Tag Archives: Warner Bros

Interstellar {Film Review}

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*WARNING! MAY CONTAIN SPOILERS*

Christopher Nolan films aren’t just films; they’re events. Although he completed his Batman trilogy with The Dark Knight Rises, Interstellar has been treated like it is the next great blockbuster (as much in the same league we’re anticipating the next DC/Marvel movie). Even continuing his trend to deliver trailers and TV spots that reveal little details about the plot.
The movie revolves around Cooper (Matthew McConaughey) who was once a pilot, now farmer in a Dust Bowl type future. The Earth is running out of food, even down to the last food resource; corn. He is also a widowed father of two children (as with the majority of Christopher Nolan’s films, main protagonist’s wife/love interest either has died or won’t last very long) but yet still has a craving for exploration (even learning that teachers at his children’s schools have new editions of books saying the moon landings were fake). He eventually comes across his old mentor, Prof. Brand (Michael Caine) and his daughter Amelia Brand (Anne Hathaway). They reveal the Earth is dying, so they have been building a space shuttle and needs Cooper to be the pilot. Their mission; to go through a wormhole that will lead to a different galaxy and find a habitable planet.

 

The movie is probably the most ambitious movie Christopher Nolan has made in his career. He continues to deliver a science fiction movie with challenging ideas and concepts about space travel (as he did with the concepts of dreams in Inception). Though this was originally intended to be directed by Steven Spielberg (based on a script by Chris Nolan’s brother, Jonathan Nolan) and this movie clearly shows Spielberg’s trademark about family (especially focusing on a father character like Jaws and Munich). Nolan has been known to focus more on the ideas than the characters interstellar_ver5_xlgthemselves, and you can clearly see that struggle to try balance the two. Though it does work for the most part and it’s all down to McConaughey being cast as the lead. He has certainly been having a huge career change and this film is no exception. If Mud, Dallas Buyers Club and True Detective proved anything, it is that he can be just as involving as he is likeable in his rom-com days. His craving to venture to the unknown is pretty much anyone’s curiosity and makes his motivation to help his family (and the human race) somewhat relatable. Even McConaughey delivers an incredibly emotional performance in one particular scene as he’s watching video messages of his children growing older. If Gravity showed that working in space is no fun and games, Interstellar shows us that space travel is not all that fun as Star Trek likes to make us believe (or wants us to). Especially dealing with relativity; every hour they spend, 7 years have passed on Earth (similar to The Forever War). The stand-out performance has to be character of Murph, played brilliantly by Mackenzie Foy and Jessica Chastain. She is the emotional core of the movie and drives the narrative forward.

 

The visual effects in this movie is absolutely mind-blowing. The use of both miniatures and CGI both seamlessly mix together. Nolan has been known to do everything real as possible and uses that effect in great use here. Pushing the envelope to make the cinematic experience as immersive the medium can deliver. Even creating inventive and charismatic robots as TARS and CASE (more friendly version of HAL 9000, if you will). The beautiful and stark cinematography by Hoyte van Hoytema (Let the Right One In, Tinker Tailor Solider Spy and Her) brings the alien but familiar planets to life. Though using different contrast of colours, using grey and blue for space travel scenes and using browns with scenes set on Earth. Hans Zimmer’s score rings back to 2001: A Space Odyssey (a movie Nolan has said he used as the biggest influence, as well as Star Wars and Alien on the production design), extending the huge scope of the movie and also creating genuine tension.

 

If there were one or two nitpicks to have with this movie, it has to do with the pacing. At times, the 3 hour long duration wasn’t noticeable. Though dealing with two story-lines at once felt a bit jumbled at times, yet Nolan was able to accomplish this with three to four scenarios at once seamlessly in Inception. Also, some of the character motivations seem a bit unfocused or rather force fed to us. Nolan’s dialogue, while very well written, seems to be a bit too analytical about its themes and ideas. The scientific theories is all very interesting but could’ve been condensed down. Some of the characters were also hard to be involved with and mainly because they were underwritten (like character of Tom, who gets overshadowed by Murph). Also, the ending will most likely split opinions. Without giving too much away; it basically leaves you to interpretation and suggestion (just like Memento and Inception). How you will feel about that is entirely up to you.

