Filmhounds Magazine #6 June 2021 (Sample)

Suicide squad

DCEU: How will it rank?

Lin-Manuel Miranda A celebration of Lin-Manuel

filmhounds.co.uk

Kyle Gallner

dinner in america

June/july 2021

RAIDERS OF THE

LOST ARK

40 at

£4.99

E C E E R H T I M S R A E H S HEATLEY W N E +B

Wheatley and Shearsmith Discuss new film In the Earth

What next for streaming and the cinema Summer films that aren’t so sunny...

Is Spoiler Culture Ruining Film and TV?

10 game adaptations 20 Best ever animated films

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Welcome

from the editors editorial

W

elcome to the latest issue. This time around we look at the greatest ever animated films as picked by the team. I have to say prepare yourself as some choices may shock you to the core! But regardless, it’s a very great list.

If you like lists you wlll love this issue as we also look at the Top 10 Game Adaptations. The big question is ’Did Mario make it?’

Our cover article celebrates 40 years since the release of an absolute classic, The Raiders of the Lost Ark. Ahead of the release of In The Heights we take time to celebrate the work of Lin-Manuel Miranda. There’s all this so much more, I hope you enjoy it!

H

ello again!

Cinemas are back, and we couldn’t be more excited. Thank you for picking up a copy of our magazine and supporting the work of our brilliant writers, who have once again knocked it out of the park. This month we celebrate Lin Manuel Miranda and prepare for the release of In The Heights as well as James Gunn’s Suicide Squad. We spoke to actor Kyle Gallner and director Adam Rehmeier about their indie darling Dinner In America and commemorate 40 years of Indiana Jones. The magazine is packed with excellent content and we hope you enjoy reading it as much as we enjoy making it. We’re certain cinema and films are here to stay and as long as they are, we are here to champion them!

Maria Lättilä

David Garlick

@marialattila

@DGfilmhounds

@FILMHOUNDSMAG

06

FILMHOUNDSMAG

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@FILMHOUNDS

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DAVID GARLICK Editor

david@filmhounds.co.uk

MARIA LÄTTILÄ Deputy Editor

maria@filmhounds.co.uk

FEATURES ARABELLA KENNEDY-COMPSTON

arabella@filmhounds.co.uk

DAVE MANSON

dave@filmhounds.co.uk

REVIEWS ERIKA BEAN, KATIE HOGAN+SARAH LORD

reviews@filmhounds.co.uk

FESTIVALS DAVID CUEVAS+LEONI HORTON

festivals@filmhounds.co.uk

COntributors ANDREW GAUDION, BEN PEYTON, CALLUM BARRINGTON, CHARLIE MCGIVERN, CHRIS GELDERD, FREDDIE DEIGHTON,, GAVIN SPOORS, IAN MORTON, JED WAGMAN, JORDAN KING, MARK CARNOCHAN, MARK GOODYEAR, NICOLA AUSTIN, PAUL KLEIN, SAB ASTLEY, STEPHEN COSGROVE, TOM BEASLEY Copyright 2021 Filmhounds Magazine. All rights reserved. No part of this magazine may be reproduced without the written consent of FIlmhounds Magazine. Requests for permission should be directed to: info@filmhounds.co.uk Filmhounds Magazine Ltd, Company number: 12803893

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JUNE 2021 FILMHOUNDS 23

IN THE HEIGHTS

IN THE HEIGHTS

Photos:© 2021 Warner Bros. Entertainment Inc. All Rights Reserved.

A CELEBRATION OF

LIN-MANUEL MIRANDA

06 FILMHOUNDS JUNE 2021

WORDS: NICOLA AUSTIN

JUNE 2021 FILMHOUNDS 07

SUICIDE SQUAD

WHERE WILL JAMES GUNN’S NEW

SUICIDE

SQUAD RANK IN THE DCEU?

14 FILMHOUNDS JUNE 2021

WORDS: SARAH LORD

I

t’s a little hard to believe that only after five years David Ayer’s Suicide Squad is getting a soft reboot, although writer/director James Gunn doesn’t consider his new film to be a reboot or a sequel. Nevertheless, Suicide Squad is getting an upgraded second chance in the hands of the Guardians of the Galaxy director.

After Ayer’s attempt at the film in 2016 and heavy involvement from the studio, Suicide Squad became widely known as one of the DCEU’s failures despite bringing in $700 million at the worldwide box office. It

currently sits at a 26% on Rotten Tomatoes with a 59% audience score, solidifying the fact that Ayer and Warner Bros. creative differences negatively impacted the final product. With the fan fervor that brought about Zack Snyder’s official cut of Justice League released this past March, Ayer is holding out hope that Warner Bros. will give his original vision of Suicide Squad a chance.

While DC fans are already chanting #ReleaseTheAyerCut on social media, it’s James Gunn’s turn to take a crack at the super villain film.

Clearly Warner Bros. has a little more faith in Gunn given his previous experience with Guardians of the Galaxy and Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 and the fact that production

wrapped on The Suicide Squad without the need for reshoots. Gunn and Ayer’s filmographies differ wildly, Ayer’s containing gritty war/ cop dramas while Gunn’s leans more towards the extremely dark comedy side with movies like Slither and Super. With how successful both Guardians movies were, it’s no wonder that the studio let Gunn have free reign, especially since he has more knowledge and reverence for the original comic book source material. Gunn’s work with Marvel proves that his general vision and style is better suited for these types of films, while Ayer tried too hard to ground the story in reality and didn’t quite have a firm grasp on how to bring these characters

JUNE 2021 FILMHOUNDS 15

BODY DINNER OF INWATER AMERICA

INTERVIEW

DIRECTOR

ADAM REHMEIER

+ KYLE GALLNER 18 FILMHOUNDS JUNE 2021

Words: Maria Lättilä

DINNER IN AMERICA W

hen I ask director Adam Rehmeier how he has been and how bizarre it must have been to release a film during such turbulent times, he asks if he can speak freely. I say yes. “It’s been diaper shit, to not be able to go around, and flex and have fun and go around with your

film, because it’s such an important part of your process.”

