MSN Movies Blog: The Big Picture
Bruno: The End For Baron Cohen?
A few of us went to a screening of Bruno last week. At one point, the Austrian presenter of “Funkyzeit” pitches a new show to a group of American TV producers. During Bruno’s video pitch, he presents a screen-sized male member swinging back and forth at us for perhaps ten seconds. We were sat in the third row and it was a large screen…
This was not the most explicit thing in Sacha Baron Cohen’s latest show. But it was the point that something occurred to me. It seems almost inevitable that this will be the last of Sacha Baron Cohen’s mockumentary character-based releases. There’s really nowhere left for him to go.
There must have been long discussions at the regulatory authority about whether to let some of the scenes through. It really does stretch the 18 certificate to its limits. Whatever you do, do not take your Mum.
Besides the fact that Baron Cohen will not be able to ramp up the extremity next time round (for legal reasons), Bruno is the last character from Da Ali G Show, during which all three of his blockbuster film characters were created.
Cohen has a brilliant mechanism for success that completely shields him from the attention that a film star deals with. Interviews with Baron Cohen out of character are rare. During the in-character interviews, journalists have to submit questions so that they can be alligned with Cohen’s auto-cue answers. He’s found a brilliant mechanism for enjoying the success of fame whilst avoiding all the attention.
These films don’t have a long shelf-life. They shock and amaze everyone then are easily forgotten. The impression I get is that this set-up suits Baron Cohen just fine. He’s a star that will successfully avoid stardom. Thanks Ali, Borat and Bruno. You’ve been fun!
Photos from Tim Burton’s Alice in Wonderland
A vast interest has recently flourished in relation to photos from Tim Burton’s unique take on Alice in Wonderland, revealed by USA Today. The pictures are captivating, striking and intriguing. Tim Burton has definitely provided his visionary on how he interprets the classic story. These few pictures have left people wanting to see the other characters images and most importantly the film, which is released in 2010. Here are pictures of Johnny Depp as the Mad Hatter, Helena Bonham Carter as the Red Queen, Anne Hathaway as the White Queen, and three concept art images.
Megan
Just had the pleasure of meeting Megan Fox. I was hoping to kick this off with a photo to prove that I’m not lying. But the moment I produced my camera a large security man instructed me that there are no photos allowed…. so you’ll just have to believe me.
Anyway – this is how the beginning of the interview went…
Me: So you’re pretty famous now. How are you dealing with all the attention?
Her: I get bored with it. Like, if I were to tell you how good that shirt looks on you every day, wouldn’t you get bored?
Me: [deep breath] No I could probably get used to it actually.
*Her: Do you have a girlfriend?*
* Lie
But, seriously that first bit was true, which was pretty surprising to say the least! Junket interviews are often fairly dull…
Any7way there’ll be a video later this week to prove I’m not fibbing!
Get your Excitement UP (and keep it that way for five months)
Pixar animation UP has opened with a massive $21.4 million weekend box-office take. And it fully deserves it! Bravo, Pixar…
The problem is, those of us over here in the UK won’t be able to watch it until October. The desire you are feeling to go and see it, right now, will have to be quelled. I just hope you’re still excited in five months time. I’m afraid I’m not allowed to review it myself, per se.
But I can give you an estimation of the look on my face when I saw it…
…and by that I don’t mean that I wet myself. I was happy. THAT’S MY HAPPY FACE OKAY!? It’s ace…
Also, I can now announce that we do have a review in from our intrepid reporter – Jonathan Crocker – in Cannes. Read it now!
INTERESTING THING I READ TODAY…
“Why Terminator Salvation Isn’t a Terminator Film” over at ScreenCrave. They make a good point – it just didn’t have that feeling.
Remember 2D Animation?
This is the year of 3D. I was lucky enough to get an early look at Pixar’s UP in 3D yesterday and, though I can’t really talk about it too much, it blew my mind!
