I'm Not Alone

DavisDVD was always one of my favourite sites. Head on over there now for a sad Goodbye statement.

Thanks for all of your hard work over the years, Patrick. I look forward to whatever you do next.

Tell Me What I've Missed

Assume that I've been on Mars for the last fourteen days. What's gone on in Filmland? Please do stop by the comments and tell me what you know, what interests you in particular, what you think I may be most intrigued by.

It's Halloween, Isn't It?

Last night, Rachael and I watched quite a bit of Signs, which (like hundreds of the discs piled up behind me right now) I hadn't seen since I first bought the DVD. Not that I want this observation to reflect badly on the film, mind, because there's some brilliant, brilliant stuff in there. The scene in which Graham and Merrill run around the house shouting is particularly great, and if I'd have written and directed as much stuff like that as Shyamalan has I'd probably suffer from ego problems myself. (Come back in a few years to check on my progress in this regard).

We didn't make it to the end of Signs, however - perhaps it would have been more appropriate for tonight, the one night of the year Rachael seems more susceptible to scary fare. I even got her two thirds of the way through Dawn of the Dead a couple of years back (but how she ended up watching Hostel with me on Valentine's day, not to mention walking out of it before it was over, is another story altogether).

So, today being what it is, and all, the horror films are out in force. 30 Days of Night hits the UK today; Saw IV has been around since last weekend and is doing very well, it seems; the BBC are trotting out Carpenter's Halloween once again tonight - though I bet they ingratiously crop it down to 16:9, so don't bother - put the DVD on instead; and there's even a new, splattery clip from Aliens vs. Predator Requiem up for grabs. If you want to download it directly, I can offer you a WMV version, or my preferred Quicktime encode. Exploding heads and acid spurts to the face abound - and this version doesn't have th annoying IGN badge.

Paul W.S Anderson's involvement in this film has probably put most people off, and indeed, I'm epxecting little or nothing from the film. I certainly didn't think much of the first. I've gone into some detail about my feelings for Anderson already, and they haven't changed: he's a pretty capable hack who sets fairly easy targets and hits them sort-of-squarely most of the time. And that's not a bad thing, really - it just isn't a particularly good thing. While I haven't seen There Will Be Blood, I've seen all of PT Anderson's other features and I'll stick with his schlockier namesake, if I may - a fraction less ambition, a great deal less botchery.

I saw the third Resident Evil a week or so ago, and I did enjoy most of it, if only at a pretty low register. The odd bit here and there was even very interesting - the opening sequence that sets an Alice clone loose into a recreation of the first film's opening riffs quite enjoyably on the videogame mechanic of multiple lives/continues and repeatable levels (things we take for granted, they're so commonplace in games - but they didn't have to be). I liked the wireframe transitions from location to location again, which reminded me of nothing so much as negotating the map screen on a latter-day Metroid game. And the end of the film, which saw multiple Alices, ready to awaken and each try to defeat the evil Umbrella Corporation across the world seemed resonant with the myriad players of the games, globally controlling their identical avatars in identical missions.

Probably the film that best speaks to my experience of playing videogames in eXistenz, though this Resident Evil run a fairly close second (though, obviously, in this one respect only - I'm definitely not comparing Anderson to Cronenberg on any other terms).

So, I briefly mentioned the box office success of Saw IV. Looking at those opening weekend grosses, I'd say that every dollar over 20 million was worth another hearty laugh at Nikki Finke and her delusions of having halted the commercial success of so-called torture porn. That's over 11 million laughs, and I'll join you in every one.

On the other hand, each of those dollars is also worth a tear. How can a spiritless film like a Saw be so massively outgrossing Hostel Part 2? It was the angriest, smartest, most worthwhile horrror film since... er... well, at least Hostel Part 1 and it's getting trumped by the latest repetition of boring, witless carnival show.

And here's my prize Halloween link: The living horror of the looming strikes has studio execs and producers running hither and thither trying to put together their slates and sharpish. Variety's round-up does a good enough job of explaining which studio pictures are set to roll in time, so I won't paraphrase it here. Of specific interest to long time film ick readers, however, might be that Wolverine is getting a rewrite from Jamie Vanderbilt and Scott Silver. I say good. Very good. David Benioff's original script was as bad a script as I've ever read. I was concerned about this one because I've really been enjoying Gavin Hood's work so far - Tsotsi and Rendition - and now I'm just glad he looked past Benioff's, ill-structured, cliche stricken, senseless draft in order to sign on to a basic set-up that could so easily soar.

And..er... that's that. That being my first attempt at finding a new way to do this.

The Future: If You Only Read One film ick Post, Make It This One

Let me tell you a secret.

I don't want to do this anymore. Not the way I've been doing it in the past.

I've spent the last week trying to find ways to make this enterprise fit in with the rest of my life. Ways in which I can collect, collate, read and pass on film news; ways in which I can see films, write reviews and publish them; ways in which I can strip download links from trailers and post them for your enjoyment.

And, the bottom line is, I can't make it any more efficient, really, than it ever was.

For the best part of a year, film ick has taken an average of three hours out of my day. Each and every day. For a year before that, it was taking maybe one to two hours per day - but I improved things, became more serious, and that cost me the extra time.

I can't go on giving up 21 hours a week for this. There are all sorts of things that have suffered.

I'm very busy teaching, at the moment with several students needing up to four hours of personal tuition a week each; I'm working on the script for one feature film, one short film and - while we're revealing all of our secrets - I'm deep into development on another feature film that should be shooting before the year's end. And that, of course, takes even more of my time - and of course, it deserves it. And it deserves my energies.

And I have a personal life to attend to too, of course. A partner, parents, siblings, friends and a splendid dog and I'm glad for my time with all of them, and I don't want to miss out on so much any longer.

To be blunt, film ick has become something of a thorn in my side.

For the longest time, I felt like running this site was an almost painless endeavour. I was reading all of this information anyway, so what harm was there in passing it on? But then I actually started looking at the clock, seeing how much time was vanishing. When I was ill a few weeks ago it became incredibly obvious how much of my life film ick was chewing up.

So I don't want to do it anymore.

