Orphaned child Harry
Gets headhunted by Hogwarts
Starts wizard training
Film review – Shane (George Stevens, 1953)
I’ve never been a huge fan of Westerns. It’s a slight bugbear of mine and I hate to be so sweepingly dismissive of an entire genre, but until recently they’ve always seemed so formulaic and lacking in unique characters.
That’s not to say I don’t have many fond memories of Westerns. My grandfather was a huge fan of any films with cowboys in. Growing up, I lived away from most of my family and so getting to my grandparents’ house was a long journey that would usually have us arriving in the early afternoon, by which point my grandfather would often be settling in to watch a good Western. At the time, the subtleties of the character development or the most intense of standoffs was undoubtedly lost on my pre-teen self.
With the trusted Master of Cinema label now lovingly releasing a select few Western films (with the typical smorgasbord of bonus material to help put the films into context), I’m giving the genre a second chance, if nothing else to prove my smarmy little 10-year-old self that he was wrong all along.
Shane tells the story of the titular hero, played by Alan Ladd. As the opening credits play out, he rides into a small isolated town in Wyoming to meet the Starrett family. He has a mysterious past but quickly wins their favour before the father Joe (Van Heflin) invites him to stay on their property to help out on the ranch.
Over dinner, he learns that the entire town is being terrorised by Rufus Ryker (Emile Meyer) and his gang, who are driving out families one-by-one to gain total control over the land in the area in order to better herd their cattle.
Thus, the story plays out with Shane and Joe forming a stern partnership to rally against the gang and save the town for those families already settled. As the conflict escalates, Shane emerges as the classic lone gunman hero in which the whole town’s hopes lie.
Whilst the story itself is quite familiar, befitting of any good cowboy or samurai film, director George Stevens gets away with the over-idolisation of Shane as the all-American hero by the inclusion of the young Joey Starrett (Brandon deWilde). It is through his eyes that we see everything happen. This has one of two effects. Firstly, it allows Shane to be as formulaic as he needs to be by virtue of the fact that the story can be considered as a retelling of the tale through Joey’s memory of the fact. If that doesn’t sit well as an interpretation, then at the very least the saintly actions of Shane can be seen as a means to leave a positive impression on the child – which he certainly does.
He is clearly a man wrestling with the wrongs of his past, and spends most of the film trying to hide this from the Starrett family. When he finally reveals his gunslinging credentials in front of the Joey, he decides it’s time to move on, presumably to the next place he stumbles upon that needs rescuing.
Whether he makes it to that next town is open to interpretation. Indeed, in the final shootout, he does take what looks like a fairly serious wound to the torso. He plays this down for his final leaving speech for Joey, but as he rides off I couldn’t help but wonder whether he was going to survive. After all, he’s spent the best part of two hours putting a brave face on for every other aspect of his life – he certainly wouldn’t let on to Joey that he was about to die.
The romantic subplot between Shane and Joe’s wife Marian (Jean Arthur) adds an interesting subtext to the situation. Clearly she is pining for him, and her interest is underlined in every scene they share. It feels a little shallow, and does nothing for Marian as a character as she follows every stereotype in cinematic history. Alas, it was typical of the time and her only purpose is to add some sex appeal to Alan Ladd’s handsome hero.
Shane may be a typical Western, but it is a fine and pure example of the genre that is rightly being held up as one of the best of its kind.
[Note 1] The second screenshot in this review is how the film should look on your widescreen television, with black bars down the left and right sides of the picture. This is due to the aspect ratio used (1.37:1). There is a second aspect ratio available on the disc, though as Adam Naymar explains in the booklet note “Don’t Fence Me In” this is a controversial version of the film. I’ll let you read it for yourselves should you make the purchase.
