Wednesday, 14 December 2011
On the cutting room floor: a century of film censorship
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Wednesday, 16 November 2011
Doctor Who film being planned
A big-screen version of the iconic BBC1 drama is in the early stages of planning, with director David Yates at the helm
Matt Smith plays the 11th Doctor in the current series of the BBC1 show Doctor Who. Photograph: Adrian Rogers/BBC Worldwide
A new Doctor Who film finally looks to be on the cards following years of rumour and speculation, and almost 50 years after the Time Lord was last transported to the big screen.
David Yates, the director of the last four Harry Potter films and TV drama State of Play, told US entertainment industry trade magazine Variety that he has started work on a feature film adaptation of the sci-fi drama with BBC Worldwide, the corporation's commercial arm.
But fans of the current Doctor, Matt Smith, could be disappointed, as Yates said that the film would be "quite a radical transformation" from the latest BBC1 series which ended in October.Yates and the BBC also cautioned that the project remains in the early stages of development, with no script or cast, and will not reach cinemas for several years.
"We're looking at writers now. We're going to spend two to three years to get it right," Yates told Variety. "It needs quite a radical transformation to take it into the bigger arena."
Yates also suggested that the film would not be written by either Russell T Davies, responsible for successfully bringing Doctor Who back to TV in 2005, or Steven Moffat, who replaced him as showrunner and lead writer in 2009.
"Russell T Davies and then Steven Moffat have done their own transformations, which were fantastic, but we have to put that aside and start from scratch," he said.
"We want a British sensibility, but having said that, Steve Kloves wrote the Potter films and captured that British sensibility perfectly, so we are looking at American writers too."
A BBC spokesman said: "A Doctor Who feature film remains in development with BBC Worldwide Productions in Los Angeles.
"The project is unlikely to reach cinemas for several years and as yet there is no script, cast or production crew in place."Variety magazine reported that Yates is working on the film with Jane Tranter, the Los Angeles-based head of the BBC's Worldwide Productions. Tranter oversaw the show's return to BBC1 in 2005 as the corporation's drama controller.
It is almost 50 years since the last big-screen adaptation of the long running TV drama. Doctor Who and the Daleks made its debut in 1965, with the sequel, Doctor Who: Daleks' Invasion Earth 2150 AD airing a year later. Both 1960s movies starred Peter Cushing as the Doctor.
Doctor Who was dropped by the BBC after 26 years in 1989, returning for a one-off TV movie in 1996, starring Paul McGann.
The TV series returned to BBC1 in 2005 with Christopher Eccleston cast as the Time Lord, before David Tennant took over for the next three series and 2009's specials. Smith has been in the lead role for the past two series.
Lego: the Movie builds its way to Hollywood
Warner Bros has given the green light to a CGI/live action film based on the much-loved children's building blocks, after toying with the project since 2008
By the power of Lego … figures in the Lego Ninjago collection. Photograph: Jason Decrow/AP
Transformers, GI: Joe (read: Action Man) and Cluedo are among the much-loved children's games and toys which Hollywood has recently seen fit to adapt for the big screen. Now Lego: the Movie looks set to be the latest to find its way into multiplexes after studio Warner Bros finally gave plans for its long-gestating film the green light.
Billed as a family-friendly action adventure based on a mix of CGI animation and live action, the new project currently remains untitled but has Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs' writer-directors Phil Lord and Christopher Miller on board. It looks likely to shoot in Australia for a release in 2014, according to Variety. Robot Chicken's Chris McKay has also signed up as a co-director, working under Lord and Miller.
A Lego film has been on the cards at Warner since at least 2008. The Danish toy company has historically been fiercely protective of its property in the face of regular Hollywood overtures, but warmed to the idea of a family-oriented flick embracing its key values of fun, creativity and boundless imagination. Warner Bros has asked Australian firm Animal Logic, which worked on the Oscar-winning Happy Feet and its forthcoming sequel, to take charge of the animation for the movie.