Sorry. Some readers here really seem to appreciate my work, which is touching and very much appreciated in return, while some others act as though they think they're entitled to it - as though they're paying me for this. There aren't even any ads on the page - and, in fact, it costs me to keep this place afloat. To you people I say: come here if you want, don't if you don't, but don't whinge at me for not providing the exact service you'd prefer. Instead, you can simply suggest some improvements, maybe? You never know - they might come to pass.

Now, I'm going to look for ways to make the process of creating the posts here more efficient for me, I swear. Any suggestions will be most gratefully received. If I can get the time required down to an average of 75 minutes or so a day, then I'll dive back in head first. You can have ten hours of my week for free - why not?

Until then... abnormal service is resumed. Irregular updates, of indeterminate size and content. Think of them like columns in a weekly magazine, perhaps. They won't be as rare as weekly, may sometimes be as regular as daily - or more frequent, even, when required or inspired.

I've had intermittent help from a good number of contributors, and I'd like to thank them all once again , but nobody became capable enough that they could hold the fort alone for two or three days a week (though Rachael did learn a lot of my techniques and secrets and, if she had the time, I'd trust her implicitly - but she absolutely doesn't, so it's moot). For better and worse, this has been pretty much a one man outfit pretty much all of the time.

I hope all of this gives you some context and helps you understand what you can expect from me in the future. Any possible solutions you can offer, please do. In the meantime, I'd suggest you sign up to film ick with an RSS reader or the e-mail subscription widget in the right hand column - that way the sporadic, unpredictable posting schedule to follow won't prevent you from getting the latest in a timely fashion.

Thanks again for all of your support and I hope you can hold on and stick with me. I'm back, at last - but the site is just going to have to share me.

Wait For It...

...I'll be back later today.

[EDIT: This is taking longer than expected. And I have a lot to catch up on. My apologies. But I will be back. And in a matter of hours, not days. Not minutes, admittedly, but hours]

Hiatus

film ick is going on hiatus. We will return on Monday 29th October with... some new ideas and new ways of doing things. Most of these will be behind the scenes, so up front, it'll still be the devil you know. More or less.

And, no - I'm not going on holiday.

And once these wrinkles are ironed out, we'll be back in business 24/7. Yep - all film ick, all the time.

Repo! The Genetic Opera - First Look

Some footage from Repo! was premiered at the Scream Awards last night and has now, as was inevitable, made its way online. Unfortunately, it's shaky-cam style; even more unfortunately, it looks like dull, cliched stuff with predictable lyrics and, in the song here showcased, a flat melody. The necessary imagination seems almost entirely absent.

A real shame because this was one of the most intriguing casts in a very long time and a full-on horror musical is definitely a novelty, if nothing more.

Daily Update - Saturday 20th October - Volume 2

Let's do this again, shall we?

- This confused me just a little. Aaron Jeffery has apparently auditioned for the role of Logan's brother in Wolverine. Shooting on the film is scheduled to take place from this December, with the release scheduled for May 1 2009.

- A slowly waning candle in a creepy Jack O'Lantern on the Dark Knight tie-in site WhySoSerious appears to be counting down to Halloween. What's going to happen?

- Stewart Lee is making a pilot for BBC2. It will feature sketches and stand-up and will probably be about ten times funnier than any other show to feature either sketches or stand-up.

- All UK readers, pay attention to this: Some Mothers Do 'Ave 'Em is being remade for the US. And who will be in the Michael Crawford role of Frank Spencer? Damon Wayans. Dear heavens above. I bet he won't be half as good at roller-skate based stunts but I can't wait to hear him say "Oooh Betty".

- Common has described Timur Bekmambetov as somewhat more open to improvisation than Joe Carnahan.

- If Darren Aranofsky is really directing The Wrestler in the new year, what has happened to The Fighter? I think wires may be crossed? Maybe?

- The next two Saw films may be filmed back-to-back. Why not?

- Martin Campbell is being wooed to direct a remake of The Birds. We don't really need it, but I'm sure he'll do a more than workmanlike job. I'd rather him than, say, Marc Forster anyway. And I definitely like the set-to-star Naomi Watts plenty enough.

- Dave Eggers is writing an 'adult novel' based upon Where the Wild Things Are. In case you've forgotten, Eggers co-scripted the upcoming Spike Jonze film - the screenplay of which, by the way, has been reviewed. I saw the links at BigScreenLittleScreen.

I'm still laughing about Damon Wayans as Frank Spencer. For non-UK readers, please check out a clip of the original from YouTube. Doesn't Michelle Dotrice have a vague whiff of PJ Soles about her?

Not enough? There's plenty more. Plenty.

Daily Update - Saturday 20th October

Here's a new way to get your film ick - daily bulletins that give you the best stories and links. Yes, I'm aware of the similarity to the now-defunct Movie Minesweeper.

[VARIETY] Aisling Walsh is to direct the supernatural drama The Daisy Chain. Samantha Morton is to star alongside Steven Mackintosh as grieving parents who take in an autistic child. I'm imagining something slightly more Don't Look Now than Godsend.

[VARIETY] Killer secretary comedy Miss Nobody is to be the debut film of Tim Cox. The cast will feature Adam Goldberg, film ick fave Missy Pyle, Kathy Baker and co-producer Leslie Bibb.

[VARIETY] I don't really have a sense of smell so the scent-centric Mistral is bound to go over my head a little (if that hasn't wound up a twisted metaphor that means nothing at all). Matt Williams is to direct the 'romantic fable'.

[VARIETY] The Film Department have snapped up Jason Graham and Haley Gilbert Fisher's script The Pre-Nup.

[VARIETY] Bruce Dern is keeping it in the family by casting daughter Laura and wife Diane Ladd in Hart's Location, his directorial debut. Ashley Reed specifically wrote the script with an eye to uniting the family for the project.

Listen, I'm not liking these square bracketed links - are you? Let's give this a rest for a short while as I work this out...

Direct Download Link For Hitman Origins Animatic-Style Video Comic Strip

Download a Hitman prologue in animatic-ish form, courtesy of IGN.