This is perhaps the second major turning point in the tranformation of animations. The first was the moment the Pixar ball bounced onto our screens at the beginning of Toy Story in 1995 – the dawn of CGI animation.
With all the 3D excitement caused by screen-bending features such as Coraline and Monsters Vs Aliens, both of which had vast audiences donning their 3D goggles this year, it’s easy to forget the classics made us love animation in the first place.
In recognition of this, Disney is releasing a "classic" 2D movie this year – The Princess & The Frog. It’s amazing to me that the trailer almost pitches the film as a “retro” release, using the phrase, “In the tradition of Walt Disney’s beloved classics.” Perhaps I’m getting old.
I agree with the sentiment from Disney. There are things that can be done in 2D that the new tech can’t touch.
Dumbo 3D anyone? No thanks. It’s perfect as it is.
Who Should Play Martin Luther King?
The news came in today that Dreamworks has bought the rights to the life story of Martin Luther King. However you swing it, this will be a huge and historic release.
The big question, of course, is who gets the part. I asked the team and here are our suggestions…
Colleen Last, MSN Entertainment Editor – Denzel Washington
“One of the few actors with the gravitas to play Martin Luther King. Washington has successfully played real-life figures before, such as Malcolm X, and has years of experience playing weighty roles in films including American Gangster and Training Day.”
James Hurley, MSN Music Editor – Ice Cube
“Ice Cube is a highly underrated actor who hasn’t always helped his own cause by playing gangsta types. This would be a risk for all involved but might just be the making of him. Also, the physical resemblance is closer than that of Will Smith, Denzel Washington, or any of the more predictable candidates.”
Ian Jones, MSN Homepage Editor – Idris Elba
“The bloke who plays Stringer Bell in The Wire. Idris Elba is his name. I’d no idea he was British until I read it in the paper. He’s a brilliant actor: he’d play MLK with just the right mix of anger and humility.“
Paul Carmichael, MSN Homepage Editor – Laurence Fishburne
“Laurence Fishburne. 30 years after he seemed set for superstardom when he boogied to the Stones in Apocalypse Now, Larry’s career has rarely hit the heights. He is though hugely underrated and could I reckon deliver a cracking performance as MLK.”
Mike Lok, MSN Content Manager – Avery Brooks
“Avery Brooks, a much underrated actor that will probably be forever known as Captain Sisko from Star Trek Deep Space 9, he beat 100 other actors to become the first African-American to lead the series. While Trek never asks for Oscar winning performances from its cast, Avery punched way above what was ever required of him, showing depth, emotion and passion that is waiting to be showcased on the silver screen.”
Lorna Cooper, MSN TV Editor – Jamie Foxx?
“If one is looking at the relatively small pool of A-list black movie actors, it’s difficult to see an obvious choice. Maybe Jamie Foxx? However, I personally think they should cast an unknown, or relative unknown, in the main role of Doctor King – that would be a story in itself. Supporting character roles can be filled by names if need be. Besides, curiosity and word-of-mouth have been proven to get bums on seats in the past.”
My Choice? – Cuba Gooding Jr
Gooding hasn’t done anything anyone’s heard of since Pearl Harbour. And everyone knows that was rubbish! But he’s a formidable talent with a voice to match the highs of those historic King speeches. He’s due a big role like this.
Anyway – those are our thoughts. How awful are our selections? Click “Comments” below and tell us. Please feel free to stick your own casting ideas in there.
With trailers like this, who needs films?
Further to sponsoring an F1 car (see previous entry), the Terminator people are pushing back the boundaries of urrr… pushing their movie. They’ve released a four-minute super-trailer for Terminator Salvation.
This adds weight to my prediction that one day films will die out and we’ll all just watch endless trailers: cinema for the ADD generation.
Hey! This reminds me of that “Good Trailer: Shame About The Film" piece we ran last week. Not that I think Terminator will be rubbish! I mean, I’ve seen a thirtieth of it already and that was awesome!