The Lego System of Play was born in the small town of Billund back in 1955, but it wasn't until the famous studs-and-tubes platform was launched in 1958 that the toy really took off. It has twice been named Toy of the Century and today, seven sets are sold per second.
Apart from Transformers and GI Joe, other toys supposedly set to invade the multiplexes include a new adaptation of He-Man and the Masters of the Universe, Monopoly, Candyland, Battleship, Stretch Armstrong, View-Master, Max Steel and Hot Wheels. Of these Battleship, with Peter Berg on board as director and a cast that includes Liam Neeson, Taylor Kitsch, Alexander Skarsgård and Rihanna, looks likely to arrive in cinemas first: it's due next May. Monopoly was supposed to have Ridley Scott in the director's chair, but was recently put back to 2014 in the wake of the director's decision to shoot Alien not-prequel Prometheus and a sequel to Blade Runner, instead.
Wednesday, 9 November 2011
Melancholia grabs eight nominations at European film awards
Lars von Trier's film earns nods in all but one category, going up against The King's Speech and The Artist for best film
Sister act … Kirsten Dunst, left, and Charlotte Gainsbourg in Melancholia. Both women are up for best actress at the European film awards. Photograph: Allstar
He recently took a vow of (media) silence after causing controversy with comments about Hitler at this year's Cannes film festival, but the Danish arch-provocateur Lars von Trier can take comfort from news today that his latest film is doing the talking for him. Melancholia, Von Trier's claustrophobic tale of a woman's struggle with mental illness as the world around her appears to be on the verge of destruction, is leading the charge for the European film awards with a total of eight nominations in just nine categories.
Von Trier himself gets a nod in the best director category, where he is up against fellow Dane Suzanne Bier for her Oscar-winning In a Better World, the Dardenne brothers for Cannes hitThe Kid with a Bike, Aki Kaurismäki for Le Havre and Britain's Tom Hooper for the Academy Award-winning The King's Speech.Melancholia will compete with Michel Hazanavicius's Hollywood-set black and white silent film The Artist, The Kid With a Bike, In a Better World and The King's Speech for best film. Von Trier's female leads, Kirsten Dunst and Charlotte Gainsbourg, have both been nominated for best actress.
The King's Speech, Hooper's period drama about King George VI's struggle to overcome a debilitating stammer, also received a nod for best actor in the form of Oscar-winner Colin Firth. There was more British success for Tilda Swinton, who picked up a best actress nomination for her portrayal of a mother coping with her son's penchant for evil in We Need to Talk About Kevin.
In terms of nominations, five films tied for the second-highest number of nominations with four each: The Artist, The Kid With a Bike, In a Better World, The King's Speech and Le Havre. The last of these, which also debuted in competition at Cannes, is a comedy drama about a French shoeshiner who tries to save an immigrant child.
The European film awards will be staged in Berlin on 2 December. Award recipients are decided by members of the 2,500-strong European Academy; past winners of the best film award include Roman Polanski'sThe Ghost Writer, Michael Haneke's The White Ribbon, Cristian Mungiu's 4 Months, 3 Weeks and 2 Days, Florian Henckel von Donnersmarck's The Lives of Others and Pedro Almodóvar's Talk to Her.
'My Beautiful Laundrette' Context
Why was everyone so mad at Thatcher?
Thatcherism describes the conviction politics, economic and social policy, and political style of the British Conservative politician Margaret Thatcher, who was leader of her party from 1975 to 1990. It has also been used by some to describe the ideology and wider political culture of the British government while Thatcher was Prime Minister between May 1979 and November 1990, and beyond into the governments of John Major, Tony Blair, Gordon Brown and David Cameron.
Thatcherism describes the conviction politics, economic and social policy, and political style of the British Conservative politician Margaret Thatcher, who was leader of her party from 1975 to 1990. It has also been used by some to describe the ideology and wider political culture of the British government while Thatcher was Prime Minister between May 1979 and November 1990, and beyond into the governments of John Major, Tony Blair, Gordon Brown and David Cameron.