Five Paramount Vantage Scripts, Straight To You

Paramount Vantage are offering free downloads of five of their scripts - The Kite Runner, A Mighty Heart, Into the Wild, There Will Be Blood and Margot at the Wedding.

Unfortunately, they're keeping the script for Son of Rambow off the table, not least because it isn't getting a release until May next year and these scripts aren't just a free gift - they're being used as an awards-season lobbying device.

Direct Download Links For The Trailer For And The First Five Minutes Of Chrysalis

Chrysalis is a stylish French sci-fi action thriller and film ick fave Albert Dupontel is in it. Intrigued? The trailer - with a fair amount of French dialogue - and the first five minutes - with very little dialogue in any language - can be yours for the downloading now.

Direct Download Link For Nightmare Before Christmas 3D Featurette

Want to know more about the whys and wherefores of The Nightmare Before Christmas' new 3D incarnation? There's a handy downloadable featurette that will fill you in.

The film is on release now in many places - including the US and the UK - and I strongly advise you to make the effort to see it.

Direct Download Link For Alternative Sweeney Todd Trailer

Mike Markus sent me a link to a different cut of the Sweeney Todd trailer. This one contains even less singing - that is to say, none at all - but does, in many ways, present a much more attractive looking film.

Enjoy.

Bye-Bye-Rella: Has Rose McGowan Crashed Robert Rodriguez' Career?

Dino De Laurentiis and Universal have dropped their Barbarella remake from Robert Rodriguez, and there are two reasons cited as why.

The New York Observer claim that Universal balked because Rodriguez insisted on casting McGowan in the title role. They quote a source (unnamed, of course) as saying "No one thinks Rose can carry the movie, but Robert won’t listen."

Rodriguez reportedly pins the issue on a budget dispute, and is quoted as saying "Universal had initially signed on for $60 million, but then when we were done with the script it wound up at closer to $82 million, and they had just financed a Will Ferrell movie that was a $130 million and they even cut that down to $100.”

That would be Land of the Lost, a Will Ferrell movie that, for a while, Rodriguez was apparently attached to direct. Is there a general whiff of sour grapes in the background? Maybe - but only maybe.

It is a money issue, of course, I'm sure it is - all decisions in industry are, at heart - but that doesn't exclude Rose McGowan's suitability, or lack thereof, from the discussion. Maybe a Barbarella starring McGowan is worth no more that $60 million to the stuido; maybe they see a different lead, a starrier one, as a more reasonable gamble and worth a heftier punt.

I can't say I'd blame them for reading the odds this way. In purely financial terms, I think McGowan would hurt the film in comparison to, say, an Angelina Jolie figure - a pin-up People-magazine regular with wide awareness. Rose McGowan's homebreaking antics couldn't even make front covers in the way that even the most minor comings, goings and hair stylings of, say, Jennifer Aniston, could.

I say all of this absolutely irrespective of who would be right for the role - and without having read the script, I don't feel qualified to make a judgment call on that, though I definitely don't think McGowan is necessarily, definitely 'wrong'.

Curiously, Rodriguez also claimed that Universal were wowed by McGowan's screen test - "blown over", apparently. This I find a little harder to believe. I think it would take a lot for a screen test to genuinely "blow over" a studio exec, if indeed it could ever be possible at all. Is it safe for execs to engage with films on that level? Surely being excited by the quality of a film, even the potential of a screen test, is kind of counter-productive to their job? I thought they were supposed to function like stone hearted actuaries. If 'Barbarella=Rose McGowan' doesn't add up to them on paper, why would execs expect it to add up in the marketing, the buzz, the imaginations of the least imaginative?

I'm sure Rodriguez will bounce back, though I doubt he'll ever again have the pull he once exercised with the Weinsteins, not anywhere, not with anyone. All the same, I know he's got plenty more wonderful films in him and whichever ones we do get to see, I'll be grateful for them.

Trailer Direct Download Catch-Up

Meet the Spartans is one of any number of 300 spoofs we will have to endure over the coming months. The trailer can be nabbed from MySpace.

There's an international FLV trailer, now, for Youth Without Youth - not to mention 480p, 720p and 1080p versions of the US cut. Right-click to save these hi-def versions and rename the file rememberjack.mov or similar to ensure they work.

The first trailer for Step Up 2 The Streets comes in hi-res lo-def, 480p, 720p and 1080p flavours.

A new I'm Not There trailer is here - and in hi-res, 480p, 720p and 1080p too.

I Do now has a UK trailer.

And last, but definitely not least, The Diving Bell and the Butterfly now has a US trailer online too, but sadly only in FLV format.

Oh, and, okay... one more thing then, but not quite a trailer... you may wish to download Abe Sapien's address to the Hellboy fans of this and other worlds. I miss David Hyde Pierce already.

Justice League Smokescreen

There's a fresh-ish piece on AintItCool about the Justice League auditions. According to Quint, a 'source buried deep in the production' has said that a number of the auditioning actors 'were only reading for two characters: The Flash and Wonder Woman'.

The way it's put, we are essentially having it suggested that none of the young folk called in to see George Miller recently were up for any of the other parts. Closer inspection, of course, reveals this not likely to be the case at all.

Quint only names a handful of the actors on the original list, for one thing; for another, some of those he hasn't named simply don't look anything like a reasonable choice for, oftentimes aren't even the same race as the characters under discussion, for example The Flash.

There's no doubt that Miller is looking at young actors for other roles too. This hasn't been a popular fact, but there's still no denying it. Snarky references to the Teen Titans abound, but, frankly, I could care less. If Miller wants a young cast, then let him. Surely he has his reasons? He's not just some dumb hack, or a studio pawn. Miller's vision might not be yours, but it is a vision and I believe, after all, that he's capable of getting the film right.

Or at least fairly right. And that's better than a lot of high-profile directors of high-profile comic book franchise films.

Direct Download Link For Stop Loss

I like Ryan Phillippe a lot, and the subject matter of Stop Loss interests me very much. Throw in Joseph Gordon Levitt and I'm completely sold.

Download the trailer from MTV.

