Thursday 26th June 2014. Here's the rundown of what the new films that are hitting cinemas today.
Transformers: Age of Extinction
Transformers: Age of Extinction is the continuation of the epic sage of Optimus Prime and the battle against CGI. This time Mark Wahlberg rolls along for a go at riding in an Autobot. Some people say this may be the best of the bunch, others say that it's the worst of the bunch. One thing you can be sure of, there will be more of these films.
Ernest & Celestine
This is the Oscar nominated tale of a bear and a mouse. Not to be confused with the Oscar nominated tale of a cat named Tom and a mouse named Jerry. Ernest & Celestine is very different from that.
Yves Saint Laurent
As far as I understand, this is a film about clothes. And the people that make clothes. Yves Saint Laurent may be of interest to those who previously enjoyed films like The September Issue.
The Last Impresario
The Last Impresario is a film about Michael White, whom I don't know anything about as I've not watched this documentary yet. It appears it details his stage career in the UK and his subsequent bankruptcy.
Gabrielle
Gabrielle is a film about a woman who has Williams syndrome. I'm not too sure what that is, but this particular film details how it helps her have a great sense of rhythm and can dance very well. I'm sure I'm completely wrong here though.
There's no denying it, Jaws is a great film. It's one of the most accessible horror films around alongside The Silence of the Lambs and The Sixth Sense. Alongside The Silence of the Lambs and The Sixth Sense, Jaws was nominated for Best Picture. How could it not be? It is the first major blockbuster. Launching on around 400 screens, it earned its budget back in two weeks and gradually grew to being shown on 700 screens. This kind of behaviour is not seen anymore with Hollywood blockbusters. They need to make their money back in the first two weeks or they're out. Part of the success of Jaws was the non-stop advertising campaign for the film. The poster is one of the great film posters that displays exactly what Jaws is all about. A shark that is underneath ready to take you when you least expect it. It was the summer of 1975 and to build awareness of Jaws, they advertised the film on trash cans on beaches, they advertised non-stop on television, print campaigns were unavoidable. Simply put, Jaws was the summer of 1975.
When you think of Jaws, you think of the theme immediately. You think of the beast lurking under the water. You think of the unseen. The history of Jaws is widely known - the shark didn't work which in turn necessitated Spielberg to reduce the screen time of 'Bruce' the shark. When you look at the history of American blockbusters, or even American horror films, none featured a beast like the shark in Jaws. Most importantly, a real beast like the Great White Shark in Jaws. Yes, there were films where the villain is a man who kills, or an alien who kills, but besides the man who slaughters a town of virgin women, nothing is as real and unknown as a Great White Shark.
The real aspect of what is truly unknown about Great White Shark's plays into the endless fear that Jaws has created. It's a testament to what a great film Spielberg has made that the effect that Jaws had on the real world is still being felt today. The threat felt all too real. Spielberg had created a world that for American cinemagoers, it was their reality. Beaches remained empty for the summer of 1975. Shark sightings increased. The 'Jaws effect' came into place where fisherman flooded the oceans and caught thousands of these predators. The effect that Jaws had immediately - and continues to have today - on the public's perception on sharks was devastating. Part of what made the horror of the deaths in Jaws so powerful was the perception that this Great White Shark could remember particular humans and hold a grudge. This is taken to comical lengths in the sequels where a mother shark hunts down the humans who captured her baby.
Science has shown that Great White Sharks aren't the serial killer sharks that Jaws has made them out to be. Whilst we still don't know enough about sharks, we're reaching a point where we're accepting that we need to learn more before they disappear. These are some of the oldest lasting species on Earth and unfortunately the 'Jaws effect' helped reduce the population of sharks so devastatingly that it's taken decades for it to recover. Alongside the Asian shark fin trade, it was a double blow to one of the worlds greatest predators. There are films that have a real world effect that change things for people or lives in the real world. DW Griffith's The Birth of a Nation helped boost membership with the KKK - something that certainly didn't help race relations in America at all. As terrible as it was, Super Size Me helped change the mentality of fast food in America.
The 'Jaws effect' though is still in existence today. It's not the fault of Steven Spielberg or Peter Benchley. Both had no idea what the effect of the story they helped bring to life would have on the real world. Spielberg, no doubt, was thrilled at the reaction that people had to Jaws, but the long term reaching effects of Jaws he was probably unaware. Benchley has since stated that if he knew what the effect Jaws would have on shark populations around the world and the senseless slaughter of sharks, he wouldn't have written it. Shark populations are slowly returning back to higher levels - these are animals that have the ability to live for seventy to eighty years after all. Education about these great predators of the sea is being more widely pushed and the public perception of Great White Sharks is becoming more accepting. We wouldn't ruthlessly slaughter lions or tigers just because they exist, so why ruthlessly and randomly slaughter sharks?