Terminator In Pole Position
Inventive marketing ploys are always interesting around this time of year. As the big movies gear up for the big push towards what they hope will be a bank-bulging box-office swoop, a million ideas are put forward as to how.
The Simpsons Movie set the standard for marketing stunts a couple of years ago with a blimp flying over London and a giant Homer on a hillside in West England. Things can only get more crazy from here on in.
Terminator Salvation went for a far more traditional root this weekend by sponsoring an F1 car. But this is the first movie to have taken such a sponsorship spot – formerly the domain of booze and tobacco companies before they were regulated out of the game.
They certainly seem to have picked the right team. Jenson Button’s from my hometown (go Frome!) so I’m completely on board with the Button run at the F1 title. And here he is along with teammate Rubens Barrichello and one of Skynet’s nasties.
They do need some bigger lettering, however. Who on earth is going to be able to read that tail-piece at 200mph?!
And The Winner Is… Kirill!
Online drama was a new, exciting and ever-so-slightly intimidating field for us at MSN. We took the plunge in 2008, producing a 10-episode sci-fi series entitled Kirill with the help of renowned reality TV producers Endemol.
And would you believe it, we just won a Webby award for best individual episode in an online drama.
Peter Bale, Executive Producer at MSN UK said, “The Webbys have become a significant celebration of talent across the web and I could not be more pleased that MSN and Endemol have been recognised in this way.”
Chris Lunn, MSN Video channel manager commented, “With Kirill, we aimed to create something unique, exciting and completely different to other made-for-web series. It was a risk as we didn’t know how our users would react, but we were pleased that it turned out to be one of genuine delight and enjoyment.
“To then receive a Webby for the project – a reward renowned for recognising innovation and execution at a global level – is extremely humbling, especially when you consider the excellent competition who were also nominated.”
Evidently, we’re proud of Kirill – it’s an immersive sci-fi series utilising more than just than great video but blogging and audio as well. Go ahead and dive into the (ahem…) award- winning Kirill experience.
Angels, Demons, Hadrons…
Angels & Demons might just be the sleeper hit of 2009. The momentum is building and the sequel to The Da Vinci Code seems to be escaping the shadow of its critically distained forebear.
In the books, this is actually the prequel (and by far the better of the two in my opinion). I had a chance to look into all these details when I was invited to chat to director Ron Howard and Tom Hanks at CERN in Geneva – the European super-lab designed to recreate the beginning of the universe by smashing particles (hadrons) together in a gigantic underground tunnel.
It’s a key set in the film – lending a near-supernatural element to the action. And I was fine with that. But teaching a film journo particle physics was always going to be tough. I was keeping an open mind and looking to learn.
Obviously, The Da Vinci Code was littered with dubious readings of history – just one of the reasons it didn’t go down so well. Angels & Demons continues to make historical assumptions, centred around an ancient anti-religious sect called “The Illuminati” (I actually have the T-shirt now). But Dan Brown has also tinkled with the science in this one, imagining that the brain boxes at CERN are capable of producing a briefcase of “anti-matter” that could blow up Rome.
Needless to say – this is all pretty much impossible. Physicist Markus Nordburg is explaining just how unlikely much of the material in the book is here as some Japanese journalists and I dive past the eye-scanner and into the gigantic CERN tunnel (excuse my shoddy camerawork).
Someone commented that it felt a lot like visiting the set of moonraker…
Angels & Demons is evidently not afraid to take liberties with the truth. But Ron Howard sees it as fiction in both senses: “The movie doesn’t go to great lengths to explain the science or the history. In fact the rhythm of this movie doesn’t allow for that. It’s a ticking bomb story.” In fact, during my interview, he referred to Angels & Demons as “science fiction”.
So what we are seeing in Angels & Demons is an alternate reality. The rewards will be there if we’re able to overlook the occasional scientific and historical liberty. As Tom Hanks said to me, “Don’t discount how cool a movie can make something mundane look.” And he’s quite right – though perhaps the particle physicists among you should watch something else…
