tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-55470814228775037722024-03-08T14:55:13.107-08:00Film vs. BookFor all lovers of great storiesLittle Evahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04273288108482408867noreply@blogger.comBlogger294125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5547081422877503772.post-66914968523982503882017-01-13T06:00:00.001-08:002017-01-13T06:01:04.838-08:00Films Made by Women: Juno, written by Diablo Cody<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><strong>Juno</strong>, written by Diablo Cody, sees a teenage girl fall pregnant and decide to give the baby up for adoption rather than have an abortion. With the support of her friends and family, she navigates the challenges of pregnancy and the impending knowledge that she will be giving up her child.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">The film quickly became a cult classic and it's easy to see why. With a witty script, brilliant music and a plot that remained light and adorable whilst not overlooking the repercussions of teenage pregnancy, Juno was a fun and sweet delight with a quirky mix of comedy and sincerity. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">The fantastic cast includes Ellen Page, Allison Janney, Michael Cera and J. K. Simmons.</span><br />
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<a href="https://media.tenor.co/images/821966aec6241aff00546fa5c44e8336/raw" target="_blank"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"></span></a><br />
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">4*
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><em>
See also: the brilliant 'Tallulah' (which can be found on Netflix). Tallulah reunites actresses Ellen Page and Allison Janney and is written and directed by Sian Heder.</em>
</span>Little Evahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04273288108482408867noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5547081422877503772.post-740679219034034732017-01-09T09:43:00.000-08:002017-01-09T09:43:49.380-08:00Films Made by Women: Point Break, directed by Kathryn Bigelow<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-cdbUTZTS9c0/WHOifoPIn2I/AAAAAAAABp4/j3sK7yJY0esw8EE61eeQabaSIbB_601zQCLcB/s1600/pointbreak1-xlarge.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><img border="0" height="180" src="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-cdbUTZTS9c0/WHOifoPIn2I/AAAAAAAABp4/j3sK7yJY0esw8EE61eeQabaSIbB_601zQCLcB/s320/pointbreak1-xlarge.jpg" width="320" /></span></a></div>
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">A favourite for many film-fans of my generation, <em>Point Break</em> was one of those films I adored as a teenager (because, hello Patrick Swayze and Keanu Reeves!) and then grew to love even more as I got older and appreciated it for the genius it really is. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">That this very testosterone-fuelled film is directed by a woman only makes it all the more brilliant, because it's bold and unapologetic and doesn't fit into any kind of pre-conceived notion of what a film directed by a woman is supposed to look like.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">A story of bank robbery and surfing, <em>Point Break </em>is fun, intense, silly and dark. It's beautifully shot: there is some stunning hand-held camera work for an intimate, on-foot chase scene alongside but also equally impressive skydives and surfing sequences. (Swayze does one of the jumps on camera himself!)</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "georgia";">Reeves and Swayze are a phenomenal pairing on screen, their performances enhanced by the support of Gary Busey, Lori Petty and the rest of the ex-presidents, and t</span><span style="font-family: "georgia";">he pace never lulls, blending humour with drama and tension. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "georgia";">Unlike so many action films of recent years, this film blends the action flawlessly with great characterisation, a plot filled with twists and turns (and some quality one-liners!) and the captivating vision of this very talented director. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "georgia";">And there's just enough time left over to throw in a hint of cheese. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "georgia";">Perfection.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "georgia";">5*</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "georgia";"><em>See also: The Hurt Locker, Zero Dark Thirty (also directed by Bigelow)</em></span>Little Evahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04273288108482408867noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5547081422877503772.post-48235599969433952312017-01-09T08:23:00.002-08:002017-01-09T08:23:57.387-08:00Films Made by Women: In a World... by Lake Bell<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-3v8rajQyaIQ/WHOeLn4XW4I/AAAAAAAABps/0Yz5JoP-xFsB9eZtsQlZInJQjY27zbW0ACLcB/s1600/lake%2Bbell%2Bin%2Ba%2Bworld.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-3v8rajQyaIQ/WHOeLn4XW4I/AAAAAAAABps/0Yz5JoP-xFsB9eZtsQlZInJQjY27zbW0ACLcB/s320/lake%2Bbell%2Bin%2Ba%2Bworld.jpg" width="320" /></span></a></div>
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">What better way to kick off the Films Made by Women challenge than with a film written and directed by one who also stars in it! </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">Lake Bell has the mind behind this delightful look into the world of voiceover work and that iconic trailer intro we all know and love: 'In a world...'</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">In <em>In A World </em>(2013), Bell plays Carol, the daughter of one of the most celebrated voiceover artists in the business who is trying to break into the industry herself. But far from encouraging her to follow in his footsteps, her father is determined that this is a man's world, a man's industry and he won't have some silly woman coming in and ruining it, least of all his own daughter. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "georgia";">There are silly antics along the way, with great one-liners and comedic timing, yet this film is about so much more than silliness. Carol is hard-working, always studying the accents of the people around her and working on improving her own skills, yet she is immediately dismissed by so many people simply for her gender. And when she finally does start to get some success, well . . . you'll just have to watch it and see for yourself. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">A funny, self-deprecating film about both living in the shadow of someone who doesn't want to give up the limelight and owning your own voice, <em>In A World</em> is a real treat! </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">4*</span><br />
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<em><span style="font-family: "georgia";">See also: Man Up (written by Tess Morris and starring Lake Bell and Simon Pegg)</span></em>Little Evahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04273288108482408867noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5547081422877503772.post-35356629501151218142017-01-09T08:21:00.001-08:002017-01-09T09:44:58.096-08:00Films Made by Women: A Challenge for 2017 (and beyond...)<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<span style="clear: right; float: right; font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-22EqW6LNph8/WHOYGNNlAkI/AAAAAAAABpc/jtbOe_VPVX8rmOhsNiiJfR7zJNIQAMjzwCLcB/s320/IMG_9929.JPG" width="226" /></span></div>
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">This is hardly a new thing (see #52FilmsByWomen) but I have set myself a goal to make a conscious effort to see more films either directed or written by women in 2017. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">While I have thoroughly enjoyed numerous films by male writers and directors, the balance is still off. Of the films I saw at London Film Festival last year, some real standouts were made by women: Amma Asante's <em><a href="http://www.liveforfilm.com/2016/10/07/2016-london-film-festival-a-united-kingdom-review-press-conference-report/" target="_blank">A United Kingdom</a></em>, Mira Nair's <em><a href="https://www.myvue.com/news-competitions/vue-reviews-queen-of-katwe" target="_blank">Queen of Katwe</a> </em>and Lone Scherfig's <em><a href="http://www.liveforfilm.com/2016/10/14/2016-london-film-festival-review-their-finest-a-love-letter-to-filmmaking/" target="_blank">Their Finest</a></em> (written by Gaby Chiappe). Yet, their wider releases (if they were fortunate enough to get one!) came and went without much discussion.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">So my plan is to watch and discuss them, plain and simple . . . and if I can't find any at the cinema then I have some DVDs to go through (see the photo!) and some options on Netflix.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"> </span><br />
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">My current Netflix list (UK) includes:</span><br />
<ul>
<li><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">13th</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">The Reluctant Fundamentalist</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">Take This Waltz</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">Coin Heist</span></li>
</ul>
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">If you feel like joining in or have any suggestions then feel free to tweet me at @<a href="https://twitter.com/filmvsbook" target="_blank">filmvsbook</a>.</span>Little Evahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04273288108482408867noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5547081422877503772.post-45717412224307813382016-08-12T04:06:00.002-07:002016-08-12T04:52:31.237-07:00Scriptwriting: challenging the default - an unconscious bias test<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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I've grown up aware of gender inequality. I've heard about how difficult it is for female directors and writers to get work. I’ve heard trolls moan about the 'feminazis' pushing their agenda down people's throats every time someone has the audacity to put a female in a lead role in film or TV.<br />
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But it wasn't until I started scriptwriting myself that I became fascinated by the process that leads up to these stories and how they're told – and the almost ridiculous things we must add to the script in order to improve things. The TV script I've written is full of diversity and has many female roles. The main character is (shock horror!) a woman. Yet I didn’t set out to write a diverse story – it's just the story I wanted to write. It's essential that the cast is a mixed one. <br />
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When I started to investigate scriptwriting in all its glory, I found <a href="http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/geena-davis-two-easy-steps-664573" target="_blank">advice</a> saying that if you're writing a crowd scene, you should specify that half of the crowd are female and that you should specify that there are numerous ethnicities. Don’t just say 'A soldier enters' or 'A police officer enters'. Purposely make them female and non-white from time to time.