Jaws is one of the finest horror films ever made and it celebrated its 39th birthday on the 20th of June 2014. Next year will be 40 years of Jaws. As a horror film lover, it is great to see that a film like Jaws is still having a cinematic effect on viewers. As a shark lover though, I recognise the lengths that shark conservation has still got to go. However, thanks to the education of sharks we now have a dedicated week set aside for sharks. There is a great respect for these perfect fish. Yes, there are hurdles to go, but I feel there is hope for this apex predator in the future.
This post has been a long time coming, and no doubt I won't be able to cover all the points I want to make, but I'll give it my best shot. When people talk internationally about Australian films, usually they mention Crocodile Dundee or Priscilla, Queen of the Desert. Both very good films and both successful internationally. Heck, Priscilla, Queen of the Desert (rightfully) won an Oscar for Best Costume Design and it's even spawned a stage musical. However, Australia has produced some even better films since they came out. Films that rightfully should have been successful internationally - Wolf Creek, Animal Kingdom, Lantana, The Loved Ones - barely made a ripple. Yes, Animal Kingdom managed a surprise Oscar nomination and a late career revival for Jackie Weaver, but it didn't do well enough internationally. The problem with the Australian film industry is that as a nation, Australian's have no interest in seeing Australian films. In the hey-day of the Australian film industry in the nineties, Australian's managed to keep films like Muriel's Wedding, The Castle, Shine and Babe at the top of the box office and with the high quality were even able to score a Best Picture nomination for Babe (yep, the singing pig film) and a Best Actor Oscar for Geoffrey Rush. And then something happened near the end of the nineties and through the 2000's - we failed desperately at making entertaining films. People stopped seeing Australian films. For a time we started making films about ourselves, which whilst they were still good, they became depressing. For a good decade or so Australian films were relegated to indie cinema's - where they still are relegated to - or festival circuits due to people avoiding them. Australian's films became synonymous with being depressing. Granted, these depressing films were still great - Alexandra's Project is one of Australia's best films, but I tell you what, no amount of cold showers will ever wash the feeling of that film again. Three Dollars and The Bank were also great films, but just before the Global Financial Crisis, people weren't rushing to see these films. If they weren't depressing, they simply weren't funny. For a period of time we were throwing up terrible Australian comedies like You Can't Stop the Music or Lets Get Skase. The less said about Horseplay, Thunderstruck and Danny Deckchair the better. These were bankable films with bankable stars who made the transition from television to film, and they failed. There were good comedies that were released then - Lucky Miles, Undead, Dirty Deeds - but unless they featured a tubby man cleaning toilets, they just weren't successful. So what does the Australian film industry need to do to be successful again? Films aren't cheap to make of course, and Australia being a small country can't even have a film that is homemade be successful in Australia and have that be enough. A film like Tomorrow, When the War Began should have been able to have yearly additions to the series and be a self sustaining series, but given how much it cost to make it just wasn't ever going to be successful enough. Back when Muriel's Wedding was out, films could stick around at the box office for months on end. How Titanic made its money was by sitting out in cinema's for nine months in a row. Now films need to make their profit right there and then and there's no slow build for them. There's no ability to have the word of mouth build over time. Back when The Full Monty came out, it was slightly successful for a short period of time, but as more people saw it, more people talked about it and rewatched it. It was a major hit. It's a film which would have done great as an Australian film. Part of what helps us being able to make our own films is by being a place for international films to be made cheap. The Star Wars series, the Matrix series, Superman Returns were all major films that were made in Australia that helped boost the Australian film industry. We're still able to assist in producing some fantastic international films and that does certainly boost Australia's ability to make good films. The Great Gatsby, The Lego Movie, Happy Feet and Happy Feet 2 are all fine examples of successful films being made in Australia. Not to mention the CGI effects we've assisted with on major blockbusters like X-Men: Days of Future Past and the Men in Black series. But these aren't films that define Australia as a whole. Whilst there is a resurgence of good Hollywood produced films made in Australia - Moulin Rouge!, The Great Gatsby, Bright Star - they aren't stories about Australia though. Films like Tracks and Oranges & Sunshine are great films about the history of Australia, but not films that people have seen. If a film like Tracks was promoted properly, it would have been more successful. Audiences aren't averse to watching a drama, they just need to be sold the right drama. A film like The Square, Noise or Animal Kingdom should be at the top of the box office if they were marketed properly. But because they're Australian films, they're not given the money to be marketed properly, and they're also not able to be shown in the big chain cinemas, and they're also not allowed to be in cinemas for a long period of time to build word of mouth. So what does the Australian film industry need? More marketable films? Sequels? Australian stories that don't focus on the Australian part? Marketable films helps. However, they need to be high quality films as well. Like this years I, Frankenstein for example. It was an Australian written, directed and filmed film. And it was God awful. Stuart Beattie had written the multi-billion dollar franchise, Pirates