Rehmeier’s new film Dinner In America premiered at the 2020 Sundance film festival, shortly before the world was fully plunged into the COVID-19 pandemic. Now making its debut on Arrow in the UK, Rehmeier, who directed, wrote and edited Dinner In America, and star Kyle Gallner tells us all about how the film Gallner describes as

“a punk rock monster” came about.

Dinner In America focuses on Simon (Gallner), a punk rocker and Patty (Emily Skeggs), a seemingly awkward 20-something girl, who strike up an unlikely friendship and bond with each other. Patty has been sending rather intimate pictures to the singer of a punk rock group she admires. The singer in question? Simon in a ski mask, in order to stay anonymous, but

JUNE 2021 FILMHOUNDS 19

Photo: Double Negative - © 2010 UNIVERSAL STUDIOS. All Rights Reserved

CINEMA

WHAT NEXT FOR +

E

ight years ago, a blackand-white horror movie set in the English Civil War gave the world a glimpse of cinema’s future. The film was Ben Wheatley’s hallucinogenic nightmare A Field in England and, aside from being brilliant, it also debuted a unique and unusual release strategy. On the 5th July 2013, the movie was unveiled in British cinemas. It was also made available on DVD, Blu-ray, video-on-demand and on free-toair TV courtesy of Film4. Anyone who wanted to see the movie on opening day could do so, without the need to travel to one of the

24 FILMHOUNDS JUNE 2021

few independent cinemas willing to show such a strange, defiantly non-mainstream piece of work.

Wheatley himself described the film to Little White Lies as “the kind of thing you’d discover on late-night Channel 4 and go: ‘fuck, I can’t believe this has been made’.”

As an 18-year-old film fan seeking out progressively weirder cinema, the ability to watch the movie without splashing out on a train fare and a pricey arthouse cinema ticket was a godsend. While I would’ve loved to see Reece Shearsmith walk out of a tent wearing a horrifying grimace on the big screen, it remained eerily unsettling on a TV in my mother’s living room.

By most measures, the strategy

? was a success. Executive producer Anna Higgs told the Kermode Uncut video blog that the release plan was “a bold experiment based on a really really bold film”. She said the innovative strategy and the buzz surrounding it encouraged an expansion in cinema screens after that opening weekend, up from the 17 sites at which it opened. Higgs said the number of eyeballs that saw the movie across all formats would roughly translate to a £4m opening at the box office if they’d all bought a cinema ticket – around the same haul animated behemoth Despicable Me 2 managed that weekend in its second week of release.

At the time, this was an exciting story for those in the movie industry. Particularly in the world

Words: tom beasley of independent film, this presented a potentially compelling way to increase the scope and awareness of movies without the marketing budget of a studio blockbuster.

Few, however, genuinely thought that this would spill over into the money-spinning world of Hollywood’s A-list projects. And if it did, nobody thought it would work.

Trolling the Studios That, of course, was before COVID-19. Suddenly, everyone was confined to their homes and watching movies on the small screen. Initially, Hollywood’s reaction was to secure the vaults, delaying all of its major releases and hoping to ride out the pandemic. Soon, though, it became clear that the world was in it for the long haul and that it would be quite some time before hundreds of people could gather in a cinema to watch Captain America wield Mjölnir or something similar.

Once the timetable became clear, the game changed. Indefinite delays were simply not an option for many projects, with studios dealing with a mounting pile of major releases gathering dust on their shelves. Future release dates were booked in and subsequently shunted, with many of the biggest blockbusters engaging in a multibillion-dollar game of tentpole musical chairs. James Bond epic No Time to Die was perhaps the most high-profile example, having already been delayed due to directorial changes and a bumpy production before the pandemic hit. Its April 2020 release date then became November, followed by a further shift to June 2021 and now a hopefully final postponement until September 2021.

Something had to give in terms

of major movies being released.

Studios such as Paramount and Sony began to forge deals with streaming companies to ensure that films like Coming 2 America and, more recently, The Mitchells vs. The Machines would see the light of day. Netflix, Amazon Prime and Sky Cinema in the UK have been huge beneficiaries of the Stay At Home orders in this country, with Disney launching its Disney+ streaming platform here just a couple of weeks into the first 2020 lockdown. Notably, this year’s winner of the Oscar for Best Picture – Nomadland – debuted on these shores via the adult-themed Star section of Disney+.

Cinemas in England will have reopened by the time you’re reading this article, and many of the movies released digitally over the course of recent months – particularly the Oscar success stories – will eventually get their time on the big screen. However, the landscape of film releasing is considerably different to where it was 12 months ago when cinemas first shut their doors.

Although it seems like years ago now, it was only in April 2020 that Universal found itself at an impasse with several major cinema chains due to its decision to release animated musical Trolls World Tour on premium video-

Initially, the likes of Odeon/ AMC and Cineworld/Regal came out punching and declared they would not show films by Universal if they continued to carve a path into distributing its biggest films digitally.

on-demand, rather than delay it until multiplexes could return.

Initially, the likes of Odeon/AMC and Cineworld/Regal came out punching and declared they would not show films by Universal if they continued to carve a path into distributing its biggest films digitally.

It was Universal which ultimately came out with the best of the deal, though, having secured an historic change to the idea of the theatrical window. The window has been treasured by cinema chains for decades, given its rules securing the multiplex as the exclusive home of a movie for around three months after its initial release date. Under the new “dynamic windowing” arrangement between the studio and several cinema companies – with others expected to fall in line – the exclusivity period between cinema and PVOD will be either 17 days for smaller releases or 31 days for those that debut to more than $50m at the global box office.