 

Overall; Inception is still the best Christopher Nolan sci-fi movie but this still stands as an exceptional film of the genre. It does reach to great heights and delivers the spectacle. The cast deliver great performances, especially from Foy and Chastain. It just doesn’t quite reach its grasp.

 

4 out of 5

Bat Fans Afflicted By Affleck

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Not since the decision to cast Michael Keaton as Batman in Tim Burton’s 1989 film, have so many fan boys gone batty over the decision to cast Ben Affleck as the new Batman. History is repeating itself but this time on a much grander scale. In 1989 the internet was nowhere near its commercial use and fans penned letters to Warner Bros. voicing their disdain about Keaton. Now the focus has fallen on Ben Affleck, who very recently was announced as the new face of Batman to be seen in 2015’s yet untitled Man of Steel sequel. Opinion is fiercely divided and to the extent that 84,000 people have signed a petition against Warner Bros. and their decision to cast Affleck as the new Dark Knight.

Ben_Affleck to play batman

Some might be inclined to think that Affleck is coming in second best, based on the fact that Warner initially wanted Bale to reprise the role so much so that they offered him $50 million dollars. After the Dark Knight Rises concluded Chris Nolan’s trilogy, Bale officially stated that he was through playing Batman and true to his word, despite being offered one of the fattest pay checks in the history of film, he refused to return. Many names were subsequently thrown out there – Ryan Gosling and Josh Brolin to name a few. But the biggest surprise has come with Affleck and if life has taught the human race anything, it is that history repeats itself. Keaton was initially canned and yet successful. The odds are thus in Affleck’s favour.

The biggest problem from the side of the Bat fanatics is that they seem to be weighing up the success of the franchise against one actor and this is not fair. The recent Dark Knight trilogy was immensely successful for a number of reasons and not just because Bale was so amazing.  The Dark Knight films worked because the right people all congregated under one roof and pooled their resources. This ultimately is the key to the success of any Hollywood endeavour – the right people. The recent success of Man of Steel has proven this too and it’s safe to assume that if the same creative team is behind the new film with the right script, actors, director and production values, then the Bat fans have nothing to fear by Affleck’s casting.

The general lucrative nature of the Batman franchise is sure to generate box office gold. The Batman name lends credibility as a solid franchise so much so that The Dark Knight Rises was recently made into an online slot game, with potential plans to make it into a mobile slots game too. At the end of the day, fans have little to fear by Affleck’s donning of the mask of Batman – he has the two essential qualities required for the role – the grit to be Batman and the charm to be Bruce Wayne. Plus, his recent string of films have all garnered critical and commercial success.

Man of Steel {Film Review}

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*WARNING – MAY CONTAIN SPOILERS!*

 

This week is Warner Bros./DC Comics turn to bring up the heat for summer blockbuster season. It has been seven years since we had Superman on our screens with Superman Returns and the results were incredibly underwhelming (considering we had Batman Begins the year before, which was a critical and financial success). So a reboot was green-lit and Zack Snyder takes the helm to deliver Superman with watchful eyes from Christopher Nolan (serving as co-writer and producer). The end result is not as soaring as one would hope but flies rather valiantly.

 

Superman’s origin story remains the same; Kal-El (Henry Cavill) is one of the last remaining beings from the planet Krypton. Both his parents, Jor-El (Russell Crowe) and Lara Lor-Van (Ayelet Zurer), sent him off on a spacecraft as the planet was becoming unstable and would soon lead to its imminent destruction. His spacecraft crash lands in Smallville, Kansas and is raised by Jonathan and Martha Kent (Kevin Coster and Diane Lane). Though the interesting aspect that writers David S. Goyer and Christopher Nolan decided to focus on this Superman movie is asking; how would we react to a super-being? Would we welcome it with open arms or would we feel threatened? It’s certainly interesting to the fact none of the previous

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movie iterations even remotely decided to focus on that aspect. Although the story can feel a bit too cold for a Superman film and comes to no surprise it mostly has Chris Nolan’s stamp all over it. It was understandable for his Dark Knight trilogy to contain such a grim tone and featuring such dark themes. Superman really is a Moses story through and through but really delves into his alien heritage. There are amusing one-liners here and there but the cinematography all felt bleak with shades of blue and grey (with exception of scenes in Krypton).