of the Caribbean, had also written and directed Tomorrow, When the War Began, and when he's given a project like I, Frankenstein, well, it's terrible. And it was marketed up the wazoo. Sequels. For sure. Wolf Creek 2 was a success. And Red Dog 2 is coming along as well (Dead Red Dog?). However, we need to be quicker with getting these sequels out. The Wog Boy 2 came out ten years after The Wog Boy and was a colossal failure. If it had hit maybe two years after The Wog Boy, it would have still been able to ride on the success of the first film. Instead it took the international travel route - which seems to be the tact that Australian sequels follow - and was a box office bomb. The games industry is almost solidly built on sequels alone. A new intellectual property is a hard sell and generally doesn't perform as well as the sequels that are out there. So, build on that theory and release a few more sequels. Australian stories that don't focus on the Australian part? Well, let me clarify here. We should certainly tell Australian stories that matter, or stories of our past. However, they need to be less Strine. We are very accepting of being Australian, but there seems to be a disconnect with the audience when we see Australians on the big screen talking with an Australian accent. Take 12 Years a Slave and Samson & Delilah for example. People gladly saw 12 Years a Slave in droves - great reviews and awards helped it reach that goal. Samson & Delilah did well enough here in Australia, however, not 12 Years a Slave well. It had the great reviews - even a rare double five star rating from David & Margaret - and the awards to go behind it, but people just did not go and watch it. The Strine aspect probably didn't help, but the fact that it was a film about two aboriginals also didn't do it any favours. That's a deeper problem with Australia as a whole though rather than just Australian cinema goers. They'll happily watch a 'feel good' aboriginal film like Rabbit Proof Fence, but not one as dire as Samson & Delilah. They would be surprised by how enjoyable and funny a film like Ten Canoes is - a film which has more in common with Buster Keaton style films than Walkabout - but because it's a film about aboriginals with subtitles (double whammy of no sir, not seeing that) nobody saw it. We're at a point with Australian cinema where the Federal Government has reduced funding to Australian films (and the less said about the abysmal treatment to Australian music and our non-existent game industry the better) and the onus has fallen onto the states to support local film. South Australian Film Corporation do a great job of making great Australian films - even ones that are based in West Australia, they have funded (Wolf Creek, Lucky Miles). Lotterywest is starting to help fund great Australian films - Red Dog for example - and that certainly is helping. Australian film goers need to accept Australian films more and stop writing them off as being depressing or bad. It's simply not the case. If our audiences will see films here, then the audiences overseas will see them there, and then we may have a vague idea of a film industry. There's hope yet.
Laziness has struck again and I've neglected to do my favourite show of 2013. Granted, I also neglected to do my favourite new show of 2012. 2013 was another stellar year in television. Girls continued being one of the best shows around - cementing its status as the best show of 2012. Wentworth proved that there was still life in the niche Australian Women in Prison genre. The Americans gave Kerri Russell a new vehicle to throw herself into. But the best show boiled down to a reboot.
2013 started with the reboot of two classic horror characters - Norman Bates with Bates Motel and Hannibal Lecter with Hannibal. Hannibal is a more endearing character than Norman Bates, so he is a character who is more open to being changed to a modern format. Norman Bates update with Bates Motel drags the Psycho character kicking and screaming into the present day. Norman has a mobile phone and bangs his way through the single child life. It's a scar on the Psycho mythology.
Show runner Bryan Fuller brings respect to the Hannibal mythology. There are nods to the films that have gone before, but mostly Hannibal is about reforging the Hannibal Lecter story. The wonderous thing about this show is that it sets itself prior to Hannibal being caught. Will Graham from Manhunter/Red Dragon is here in full force as Hannibal's adversary and somewhat close friend.
The fact that this is a network show allows this level of beauty and gore to be shown is amazing. A lot of the gore is suggested violence, but even then, near the end of season one where a man is turned into a cello and there is a tower of bodies, the show is allowed to push the envelope regarding violence on television.
But Hannibal the show wouldn't be half of what it is without Maads Mikkelsen in the lead. He oozes charisma and is simply the finest iteration of Hannibal Lecter. He brings a gravitas to the role that Anthony Hopkins didn't. Where Hopkins was hammy and scene chewing, Mikkelsen is nuanced and subtle. It's a performance which is allowed to build over the season - and with season two topping the brilliance of season one already, Mikkelsen has stamped the character as his own.
There may not be any Clarice Starling, but the female roles in Hannibal make up for that. Alana Bloom and Freddie Lounds are strong characters, and Caroline Dharvernas and Lara Jean Chorostecki are given fantastic arcs to play. The third wheel between Will Graham and Hannibal Lecter is victim Abigail Hobbs played by Kacey Rohl. She's a victim who also has a great arc.
It's these arcs that cements the show as being one of the finest shows around. Sure, Breaking Bad and (I'm sure) Game of Thrones are great cable television shows, but to see a show like Hannibal buck the trend and be a high quality network television show is something great. The fact it has perfect performances from all involved (I haven't even mentioned Laurence Fishburne and Eddie Izzard's great roles) who help elevate the mythology above more than just being a 'Hannibal Lecter reboot' is amazing.
Just check out these opening titles and get excited:
