Rambles about the wonderful world of wrestling.
Batman vs. Superman: Dawn of Justice. Few titles sell themselves better than that one. For all of Marvel’s success on the big screen, not one of their heroes has the name value of the big two. Being given the chance to direct that film is basically an open goal and yet it is an open goal that Zack Snyder has missed dramatically.
Few filmmakers could be attached to a film based on a J.G. Ballard novel and seem a natural fit. However, very few filmmakers are Ben Wheatley. Now five films into his career, he has already shown an unbelievable talent for taken twisted ideas and turning them into magic. If anything, it would be insane for him not to direct High–Rise.
10 Cloverfield Lane is – among other things – a piece of marketing genius. Originally conceived under the title of The Cellar, JJ Abrams’ production company Bad Robot noticed thematic similarities to Cloverfield and changed the title to reflect this. Suddenly, a movie which could very easily have come out and been completely ignored had a bit of buzz behind it. Dan Trachtenberg’s debut film was all set to be a hit.
The mind of Charlie Kauffman must be an extraordinary place. The writer behind films like Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind and Being John Malkovich is no stranger to introspection and his latest film, Anomalisa, is no different.
The Witch is the latest film to be granted the dubious distinction of being poorly advertised to the wider world. With adverts setting it up as the most recent jump scare heavy mainstream horror, the reality is nothing of the sort. While undeniably creepy, this film lacks the scares that said trailer seems to promise, which, by the way, is a good thing.
You could probably make a claim for there being two types of people in the world, those who are interested in an Icelandic sheep farming comedy and those who aren’t. If you fall into the first category then the arrival of Rams most seem like blessed relief, as most years the genre is criminally underserved. Iceland’s submission to the 88th Academy Awards for Best Foreign Picture is on paper an unusual proposition, but to dismiss it is to miss out on a smart and dry piece of humour.
Hail, Caesar! takes you back to the golden era of Hollywood and much like that time, revels in the ridiculous. The Cohen’s latest film has been sold as a screwball comedy, but in reality, it is an almost historical pastiche of an era where everything had to bigger and louder than what had come before. When the movie industry tackled Jesus and tap-dancing sailors rather than superheroes and Liam Neeson punching foreign people.
The idea of Alfred Hitchcock as anything but a master of cinema is foreign to film lovers in 2016. And yet once upon a time, the Master of Suspense was looked down upon as a mere ‘entertainer’. A big moment in changing that perception was the publishing of Hitchcock/Truffaut, a book that saw François Truffaut chart his conversations with Hitchcock as they explored his filmography and has since become a guide to filmmakers the world over.
It’s that time of the year again and in among accusations of a lack of diversity, it is indeed Oscar season, and while you’d have to be insane as a UK based viewer to stay up and watch that over bloated ceremony, there is some fun to be had, mainly in pondering who will walk away with the awards.  Which is where this comes in and my pontifications on who I believe will win the big ones.  I’m going to avoid most of the technical categories, not because I think they are less worthy, but because I don’t believe I’m qualified to judge them.  In a similar vein, I am no expert at predicting this stuff, so I’m just going to be talking about who I would give it to.
Bone Tomahawk is a strange meld of different ideas.  On one hand, it’s a traditional Western, following a posse on their hunt to save those kidnapped from their village.  On the other, it’s a horror film, when in the final act they discover those who have done the kidnapping are a group of cannibalistic troglodytes.  And yet on a strange – slightly smaller – third hand, it is a comedy, stuffed with amusing conversations and witty observations.
Ramblings About Wrestling 