Tag Archives: Woody Harrelson

Hunger Games: Catching Fire Film Review

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I was very excited to see Hunger Games: Catching Fire because I loved the first one so much. However, I was also worried that it would not be as good because it had so much to live up to.

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One of the highlights of The Hunger Games was, of course, Jennifer Lawrence. An epic heroine, the new Ripley. A survivor with a heart, sacrificing herself for her sister. Straight-talking and brave; Katniss might be one of the best female characters in a film ever. She is certainly one of the most inspirational. A role model even for real women.

Whilst watching Hunger Games: Catching Fire one thing struck me: that there may be people watching it thinking our society is not like this at all, but the Hunger Games does reflect our society, and more countries more than others. The gaps between the haves and the have nots, social injustice, oppression; the Hunger Games is more than thrilling entertainment, it is also a statement on the world we live in. An intelligent action film, well written with brilliant acting and something to say.

It is hard to not get caught up in the story, in the characters and their plight. It is hard to not keep going on about Lawrence as Katniss. The audience love her, the people love her: she is the girl whos purity and bravery sparks a revolution. I have to confess that I have not read the books, but I really want to. Josh Hutcherson (Peeta) and Liam Hemsworth (Gale) are both excellent as the men Katniss is caught between: her real love and her media love. Who will she end up with in the end?

Peeta and Katniss are celebrities but also icons. They empower the people and pay the price. Peeta, Katniss and Haymitch (Woody Harrelson) make an excellent team, bonded together through what can only be described post-traumatic-stress-disorder. Katniss wakes Peeta up by screaming as she wakes up from a nightmare, he comes into her room: ‘It’s okay’, he says, ‘I get them too.’ Even Effie (Elizabeth Banks), that vacuous idiot, can barely take the injustice, finds her conscious and her feelings.

Donald Sutherland is excellent as President Snow and Machiavellian media chief Philip Seymour Hoffman is brilliant and full of depth. I was also pleased with myself as I saw the twist before it happened. The film is relevant, gripping and worthy. In fact the only bad thing I have to say is that it ended far too quickly and I have no idea how I am going to wait an entire year for the next installment.

Five stars.

STARS LAUNCH SAVE THE ARCTIC CAMPAIGN

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Greenpeace to plant a million names on seabed beneath the pole

Stars from the worlds of music, film, TV and business are today launching a campaign to save the Arctic.

Sir Paul McCartney, Penelope Cruz, Robert Redford, One Direction, Alexandra Burke, Jarvis Cocker and Sir Richard Branson are among dozens of famous names who are asking for a global sanctuary in the Arctic. They have joined forces with Greenpeace to demand that oil drilling and unsustainable fishing are banned in Arctic waters.

Others demanding that the uninhabited area around the North Pole is legally protected and made off-limits to polluters include Edward Norton, Woody Harrelson, Jude Law, John Hurt, Rita Ora, Thom Yorke, Tim Roth, Thandie Newton, Bruce Parry, Lawrence Dallaglio, explorer David de Rothschild and Cilla Black. (Full list below.)

They are among the first one hundred names to be written on an Arctic Scroll, which is launched by Greenpeace today at the Rio Earth Summit. When a million others add their own names Greenpeace will embark on an expedition to plant it on the seabed at the North Pole, four kilometres beneath the ice. The spot will be marked by a Flag for the Future designed by the youth of the world.

Anybody in the world can add their name to the Arctic Scroll and have their name planted beneath the pole by visiting www.SaveTheArctic.org

The huge expanse around the pole belongs to all of us because it is defined in international law as the high seas. But as temperatures rise and the ice melts the Arctic states – Russia, Canada, the US, Norway and Denmark – are making territorial claims on the seabed so they can open the door to oil companies. Arctic sea ice has retreated dramatically in recent years and scientists say the North Pole could soon be ice free.

The campaign is formally launched today at the Rio Earth Summit at a press conference (details below) hosted by Greenpeace International executive director Kumi Naidoo, Sir Richard Branson and actress Lucy Lawless, star of Battlestar Galactica and Xena: Warrior Princess. Lucy will be sentenced in September after scaling oil company Shell’s Arctic drilling rig and blocking its operations for 72 hours in New Zealand in February.

