Earlier this year, while getting all excited for the release of Kingsman, I decided to watch Colin Firth and his still unheard of co-star being interviewed on The Jonathan Ross Show. I think it only took five minutes for me to fall for Taron Egerton. His familiar soft Welsh accent, his charisma, his wit, but also his modesty really touched a chord with me.
Hey, ever get the feeling Jake Gyllenhaal has been taking things too seriously in his most recent roles? I’ll be honest, I miss Bubble Boy. I should go rent that on Netflix.
Some of the very best films are those that are immersive experiences. You immediately know after leaving the theater that you have witnessed something special, and for anyone to even suggest otherwise just seems inarguably wrong. The Martian is one of the few films that I have seen this year that has left such an impact.
Most of us are familiar with the story of Macbeth by William Shakespeare, a story so prevalent that people will not utter the name of ‘the Scottish play’ whilst in the theatre, as by ancient tradition it is said to be cursed. For those of you who are not familiar with the story, it is a tale of one man’s hunger for power in a tyrannical society, and how he is pushed further and further down a descending path of hopelessness and insanity by his wife, a group of witches, and his own consciousness. There have been many recreations of the play on stage and on screen, and this 2015 cinematic depiction of Shakespeare’s Macbeth, directed by Justin Kurzel and starring Michael Fassbender and Marion Contillard, is on a platform so high that the other depictions are unable to reach it.
Every week Film Inquiry publishes the movies that are opening in cinemas! This week: Pan, The Walk, Big Stone Gap, Steve Jobs, The Final Girls and Victoria.
We all have our films with which we have some kind of indelible personal connection – though they may not be necessarily our favorites. Perhaps it means something particular to you whose meaning wouldn’t translate to other people, or maybe the film is representative of a particular moment in your life or an aspect of your personality, or maybe you feel like the elements of the film are so tailored to your taste that it couldn’t have been meant for anyone but you. Whatever the reason, there exists with certain films a strong personal connection that’s yours and yours alone.
How is it that so many people remain unaware of the mighty Roger Livesey? This peerless actor was the centrepiece of many of the finest films in British history. Born in Barry, South Wales in 1906, Livesey is rarely invited into the superclub of immortal Welsh greats like Richard Burton, Anthony Hopkins, Rachel Roberts and Hugh Griffiths.
There is a common misconception that documentaries are somehow easier than traditional narrative film making, that all it constitutes is finding something interesting and pointing your camera in that direction. But that is precisely because that is how they are intended to appear. A great documentary is like a great matte painting in a Hollywood feature; it looks completely real and thus its artifice is practically invisible, but it was actually created with extraordinary craft and is the result of a series of artistic choices.
A young Montana boy named T.S. Spivet leaves his rustic home and heads to Washington D.
Nasty Baby focuses on gay couple Freddy (Sebastián Silva) and Mo (Tunde Adebimpe), who are trying to get a baby with the help of their close friend Polly (Kristen Wiig). While trying to create a life, they’re also confronted with an extreme scenerio that causes them to take a life. After Nasty Baby was screened at the 65th Berlin International Film Festival, it received the Teddy Award for best LGBT-themed film.
Can you believe it’s already October again? Man, 2015 is just flying by. September was a great month for Film Inquiry:
The first I heard of No Escape was in a radio interview with Lake Bell. I’d been a fan of hers for a while, and being still in awe of her performance in Man Up, I was enthralled by her explanation of why she had taken on an action film. She talked of how it was important to her to gain new experiences so she could learn more about herself and her craft.
This is one intense trailer for an intense-looking movie. A Girl Like Grace tells the story of a severely bullied 17-year-old girl raised by a single mother in a toxic environment, who seeks guidance from her best friend and her older sister, who look to lead her into even more toxic situations than she was already in. A Girl Like Grace deals with themes like drug abuse, violence, the exploration of sexual boundaries, and suicide, and is set in a mostly black high school.
A few years ago, I heard about two films going in to production, both on the subject of Mount Everest. The biopic of Mallory fell by the wayside and is still languishing in pre-production. However, the other soared, for about a moment.