can be quite violent, but there’s always a reason for it. The acting is superb, as is the cinematography. The film is stooped in imagery and hidden meanings, as well as giving a fantastic portrait of the times. This film won numerous international awards, including 3 Academy Awards and 3 BAFTA’s to name a few. If you haven’t seen it already, it’s a no brainer that you quickly find it and watch it religiously.

1 – Spirited Away (Hayao Miyazaki, 2001)

Spirited Away is a Japanese animated film from their version of Disney, a company called Studio Ghibli.  For a start, this film looks like a moving work of art. It looks gorgeous. There’s also an English dubbed version, which was done by Pixar director, John Lasseter. Spirited Away is a fantasy film, which follows a ten year old girl who accidentally enters the spirit world. I cannot recommend this film enough, it’s touching, it’s sweet and it’s moving. Furthermore the music is like candy for your ears, with a score written by Joe Hisaishi, a famous Japanese composer. The film won the Academy Award for Best Animated Feature. It’s also the most successful film in Japanese history, grossing over $274 million (surpassing Titanic, the highest grossed film at the time). In fact, why are you still reading this? Go and watch it now, hurry!

Bond 24 To Start Shooting In October

Picture from Flicks and Bits

According to Ralph Fiennes in a interview with MTV, the next instalment of the James Bond franchises is to begin shooting in October.

We already know that Bond 24 will arrive in UK cinema’s on 23rd October 2015, so that gives the team a solid year to complete the picture.

Beyond that however, there isn’t much else known about the upcoming film, other than the previous actors in Skyfall will be returning.

Finnes is back a Mallory, AKA “M” having taken over from Judi Dench. Daniel Craig returns as Bond, and Naomie Harris and Ben Whishaw return as Monneypenny and Q respectively.

Here’s hoping this film doesn’t turn out to be much like Skyfall (here’s why we thought it wasn’t so good) however with Sam Mendes back to direct, we could be seeing similar results.

 

Who needs a remake? Just enjoy the classics

Image from imdb.com/Robocop(2014)

There seems to be remakes of our favourite old films premiering every year. This year, a remake of the classic sci-fi film Robocop (1987), premiered on the 7th February and has been acclaimed for being terrible compared to its predecessor. Scoring a low score of 49% on Rotten Tomatoes where critics described the film as ‘Cynical, boring‘ and ‘a movie I wouldn’t buy for a dollar‘, Robocop(2014) not even came close to the classic scoring a 88%, positive reviews all around.

Image from imdb.com/Robocop(1987)

So what does this say about  remakes. It shows that a remake tarnishes the reputation of the movie’s franchise. Robocop trilogy was fine where it was, no one asked for another sequel or to reboot the whole franchise. Unfortunately, to Hollywood they see a remake to classic film as a ‘cash cow‘, squeezing the profit the film makes from the die hard fans of the classic, building up their hope of making something they love better, but to only trick them, kick them down and destroy their hopes and dreams.

I felt distraught when I watched the remake for Total Recall (1990). Classic Total Recall was amazing. its  a story is of an average man, who lives in a space station. He wished to have a sense of adventure, so he goes on a simulator to live dream it, but in reality, his dream turns into a real mission where he has to fight federal agents, travel to the planet Mars and save the Martians from certain death. Of course Arnold Schwarzenegger’s acting was at perfection (sure his American accent wasn’t at par) but his portrayal of turning a quiet everyday man into a confident and cocky agent  lights up the character and makes us want to cheer him on.

Image from Essentialfilms.com/ArnoldSchwarzenegger

Image from imdb.com/TotalRecall

So what was my reaction to the remake of Total Recall (2012) staring Colin Farell? I was truly upset, not only with Colin Farell’s acting that is similar to a  gullible five year old rather than a courageous and cunning Qua for two hours. But, I was upset on how the plot changed  from Qua saving the people of Mars, to just stopping a robot invasion and the annihilation of the people living in the space station’s slums.