Because if you <em>don't </em>then the default of White male is likely to appear in the end product, whether that's how you saw it or not.<br />
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And it got me thinking about the unconscious rather than the conscious bias. That if you start talking about a doctor, many people might just assume said doctor is a man. Or if you talk about a primary school teacher, the assumption is that she’s cute and wears flowery dresses and glasses. Because people are going to go to their default, whether they mean to or not. <br />
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But the fun really begins when you go <em>against</em> your default!<br />
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[In the interest of full disclosure, I am White, female, middle-class, London-born and raised. I have also spent time living in Baltimore, Southern Spain and Buenos Aires. That is my bias.]<br />
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I opened up this concept to Twitter, beginning with a simple Tweet about what I wanted people to do: '<em>Right, here goes: I'm going to describe a character. You get a picture of that person in your mind. Then answer questions on next Tweet...</em>'
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Before I’d even begun, I realised that telling people you’re doing an unconscious bias test sort of defeats the point a little bit but for me it was more important to make people <em>think</em> about their own default and to question it. And knowing what I was doing forced me to change my own defaults, just to try and make a more interesting story.<br />
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I started off with my first character:
<em>Show: family drama, small, intimate, psychological. Character: creepy neighbour, introvert, no friends, spying on neighbouring children.</em><br />
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<script async="" charset="utf-8" src="//platform.twitter.com/widgets.js"></script>From that one brief Tweet, the character the voters came up with was: male (88%), 30-50 years' old (50%) and White (a whopping 97%!). And what were the people like on this street? Middle class, according to 79% of the people who responded. <br />
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<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-conversation="none" data-lang="en">
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Was the neighbour character...</div>
— Amanda (@filmvsbook) <a href="https://twitter.com/filmvsbook/status/758286353264156672">July 27, 2016</a></blockquote>
<script async="" charset="utf-8" src="//platform.twitter.com/widgets.js"></script><br />
I had not said a thing about the street. It could have been a very poor, working class one and there could still have been a creepy neighbour. It could have been the richest street in England and it could still have worked. But middle-class, White and male just seemed to be the go-to. <br />
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Not a single person thought the neighbour could be Black. And only 3% considered that they'd be Asian.<br />
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-conversation="none" data-lang="en">
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Was the neighbour character...</div>
— Amanda (@filmvsbook) <a href="https://twitter.com/filmvsbook/status/758287279878238208">July 27, 2016</a></blockquote>
<script async="" charset="utf-8" src="//platform.twitter.com/widgets.js"></script>
<br />
So let's mix things up a bit. Let's imagine that story again. How about we make the neighbour a woman. Imagine that she is <em>perceived</em> as creepy rather than <em>is </em>simply because she doesn't talk to people, when actually she's just very sad. Make her misunderstood, not sinister. She's looking at the children because her own child died, perhaps. She's introverted because she's too sad to go out and talk to people. Or, alternatively, make her elderly! She just looks at the children because she's longing to go back to her misspent youth and hates that she's old. She has no friends because they've all died, and she knows her turn is coming soon and nobody will mourn her. <br />
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Or maybe she's elderly but still really, really creepy!<br />
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Let's move the street. Set it in Birmingham, or Leicester, or so many parts of London where 'White' is not the default, where there is a high Asian population, for example. Or make the whole street Asian characters who live in constant fear of the creepy White neighbour who never speaks to any of them. <br />
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The possibilities are endless. But the point, of course, is that there <em>are</em> possibilities that don't involve a White, middle-class male.<br />
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And so we move on to the second character I described, in a place a little further afield...<br />
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Story: action film set in space. Character: a leader, freakishly strong, crass, of few words. Can you picture them? <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/unconsciousbias?src=hash">#unconsciousbias</a></div>
— Amanda (@filmvsbook) <a href="https://twitter.com/filmvsbook/status/758338289472593920">July 27, 2016</a></blockquote>
<script async="" charset="utf-8" src="//platform.twitter.com/widgets.js"></script>You say the story is set in space so where does your head go? Alien? Star Wars? You're probably already imagining your favourite space-age hero/heroine. A leader, possibly a female (thank you, Ripley!). But they're 'freakishly strong' which may suggest that they're male. Because there are strong women but can there be 'freakishly' strong ones? (Of course there can be!) But this 'leader' is crass and of few words. Does this suggest male more than female? <br />
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So, who did we come up with? Well, despite the first responses leaning heavily towards this character being a female (thanks, possibly, to the Katniss/Rey-effect!), the final tally made them male (61%), White (50%), with dark hair (53%), ragged/messy in appearance (70%). <br />
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This time around, the percentages weren't as high but we still ended up with a White male. 25% thought he was Black, while 10% opted for our leader to be Asian. When it came to hair choice, my own bias came into the potential answers. Because when I thought of a surly, crass leader I thought of John McClane. So I added 'non-existent' and 27% of voters agreed.<br />
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And so to our third and final character test..<em>.</em></div>
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<em></em> </div>
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<em>Film: childhood adventure, set in major city. Character: 12 yrs old, lonely, imaginative, funny, sweet. Brave in made up world, not in life.</em></div>
<em>— Amanda (@filmvsbook) <a href="https://twitter.com/filmvsbook/status/758636349029318656">July 28, 2016</a></em></blockquote>
<em>
<script async="" charset="utf-8" src="//platform.twitter.com/widgets.js"></script></em><br />
And who did we cast here...? Well our lonely, imaginative, 12-year-old is a girl (91%), White (55%), from a pretty financially stable home (70%) and has dark hair.<br />
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Unlike our space leader, 20% saw this girl as having her hair dyed a vivid colour (0% considered this a possibility for the spaceman). 27% considered she'd be Black and 18% saw her as Asian. Was this because I'd purposely noted that it was set in a major city? Who can say?<br />
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The most fascinating part of this one (for me, at least!) is that only 9% of people saw her as a he. Why was it so unlikely that an imaginative 12-year-old would be a boy? Well, one voter had a suggestion. He explained that it was the use of the word 'lonely' that made him choose a girl over a boy because:<br />
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<a href="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-8UFyUp0Z4tI/V62YFoqNwMI/AAAAAAAABns/FBSbOSPFQeoec3TNON2u02xHT8O-X9PpQCLcB/s1600/Twitter%2Bcapture.PNG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="153" src="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-8UFyUp0Z4tI/V62YFoqNwMI/AAAAAAAABns/FBSbOSPFQeoec3TNON2u02xHT8O-X9PpQCLcB/s400/Twitter%2Bcapture.PNG" width="400" /></a></div>
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Another voter had her own idea of why this character was lonely:<br />
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<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-conversation="none" data-lang="en">
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<a href="https://twitter.com/filmvsbook">@filmvsbook</a> odd-one-out, no siblings, sees the world differently than anyone else,... She is sincere and real in a "fake" world</div>
— la vie est belle ☆ (@sanfafazey) <a href="https://twitter.com/sanfafazey/status/758661197386354688">July 28, 2016</a></blockquote>
<script async="" charset="utf-8" src="//platform.twitter.com/widgets.js"></script><br />
What do you make of these results? Did anything surprise you?
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<div style="text-align: center;">
The full Tweet threads for all three character tests can be found here:
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<div style="text-align: center;">
<a href="https://twitter.com/filmvsbook/status/758285239999459328">https://twitter.com/filmvsbook/status/758285239999459328</a>
<a href="https://twitter.com/filmvsbook/status/758337396916228097">https://twitter.com/filmvsbook/status/758337396916228097</a>
<a href="https://twitter.com/filmvsbook/status/758636161690664960">https://twitter.com/filmvsbook/status/758636161690664960</a> <br />
<br />
(Also, for more on how women are written in ACTUAL scripts, check out @<a href="https://twitter.com/femscriptintros?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw" target="_blank">femscriptintros</a>!)</div>
Little Evahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04273288108482408867noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5547081422877503772.post-53760076067759565772016-07-28T04:55:00.000-07:002016-07-28T04:55:12.736-07:00Musings on a female Doctor Who<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-45LZY9fM1Co/V5nwMNgbKNI/AAAAAAAABnQ/fxSrHRJNkAk8yHcNy7PoLJo6B0v3bR0AwCLcB/s1600/doctor-who-river-song-kingston.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="352" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-45LZY9fM1Co/V5nwMNgbKNI/AAAAAAAABnQ/fxSrHRJNkAk8yHcNy7PoLJo6B0v3bR0AwCLcB/s640/doctor-who-river-song-kingston.jpg" width="640" /></a></div>
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">
</span><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Mere days before Matt Smith announced his run as the Doctor was coming to an end, I posted a piece on Yahoo asking the question 'Is it time for a female Doctor?'. When the announcement about Smith's departure landed, the piece suddenly made the Yahoo! home page and - well - all hell broke loose.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial;"></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Here's the first piece:</span></div>
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<u><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">Doctor Who: Is it time for a female Doctor?<o:p></o:p></span></u></div>
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><u>
</u><em>With Matt Smith to leave his role as the Doctor at the end
of this year, has Alex Kingston's River Song paved the way for a new female
Doctor?<o:p></o:p></em></span><br />
<em><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">
</span></em><br />
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">There have now been eleven Doctors in 'Doctor Who'. That's
eleven Timelords played by eleven men through eleven regenerations. The
long-term assistants - though there have of course been men from time to time -
have tended to be female. This male Doctor/female assistant dynamic has been
the one constant for the cult TV show but in the fifty years since the show
began, the roles of men and women have changed in our society. Why, then, have
they not changed in the show?<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">
</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">The most recent series have certainly created more 'equal' females for the
Doctor, with many of these mere humans risking life and limb and proving to be
smart, courageous and always so incredibly loyal. <br />
<br />
None has been more equal, though, than River Song. Thanks to Alex Kingston's hilarious, dramatic and often
heartbreaking portrayal of the character, a time-travelling, regenerating
female is no longer an item of speculation but a reality much loved by fans.
River Song knows how to fly the TARDIS, how to hold her own against an alien
race (and more often than not - the human race) and has given audiences just as
much fun, emotion, excitement and adventure as any male Doctor.<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">
</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">Surely then, now that Matt Smith is leaving the show it's time for the
Doctor to regenerate into a woman. After all, his eleventh Doctor initially
thought he might be a woman when, having just regenerated, he touched his
slightly long hair and cried 'I'm a girl!'. Imagine the hilarity if a new,
female Doctor were to be reunited with her wife, River Song! What would Captain
Jack make of a woman Doctor? Or Vastra and Jenny? Strax, of course, wouldn't
notice a difference. Add to this a male assistant in need of excitement and
escape, as they so often are, and there's surely a brilliant pairing ready to
provide yet more TV gold.<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">
</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">'Doctor Who' is a show about regenerating - not just the Doctor himself, but
the alien worlds, the enemies, the assistants and the special effects. Before
it can become tired, the show needs - quite literally - a face lift. Time may
be a big ball of wibbly-wobbly timey-wimey stuff but isn't it time we got a
female Doctor in the TARDIS?<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">
</span><br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-OU_JSYezLf8/V5nwdnifLHI/AAAAAAAABnU/45KZXBCjd64qkG_ou6OSYRVSJinh3s7jQCLcB/s1600/regeneration%2Bgif.gif" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="256" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-OU_JSYezLf8/V5nwdnifLHI/AAAAAAAABnU/45KZXBCjd64qkG_ou6OSYRVSJinh3s7jQCLcB/s640/regeneration%2Bgif.gif" width="640" /></a></div>
<o:p><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"></span></o:p><br />
<o:p><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Now, the comments garnered by this piece were so <em>angry </em>that I wrote a second piece inspired by them. Here's that piece (originally posted at Yahoo!):</span></o:p> </div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><u>Doctor Who: Hate-filled and sexist attitudes from fans
ruined the big reveal<o:p></o:p></u></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><u>
</u></span><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><em>With another man cast as the Doctor, why are fans so
reluctant to see a woman take on the role?<o:p></o:p></em></span></div>
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<em><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">
</span><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">Why the vitriolic
reaction to the question ‘Is it time for a female Doctor?’ made the
announcement of Peter Capaldi’s casting in the role so disappointing.<o:p></o:p></span></em></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">
</span><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">Around the time Matt Smith announced he was to leave ‘Doctor
Who’, an article I had written about the show – in which I asked whether it was
time for a female Doctor – proved to be quite the topic for debate. Some were
in agreement and others, unsurprisingly, were adamant that the role should not
be played by a woman. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">
</span><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">It seemed that, with the fiftieth anniversary approaching,
something big was coming. Alex Kingston’s character Dr River Song had proven
immensely popular, the Doctor had accidentally created a daughter with two
hearts and audiences were taking to the idea of a woman who could regenerate.
