See what I`m talking about?

Besa

The jury is still out on whether I like Sofia Coppola or not. I like the idea of every single one of her films but I also feel a little deflated when I actually see them. You may be horrified but one of my favourites was actually MARIE ANTOINETTE.

I know some people have a massive problem with Kirsten Dunst. I don’t! I loved that the entire film just turned pinker and pinker as the film went on. That said I remember nothing else of the film so in this case it was most certainly a case of style over substance. Oh and the cast – which included Judy Dench, Jason Schwartzman, Rose Byrne, Asia Argento, Shirley Henderson, Marianne Faithful, Danny Huston, Tom Hardy and Steve Coogan (of whom I recently wrote about in my commentary of THE LOOK OF LOVE). And the costumes were amazing!! Oh and the music (New Order, The Cure, Air and Aphex Twin but to name a few)  too! So maybe I did like it.

Last year one of my favourite films was A ROYAL AFFAIR. Then again I’m a sucker for period dramas. You can only imagine how much I enjoyed working as an extra on the upcoming TV series QUIRKE with Gabriel Byrne.

Anyway am starting to digress yes Sofia Coppola. But first I just stumbled on a French MARIE ANTOINETTE with Lea Seydoux and Diane Kruger. Bit of a different take on the old tale but I might have to watch this one as well.

So yes Sofia Coppola…I was so so excited to see SOMEWHERE and then the film started with seven minutes (approx) of 80′s heartthrob Stephen Dorff driving around a racing track…around and around. Elle Fanning was fantastic though and the publicist was hilarious, probably because I’ve worked as a publicist.

The first Sofia Coppola film I saw was LOST IN TRANSLATION. I didn’t like it! Then again the image of Scarlett Johansson walking through cherry blossoms is permanently instilled in my mind. As is her and Bill Murray sitting at the bar, and then again in the karaoke booth. And the music! And James Franco…this may have been the first film I saw him in actually. Always interesting to ask yourself when and where were you first introduced to an actor / director / producer / musician etc. At least for me it is! I do it with friends as well. Maybe I liked LOST IN TRANSLATION after all. I certainly love Bill Murray and ScarJo, and the music.

THE VIRGIN SUICIDES was also a very memorable film, but I hadn’t read the book on which it was based so don’t shoot me.

THE BLING RING

Maybe I do like Sofia Coppola after all. I will definitely be watching THE BLING RING anyway. Emma Watson is great and Judd Apatow‘s wife Leslie Mann always makes me laugh. Paris Hilton is also listed in the extended cast on IMDB so there could be some fun cameos popping up.

The Plot - Inspired by actual events, a group of fame-obsessed teenagers use the internet to track celebrities’ whereabouts in order to rob their homes.

Due to release in the UK (not sure about Ireland) mid July. Visit the official site at THE BLING RING

Today’s post is kinda fun…well for me it is.  All I have to do is post 5 pics of famous people who I think are attractive. In the end, I picked five, but it was hard and my favourites change from time to time.  For instance, I’ve always had a crush on Leonardo DiCaprio and Ewan McGregor, yet they do not make this list….and it’s not because I don’t find them attractive…I just felt like featuring other people. lol.

So…without further ado…here are my five hot famous guy picks:

1.  This is an oldie but a goodie–Collin Farrell.

2. Next up…an Aussie and a superhero who is also  a god (in more ways than one..am I right?)..

3.  Tom Hardy makes up the halfway point on this list.  Not only is he quite attractive, but he also is part of the infamous Chris Nolan crew, which means that most of his movies will be good.

*drool*

4. Now I am going straight into True Blood territory.  I’ve made no secret of my love for the show on the blog, but also for its attractive male characters.  My first runner-up for favourite True Blood hottie is Joe Manganiello aka Alcide Herveaux.

5. Finally, I have my top choice for hottie on True Blood…Alexsander Skarsgard aka Eric Northman. *ROAR*

**oh and an honourable mention goes to Channing Tatum–if only because he managed to prove me wrong and show me that a guy who can dance is totally sexy.

Disagree with my list?  Have any other additions to the list? Feel free to add them in the quotes?