The original had the sense of creativity in showing audience the different mutants of Mars, their psychic powers, and the futuristic culture on the planet. While the remake just gave us robots who just kill. It as if the writers became lazy and just threw in a cliche’.

People who write and direct remakes need to understand that they need to bring the best qualities of the original to please the fans demands. But I am not saying they should just copy the whole of the original and just improve the special effects, but they need to create something that will bring the die hard fans nostalgia and invite new fans to be passionate in the franchise.

All I am saying is that if you wish to get into a franchise and join the fandom, I suggest watching the classic to see where it all started and revel in the films’ original quality. You can watch the remake and appreciate it, but you won’t get the true depth of concept and meaning of it all which the original writers wanted to give to their audience.

By Jason John

Top 5 law enforcement officers in Films

Who’s there to bust drug lords, gangsters, and terrorist: the law. There have been countless law enforcement characters in the film industry that we all know and love for their acts of bravery and rightfulness to serve justice to all wrongdoers. So in honour of these courageous characters, I give you my top 5 law enforcers in film:

5.

Image from imdb.com/Fargo

Marge Gunderson (Frances McDormand), Fargo(1996)

In small-town Brainerd, Minnesota , kidnapping, murder, and other heinous crimes are running through the streets, only one person can stop them, police chief Marge Gunderson. In this black comedy where failing cars salesman Jerry Luudengard (William H. Macy) hires a couple of thugs to kidnap his own wife, and get a cut out of the ransom from her wealthy father, Marge seems to be only person in the town with the sense to solve these crimes, even while she’s pregnant.

Whats so great about her character is that she takes everything with such ease and patients, dead bodies don’t bother her at all, and she understands the situations perfectly as you she says ‘oh yeah‘ at end of every sentence. France McDormand also won the Academy Award for best leading role actress for the act, and she the most memorable character out of the whole film. Her woman’s intuition and her persistence earns her place in the top law enforcement officers in film.

4.

Image from MovieActors.com/DannyGlover

Roger Mutaugh (Danny Glover), Lethal Weapon series

He is never too old for this s**t. Being at his fifties, Roger just wishes for a peaceful life, get away from his job and spend time with his family. Unfortunately, Roger Mutaugh has not only have to deal with the crime in Los Angeles, but he has to tolerate with his crazy partner Martin Riggs (Mel Gibson) insane behaviour. undergoing torture, jumping off buildings, and staying alive in shootouts are not on Roger’s ‘To-Do-List’, but he is determined to solve the case. He even goes as far to not retire and stay in the force after all he has been through, he’s the cop who always finds a way to get out of bad situations and live through it all.

3.

Image from imdb.com/Dredd

Judge Dredd (Karl Urban), Dredd(2012)

He is judge, jury, executioner, and the law.Based on the 2000 AD comic series Judge Dredd(1999), Dredd is the most hardcore of the judges in Mega-City One, he’s almost a legend in 22nd century. Known for his merciless judgement and brutal executions, Dredd is an enforcer not to mess with.

Mysterious, strong, deadly are just fragments of words of how to describe him, this man follows and obeys the law like a religion, and gives no second chance to any criminal. With all this dark attitude and tough exterior, you may think Dredd has no human compassion or empathy, but deep inside there’s soft spot, and that just makes fans love him more.

2.

Image from imdb.com/Robocop

Robocop (Peter Weller), Robocop series

Lets put it out there, Detroit is a bad city to live in. So, Detroit in the future is probably a hell hole as it is filled with terrorist, corrupt politicians, and power hungery corporate bosses. Not even the law can handle all this crime, or a bipedal machine gun attached robot.

So who do the people of Detroit look for to help, Robocop. After his attack by a gang which left him terminally wounded, Alex Murphy (Peter Weller) was rebuilt by OmniCorp and returned to the streets of Detroit as the number one man to enforce justice to all criminal scum. Robocop is just amazing, his dedication in stopping criminals, his shooting skills amazes all viewers, and  his programme directive to protecting the weak from danger.

