Bring your friends, buy some popcorn, and leave your cynicism at the door, because Eddie the Eagle isn’t hiding its feel-good roots. Based on the story of Great Britain’s first Olympic ski jumper (who oddly went to the same Olympics as the guys from Cool Runnings), this looks to have all the clichés of our most beloved sports movies. Eddie’s going to have the world against him, but with a down-on-his-luck coach and a plucky spirit, he’ll fight to make his dreams come true.
At one point in Good Morning Karachi, a fashion photographer is vocal about the contemporary image of Pakistani femininity and culture he believes his photos represent. He claims that his company is the “women’s revolution the country has been waiting for” and that a simple fashion photoshoot can portray a more forward-thinking society to international citizens who portray Pakistan as a bunch of “fundamentalists”. Yet the views about femininity presented by director Sabiha Sumar in Good Morning Karachi are as confused as those presented by a photographer who believes photos of supermodels represents a realistic feminist ideal and aspiration in society.
The cinema is under attack. Streaming services threaten the long-held monopoly that the theater has always had on new releases. Studios spend more and more money on fewer and fewer films that are bigger and bigger yet take less and less risks.
Last fall, Women in Film, a non-profit organization based in Los Angeles, launched a new advocacy campaign, 52 Films by Women. Although female directors make up a very low percentage of those directing top grossing films (6.8% in 2014) and only four have received Academy Award nominations for directing, there are many women creating films for us to watch and enjoy.
The fading of print news and the rise of legal marijuana in the United States meets in the festival documentary Rolling Papers, but this clever intersection might not be its main selling point. The trailer plays up a jaunty, engaging style, and the world it explores looks filled with good-natured, quirky folks. Characters make or break this kind of society-exploring documentary, and it seems that Rolling Papers will deliver on that front.
Over at our official Facebook page, we are currently posting daily film recommendations, with each week being a different theme. This is a collection of those recommendations! This week’s theme is focused on the cinematic work of the late singer and actor David Bowie.
Elliot Grove’s life should be made into a film, virtual reality’s going to be the next big thing and Sacha Baron Cohen hasn’t always been funny. Those are just three of the things I discovered when I went along to interview Grove, founder of the Raindance Film Festival and the British Independent Film Awards. Discovering Raindance I grabbed the chance to ask Grove for an interview at a recent Raindance Open House event, held to introduce filmmakers to Raindance and what it can do for them.
James Wan returns to horror and one of his most successful series with The Conjuring 2, which also brings back stars Patrick Wilson and Vera Farmiga as the paranormal investigators Ed and Lorraine Warren. This time the couple hop across the pond to take a case in England, and if the trailer is any indication, it looks like the sequel is sticking close to what made The Conjuring so successful. I anticipate a slow-building haunter with lots of classic horror imagery (like those upside-down crosses) and a big ending.
Happy new year! Although the end of 2015 was already 19 days ago, it’s never too late to reflect on what a terrific year we’ve had at Film Inquiry and highlight some of our favourite articles. We hope that in 2016 we can bring you more cinematic goodness – we’re looking forward to it!
Sometimes watching a movie can feel like a duty. Maybe that’s because I take movies too seriously sometimes (okay, maybe all the time). But explaining why a movie fails is fraught with questions about my own expectations of a movie as they relate to the quagmire of unknowns about the creators’ intentions, let alone the practical budgetary constraints and other contingent aspects of an independent or studio production.
Every week Film Inquiry publishes the movies that are opening in cinemas! This week: Dirty Grandpa, The 5th Wave, The Boy, Ip Man 3, Synchronicity, Monster Hunt, Mojave, Aferim!
Walking out of the theater after my opening night showing of Star Wars: The Force Awakens, I felt like I had received a warm hug for two hours. It was comforting to see a director perfectly capture the classic energy and hope of Star Wars for the first time in thirty years.
Naz and Maalik are not your average lead characters. They are gay, Muslim teenagers living a relatively quiet life in Brooklyn. When they aren’t selling lotto tickets and other cheap items on the street for cash, they are discussing college, their religious beliefs, and their relationship, which they largely avoid defining.
Tina Fey will inevitably put butts in the seats, but surprisingly this is her first solo vehicle as an actress. She’s previously been paired with the likes of Amy Poehler, Steve Carell, and Paul Rudd, making Paramount Pictures’ decision to promote her as the sole lead almost bold. It’s sad to think that someone as famous and successful as Fey still has something to prove in Hollywood, but Whiskey Tango Foxtrot will certainly be seen as a test of just how marketable she is.
Hollywood and the golden age of film have now all but faded into history, and any glimpse into that world is for that reason a glimpse into history itself. Trumbo is a look at the show business world following the Cold War, when Hollywood started to blacklist people solely due to their political alignments. Starring the very talented Bryan Cranston as the titular character, the film is not only a successful character study and biopic, it is also an engaging and entertaining glimpse at a very dark time in Hollywood’s history.