Ashley Norris.

The Great Gatsby Review

Mon, 20 May 2013 16:20:23 +0100

Adapting and luxuriating a classic novel, Luhrmann stepped up to the plate to knock out a literary classic hoping to make a classic film at the same time. Originally intended for a December release, the delayed, 3D post-converted modernisation of the book has now been released after premiering in Cannes – although it was already out in America. This change from an awards film to a summer blockbuster is a bizarre one and one that’s understandable after watching it. It isn’t an awards-worthy film, it’s barely memorable; it’s in a funk that never truly gets over the hump of converting lyrical literature into a more visual affair. Although it fills these gaps with nicely edited, scripted words flying up on to the screen and people talking quite poetically, it all feels like it works as a book but not a film.

The Great Gatsby Review on Cinema Sauce.

Interview with World War Z's Director Marc Forster

Fri, 17 May 2013 16:38:56 +0100

Back in 2005 there was a bidding war for a manuscript of what was set to be a hit novel. It was fought between Brad Pitt’s and Leonardo DiCaprio‘s production companies, constantly bidding and besting each other to get their hands on the rights to a book that hadn’t even been released yet. After a while, Brad Pitt’s company, Plan B, came out on top and now, after many years sitting in production limbo, World War Z will be released this summer. Unfortunately a lot of people are aware of this film based on its the production problems alone which have followed, plagued and wrongly sullied the name of the film.

The full Marc Forster Interview is up on Cinema Sauce.

Interview with The Great Gatsby's Craig Pearce

Fri, 17 May 2013 16:34:40 +0100

Walking down a rainy Regent Street in London Craig Pearce, co-writer of The Great Gatsby picked up his phone and rang me so we could talk about his latest outings, his collaborations with Baz and his new TV programme called Will, which is why he was walking around rainy London. Thankfully, he was eager for a chat to explain the reasoning behind his and Baz Luhrmann‘s interpretation of The Great Gatsby and their translation and adaptation of such an important piece of literature. As well as their bold decision to adapt Gatsby, he’s got the guts to reinvent William Shakespeare himself, who will be appearing on your small screen soon in the US and later on in the UK, as is the way. He’s a screenwriter whose work you are almost certainly familiar with as he’s written Strictly Ballroom, Moulin Rouge!, Romeo + Juliet and The Death and Life of Charlie St. Cloud. Below he openly chats to us. Do enjoy.

The Full Craig Pearce Interview is available on Cinema Sauce.

Interview with The Wolverine's Brian Tee

Wed, 15 May 2013 14:58:04 +0100

There’s an upcoming film in the summer you may have heard of called The Wolverine and I luckily got to chat with one of the actors in it, Brian Tee. You’ll recognise Brian Tee from an array of projects that are completely diverse and eclectic but his highest profile role to date is as DK of the Fast and Furious franchise. He gave up his time to chat with us about some of his future projects – there are a lot of them and a lot to talk about because he loves what he’s doing. His foray into acting is almost accidental too by being in an acting class in college before then turning to major in theatre. He is a wonderful guy to chat to who is a fanboy when it comes to films, television and his childhood loves of videogames and comics. We got to chat with him about most of his work set for release over the next few months – The Wolverine, Mortal Kombat: Legacy - and icons he’d love to work with.

My Brian Tee interview on Cinema Sauce.

Deadfall Review

Sun, 12 May 2013 22:26:39 +0100

After winning an Oscar for best foreign film with The Counterfeiters, Stefan Ruzowitzky has turned to his first American project, Deadfall, bringing together an impressive cast. Entrenched in snowy landscapes, Ruzowitzky has surrounded the audience in a bitter cold atmosphere that’s as claustrophobic as it is endless with blizzards freezing our characters. Thanks to the cold atmosphere and the outlandish characters there’s something incredibly interesting here to toy with but being marketed as a straight out action-thriller is the wrong marketing ploy. It’s also the wrong way to take the film because there’s a much more interesting subject matter to be chiseled at and those are the characters. There’s a potential avalanche of emotions, disturbing pasts and real people, even in its exaggerated form.

