71 posts tagged “movie”

In the new movie Harry Brown, Michael Caine (you may remember him from Return to the Poseidon Adventure, The Swarm, Jaws 3-D, The Hand and a couple of other movies) is a retired Marine who gives a bunch of yobs on a housing estate what they deserve after a mate of his is killed. The smart-arse at The Times thinks they should have killed him off, probably because Times readers would have preferred he prevailed if he talked like he did in Zulu. Me: I like a bit of escapism and this sounds like a modern-day Death Wish. (Pity that by the time Sir Maurice got to work with Michael Winner, the director had lost his marbles and they made Bullesye.) Go Michael! Blow them bloody doors off!

   Seriously, Sir Maurice had more personal reasons for starring in this film, being a Korean War veteran, and seeing how youth in these areas (it was filmed at the Elephant and Castle) have been let down by their elders, according to The Daily Telegraph.

I managed to get NZ$20 credit thanks to the Real Groovy loyalty card, meaning that I paid a grand total of NZ$10 for these two purchases today:

   I already had the first Casino Royale set, but it lacks a director’s commentary and many of the features one would expect for the NZ$35 I originally paid. I refused to buy the collector’s edition originally because I felt Sony would be getting my money twice. But for NZ$5, why not? Well worth it for all the extra stuff, deleted scenes and fascinating documentaries about the connections Ian Fleming had with the Bahamas (which many Bondphiles would not even know).
   There is even a documentary about the 50-year journey of the novel to this version of the movie, and clips from the first James Bond (with Barry Nelson) and the first time Casino Royale hit the big screen (in 1967, with David Niven—and we do get clips of Barbara Bouchet, Jacqueline Bisset, etc., too).
   Given how basic the Quantum of Solace DVD set is, my bet is that Sony will do this again.
   Secondly, this CD was on special anyway (NZ$5), and it has a few John Barry tracks, plus one Chet Baker one. It’s not the special album that Barry and Baker put together for this film, but considering that was never released in New Zealand, it’s the next best thing. A bit “1990s” in some respects (the Moby track in particular), but it has been ages since I treated myself to some music.

Before Steve Martin, Roger Moore, not Peter Sellers, was the last person to play Chief Insp Jacques Clouseau.

The stories are different enough that one could not accuse the Hong Kong film-makers of outright copying, but there is clear inspiration between the English Ooh, You Are Awful (or Get Charlie Tully), starring Dick Emery, and the first of the successful franchise 最佳拍檔 (Aces Go Places). The films are 10 years apart.
   The plot lines are similar: in the original, Emery has to find a Swiss bank account number, separately tattooed on four different girls’ behinds. In the later film, Sam Hui (the father of Canto-pop) and Karl Maka’s characters have to find a map reference, tattooed on two different girls’ behinds. The following is of two very similar scenes, one set at Waterloo Station in London, the other at a taxi company’s radio department, and subsequent scenes involving photographic booths, where one might be able to claim there was a fair amount of direct copying. Emery is more blue, while the later film is more slapstick with better pacing.
   And yes, that is the lovely Cheryl Kennedy in the first clip.
   In the 1970s and 1980s, it was highly unlikely for Hong Kong cinemagoers to have seen the Emery film.
   Head to 2.45 for the above scene in the first video; 0.43 in the second clip.

Following on from an earlier post about opening titles, here’s a quick examination of how things change when shows are remade.
   First up, Randall & Hopkirk (Deceased), with the original titles by Chambers & Partners and music by Edwin Astley:

Regardless of one’s politics, I thought this was a very good loop of the speech from Patton. Sounds like how I remembered George C. Scott (the real Gen Patton sounded quite different).

This probably means very little to others, but I thought it was interesting to see some of the fall 2009 US TV shows being advertised on the Lucire site. A couple of years ago, we had Ugly Betty and other shows being pushed heavily on our site; this time around, it’s Eastwick, Cougar Town and Californication, which are a little more adult:

We were chatting about non-US actors adopting American accents on Jaklumen’s blog and I thought of several American actors who do pretty good English accents.
   First up, Rénée Zellweger as Bridget Jones:

   Secondly, James Cromwell as HRH the Duke of Edinburgh in The Queen:

Remember how a few weeks back, I chided Examiner.com for a poorly written review of District 9? The writer of the review told us how a chap called ‘Neill Blomcamp’ directed the film, and invented new words such as gansters, prolifigate, demonstate and permissiable. I still wonder if a prolifigate is where pro-lifers meet up.
   It looks like the site never really checks things. Its latest review is a bit better when it comes to spelling and word usage, but it still has some mistakes, such as ‘the Nazi’s outlined treatment of the Jews during WWII’ (which Nazi?). Less forgiveable, however, are the first two words which begin the review. There, I see that Neill Blomkamp’s name is now ‘Neil Bomkamp’:

Examiner writers and editors: repeat after me. Neill Blomkamp. Neill Blomkamp. Neill Blomkamp. Now, write that out 50 times on the blackboard till you get it right.

The writer of this review of District 9, Andrew Ricks Jr, has good phrasing, and seems to know his stuff. However, it reveals that someone did not do any checking at the Examiner, whether it’s the writer (I am the first to admit it is difficult to proof your own stuff on-screen), the proofreader (who should be skilled enough to do this) or an editor (who really should be). And this paragraph is where I stopped reading because I was way too put off by the errors:

With my tongue firmly in my cheek, I must make these nine points.
   1. What are gansters?
   2. Which single African nation is the writer referring to?
   3. Is a prolifigate where pro-lifers gather?
   4. Must be the French spelling of activities.
   5. It is shakiest ground?
   6. What is permissiable?
   7. I haven’t seen the film, but I am pretty sure director Neill Blomkamp will be delighted to know this is how his name is spelt.
   8. I know, sometimes I am insenstive about these things.
   9. Which other is he referring to?
   10. A demonstate must be a pretty evil place to live.
   My worry behind this is that kids will grow up thinking having a dozen errors in a paragraph is OK for communication, when the reality is that it is distracting and does not serve the purpose of communicating.
   Our publications are not perfect but I don’t think we mess up this much.
   I have even been nice here because in print, we would have to mark all the “dumb” apostrophes.