But that’s not the only thing that has changed.

Streaming to the MAX At the tail end of last year, Warner Bros made an announcement with the potential to really change cinema for decades to come. The studio has decided to make all of its 2021 releases available on their first day via the HBO MAX streaming platform in the USA, existing simultaneously in cinemas for the first 30 days after their premiere. Movies such as Oscar winner Judas and the Black Messiah, slapstick adventure Tom & Jerry: The Movie and video game adaptation Mortal Kombat were released via the service, as well as in cinemas where available depending on coronavirus restrictions.

JUNE 2021 FILMHOUNDS 25

IN THE EARTH

28 FILMHOUNDS JUNE 2021

Words: Maria Lättilä

E C E RE ITH M S R A E H S BEN WHEATLEY +

Ben Wheatley and Reece Shearsmith discuss ‘ In The Earth’

JUNE 2021 FILMHOUNDS 29

IN THE EARTH

“It was a real ray of hope, it was the first thing we’ve done since being locked down, and it felt such a thrill to achieve it.”

Reece Shearsmith

I

n March 2020, it felt like the whole world suddenly stopped.

On March 23, the prime minister announced that a national lockdown would commence in the UK which meant that all non-essential retail and hospitality would close, and people were ordered to stay at home.

Without a doubt, one of the worst affected sectors was arts and entertainment. The film industry has since fought long and hard to bounce back, but the pandemic and various lockdowns proved no match to the creativity of some. So far, we have seen several pandemicproduced features, including

30 FILMHOUNDS JUNE 2021

Rob Savage’s Host, the Michael Bay-produced Songbird and Sam Levinson’s Malcolm & Marie.

Ben Wheatley, director known for films such as Kill List, Free Fire and A Field In England, surprised everyone by premiering a new film at the Sundance Film Festival in January 2021. In The Earth wowed and shocked virtual audiences around the world, and with cinemas reopening in the UK, we’re finally treated to a brand new, original horror film on the big screen.

Starring Joel Fry as Martin Lowery, a scientist sent into the woods with a park ranger (Ellora Torchia) in the middle of a pandemic to reach a research hub. Torchia’s Alma tells Martin about a local legend, Parnag Fegg, a mystical being that may inhabit the very woods

they are about head into, but the threat the two face isn’t spiritual or supernatural, but much more human.

“It was quite nice to stop. Apart from being worried about toilet roll and where you’re going to get flour from occasionally I think it was... To be honest, as a freelancer, my life isn’t much different,” Wheatley tells FilmHounds about his lockdown experience over Zoom a couple of weeks before In The Earth is due to receive its theatrical release in the UK. Wheatley is in high demand in Hollywood, having teamed up with Netflix to bring us a new version of Daphne du Maurier’s Rebecca last year and signing on to helm the sequel to the shark-action-horror The Meg.

Reece Shearsmith plays the film’s main antagonist Zach, a recluse living in the woods, but thankfully, Shearsmith hasn’t suffered terribly in lockdown either. “I’ve been lucky in that for a lot of the lockdown been busy writing and then filming.

So, for something as frivolous as acting, it’s not stopped. It’s like I’ve managed to come out the other side unscathed as far as not feeling completely trapped in the house.”

Shearsmith, who is a British acting legend, says he has been able to keep up with his fitness training via Zoom, something that allowed him to feel a sense of normalcy.

“We wrote the next series of Inside No. 9 in lockdown, then we filmed the next series and then this came along in the August of last year. It was a real ray of hope, it was the

first thing we’ve done since being locked down, and it felt such a thrill to achieve it.”

Shearsmith, like most of the cast of In The Earth, has worked with Wheatley before, previously teaming up with Wheatley in the psychedelic A Field In England as well as High Rise. “I think I texted him March, April last year ‘How are you doing? This is all very strange, isn’t it?’ And he said he was writing a horror film. And I said, ‘Oh, right.

Well, if there’s any part for me...’

He said there is. I didn’t really think any more of it. I didn’t think it would happen at all.”

Both Wheatley and Shearsmith insist it was business as usual filming In The Earth, aside from

the PPE most of the crew had to wear. “On set, with all the crew off-camera being in PPE, that was quite alienating. Ben never could speak to us without a mask on. It’s harder to communicate, a lot of onset is about talking to people and clarifying what we’re doing next and what people mean, direction from Ben. Sometimes it was hard to hear what he was saying, because he had a mask on, so things like that were just... you just have to get over it,” Shearsmith says.

“Everyone was wearing masks, and there was a lot of hand washing and a lot of testing. But because we were shooting outdoors, the transmission risk is much, much less, because it’s all the stuff they talk about, it’s clean air all around

JUNE 2021 FILMHOUNDS 31

A.I

Photos: © Warner Brothers

Kubrick’s brainchild, Spielberg’s construction

A.I Artificial Intelligence at 20

D

espite being known as a true Hollywood auteur with hallmarks and recurrent themes, Steven Spielberg has only ever written three films: Close Encounters of the Third Kind, the Tobe Hooper -directed Poltergeist and 2001’s A.I. Artificial Intelligence. Famously Spielberg inherited the project from friend and mentor Stanley Kubrick before his death. Kubrick lamented that the film was more to Spielberg’s sensibilities than his own. It might have also been that the infamous perfectionist Kubrick could never get a robotic boy that could carry the film and refused to use a child actor pretending to be a robot.

The sticking point of many people’s opinions on the film is the struggle between what is considered Kubrick and what is considered Spielberg.