 

Henry Cavill dons the suit really well, and he also brings the character quite a bit of charm but also some weight to the character. He brings such emotions as isolation and frustration, trying to blend in but there’s always a reminder that he will never be one of them. Although one scene that I felt was too forced on the religious symbolism is when he confesses to a priest in a church (whilst sitting in-front of a window with Jesus on it, subtle movie!) and he tells Kal-El to take a leap of faith. Amy Adams makes Lois Lane an active character this time round, rather than just solely being the damsel-in-distress that has Superman saving often. The chemistry between Superman and Lois is a bit weak but hopefully will expand in future sequels. Both Kevin Costner and Diane Lane play their characters really well, though there’s not much to work on as Jonathan is along with the many motivational parent/guardians to our heroes (Aunt May in Spider-Man and Alfred in Batman). Though the spot-light is Michael Shannon as General Zod, a great character actor but he completely chews the scenery and yet makes him quite intimidating which brings the fun to this film. You really believe this is a man motivated and dedicated to his genetic upbringing as a military leader.

 

As expected from Zack Snyder, he really delivers the spectacle and makes you believe a man can fly again! You feel the ferocity when Superman is flying for the first time, the sense of wonder from Superman’s reaction on roaring through the clouds. We finally get to see super-beings beat the living daylights out of each other. The scale and action sequences is spectacular, raising the bar to the extreme on what Superman has to handle. Zod’s soldiers really do put up a fight and you feel every blow they make is a devastating one! Though it does concern me that Zack Snyder causes this much destruction more on looking cool than taking into consideration the death toll would be extremely high (not to mention the amount of damage and lasting impact would leave upon Metropolis’s citizens). I was genuinely enthralled by WETA Digital’s creation of Krypton, clearly the filmmakers made sure they distanced themselves from Richard Donner’s Krypton. You feel that everything had a purpose and the planet felt alive with its inhabitants (I especially liked the silver projections when Lara is giving birth and Jor-El is giving Kal-El a history lesson about Krypton). Hans Zimmer’s score really captures the awe and wonder of Superman but also the menacing threat from the villains. There’s a lot to live up to than being under the shadow of John Williams’ iconic theme tune but Zimmer completely makes it his own.

 

Overall; a great stab on the Superman icon and really succeeds to make its own than trying to be a copy with what has been already established. Henry Cavill and Amy Adams play their respective characters faithfully and supported by a terrific cast. I really am looking forward to seeing more of this Superman series.

 

4 out 5

Win! Friends Prize Pack, oversized cappuccino mugs and a picture frame

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Warner Bros. Pictures is proud to announce the release of Friends: The Complete Series Blu-Ray Box Set November 12th 2012; along with the 30 Days of Friends: Trivia Challenge Blog App and Video Player! and Frost Magazine has prizes to giveaway!

 

 

You will win a Friends prize pack with two oversized cappuccino mugs and a picture frame just like the one on Monica’s door to giveaway to your audience.

2. 30 Days of Friends: Trivia Challenge! Come back everyday to earn a different Friends character badge, unlock hidden badges, and earn awesome Friends content along the way.  

3. Mashup Clip Countdown! Relive all your favorite Friends moments in these fun clips.  Each week a new clip will be unlocked. 

4. Which Friend Are You Most Like Quiz! Everybody loves the characters of Friends for their distinct and quirky personalities. Chandler’s wit, Monica’s OCD, and Phoebe with her free-spirit. Take this quiz to find out what Friends character you are most like!

5.Get Social! Tweet with the #FRIENDS hashtag to get your audience excited for the long awaited release of Friends: The Complete Series Blu-Ray Box Set.

To win just follow @Frostmag on Twitter and tweet, ‘I want to win #friends prize with @Frostmag’ or subscribe to our newsletter.

 

Man of Steel teaser trailer

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Man of Steel was a huge hit at Comic-Con, even made a fanboy cry! So it would be no surprise that a teaser trailer for the film would be shown in-front of The Dark Knight Rises, as Nolan co-wrote the story of Steel but is also serving as the producer. So when I saw Warner Bros., Legendary Pictures and DC Comics logo shown in-front, my heart was beating that I finally get to see footage of the upcoming Superman movie.