Direct Download Link For New I Am Legend Promo Piece

Awakening is a 'digital comic book' to promote I Am Legend. It's like a fairly slick animatic, in effect. The scenes portrayed detail the original outbreak of badness that will, by the time Will Smith laces his sneakers and heads out onto the lonely streets, have wiped out almost everybody on Earth.

Download Awakening in hi-def lo-res Quicktime, or 480p, 720p or 1080p hi-def options.

The New Future

Sorry for the lack of udpates for a while, but some important changes are afoot behind the scenes. There won't be any more Movie Minesweepers but instead, a single daily, dated update that performs a similar job, rounding up small bites of info and hordes of links.

Updates throughout the day will be shorter, and specific to one story, film, idea or review.

The first daily update will be published to the site in time for the next daily e-mail, but there's more to come today including a piece on Rendition that also gets into Control and, of course, some trailer links.

Thanks for your patience.

The Ice Storm From Criterion

Of all of Ang Lee's films, the one I like best is The Ice Storm, without a doubt - there's a great cast, a top drawer score, some astonishingly clever lighting courtesy of Frederick Elmes and... er... well... a great cast, a top drawer score and some astonishingly clever lighting. It can live alongside Sense and Sensibility and Crouching Tiger in my small Ang Lee DVD collection quite happily - and, I'm happy to report, this will be as a Criterion edition of the film

How do I know? Well, technically, I don't. Technically I'm just guessing - but the latest Criterion newsletter included the above image of keys and slogan and, frankly, I don't think they could possibly be referring to anything else.

Zombie Drew may have other ideas. He correctly identified the last Criterion clue as indicating Cornel Wilde's The Naked Prey for which I am now awarding him an imaginary gold star (which may, or may not, look just like Claire Danes, the star of David or the bath mat in Ozzy Osbourne's en suite depending on which Zombie Drew would prefer).

Hellboy 2 Site Is Live

Mike Markus dropped me a line to let me know the Hellboy 2 site is now live. I had a quick look and found lots of good stuff. Go, enjoy.

I'll be back tomorrow with a replacement for Movie Minesweeper and the beginning of a new era for film ick.

Stardust

What follows is my critical reaction to Stardust, centred largely on the success of its plotting. It isn't a typical review, not by any means, but it does draw attention to what I think is the most interesting element of the film, not to mention its most bizarrely underappreciated in any number of pieces by unfairly caustic critics.

On a scriptwriter's corkboard, Stardust would look like a pretty much perfect film. That is to say, stripped down to a series of events, one after the other, there's not really anything to fault it for at all. Everything follows in a logical sequence, at a well-controlled pace, there's a good share of surprises, cliche is kept in its place, the characters' motivations read clearly and the rules of this odd fantasy universe are set up, exploited and subverted in nice, bold steps. Everything is, above all else, perfectly coherent. And don't underestimate this evaluation - surprisingly few films are so well structured. Kudos, then, to Jane Goldman and Matthew Vaughn, the credited scriptwriters, and also to Neil Gaiman who not only wrote the original novel but provided some uncredited alterations to the script.

I think, in designing a film, the principal concern of the writers, directors and actors should be to make sense. The audience's understanding is not just some barren bedrock for their appreciation, it's planted with the seeds of investment, of caring, of being interested. If you can understand every step of the way what the hero wants, say, what will happen if he is denied it, why he wants it now and what might prevent him from having it, then you can truly and honestly empathise with him (though not necessarily sympathise - that's a question of what it is he wants and why, or perhaps simply why he hasn't got it already). It's when your film works perfectly on the corkboard - no matter how many index cards you break it down to, no matter how sophisticated a level of minutiae you zoom in to - that you, filmmaker, can move on to make your next layer of decisions.

Somewhere between this first layer and the next, Stardust lost its way a little. As further layers were added on, the meandering became even more erratic.

I'd say that this second set of filmmaking decisions appear to be the most glamourous ones because this is where the dressing up begins. This is where mood and atmosphere and style and tone and cinematic grandeur all get slathered on. The story - because that's what the corkboard contains - already has subtext, already digs into themes, already explains character (because, after all, we are what we do and we only do what we do because of who we are). It even already creates atmosphere and mood. On top of story, almost everything else is superfluous, no matter how glamourous.

The job, really, when styling up; when layering on top; when taking your corkboard covered in index cards and expanding it to a screenplay; when taking this screenplay and shaking a shot list out of it; when having these shots drawn as storyboards; when scheduling the shooting, when turning up on set and actually shooting; when taking this footage and slipping and sliding its colour scheme around, or putting in CG monsters and mountains and other magical things; when cutting everything together; and when you're putting music, voices, creaking doors, heavy footsteps and all manner of weirder noises on top is always the same thing. The job is to protect those original little 3 inch by five inch cards, those little windows onto your story.

Filmmaking is damage control - you've heard that before. The damage you need to control is damage to the story, those bare bones that come before there's even a full screenplay. To Matthew Vaughn's credit, he managed to deflect at least half of the shots that would otherwise have been on target.

But what of the other shots? The ones that hit? What damage did they do?

The real question, I suppose, is how do you damage a story? The first way (worst way?) is to distract from it. The key asset of the corkboard, as we were saying, is coherence. So incoherence is the enemy, of course, and even doubts, those moments of partial incoherence, or threatened incoherence, can be a serious problem if they persist.

In accepting a narrative, at least a narrative based in something like a real universe (and this includes everything from The Wizard of Oz to Mulholland Drive to Star Wars to The Bourne Ultimatum to Pandora's Box and pretty much any other film you could ever name - the exceptions being things like Mothlight or Bop-Scotch, with Meshes of the Afternoon being an example of a contentious film, though one that I would just about put in the former category) the audience will automatically perceive this narrative's universe as being rather like their own in some basic, fundamental ways. So basic and fundamental that it almost sounds a bit crazy to note some of them as examples but here you go: gravity has an effect; visible objects are also visible to the characters on screen; the characters have something like relatable psychology - and so on. It is (in part) because of these assumptions that we are able to happily suspend disbelief, lose focus on the illusion of the 2D rectangle flickering before us and start to perceive reality in the characters and events we see cast upon it. This is the glue that holds the engine of the film together while the clarity of cause and effect, as present on that corkboard, is the fuel, and if a filmmaker wants the film to make it to the finish line without breaking down into a disinteresting, maybe even frustrating wreck, then they don't want too many pieces of the engine to rattle free.