34 FILMHOUNDS JUNE 2021

Taking inspiration from Brian Aldiss’ novella Supertoys Last All Summer Long and a story treatment

by Ian Watson, Spielberg ushered the film into production using the decades worth of notes that Kubrick had left him. The story, of a future world where global warming has reduced the human population and the coastlines, sees the rise of “Mecha” humanlooking androids that can integrate into society. The film follows David (Haley Joel Osment), an android bought by a family to replace their terminally ill son, only to find himself abandoned when the son is cured.

What is interesting about A.I. is just how much it chimes with both directors’ interests. Somewhat atypical for a Spielberg film the focus isn’t on an absent or uninterested father but instead a mother - Monica (Frances O’Connor) - and the desire to be loved by one’s own mother. There

Words: paul klein a future world where global warming has reduced the human population and the coastlines, sees the rise of “Mecha” humanlooking androids that can integrate into society. is a father present, played by Sam Robards, and in true Spielberg fashion is the one who doesn’t try to connect with David. It’s telling that Henry doesn’t use the imprinting protocol to connect to David, but Monica does, he’s not the true parent as shown by David referring to Monica as “mommy” but Henry by his name.

The mother-son dynamic is one echoed clearly in Kubrick’s The

Shining, and there are times where O’Connor and Osment resemble Danny Lloyd and Shelley Duvall in the film, but it’s not that easy to dismiss this as Kubrick territory.

Spielberg’s second feature The Sugarland Express was expressly about a mother and child, while his seminal E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial also paints a portrait of a loving mother.

This first act, less a science fiction film than a drama about adoption and the rivalry between two sons, feels like it could be in the mould of a Spielberg film. However, that serves to deny that Kubrick wasn’t interested in how people behaved with each other too.

Similarly, the often commented abject horror of the robot-killing Flesh Fairs, overseen by Brendan Gleeson, is attributed to the more nihilistic tendencies of Kubrick, including his subliminal use of Native American iconography in The Shining and his concerns about

how mankind treats others. Yet, once again that is to ignore that Spielberg has dealt with horror in his past, he did write Poltergeist, and launched the summer movie with Jaws. Not only this but the idea of a child in peril is frequently shown in Spielberg films. Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom, Jurassic Park and The Lost World: Jurassic Park are all noted for scenes where children are put into mortal danger and the unflinching nature over it.

Moreover, the themes of segregation and persecution have been well utilised by Spielberg The Colour Purple, Empire of the Sun, Schindler’s List, Amistad and later Lincoln would all concern slavery of some form; the abuse of human beings for being different.

Spielberg pointedly makes the first robot to be killed on screen a Black robot (voiced by Chris Rock), and the scenes of David walking around the fair call to mind the little girl in the red coat that became so iconic.

In the character of Gigolo Joe (Jude Law), a sex-robot that acts like a dancer and exists solely for women’s pleasure, you could argue that that is more in the interest of Kubrick - his films are often noted for their sexual scenes. His final feature Eyes Wide Shut is a sexual odyssey about a man in crisis, while Lolita and A Clockwork

Orange are both works about sexual fetishism. It’s also true that the Gene Kelly-style movements of Joe chime with Kubrick’s use of classic cinema to underline a darker meaning. Most notably the recurrent motif of Kelly’s Singin’ in the Rain in A Clockwork Orange.

Though Spielberg films are known to have male characters who are known as either womanising or charming - Indiana Jones, Ian Malcolm and Frank Abagnale Jr are all chancers and grifters but also men who have an easy time with women. Not to mention Spielberg is also devoted to classic cinema himself.

The biggest sticking point remains the ending, often misunderstood and blamed on Spielberg. The final part of the film is often believed to be aliens appearing to David once he reaches the blue fairy. In reality these are robots that two hundred years on have evolved to a higher plane. The confusion is often caused because they look a lot like the aliens from Close Encounters of the Third Kind. This final section in which the future Mecha offer David the chance to be with Monica for a single perfect day using a lock of her hair so that they can study mankind long after the planet has frozen and entered a new ice age is considered overly sentimental and more in line with Spielberg’s

JUNE 2021 FILMHOUNDS 35

SUMMER

Summer Films

That Aren’t So Sunny...

I

t’s easy to understand why Summer tends to be people’s favourite season.

Beautiful sunshine, longer days, sizzling barbecues, and exotic trips away. Over the years, audiences have been treated to movies that perfectly capture that feel-good summer vibe with classics such as Pauline at the Beach, Mamma Mia, Dazed and Confused, and of course Grease.

These seasonal features aren’t all literal sunshine and rainbows though. Audiences have endured summertime stories that have

38 FILMHOUNDS JUNE 2021

toyed with their emotions: thanks to the likes of killer sharks terrorising seaside towns, and heart-wrenching coming-of-age adventures. The following is a list of five films set during the height of Summer that will certainly instil a feeling more akin to a cold, winter’s night.

I Know What You Did Last Summer Don’t let the title fool you, as this 1997 slasher flick from Scream screenwriter Kevin Williamson sees young friends Julie (Jennifer Love Hewitt), Helen (Sarah Michelle Gellar), Barry (Ryan Phillippe)

and Ray (Freddie Prinze Jr.), being stalked by a hook-wielding menace.

The film kicks off during one of America’s biggest Summer events: Independence Day. The central cast of high school graduates are introduced during a Fourth of July festival set in a small seaside town complete with fireworks, beauty pageants, and barbecues at the beach – but the pleasantries end there. It doesn’t take long for the four friends to take a trip down a dark coastal road and accidentally run over a pedestrian. Instead of calling the police, however, they decide to dump the body into the ocean, even after seeing that the pedestrian is still alive. From there on, the film jumps forward a year and the four friends are tormented

Words: Gavin spoors

by messages from someone claiming to know what happened the Summer before, as well as a killer with a deadly hook.

wanted to keep in line with classic horror conventions by staging the violent set pieces with a dark and suspenseful atmosphere.