[Note 2] Below is the theatrical trailer for Shane. It is proof that cinema goers in 1953 cared not for spoilers, as the critical climax of the final scene of the film is included. Quite why this was done is a mystery to me as it completely ruins the entire film, but since the film is now 63 years old I don’t feel it is fair to be angry towards me for including it in this article. After all, I’ve given you fair warning…
Film review – The Program (Stephen Frears, 2015)
In the midst of the Lance Armstrong doping scandal, Sunday Times journalist David Walsh published his book Seven Deadly Sins. The sole purpose of the book was to blow the cover on Lance Armstrong and reveal the truth about the complex doping program he was involved with during his supremacy in cycling, specifically the Tour de France. Whilst Armstrong was banned for life from cycling in October 2012, two months prior to the release of the book, vindicating David Walsh and the contents of his book.
The Program re-tells this story, with Chris O’Dowd as David Walsh and Ben Foster as Lance Armstrong.
There are narrow margins in its portrayal of Armstrong. Frears gives a fair portrayal of the man, allowing room within the character to justify his actions. It doesn’t shy away from the fact he spearheaded this complex program of systematic doping, on a level so widespread that USADA (U.S. Anti-doping Agency) referred to it as “the most sophisticated, professionalized and successful doping program that sport has ever seen“. However, to fully represent him, it must also be shown that he used a significant amount of his own time alongside the money earned to aide cancer research. The Program just about lands perfectly in the middle without feeling like it is sitting on the fence, only tipping into an out-and-out negative portrayal when he loses sight of his goal to beat cancer and instead gets addicted to winning at all costs.
When a massive scandal such as this is at the forefront of the public eye, it is easy to forget how successful and inspiring Lance Armstong was for both cyclists and cancer sufferers. It must be remembered that Lance Armstrong started doping, like most cyclists, because he couldn’t win a race without it. In this version of events, he was driven by the fact that doping was already widespread in the sport when he first considered it. It doesn’t strike me that Spears was condoning his actions; he wasn’t the first, nor was he the last. He was simply the most successful.
In hindsight, it was a win-win-win situation for everyone involved. Lance Armstrong won medals and tournaments every season, cancer research programs gained a lot of money and the profile of the sport was raised due to the success story playing out in the public’s eye. The only real losers were the honest cyclists who were unable to compete on the same level.
In time, this film won’t prove to be the definitive biopic on this subject, but with the media pursuit of truth as the approach it offers a unique angle on the situation. One wonders whether its success wasn’t hindered somewhat by the similarly-themed Spotlight, which was busy on the festival circuit at the same time as this. Spotlight may have not been everyone’s favoured choice for the Best Picture Academy Award in January, but it was certainly a more powerful film than The Program.
Film review – Mustang (Deniz Gamze Ergüven, 2016)
First-time director Deniz Gamze Ergüven’s Mustang is an astonishing debut. Dealing directly with women’s rights and the oppression of women in Islamic states, it’s bound to court controversy in many areas of the world, not least the country in which it’s set: Turkey.
The story revolves around five sisters. The central character Lale (Güneş Şensoy) is the youngest of the five and serves as the innocent viewpoint through which the story is told, a storytelling method reminiscent of Scout from To Kill A Mockingbird. Her sisters -Nur (Doğa Doğuşlu), Ece (Elit İşcan), Selma (Tuğba Sunguroğlu) and Sonay (İlayda Akdoğan as Sonay – are living with their traditionalist uncle Erol (Ayberk Pekcan) and fearful grandmother (Nihal Koldaş). After an incident at a beach that Erol deems to be too risqué, the five are effectively held on house arrest, taught to be “proper wives” and must wait their turn until a suitor is found.
The premise of the plot is one that brings out dormant anger towards the premise of pre-arranged marriages. The idea of this still happening to so many women in the modern world is an alien concept to those outside the most conservative of countries. Whilst it is known that this happens, Mustang manages to drive home a powerful message by focusing on just one tight family unit, in this case a close-knit group of girls who will likely never see each other again once they have been paired off. Perhaps it’s easier to pretend it doesn’t happen, or perhaps it’s easier to forget on a day-to-day basis as it is so uncommon in the Western world. All this just results in Mustang being a more shocking film.