Much luv,

Leesah

Damn you for making me wish I was a puppy.

Sincerely,

Danger Bowie

Whhhhhhhhhhhhhy?!

I’ve just hopped on my first Major Motion Picture called Animal Rescue and have had the pleasure (or tragedy, depending on the situation) of working with codex and ArriRaw from start to finish.  Now I’ve worked with Codex before, but that was on a macpro tower and was just downloading, never actually doing the whole process from start to finish and developing a workflow for it.  Well now that time has come and I have a few thoughts about it.

Arriraw is great if you love the look of the alexa but hate the way the Red functions yet still want raw and a sort-of-3k resolution (the files are 2880×1650 or something of the sort, not quite 3k but close).

I’m working with LiveGrade again (as I love the guys at Pomfort and their support, they’re quick to get back to you (provided you email them before 5pm in Germany time, normally they will email you overnight and you’ll get a response the next morning).  The only difference this time around is I’m using a CDL server to tap directly into the Codex machine and send the CDLs directly to the Codex mag, so that when Post offloads the mag they have my CDLs directly on the mag and there’s no discrepancies between the looks (for the most part, there’s an issue that I can’t figure out which I’ll explain later). Note I should say that post will still need your de-log, as it’s only the CDL that gets applied to the metadata, more on this later.

So far it’s pretty simple yet it does take some terminal skills to SSH directly into the codex to be able to enable the CDL mode from LiveGrade onto the codex.  They have the documentation here.

For some reason my A Camera HDLinkPro is coming up as the B camera slot, which I’m not sure why that happens as I don’t think LiveGrade gives priority to any specific device over the other, it’s just the matter in which they turn on, which is frustrating at the end of the day if you have multiple cameras (I’m constantly switching the labels, would be nice to have some sort of consistency and this also happen to the other programs as per my other DIT friends).

Anyhoo, our workflow is like this:

We have a 512GB Codex mag which holds about 50 minutes of 3k footage (on a 16:9 sensor mind you, if it was 4:3 it would be about 38 minutes, big difference) and we have about 10 32gb cards.  We’re shooting 2k ProRes as a safety in case there are any issues with the codex (which there have been PLENTY). The 2k ProRes holds about 12 minutes of footage, which gives me about 4 full mags on a 512GB Codex SSD.  Obviously for longer takes we have to reload sooner and there might be more than 4 rolls on a mag but it seems to work fine.

Pomfort gave me a beta for the new Silverstack and I have to say I’m liking it so far! I love the silverstack organization and love that I can keep my sound files, SxS and Raw all within the same program and be able to access any of the data at the same time (data in terms of raw data, not playback, there’s no playback support of .ari files in silverstack yet, however you can get GlueTools to preview it).

Since we’re doing 4 rolls per codex mag, I tend to offload each SxS reel in silverstack so I have the ability to track each roll instead of each mag, it makes for keeping track of shots a lot easier (if that’s not too confusing).  If time permits I’ll use Silverstack to offload the Arriraw as well, but almost always I’m pressed for time and so I just revert to using finder for my primary copy.

Before I get too far into the workflow, I wanted to get into what happened in prep and what it is that I’m doing for this movie.

Sixteen19 is handling the post on this movie and all they’re doing for color is taking my CDLs and applying it to the ArriRaw to create the dailies, so everything HAS to be spot on in terms of from on set to post.

What I would recommend, for every job, is to request a specific day of prep to go to post and get your monitors calibrated to their standards (every post house is different FYI).   I took my PVM-2541 to Sixteen19 as well as the DPs on board monitor, which is a TVLogic.  I was able to calibrate the TVLogic as best I could to match Siteen19’s settings as my on set workflow is to send a colored signal back to the DP and AC (as with Codex, both REC OUTs are taken up by the Codex, so I’m forced to take a MON OUT signal set to LOGC, but that’s extremely ugly to look at and to have the director to see) so that the DP can see what I’m doing in realtime color-wise and can comment and give me feedback (as the DP is operating the camera and is unable to sit with me and give me feedback).  I’m also feeding VTR a colored signal and he’s sending that to video village.

