December 2005

The Golden Globe nominations have been announced and includes some surprises. Although they have been discredited in recent years they can be a useful marker for what films will win at the Oscars. But this year the Globes seem to be all over the shop. David Poland over at The Hot Blog thinks its a mess. I think he may be right - just look at the disparity between the nominees for Best Drama and Best Director category. What to draw from all of this? Steve Pond of the LA Times reminds us that there are years when the Globe nominations differ considerably from the Oscars. Brokeback Mountain with its nominations across 7 categories looks like an early favourite but I still feel Munich and King Kong have some considerable awards steam left in them. But a lot can happen over the next couple of months…

Anyway here are the nominations in full:

Best motion picture - Drama
Brokeback Mountain
The Constant Gardener
A History of Violence
Match Point
Good Night, and Good Luck

Best performance by an actress in a motion picture - Drama
Maria Bello - A History of Violence
Felicity Huffman - Transamerica
Gwyneth Paltrow - Proof
Charlize Theron - North Country
Ziyi Zhang - Memoirs of a Geisha

Best performance by an actor in a motion picture - Drama
Russell Crowe - Cinderella Man
Philip Seymour Hoffman - Capote
Terrence Howard - Hustle and Flow
Heath Ledger - Brokeback Mountain
David Strathairn - Good Night and Good Luck

Best motion picture - Musical Or Comedy
Mrs Henderson Presents
Pride & Prejudice
The Producers
The Squid and the Whale
Walk the Line

Best performance by an actress in a motion picture - Musical or Comedy
Judi Dench - Mrs Henderson Presents
Keira Knightley - Pride & Prejudice
Laura Linney - The Squid and the Whale
Sarah Jessica Parker - The Family Stone
Reese Witherspoon - Walk the Line

Best performance by an actor in a motion picture - Musical Or Comedy
Pierce Brosnan - The Matador
Jeff Daniels - The Squid and the Whale
Johnny Depp - Charlie and the Chocolate Factory
Nathan Lane - The Producers
Cillian Murphy - Breakfast on Pluto
Joaquin Phoenix - Walk the Line

Best performance by an actress in a supporting role in a motion picture
Scarlett Johansson - Match Point
Shirley MacLaine - In Her Shoes
Frances McDormand - North Country
Rachel Weisz - The Constant Gardener
Michelle Williams - Brokeback Mountain

Best performance by an actor in a supporting role in a motion picture
George Clooney - Syriana
Matt Dillon - Crash
Will Ferrell - The Producers
Paul Giamatti - Cinderella Man
Bob Hoskins - Mrs Henderson Presents

Best director - Motion Picture
Woody Allen - Match Point
George Clooney - Good Night and Good Luck
Peter Jackson - King Kong
Steven Spielberg - Munich
Ang Lee - Brokeback Mountain
Fernando Meirelles - The Constant Gardener

Best foreign language film
Kung Fu Hustle (China)
Master of Crimson Armor (China)
Merry Christmas (France)
Tsotsi (South Africa)
Paradise Now (Palestine)

Best original score - Motion Picture
Syriana
King Kong
Brokeback Mountain
The Chronicles of Narnia
Memoirs of a Geisha

Best television series - Drama
Commander and Chief
Lost
Grey’s Anatomy
Prison Break
Rome

Best performance by an actress in a television series - Drama
Patricia Arquette - Medium
Glenn Close - The Shield
Geena Davis - Commander and Chief
Kyra Sedgewick - The Closer
Polly Walker - Rome

Best performance by an actor in a television series - Drama
Patrick Dempsey - Grey’s Anatomy
Matthew Fox - Lost
Wentworth Miller - Prison Break
Hugh Laurie - House
Keifer Sutherland - 24

Best television series - Musical Or Comedy
Curb Your Enthusiasm
Desperate Housewives
Entourage
Everybody Hates Chris
My Name is Earl
Weeds

Best performance by an actress in a television series - Musical Or Comedy
Marcia Cross - Desperate Housewives
Terry Hatcher - Desperate Housewives
Felicity Huffman - Desperate Housewives
Eva Longoria - Desperate Housewives
Mary Louise Parker - Weeds