Now, we can argue all day about what shatters the suspension of disbelief (or perhaps more properly put, halts the suspension of a new belief) but I sincerely believe injudicious use of zooms, jump cuts, unmotivated camera movement, obtuse stylisation - in short, the visibility of an author's hand - will do the trick every time. To protect the immaculate story he had at his disposal, Matthew Vaughn was required to keep his touch light, his choices apt and subtle, his shot designs and cutting fluid, inobtrusive and articulate (in a film grammar sense) and, sadly, he has routinely failed.

The saviour of many of Vaughn's bad decisions is convention. The current cinemagoing culture in most places that Stardust will play, certainly for the foreseeable future, are used to many of his failed conceits of cinematography and montage. For example, the constituent levels of an early shot that leaves one scene, twists around unbroken and follows a shooting star into a new location (and doesn't maintain simple spatial consistency) definitely seem familiar enough, and certainly have accepted, conventional denotations that Vaughn capitalises on. However, stripped of this specific acceptance, the shot's many flaws, and its disruptive connotations, would be far more damaging to the audience's attentions. Basically, we've seen enough mediocre films and muddled filmmaking to get by with shots like these.

Many other faults are more of an immediate issue: wavering accents, dodgy FX work, overwrought scoring, conspicuous performances (Gervais - that means you) all drag down if often only a little. These are all minor strikes against that perfect film, the imaginary one powerfully suggested by a stripped-down corkboard version. And that's the issue with Stardust, really - the constant barrage of little imperfections in the cinematic realisation, where in its purest story form it would imply an almost perfect film.

Neil Gaiman's novel, illustrated by Charles Vess, embodies the story far more ideally and if I didn't know this, perhaps I would have been more patient with the film. His control of the written word far outweighs Vaughn's way with a camera, even his acting (as it were), the realisation of character through small details and inflections, is as good as, if not better than, the best that anybody on the silver screen has to offer.

Nonetheless, Stardust has, at its core, the heart of a masterpiece and while even the kidneys or bladder of a masterpiece can be hard to come by, I can't truthfully have any strong reservations against urging you to go see it. The film opens wide across the UK this Friday, 19th October, with previews tonight and tomorrow, the 17th and 18th. Afterwards I'm sure you'll decide for yourself to check out the original novel and that is already there, just waiting for you, in bookshops, ripely reissued to tie-in with the movie.

(As a final note, I think it's worth mentioning that Gaiman actually wrote the original novel in longhand, in fountain pen, in books - the old fashioned way. This amazing job of structuring apparently took place in his head, not on any corkboard, which makes it all the more impressive to me.)

The Evolution Of A Will Smith Story

First we hear that Will Smith is going to produce a remake of The Karate Kid and his son Jayden will take the lead role. Then we hear that Jackie Chan is to play Mr. Miyagi. Then Jayden is removed from the equation - he is only 9 or so, anyway. Then Will Smith is directing the film, not producing - but that version of the rumour still has Jayden involved so can be easily discounted. And then, there's no Karate Kid remake at all.

Yahoo have the following, fresh-ish quote from Smith's rep, Heidi Schaeffer: He's certainly not. I don't know where that came from.

Certainly not what? Directing Jayden? Or involved in the film at all? The story morphs again... but into what?

What is clear, however, is that Smith has lined up a role in Time Share, opposite Nicolas Cage. They'll play the heads of warring families duking it out over a holiday home double booking. There's a role for Jayden in this one, surely? And with a good script and a good director, I think it might be a barrel of laughs. Possibly. Hopefully. I'd like to think so, anyway.

Dead Wood: The Filmmakers Speak

I reviewed Dead Wood a few weeks back and, at the time, promised an interview with the filmmakers. Instead, I've turned an entry over to them so what follows is all their own input, verbatim, without any interruptions from me.

There are three of us responsible for Dead Wood: Me (David Bryant), Sebastian Smith and Richard Stiles. It was very much an equal share of decision making in all areas of the film. We met at University of Wales, Newport on the Film degree course. Seb and Rich were working together throughout the three years and continued after uni producing music promos. I concentrated on writing screenplays and started a production company making corporate films. The three of us then collaborated on a 2 minute short called Dead Wood (available on the website) which was very popular online. We continued on various short projects before deciding it was time to make a feature. From our past work it would naturally be a horror - the perfect genre to start out on a low budget.

We had another screenplay called Wake that we wanted to produce, but found the budget a problem, so decided to go guerrilla, see what we had and couple that with the kind of movie we wanted to make. We self funded our miniscule budget, and the whole film was supposed to take under a year. We all decided a woods setting would be best simply because we were planning to shoot with natural light (no interiors). City shoots mean permits and lots of set design plus we always find low budget films seem conspicuous by their lack of background artists.

The first draft was written in three days - then we reworked it over and over. We had a screenplay we were happy with - until a friend suggested we watch a film called Dead End that had a premise that was a bit uncomfortably close. We then rewrote with more of a man versus nature theme, which was much heavier at first and felt too much like a poke in the ribs, so we tried to make nature fight back but treat it with subtlety. This was a difficult balance. The environmental subtext had grown out of necessity for our ‘evil spirit’ to have reason rather than us sitting down and saying lets make an environmental film. We liked that this gave the film a more spiritual, supernatural core but we really didn’t want to hammer home the message too heavily. Although we did shoot more footage which made the point more obvious, ultimately we decided it was better just to hint at it.

When shooting, there would be three directors so we decided it would be best to work out a constant visual style. We ended up storyboarding every shot of the original shooting draft. The last thing we needed to be doing was discussing how to shoot the scene on location. We shot two cameras much of the time, with the ‘A’ camera following the storyboard and the ‘B’ camera operating more freely, looking for extra shots. Often in the edit, it is this ‘B’ camera footage that we have used to cover a scene rather than the shots we had planned. We shot digitally using knowledge Rich & Seb had picked up on various shorts and music videos, such as to avoid the wide-angle lens, opting to shoot on the long lens with a large aperture to give a shallow depth of field, which makes the film look so much more filmic. Also we kept to close ups and medium shots as much as possible.

