Taxi Driver
Martin Scorsese’s classic celebrates its three-and-a-half decades of existence, with a 35th anniversary print being shown at this year’s NZFF. For the uninformed, Taxi Driver is a masterfully crafted character study about a porn-addicted public “chauffeur” with some questionable solutions to particular social issues. I’ve only given it one viewing (years ago) and while it’s easy to gawk at Travis Bickle’s brilliant character ark and Robert De Niro’s incorrigible, amazing, career-defining, I-forgive-you-for-Little-Fockers performance, I have to say, I hate the ending. Without spoiling it, try to imagine having a well-cooked steak, followed by a glass of raw egg whites. Ugh.
Django Unchained
The upcoming Django Unchained is director Quentin Tarantino’s first stab at a Western, a fact that deeply excites fans of the walking chin. A supposed script-leak has only further excelled the hype-mobile, with some claiming it’s Tarantino’s finest work. Names are also being thrown around the rumour mill, from Tarantino black book of actors (Christoph Waltz, Samuel L. Jackson) to fresher, curious-er prospects (Leonardo DiCaprio and Will Smith). My interest shifted upwards an entire gear when my IMDb search noted Idris Alba on that rumour list. Why does that excite me so much? Watch the BBC miniseries Luther. You’ll understand.
Troll Hunter
Screw The Tree of Life, the movie I’m REALLY crossing fingers in hope of making this year’s NZFF list is the Norwegian found footage film Troll Hunter. It’s about trolls. Big-ass trolls. And hunting said trolls. Seriously, the moment that dude yells “TROOOOOOOLL!” I tingle in places. There tends to be that one crowd-pleasing quirky foreign horror film in every NZ film fest (Dead Snow anybody?) and judging by the bombastic trailer, Troll Hunter looks more than worthy of filling that quota. Christopher Columbus is helming the American version which, let’s face it, will probably suck. The dude’s no Fincher.
The Hangover Part 3
Hangover Part 1 (sequel naming quims aside) was a surprisingly funny and inventive comedy that was more enjoyable than most may have expected (me included). Hangover Part 2 was an unsurprisingly funny and uninventive comedy that was less enjoyable than most may have expected. At least that’s what I’ve been told (still haven’t seen it). In some ways, there’s a particular creative hilarity to having the EXACT same situation happen to a bunch of mates, and I’m mildly disappointed that they’re straying away from the same formula in Hangover Part 3. Then again, it worked pretty well for Die Hard.
Richard Linklater
This guy’s a bit of an oddball director, but that’s exactly why I like him. Not afraid to experiment with the laws of filmmaking, Linklater’s crafted classics like Dazed and Confused (which, for some reason, I still have not seen) along with some obscure, bizarre “films” ala Waking Life (which, for some reason, I own on DVD). He’s not one to stay outside the box either, as proven with the straightforward more-entertaining-than-it-had-any-right-to-be-for-a-Jack-Black-comedy School of Rock. However, it’s his low-brow romance duology Before Sunrise and Before Sunset that really plastered his name onto my favourite directors plaque. No surname puns today.
http://vimeo.com/dotdot/48hours2011
48 hours: a rejoiner
You may recall my previous post a few weeks back regarding my team’s gruelling 48 hour filmmaking experience. Well, I’m unhappy to report that Fail Bagel failed to make the Auckland finals. But hey, at least we lived up to our name (the Fail part, still working on that Bagel). It’s worth noting that no horror actually made the Auckland final and only three horrors in total made any city final. We came third in our heat’s audience favourite with a couple of 4 star reviews. Have a gander at our Frankenstein if you wish. Try spot my ninja cameo.
Total Recall
1990 was a glorious year for Hollywood: Rocky 5, Godfather Part 3, Look Who’s Talking Too. But in the glut of such high quality sequels, Total Recall managed to snatch the eyes of the movie-going public with some truly impressive VFX for the time. I’m a sucker for miniature work, so re-watching this sci-fi heralded some joy in my heart (and in eye-humping HD). A remake is in the works , which will probably cover the source material more faithfully than Schwarzenegger version. Unfortunately, they won’t have a screwdriver death scene with Arnie yelling “Screwwwwwwww Yoooooooooou!”. Awesome line is awesome.