Sir Paul McCartney said: “The Arctic is one of the most beautiful and last untouched regions on our planet, but now it’s under threat. Some countries and companies want to open it up to oil drilling and industrial fishing and do to the Arctic what they’ve done to the rest of our fragile planet. It seems madness that we are willing to go to the ends of the Earth to find the last drops of oil when our best scientific minds are telling us we need to get off fossil fuels to give our children a future. At some time, in some place, we need to take a stand. I believe that time is now and that place is the Arctic.”

Greenpeace International executive director Kumi Naidoo said: “The Arctic is coming under assault and needs people from around the world to stand up and demand action to protect it. A ban on offshore oil drilling and unsustainable fishing would be a huge victory against the forces ranged against this precious region and the four million people who live there. And a sanctuary in the uninhabited area around the pole would in a stroke stop the polluters colonising the top of the world without infringing on the rights of Indigenous communities.”

As part of today’s launch, polar bears have been appearing in cities around the world.

Shell is due to begin exploratory drilling at two offshore sites in the Alaskan Arctic in the coming weeks. If Shell is successful this summer, an Arctic oil rush will be sparked and the push to carve up the region will accelerate. Russian oil giant Gazprom is also pushing into the offshore Arctic this year.

In 2007 Russian explorer Artur Chilingarov planted a Russian flag on the seabed beneath the pole and ‘claimed’ it for Moscow. Wikileaks documents later revealed he was acting on the instructions of the Russian Government. Now Greenpeace is planting the names of a million global citizens beneath the pole and marking the spot with a Flag for the Future designed by children in a global competition organised by the ten million-strong Girl Guide movement.

The campaign will initially focus on pushing for a UN resolution demanding a global sanctuary around the pole and a ban on oil drilling and unsustainable fishing in the wider Arctic. The campaign was launched today because the Arctic Circle is defined as the area of the globe which on the longest day – 21 June – experiences 24 hours of sunlight. On 21 June the sun never sets on the Arctic.

Rodion Sulyandziga from the Udega People and First Vice President of RAIPON (Russian Association of Indigenous Peoples of the North) said:

“At present, the Arctic – one of the last unique and intact places on Earth – is facing a real threat from active oil drilling. A large scale oil exploration ‘development’ can irreversibly destroy the virgin purity of the Arctic region, putting at stake the physical existence and survival of Indigenous Peoples who, without their traditional living patterns, without their eternal habitat, will have no future.”

Three Arctic states, the US, Canada and Russia were responsible for sinking an Oceans Rescue Plan in Rio which would protect the vulnerable marine life of the Arctic’s international waters and enable the establishment of a sanctuary in the area around the pole.

Kumi Naidoo added: “We’re drawing a line in the ice and saying to polluters ‘you come no further.’ People ask me why I, as an African, care so deeply about the Arctic, but the answer is simple. The Arctic is the world’s refrigerator, it keeps us cool by reflecting the sun’s energy off its icy surface, but as the ice melts it’s accelerating global warming, threatening lives and livelihoods on every continent. Wherever we come from, the Arctic is our destiny.”

A new short film written and produced by advertising legend Trevor Beattie and released today uses stunning Arctic footage shot by world-renowned ‘Earth from the Air’ photographer Yann Arthus-Bertrand. The film is narrated by Golden Globe-winning actor John Hurt and can be viewed at www.savethearctic.org

Game Change Film Review by Daniel McCarthy.

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‘It’s God’s plan’ a calm Sarah Palin (Julianne Moore) announces as she is chosen to become the Republican vice presidential nominee in the historic American election of 2008. The events themselves seem so fresh and vivid in the memory that to describe them as history feels somewhat redundant. We all remember the raised eyebrows and gasps of incredulity as the Governor of Alaska was plucked from relative obscurity to become one of the most recognised faces on the planet. Few could predict the ultimate outcome. Based largely on the political journal of the same name, Game Change tracks the decision by the McCain campaign team to hoist a ‘game changing element’ into the ring of the election. Head organiser Steve Schmidt (Woody Harrelson) believes that a fiery right wing candidate will boost bedrock support whilst her being a woman will cross the gender divide and provide a celebrity counter balance to Barack Obama’s unprecedented popularity. John McCain (Ed Harris) is delighted with the decision especially after her barnstorming opening speeches. However joy soon turns to dread as they discover that Palin is woefully ignorant on America’s key foreign policies. Public adulation turns to mockery and she soon begins to buckle under the strain of the campaign. The rest as they say is history…