Best performance by an actor in a television series - Musical Or Comedy
Zach Braff - Scrubs
Steve Carrell - The Office
Larry David - Curb Your Enthusiasm
Jason Lee - My Name is Earl
Charlie Sheen - Two-and-a-Half Men

Best Screenplay - Motion Picture
Woody Allen - Match Point
George Clooney and Grant Heslove - Good Night, and Good Luck
Paul Haggis and Bobby Moresco - Crash
Tony Kushner and Eric Roth - Munich
Larry McMurtry and Diana Ossana - Brokeback Mountain

Best original song - Motion Picture
A Love that will Never Grow Old - Brokeback Mountain
Christmas in Love - Christmas in Love
There’s Nothing Like A Show on Broadway - The Producers
Travelin’ Thru - Transamerica
Wunderkind - The Chronicles of Narnia

Best original score - Motion Picture
Alexandre Desplat - Syriana
James Newton Howard - King Kong
Gustavo Santaolalla - Brokeback Mountain
Harry Gregson - The Chronicles of Narnia
John Williams - Memoirs of a Geisha

Best mini-series or motion picture made for television
Empire Falls
Into the West
Lackawanna Blues
Sleeper Cell
Viva Blackpool
Warm Springs

Best performance by an actress in a mini-series or motion picture made for television
Halle Berry - Their Eyes Were Watching Me
Kelly MacDonald - The Girl in the Cafe
S Epatha Merkerson - Lackawanna Blues
Cynthia Nixon - Warm Springs
Mira Sorvino - Human Trafficking

Best performance by an actor in a mini-series or motion picture made for television
Kenneth Branagh - Warm Springs
Ed Harris - Empire Falls
Jonathan Rhys Meyers - Elvis
Bill Nighy - The Girl in the caf�
Donald Sutherland - Human Trafficking

Best performance by an actress in a supporting role in a series, mini-series or motion picture made for television
Candice Bergen - Boston Legal
Camryn Manheim - Elvis
Sandra Oh - Grey’s Anatomy
Elizabeth Perkins - Weeds
Joanne Woodward - Empire Falls

Best performance by an actor in a supporting role in a series, mini-series or motion picture made for television
Naveen Andrews - Lost
Paul Newman - Empire Falls
Jeremy Piven - Entourage
Randy Quaid - Elvis
Donald Sutherland - Commander in Chief

Cecil B DeMille award
Sir Anthony Hopkins

MORE DETAIL
> The Official Nominations site of the HFPA - the organisation that dishes out the Globes
> An AP story (via CNN) that ran a couple of years ago highlighting the criticisms of the Globes & the HFPA
> Wikipedia on the Golden Globes

Peter Jackson’s remake of his favourite film is a marvel to behold that breaks new ground in visual effects and further enhances his reputation as one of the best filmmakers of his generation.

I must confess I had a few doubts about this project when it was first announced. Was it too soon after the critical and commercial success of the Lord of the Rings trilogy? Was the original film worth remaking on this scale? Wasn’t the previous remake in 1976 a disaster? The initial teaser trailer was intriguing but it didn’t fill me with awe and anticipation of the Rings films. After viewing a short preview of the film and the more recent trailers I was more excited. However, nothing fully prepared me for the awesome spectacle Jackson and his collaborators have created. It is no exaggeration to say that this film takes visual effects in to a new era and leaves us with the year’s best blockbuster.

Wisely fleshing out and expanding the 1933 original it starts off with some surprisingly gritty but superbly realised scenes in Depression hit New York. By chance the recently unemployed actress Ann Darrow (Naomi Watts) and under pressure director Carl Denham (Jack Black) meet outside a theatre. He desperately needs a female lead for his latest project and she needs the work. Enticed by the offer of shooting on an exotic island she sets sail along with Denham’s beleaguered colleagues, a screenwriter (Adrien Brody) and the ships crew.

When they reach the island they are attacked by hostile natives and Ann is eventually kidnapped and offered as sacrifice to a giant gorilla named Kong (’played’ via CG technology by Andy Serkis). The crew embark on a rescue mission and eventually manage to capture Kong, intending to make money from him as a theatre attraction. But the plan proves unwise as he unleashes havoc on downtown New York in search of the woman he forged a connection with on the island.