1.

Image from imdb.com/DieHard

Officer John McClane (Bruce Willis), Die Hard series

No matter how hard you hit him, no matter how many times you shoot him, or how much explosives you set to detonate on him, he will never die. John McClane lighted the hearts of million of people as he was small time cop that dived right into a bank full gun wielding terrorist, crawled his through heated air vents, and having the most painful feeling of having glass shards stabbing the soles of his feet all to save his wife in and other hostages in Die Hard(1988).

But that wouldn’t be his only and last adventure, John Mclane also fights federal agents who gone rogue, German terrorist threatening to blow up half of New York, cyber terrorist who want all the power, and an underground Russian gang creating weapons of mass destruction. A cop who’s not afraid dying and takes on trouble head on. Yes, John McClane is a cop that has been through it all, and has no problem taking down the next thug that comes in his way or threatens his family.

By Jason John

Dallas Buyers Club – A Feel Good/Feel Bad Kind Of Film

Facebook.com/DallasBuyersClub

In 1985 Dallas, Ron Woodroof (Mathew McConaughey) – a fairly homophobic, half redneck, half cowboy – is diagnosed with AIDS and given 30 days to live.

Directed by Jean-Marc Vallée, his first fairly major picture, Dallas Buyers club is based on the life of Ron Woodroof. However, like most films based on a true story, quite a few aspects have been altered, making this a biographical drama.

As you might expect, the first hour of the film feels slow and has a depressing mood to it, as we see Woodroof struggle to come to terms with his imminent death, and the cause for it.

At first, McConaughey’s character feels unlikable; he’s rude, offensive and arrogant. However the character demands your sympathies, as would any man close to death.

The editing incorporates a sort of countdown, marking the passing days since his diagnosis of 30 days to live. Each one a reminder of how little time is left, and instils a real tension and a fear for the character.

 The film paints a portrait of some of the social attitudes around in the 80’s. For example when Woodroof first goes to the hospital to retrieve more information, he’s greeted by a female doctor, to which he says “I want a doctor, not a nurse!”

Furthermore when his friends discover his illness they treat him not with sympathies, but aggression. They abuse him, with names like “Faggot” and they even graffiti on his mobile home with the words “Faggot Blood”

It’s not only effecting because this dying man is being berated by people who were his friends, but because of the attitudes people had towards homosexuals during the times.

The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) essentially plays the villain in the film. During the time, drugs to help AID’s patients were still going through their initial testing’s. The film focuses on AZT, an antiviral that is thought to prolong the life of patients.

Hospitals are trailing the drug by giving half of the selected sample the real drug, and the other half a placebo, to help determine if the drug is working.

Ron bribes a hospital worker to get him the AZT. As soon as he begins taking it, he finds his health deteriorating (exacerbated by his cocaine use). He passes out and is taken to the hospital where he meets Rayon (Jared Leto).

Rayon is a transgender woman who is HIV-positive. Her introduction helps the film immensely, adding a character that is generally likable.  

Facebook.com/DallasBuyersClub

On the 30^th day after his diagnosis, Ron travels to Mexico to try to find more AZT from a man he had heard could help him.

It’s at this point that the film picks up pace. The doctor there, called Dr. Vass, explains that the ATZ is essentially poison, and he should instead take a protein called Peptide T, which is not approved by the FDA in America, but is still legal for personal consumption.

 The counting of the days from this moment no longer instils fear and tension, but instead act as a reminder that he’s been alive longer than the doctor initially said.

Three months later Ron realises he could sell Peptide T to other AID’s sufferers, and so begins his long battle with the FDA and their rules and regulations.

There’s a clear juxtaposition between the medicinal companies, who want to find a cure by doing the research, and the AID’s patients who just want something to make them feel better, and live a bit longer, without being guinea pigs for the big companies.