The release date of Game Change has not gone unnoticed in political circles with Plain and McCain having accused the film of lies before having even watched it. With a new election looming the timing could not be more noticeable. Of course it is the portrayal and performances that will define such a project. As Palin, Julianne Moore is quite frankly a tour de force. Often critics get caught up in their own adjectives and hyperbole but in all sincerity; there are moments I forgot I was watching Julianne Moore. The physical and vocal ticks are uncanny yet there is a strong parallel between the images of Palin that we recall and the portrayed image that we were not privy to. Moore perfectly conveys the sense of someone desperately out of their depth yet refusing to fold. The media harassment that hounded her and her family is plain to see for all including those opposed to her politics. As much as race and age played a crucial factor in Obama and McCain’s public image, so to do the fact that Palin was a woman and may have forgotten (or overlooked) the frankly misogynistic attitude of many mainstream media outlets towards her at the time of her campaign. These elements are expertly woven by director Jay Roach into the narrative along with archive and interview footage edited to seem that the actors are interacting with their real life counterparts. This includes an incredibly self referential moment when a humiliated Palin watches the now infamous Saturday Night Live sketch with Tina Fey.

But it is in the ultimate treatment of Palin that the film falls short. Whilst casting her in sympathetic light for the opening act the descent into an ‘uncontrollable renegade’ seems to come too fast and comes off as a tad unconvincing, a shame considering the initial scenes. There is a genuine punch the air moment in the third act when Schmidt (a brilliant Harrelson) puts her firmly in place whilst retaining a professional tone but it’s the one subtle moment toward the finale that you can increasingly feel the melodrama creeping in. The film can’t decide to ultimately exonerate her or to condemn her. It doesn’t help that McCain himself is pretty much side lined by the drama. Ed Harris is a magnificent screen presence and though certainly not up to Moore’s pedigree he definitely has McCain’s physicality nailed. Yet he is reduced to watching from the side lines occasionally stepping forward to deliver a bit of sage advice for the ‘young firebrands.’ It’s a waste of a great performer and whilst I normally wouldn’t mind in any other work I severely doubt the actual John McCain swears so much. It passes over from shocking into quite frankly silly.

HBO have maintained a high standard of quality across a range of platforms and to a degree it’s really encouraging to see a television movie draw such talent to it and get such a wide release. I don’t think it’s flawless by any means though I concede that projects like this will always divide opinion in their portrayal of such recent events. The powerhouse performances see it through however and with the election just around the corner who knows; maybe we’ll be back here in four years?

90% of Brits saying being "Friends with Benefits" ruined Friendship.

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90% OF BRITONS IN THEIR EARLY TWENTIES WHO’VE HAD A ‘FRIENDS WITH BENEFITS’ RELATIONSHIP SAID IT RUINED THEIR FRIENDSHIP

The results of a recent survey, asking single people about their views on ‘friends with benefits’ relationships, have revealed that 90% of Britons in their early twenties who have had a relationship with a friend said it ended up ruining their friendship.

The poll of over 15,000 men and women was carried out by mysinglefriend in association with the DVD release of FRIENDS WITH BENEFITS (out now on Blu-ray and DVD).

Overall results show that of those UK singletons who had embarked on a relationship with a friend, 58% now think it was never a good idea as it always ends in tears. Only 1 in 20 of those surveyed think a ‘friends with benefits’ arrangement can work for men but not for women.

“It’s fascinating to find that so many people have at some point dated a friend, and in the vast majority of cases this hasn’t worked out. I’d say we’ve found that it’s best to avoid practising on your friends – most friendships won’t survive!” Said Sarah Beeney, founder of mysinglefriend.

75% of 31-40 year olds won’t admit to ever having had a relationship with a friend
Of the 38% of over 40’s who have had a ‘friends with benefits’ relationship, 73% managed to remain friends after the relationship fizzled out

Despite 90% of those in their early twenties admitting they ruined their friendships, 60% still believe the arrangement can still work in some circumstances

Only 7% of resilient 20-30 year olds ended up getting hurt by having a relationship with a friend

In FRIENDS WITH BENEFITS, Justin Timberlake and Mila Kunis star as two friends who decide to add the simple act of sex to their friendship, soon discovering that getting physical really does always lead to complications…

Directed by Will Gluck and starring Justin Timberlake and Mila Kunis, FRIENDS WITH BENEFITS, out now on Blu-ray and DVD, also boasts hilarious performances by Woody Harrelson and Emma Stone.