TO READ THE REST OF THE REVIEW CLICK HERE

Louie Season 1 DVD Review

Sun, 12 May 2013 22:22:42 +0100

Comedian Louis CK‘s own television programme has finally made it to the UK thanks to the FOX channel and now the first season has been released on DVD. It’s a much refreshing addition to the sitcom world as it hardly feels like one, with a much more human touch, even in the most surreal moment of the pilot. It’s a great foray by the comedian into acting which he has done before but there’s something much more real and human about this creation than his predecessors. In this season he manages to balance comic moments with relevant commentary as well as stand-up gigs that are inspired by the weekly topic of the episode. It’s a different style of television comedy but it works so well; it’s the rejuvenation that makes this a much more welcome addition. It’s far away from the troubled 2 Broke Girls.

TO READ THE REST OF THE REVIEW CLICK HERE

Interview with Zombieland's Kirk Ward

Sun, 12 May 2013 22:20:29 +0100

After the success of the movie, Amazon have now delved into original programming with their pilot season being decided by the audience. There are thirteen pilots to choose from but only four will make it into a full series and one of those pilots, hoping to rekindle, yet reimagine, the world of the movie, is Zombieland. Kirk Ward chatted to us about Tallahassee, inviting us and the audience to help sculpt the world of Zombieland and how the series might go on. He even offered to come to my flat – his words – to perform the pilot episode with the rest of the cast in case you haven’t seen it on LOVEFiLM or Amazon Instant. Below he discusses the original intention of the television series that became a movie, working in the television system and his desire to beat people with a crutch and have a TMZ scandal.

TO READ THE INTERVIEW CLICK HERE

Interview with Director Marcel Sarmiento

Tue, 07 May 2013 12:51:27 +0100

The ABCs of Death has gathered together directors, assigned them a letter and told them to make a short film relating to death. Marcel Sarmiento was assigned the letter D. His debut feature was Heavy Petting, a light dog-related romcom but his follow-up feature, Deadgirl, tugged him entirely in the other direction. Deadgirl relates the tale of two high school outcasts who discover a chained and naked dead girl who cannot die, completely refreshing the zombie genre, making it much more disturbing and distinguished. It’s a horror film that is a great watch because it’s disturbing, shocking, uncomfortable, unflinching and interesting – qualities which are rare to find in the genre. Marcel Sarmiento is a very lovely director, one who I feel incredibly sorry for because of my faulty recording apparatus. He spoke to us about his segment, amongst a feast of other topics, all of which you’ll find below.

TO READ THE REST OF THE REVIEW CLICK HERE

Dragon Review

Tue, 07 May 2013 12:36:02 +0100

Acting usually comes down to moments of believability, ensuring that the emotions that should be portrayed are done so well enough to impact the audience. What usually slips through the cracks of acting is the great pain an actor might have to go through when performing stunts, choreography or any other important things that helps bring the character to life. Martial art performances usually get ignored or expected when people forget to appreciate the real art of the fight scenes. Dragon comes alive because of these scenes. The actors deserve a lot of credit for bringing their characters to life thanks to real moments of emotion and great fluid fights that arc with our main character.

TO READ THE REST OF THE REVIEW CLICK HERE

Interview with Director Andy Wilton

Tue, 30 Apr 2013 16:35:19 +0100

Indie productions have shifted into overdrive with the ease that they can now be created. Most only aspire to be short films with a budget of £1000 but director Andy Wilton stayed bold and true with his idea to create his first feature-length Behind the Scenes of Total Hell. In fact, he’s created two as Total Hell – the Jamie Gunn horror ‘masterpiece’ the mockumentary is based around – is available as a DVD extra along on www.btsoth.co.uk which has a lot more information and merchandise available too.

Chatting to Andy Wilton has painted the picture of an honest, down-to-earth guy with a penchant for filmmaking. Always open to chat but committed to driving his film out there for it to be seen, not for financial gain, his commitment to filmmaking remains despite how long it has taken the film to get to the distribution stage. Instead of distributing through the normal mediums, Andy has decided to push it through YouTube to combat piracy – a bold, interesting decision that he happily clarifies.