It is hard to watch the storyline unfold without being reminded of Sophia Coppola’s 1999 indie flick ‘The Virgin Suicides’. Both films deal directly with the psychological effects of a group of five attractive teenage sisters being held under house arrest at the behest of their overbearing parents/guardians. I can’t see a situation where Ergüven hasn’t been influenced on some level by that film, but the repositioning of this basic plot makes it different enough to not dismiss its achievements.
Güneş Şensoy is a revelation in the lead role, playing perfectly the inquisitive innocence that the character demands. At such a young age and this being her debut performance, she is certainly one to watch in the future.
Mustang is a powerful film deserving of he widest of audiences. It’s at times heartbreaking, but there can never be enough attention shone on such a pressing humanitarian matter.
Cannes Film Festival 2016 – Winners in Full
Ken Loach has become the eigth filmmaker in history to win the Palme d’Or on more than one occasion, for his film ‘I, Daniel Blake’.
Here’s a list of winners in full.
Palme d’Or
Ken Loach’s ‘I, Daniel Blake’
Grand Prix
Xavier Dolan’s ‘It’s Only the End of the World’
Jury Prize
Andrea Arnold’s ‘American Honey’
Camera d’Or
Houda Benyamina’s ‘Divines’
Best director (tied)
Olivier Assayas for ‘Personal Shopper’
Cristian Mungiu for ‘Graduation’
Best screenplay
Asghar Farhadi for ‘The Salesman’
Best actress
Jaclyn Jose for ‘Ma ‘Rosa’
Best actor
Shahab Hosseini for ‘The Salesman’
Short film
‘Timecode’, Juanjo Jimenez
Honorary Palme d’Or
Jean-Pierre Léaud
Haiku film review #026 – Ghost In The Shell
Just like The Matrix
But made four years earlier.
And in anime.
Film review – Green Room (Jeremy Saulnier, 2016)
From a fairly clunky and drawn-out start, Green Room quickly becomes a truly shocking horror film, made all the more horrific by a believable plot line and some relatable characters.
It delivers a lot in just over 90 minutes. Punk band The Ain’t Rights (including Anton Yelchin as Pat, Alia Shawkat as Sam, Joe Cole as Reece and Callum Turner as Tiger) are living food-to-mouth and on the edge of calling it quits due to lack of funds. A particularly bad gig in Seaside, Oregon leads to the promoter setting them up with a more lucrative performance in an out-of-town area of Portland. What they don’t know is that the gig is for a group of Nazi extremists, and when one of the band members witnesses the aftermath of a murder, things take a turn for the worse and a standoff ensues between the four band members (and another bystander Amber, portrayed by Imogen Poots) and the owners of the club, led by Darcy Banker (Patrick Stewart).
“Now, whatever you saw or did is no longer my concern. But let’s be clear, it won’t end well.” So says Patrick Stewart in an uncharacteristically sinister turn as Darcy. Despite a spine-tingling turn, it’s a character that never really shows his worth as a truly horrific antagonist, instead allowing some fairly useless goons to try and largely fail at his handy work. He’s got 100s of neo-Nazis under his thumb – but why? It would have been much more satisfying to get a taste of his evil mind.
Far more relatable are the four band members, who we join in this rollercoaster of misery and trauma. There are a couple of gruesome moments when the film starts to get really bloody, and it is in these moments that the film shows its excellence. Having successfully placed the viewers in the shoes of the band members, the film unravels into a slasher horror and there are some truly shocking moments to shake up the audience. What unfolds feels like a very personal experience despite being something that (hopefully) hasn’t happened to many people.
Imogen Poots is a fantastic actress, though her appearance some time into the film seemed like an after thought. Joining at a point where the band members were already well established is a factor they just about get away with, though I never really felt the same compassion as I did for the band themselves.
If you like your horrors slashy, then this will reward you. If horror to you is a CGI ghost in a mirror, then you may well be sadly disappointed.