What you have to understand with Dead Wood is, it wasn’t just that there were three directors; it’s that we were the whole crew! You look at the end credits of any movie and there’ll be reams and reams of people all doing their own job, making sure everything runs smoothly. We had none of that. We’ve worked on so many shorts and when you’ve got a crew working for nothing it’s just so much hassle. You feel bad that they’re doing long hours; you’ve got to feed them, move them around and put them up. But more importantly, because they’re not ‘employees’ suddenly you’ve got all these other people who all have an opinion on how the next shot should go, there’s hours of discussing everything and suddenly it’s night and you’ve not shot anything. So we did everything. Now we’re hauling kit around, collecting people, buying food and not directing. But luckily there were three of us…

On location having three directors worked surprisingly well. When one of us started to lose the plot or have to go and sort out some issue, another of us could take over. It was like tag team wrestling. We could even shoot two scenes at the same time, much to the annoyance of the actors who got little downtime – although seeing as they were stuck in the woods it was better for them to be working than hanging around.

The schedule for the shoot was eight days for the main woods shoot to be followed by a few additional weekends as required for the London scenes and any pick-ups. As it turned out, these pick-up and re-shoot weekends went on for a lot longer than expected! The post production was a long and laborious task. We wiped practically the whole soundtrack and recreated it from scratch with new ADR and sound effects. Likewise nearly every shot has been enhanced in some way, from simple grading to new backgrounds and complex special effects. It’s been a long slog - when you can only work on a film part time it is difficult to make progress. The film was constantly evolving - our deleted scenes are probably longer than the finished movie! We have learned an incredible amount on Dead Wood, mostly just what not to do. I think we’re all pleased that we had freedom enough to make mistakes on this film, where we could go back and fix them.

When we started Dead Wood I don’t think we really grasped the scale of work involved in making a feature film. The logistics of the shoot and the post production were mind blowing and eventually it became more of an endurance test. I think next time we would have a much better understanding of what we were letting ourselves in for and could avoid many of the mistakes we made this time around.. We're very pleased with how Dead Wood has turned out, although we're under no illusions that it redefines the genre in any radical way. We set out to make an entertaining movie that felt like a movie - not a stretched out short or low budget half finished film - and we are proud to have done that. Dead Wood is always entertaining and moving forward. We think the production values are very high, especially in comparison to other British horror output, with some very cool and surprising FX and scare sequences. We have to thank Adam Langston for one of the films best aspects, the music score. It is a great score that we were overjoyed with. On the flip side we feel the film suffers from the lack of a totally solid central theme. This was always a weakness in the screenplay that we tried hard to work around but we feel we never quite pulled it off. It’s hard to see what other people see and I think the film - especially regarding the villain - is a bit too open to interpretation. We also miss a few moments of sex and violence, but that could also be a positive as it separates Dead Wood from the other woods set movies.

We always planned the film to screen internationally at horror festivals before looking at DVD distribution. The real aim of making Dead Wood was to show that we could produce a full-length feature that could compete in the DVD market. We’ve got some great artwork that helps. Ultimately though, the goal is to get the next film into production.

We all have our ideas for our next projects. I (David) am working on three feature screenplays, a drama/horror, an urban thriller and a comedy, all in the low budget range as you have to be realistic about what to do next. Sci-fi is a genre that we would love to have a go at tackling. Seb is writing a novel and looking for the right script before directing anything else.

Our influences on Dead Wood started with films like Juon but came from a myriad of sources from The Wicker Man to Southern Comfort - which was structurally the biggest influence on the original draft. On the subject of films in general I am catching up on 70s and 80s thrillers such as Night Moves and Cutters Way. Rich is a firm believer in the ‘they don’t make em like they used to’ school of thought with a DVD collection firmly focused around the 70s. Seb is a big horror film fan; the first movie he saw was 'The Legend of Boggy Creek' which he was terrified by. Doesn't stand up quite so well on a revisit 30 years later mind.

To give advice to new film makers we would say research your format, don’t overstretch yourself in terms of resources, and realize that everything will take four times longer than planned. Get to know your technology before you get on set. Also, if possible, find an editor to edit as you shoot so you’ll know by the next day how a scene turned out. Spend as much time as you can on casting and rehearsals. Also, give time to the script, make sure it is as solid as it can be before you shoot or you’ll end up taking much longer fixing it… and try to avoid production meetings in the local pub. Other than that our philosophy would be to make a film you want to watch, and make sure you're in it for the long haul.

Movie Minesweeper - The Rapid Fire Finger Cymbals Edition

- The details/delusions are starting to trickle forth regarding the Star Wars TV series. Personally, it all sounds credible to me, not least because George Lucas' imagination knows no bounds - and I mean that in the worst possible sense. If this show gets some good writers and okay directors it could, without too much effort, put at least five of the films in the shade - and I'm hoping it does.

- John Malkovich, Colm Feore, Jason Butler Harner, Michael Kelly, Amy Ryan and Jeffrey Donovan have all signed on to Eastwood's The Changeling.

- Julianne Moore has written a children's book. I saw the link at FilmExperience.

- Steven Antin is to direct Burlesque, a musical that promises to blend Moulin Rouge and Cabaret. While Antin wrote the first draft, Diablo Cody revised the script and that alone has me interested...

- Rhythm and Hues have confirmed that their most spectacular FX sequence for The Golden Compass has been postponed until The Subtle Knife - if it ever happens.

- Joe Carnahan has revealed that Chris Pine finally opted for Star Trek rather than White Jazz, so, ladies and gentlemen, we finally have our new Kirk.

- Zack and Miri are to shoot their porno in Pittsburgh [EDIT: Drat. I had typed Boston and, to be honest, I have no idea why. Maybe I'm secretly obsessed with Boston? Sorry for any dashed hopes this edit may have smeared upon the rocks] and, for the first time, Jason Mewes is to appear in a Kevin Smith film not as Jay.