The first and most striking thing about this King Kong is the extraordinary attention to detail up on screen. From the desolate streets of Depression era New York to the exotic mystery of Skull Island and finally back to a wintry Manhattan the film is a marvel of production design and digitally rendered landscapes. More than that, the film integrates its characters into these environments with such verve that the more fantastical elements of the story appear believable. Added to this the pacing and editing makes the three hour running time breeze by as it moves from one well executed set piece to the next.

Some may find the first hour drags a little in comparison to the last two, but the build up helps ground the films characters in a more believable setting. It might not seem believable but once you are inside the film, the fantastical creatures on the island seem all too plausible. All this is aided by the shrewd casting that makes the leads more rounded and interesting individuals. Naomi Watts further demonstrates her considerable acting presence in a role that could have just descended into a lot of running and screaming. Instead we get a deeper and more soulful Ann Darrow than previous screen incarnations, one which makes her interaction with Kong all the more touching.

Jack Black is more of a surprise as he is less comedic here than in previous roles. He has some funny lines but mostly gives an assured and serious performance of a maverick filmmaker living by a grey moral compass. Adrien Brody gives solid support as the film’s screenwriter, although his would be romance with Ann is overshadowed somewhat by all the action. The other supporting roles are also capably filled out, without ever being truly outstanding, but are largely overshadowed by the films true star - Kong himself.

Which brings us to Kong himself. When WETA Digital created Gollum for The Two Towers and Return of the King it felt like a landmark moment in CGI, along with the T100 in Terminator 2 and the dinosaurs in Jurassic Park. But this is something else altogether. Andy Serkis provided the acting muscle beneath Gollum and he returns here to provide Kong’s movements underneath WETA’s incredible visual costume. The giant gorilla feels like a truly believable character - his fights with the dinosaurs on the island and his interaction with Ann are superbly realised, as are the revolting creatures that attack the crew. At times you can see some joins but mostly the effects are first rate and in the final third of the film Jackson and his team pull out all the stops.

Kong in New York is simply one of the best action sequences in recent memory, a triumph of pacing, emotion and eye popping visuals that have raised the bar to a new level. The recreation of the Empire State building and the landscape of New York are executed with remarkable precision  and they add weight to the relationship between Kong and Anne - one that is much more emotional than I had expected. Where Jackson and his team go after this will certainly be interesting. He is slated to adapt Alice Sebold’s novel The Lovely Bones, which is likely to be a much smaller scale project, but until then he be proud at having created two of the most remarkable film projects in recent memory. 

MORE DETAIL
> Official Site
> Kong is King – The main site for news on this production with video diaries featuring Peter Jackson and the cast and crew. A must visit. 
> Wired Magazine with a story of the Kong is King site and the making of the film
> Watch the trailers
> IMDb Link
> Wikipedia on the character of King Kong
> Dark Horizons talks to Peter Jackson about the film
> Andy Serkis talks to Coming Soon about his role(s) in the film
> The Observer profile Jack Black
> Also in The Observer Peter Conrad muses on the appeal of Kong
> Gauge the critical reaction to the film at Metacritic
> BBC News took some pictures at the London premiere
> King Kong Tag on Flickr
> Kong drunk in Times Square

Here is this week’s guide to the latest releases on cinema and DVD…

AT THE CINEMA

The Chronicles of Narnia (PG): Faithful but ultimately uninspiring version of C.S. Lewis novel that has a) got some mystifyingly good reviews and b) upset some people with it’s pro-Christian undertones. Neither are worth worrying about but who cares anyway with King Kong opening next week?
 
March of the Penguins (U): This documentary about the incredible journey Emperor Penguins take in order to pro-create is directed by Luc Jacquet and narrated by Morgan Freeman. It’s an eye catching and interesting look at an animal rarely seen on the silver screen but not quite as riveting as it’s US box office success might suggest. Still worth seeing though. [Now showing at cinemas nationwide]
 
N.B. King Kong is out next Thursday and a review will be posted here on Monday.
 