So I have a Blackmagic Design Smart Videohub that takes a signal in from each camera (up to 3), sends that to each of my HDLinkPros (again, one for each camera, up to 3), then sends a colored signal to my PVM-2541 and then a log signal to my Flanders so I can monitor the raw image at the same time as I’m setting my LUTs (very handy as I constantly check to see what is clipping and what not).

I’m also routing the LUTed signal to my UltraStudio Express in which I can take screenshots of the setups and then display that back onto either monitor so that I can match shots more effectively, all through Media Express.  A really awesome feature to have! It’s been extremely helpful when you’re trying to match a shot from the beginning of the day at the end of the day, or even a few days apart!

Ok, now back to the nitty gritty.

I have a H680 in a Magma 1T express chasis and then using a 1RU raid from OWC as my primary source.  I just have it set up as a RAID1 because I’m only doing 1 copy on set as the codex mags are heading back to post every night for offloading on their end, so essentially my one offload is there in case something horrific happens in transit to the mags (basically as a safety).

So using Silverstack I’m able to backup the SxS cards as well as the sound files and Codex mags, when able.

Other than that, working with Codex is pretty easy once you set it all up, it just takes time to configure and test it out and such.  I’m getting about 300mb/s on transfer rates over thunderbolt to my SAS RAID (which is what the H680 is for, it has 2 ports on it, one for the RAID one for the Desktop Transfer Station). A full mag takes about 30-35 minutes to download once, through finder, and about 55-65 minutes through silverstack with a checksum.  So if you’re only backing up to drives, make sure you have ample time to back up and anren;y going to be stuck having to move locations mid-download (you don’t want to be moving your RAID when the disks are spinning, that’s just asking for corruption to happen).

Anyhoo, hope this is insightful!  I’ll update this more once I have more time to dedicate to it but this is a much needed 7-8 month update since last time.

Bronson no es un biopic al uso. Como iba a serlo por otra parte, teniendo en cuenta que nos encontramos con una película dirigida por el mismo director de grandes obras “Drive” o “Pusher”. El danés Nicolas Winding Refn abandona las formas más habituales para abordar la vida del preso inglés más peligroso de la actualidad, apodado de igual manera que Charles Bronson (por razones obvias).

La implicación directa es quizá una de las obsesiones de Refn en la película. Para ello se sirve de muchos recursos. Entre ellos la conexión directa que establece el personaje de Charles Bronson con el público, que es totalmente directa. Tom Hardy, el actor elegido para encarnar al personaje, se dirige desde un primer momento al público, hablando a la pantalla y al espectador que se sitúa detrás de esta. Refn recorta la silueta de un fondo negro para que no nos distraiga ningún elemento y Hardy pueda empezar con sus particulares monólogos. Pero no sólo Refn utiliza esta comunicación con nosotros, sino que también el director recrea un escenario propio, donde el personaje principal (principal nunca tuvo un significado tan adecuado para definir el protagonismo de nuestro personaje en la obra) puede realizar sus propias cabriolas y destacar el aspecto más dantesco y burlón de Bronson.

 Bronson y sus momentos de cara al público, en los que se revela como un auténtico payaso.

La narración también se fragmenta y Bronson nos narra mediante la voz en off diversos momentos de su vida (lo que ayuda a conectar con el público). Es cierto que se intenta seguir una linealidad (desde su etapa infantil a su etapa adulta) pero no tiene nada que ver con los convencionalismos más corrientes del cine biográfico, sino que todo absolutamente es filtrado por el personaje. Y por Refn que realiza una magnífica representación de los hechos. Así pues, la historia se intercala entre los momentos que Bronson evoca y las diferentes escenas de su pasado.

La dirección es quizá lo más interesante de la película. Puede decirse que incluso más que la historia, porque puede ser que por momentos nos puede parecer que la forma se anticipa y va por delante del contenido. En realidad Refn se sirve de la historia para ayudarse a desarrollar su discurso principal, y la relación entre la violencia, el espectador y nuestros gustos.