Putting this out on YouTube proves Andy makes films because of his love to. I chatted with Andy for a while to find out more about the budding director about the release of his film finally, his influences and his thoughts on the final product.

TO READ THE INTERVIEW CLICK HERE

The ABCs of Death Review

Tue, 30 Apr 2013 16:30:54 +0100

Essentially, reviewing The ABCs of Death is to review 26 shorts related to death, linked only by the fact that each segment begins with one letter in the alphabet. There’s no plot, you are solely there to see 26 different ways to die. From the simple G for Gravity to the weird H for Hydro-Electric Diffusion to the utterly messed up Z for Zetsumetsu, to the insensitive M for Miscarriage. Completely inconsistent and incoherent, it ranges from great to utterly terrible. It’s one big two-hour messy mish-mash of ideas done for $5000 each. Its disparity is what’s annoying as well as ranging from serious to parody too often with too short of a time to set any real atmosphere. It’s an empty viewing of laughing with and laughing at, wincing with and wincing at.

TO READ THE REST OF THE REVIEW CLICK HERE

Evil Dead 2 Blu-ray Review

Tue, 30 Apr 2013 16:25:20 +0100

With Fede Alvarez’s Evil Dead remake now out in cinema it seems a fine time for the sequel to Raimi’s original cult classic to be given the Blu-ray treatment. The film is actually a remake. More money and fewer production problems result a much scarier, camp follow-up that some may say even surpasses the original. Bruce Campbell’s Ash is a legendary cult character and this sequel is the reason why. The comedic elements implanted in Ash are far more apparent here, played to emanate much more evidently than before. They’ve managed to improve on the aspects of the first by amping it up to eleven, thanks partly to a much bigger budget. As everything is set up for moments of horror, Ash is locked-and-loaded to fight back against the Deadites attacking the cabin; chainsaw in one hand, shotgun on the other. Groovy!

TO READ THE REST OF THE REVIEW CLICK HERE

Behind the Scenes of Total Hell Review

Wed, 24 Apr 2013 01:17:06 +0100

This is a mockumentary much like the most famous uses of the style – The Office, Arrested Development and so on – but applies it to the creation of a separate film. It takes us behind the scenes of a horror production (Total Hell) and shows all of the problems of filmmaking, financing and distribution in comedy form. Much of the story came from real life problems in production where writer-director Andy Wilton gained influence from; not letting it dampen his spirits. This film has taken years to get distributed – much like the dilemma faced by Jamie Gunn – and is now finally scheduled for release on the 22nd April on YouTube. Andy Wilton’s reason for this was so he wouldn’t have to contend with piracy because he had embraced its easy service.

TO READ THE REST OF THE REVIEW AND WATCH THE FILM CLICK HERE

Interview with Director Paul Hyett

Wed, 24 Apr 2013 01:15:00 +0100

Paul Hyett has been involved in the British film industry for quite some time as a bit of an unsung hero of horror make-up. Now he’s got the chance to delve further into the business with his directorial debut The Seasoning House. The interview was only supposed go on for roughly ten minutes but in the end turned into a half hour conversation about our mutual cinephilia. Continuously open to chat about his own films, influences and other recent horror films; Hyett even spoke to us about his position on horror remakes.

One of the main topics that came up was his directorial debut of course which is being theatrically released on June 28th but opened last year’s FrightFest to rave reviews. Critics have been complimenting its creepiness, claustrophobia and cynicism as the highlights. Below the man reveals all.

FOR PART ONE OF THE INTERVIEW CLICK HERE

FOR PART TWO OF THE INTERVIEW CLICK HERE

Give Me the Banjo DVD Review

Sat, 20 Apr 2013 11:53:14 +0100

A niche title suggests only lovers of the banjo will enjoy this documentary which is narrated by Steve Martin. Unfortunately that’s exactly what it is. That’s not to say that the documentary is a failure, it’s packed with information from respectable people with a kicking soundtrack spanning from the 1920s to Steve Martin in 2012 but the information feels irrelevant to banjo-unenthusiasts. All the information seems lost to those who don’t already have an interest in the instrument. A shame considering documentaries can strike up such unknown desires that this one falls short of the mark despite all of its attempts. It’s a rewarding documentary but only if you care about the history of the banjo. That may be seen as stating the obvious but documentaries have piqued interests in people who don’t share the love before the viewing.