Thatcherism claims to promote low inflation, the small state and free markets through tight control of the money supply, privatisation and constraints on the labour movement. It is often compared with Reaganomics in the United States. Nigel Lawson, Thatcher's Chancellor of the Exchequer from 1983 to 1989, listed the Thatcherite ideals as:
Free markets, financial discipline, firm control over public expenditure, tax cuts, nationalism, 'Victorian values' (of the Samuel Smiles self-help variety), privatisation and a dash of populism.
Critics of Thatcherism claim that its successes were obtained only at the expense of great social costs to the British population. Industrial production fell sharply during Thatcher's government, which critics believe was the reason for increased unemployment during her early years as prime minister. There were nearly 3.3million unemployed in Britain in 1984, compared to 1.5million when she first came to power in 1979, though that figure had fallen to some 1.6million by the end of 1989.
When she resigned in 1990, 28% of the children in Great Britain were considered to be below the poverty line, a number that kept rising to reach a peak of 30% in 1994 during the Conservative government of John Major, who succeeded Thatcher.
While credited with reviving Britain's economy, Mrs. Thatcher also was blamed for spurring a doubling in the poverty rate. Britain's childhood-poverty rate in 1997 was the highest in Europe.
On the occasion of the 25th anniversary of Thatcher's inauguration, BBC conducted a survey of opinions which opened with the following comments:
To her supporters, she was a revolutionary figure who transformed Britain's stagnant economy, tamed the unions and re-established the country as a world power.Together with US presidents Reagan and Bush, she helped bring about the end of the Cold War.But her 11-year premiership was also marked by social unrest, industrial strife and high unemployment.Her critics claim British society is still feeling the effect of her divisive economic policies and the culture of greed and selfishness they allegedly promoted.
'East is East' Context
Why does George hate Indians so much?
The Indo-Pakistani War of 1971 was a military conflict between India and Pakistan. Indian, Bangladeshi and international sources consider the beginning of the war to be Operation Chengiz Khan, Pakistan's December 3, 1971 pre-emptive strike on 11 Indian airbases. Lasting just 13 days it is considered one of the shortest wars in history.
The Indo-Pakistani War of 1971 was a military conflict between India and Pakistan. Indian, Bangladeshi and international sources consider the beginning of the war to be Operation Chengiz Khan, Pakistan's December 3, 1971 pre-emptive strike on 11 Indian airbases. Lasting just 13 days it is considered one of the shortest wars in history.
During the course of the war, Indian and Pakistani forces clashed on the eastern and western fronts. The war effectively came to an end after the Eastern Command of the Pakistani Armed Forces signed the Instrument of Surrender, the first and perhaps the only public surrender to date, on December 16, 1971 following which East Pakistan seceded as the independent state of Bangladesh. Around 97,368 West Pakistanis who were in East Pakistan at the time of its independence, including some 79,700 Pakistan Army soldiers and paramilitary personnel and 12,500 civilians, were taken as prisoners of war by India.
The Indo-Pakistani conflict was sparked by the Bangladesh Liberation war, a conflict between the traditionally dominant West Pakistanis and the majority East Pakistanis.
Wednesday, 2 November 2011
Warner Bros blocks flow of films to Blockbuster in DVD window row
Blockbuster loses titles including latest Harry Potter as studio tries to enforce 28-day gap between DVD sale and rental
The Hangover Part II is one of the Warner Bros titles denied to Blockbuster after the rental chain broke the 28-day window without the studio's permission. Photograph: Melinda Sue Gordon/AP
Warner Bros has refused to give DVD rentals chain Blockbuster its latest films, including The Hangover Part II and the final Harry Potter movie, in a row over the 28-day DVD sales window.
The Hollywood studio wants to enforce the industrywide 28-day window between the date new DVDs go on sale and the date they are available to rent.Blockbuster has resisted efforts to enforce the window, and earlier this year rented retail DVDs of Horrible Bosses and The Green Lantern inside the 28-day window without Warner Bros' permission.