I Know What You Did Last Summer establishes a clear juxtaposition between the scenes driving the plot forward and the horror set pieces.

When the cast get together to unravel the mystery behind who the stalker is, or are doing something else besides being chased by the killer, the scene is usually set during a bright, summers day. The audience know the characters are safe and are free to advance the plot. In contrast, every kill in the movie is performed at night time or in a darkened interior location. It seems that the film’s creative leads

There are some exceptions to that rule, however, that effectively catch the audience off guard. A scene with Julie driving is set during broad daylight, where after hearing some strange sounds she pulls over in a peaceful neighbourhood and opens the boot. Julie discovers a corpse amongst countless crabs crawling around the boot. It’s an effective jump scare that plays into the fear of encountering horrors when you feel the most safe. A scene later on builds upon the idea of paranoia during a busy Fourth of July festival, where Helen sits atop

a float during a parade through the town and keeps an eye out for the killer. With the deadly stalker donning a fisherman’s garb, we see through Helen’s eyes the many lookalikes wandering about the festival as the local fishermen join in the festivities. It’s a delightfully tense sequence that feels wildly different from the more standard set pieces in the film, where even during a summertime event danger lurks everywhere.

Jaws Spielberg’s 1975 classic captures the spirit of summer: young adults having parties by a bonfire at night, beaches packed with

JUNE 2021 FILMHOUNDS 39

TOP 20 BEST ANIMATED FILMS EVER rom the earliest animated films, the Humorous Phases of Funny Faces (1906) and Fantasmagorie (1908), to the first full-length traditionally animated film, Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs (1937), the medium of animation has been ever expansive and pushing the boundaries of creativity. As we approached the 21st century, a new epoch in animated films was unleashed on the world with trailblazing computergenerated classics. Titans like Disney, Pixar and DreamWorks led the charge, while the traditional methods were retained by companies like Studio Ghibli and later with Cartoon Saloon. Now, we have a rich abundance of computer-generated, 3D, 2D, hand-drawn and stop-motion films at our disposal.

F

With the recent success of Raya and the Last Dragon and The Mitchells vs the Machines, combined with a stacked Oscars list including Soul and Wolfwalkers, the exciting medium has a great deal of momentum heading into the early Twenties (that sounds weird I know). In preparation for an exhilarating Summer, and the releases of Luca, Spirit Untamed and Space Jam: A New Legacy, the team at FilmHounds have undertaken the unenviable task of collating their top 20 favourite ever animated films. With over 100 suggestions, we were able to narrow the impressive list down to an immortal 20, spanning fifty years from 1968-2018. We proudly stand by the following entries, whether they accept the new methods of animation or are uncompromising in their traditional techniques. We only hope you enjoy reading about why these animated giants are so special to us.

Dave Manson

44 FILMHOUNDS JUNE 2021

20

Yellow Submarine

The Yellow Submarine is one of the best animated films ever made. It was not only my introduction into a different style and presentation of animation, but it was also the world’s introduction. Yellow Submarine is noted for changing the world’s perception on animation, shifting it toward a more adult and thoughtful use of the style to create works with. Without Yellow Submarine, there may be no A Scanner Darkly, Anomalisa or Persepolis.

Part of what makes Yellow Submarine so universally loved is how joyfully weird it is – none of it really makes any sense, but that doesn’t matter; the fun is going on the journey with Paul, Ringo, John and George and discovering all the strange little creatures and worlds they inhabit. It feels like you’re on a trip, in more than a few ways. It’s a fantastical musical with some of The Beatles’ best songs, and it was also my first knowledge of them too – it’s a great way not only to celebrate their legacy and adult animation’s, but to introduce the next generations like my mum did to me.

There have been films since that have tried to adopt the themes and characteristics of albums, Daft Punk’s Interstella 5555, The Who’s Tommy, but nothing can come close to the pure brilliance and slight madness that The Yellow Submarine takes you on – it’s a timeless animated classic for the ages.

Sab Astley

19

How to Train Your Dragon

From the minute the film begins you already feel the mystery and magic in the air. As one of the most mysterious, dangerous and fascinating creatures to appear in any fantasy, science fiction or adventure story, dragons provide endless story possibilities. Taking the form of friend or foe, but usually the latter, they are the perfect subject for an animated film.

Based on the beloved book series by Cressida Cowell, How to Train Your Dragon was released in 2010 to be widely praised by critics and adored by audiences of all ages. The appeal of this story of an unlikely friendship, set to the background of a fictional Viking world with Scandinavian influence and where the adults all have Scottish accents is at first confusing. But going beyond the one line synopsis summary, the deeper connection between Hiccup, the would-be dragon trainer and Toothless, the rarest of rare dragons, a Night Fury, is what makes the film special. Going beyond friendship, an unbreakable bond is formed from the moment they meet. The iconic scene where Toothless touches Hiccup’s hand in an act of trust will go down in cinematic history. Aside from the beautifully told story, the artwork created by DreamWorks Animation and the soulful soundtrack adds to the sheer delight this film brings. But ultimately, it is the variety of the species of dragons, each with their own characteristics, playful and deadly at the same time is also why so many have fallen in love with these flying reptiles and the franchise itself.

Katie Hogan

18

Aladdin

The classic family adventure from the House of Mouse helped reinvigorate the studio’s animated division nearly 30 years ago after a lack of inspiration led to a shortage of big hits during the previous decade. With expectations high after the success of The Little Mermaid and Beauty and the Beast, there was a lot riding on Aladdin to keep the momentum going and the box office booming. Not only were they about to capture lightning in a bottle once more but that they were also about to create one of the best animated films of all time.

Aladdin at its heart is a simple story told in a wondrous way; the films namesake ,a street urchin amongst the bazaars of Agrabah, dreams of living in the Sultan’s Palace with the beguiling Princess Jasmine, but spends his days doing what he can to survive. After an impromptu job leads our hero to the Cave of Wonders, Aladdin and his simian sidekick Abu find themselves with the means to make all their dreams come true.