 

The music is taken from The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring by Howard Shore (as Hans Zimmer hasn’t started composing music for the film yet), already setting the mood that the film may take with the new Superman movie. It shows Henry Cavill not as Superman but as Clark Kent, sporting a scruffy beard and looking to be traveling the world.* Though we do see shots of Kent farm, though as if this was a Terrence Malick film. We have a voice-over by Jonathan Kent (Kevin Costner)**, implying to be talking to Clark by saying what you’d expect he would say; that he would grow up to do great things. We see shots of a young Clark Kent running around in backyard, wearing a red cape that foreshadows on what will lead to the inevitable. We of course get the title cards, reading ‘From Zack Snyder – Director of Watchmen and 300‘ (luckily they didn’t list Sucker Punch and hope they continue to do so) and ‘And Producer Christopher Nolan – Director of The Dark Knight Trilogy‘. Finally, the last shot we all been waiting for; Superman himself. Though starts off with an aerial view of an unspecified location, then we see a small figure flying up to the sky. The camera zooms in and get a glimpse of Superman as he flies in an unimaginable speed!

 

That’s all that really is to say about the trailer, it really is the meaning of a teaser. I am interested where this Superman film will go but honestly, Superman is the complete opposite in tone to Batman. I am all for different approaches to characters, rather go to the same route to be safe but Christopher Nolan’s influence (for better or worse) is a bit much. I do hope it’s all part of starting really grim and eventually grows to being bright and uplifting as the story develops. We’ll just have to wait and see when it is released on 14th June, 2013.

 

* – It was nice to see a shot of Clark Kent trying to hitch a ride and the road was leading up to Whistler in British Columbia, Canada (probably a different location in the film but still cool nonetheless).

 

** – I have now just found out that there are two versions of the teaser trailer, same footage but two voice-overs. One I saw in front of Rises was with Jonathan Kent and the other is Jor-El’s voice (Russell Crowe) which you can see on Apple website (http://trailers.apple.com/trailers/wb/manofsteel/)

Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2

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*WARNING! MAY CONTAIN SPOILERS!*

After ten years, the end of the Harry Potter saga has finally come to an end. It is one of the most anticipated summer blockbuster movies of 2011 and it is just as insanely popular when the book was released at our local bookstores. The result is just as exciting as you’d expect a movie finale.

The story continues as Harry, Ron, and Hermione continue to destroy Voldemort’s last remaining Horcruxes (each individual item Voldemort has put his soul to make himself immortal). Meanwhile, Hogwarts is under the control of Death-Eaters and Dementors. The story is just continues straight from Part 1 and you can really feel Harry’s struggle to destroy the last remaining Horcruxes. Even showing Voldemort slowly, and eventually, growing more vulnerable as the story progresses. For those who have read the books, it won’t come to any surprise with the few twists here and there (i.e. Ciarán Hinds as Dumbledore’s brother, Aberforth Dumbledore). A lot is at stake and director David Yates really dwells on that very well! The only problem I have is the time duration; Part 1 was 2 hours and 26 minutes, this film is only 2 hours 10 minutes long. It feels a lot shorter than it says, when it honestly should have been a lot longer to really show the epic story and scale of the production.

The performances from the three main leads are nothing to write about but they have improved over the years during the film series run. The film features an amazing British ensemble cast; Alan Rickman, Gary Oldman, David Thewlis, Ralph Fiennes, Maggie Smith, Helena Bonham Carter, Jason Isaacs, Julie Walters and even David Yates collaborator Kelly Macdonald (State of Play mini-series and The Girl in the Café) gets an appearance as Helena Ravenclaw. As much it is fantastic to see such huge names in a film like Harry Potter, the time duration comes to affect and limits their screen-time. Fiennes, however, does show he is having a lot of fun playing Voldemort but also shows a twisted charismatic presence you don’t get a lot from villains nowadays.

The production value is top-notch, you can see a lot of effort and care has been put on this epic finale. The sets look fantastic, the visual effects look dazzling and the orchestral score (by Alexandre Desplat) really brings the emotional core to the story and overall film. The final battle between Harry and Voldemort is rather intense but it all feels rushed and quite lacking compared to other epics (The Lord of the Rings). Though Warner Bros. doesn’t pull any stops and really does deliver quite an event.