Film review – Zootropolis (Byron Howard and Rich Moore, 2016)
Zootropolis is the latest in the Disney Animated Studios classics range that certainly holds its own alongside its older brothers and sisters, with a well realised universe and some extremely likeable characters. It may not have the staying power of the greatest films of the studio, but serves as a fun way to entertain children for a couple of hours in the earl summer.
The film stars Ginnifer Goodwin as Judy Hopps, a tiny rabbit that has aspirations to go to Zootropolis to become a police officer. Driven on by a childhood incident, she finally reaches her goal via a fairly snappy montage sequence. Dsappointingly assigned parking duty by her new boss Chief Bogo (Idris Elba, providing a voice that doesn’t really match the character), she sets out to prove she is more than a small fish in a big pond. Striking up an unlikely love-hate friendship with sly fox Nick Wilde (Jason Bateman in an impressive role), she uncovers a clue to solving one of the city’s biggest mysteries: the location of a missing otter and a growing number of other missing predator mammals in the city.
Goodwin’s portrayal of Judy Hopps is delightful. Her voice is perfect and brings some distinctive characterisation to life. There’s clearly a lot of chemistry between her and the well-cast Bateman. When they fall out midway through the second act, you feel it, and the target audience will too. She has an unmistakable likability in her voice that’s hard to pin down – perfect for this kind of role.
The film excels in its underlying messages of racism and stereotyping, making it a timely release. Each main character’s driving force is as a result of some kind of prejudice they’ve had to fight against. Make no mistake – there is little effort to hide it, to the point of it feeling a little ham-fisted. Anyone who wants their cinematic experiences compartmentalised by separating pure entertainment from thought-provoking commentary may need to double-check the age rating on this film.
Where it falls down is its lack of foresight in terms of future generation’s appreciation of it. The greatest animated films have been enjoyed for almost a century by parents and children alike. They always have a timeless quality to them, much like fairy-tales, allowing a Snow White or Cinderella to be picked up now and not feel of-its-time. For Zootropolis, one has to wonder how the children of 2040 will feel about the overused phone apps that are featured, or indeed the Breaking Bad and Frozen references that are thrown in for cheap laughs.
For now, however, Disney will sit back and count this as a huge success. It is now the highest-grossing film of 2016 and the 28th of all time (as of 16th May 2016).
Where is Nintendo’s Wii U console right now?
Last week, Nintendo excitedly announced plans of their next console. Temporarily named Nintendo NX, the console is due to hit the shelves in March 2017.
The news is a bittersweet result for owners of the Wii U, a group to which I am a member. On the one hand, Nintendo’s innovative consoles are always something that reinvigorates the gaming industry, in a time where Sony and Microsoft are happy to simply enhance the power of their machines and add different numbers to the console names and their biggest franchise. Not that there’s anything wrong with that – clearly the popularity of the PS4 shows they are doing something right, with some 40 millions units sold so far.
The Wii U, on the other hand, is generally considered to have been a failure. With only 12.8 millions units sold, it is clear it has performed far below expectations. Whilst this is more than the Xbox One, unfortunately the sales have all but stopped, sharply declining in Q4 of 2015-16.
It isn’t like Nintendo gave up on it years ago, despite it clearly being a losing battle. There have been some of the genuinely impressive Nintendo games released, including the unexpectedly user-friendly Mario Maker, arguably the best Mario Kart game of all time, arguably the best game on the console in Super Smash Bros., the most enjoyable multiplayer platformer I’ve ever played in Super Mario 3D World.
How do you solve a problem like Zelda?
Unfortunately, there are some massive holes in the release cycle too. The biggest failure is the lack of 3rd party support. Other than Bayonetta 2, a console exclusive, there hasn’t been much to shout home about. Rayman Legends, originally announced as an exclusive, was delayed and then released as a multi-console game.
This wasn’t the biggest let down of the promises made before release. One of the reasons it was able to stir up a lot of interest prior to its release was a tech demo of a new HD Legend of Zelda game, which first appeared at E3 in 2011. The console was release with no Zelda launch title, but two months later a release date was unveiled, positioning the game for a 2015 release.