The secret to the film’s success rests on a few factors; a strong villain in Jafar, an enchanting soundtrack and a bombastically brilliant performance from Robin Williams; but the lasting impact of the film’s message teaching kids to just ‘be yourself’ make it stand the test of time and even went on to inspire some of the better animated sequels out there (Return Return of Jafar is an absolute banger!).

Copyright Disney

Ian Morton © 2019 DreamWorks Animation L.L.C. All Rights Reserved.

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A.I

naturally emotional filmmaking.

Both Spielberg and Watson have maintained that this ending was always Kubrick’s idea and that he had always seen the ending going this way as he saw A.I. as a modern version of Pinocchio.

While sentimentality is not the sort of thing associated with Kubrick, some of his films do end with hope. That both Danny and Wendy Torrence survive the events of The Shining could be seen echoed in the final day of David and Monica.

Similarly, Eyes Wide Shut ends on a note of hope that the couple might be on the road to recovery.

The final sequence of the film and the evolved Mecha also call to mind the Star Baby from the end of 2001: A Space Odyssey. Life, in some form, evolving beyond its capabilities and the natural destruction of the planet appear to have weighed on Kubrick’s mind. If he had hope that evolution might be our salvation he also believed -

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as shown in Dr. Strangelove - that he believed mankind would be its own end. Here pollution and climate change have destroyed the planet.

A.I. also deals with envy. When David finally makes it to his creator Professor Hobby’s lab and is faced with another David robot he smashes it in a fit of rage, insisting on his own individuality. He shows true envy of the other David’s claim to the name and identity. It could be seen as a echo of HAL 9000 in 2001: A Space Odyssey. HAL’s motivations in the film speak to a desire to do what he was made for - similarly to David - but at the expense of other people. HAL envies Dave and Frank’s ability to hold conflicting ideals at once while he cannot do both his programmed mission and withhold the information of why mankind must go to Jupiter, resulting in his decision to kill them.

Envy is also the motivating factor

in Spielberg’s War of the Worlds. The aliens come to Earth and attack us because they envy what we have, a planet that is healthy and full of life. The scenes of the Mecha being caught in cages and lifted into the air echoes later scenes in War of the Worlds where humans are rounded up in cages and lifted to the tripod.

What A.I. illustrates twenty years on, isn’t the gulf of differences between Steven Spielberg and Stanley Kubrick but rather the thematic and artistic similarities they had. There’s a reason Kubrick and Spielberg bonded, and why Kubrick trusted Spielberg to make the film - beyond his affinity for getting fantastic performances out of children. Both artists had similar interests and themes they explored in their work, and ultimately, A.I. remains as much a Kubrick film as it does a Spielberg film.

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TOP 20 BEST ANIMATED FILMS EVER

17

South Park:

Bigger, Louder and Uncut

©Warner Bros.International Television

Since 1997, Trey Parker’s TV show has been airing every week. South Park has become one of the most successful animated series in history due to the fact that people tune in every week to see the four lead boys share hilarious jokes while having an immature sense of humour. The plot of the show has always focused on the chaos that ensues around the four boys; however, the animated musical based on the show goes above and beyond, taking what makes the TV show so great to another level of nonsense.

The plot for the movie is so bonkers that it is hard not to enjoy. After the boys go to see an R-rated film, they start cursing and their parents think Canada is to blame for their corruption. As the picture progresses, tensions escalate, and the story is one that makes you laugh your socks off. Stan, Kyle, Eric and Kenny all have different arcs that they go on and the way that they all interweave is perfect. They might be incredibly bizarre but that is the beauty of South Park because the characters are all written incredibly well.

South Park: Bigger, Longer & Uncut is a gem of a movie. Not many comedies find a balance between being stupid yet having a big heart.

The creators never hesitate to shock, offend and push the boundaries, but this is part of South Park’s appeal. The songs are all so catchy while the story is written to perfection. This truly is a classic of the genre.

Charlie McGivern

16

My Neighbor Totoro

Like many great films of Studio Ghibli, My Neighbor Totoro is a deft balancing act of all things strange, mysterious, scary and wonderful, creating an adventure that is filled with magic.

It is also one of many to come from the mind of Hayao Miyazaki.

The film tells the story of a pair of young sisters - Satsuki and Mei - who move to a new house with their father to be closer to the hospital where their sick mother is being treated. They soon discover that the woods near their new home are home to magical creatures, capable of incredible things.

The plot is slight in Totoro, but the moments of beguiling wonder are many. From beautifully recreated landscapes of post-War rural Japan, to the food on the table, to the creature designs themselves, Totoro is bursting with imagination, all told through the awe-inducing perspective from a child eye’s view. The relationship between Satsuki and Mei is perfectly realised; they often feel like genuine children up on screen, alive amidst the collection of colours, pencil lines and brushstrokes.

Andrew Gaudion

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Image Copyright Studio Ghibli

It is no wonder that the figure of Totoro and the fellow forest spirits are recognised worldwide.

They are that perfect combination of cuddly, fun and mysterious. Totoro, and the film’s connection to nature is a core part of its enduring appeal, wrapping its love of nature around a film about the age of innocence, as the adventure helps Satsuki and Mei find the strength to face reality.

15

Ratatouille

Gusteau: “Now, who is that?”

Remy: “Oh, him? He’s nobody.”

“Not nobody. He is part of the kitchen.”

“No, he’s a plongeur or something. He washes dishes or takes out the garbage. He doesn’t cook.”

“But he could.”

“Uh, no.”

“How do you know? What do I always say? Anyone can cook.”

“Well, yeah, anyone can. That doesn’t mean that anyone should.”