Looking back over the last fifty years, the continuing success of the show, the
concept of regeneration and the constant shift in dynamic between Doctor and
companion, it seemed to me that perhaps now was the moment for a change. I
didn’t just want a woman to take on the role. I wanted a male companion to go
along with her. Or perhaps a Doctor of colour. Just something <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">different</i>. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">
</span><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">I expected passionate, enthusiastic responses on both sides
of the debate. This is ‘Doctor Who’ after all. However, I was stunned by the
sheer level of hatred and vitriol that appeared when the article went live. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">
</span><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">Some readers – both male and female – chose to attack me for
having written the article, assuming incorrectly that I wanted the next Doctor
to be a woman simply because I <em>was</em> one and must therefore have been forcing my
feminist agenda down their throats. As if women could have a valid opinion.
What was I thinking? Some even had the courtesy to address me directly, with
one commenting, ‘why do you PC brigade ever get to air these stupid, spoiling
views, just enjoy what you have’ and another discarding the article entirely it
seems because ‘Surprise surprise the article is by a woman.’ Had a man written
the exact same article, would it have been more valid?<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">
</span><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">Others took the suggestion to ridiculous lengths, asking why
we didn’t just make the new Doctor ‘a blind, disabled, half black, half
chinese, transexual’ or ‘a lesbian while you're at it; maybe with a ladyboy as
an assistant!’.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">
</span><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">Then there were those who simply wanted to air their sexist
views, with many foreseeing the end of the show because ‘She'd never be out the
tardis for changing her makeup’. One speculated: ‘can you imagine the doctor
with PMS god help the universe’.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">
</span><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">Those behind the show then announced that Clara would be
staying and I went right off the idea of a female Doctor. The show has broken so
many boundaries already but I feared that casting female actresses in both the
lead roles would be too much for many fans, myself included.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">
</span><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">Throughout this entire process, I always had complete faith
in Steven Moffat. It felt to me like he would be open to the idea of change but
wouldn’t bow to public pressure and, in the end, would opt for whoever he felt
would do the best job. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">
</span><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">So at the moment Peter Capaldi was announced as the new
Doctor I was excitedly watching the BBC along with so many other fans across
the world – and I do think he will be brilliant. But seeing that typical white
male walk out made my heart sink a little. It must be my feminine hormones
acting up again. They do that from time to time.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Now, after <a href="http://www.digitalspy.com/tv/doctor-who/news/a802737/joss-whedon-says-hell-write-for-doctor-who-when-the-doctor-is-a-woman/" target="_blank">Joss Whedon commented</a> that he'd consider writing for the show - but only if the Doctor was played by a woman (or Idris Elba!) - the debate has resurfaced. So, dare I ask, what do you think? Play nice, kiddies...</span></div>
Little Evahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04273288108482408867noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5547081422877503772.post-46011253512926727852016-06-03T10:50:00.000-07:002016-06-03T10:58:34.232-07:00Me Before You: Book vs Film<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><a href="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-5TaQ9kKFguk/V1HCojqTpFI/AAAAAAAABmo/4WE1YvYH6sYE--zVCuF94M0eqQBDbHDOgCLcB/s1600/me%2Bbefore%2Byou.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-5TaQ9kKFguk/V1HCojqTpFI/AAAAAAAABmo/4WE1YvYH6sYE--zVCuF94M0eqQBDbHDOgCLcB/s320/me%2Bbefore%2Byou.jpg" width="209" /></a></span></div>
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><b>Me Before You</b> was such a successful novel that when it was announced that an adaptation was in the works, fans of the book were caught between hesitation and excitement. Even when the book's author, Jojo Moyes, was announced as the screenwriter, there were doubts. Because, when a book is that loved, you don't want it messed with. </span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">Fortunately, Moyes has proven with this screenplay that she is not just a brilliant novelist but also a great screenwriter, with a spot-on understanding of what works on screen and how to compact her story successfully into a feature film.
</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">If it wasn't integral to the story then it wasn't included in the film. Did Will need to have a sister in order for us to appreciate the issues faced by his family? No. We had his parents for that. Do we need the tension at Lou's house, the sibling rivalry and animosity, or the claustrophobic nature of her home in order to appreciate the family? No. They can be packed into the small house and still be loving and supportive.
</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">Though there are some minor character traits and side plots which are forgotten, the major one that may surprise fans of the book is the total absence of a particular maze and all the events which took place. Now it might seem like a whopping great omission but having revisited the story I can see why it was left out. There is no question that this was of huge importance in the book. It explains Lou and it allows Will to be the one who makes her face up this key moment in her life and start to move forward from it. Yet in the film there simply isn't time. Other elements would needed to have been cut in order to properly go into what happened in that maze or else it would have been thrown in almost as an afterthought. Either option just didn't seem to work. Moyes herself even tweeted a fan, explaining that they tried to fit it in but just couldn't figure out a way to do it properly. The people are still going in the same direction. We're just spared some of the specifics.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><br /></span>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><a href="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-QYBPVPhChT8/V1HCuAwCI4I/AAAAAAAABmw/5aGRkJYINUohaDKGqGPKbVG7kUM2bAvjwCLcB/s1600/me%2Bbefore%2Byou%2Bstill.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="480" src="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-QYBPVPhChT8/V1HCuAwCI4I/AAAAAAAABmw/5aGRkJYINUohaDKGqGPKbVG7kUM2bAvjwCLcB/s640/me%2Bbefore%2Byou%2Bstill.jpg" width="640" /></a></span></div>
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">The casting is so impressive. Very unlike her Khaleesi role, Emilia Clarke IS Lou. She's cute and adorable and chatty and a little bit bonkers – in the best kind of way. Sam Claflin similarly takes on Will, an extremely complex character, with apparent ease. The supporting cast, from Janet McTeer to Charles Dance, are all equally awesome to watch. And this brilliant ensemble are guided through the story by director Thea Sharrock, who displays the same genius command of storytelling as Moyes. The whole team have really come together here to tell this much beloved story.
</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">It's a delight to see that, after some authors who probably should have been consulted on their adaptations and weren't (and some who shouldn't have but were!), authors are finally being acknowledged for their talents, not ignored. We are in a new era now when authors of great books are afforded not just the courtesy of being consulted on the adaptations of their own stories but the opportunity to write the script themselves. Gillian Flynn did it with Gone Girl, Emma Donoghue did it with Room, and now Jojo Moyes has done a phenomenal job with Me Before You.
</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">So get your bumble bee tights on and go and see this absolute treasure. Then go home and re-read the book!
</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">Book – 5
</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">Film – 4
</span>Little Evahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04273288108482408867noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5547081422877503772.post-84388618476024468022016-05-19T09:30:00.000-07:002016-06-10T05:26:28.338-07:00Book vs Film Club: time to get gobblefunking about The BFG<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-dzUVvk4OF2w/Vz3mft_XQjI/AAAAAAAABl4/N7eh1-7aYYIigFaCsYvn6nJdOJmmQSx_ACLcB/s1600/bfg.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><img border="0" height="213" src="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-dzUVvk4OF2w/Vz3mft_XQjI/AAAAAAAABl4/N7eh1-7aYYIigFaCsYvn6nJdOJmmQSx_ACLcB/s320/bfg.jpg" width="320" /></span></a></div>
<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">Many of us were raised on the delights of a <strong>Roald Dahl</strong> novel (or five). Fans of <strong>The BFG</strong>, in particular, no doubt still remember the snozzcumbers, the tea with the Queen, that giant hand reaching in and grabbing Sophie, the many dreams in jars... </span><br />
<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">But <em>The BFG</em> is no longer consigned to our childhood memories. Now, my fellow human beans, there is a new adaptation for us to enjoy! And from Steven Spielberg, no less.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">The Book vs Film Club was created for just such splitzwiggled events! The idea (in case you’re new to this!) is to read the book then see the film and – you guessed it – discuss both book and film and see which came out on top. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms";"></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms";">The BFG is due in cinemas in July so</span><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"> if you want to join in with all the gobblefunking then get over to Twitter (@</span><a href="https://twitter.com/bookvsfilmclub" target="_blank"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">bookvsfilmclub</span></a><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"> or #<a href="https://twitter.com/search?f=tweets&vertical=default&q=%23BookVsFilmClub&src=typd" target="_blank">BookVsFilmClub</a>) or </span><a href="https://www.facebook.com/BookVsFilmClub" target="_blank"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">Facebook</span></a><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"> and make yourself known.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">And get reading! </span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">
</span>
<iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/t1-x-OCV0no" width="560"></iframe>Little Evahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04273288108482408867noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5547081422877503772.post-88542416508211465212015-12-14T06:41:00.003-08:002016-07-28T04:57:53.504-07:00Book vs Film Club 2016 stories: Room to The BFG - the trailers!<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-0LLQ1zSkARQ/Vm7aQJkL4LI/AAAAAAAABkw/lg9urRQLq04/s1600/BFG.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="213" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-0LLQ1zSkARQ/Vm7aQJkL4LI/AAAAAAAABkw/lg9urRQLq04/s320/BFG.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
Wondering what books to read in 2016? Or what films you should start getting excited about?<br />
<br />
From heart-breakers to brain-eaters, 2016 is an exciting year for adaptations. Some old classics are getting the adaptation treatment along with some brave new novels and a few comic book favourites.<br />
<br />
Here are the trailers we have so far for all of the Book Vs Film Club stories we'll be looking forward to in 2016.<br />
<br />
<em>To keep up to date with the club, follow @</em><a href="https://twitter.com/bookvsfilmclub" target="_blank"><em>bookvsfilmclub</em></a><em>.</em><br />
<strong></strong><br />
<strong>January</strong>
<br />
Room<br />
<iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/yfBdUPAjiVQ" width="560"></iframe>
<br />
<br />
<strong>February</strong> <br />
Pride and Prejudice and Zombies
<br />
<iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/PqjGlOwWbks" width="560"></iframe>
<br />
<br />
<strong>April</strong><br />
The Jungle Book<br />
<iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/5mkm22yO-bs" width="560"></iframe>
<br />
<br />
Captain America: Civil War
<br />
<iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/21HP6OFn5OE" width="560"></iframe>
<br />
<strong></strong><br />
<strong>June</strong><br />
Me Before You
<br />
<iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/H4pEn72mPeM" width="560"></iframe>
<br />
<strong></strong><br />
<strong>July</strong>
<br />
The BFG<br />
<iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/3kvO8RWXPe8" width="560"></iframe><br />
<br />
<strong>September</strong><br />
The Girl With All The Gifts
<br />
<iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/HjGkB_oWTe0" width="560"></iframe>
<br />
<br />
<strong>October</strong><br />
A Monster Calls<br />
<iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/7r1Kniofm5Y" width="560"></iframe><br />
Little Evahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04273288108482408867noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5547081422877503772.post-4925022630289397052015-12-01T05:40:00.002-08:002015-12-01T05:43:08.961-08:00New UK Trailer Arrives for Room Adaptation<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-C_9LtDHc9XM/VjDUAO3oCpI/AAAAAAAABgs/pXulk7Vugcg/s1600/room_poster.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-C_9LtDHc9XM/VjDUAO3oCpI/AAAAAAAABgs/pXulk7Vugcg/s320/room_poster.jpg" width="216" /></a></div>
The Book Vs Film Club will be kicking off 2016 with a look at <strong><em>Room</em></strong>, the adaptation of Emma Donoghue's book of the same name (she also wrote the screenplay!). <br />
<br />
We're excited, then, to see this brilliant new UK trailer for the adaptation, which stars Brie Larson and Jacob Tremblay.<br />
<br />
For the book vs film review, check out <a href="http://www.novelicious.com/2015/10/room-book-vs-film-review.html" target="_blank">Novelicious</a>. Otherwise, the trailer is below.<br />
<br />
<strong>To join the discussion, just use #<a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/bookvsfilmclub?f=tweets&vertical=default&src=hash" target="_blank">BookVsFilmClub</a> or check out @<a href="https://twitter.com/bookvsfilmclub" target="_blank">bookvsfilmclub</a> on Twitter.</strong><br />
<br />
ROOM will arrive in UK cinemas on 15 January 2016.<br />
<br />
<iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/yfBdUPAjiVQ" width="560"></iframe><br />Little Evahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04273288108482408867noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5547081422877503772.post-64333897294901837692015-11-25T08:54:00.000-08:002015-11-25T08:54:23.073-08:00Adele saves SNL’s thanksgiving and says Hello to Jimmy Fallon<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-oJgpYjKQaPY/VlXme1G8fBI/AAAAAAAABjY/Oorfmh5mebg/s1600/Adele.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-oJgpYjKQaPY/VlXme1G8fBI/AAAAAAAABjY/Oorfmh5mebg/s200/Adele.jpg" width="200" /></a></div>
Already played Adele's new 25 album over and over since its release? Still not sick of it? Yeah, me neither. If you're a fan of Adele, Matthew McConaughey or just funny stuff, then check out these two Adele-related offerings from the past week.<br />
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First up, her visit to SNL inspired a brilliant piece of thanksgiving hilarity, with Matthew McConaughey joining in the fun. <br />
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Say hello to the power of Adele...
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<iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/e2zyjbH9zzA" width="560"></iframe>
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Next, there's a rendition of Hello unlike any other, this time with children's instruments. Toy phone at the ready.<br />
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<iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/-yL7VP4-kP4" width="560"></iframe>Little Evahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04273288108482408867noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5547081422877503772.post-14475037421437605172015-11-20T05:40:00.002-08:002015-11-20T05:44:33.945-08:00Celebrate Mockingjay Part 2 with the Hunger Games fan quiz<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-9K0AdZF2iCg/Vk8iKfO-5pI/AAAAAAAABjI/97bgJMstHUY/s1600/Hunger-Games-Mockingjay-Part-2-Character-Posters-Katniss1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-9K0AdZF2iCg/Vk8iKfO-5pI/AAAAAAAABjI/97bgJMstHUY/s200/Hunger-Games-Mockingjay-Part-2-Character-Posters-Katniss1.jpg" width="133" /></a></div>
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">The final Hunger Games film, <strong>The Hunger Games: Mockingjay - Part 2</strong>, is out now in cinemas across the world, starring Jennifer Lawrence as Katniss Everdeen.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">To celebrate, there is now a fan quiz to test out your Hunger Games knowledge. So, if you know your Peeta from your Gale and how many fingers a salute needs, check out the below.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">For the full review, check out </span><a href="http://www.liveforfilms.com/2015/11/15/review-the-hunger-games-mockingjay-part-2/" target="_blank"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">Live for Films</span></a><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "georgia";"></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "georgia";"><strong>*WARNING: Contains some Mockingjay spoilers so perhaps see the film first!*</strong></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">May the odds be ever in your favour...</span><br />
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<iframe frameborder="no" height="500" scrolling="no" src="//www.thehungergamesquiz.com" width="100%"></iframe>
Little Evahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04273288108482408867noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5547081422877503772.post-65450285365784676532015-11-11T05:52:00.001-08:002015-11-11T05:53:17.665-08:00THE MONUMENTS MEN PREMIERE REPORT<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-5Hit-R0XuKM/VkNHxh051sI/AAAAAAAABiw/MrA9G5chIxM/s1600/mm2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-5Hit-R0XuKM/VkNHxh051sI/AAAAAAAABiw/MrA9G5chIxM/s1600/mm2.jpg" /></a><em>(originally posted at Filmoria)</em><br />
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<span style="font-family: "calibri";">After the fascinating and enjoyable press conference</span><span style="font-family: "calibri";">, it was time to head to <b><i><u>The
Monuments Men</u></i> </b>premiere in London’s Leicester Square to catch
up with George Clooney, Grant Heslov and the cast on the red carpet.<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<br />
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<span style="font-family: "calibri";">First over to say hello was Bob Balaban who had nothing but
praise for his co-stars, who he said were talented people and so nice! When
asked who was the most fun on set he responded, ‘I can’t say [laughs] … they
were all equally fun’. On working so closely with Bill Murray, Balaban added:
‘I think we enjoyed ourselves. I would say we’d probably risk doing it again…’<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: "calibri";"><i><strong>‘I think we enjoyed ourselves. I would say we’d probably
risk doing it again…’ Bob Balaban on working so closely with Bill Murray</strong></i></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "calibri";"><o:p></o:p></span> </div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
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<span style="font-family: "calibri";">French actor and star of <i>The Artist</i>, Jean
Dujardin, was on hand to talk to us about the film (albeit with his trusty
interpreter at his side just in case!). The actor said working with this group
of people was ‘unbelievable’, adding – in that incredibly sexy French accent of
his – that ‘as a director, George [Clooney] is perfect.’ All the crew and cast
were ‘very kind’ and ‘attentive’, he added, and the most fun person on set was
between George Clooney and Bill Murray.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<span style="font-family: "calibri";">Co-writer/producer Grant Heslov was up next and said that
the story all came about because he was in an airport having forgotten a book.
He picked up The Monuments Men and that was it. ‘It was a version of World War
II I didn’t know anything about,’ Heslov explained. ‘I just thought it was
fascinating, with great characters. I always wanted to make a World War II
movie.’<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0mm 0mm 10pt; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: "calibri";"><i><strong>‘I just thought it was fascinating, with great characters.
I always wanted to make a World War II movie.’ – Grant Heslov on why he wanted
to make The Monuments Men</strong></i><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<span style="font-family: "calibri";">On the cast, he laughed that ‘they’re not too shabby’ and
said that he and George Clooney wrote the film with all these people in mind.