The year came and went with no game, leaving Wii U owners hanging on for more information. More recently, it was announced that the game would release simultaneously on both the Wii U and NX. Essentially, if a Wii U owner wants the best Zelda experience going, they will have to invest in the next console.
So where does that leave Wii U?
Unfortunately for Wii U owners, the situation is looking largely precarious. The console has had some brilliant games, but more recently the releases have slowed down and don’t really feel like new releases at all. Only surprise hit Xenoblade Chronicles X has shown itself to be a success with fans and critics as a new release. All the other big releases have either been terribly received (Amiibo Crossing and Mini Mario and Friends: amiibo Challenge) or simple re-hashes of older games (two Zelda HD remasters and a Star Fox remaster that was packaged as a brand new game).
These are simple sticky plasters for a console that is beginning to show cracks, but looking ahead the future looks even more bleak. The multi-platform Lego Star Wars: The Force Awakens might ignite some interest for owners with only a Wii U at their disposal. The Mario and Sonic at the Olympics series has never really been popular.
Tokyo Mirage Sessions #FE was popular in Japan when it was released last year, and the Western release is likely an experiment from Nintendo to test the water with Asia-specific releases. If it’s popular then the floodgates might open to allow more games that are currently Asia-exclusives to see releases in the Western markets.
It is likely that another Mario Party will be announced at E3, as they appear to be very easy to create and utilise the still-popular amiibo toys. Given the lethargy about the last release, it will be a simple cost analysis to see if they’ll make a profit on it. If so, it will be green-lit.
The one glimmer of hope comes in the form of Paper Mario: Colour Splash, set for a 2016 release. The exact details of this release are yet to be announced, but this one standalone release has an air of “I’ve started so I’ll finish” about it.
Why should Nintendo bother?
Unfortunately for Wii U owners, that’s not an easy question to answer. Realistically, the console cannot be revived and the small ownership isn’t worth targeting with a massive new game that might as well be delayed and released as a launch title for the NX.
The only purpose of announcing a new and exciting game on the Wii U at this stage would be to thank the fans for their patience and keep them happy ahead of the release in a year’s time.
Whether this will happen remains to be seen.
Radiohead release videos for “Burn The Witch” and “Daydreaming”
Radiohead have this week unleashed two brand new music videos for the lead singles from their new album, which will be released on Sunday night at 8pm GMT.
The first single arrived on Tuesday afternoon and was immediately available to download. Titled “Burn The Witch”, it carries with it an urgent orchestral riff that crescendos into an electronic beast of a tune. Whilst this was hailed as a new direction by their manager Brian Message, the classical music influence is hardly surprising – guitarist Johnny Greenwood has been moonlighting as composer-in-residence for the BBC Concert Orchestra for some years and has also tried his hand at several film soundtracks, collaborating on the last three Paul Thomas Anderson films (There Will Be Blood, The Master and Inherent Vice).
You can watch the video below. It’s a bizarre cross between 190s stop-motion children’s cartoon Trumpton and 1973 horror film The Wicker Man, and it’s utterly brilliant.
The second video, released earlier today, is for a track called “Daydreaming”. This is a piano-driven track full of ambience and subtlety that would be at home on Kid A. The video has a cinematic quality to it, following singer Thom Yorke through various residencies and buildings before seeing him climb a snow-covered hill, into a hollow and falling asleep next to a fire as the tune collapses around itself.
You can watch “Daydreaming” here:
What do these songs say about the album? Well, they don’t sound like a drastic departure away from the sorts of sounds we’ve heard Radiohead produce before. Certainly they haven’t stood still, but both Kid A and Amnesiac are brought to mind with the material heard thus far, with heavy influences from Greenwood’s mature concert orchestra brain.
If they wanted to whet our appetite, they’ve certainly succeeded.
Cinema, etc. 