The film isn’t all doom and gloom, with its fair share of humours moments, most of the times with its tongue firmly in its cheek.

Over the course of the film, Woodroof becomes more likeable, more caring and much less arrogant. He instead becomes a man who the audience can root for; he has charm and charisma about him.

Through his friendship with Rayon, he becomes not just tolerable of homosexuals, but an advocate for their equal treatment. He even runs into his old friend and shows him the error of his ways.

The cinematography in the film is up close and personal to really capture the emotions on display from the outstanding performances. It also has a “hand held” feel to it, adding to the sense of realism.

What’s more is the screenplay, which is expertly written to create stimulating but realistic dialogue.

From Zap 2 It

Both Leto and McConaughey lost a large amount of weight for their roles, which is startling and makes the film feel even realer. Both men look genuinely sick.

The films score is virtually not there, but this makes the music’s impact all the more powerful when it is used.

Overall, the film leaves a lasting impression. The character arch of Ron Woodroof and his battle with the FDA make him a fantastic character to watch on screen.

The performances in the film are brilliant and the Oscar nominations are well deserved.

The film ends with a reminder to all that “AID’s is not over; access to treatment could save many more lives.”

Final Verdict

I’d thoroughly recommend this film, and whilst some could say it was a sad and depressing tale, in my view, it’s an uplifting story about a man who accomplished so much, after being given 30 days to live.

David Fincher To Direct Steve Jobs Bio-pic?

David Fincher has been rumoured to be in talks about directing a bio-pic about the late Apple founder, Steve Jobs.

Fincher also directed the critically acclaimed bio-pic of Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg, The Social Network, and so would be a welcome choice.

The film is an adaptation of Walter Isaacson’s best-selling biography titled “Steve Jobs”.

The script has been written by Aaron Sorkin, who also wrote the script for The Social Network.

Steve Job’s life would make for an interesting film, having founded apple, being fired from apple, then returning to save it from its hard times.

There was a Job’s bio-pic released last year, staring Aston Kutcher…but it seems Sony is hoping everyone forgets about that, which I’ve no doubt everyone has tried.

It’s very early stages however, as it’s also rumoured that Fincher has hardly been in talks at all, with Deadline reporting he’s only read the script and nothing more.

The film is expected to start production towards the end of this year, here’s hoping it does justice to such an influential man.

Sin City sequel finally finished says Rodrigruez

Image from Facebook.com/SinCIty

Robert Rodriguez has discussed that the filming for long awaited sequel Sin City: A Dame to Kill For(2014) is now completed.

Sin City: A Dame to Kill for is a movie adaptation of the second volume in comic book Series Sin City(1991) created by Frank Miller.

Like the prequel, the plot will be based on the violent characters that occupy Basin City, and each of their stories intwine with each other. The sequel will have a new round characters to like, and include characters from the prequel, especially Nancy (Jessica Alba) who’s story is based on how she copes with Hartigan’s (Bruce Willis) suicide in ‘That Yellow Bastard’.

Director Rodriguez and creator of the series Miller have also been discussing on making a Sin City 3, hoping to make it more violent and grittier than the last one.

Sin City: A Dame to Kill for will premiere in the UK on 29th August 2014.

Top 7 male Rappers in Films

Occasionally rappers like to delve into various careers to expand their skills and find more ways to earn that paper. So its no surprise that a majority of rappers did a bit of acting for some films. Here is my Top 7 list of rappers starring in films.

7.

Image from Facebook.com/WizKhalifa

Cameron Jibril Tomaz, aka Wiz Khalifa

Wiz Khalifa is widely known for his hype lyrics and stage ritual of ‘blazing it‘ on stage since he first emerged in the rap game in 2006. What most of you didn’t know is that he stared in stoner film Mac and Devin go to Highschool(2012) directed by Dylan C.Brown. His character Devin Overstreet is an overachiever in highshcool who discovers the ‘benefits’ of cannabis with the help of his classmate Mac Johnson played by Snoop Dogg.  Not much can be explained about Khalifa’s role as he was terrible at delivering his lines, but he did fit the role in playing as a stoned teen.