When asked what he had taken away from the film, Heslov answered: ‘how
important art is to our culture and what it says about who we are’.<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0mm 0mm 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: "calibri";">I then asked Heslov about the cameo he makes in the film
which, he said, was not his idea. The actor who had been cast in the role
couldn’t make it when they started shooting so, Heslov said: ‘I had to step
in’.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<span style="font-family: "calibri";">It was then star/co-writer/co-producer/director George
Clooney’s turn to chat to us. Clooney began by explaining that getting this
cast together was not all that difficult. ‘Mostly they’re friends of mine,’ he
said. ‘Which made it easier to call them up.’<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0mm 0mm 10pt; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: "calibri";"><i><strong>‘Mostly they’re friends of mine,’ he said. ‘Which made it
easier to call them up.’ – Clooney on assembling such an incredible cast</strong></i><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<span style="font-family: "calibri";">When I asked Clooney if any of the cast needed a little
persuasion to come on board, he joked that ‘Matt Damon drinks a lot, you know
that, and he’s hard to get on the set. It’s hard to get him out of his trailer
sometimes. I don’t like to use the word “diva”. I don’t like to throw that
around loosely but you know what I’m saying.’<o:p></o:p></span><br />
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<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0mm 0mm 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: "calibri";">At least we assume he was kidding…</span></div>
Little Evahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04273288108482408867noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5547081422877503772.post-69521216290580704292015-11-11T05:47:00.000-08:002015-11-11T05:47:08.412-08:00THE MONUMENTS MEN PRESS CONFERENCE REPORT
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-mYkcBpqtl5U/VkNGnRyYyjI/AAAAAAAABik/N_1Qxku_Xew/s1600/monuments%2Bpanel.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="312" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-mYkcBpqtl5U/VkNGnRyYyjI/AAAAAAAABik/N_1Qxku_Xew/s640/monuments%2Bpanel.jpg" width="640" /></a></div>
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(originally posted at Filmoria)<br />
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<span style="font-family: Calibri;">The stars were out in force for <b><u>The Monuments
Men</u></b> press conference this morning as writer, director and star of
the film, George Clooney led a panel which included his co-writer/producer
Grant Heslov and actors John Goodman, Bill Murray, Matt Damon, Bob Balaban,
Jean Dujardin and Dimitri Leonidas. Surviving Monuments Man Harry Ettlinger was
also on hand to answer questions about this incredible true story.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">The author of the book on which the film is based, Robert
Edsel, was up first, however, to talk about the history of the Monuments Men,
saying that what the Nazis did in collecting these works of art was an
‘extraordinary but despicable achievement’. When asked about the character
changes that have been made for the film, Edsel said that he feels like a
messenger for the story and that the names were changed out of respect not
ignorance.<o:p></o:p></span><br />
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<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0mm 0mm 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">When the full panel arrived, they were each asked about their
favourite artworks, which ranged from La Sagrada Familia building in Barcelona
for Leonidas to a legendary baseball photo for Murray. Jean Dujardin said that
he favoured the work of Kandinsky but then sung with a smile ‘Mona Lisa’.
Ettlinger added that ‘we would not like life with white walls’ and the entire
room certainly seemed to be in agreement with him on that score!<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">Following on from what Edsel had said about the changes
made to the character names and stories, Clooney explained that ‘we didn’t want
to give any of these real men flaws’. They wanted to be able to tell the story
without offending anyone. That, after he and Heslov fought over who should
answer the question with a hilarious ‘You go,’ ‘No, you go’ to much laughter in
the audience.<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0mm 0mm 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">There clearly was a lot of laughter off camera too.
Clooney says that though he was busy (what with all the roles he played for
this film!) he still found time to arrange pranks, one of which saw him adding
‘In loving memory to [his father] Nick Clooney’ to a shot of the film which he
showed to his still-living father. Matt Damon instists that ‘We laughed a lot’
and Goodman said it was ‘the best time I’ve ever had on a film – with my pants
on’.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;"><strong><em>‘the best time I’ve ever had on a film – with my pants
on’ – John Goodman on the fun of being part of The Monuments Men<o:p></o:p></em></strong></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri;">After a heated debate about the merits of possession of
artworks and who the rightful owners should be, Clooney laughed that the team
were off to Paris after tonight’s London premiere, probably to insult them too.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">So why did Heslov and Clooney decide to have so much
humour incorporated into such an otherwise serious film? Heslov explained that
they knew they wanted humour because ‘we deal with life with humour’. But did
the humour extend to any training the cast had to do to become soldiers? Of
course it did. Goodman said his basic training involved a knife and fork and
Murray said that he learned (from the women) that ‘when you have to put on a
tight pair of pants you lie on your back’.<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0mm 0mm 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">It was also not as scary as one might imagine to be
directed by a friend, Damon insists. You ‘cut out all the diplomacy’, he said,
explaining that if something was rubbish, Clooney would just tell him as much.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">Hugh Bonneville, known to many for his role as Lord
Grantham in Downton Abbey, was not there because he was busy working on the
show. However, Heslov said it was ‘great to have the Lord of the manor’ on set.<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0mm 0mm 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">One of the most fascinating stories came when the panel
were asked when art first affected them or for some seminal moment in their
lives when art played a really important part. Murray started, with the
following story:<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">‘Well uh I think it would be back when I started acting
in Chicago. I wasn’t very good and I remember my first experience on a stage I
was so bad I just walked out of the theatre. I started walking and I walked for
a couple of hours and I realised I’d walked the wrong direction. Not just the
wrong direction in terms of where I lived but the wrong direction in terms of a
desire to stay alive. And this may be a little bit – not completely true – but
it’s pretty true, I walked and then thought, “Well if I’m gonna die where I am
I may as well just go over towards the lake and maybe I’ll float for a while
after I’m dead.” So I walked over towards the lake and I realised I’d hit
Michigan Avenue and I thought, “Well Michigan Avenue, that runs north too” and
so I started walking north. And I ended up in front of the Art Institute of
Chicago and I just walked inside and I didn’t feel like I had any place being
in there they used to ask you for a donation, y’know, when you walked into a
museum and I just walked right through because I was ready to die . . . and I
walked in and there’s a painting there and I don’t even know who painted it – I
think it’s called The Song of the Lark – and it’s a woman working in a field
and there’s a sunrise behind her and I’ve always loved this painting. I saw it
that day and I just thought, “There’s a girl who doesn’t have a whole lot of
prospects but the sun’s coming up anyway and she’s got another chance.” I think
that gave me some sort of feeling that I, too, would have . . . get another
chance every day.’<o:p></o:p></span><br />
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<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0mm 0mm 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">After such an incredible tale, the rest of the panel were
hesitant about following him with the majority choosing to say nothing at all.</span></div>
Little Evahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04273288108482408867noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5547081422877503772.post-85535469752447240372015-11-11T05:40:00.002-08:002015-11-11T05:40:25.784-08:00Interview with Death Line (Raw Meat) director Gary Sherman<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-34twGq0N56s/VkNEh-RL7hI/AAAAAAAABiQ/R8hG2kkGUk8/s1600/death%2Bline.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="171" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-34twGq0N56s/VkNEh-RL7hI/AAAAAAAABiQ/R8hG2kkGUk8/s320/death%2Bline.jpg" width="320" /></a><span style="font-family: "calibri";"><em>(Interview originally posted at Filmoria)</em></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "calibri";"></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "calibri";">Gary Sherman has been working in the film and TV business
for many years, but it is for his 1973 horror <i>Death Line</i> (AKA <i>Raw
Meat</i>) that many fans may be familiar with his work. Forty years on, the
film – which was set in the depths of the London underground – is still a
massive cult classic and has a huge fan following. The director, writer and
producer told me that his directorial feature debut came about quite by chance
when we spoke recently.<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "calibri";"></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "calibri";">This interview is ready to depart … so mind the doors!<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0mm 0mm 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: "calibri";">Having worked, up to that point, on music films,
documentaries and commercials, Sherman was keen to make a feature and had been
told that the way to do it was to write a script. He was working with Ceri
Jones on a commercial in England – one which incidentally had a much bigger
budget than <i>Death Line</i> would go on to have – when Sherman told
him the story he had thought up and the pair then went on to write the
screenplay. That screenplay was passed up the ladder until the call came
through that they wanted to make the film and were happy to have Sherman
direct.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<span style="font-family: "calibri";">The film has managed to become a cult hit with older and
younger audiences alike. Sherman himself laughed that “probably 98% of [the
fans] were not born when I made that movie”. He also said that “because of this
whole resurgence of zombies … <i>Dead and Buried </i>found a whole new
audience … they’re all in their twenties!”<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0mm 0mm 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: "calibri";"><i>Death Line </i>was filmed on a part of the
underground that had already been closed before the war – a phenomenon once
again in the news after the recent <i>Sherlock</i> episode focused on
a disused station. Sherman tells me that looking into the history of the
underground was what sparked the idea for the story in the first place.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<span style="font-family: "calibri";">Any scenes in the film with actual trains were shot at
Aldwych station – which at the time was closed during the weekend – but it was
not an easy job getting permission to film on these platforms and in these
tunnels. London Transport, Sherman tells me, refused to let them shoot because
they thought the film was rather derogatory. Sherman took an old script,
added in a couple of scenes that had to be shot on a tube platform, and tried
again. That is how they got permission … but it meant they had to have people
on hand to keep the London Transport representatives out of the station!<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0mm 0mm 10pt; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: "calibri";"><strong><i>“because of this whole resurgence of zombies … </i>Dead
and Buried<i> found a whole new audience … they’re all in their twenties!”<o:p></o:p></i></strong></span></div>
<span style="font-family: "calibri";">The casting is something of which Sherman is evidently still
immensely proud. At one point, the Godfather himself, Marlon Brando, was
considered to play the ‘man’ character – with the proviso that he be
unrecognisable. Jay Kanter, executive producer on the film, was very close to
Marlon Brando and had the idea of including him in the film. Nobody was ever
going to know, Sherman tells me. Kanter talked to Brando about it and he
thought it was a pretty funny idea. Sadly, Brando was forced to head home after
a family emergency and the timing just didn’t work out.<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0mm 0mm 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: "calibri";">So, I asked, if Marlon had been in it, would he have not
been credited? “We would have put a funny name,” Sherman laughs, adding that
Harry Frampton was doing the prosthetics and would have had a ball disguising
Marlon.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<span style="font-family: "calibri";">One of the key actors in the film is, of course, Donald
Pleasence, who Sherman says he wanted for the part from the time he wrote the
script. He sent a copy of it to New York and flew over there to meet with the
actor, who was delighted to be offered the comedic role, claiming that nobody
ever offered him comedy.<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0mm 0mm 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: "calibri";">“Getting everybody else was like cake once we had Donald,”
Sherman says. “All these great British character actors – who you never would
have thought would have done a little horror film like this – were all game to
do it because Donald Pleasence was in it.”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-BPzSxi2oMEI/VkNEqCY4YkI/AAAAAAAABiY/CkLcMbt-Wqc/s1600/death%2Bline%2Bchristopher%2Blee.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="177" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-BPzSxi2oMEI/VkNEqCY4YkI/AAAAAAAABiY/CkLcMbt-Wqc/s320/death%2Bline%2Bchristopher%2Blee.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
<span style="font-family: "calibri";">Fans of the film will know that Pleasence’s was not the only
recognisable face in the film. Producer Paul Maslansky asked Sherman what they
could get Christopher Lee to do because they were great friends and Sherman was
only too happy to oblige. The MI5 scenes, which had previously been written as
a one-sided phone call, were written in just so Lee could be part of the film.