The move is the boldest yet by a Hollywood studio trying to revive flagging DVD sales. Physical films sales fell 19% year-on-year in the first quarter of 2011 to about £1.3bn, in a period when home streaming through online services such as Netflix and LoveFilm grew rapidly.
Kevin Tsujihara, the president of Warner Bros home entertainment, indicated in an interview with the Financial Times on Thursday that the studio will next year move to expand the already contentious window.
"[Blockbuster] felt it was important to continue to offer day and date rental, so rather than work with us they went around us," he told the FT."The question is: how do we make ownership more valuable and attractive? We have started the process of creating a window in bricks-and-mortar DVD and Blu-ray rental."
Warner Bros has similar 28-day window agreements with the online streaming services Redbox and Netflix in the US.
Tsujihara suggested that those services may have to wait longer to offer film rentals to viewers when talks to renew the agreement begin next year.
"The Netflix and Redbox deals are going to be expiring at the end of the year and beginning of next year and it's likely we will try to extend those windows," he told the FT.
The move is likely to be fiercely contested by the rental services, some of which are already feeling the pressure from US broadcasters and studios.
Netflix saw its shares plunge 32%, to $79.40 (£49.65), in the past week after it posted a loss of more than 800,000 subscribers and said that next year's expansion in the UK and Ireland would push it to a global net loss.
Blockbuster had not responded to a request for comment at the time of publication.US home entertainment spending growth defies slump
Spend on e-commerce services such as Netflix and Amazon soars more than 50% in Q3, helped by Blu-ray sales rise
A surge of more than 50% in spending on e-commerce services such as Netflix and Amazon – helped by booming sales of Blu-ray discs of films such as the Star Wars franchise – has fuelled the first rise in home entertainment spending in the US for more than three years.
Consumer spending on services that provide films and TV shows digitally – including streaming, video-on-demand and subscription services such as iTunes and Hulu – grew 55.79% year on year to $811m in the third quarter, according to a report by industry body the Digital Entertainment Group.The booming growth of digital services and surge in Blu-ray disc sales fuelled an overall 4.87% year-on-year increase in total US home entertainment spending in the third quarter to $4bn.
"[It is] a major milestone as this is the first time spending has increased since the first quarter of 2008 when the economic downturn began," said the report. "This growth reflects an encouraging shift in the marketplace … [and] the continued stabilisation of the industry."
However, the DEG report showed that rentals of DVDs through outlets such as Blockbuster plunged almost 29% year on year to $353m.
Sales of DVDs and Blu-ray discs through retail stores, that is not through digital channels, fell 4% to $1.75bn.
However, the overall figure for the "packaged goods" category masks a growing success story for Blu-ray discs.
The DEG said the number of US homes with Blu-ray players has surged 52% year on year to 33.5m, which includes homes with PS3s which have the player built in as standard, with sales of discs up 58%.
According to the report more than 50% of sales of discs of major box office hits are frequently Blu-ray in the first week. In addition, older films such as Star Wars, Citizen Kane and The Big Lebowski are proving to be big winners on Blu-ray, with "stellar sales" climbing more than 60% year on year.
Borders and Belonging in 'My Beautiful Laundrette'
My Beautiful Laundrette (Stephen Frears, 1985) is a comedy-drama about the relationship between Johnny (Daniel Day Lewis), a white punk, and Omar (Gordon Warnecke), a second generation Pakistani living in London in the ‘80s. The narrative deals with the issues of race, class, homosexuality and the economic and political state of Thatcher Britain.
The opening of the film presents the idea of isolation straight away through the way in which Johnny is violently thrown out of the house he is squatting in, which also reflects the fact that he is living in poverty. Additionally his and his friends’ punk style acts as a symbolic signifier of the ‘80s and connotes the theme of racism immediately, through punks’ stereotypically right-wing political outlook. This could be interpreted as suggesting that Johnny has a place where he belongs, due to the fact that he fits in with a group of friends, but him being evicted could imply that actually, despite his white privilege, he doesn’t belong here either. Then the audience are introduced to Omar, who has taken on his death mother’s role in the house as shown by him washing and hanging out clothes. The small dingy flat gives the film a claustrophobic feeling, and the constant trains passing in the background act as a morbid reminder of his mother’s suicide, making it seem as though Omar is restricted by his life.