Bronson es un hijo de su madre. Utilizar algún eufemismo carecería de sentido. Lo sabemos desde el principio pero no podemos evitar simpatizar con él en cierto sentido. Es en esta vía donde se puede entender las relaciones que algunos críticos han visto entre esta película y “La Naranja mecánica”. Sin embargo la realidad es que Bronson se parece a lo que realmente es, una película de Refn, que remite a otras del mismo director y su particular interés en el concepto de la violencia, como “Valhala Rising”.

Como decía, podemos empatizar con el personaje principal. Y eso que a cada momento vemos las terribles acciones que comete. Sin embargo Refn, al igual que Haneke (pero a su modo) construye una realidad fílmica en la que el espectador se integra. Para ello se sirve de unas maneras de dirigir muy interesantes que domarán al espectador de cualquier manera. Cuando quiere molar, el danés nos coloca un tema (que se repite diversas veces en la película y que asociamos perfectamente con el personaje principal) como Glass Candy de Digital Versicolor.Para las escenas de acción (que abundan a lo largo de la película), Refn utiliza una estilización perfecta que hace que en vez de provocar en el espectador un sentimiento de huida, no podamos más que apreciar su estética. Sí, su estética, porque la película sabe desarrollar la belleza mediante acciones de una violencia salvaje. ¿Terrible, verdad?.

Travellings horizontales que harán la delicia de los cinéfilos (como el que realiza en el psiquiátrico y que nos oculta a modo de broma y guiño en la película) o planos aéreos que envuelven, se acercan y retornan para captar el delineado torso del protagonista. Plásticamente se trata sin duda de una película increíble. También, como una constante en su filmografía, el director recurre en diversas ocasiones a la utilización de la música. Además apoya el mensaje de la película y el concepto que pretende transmitir, porque el director se sirve de la música para poder establecer esa conexión íntima entre nosotros y el personaje. Por eso las escenas resultan aún más bellas e increíbles, porque mediante la música (también hay que decir que el director podría estar riéndose perfectamente del videoclip moderno y de cadenas como la Mtv, que utilizan la música para banalizar totalmente el tema y abstraernos de lo que vemos) se crea una sensación placentera que a la vez nos puede hacer reflexionar sobre el contenido de la película. Selección musical que va de todos los polos, desde música clásica hasta la ya citada canción de Digital Versicolor.

  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T1rcdPCuWcI Mítica canción de Digital Versicolor, de la que se sirve el director para crear un auténtico tema musical sobre Bronson,

Tom Hardy es sin duda el pilar perfecto en el que se sustenta en toda la película (sin él y su perfecta interpretación la película quedaría totalmente coja) y hay que decir que cumple sobradamente y con creces. Una magnífica representación que capta perfectamente el salvajismo que debería suponer el preso londinense.

7/10

Kyrios

Currently filming Mad Max: Fury Road (2013), Hardy has been secretly training for months in order to ensure he is in perfect condition to face the creatures in mortal combat at Madison Square Gardens next weekend.

“The Dark Knight Trilogy,” co-written and directed by masterful filmmaker Christopher Nolan, is a brilliant achievement in comic book films, but also a large step in the development of Transcendentalism through popular culture.

Who would have thought that the Caped Crusader could have valuable ties to a philosophy involving Thoreau and Emerson?

But it’s true.  Not for Batman himself though, but the foes that he butts heads with throughout the trilogy exhibit Transcendental traits that help form the basis for their characters.

In the origin film of the trilogy, Batman Begins, Bruce Wayne/Batman (portrayed by Christian Bale) faces off against a villain named Ra’s al Ghul (Liam Neeson), who intends to terrorize Gotham City using a microwave omitter.  Ra’s’ character preaches about restoring balance to the world by ridding of it’s corruption.  This ties into Transcendentalism because Ra’s believes that the source of corruption is society, and that to become whole again as a city of justice, the city must be torn down and rebuilt.  Ra’s thinks that his instincts and decisions are righteous because in his mind, these actions must be committed.  But the fault in Ra’s al Ghul’s master plan is that he believes his actions are right, because others, like Batman, believe that society has corrupted him, and they want to stop him so his corruption does not kill their individuality.

