I’ve always disliked Woody Allen films.  Well, the ones that I’ve attempted to watch.  It turns out I just dislike Woody Allen as an actor and actually seem to like his films if he’s not in them.

I’m not sure what made me sit down and watch Midnight in Paris but I’m extremely glad that I did.

Owen Wilson plays Gil, a Hollywood writer who freeloads a trip to Paris with his potential in-laws in the hope that the romance and magic of the city will spark something creative in him and he can be done with writing generic films.  After trying to avoid a night with Paul, a pretentious douchebag played wonderfully by Martin Sheen, Gil is miraculously transported to 1920s Paris and encounters such historical figures as F. Scott Fitzgerald and his wife Zelda, Ernest Hemingway, Cole Porter, Picasso, Salvador Dali, T.S. Eliot and more.

The film is very romantic and atmospheric, and does a great job tapping into the feeling that I think everyone has, that the past was somehow better than the now.  I don’t think I was born in the wrong time, but I often think I’d of preferred to be my age now in the 70s or 80s.  I think there’s a tendency to look at the world around you and see it as mundane, but to view the past through rose tinted glasses.  And that’s what Gil does, as well as Adriana (played by Marion Cotillard), when in actuality there isn’t anything that wrong with the present.

The other thing which struck me about Midnight in Paris is that it’s Owen Wilson’s first good film and performance since The Darjeeling Limited came out in 2007.  Before that, Wilson’s best effort was The Life Aquatic in 2004.  It seems he’s only in a good film every 3-4 years, or when he teams up with a decent director.

After watching Midnight in Paris I would ordinarily be excited for Allen’s next film, Nero Fiddled, which is due in 2012, but it unfortunately features Allen himself.

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Top 10 films of 2011: #9 – MIDNIGHT IN PARIS HollywoodHubbub

Title: Field of Dreams

Directed by: Phil Alden Robinson

Written by: W.P. Kinsella (novel), Phil Alden Robinson

Current Flickchart position:  #194 of 1345 overall.  My #4 film, of 27, from the year 1989.

What It’s About:
An Iowa corn farmer (Kevin Costner), hearing voices, interprets them as a command to build a baseball diamond in his fields; he does, and the Chicago Black Sox come.

General Comments:
After watching The Postman yesterday I thought I’d give one of Costner’s more critically acclaimed films a go and holy shit is it good.  I’m trying to write my thoughts about the film literally a couple of minutes after I’ve finished watching it, and I’m having a real hard time articulating why I think it’s so good.  But it is good.  Really really good.  I’m so disappointed with myself for not watching this years ago.

Watch Field of Dreams to see a truly great fantasy drama that will make you realize just how much you’ll miss your dad when he’s gone.

Rating:  8.5/10

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365 Day Unseen Movie Marathon – Day 30 – FIELD OF DREAMS (1989) HollywoodHubbub

Sucker Punch looks all sorts of amazing and I’m just hoping I’m not let down.  I haven’t been so far by Zack Snyder.

Click the image for a larger view.

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The new super fantastic SUCKER PUNCH banner poster HollywoodHubbub

Wow.  This one looks like a complete mindfuck but in the best way possible.  I have no idea what it’s really about but to say it looks impressive is a massive understatement.  From the looks of things it seems like Heath Ledger went out with two amazing performances.

I can’t wait to see Parnassus when it opens here in Oz on October 29th.

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THE IMAGINARIUM OF DOCTOR PARNASSUS trailer HollywoodHubbub

Here’s the new poster for the upcoming fantasy flick The Vampire’s Assistant.

I haven’t seen anything on this one yet and I couldn’t be bothered to read the script, but I loved the original title of Cirque du Freak way more than this new shitty one.  I guess with the tween crowd falling over themselves for everything Twilight related vampires are suddenly bankable again, which I guess explains the name change to include the word “vampire”.  I’ll probably end up seeing it at some point, if for no other reason than it’s written by Brian Helgeland, but if word of mouth paints it to be the same terrible quality as Twilight then I’m gonna avoid it like the plague.

As an aside, I wish that Twilight had never existed and we could all bask in the glory of Buffy, The Lost Boys and Let The Right One In, and realise that between these three we have all the vampire related material we’ll ever need.

(source = IMP Awards)

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THE VAMPIRE’S ASSISTANT poster HollywoodHubbub

Here we go, it appears that things may be ramping up for the release of Avatar at the end of the year with the first official teaser poster appearing today.

The poster is nothing special, but from the comments that came out of Comic Con about the 20+ minutes that was screened it seems like the movie is gonna be simply amazing.  I have complete faith in James Cameron so role on December 18th.

(source = IMP Awards)

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1st teaser poster for AVATAR HollywoodHubbub

Here’s a new poster for the upcoming action/fantasy flick Solomon Kane.

According to an entry on IMDB, Solomon Kane is a 17th century Puritan who wanders the world with no apparent goal other than to vanquish evil in all its forms.

If that sounds at all interesting to you, the film is slated for release in Europe towards the end of the year, and the rest of the world some time next year. Until I see a trailer or a better synopsis I think I’ll pass.