6.

Image from Facebook.com/Eminem

Marshall Mathers, aka Eminem

Showing the grittiness in the city of Detroit, Eminem gave a satisfactory performance playing as Jimmy ‘B-Rabbit’ Smith in the film 8mile(2002) directed by Curtis Hanson.  Close to Eminem’s back story, B-Rabbit is a struggling rapper looking for acceptance among his African American peers and prays for to attain the better life for his friends and family. This film resulted in Eminem gaining an academy award for best original song Lose Yourself(2002) which became iconic after its premiere.

5.

Image from Facebook.com/50cent

Curtis James Jackson III, aka 50 cent

Inspired by 50 cent’s life, Get Rich or Die trying (2005) was just the first of the films 50 cent stared in. Soon after hundreds of directors wanted the rapper just to appear in their movie to fulfill their fans demand and increase the publicity of their films.  50 cent mostly plays the hard gangster using any means of force to get things done his way.However, his latest role as Hush, a computer hacker that helps Sylvester Stallone escape a highly guarded and fortified prison in the film Escape plan(2013) was a huge surprise to fans as it was so unlike his usual roles he plays. 

4.

Image from Facebook.com/IceCube

O’shea Jackson aka, Ice Cube

Ice Cube became world famous for his rapping career and forming controversial rap group N.W.A who conned the phrase ‘f**k the police’. Classic role as a gangster in the hood Doughboy in Boyz n the Hood (1991) and secret agent Darius Stone in XXX: State of Union (2005) Ice Cube’s showed audience his tough and aggressive attitude. While we can see his comedic side in highly praised comedy film Friday(1995) and family comedy Are we there yet (2005). His next film Ride Along(2014) is a comedy action co-staring comedian Kevin Hart as two officers doing a 24 hour patrol of the city of Atlanta.

3.

Image from Facebook.com/JamieFoxx

Jamie Foxx

Jamie Foxx’s singing career is not much to remember, but we can say highly of his movie career being an academy award winner for best actor. His latest role was highly praised being a slave turned freeman cowboy Django in Django:Unchained (2012) and an excellent performance at playing ruthless gunman in the east, but also a devoting husband. But my personal favourite role Jamie Foxx acted in is playing blind musician Ray Charles in Ray (2004).

2.

Image from Facebook.com/Ludacris

Christopher Brian Bridges aka, Ludacris

Not only is Ludacris is one of my favourite rappers, but his character is my favourite in the Fast Furious franchise. Playing as Tej in 2 Fast 2 Furious (2003) Ludacris received thousands of good comments from fans and increased the franchises’ popularity. His character Tej is the technician of the crew who builds all the gadgets for the heist, he is also hilarious, highly intelligent, and just so damn likable, you can’t have the fast and furious crew without him.

1.

Image from Facebook.com/SnoopDogg

Calvin Cordozar Broadus, Jr aka Snoop Doggy Dogg, Snoop Dogg, and Snoop Lion

As by his several names, Snoop Dogg has acted in over hundreds of roles. As I reffered earlier in the list, Snoop played Mac Johnson in Mac and Devin go to Highschool(2012) a student on his 15th year of high school. His other roles include Huggy bear in Starsky and Hutch(2004) street wise pimp who helps in duo in their investigations, and Captain Mack in Soul Plane(2004), an air pilot who’s ironically afraid of heights. There is just something about Snoop Dogg that makes him perform his characters so perfectly, whether it is his smooth talking voice, or his laid back attitude, he is just the best rapper/actor to star in a film.

by Jason John

New Godzilla Trailer Stamps In

The remake of the 1954 film is slowly creeping upon us, and Warner Bros. have just released the first full trailer.