However his father then finds him a job with his uncle, which could be his path to belonging in London and was also very valuable at a time of economic despair. It is clear from the contrast between Nasser and Salim’s suits and Omar’s jeans and trainers that they are in different classes. This is enforced when Salim at first mistakes Omar for a thief and then later says, “at least you’ll be able to afford a clean shirt, Mrs Thatcher will be happy with me.” Nasser has obviously acquired a sense of belonging in Britain, as reflected in his wealth and glamorous white mistress, Rachel, who acts as his route to acceptance in the white community, whilst Omar’s socialist father, Hussein, resents Britain and its politics, preferring to drink himself into oblivion. This leaves Omar in no-man’s land between staying true to his Pakistani roots and settling down in Britain. The class divide is highlighted further when Nasser and Rachel take Omar to a bar and Nasser says, “Have you ever been to a high class place like this before? I suppose you spend most of your time in your black hole flat,” implying the restrictions placed on Omar due to his financial status.
Another way in which Omar is restricted and looked down upon is because of his sexuality. Throughout the film other characters make innuendos about it, such as Hussein saying, “Fix him up with a nice girl, I’m not sure his penis is in full working order” and Salim instructing him on how to polish a car: “You know how to rub don’t you?” At the time, and even now, it was the hegemonic norm to be straight and Omar’s relatives did not know about his true sexuality, although Johnny hinted at it: “In my experience it’s always worth waiting for Omar.”
Overall the film presents Omar and Johnny’s struggle to belong in a world where they are both isolated because of their sexuality and social class, and Omar for his race. By opening the laundrette, they are attempting to break free from their restrictions and finally be accepted into society.
Wednesday, 19 October 2011
Wednesday, 12 October 2011
Youtube launches online movie rental service in the UK
YouTube launches online movie rental service in the UK
Google-owned site will offer UK film fans online rental of blockbusters including The Dark Knight and Reservoir Dogs
YouTube is to offer movies including The Dark Knight for rental in the UK. Photograph: AP
YouTube has launched its movie rental service in the UK with thousands of blockbusters including The Dark Knight and Reservoir Dogs.
Film fans in the UK can now rent new releases for £3.49 and older titles for between £2.49 and £3.49 from YouTube.
The move puts the Google-owned site in direct competition with Amazon's LoveFilm, which claims some 1.6 million customers in the UK and Europe. LoveFilm makes new releases available to non-members for between £2.49 and £3.49 a film.
Viewers will be given a 30-day window to watch their film on YouTube, and 48 hours once they have started viewing it.
YouTube has signed UK-specific deals with Hollywood film companies including Sony Pictures, Warner Bros, Universal and Lionsgate. The website has also signed deals with Revolver Entertainment, the British studio behind Talihina Sky: The story of Kings of Leon, and Metrodome.
The UK becomes only the third market where YouTube has launched its movie rental business, after the US and Canada.
YouTube launched its US video-on-demand service in May as part of its shift away from short, low-quality clips that made the site so popular. YouTube is by far the busiest video website online, with more than 100 million unique monthly viewers, according to figures released by web metrics firm Nielsen in June.
The launch of the UK movie rental service follows longstanding deals with broadcasters, including Channel 4 and Channel 5, who make their programmes available on the site.
Patrick Walker, senior director of content partnerships for YouTube in Europe, the Middle East and Africa, said: "We're happy to be working with partners of all sizes to bring more content to YouTube users.
"In addition to clips, user-created and long-form TV content our British users know and love, now movie lovers can find full-length feature films on YouTube in the UK."
- taken from The Guardian website
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