According to Sherman, Lee was game to join in – if only to do the scene with
Pleasence – but did check that it didn’t involve wearing his [Dracula] teeth.<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0mm 0mm 10pt; text-align: center;">
<i><span style="font-family: "calibri";"><strong>“All these great British character actors – who you never
would have thought would have done a little horror film like this – were all
game to do it because Donald Pleasence was in it.” – Gary Sherman casting Death
Line<o:p></o:p></strong></span></i></div>
<span style="font-family: "calibri";">Seeing as it was his first feature film, one thing Sherman
had not factored in was that Christopher Lee was very tall and Donald Pleasence
was far shorter. When he got them in to rehearse, he soon realised that putting
them in a two-shot together was just not possible. Sherman then decided to do
the whole sequence in singles and adjust the eyelines – and then get Lee to sit
down. See what you think of the end result…<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0mm 0mm 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: "calibri";">When I asked Sherman what it was he felt made people
love <i>Death Line</i> so much he complimented his cast and added
that, “It makes a political statement. It pokes the class system in England
right in the eye. The ‘Man’ is a sympathetic character – he’s not an ‘evil’
monster. He’s just trying to survive.”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<div style="text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: "calibri";">“<i>Death Line</i> was the first of its kind” he
explains. “There had never been anything like it before …. I’m very proud of
it! … <i>Death Line </i>was just a really fun film to make.”</span></div>
<span style="font-family: "calibri";"><o:p></o:p></span> </div>
<iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/daSMZWHQ9Ss" width="560"></iframe>
Little Evahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04273288108482408867noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5547081422877503772.post-23565831004343129202015-11-11T05:31:00.001-08:002015-11-11T05:31:22.677-08:00Exclusive Interview with HUMANS writers Sam Vincent and Jonathan Brackley<span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;">
</span><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-rxuTNleACMM/VkNCh4JSJXI/AAAAAAAABiE/tut-rXpDaEg/s1600/Humans.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><em><span style="font-size: x-small;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-rxuTNleACMM/VkNCh4JSJXI/AAAAAAAABiE/tut-rXpDaEg/s320/Humans.jpg" width="248" /></span></em></a><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0mm 0mm 10pt;">
<o:p></o:p><span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: x-small;"><em>(Originally posted at Filmoria about series one)</em></span></div>
<span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;">
</span><span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;">With the exciting series one finale of <b><i>Humans</i> </b>due
on Channel 4 this weekend and the series well underway on AMC in the US, the
synths and their human friends and foes have found a place in homes across the
globe. We chatted with the show’s writers, <b>Sam Vincent</b> and<b>Jonathan
Brackley</b>, to discuss what went into writing the show, their favourite
moments and the power of <b>Ivanno Jeremiah</b>‘s smile. We also did our
best to get a hint of what fans can expect from the newly commissioned series
two, which they are now working on.<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;">
</span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0mm 0mm 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;">Sam and Jonathan had already worked together on the last two
series of <i>Spooks</i> with Kudos, along with the recent film, so
they were already known to the company. When the rights to the original Swedish
show, on which <i>Humans</i> is based, were obtained, the pair were
asked if they wanted to get involved. Thankfully for us, they accepted!<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;">
</span><span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;">Here’s what they had to say.<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;">
</span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0mm 0mm 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;"><b>How similar is your version of the show compared to the
original?</b><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;">
</span><span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;">J: We took our cues from the first couple of episodes so
most of our characters are based on a counterpart in the original Swedish
series or amalgums thereof. Some of the storylines are inspired by the original
but we ended up taking our characters on completely different journeys by the
end of the series. It happened very organically. It wasn’t a conscious decision
to do that it’s just that these were the areas that we were interested in that
we wanted to follow.<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;">
</span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0mm 0mm 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;"><b>What have been your favourite characters to write for?</b><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;">
</span><span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;">J: That’s always a tough one to ask a writer. We’ve loved
writing them all. I don’t know. I’m not sure I could pick one. Sam, have you
got one?<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;">
</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;">S: The thing is, with this show, the characters are so radically
different. You have synths: you have ordinary synths, you have the synths that
are very different and more human-like. And then you have a whole bunch of
very, very human characters. In terms of dialogue, it was a lot of fun writing
for <b>Rebecca Front</b>‘s character, Vera, and also, <b>Gemma Chan</b> –
as Anita, rather than as Mia – because then you’re writing the extremely
codified, formal, language that an ordinary synth uses. That’s quite good fun
to come up with. It was fun writing for Max (Ivanno Jeremiah) as well because
we always saw him as the innocent. You could write a character who was highly
intelligent and, of course, not human – in the way we understand it – and yet
completely innocent and full of wide-eyed wonder. So that was always a lovely
character to write. Really, the format gives us such a broad range of
characters – that is, you can’t really pick a firm favourite, they’re all so
different. I mean, the family talk in this very naturalistic, slang-y, jokey
way. Yeah, I think it’s particularly fun writing some of that formal, synth
language – that was something you don’t get to do in any other script.<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;">
</span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0mm 0mm 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;"><b>How much of the synths’ mannerisms and behaviours were
scripted vs. the actors being able to influence their specific characters?</b><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;">
</span><span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;">S: In the script and in our discussions early on with the
producers about how we saw it, we gave some broad strokes really. We said that
their movement was not be stiff and jerky and robotic and it was more about
graceful, flowing movement of economy. When we sat down to really think it
through, we thought, well, if a synth makes a movement, they’re going to use
the least amount of power to conserve energy and they’ll also make their
movements slowly – as slowly as they can, in a sense, because that will
conserve power. There won’t be any wasted movement at all because they plan
their movements perfectly. They don’t shoot out an arm before they know what
mug they’re picking up off the shelf, like us. They have this incredible
precision and also this calm, flowing, economical movement. A thing we compared
it to was a Japanese tea ritual. That kind of incredibly serene, measured, like
flowing water – not a single wasted movement.<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;">
</span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0mm 0mm 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;">We also had the benefit of promising the threat to the
viewer, because we have moments where we show that, actually, synths are faster
and stronger than we are – and that again comes from the logic that we need
them to be faster and stronger than we are because if our five-year-old kid
stepped out in the road, you need your synth to be able to do something about
it. But they never use that extra strength and speed unless they have to. It’s
always there, under the surface. You know that they’re stronger and quicker
than you are and in a fight you couldn’t win!<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;">
</span><span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;">Really, though, we give a lot of credit to <b>Sam
Donovan</b>, the director of episodes one and two, who worked with a guy
called <b>Dan O’Neill</b>, who’s a choreographer. Sam and Dan worked very
closely with the actors playing the synths and set up ‘Synth School’ to explore
the physicality of being these creatures. They carried on from there and
thought more about it. Gemma Chan, for example, came up with this thing that in
order to conserve power, if she was looking at something to her left, she’d
look with her eyes first, and then turn her head, and then turn her body. If
she didn’t need to fully turn, she wouldn’t. That’s something you see her doing
a lot, as Anita, and it’s very effective – it all builds up to this eerie,
other-worldly performance. And then all the other synths – they’re all slightly
different but they needed to find these points of uniformity where they could
create a group performance, because you don’t want them all moving very
differently. We had a huge amount of trust in the director and choreographer –
and the actors themselves – and we were happy to let them explore that and find
that themselves. What they came up with was absolutely brilliant in our eyes.<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;">
</span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0mm 0mm 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;"><b>Do you have a favourite scene?</b><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;">
</span><span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;">J: There are so many scenes that were just a joy to write. I
think, in more general terms, we really enjoyed putting together episode six
because there is so much going on – so many revelations, so many coming
togethers of different characters and exciting twists and plot points. That was
a real thrill because it was the first moment when all the threads start to
converge in the run-up to the end of the series.<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;">
</span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0mm 0mm 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;">S: We were able to actually answer a lot of the mystery that
we’d set up and sometimes you expect writers to drag the mysteries out for as
many seasons as possible – and possibly never resolve them – but we always
thought that we’d surprise people and pull a few curtains back, pull a few rugs
(to continue that metaphor!) in episode six. It was very satisfying to do that
and know that we’d be revealing some of those mysteries.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;">
</span><span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;">One of my favourite moments, actually, is in episode six,
and it’s a moment that’s barely scripted. In the scene where Matti [<b>Lucy
Carless</b>] and Leo [<b>Colin Morgan</b>] are attempting to bring Mia back,
there is this moment where Toby [<b>Theo Stevenson</b>] and Max share a look.