- Conan O'Brien's next attempt to produce a sitcom that doesn't get cruelly axed within weeks will be Man of Your Dreams. Superficially, it has some similarities with Hitch - a womanizer dispensing dating advice - but I dare say it will be a different kettle of fish entirely, not least because he tutors women, not men. Jay Lacopo is scripting.

- The R1 DVD of Die Hard 4 is to come with a DRM-free digital version (er... isn't the DVD a digital version?)

- Patrick Smith Kelly is to turn Kit Whitfield's werewolf thriller Benighted into a screenplay, Andrew Adamson may direct.

- Neil Gaiman has placed the movie of Stardust into the context of telling and retelling that all good stories go through. My Stardust review will be live before the film's UK release tomorrow night...

- The Works are to distribute Closing the Ring in the UK and Ireland. [EDIT: I'm still smarting over that whole Boston thing]

- The latest film to go into production under JJ Abrams will be Roger Michell's Morning Glory. Fair enough. Worse news, however, is that Aline Brosh McKenna wrote the script, and she previously perpetrated the awful screenplay for The Devil Wears Prada. [EDIT: There are some promising rumours of Reese Witherspoon and Harrison Ford taking the lead roles]

- Scott Alexander and Larry Karaszewski have proven to be one of the best screenwriting teams in recent years, if not in all of cinema, and never less than when writing biopics - Man on the Moon and Ed Wood being two genuine masterpieces of the genre. They're now to direct, as well as write, Big Eyes, a film about Margaret and Walter Keane. She was a 'genius' painter who lived and worked in near anonymity while he took the credit and dined out (to say the least) on her skills. Not to spoil anything, it all came to a head in a court case with one completely predictable but beautiful Matlock moment. This film has gone straight into my 'hot list' of films to be incredibly excited about. [EDIT: Once I stop kicking myself over the whole Boston/Pittsburgh thing from a few inches above]

- That new Hellraiser is expected to roll pre-strike.

Seven Minutes Of The Dark Knight In December

It started on the Brazilian site Omelette but since then, it's started to spread across the web like wild fire: apparently, a seven minute sequence from The Dark Knight is to play in IMAX cinemas this December, before screenings of I Am Legend.

Now, it makes sense that this will be the bank job sequence, taking place parallel to events in Batman Begins and already teased with production stills. It's one of four sequences in the film that have been filmed in the IMAX format and it's entirely possible that, in fact, it won't be part of the main release (though I expect it will, and so will the other three such scenes, just curiously reformatted to 'fit' a standard 35mm aspect ratio, be it cinemascope or widescreen). On the upside, at least when this IMAX 'prologue' is presented as a seven minute stand-alone piece, the problems I noted previously about shifting between aspect ratios will be moot.

This is one heck of a trailer/stunt and I'm sure the IMAX box office of I Am Legend is going to benefit greatly from this addition. It's obvious that 'the theatrical experience' is getting more and more like a theme park as home cinema eats into the straight-up viewing experience (just like the 1950s all over again, but seemingly more lasting) and now my curiosity is flaring: just what tricks will be played on us in the next few years to squeeze those ever inflating ticket prices out of our stony wallets?

Movie Minesweeper - The Munchkins On Every Channel Edition

- Lionsgate are to produce an Einstein biopic from Walter Isaacson's Einstein: His Life and Universe.
- Taylor Hackford has consigned his wife to a brothel. Helen Mirren is to star in hubbie's Love Ranch, alongside Joe Pesci. They play a couple who ran the first legal whorehouse in Nevada, and the story deals with their violent conflicts after their marriage is troubled with infidelity.

- The Ronald Grant Cinema Museum in Lambeth needs to find a new home.

- Richard Williams' animation masterpiece Raggedy Ann & Andy is to get a rare 35mm screening. I wish I could be there, but I'm half a world away.

- Ellie Kendrick is to play Anne Frank in the BBC's new dramatisation of her diary. The show will be screened over five consecutive nights.

- Keith Allen - Kevin's brother, Lily's dad - is working on a documentary about the inquest into Princess Diana's death. If it's anything like his previous documentaries it will be utterly smug and stiflingly dull.

- Al Gough and Miles Millar are to produce Wake Up Call from Justin Ware's comedy pitch. Ware also dreamt up American Summer, co-scripted by Julie O'Hora who has taken the producers to court over alleged underpayment.

- Variety have noted the Darwinian fitness of Across the Universe.

- The 5-disc Blade Runner set won't be available on HD-DVD or Blu-Ray in the UK... yet.

- Yeah, yeah, the Weinsteins have had more flops than smashes, okay, so what, blah blah blah. Old news.

- Fox have hacked their episode order for The Return of Jezebel James down to seven episodes from thirteen. I doubt very much they'll even air all of those. And of course, Fox turning their back on a show is far from an indication that it's not much cop. This could be the best TV show ever made and they'd still treat it like this.

- Is Lindsay Lohan going to be one of Brett Ratner's Playboy bunnies?

- British actor Jamie Dodd has posted his lacklustre CV to Digg, claiming that Quentin Tarantino is keen to employ him a future film. Sure, Jamie. Sure.

- Taryn Manning played Victoria Principal in Your Name Here, the not-quite-a-Phil-Dick-biopic that stars Bill Pullman as a parallel universe version of the author. Spoiler - this version of Principal is a robot. If you don't know why, I expect the Dangerous Days doc on the upcoming Blade Runner DVD will fill in the gaps in your knowledge.

- Matt Dillon is lining up a role as Leonard Chess, the inventor of the popular boardga... er... the founder of Chess Records who gave the world Muddy Waters, Chuck Berry and Etta James.

- Jim Hill's latest piece is on Pixar, their marketing, the possibility of 'brand fatigue' having hit their audience and their attempts to broaden their perceived boundaries by bringing in live action.

- The DVD of The Kingdom is going to contain a 20 minute 'Timeline' of events that lead up to the political situation presented in the film. It seems to be made of short video fragments, and as yet, I have no idea if there's a 'play all' function.

- The school governor who took his battle to prevent An Inconvenient Truth from being screened in schools all the way to the courts has been exposed as - guess what - a mining and metals magnate.