Liam Neeson in Batman Begins

In the thrilling 2008 sequel, The Dark Knight, Batman must face his internal struggles as he battles his deadly and chaotic nemisis known as The Joker (portrayed by Heath Ledger.)  The Joker lives in a world built around chaos, and is completely opposed to materialism.  This is where Transcendentalism plays it’s part.  The Joker makes a deal with the mob in the beginning of the film, agreeing to take half of the pay where the job is concerned.  But while he slides down from atop his pile of money, he tells The Chechen that this is his city and burns all of the money, since he strives for chaos, not materialism.  The character of The Joker traces back to the philosophy of Transcendentalism because he believes that money causes people to place artificial and false value on certain objects.

Heath Ledger in The Dark Knight

Set eight years after the events of it’s predecessor, The Dark Knight Rises stands as an epic conclusion to the trilogy.  After Bruce Wayne/Batman assumes responsibilility for the crimes and death of District Attorney Harvey Dent (portrayed in the previous film by Aaron Eckhart), he lives in hiding as a recluse in the rebuilt Wayne Manor.  Now, with Gotham at it’s most peaceful point in years, the city has turned it’s back on Batman.  But when terror strikes at the heart of Gotham with a more skilled and powerful mastermind known as Bane (Tom Hardy,) Batman must don his cape and his cowl once again to save his city from this monstrous foe.  Bane reveals that his intentions are to fulfill Ra’s al Ghul’s destiny from the first film, and to ultimately destroy Gotham City.  Bane’s intentions relate to Transcendentalism in two ways.  One way, just like Ra’s al Ghul in the first film, shows that he believes that society has corrupted the citizens of Gotham, and that his decisions are righteous in his mind.  The second way, like The Joker in the second film, shows how he despises the materialism in the city of Gotham, and that striving for material gain only corrupts the city and must make the city start over again.  Once again, the fault in Bane’s master plan is believing that what he is doing is right, since Batman fights for the individuality and freedom of the city.

Tom Hardy in The Dark Knight Rises

What can you possibly do after The Dark Knight? Show Batman’s downfall and eventual rise back to being the awesome badass he is.

We return to Gotham eight years after the events of The Dark Knight. Bruce Wayne has never managed to get over the loss of Rachael and after the Batman took the blame for those that Harvey Dent killed, he has not returned. The world no longer needed The Batman and with this no longer needed half of Bruce Wayne. The time when Bruce no longer needed Batman hadn’t come but the time when the world no longer needed him had.

Bruce is called back into action when a masked villain named Bane surfaces and is set to destroy Gotham , to finish the job that the league of shadows began many years ago but only if the Batman can’t stop him first.

The scope of this film really is something. Set over eight months, many different continents and a broken down Batman, Christopher Nolan has crafted a brilliant story that satisfies fans of the Batman for years and also fans wanting to see this trilogy put through to its rightful conclusion. The introduction of Catwoman brings some much needed unpredictability and Anne Hathaway is absolutely perfect as catwoman. She has the physicality and all the sass to make her a memorable character and one more in line with the history of Catwoman. She is no longer just something to pretty up the screen, she has a presence that deepens the story and brings out a new side of Bruce.

Bane is another opposite to Batman as our main bad guy. He shows everything that Bruce once was (much like the mutant leader from the excellent Dark Knight Returns graphic novel) physicality, drive and an army of followers dedicated to his cause. He has the brains and the backing to make this incredibly complex plan a reality. It’s masterful to see how Christopher Nolan unravels this story piece by piece and leaves you guessing to the last few scenes. The always reliable Gary Oldman again shows how Gordon has been ripped apart in these last few years. From a wartime leader to an unneeded veteran, he seeks redemption and to clear his conscience. Gary Oldman is stunning. Everything he does is perfect.

Redemption has never looked so good. Wonderful set pieces, amazing performances, and a well crafted story that finishes this trilogy off with a satisfying end. Whoever picks up the story of the Batman is sure as hell going to have a tough job. Not quite as good as the dark knight but it will leave you with a smile and knowing that all is well in Gotham once again.

Rating: 4.5/5

I discovered Tom Hardy quite by accident, having watched This Means War.  I know, I am a bit behind the 8 ball, but no more.  I looked at him, and I saw the hero in my Cursed Love story.  I can imagine him in a business suit, no nonsense business man, in jeans and t-shirt as a charming and flirty man.  Yip, I have a new muse.