Toby looks nervously at Max turns and gives him this lovely big grin that
Ivanno does so beautifully. Then Theo, equally beautifully, does this shy,
slightly uncertain smile back. That, really, for me, is such a small, fleeting
moment – it’s nothing to do with big revelations or plot or story or anything
like that – but it is a moment of genuinely human connection where you feel the
connection between the synth and the human being, which is what the whole
series is about! It gets distilled down to that one moment of a perfectly,
brilliantly done look between two actors at the right time. It’s so beautifully
acted by both of them.<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;">
</span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0mm 0mm 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;">J: Ivanno’s use of his smile is masterful throughout the
whole series. There’s a moment when he gives George a little smile as he’s
leaving the house which is superb and the other smile that I love is in episode
seven – which was not scripted – when the SWAT team come in at the end of the
episode and one of them points a gun in Max’s face and he turns and smiles at
him. It just fits so perfectly with where the character is at that time.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;">
</span><span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;"><b>So, without giving anything away, what can fans expect
from the series finale?</b><o:p></o:p></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;">
</span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0mm 0mm 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;">J: Er… Up to this point, we’ve answered most of the
questions. There’ll be a [pause] coming together of all our synths and the
other characters.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;">
</span><span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;">S: [After a long pause, trying to figure out what he can or
can’t say] You can expect thrills, spills, tears, laughs, danger, suspense and
… I think it’s better to not say any more.<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;">
</span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0mm 0mm 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;"><b>Fair enough! On to series two then – congratulations on
getting the second series commissioned this week, by the way!</b><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;">
</span><span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;">J: Thank you very much!<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;">
</span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0mm 0mm 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;">S: Thank you!<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;">
</span><span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;"><b>Did you have something in mind, even before it was
commissioned?</b><o:p></o:p></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;">
</span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0mm 0mm 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;">S: You can’t help, when you’re right in the middle of the
story, to continue telling it to yourself when you’re really involved in a
piece of writing so we always had ideas. You just couldn’t shut it off. You
couldn’t just get to the end of episode eight and say ‘well, that’s it’. We
were wondering what would happen after… Along the way, we had a lot of good
ideas that we couldn’t fit into series one and thought maybe this is something
we could do if we get to take the story forward. We always had ideas bubbling
under. Some of them we told our producing partners at Kudos about, some of them
we didn’t, but obviously now that we’ve had the go ahead, we are getting them
all down and very much already in the process of collecting them all together
and formalising them and beating out a shape for what it’s going to look like.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;">
</span><span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;">We loved it too much [to forget about it]. We wanted to
return to these people, these characters and this world.<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;">
</span>Little Evahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04273288108482408867noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5547081422877503772.post-2200290417934725352015-10-28T07:03:00.000-07:002015-10-28T07:03:08.965-07:00The adaptation of Emma Donoghue's Room is phenomenal!<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
<a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-mLVC8ZxjmS0/VjDVBKSF89I/AAAAAAAABgw/-PF8H3U8qbg/s1600/Room%2Bbook.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;"><img border="0" height="200" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-mLVC8ZxjmS0/VjDVBKSF89I/AAAAAAAABgw/-PF8H3U8qbg/s200/Room%2Bbook.jpg" width="130" /></span></a><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-C_9LtDHc9XM/VjDUAO3oCpI/AAAAAAAABgs/pXulk7Vugcg/s1600/room_poster.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-C_9LtDHc9XM/VjDUAO3oCpI/AAAAAAAABgs/pXulk7Vugcg/s320/room_poster.jpg" width="216" /></span></a><span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;"><strong><em>Room</em></strong> is one of those books that has such passionate fans that an adaptation is something that fills us with a heightened level of both excitement and terror.
In this instance, the book's author wrote the screenplay which is also a bold move and one that could go dramatically either way.</span></div>
<span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;"> </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;">The film arrived earlier than its January 2016 (earlier in the US you lucky things!) release date, thanks to the London Film Festival and my book vs film review can be found over at Novelicious.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;"> </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;">Suffice it to say, I doubt any fans of the book will be disappointed.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;"> </span><br />
<a href="http://www.novelicious.com/2015/10/room-book-vs-film-review.html" target="_blank"><span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;">Here's the link.</span></a>Little Evahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04273288108482408867noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5547081422877503772.post-44620590222694401292015-10-23T02:47:00.002-07:002015-10-23T02:47:09.887-07:00Final Mockingjay trailer and clip prepares fans for the end of Hunger Games<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-T4w4UXIi0ls/VioBSacwTdI/AAAAAAAABgY/7228tqqnT28/s1600/MJ2_1Sheet_BlueJay_UK.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><img border="0" height="200" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-T4w4UXIi0ls/VioBSacwTdI/AAAAAAAABgY/7228tqqnT28/s200/MJ2_1Sheet_BlueJay_UK.jpg" width="135" /></span></a></div>
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">We’ve had four years of trailers, posters, clips, images, films, premieres, interviews… We've seen Katniss's journey progress, watched as she was sucked in to more of the Capitol's games and somehow found the will to carry on.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">And now, the Hunger Games films are coming to an end with <strong><em>The Hunger Games: Mockingjay – Part 2</em></strong>. And we have the final trailer which, for fans of both the books and films, is certainly an exciting and emotional 1 minute and 47 seconds. There's also a clip of the Star Squad to whet your appetite if you needed any more...
</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Based on the trilogy written by Suzanne Collins, The Hunger Games: Mockingjay – Part 2 finally arrives in UK cinemas on 19th November. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">
</span><br />
<iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/rAAMAnV1NGE" width="560"></iframe><br />
<br />
<iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/-gtu8FAL9P0" width="560"></iframe><br />Little Evahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04273288108482408867noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5547081422877503772.post-12640267959087622512015-10-19T05:52:00.001-07:002015-10-19T05:52:02.460-07:00The Martian: Book vs Film<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-YeT9iW95gZc/ViDwXg0ajWI/AAAAAAAABfY/ndwntI_8iNQ/s1600/TheMartianUK.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-YeT9iW95gZc/ViDwXg0ajWI/AAAAAAAABfY/ndwntI_8iNQ/s320/TheMartianUK.jpg" width="205" /></span></a></div>
<span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;">Based on the novel by Andy Weir, <strong><em>The Martian</em></strong> is a film about one man’s fight for survival after he is mistakenly presumed dead by his fellow astronauts and left behind on Mars. He has a large amount of food and other supplies but not nearly enough to last him the years it will take before another space ship is scheduled to arrive back on the planet. Knowing this, Mark Watney must get to work and ‘science the shit’ out of a planet where nothing grows and his only ‘company’ is the abundance of disco music left by his commander, Melissa Lewis.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;"></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;">Andy Weir's phenomenal book is a great mixture of peril and laughter, as Watney is a man who uses humour to cope with stress. He is self-deprecating and witty and stops the book from ever being too miserable. Yet there is also A LOT of science in the book that many reader's have found slows the reading process down dramatically. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;"></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;">The film adaptation of The Martian is riddled with drama and peril, just like the novel. Will he manage to grow enough food? Will he manage to make water? Will another storm arrive to finish him off after he somehow survived the last one? Will he ever make contact with the people back home at NASA who believe him to be dead? These dramas make for a tense viewing experience that could have proven too much for some viewers – were it not for the fantastic sense of humour our hero Watney brings in the face of adversity. None of that humour is lost.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;"></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;">Watney leads the entire story and in that is its greatest treasure. He is bold, taking insane risks because there is no other way. When something fails, he gets back up and tries again. He does what he has to in order to survive, and that includes finding things to laugh at. Matt Damon does a phenomenal job of capturing the many sides to this brilliantly complex character, meaning that audiences will quickly come to love him and support him – and hope against hope that he finds a way home. Screenwriter Drew Goddard has understood the importance of Watney, allowing time in the screenplay for the viewer to really understand who he is and what drives him forward. This could so easily have been lost in the adaptation process because, of course, the book has plenty of time to explore it but the film does not.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;"></span><br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-K95oJBdfHjM/ViDwefez1HI/AAAAAAAABfg/OS9_CeyD8FI/s1600/martian.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;"><img border="0" height="344" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-K95oJBdfHjM/ViDwefez1HI/AAAAAAAABfg/OS9_CeyD8FI/s640/martian.jpg" width="640" /></span></a></div>
<span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;"></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;">The ensemble cast assembled for the film – including Jessica Chastain, Jeff Bridges and Chiwetel Ejiofor – are also a thing of wonder. There are all sorts of actors involved, of different age, gender, nationality and race. But the brilliance is that this is not done to be a gimic of any kind. There is no political correctness here, just a representation of the wider world in which we live – something many would argue is seriously lacking in cinema today. There are numerous relationships explored throughout the film – that of family, friends, work colleagues, etc. – but these are secondary to the goal at hand: get Mark Watney home.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;"></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;">Throw all of this against a Ridley Scott backdrop and you have something spectacular. There is an established human heart to this story but the Mars landscapes, the shots of his fellow astronauts travelling home without him, and the impact their stories have on the people back on Earth, throw this story out to a wider, more cinematic, film experience. Watney’s world becomes that much bigger as the film progresses, transforming this solitary story of survival into a wider tale of human connection and helping someone in need when all seems lost.
</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;"></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;">The Martian is a flawless adaptation that captures all the humour and drama of the novel. It trims down the science part of the novel and makes everything just a little bit 'nicer' but apart from that it works superbly well. The cast are fantastically honest in their performances, and Ridley Scott and Drew Goddard make for an exciting filmmaking team who clearly understand how to combine great character development with stunning scope. The film is best savoured on a large screen and, with the added 3D, it becomes truly immersive. This is a cinematic delight you’ll want to experience over and over.