This is the dialogue when Remy and ghostGusteau (“Ghosteau”?) clap eyes on Linguini for the first time. It shows the rat’s fatal flaw; he can’t imagine anyone loving food the way he does, explaining why he constantly struggles to articulate this joy with others. In regard to “Anyone Can Cook”, Anton Ego doesn’t’ believe anyone can be great – but Remy believes the only people who should cook are the great. ©Disney Enterprises, Inc. and Pixar Animation Studios. All Rights Reserved.

Ratatouille is about realising they’re wrong.

Realising that life isn’t about food or genius, but about love, in whatever form you find.

The emotional crux isn’t succeeding with the titular dish at the end. It’s Remy and his father returning and understanding each other for the first time. Or Ego’s food-induced flashback to his loving childhood. Or Remy and Linguini working not for their own benefit, but with each other, for each other, as equals disregarding their Ego, perhaps. That’s why Ratatouille is so special. It isn’t about the greatness in people. It’s about the goodness. With this film, the job of a critic is very, very easy.-

Stephen Cosgrove

14

Beauty and the Beast

Based on the 1756 French fairytale, Beauty and the Beast (1991) has long since captured hearts as one of the most magical and enchanting of Disney’s animated classics. Gary Trousdale and Kirk Wise’s feature was instrumental during the studio’s 90s renaissance, making history by becoming the first animated feature ever to be nominated for a Best Film Oscar. Their take on Gabrielle-Suzanne Barbot de Villeneuve’s novel still sweeps me off my feet thanks to the outstanding combination of delightful animation, exceptional musical soundtrack and compelling anthropomorphic crockery.

The film undoubtedly showcases one of Disney’s best soundtracks, featuring a number of sweeping musical numbers from Oscar-winning creators Alan Menken and Howard Ashman, including “Be Our Guest”, “Belle”, “Gaston” and Angela Lansbury’s beautiful rendition of “Beauty and the Beast”. The delightful animation, which featured a groundbreaking mix of hand-drawn and computer-generated styles, wonderfully brought to life the many musical sequences. The grand production of “Be Our Guest”, along with its exquisite ballroom scene are real highlights and give the movie added visual depth thanks to their digital division.

Nicola Austin

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© Disney Enterprises, Inc. All rights reserved

But what really makes the movie is the nuance behind the characters. Alongside the adorable Mrs Potts and Chip, the hilarious double act of Lumiere and Cogsworth and the buffoon villain Gaston with his sidekick Le Fou, is the game changing Belle. This bookish and free-thinking leading lady longs for adventure, sparking an evolution from the traditional confines of the typical Disney princess, paving the way for future Disney heroines to feature more feminist elements and well-rounded characteristics.

RAIDERS OF THE LOST ARK

S R E D I A R E H T F O

K R A T S O L 0 4 t a

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Words: Callum Barrington

Indiana Jones classic turns 40

E

very so often, a movie comes along that is so seamless, so brilliantly put together, so remarkable in its construction that it’s almost impossible to replicate. The Godfather is one.

Raging Bull is another. Perhaps the most significant example is 1981’s Raiders of the Lost Ark, the first of Indiana Jones’ four adventures, which turns 40 this year. Created by a team of fantastic people that know how to make movies, it’s one of those that has forever been replicated, but never quite equalled.

The origins of how the film began can be traced back to the summer of 1977 in Hawaii. This was where George Lucas, fresh from the stunning success of Star Wars, had chosen to go to escape the massive wave of attention that was now coming his way. With him was his good friend Steven Spielberg, himself no stranger to summer success having directed Jaws.

It was while on holiday together that Spielberg told Lucas he was hoping to direct a James Bond film. Lucas responded by saying he had an even

better idea - a film about a globetrotting archaeologist who fights Nazis whilst searching for mythical mysterious artefacts. As with Star Wars, which took inspiration from The Hidden Fortress, Lucas was hearkening back to the serial movies of the early 20th century, which both he and Spielberg had grown up watching.

Lucas had already developed a story with Philip Kaufman, whom he had hoped would direct the project, but when that fell through, he turned to Spielberg, who agreed. Hiring Lawrence Kasdan, who was also busy writing Lucas’ The Empire Strikes Back, a final screenplay was sent to various studios, who all rejected it, despite the talent involved.

Lucas would only make the film with Spielberg involved. This proved to be the right decision - it’s impossible to imagine the film without the involvement of the man behind the camera. Eventually, Paramount Pictures made a deal with Lucas and Raiders of the Lost Ark could finally take shape.

The film honours the original serials by being set in 1936, and introduces arguably cinema’s greatest hero: Indiana Jones. Played by Harrison Ford, he is introduced in possibly the finest introduction of any character in the history of movies - chasing after an idol in a South American jungle and fleeing from a runaway boulder.

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Leo Bill

Interview

Leo Bill We discuss Rare Beasts with Leo Bill who stars opposite Billie Piper in her directorial debut.

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Words: Arabella Kennedy-Compston

A

s a lover of storytelling, there is nothing more satisfying than openly discussing the process of bringing stories to life, both on stage and on the big screen. In both, actors pay such a vital role in breathing life into these tales, and Leo Bill is a shining example of just that. We had the absolute pleasure of talking with Bill, a celebrated actor of both stage and screen, who stars opposite Billie Piper in her recent directorial debut Rare Beasts. I had the opportunity to find out more about the production process, to go back to Bill’s roots and find out what he’s got coming up next.

Do you know at what age you realised that you wanted to be involved in the process of storytelling?

I didn’t initially set out to act, really! I only started doing acting class when I was quite young because I stopped playing piano and my mum was absolutely determined that I didn’t just hang out on the streets playing football. I had to go to this class that my sister went to, and I really didn’t want to go to it. But in some ways, I sort of always knew.