TO READ THE REST OF THE REVIEW CLICK HERE

Elizabeth Blackmore Interview

Sat, 20 Apr 2013 11:52:31 +0100

In the next few days, Evil Dead gets a chance to scare UK cinema goers following a box office bust in the States and a buzz from mostly positive critics. Now, it’s Britain’s turn to be possessed. In preparation for its release we spoke to Elizabeth Blackmore who plays Natalie in this remake-reboot horror flick. We spoke to her about Evil Dead, her favourite flavour of blood and, despite starring in this gore fest, how she can’t bear to even watch horror films.

TO READ THE FULL INTERVIEW CLICK HERE

Olympus Has Fallen Review

Sat, 20 Apr 2013 11:45:29 +0100

Gerard Butler has shaken off the “Die Hard in the White House” title that has come with his latest film, Olympus Has Fallen. Where White House Down embraced that comment, they’ve shrugged it off as its own film because Gerard Butler isn’t everyman John McLane. The truth is that this is very much Die Hard in the White House but with an ex-Secret Service agent instead of the New York cop. Some moments of it are beat-by-beat, right down to the cigarette. Although the opening is a much grander entrance than in Die Hard with a full attack on the President’s residence. A massive scale launch that, for once, doesn’t skip on the blood.

TO READ MY FULL REVIEW CLICK HERE

She Monkeys DVD Review

Wed, 17 Apr 2013 22:53:52 +0100

A modern Swedish western and coming-of-age drama is hardly the hybridisation you would expect. Lisa Aschan’s directorial debut is this amalgamation of genres, as well as bicuriousity, control and awkward overt sexualisation of a seven year-old. Unrecognisable genre-blending has made this a most refreshing piece of cinema, one which has kept the confusion and inherent awkwardness of growing up. It has tried to capture the emotions that cinema struggle to illustrate realistically; they’re usually tampered with to become hollow, over-the-top or Americanised leaving the rest of the audiences struggling to sympathise. She Monkeys has managed to capture it with many moments being realistic and uncomfortable but ultimately it all feels worthless.

TO READ THE REST OF THE REVIEW CLICK HERE

Spring Breakers Review

Sat, 13 Apr 2013 16:36:44 +0100

MTV’s influence has since inspired most of postmodernism within television and film, boasting a style over substance technique for the younger audiences. What Spring Breakers has done is take that motto to make one of the most stylish films that attacks the approach. It is hypocritical in a way but that’s the purpose. This attack on it makes for a very confusing film but not in comprehension, but whether one likes it or not. This confusion is throughout but even more so after you leave the cinema, thinking about how hollow the viewing was yet there’s an enjoyment to it. It’s a bizarre feeling of confliction and affection. That bad ending doesn’t really help either.

TO READ MY FULL REVIEW CLICK HERE

The Place Beyond the Pines Review

Sat, 13 Apr 2013 16:34:26 +0100

The Place Beyond the Pines comes after Derek Cianfrance‘s last outing, 2011′s heart-breaking anti-romance Blue Valentine that breaks people. The story of a couple at the beginning and end of their relationship with no coverage of the seven year gap. It was intimate, it fixated on them as a couple at their birth and their death. It’s one of the most real films that one can experience especially if you’ve had a similar experience that it can leave you completely harrowed for days and days. The Place Beyond the Pines is a much bigger film, scope and budget wise, considering it follows in an episodic fashion of three different stories that are linked as it passes from one to the other. This episodic direction makes it much harder to advertise it correctly and it hasn’t really; it seems like another cops and robbers but it’s far from it.

TO READ THE FULL REVIEW CLICK HERE