LaVerne Clark really is at fault for prompting this more by showing me her Pinterest page, full of hunks, including Tom Hardy.   Hmmm, definitely need to raid her Pinterest page!

On Saturday, a quiet day at home on my own, I was chatting with Melissa about issues I was having with Cursed Love and trying to make some aspects come to life.  Within 10 minutes we had enough ideas for me to really get excited.

And while driving yesterday, I came up with some conflicts that would really make the story move, and a possible “black moment”.  Fingers crossed I can work it into my plot.

What was really inspiring, is getting together with the Nelson group of Romance Writing New Zealand Group.  It is fantastic to be able to share your experiences with writing and know that someone else in the group knows what you are going through.  We all of the common interest on writing and romance, so we are able to really help each other with our writing experiences.

So this week, once I have completed two articles for a new website, I intend to get some character goals set up for Cursed Love, and work towards getting a plot together, and also continue working on the Erotica, which is fast becoming a fast paced romance!  I don’t mind, it is fun writing it and I am enjoying the feistiness of the characters.

What plans do you have for the week?

Would recommend ‘La Haine’ by Mathieu Kassovitz

i have missed myself.

i cant get into too much detail in one blog. it would be of WAR AND PEACE magnitude, and i wish NOT to inflict such quantity  upon you on a beautiful Friday.

lets just say, my last post was January 13th…and from then until now i feel i have been in the trenches of war (even before January, if im gonna be accurate). i have been battling a war within myself for a few years now.

in true theme with my Comanche heritage and  chief Quanah Parker, it is in my blood to never shy away from a fight…it has always been innate for me to welcome them, actually.

Comanches are known for their savagery, and i spared no such savagery in the battle with myself.

for 2 years the tables have turned in a way where i was fighting with and fighting against the greatest warrior i have ever come up against.

myself.

i dont think i am writing to you and this finds you unable to understand. i think you can identify with exactly what i am saying right now.

i think the greatest warriors any of us come up against are ourselves.

i was winning some pretty insignificant battles with myself but almost lost the war.

i would wake up in the morning wondering where my fullness of life had gone.

in such a state of disillusionment, i would see but just a vapor of what my dreams had once been.

so perplexed, i couldn’t understand if it was one decision, many decisions, or like a leaf that fell into a lake-i had just effortlessly been carried off with the ripple over time.

anger.

self-abuse.

punishment.

victimhood.

hopelessness.

no direction to turn.

zero answers.

comfortless.

restless.

bitter.

that would be the cycle for the last few years of my life…only to play on repeat and no one is around to turn the damn thing off.

but the fighter, the warrior inside me that almost mockingly and joyously defeated me…GOT SERVED.

the OTHER fighter, the OTHER warrior EMERGED from the murky, muddy trenches.

like a phoenix rising from the ashes, this champion materialized from the thick, sticky mire and fought and scraped through the quicksand.

once suffocated and unable to breathe-my lungs opened up like a newborn baby shockingly going from amniotic fluid to cool, crisp oxygen.

i was alive.

i fought and prevailed.

i championed over myself.

life isnt always glamorous, perky, easy, and graceful. and anyone who fakes it or would like you to feel less than because they tell you it is-is full of  shit.

life is challenging.

life is unrelenting.

life is unapologetic.

BUT

what can take on that challenge?

what is even more unrelenting?

what is even more unapologetic?

the force within you.

that fire that burns inside you through the darkest of nights like a pilot light. it never goes out. ever soft. ever long.

that hungry edge within you that cries out to God.

the defender and protector within that can take one more punch. one more knock.one more hit-and laughs with every sting.

know which warrior to train.

know which voice to listen to, i believe it is a life-long training.

THAT warrior, THAT voice, THAT force will never leave you abandoned. i am living proof, that i was not left alone.

you are with you.

you are not alone.

peace,

n.

i want to thank all the artists on tumblr.

and thank you julie for your art.

Hardy has all the tickets to the Gun Show.

Tom Hardy’s stock, bar his turn in This Means War, has risen so much in the last three years, and on evidence of his performance in Warrior, this is no surprise.

Warrior is a simple story about family and the “underdog”, set around the powerful, sweaty world of UFC. There were in fact certain points in this movie I thought I could smell the testosterone coming out of my TV. This was, however, countered by the touching storyline of a family torn apart by alcoholism, reuniting in unforeseen circumstances. It’s about brothers, fathers, wives, sons and daughters; everyone will be able to find a character to whom they can relate.

Every actor and actress in this movie does a superb job with their characters and none more so than Tom Hardy. There are some actors that need an amazing script or director to get the best out of their performance, but with Hardy it’s something else; he can do so much by doing nothing, and has an intensity that is not matched in Hollywood these days. I’d even go so far as saying he is this generations’ Marlon Brando.

In the same way as Dredd, every single body blow, punch, grapple and hold is meant to be felt by the audience, which makes every fight scene feel real. It’s a fair old poke at over 2 hours runtime but it has a fly-on-the-wall aesthetic that increases the value of the story, actors’ performances and the gritty setting of the drama.

I couldn’t find a bad thing to say about Warrior. It’s moving, exciting, and if you aren’t a cynic, it’s believable, which is ultimately what you want from a drama.

I don’t know if I have mentioned this before, but sometimes when I don’t know if I will watch a movie or not, I look at the actors that are involved. For instance, I took a look at Lawless, a movie I knew just a little bit about, and saw names like Tom Hardy, Gary Oldman, and to a lesser extent, Shia LaBeouf, so I decided to take a look. Well, if you follow my way of thinking, there are ways to be disappointed in your choice. The film is about Prohibition-era bootleggers, namely the Bondurant boys, Jack, Forrest, and Howard (LaBeouf, Hardy, and Jason Clarke, respectively). Jack is the runt of the litter, too timid to be of much use when it comes to business. Forrest is the oldest brother, and sort of the brains and leader of their group. And Howard is sort of the muscle, and I liked him a lot, especially after seeing Clarke in Zero Dark Thirty. His co-star, Jessica Chastain, also has a role in the movie, whose actual role in the movie is little more than providing some eye candy, and also becomes the girlfriend of Forrest. The trio is pursued by Charlie Rakes, played by Guy Pearce, who is so into his government job of stopping bootleggers that he’ll kill for it. There are supporting roles from Dane DeHaan (Chronicle) and Mia Wasikowska (Alice in Wonderland), both of which provide friendship to LaBeouf. Oh, and Gary Oldman is in it too. Not kidding, he’s an afterthought apparently, just providing a bit of motivation for Jack, and doing little else.

I don’t know if this movie really had a lot going on, to be honest with you. There was some alright acting, but nothing ridiculously good worth noting. I’m a fan of Tom Hardy and I like his accent here, but the acting overall was just alright. And I feel like Shia LaBeouf’s character was the one that was supposed to get the most attention, but to me, it was too much about him. A useless romantic side plot did not really help his weak character, and the choices he makes really doesn’t help the Bondurant’s cause. Guy Pearce sounds like he wants to be Christoph Waltz at times, Gary Oldman barely exists in the movie, and I’m not sure how Mia Wasikowska gets DVD cover credit and not Jason Clarke, who I much prefer.  Casting and marketing decisions aside, I felt like the movie could have been better with less about Shia LeBeouf’s character and more about the three brothers together. Too often I felt like it was just about the youngest brother. While there was nice growth for the character, I suppose I expected more. Really, there was nothing remarkable about the movie, besides that I like Tom Hardy a lot. I was just too disappointed that Gary Oldman was under-utilized, there was a lot of a useless romantic side story, and Shia LaBeouf, well, he should not have been the main focus, as far as I was concerned. It made it two hours of not a lot going on… not terrible, but nothing remarkable.

Tom is celebrity fundraiser of the year!

Tom Hardy is Just Giving’s Celebrity Fundraiser of the year for his work to save Flack Cambridge from closing down. Like we knew he would be, since we all voted for him!

Via Flack, he thanked Alexander Masters, author of Stuart a Life Backwards and Stuart Shorter. He also thanked composer Hans Zimmer – who donated £1000 and Joel Kinnaman – who donated £300 back in December 2011! 

I didn’t know Tom even knew Joel back then. They’ll be working together in Child 44 next!

Being Swedish, I’m really loving these Swedish connections. Noomi is Swedish, so’s Joel as well as the director of Child 44, Daniel Espinosa. Not to forget Tomas Alfredson (director of Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy) and his Swedish team. 

Anyway, a well deserved award for Tom! He’s a very, very charitable man indeed, saving people and animals alike.  

—————————————-

Congratulations to Tom Hardy! I learned about Flack Cambridge when Joel donated to it in 2011. It’s a great cause. 

http://www.flackcambridge.org.uk/FLACKmagazine/ABOUT_FLACK.html

Exploring Tom Hardy: Tom is celebrity fundraiser of the year!

When I went to see The Dark Knight Rises for the first time, I wondered: could it ever achieve the greatness of its predecessor, The Dark Knight? The answer is sadly no, but it does bring Christopher Nolan’s epic Dark Knight Trilogy to a fitting conclusion. After the death of Rachel Dawes, and Batman taking the blame for Harvey Dent’s murders, Bruce Wayne (Christian Bale) has gone into hiding. But his superhero alter-ego is forced to come out of hiding when the mercenary Bane (Tom Hardy, Warrior, Lawless) holds Gotham City to random.

While The Dark Knight worked fine as a stand-alone film, The Dark Knight Rises is best enjoyed after watching Batman Begins, since the finale ties in directly with the first film. Again, everything that made the first two films good returns. Most of the old cast comes back, including Michael Caine, Morgan Freeman and Gary Oldman. Even the new additions of Miranda Tate (Marion Cotillard, La Vie en Rose, Rust and Bone) and John Blake (Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Looper, (500) Days of Summer) felt unexpectedly relevant. Nolan should also be congratulated for reviving the reputation of Catwoman (Anne Hathaway, The Devil Wears Prada, Les Misérables) following the mess that was the 2004 film. Here, Hathaway’s Catwoman is a quick-thinking and witty jewel thief who is a foil to the strict anti-guns Batman, and the chemistry between the two on screen works well.

Anne Hathaway as Catwoman

The antagonist this time around is Bane, a thuggish mercenary who was ex-communicated from the League of Shadows, the same organisation that trained Bruce Wayne. Despite prior fears, Hardy is a brilliantly physical opponent and more than a match for Bale’s Batman. Hardy demonstrates the character’s intelligence and cunning better than previous adaptations, which was quite a challenge due to the full face mask he wears the entire film. This can make some of the things he says a little difficult to understand at times, but the audience gets the meaning of what he’s saying. This is done through his body language, piercing eyes and a generally intimidating screen presence.

Tom Hardy as an intelligent and intimidating Bane.

However, I did find The Dark Knight Rises to be the slowest of the three. After a visually jaw-dropping opening with an aeroplane, it takes ages to get going again, and feels like about half an hour before Batman shows up. Even after this, I only counted three other appearances by the superhero in the entire film. This would have been boring if it didn’t tell the stories of the other characters that we know and love, although the balance could have been better. Another thing is that Michael Caine didn’t get enough screen time, and it would have been much better to see more of his emotionally driven performance. One other tiny flaw that I found with the film was that Heath Ledger’s character of the Joker wasn’t mentioned at all. I completely understand that Nolan did this out of respect for him, but it doesn’t give the character enough closure, especially since the last time that audience saw him was dangling from a rooftop at the end of the last film. Even if it was only a line or two of dialogue referencing where he is during The Dark Knight Rises, or the blowing up of the hospital, it would have been nice.

Of the three films, The Dark Knight Rises is the weakest, but that doesn’t make it a bad film. It has a lengthy, engaging plot that never feels boring. The acting is once again superb, the practical effects outstanding and the last 20 minutes of the film was the most tense I’ve felt watching a movie for a long time, thanks to Hans Zimmer’s goosebump-enducing score. The Dark Knight Rises brings to a close the greatest film trilogy of all time.

Rating: 5/5 Stars