</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia;"></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia;">Book: 5/5</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia;">Film: 5/5</span>Little Evahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04273288108482408867noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5547081422877503772.post-55353774370596786962015-10-14T09:29:00.001-07:002015-10-14T09:33:18.315-07:00LFF Highlights: Three Phenomenal Adaptations To Look Out For<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">The London Film Festival always brings great variety, including the weird and wonderful, the provocative and explosive, and the sweet and endearing. This year, LFF has brought audiences some staggeringly good adaptations for both book and film fans to enjoy, with three of these adaptations, in particular, really standing out. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">Firstly, there is the beautifully romantic <i>Carol </i>(The Price of Salt), based on Patricia Highsmith's novel. Cate Blanchett plays Carol opposite Rooney Mara and the production is completely breath-taking in all aspects. The direction is flawless, the script magnificent, the performances all spot-on and mult-faceted, and the gorgeous costumes and styles of the era entirely nostalgic. This is brave story-telling and a film that will stay with the viewer long after they've finished watching it.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><b><i>(Carol is due for UK cinematic release on 27th November 2015)</i></b></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">If love-stories aren't your thing and you prefer weird and wonderful, then the brilliantly bonkers <i>High-Rise </i>may well be one for you - though this seems to be greatly dividing its audience with many either loving or hating it. Based on the JG Ballard novel from the 70s, the all-star (mostly British) cast includes Tom Hiddleston, Jeremy Irons, Keeley Hawes, Sienna Miller and Elisabeth Moss. The story, about an apartment complex where the rich live at the top and the poor live at the bottom, starts relatively calmly and soon descends into chaos, violence and general debauchery. The soundtrack is something unlike anything you will have heard before and includes a Portishead cover of Abba's SOS, among other delights.</span><br />
<i><b><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">(High-Rise is expected in cinemas in early 2016)</span></b></i><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">Alternatively, <i>the </i>stand-out adaptation of the festival (and other festivals by all accounts!) has to be the gut-wrenching and magical <i>Room</i>, with a screenplay written by the book's author, Emma Donoghue. Brie Larson plays Ma along with young Jacob Tremblay as Jack and the film - much like the book - manages to capture all the innocence, horror and familial devotion of its characters. Larson's performance is riveting and, if there's any justice, she'll be a hot favourite come award season.</span><br />
<i><b><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">(Room is slated for UK release in January 2016)</span></b></i><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><br /></span>Little Evahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04273288108482408867noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5547081422877503772.post-14868491664351142832015-09-17T01:59:00.002-07:002015-09-17T01:59:20.222-07:00ALL HAIL MACBETH! in two exciting new posters<div style="text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The three witches have arrived in two brilliant new posters for the Macbeth adaptation due to arrive in UK cinemas on 2nd October. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">MACBETH stars Michael Fassbender (Twelve Years A Slave, Shame, Hunger) and Academy-Award winner Marion Cotillard (Two Days, One Night, La Vie En Rose) plus Paddy Considine (The Bourne Ultimatum), David Thewlis (the Harry Potter series), Sean Harris (Prometheus), Jack Reynor (What Richard Did) and Elizabeth Debicki (The Great Gatsby). </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><em>MACBETH is the story of a fearless warrior and inspiring leader brought low by ambition and desire. A thrilling interpretation of the dramatic realities of the times and a reimagining of what wartime must have been like for one of literature’s most famous and compelling characters, a story of all-consuming passion and ambition set in war torn Scotland.</em>
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<br />Little Evahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04273288108482408867noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5547081422877503772.post-56298027538167957952015-09-16T07:19:00.000-07:002015-09-16T07:20:54.015-07:00Hunger Games: New Mockingjay poster and 'For Prim' trailer fly in<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-zV_dKY3OJo4/Vfl4Uxb4CZI/AAAAAAAABd0/aYhDftSGPzs/s1600/MJ2_1Sheet_BlueJay_UK.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-zV_dKY3OJo4/Vfl4Uxb4CZI/AAAAAAAABd0/aYhDftSGPzs/s320/MJ2_1Sheet_BlueJay_UK.jpg" width="216" /></span></a></div>
<span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;">There are now only two months to go before the epic story of Katniss Everdeen and her Hunger Games cohorts comes to an explosive close. It’s no surprise then to see the publicity taking things up a notch.
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;">A new trailer has been released entitled ‘For Prim’. It’s an emotional trailer and not just because of the haunting music by M83 that accompanies it. The trailer is comprised of many of the key scenes we’ve seen so far between heroine Katniss (Jennifer Lawrence) and her younger sister Prim (Willow Shields). It is, of course, Prim’s selection back in the first film that began it all, with Katniss volunteering to be a tribute in her sister’s place. And from then on, we’ve seen the bond between them develop as Prim grows from a scared child to a more confident young woman.
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;">Tissues and three-finger salutes at the ready.
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;"><strong>The Hunger Games: Mockingjay – Part 2</strong> arrives in cinemas on 19th November. (Tickets will go on sale nationally on Thursday, October 1, 2015).
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<iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/GXqOBnfLW_4" width="560"></iframe><br />Little Evahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04273288108482408867noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5547081422877503772.post-18371030986001560862015-05-25T09:31:00.002-07:002015-05-25T09:31:46.042-07:00Two new Macbeth clips released<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-ZeIoS4mgzCk/VWNORDy652I/AAAAAAAABcw/nzKZ3E9M2Jg/s1600/macbeth.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="205" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-ZeIoS4mgzCk/VWNORDy652I/AAAAAAAABcw/nzKZ3E9M2Jg/s320/macbeth.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Two new clips have been released for the new adaptation of Shakespeare's play, <em>Macbeth</em>. With Michael Fassbender and Marion Cotillard in the lead roles, this is sure to be an exciting take on the classic story. The film also stars also stars Paddy Considine and David Thewlis and is directed by Justin Kurzel (Snowtown).</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><strong><em>Macbeth </em></strong>is set for UK cinema release on 2nd October 2015.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Here are the clips:</span><br />
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Little Evahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04273288108482408867noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5547081422877503772.post-17509447908754458252015-05-25T08:16:00.002-07:002015-05-25T08:37:57.740-07:00Gluten-free vs dairy-free: Marble Limoncello Cupcakes<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-kbWjJJt1DWU/VWM2ZsclPVI/AAAAAAAABcA/2kGSNSYAwWY/s1600/photo%2B2.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-kbWjJJt1DWU/VWM2ZsclPVI/AAAAAAAABcA/2kGSNSYAwWY/s320/photo%2B2.JPG" width="320" /></span></a></div>
<span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;">I'm coming up to a year now since I gave up eating gluten and cow's milk (turns out, they were not my friend!) and it's taken me that long to - I think - finally master the gluten- and dairy-free cupcake.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;">When I still ate wheat and milk, I made a mean limoncello cupcake. It wasn't all that surprising then that I decided to try and figure out how to make a gluten- and dairy-free alternative when I changed my diet. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;">But it wasn't nearly as easy as I thought it would be. I looked up recipes and they were all so complicated! No more just throwing things into a bowl, mixing it up and VOILA!</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;">The first thing I discovered - even after finding a gluten-free flour that had all these fancy extras built in - was that gluten-free food is so much drier than gluten-full food. You have to counteract it with a sizeable dash of milk (which, as I no longer used it, had to be almond milk). These cupcakes also require a lot more elbow grease. They had weird little bubbles in them if I didn't whisk the pre-flour mixture into submission.</span><br />
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<a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-mfF6suEcHTQ/VWM2lv0FnQI/AAAAAAAABcI/oJNMROJIPNo/s1600/photo%2B1%25282%2529.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-mfF6suEcHTQ/VWM2lv0FnQI/AAAAAAAABcI/oJNMROJIPNo/s320/photo%2B1%25282%2529.JPG" width="320" /></span></a></div>
<span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;">Then, just when I thought I had cracked it, I found one more ingredient that really completed the cupcake: Cacao. Chocolate in its purest form and entirely free of dairy.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;">So, after all this trial and error, here's my recipe for my gluten- and dairy-free marble limoncello cupcakes.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia;">Enjoy!</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;"><em>Ingredients:</em></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;"><em>150g Doves Farm Gluten-free White self-raising flour blend</em></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;"><em>150g dairy-free margarine</em></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;"><em>150g caster sugar</em></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;"><em>3 eggs</em></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia;"><em>(Approx) 3 tablespoons of almond milk (or a non-dairy alternative if you have a nut allergy!)</em></span><br />
<em><span style="font-family: Georgia;">A dash of vanilla essence (a teaspoon should be enough)</span></em><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia;"><em>A sprinkling of Cacao powder</em></span><br />
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<em><span style="font-family: Georgia;">For the decoration:</span></em><br />
<em><span style="font-family: Georgia;">Icing sugar</span></em><br />
<em><span style="font-family: Georgia;">Limoncello </span></em><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia;">1. Mix the margarine and sugar together with a wooden spoon.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia;">2. Whisk the eggs then add slowly to the batter, mixing as you go.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia;">3. Add a dash of vanilla essence and the milk and mix in.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia;">4. Whisk this all together for a minute to make sure that all lumps have gone.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia;">5. Add the flour and fold it in slowly with a metal spoon. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia;">6. Spoon a little of the mixture into cupcake cases, leaving room for more to be added.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia;">7. With the remaining mixture, sprinkle on the Cacao powder - be careful not to add too much as the mixture then becomes too thick. You want just enough to make it turn light brown.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia;">8. Add another dollop of this batter to the cupcakes, causing the marble effect.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia;">9. Bake in the oven at Gas Mark 6 for around 15 minutes, checking to make sure they are not burnt. Do not open the oven before the fifteen minute mark as they are likely to sink!</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia;">10. When they are ready, take them out and place them on a plate or chopping board to cool.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia;">11. When they have cooled, stab each of them in the middle with a fork and then, using a spoon, dribble on a little of the limoncello, letting it seep through into the sponge.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia;">12. Add icing. (If you want to make these really boozy then use limoncello, not water, to make up the icing too!)</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia;">13. EAT!</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia;">So there you have it: a bit of elbow grease, a touch of chocolate and a hint of alcoholic lemons and you have yourself a delicious gluten- and dairy-free cupcake! </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia;">Do let me know if you give them a try!</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia;"></span><br />Little Evahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04273288108482408867noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5547081422877503772.post-16600116825226079142015-05-17T14:02:00.001-07:002015-05-17T14:13:23.060-07:00New trailers for Minions, The Intern and She's Funny That Way<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-rHgF0iMopfY/VVkDw_5gZaI/AAAAAAAABbs/ErEvKN3HJf8/s1600/image005.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="172" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-rHgF0iMopfY/VVkDw_5gZaI/AAAAAAAABbs/ErEvKN3HJf8/s320/image005.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
<span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;">As the summer months start to get closer, there are lots of trailers landing to get film fans excited for what we have coming up at cinemas. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;">Here are three that have just recently arrived:</span><br />
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<strong><span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;">1. Minions</span></strong><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;">There might just be a BANANA! shortage soon...! </span><br />
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<strong><span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;">2. The Intern</span></strong><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;">If you like your films a little less for the children in your life (or the inner child in yourself!) then there's also a new trailer for The Internship, which stars Robert De Niro (as the intern!) and Anne Hathaway.</span><br />
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<strong><span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;">3. She's Funny That Way</span></strong><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;">Alternatively, if you want something adult but a little bit silly then this trailer is the one for you.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;">Which are you looking forward to out of these three?</span>Little Evahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04273288108482408867noreply@blogger.com0