(source = IMP Awards)

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New poster for SOLOMON KANE HollywoodHubbub

© Warner Bros. Pictures

It’s pretty damn difficult to review this film without reference to the novel, but considering I read that about 4 years ago and haven’t revisited it I don’t know how accurate my comparison between the two will be.  What I can say for sure is that the Harry Potter books get better as they get darker, and that the Half-Blood Prince is my favourite of all the books.

So how does it compare to the book?  Pretty good actually.  There are of course some changes and omissions. but for the most part the movie contains all the essential parts of the book and only changes a few things which don’t really affect the story too much.  In fact, the only thing which I can pinpoint which has been changed is the final confrontation at Hogwarts between the Death Eaters, Malfoy, Snape, and Dumbledore.  From memory the book had this taking place around the perimeter of Hogwarts with Dumbledore casting a freezing spell on Harry so that he wouldn’t get involved.  The film has this taking place in a clock tower and Harry observes the encounter from a lower floor.  Not too big a deal but I don’t see why that needed to be changed.

Another complaint is that I didn’t think there were enough flashbacks to Tom Riddle’s childhood and his time at Hogwarts.  Once again I thought there was far more insight into Riddle’s evolution into Voldemort in the book and I would have liked to have seen this in the film.  I realise that concessions need to be made when adapting a book but I thought this was one of the central parts of the book and was actually pretty excited to see it up on the screen.  Whilst I’m on the subject of Riddle/Voldemort, it’s worth noting that he doesn’t appear in the film at all.  I can’t remember if he had much of a part in the book outside of the flashbacks, but I’m sure he appeared at least once in a more adult form.  Oh well.

Another important aspect of the books is that aside from getting darker as they progress, the kids also get a lot hornier, and that plays an important part in the film.  In fact, there’s a fair chunk of the film taken up by Ron’s relationship with some girl, Hermione’s jealousy over this and Ron’s ignorance of that, and Harry’s growing relationship with Ginny.  It actually all plays out pretty nicely and doesn’t become too melodramatic.  One of my favourite parts comes when Harry and Ginny go to the Room of Requirement to hide Harry’s potions book and they share a tender moment.  I thought it was gonna be awkward to watch but it came across as quite touching.  Overall I think the romance element of the book was carried across well but without it taking over the movie, which I have to say I was not expecting.

As I mentioned, I think the darker the story is the better the movie is for it, and this is certainly the darkest of the movies so far.  Of particular note is the sequence where Harry and the gang see a girl get cursed after touching a necklace.  I was very surprised by how this was presented onscreen, but was extremely glad that it was dealt with in such a stark and scary manner.  I was in a theatre full of kids and when this sequence occured there was actual silence in the cinema.  That was one of just a few occasions when they didn’t feel the need to talk to each other, so I think the scene played as it was intended.

My only real concern after seeing the Half-Blood Prince is whether or not there will be a decent payoff for Snape in the final installment.  In fact, I’ve had this concern since the first film when they decided to omit a conversation between Dumbledore and Harry concerning Snape.  He is a central character in the seven books and this is finally revealed in all it’s beauty in The Deathly Hallows, and I’m just hoping and praying that they don’t leave out any of Snape’s story.  The chapter towards the end of The Deathly Hallows which reveals the body of Snape’s story is probably the best chapter in all of the books and it would be a crying shame for this to be edited down.  I guess we’ll all find out in two years time when Part 2 of The Deathly Hallows opens in theatres.

CONCLUSION
A distinct reduction in the importance of the actual Half-Blood Prince was really annoying, and the lame one line reveal at the end of the film about who the Prince is was equally terrible.  Harry and Dumbledore’s search for the Horcrux was done really well.  As was the romantic element of the story.  Tom Felton (Draco Malfoy) was VERY good as the scared and conflicted kid charged with a duty by Voldemort, and was easily the best of the young actors.  I was really happy to see Helena Bonham Carter had more screen time than in previous installments.  The death of Dumbledore left me completely unmoved.  I’m not sure if that’s because I knew it was coming, but it just left me cold.  Not to mention the complete lameness of the staff and students holding their wands high and the tips lighting up when they surround Dumbledore’s body.  It instantly reminded me of a concert where everyone holds up their lighter.  It was almost laugh out loud in it’s shitness.  All in all The Half-Blood Prince was a good installment in the Harry Potter franchise but nothing special as a movie outside of this.

FINAL GRADE: C+

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Here’s the teaser trailer for the upcoming adaptation of the first Percy Jackson novel.

I tried reading the book and gave up a couple of chapters into it.  It’s certainly a children’s book, but unlike the Harry Potter series of novels I really don’t think it’s written to be read by adults.  The writing style just screams children’s book.

That being said I’m a little curious to see the film because I generally enjoy the work of Chris Columbus.

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Teaser trailer for PERCY JACKSON & THE OLYMPIANS: THE LIGHTNING THIEF HollywoodHubbub

Here’s yet another Inglourious Basterds poster.

I’m all for promoting a film but you’d think that anyone interested in seeing this one is already well aware of it.  How much increased attendance do you think another poster will generate?  I’d say the money spent on all these variants would have been better kept in the bank account of The Weinstein Company considering their financial woes.

(source = IMP Awards)

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Yet another INGLOURIOUS BASTERDS poster HollywoodHubbub