The trailer is action packed, but surprisingly is also full of emotion. The creepy music from the teaser trailer is back, and once again adds to the “end of the world” like tone.

The film also seems to have a weird sense of realism to it, despite being about a gigantic dinosaur, which makes it feel ever scarier.

Check it out below and change your hype settings to a solid 8/10, this looks set to be one of the best remakes for a while.

Why Skyfall Is Over-rated

Skyfall, the most recent James Bond film and twenty-third in the series, currently holds a 92% fresh rating on Rotten Tomatoes.

Richard Corliss, from Time Magazine, says in his review “one could call this the greatest Bond Movie ever…the old dog has learnt some new tricks”.

So, imagine my excitement whilst I’m sat in the movie theatre, watching adverts for James Bonds watch, James Bonds laptop and James Bonds after-shave, knowing the high praise this film had received. Surely I was in for a treat.

Was I completely blown away? Did my eyes melt from sheer amazement? No, not really.

It wasn’t bad. The cinematography was interesting (at least for an action film), tension was built and the special effects were exciting (sometimes).

But the one thought on my mind once the credits started to roll was “how can people say this film is the best ever?!”

At one point I found myself looking around the room to find something more interesting to look at.  The pacing in this film is completely off.  Just when things are at their most exciting, the film decides to take a road trip to Scotland.

My initial gripe is the films beginning. In short Bond and his female spy partner are chasing down the baddie who has stolen something of MI6’s. M explains to Bond that this “something” is a list of all the English undercover spies and their locations, and he’s told it’s perhaps the most important thing ever that he retrieves it.

Francois Duhamel/Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Pictures/Columbia Pictures/EON Productions

It’s so important that M even risks Bond being killed so that Naomi Harris’s character can fire at the thief. So what got me was why, when catching up to the villain, instead of just breaking the man’s neck (violent I know, but it’d get the job done) Bond instead decides to engage in a manly fist fight.

Furthermore, once Harris’s character (spoilers) shoots Bond by accident, instead of firing again, multiple times until the correct target is taken down, she instead stands there in shock, and watches the incredibly important list slowly pass into a tunnel.

I know all of this was done for dramatic effect, and to set the story up for the rest of the film, but that was my problem. It felt forced, and it was annoying that the entire plot was centered on this failure.

My other little gripe with the film was its attempts to turn back time.

Francois Duhamel/Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Pictures/Columbia Pictures/EON Productions

Back in 2006, Martin Campbell attempted to re-invent the Bond franchise, by directing Casino Royale. The film tried to make a more adult, human and realistic Bond film.

Instead of Bond womanizing every female he saw, he fell in love. Rather than having an evil villain, with a plot to destroy the world, and an evil lair in a volcano, we instead have a banker to terrorists, trying to win big in a poker game to reclaim lost funds.

It was a refreshing and modern take on a franchise which roots lay in foreign stereotypes, sexism and ludicrous plots and characters.

So when in Skyfall , Bond opens up his secret garage and inside we find a sleeping classic Aston Martin DB5, followed by the suave classic bond music, I was a bit disappointed.

Sure, a part of me smiled to the throwback, but the other part thought it was like the film trying to say “well we tried to change but it didn’t work, so here’s the old stuff back!”

Even the ground-keeper to 007’s childhood house remarks with “If all else fails, the old ways are the best”

What’s worse though was the ending. (Big spoiler) M dies and is replaced by a man, while Naomi Harris is revealed to be Monneypenny and decides to leave field work behind in exchange for being secretary to the boss.

To me that seemed like the film saying spying is a man’s game, and women don’t have a place other than behind the desk. It just seemed a bit weird.

But maybe I’m wrong, who knows, I certainly don’t… Overall the film was average, nothing terribly unpredictable, or brilliant.

Ending on a high note though, I did like Javier Bardem’s performance, so I guess there’s that.