Other films out this week that we haven’t seen yet but might be worth checking out:

After Midnight (15)
Now showing at selected cinemas nationwide
 
Calvaire (18)
Now showing at the Odeon Panton St in London
 
Crying Fist (15)
Now showing at selected cinemas nationwide
 
Scorched (12A)
Now showing at selected cinemas nationwide
 
33 X Around The Sun
Now showing at the ICA Cinema in London

The Wild Parrots Of Telegraph Hill (PG)
Also showing at the ICA Cinema in London

> Get cinema show times in your area via Google
> Check out the top films at the UK Box Office

 
ON DVD

As there isn’t much out this week other than Quantum Leap - Season 3 (“Ziggy!, Ziggy!”) and Saving Face, we thought we’d list some of the weirder DVD releases listed on Amazon:
 
John Wilson - Float Fishing: “Join John as he demonstrates the techniques of Float Fishing”.

The Moomins: “Featuring the 1980s puppets and a series of adventures including ‘Magic Cloud’, ‘Ant Lion’, ‘The Voyage’, ‘Island Treasures’, ‘The Great Search’, ‘Emma The Theatre Rat’, ‘The Lady Of The Cold’, ‘The Rockfall’ and ‘The Giant Eagle’”.

The Eye - Mark Wallinger: An interview with the contemporary artist, Mark Wallinger, featuring film footage of his work.

Dulwich Picture Gallery: There doesn’t appear to be a description for this but I’m intrigued that a picture gallery has it’s own DVD

> Browse some DVD releases on Play
> Check out the latest DVD news and reviews at DVD Times

It might be a competent and intermittently engaging adaptation of C.S. Lewis’ much loved children’s book, but for the most part this is an average Christmas blockbuster.

The massive box office success of the Lord of the Rings and Harry Potter franchises obviously alerted Hollywood executives to the fact that there was money to be made in children’s fantasy books and the Christian audiences who lapped up The Passion of the Christ. After reportedly turning down the chance to make Lord of the Rings, Disney (in a co-production with Walden Media) have now invested a considerable amount in bringing The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe to the screen, the first of Lewis’ seven books set in the magical land of Narnia.

During the Blitz, the children of the Pevensie family are sent off to a large country house. There they amuse themselves by playing hide and seek and the youngest, Lucy (Georgie Henley), decides to hide in a large wardrobe. She finds that it is a magical portal to the world of Narnia, a land of permanent frost and snow. After meeting a kindly faun named Mr Tumnus (James McAvoy) who tells her about where she has found herself, she goes back through the wardrobe to her sceptical siblings. Eventually they too discover Narnia and find themselves drawn into a battle between the evil witch (Tilda Swinton) who controls the kingdom and the forces of good led by the lion Aslan (voiced by Liam Neeson).

For fans of the original book, there is initially much to chew on here. It is faithful to the source material, the production design is technically impressive and the CGI used to bring animals such as Aslan to life is (for the most part) convincing. The young actors in the lead roles all do a decent enough job and Tilda Swinton brings an icy gravitas to the role of the White Witch. But despite the qualities that will no doubt make this one of the most popular films over the Christmas period, there was too much here that left me deflated. The central problem is that none of the elements really gel into a memorable whole. Although director Andrew Adamson has taken some care to ensure that the details of the book have been translated on screen, there is little here to truly inspire or excite.

The world of Narnia is recreated with an solid attention to detail and the CGI used to create the animal characters is mostly good (without ever being outstanding). However, there is lack of cohesion between the characters and their surroundings that makes Narnia less magical than it should be. When we fist come across Tumnus and the famous lamp post it feels too much like a set and the final battle scenes are nowhere near the standards set by Peter Jackson in the Lord of the Rings films.

Given the way this film has been marketed to religious audiences in the States, one might expect the Christian themes to have been laid on quite heavily. But in truth it’s not an explicitly religious film, certainly no more than the book. If you object to the metaphors in Lewis’ original (Aslan is essentially a Christ-like figure) then, you will probably object to them here as it reproduces the tone of the story quite faithfully. But the problem with this adaptation is not religion, it is the lack of wonder and magic needed to make a film like this truly memorable.

MORE DETAIL
> Official Site
> IMDb Link
> Watch the trailer
> See what the critics think of the film at Metacritic
> Wikipedia on the original books
> Detailed bio of C.S. Lewis
> The Economist with an article profiling Philip Anschutz - the man behind Walden Media, co-financiers of the film along with Disney - who wants to make films without sex and violence (you mean all the good stuff? – Ed)
> The Village Voice with an interesting article on the way ‘Christian values’ are finding their way into Hollywood films
> Polly Toynbee in The Guardian is upset by the Christian elements in the book and film