- Incidentally, The Kingdom's director Peter Berg is rumoured to be trying to get another version of Dune off of the ground.

- David Simon has been discussing the fifth and final seasons of The Wire and his subsequent series, about musicians in New Orleans after the Katrina catastrophe.

- Christina Millian wants the role of Wonder Woman.

- Zombie crime drama pilot Babylon Fields was not picked up this fall, but TV Week have posted some clips and explained the premise. Looks very promising, if you ask me.

- Halle Berry's Nefertiti movie is still moving forward.

- Roger Ebert has stated that an IMAX rerelease of 2001: A Space Odyssey is 'almost inevitable', the mouthpiece of IMAX hasn't agreed.

Three More Be Kind, Rewind Stills

Every day I wait for this film feels like five days too many. I want my Be Kind, Rewind and I want it now.

Use the tags below to find much, much more Be Kind goodness.

A Look At George Miller's Audition List For The Justice League

According to The Hollywood Reporter, George Miller is currently meeting all of the young hopefuls looking for a role in his Justice League movie. Below is a list of every last one they named (though this is only a fraction of the, so far secret, full list) and it also includes a handy picture of each one too. Don't say I don't ever do anything for you.

The tests are to be comprised of taped script side readings, in groups, with in-costume screen tests to come later. And, apparently, Miller and co. are skewing so young with their hit list because they want a cast that might be seen to mature over the course of multiple movies.

Adam Brody.

Joseph Cross.

DJ Cotrona.

Mary Elizabeth Winstead.



Michael Angarano.



Teresa Palmer.



Max Thieriot.



Common.


Minka Kelly.



Adrianne Palicki.



Scott Porter.

Movie Minesweeper - The Red And Black Face Logo Edition

A relatively short update tonight because, frankly, not much goes down on a Sunday. I finally got to see Stardust however and... well, my hopefully rather interesting review will follow before the UK release this Wednesday.

- Weta are reportedly designing the new Batman and Superman suits for the JLA film, and Dean Semler is set to shoot it. These rumours seem to nullify those stories of an all mo-cap extravaganza. I saw the link at AintItCool.

- Jean Claude Van Damme is playing himself in a mockumentary and the first trailer is online now. [EDIT: And I have been given a link to a downloadable version just lurking around Sendspace]

- George Lucas is going around, pressing the flesh and pushing the point with potential writers for his live-action Star Wars TV show.

- The Valkyrie crew are looking to reshoot some scenes at the Bender Block.

- Werner Von Trapp has passed away. His equivalent in the movie was called Kurt.

- The Greek authorities have relaxed their ban on filming at commercial sites, so what do we get? Nia Vardalos and Richard Dreyfuss in My Life in Ruins. Tsk.

- Jason Rothwell is adapting the novella Kept for Twisted Pictures. It's an adulterer-in-peril hostage horror film, somewhere between Hard Candy and Fatal Attraction by the sound of things.

- Craig Gillespie has talked about the problems that blighted Mr. Woodcock and why Lars and the Real Girl is much more the kind of film he wants to, and tries to, make.

- IFC have uploaded some great press conference clippage regarding John Landis' Don Rickles documentary Mr. Warmth. While we're here - Landis has confirmed his Bat Boy musical is dead and that's not exactly making me smile. I meant to post that link last week but - unfortunately - it slipped through the net.

- John Leguizamo - currently recording lispy voicework for another Ice Age film - may play Cantiflas, "the Mexican Charlie Chaplin", in a biopic.

Direct Download Link For New And Knifey Saw IV Trailer

IGN have posted a new Saw IV trailer, their badge in the corner and all. Download it now for a look at Jigsaw in action.

Movie Mineseeper - The Second Silver Platter Is Hidden Edition

- Uwe Boll thinks Grand Theft Auto and Halo would make for bad, or at least redundant game-to-movie adaptations. I doubt he's wrong... but why did he think, say, Far Cry or Bloodrayne would necessarily be any different?

- Logan-Marshall Green has taken the lead role in Brett Ratner's TV pilot, Blue Blood. It's a cop thing.

- Alexandre Bustillo and Julien Maury have discussed their plans for the Hellraiser remake and it seems they don't want us to think of it as a remake at all. I see their highly-touted film Inside is at the Frightfest all-nighter on November 2nd - are any of you lot going to that?

- A press release from The Catholic League has just trickled down to little old me. Bill Donahue is alleging that the removal of the theological subtext in the Golden Compass film is a 'stealth marketing campaign' on the part of the film's producers. He argues that, having seen the (neutered) films with their kids, Catholic parents may ignorantly buy them the (potent) books. Oh - honestly. For one thing, there's no reason to assume New Line give a monkeys about the book sales.

- Michelle Rodriguez' jail sentence is to wait until she finishes shooting Avatar. She's headed into prison on Christmas Eve.

- Want to know which five films Joel and Ethan Coen would like to see remade? Which film Steven Soderbergh thinks is even better than its high flying reputation? The five films DBC Pierre suggests are best avoided when on medication? Five films Mike Figgis thinks have great sex? Mavis Cheek's list of five film scores 'to make the spine tingle'? Five films that defy genre, according to David Hare? Five of the baddest hair days on film or five great cinematic drag acts? Then thank the Guardian for ripping a bunch of highlights from Faber and Faber's list book Ten Bad Dates with De Niro.

- Nikki Finke thinks she started a chain reaction that went on to hurt the box office of those horror films she'd like to classify as 'Torture Porn'. We already knew she semi-secretly thought this, but now she's confirmed it by speaking to Elle on the subject. She's very wrong for a number of reasons... but here's just a couple of the ludicrous assumptions that her argument hangs on: the never-demonstrated notion that critics can sway the box office of genre films to any meaningful degree; that by the time Nikki Finke started running off at the mouth about the matter, all manner of more powerful, if only equally tiresome, spokespieces for the supposed moral majority hadn't already played the whole dumb argument out.

- Jim Hill has broken down the animated opening scenes of Enchanted, with plenty of images on show.

- Anne Thompson has posted videos of Julie Taymor speaking Across the Universe on AMC's Shootout.