Overall; it is the film Harry Potter fans want from a finale and it is the best in the series. Not quite as the big bang it was anticipating but still has enough to keep you satisfied through-out. You can’t deny the Harry Potter film series will have Hollywood keep its eye on British filmmaking and finding talent overseas. An immensely well made production, strongly recommended.

4 out of 5

Cowboys & Aliens Fails to Shoot Straight on Smoking

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Cowboys & Aliens Fails to Shoot Straight on Smoking with Its Youngest Movie Goers

Universal Takes One Step Forward, Two Steps Back with Major Smoking Scenes in Youth-Rated Blockbuster, Opening Today

Cowboys & Aliens, released today, will be reaching young theater audiences around the country with images of smoking that could motivate many of them to light up for the first time. Previous research has already confirmed a link between smoking images in movies and youth smoking initiation.

Universal Studios, spotlighted just two weeks ago in a U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) report as one of three movie companies that pared smoking in movies rated for youth by 96 percent, released the PG-13 blockbuster today, which features a cowboy hero, portrayed by Daniel Craig, who is seen smoking in key scenes.

“Just weeks ago, we applauded Universal for responding to this problem so responsibly by nearly eliminating tobacco from their G, PG and PG-13 movies,” said David Dobbins, Chief Operating Officer of Legacy®, the national public health foundation devoted to youth smoking prevention and adult smoking cessation. “This reversal confirms that without a uniform policy, young people will continue to see images of smoking that can inevitably cause them to smoke. It underscores how critical it is for the Motion Picture Association of America (MPAA) to take a much-needed leadership role and adopt a comprehensive policy on smoking by which all studios must abide.”

In a July 15, 2011 CDC report,[1] findings revealed that Universal, Disney and Warner Bros., had reduced tobacco incidents per youth-rated movie by 96 percent on average between 2005 and 2010. The data found that three other major studios — Fox, Sony and Paramount — had performed remarkably less well (42%).

In order to reduce youth exposure to tobacco imagery and level the playing field for all movie companies, public health groups like Legacy recommended that future movies with smoking be R-rated. The CDC’s report earlier this month underscored that point, saying, “Consistent with the effects of anti-tobacco use policies adopted by the three motion picture companies, expanding the R-rating to include movies with smoking could further reduce exposures of young persons to onscreen tobacco incidents, making smoking initiation less likely.”

So far in 2011, major Hollywood studios have released at least 15 youth-rated movies with tobacco imagery, all but two with PG-13 ratings: Fox: Monte Carlo , Water for Elephants; Sony: Country Strong, The Green Hornet, Jumping the Broom, Priest, Midnight in Paris; Paramount: Rango (PG); Justin Bieber (G); Universal: Cowboys & Aliens, Hanna, Larry Crowne ; Warner Bros.: Sucker Punch, Unknown, The Rite.[2]

Cowboys & Aliens, distributed by Universal (Comcast), was produced by DreamWorks with Reliance (India), Relativity and Imagine Entertainment.[3] It was shot in New Mexico on a reported $100 million budget,[4] with public subsidies.[5]

[1] Glantz S, Mitchell S, Titus K, Polansky JR, Kaufmann R, Bauer U (2011) Smoking in top-grossing movies – United States, 2010. MMWR 60(27);909-913

[2] UCSF CTCRE preliminary analysis of Thumbs Up! Thumbs Down! Data (Breathe California of Sacramento-Emigrant Trails.

[3] IMDbPro.com

[4] http://www.movieinsider.com/m4251/3/cowboys-and-aliens/

[5] http://www.nmfilm.com/filming/downloads/filmographyFiscalYear.pdf

First Dark Knight Rises Trailer Hits the Web

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Can you believe it – Warner Bros. have just released the first trailer for the eagerly awaited conclusion to their Batman franchise – The Dark Night Rises.

The new Batman movie is scheduled for UK release on July 20, 2012 and although the teaser is just 1.35 minutes long and doesn’t give too much away scenes of Gary Oldman’s character Commissioner Gordon lying in hospital and a sharp cut of Bane looking very sinister certainly raised my spirits – especially after the rubbish portrayal of him last seen in Batman and Robin.

Trust Frost Magazine to bring the goods

Dark Knight Trailer