I told a story once about when The Bodyguard came out, I had the soundtrack to it on cassette, and there is a piece of music on it that’s like a lament on a bugle.

Really sentimental tune. There was a room in the house that no one was ever in, and from a very young

age I would go in there, play this tune, and I would act out that I was sat on a bench with Danielle, the girl that I was completely obsessed with at school (though she had no interest in me whatsoever). I used to play out this scene where I told her that I was dying, and I had to tell her that I loved her, and I would play this tune on repeat and act it out over and over again. So weird!

So from a pretty young age, I was always telling stories.

I also do think that if you’ve got family that work in the creative industries, then that concept of a creative outlet or imaginative outlet is sort of there whether you’re pushed to do it or not, that then exists within your universe, you know. It might be, I mean, I played a lot of football but it was just like football or pretending to tell Danielle that I loved her and I was dying.

I know that you have an esteemed career on the stage before moving primarily onto big screen entertainment, can you tell us what you find most invigorating about stage productions, and the same for film? Do they feel very different to you?

I think for me the most amazing thing about theatre or the most

“I used to play out this scene where I told her that I was dying, and I had to tell her that I loved her, and I would play this tune on repeat and act it out over and over again. So weird! “ JUNE 2021 FILMHOUNDS 61

GAMES

TOP 10

game

Adaptations t would be fair to say that video game adaptations have something of an awkward history with both critics and fans. They rarely earn that fresh tomato symbol over on the old tomatometer, and many fans of the games are often left bereft when filmmakers unfamiliar with the material fail to bring their favourite characters to the screen in a satisfying fashion. Every now and again though, one makes an impression, but they are often few and far between.

i

Video games and movies are two very different experiences. A video game requires you to be very active in the progression of the narrative, while watching a film is a much more passive experience. Capturing that same sense of escapism is a hard task, with complex world building in gaming often proving

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too dense to successfully fulfill on screen.

There have certainly been moments where celebrated films have managed to capture the spirit of playing a video game - think the reset nature of Edge of Tomorrow, or the 8-bit tinged aesthetics of Scott Pilgrim Vs. The World - so capturing what people love about games can be done.

This last month saw the release of a new adaptation of the classic arcade game Mortal Kombat. In the grand pantheon of video game movies, it seems to be performing reasonably well, rocking a 55% on Rotten Tomatoes (the higher end of the scale for this collection of movies) as well as receiving three stars from our own Nicola Austin.

To mark the occasion of its release, I took up the task of putting together a list of 10 of the best video game adaptations. I’ll be perfectly honest with you, dear

reader; half of the films on this list are not films I would put much above the two star range. They are simply the ones I prefer to the others I have seen, which says it all in regards to the general quality of video game adaptations. Films missing from the list, but certainly considered, include the likes of the Dwayne Johnson misfire Doom, Van Damme’s Street Fighter (despite how great Raul Julia is in it), and the weird mushroom dystopia of 1993’s Super Mario Bros.

I must also offer an apology to you Pokemon fans out there. I am aware that Detective Pikachu is liked by many, but it is not something I believe works for someone with little attachment to the source material.

So, without further ado, shine up your quarters, blow on your cartridges, and load up your discs, it’s time to see what video game adaptations made the cut for the top 10. Let’s play.

Andrew Gaudion

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9

lara croft: tomb raider

So yeah, not the hottest start. The first filmic adaptation of the adventures of Lara Croft, the British archaeologist with a penchant for dual wielding handguns, was met with a pretty negative chorus upon release back in 2001. IGN branded it a disaster, but is it as bad as its reputation would suggest?

Duncan Jones’ adaptation of the open world RPG World of Warcraft games from Blizzard is not lacking in ambition. When it comes to video game movies which struggle to establish the vast world of the game it is adapting, Warcraft perhaps has the greatest struggle. Having to boil down the history of the world presented in the games into a digestible two hour blockbuster is a hurdle Jones struggles to overcome. But there is something here that very nearly works.

There are very much two sides to this narrative, one following Toby Kebbell’s noble Orc Durotan, and the other around the humans of the planet Azeroth, that has been recently invaded by the Orcs fleeing from their homeland. The human side of the equation is definitely the least compelling, with Travis Fimmel and Dominic Cooper largely lost in a sea of too many characters. But when it comes to the Orcs, the excellent motion capture and character dynamics do every now and again offer something intriguing.

But in the time since its release, it has turned into something quite interesting. It has become something of an artefact itself, as it stands as an example of how early 00’s blockbusters were produced. Here is a $100 million movie that uses a blend of practical and computer generated effects to mount its action scenes. It’s certainly not lacking in action beats, no matter how nonsensical they may turn out to be. It all looks kind of fascinating, particular in regard to assessing the balance of digital and practical action in early 00’s Hollywood cinema.

Photo: Universal

Copyright © 2021 by PARAMOUNT PICTURES CORP

The story involves Lara on a dangerous quest to retrieve two halves of an ancient artefact which controls time. It involves planetary alignments, robots, ancient booby traps, and Daniel Craig with an awkward American accent. It is all pretty senseless, very much coming across as Indiana Jones on too much Red Bull (or maybe Lucozade would be more appropriate in Lara’s case).

It also has an ace in the hole with the casting of Jolie, who has enough movie star charisma to keep Lara interesting. It was followed by a sequel in 2003, which is arguably a much duller affair, but you may be surprised to find some sparks of charm in Lara’s first cinematic outing.

Warcraft

But there is simply too much going on around it all that leaves those unfamiliar with World of Warcraft largely in the dark. There are names of spells, characters and places all too casually dropped into conversation, and many cutaways to different locales that make the proceedings confusing and bewildering. You cherish the moments where you do get a moment to breath and think about the world you’re being shown, but this is largely an overstuffed and rushed attempt at a fantasy epic.

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