Filmhounds Magazine #7 June 2021 (Sample)

David Arquette talks his new film

Festival de Cannes The best of the festival

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Prano Bailey-Bond discusses debut censor

August/September 2021

“I just want it to be scary...”

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Neill

Blomkamp Tells us about his new film

Demonic

bond films ranked Greatest ever musical films

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Welcome

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from the editors

elcome to the latest issue.

Thanks for joining us. With the new Bond (hopefully) arriving soon, we rank all 24 of the current films. Prior to the release of Disney’s Loki series we got the chance to speak with Head Director Kate Herron and Head Writer Michael Waldron. David Arquette; You cannot kill him, so we chatted to him instead about his new film, Scream and his love of wrestling.

Our festival editor David Cuevas managed to fly from Canada to Cannes and has shared the highlights from the festival. One of the all-time greats Terminator 2 is 30 so we look back at why it’s such a groundbreaking film. Lookout for our new quiz, the first edition is on BBFC and the history of movie censorship in the UK. We’ve also been excited to share our cover interview with Neill Blomkamp, hope you enjoy.

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ello again! We’re so pleased that you’re holding Issue #7 in your hands right now, yet again packed with tonnes of great content from our incredible writers. In this issue, we chat to director Prano Bailey-Bond about her horror sensation Censor, Neill Blomkamp waxes lyrical about his brand-new film Demonic and we wonder if Pete Davidson is comedy’s next big thing. We also have reviews and thinkpieces galore and the team ranks their top 20 film musicals, can you guess what came out on top?

We’re also treating you to a wee quiz about the BBFC and censorship to go with our Censor review and interview. We hope you find plenty of comfort and entertainment from our little magazine and as ever, we thank you for your support. See you at the movies!

Maria Lättilä

David Garlick

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@DGfilmhounds

@FILMHOUNDSMAG

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FILMHOUNDSMAG

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editorial DAVID GARLICK Editor

david@filmhounds.co.uk

MARIA LÄTTILÄ Deputy Editor

maria@filmhounds.co.uk

FEATURES DAVE MANSON

dave@filmhounds.co.uk

ReVIEWS ERIKA BEAN, KATIE HOGAN+SARAH LORD

reviews@filmhounds.co.uk

NEWS JED WAGMAN+FREDDIE DEIGHTON

news@filmhounds.co.uk

FESTIVALS DAVID CUEVAS+LEONI HORTON

festivals@filmhounds.co.uk

COntributors ANDREW GUADION, CALLUM BARRINGTON, CHRIS GELDERD, MARK ANTHONY AYLING, MARK CARNOCHAN, NICOLA AUSTIN, PAUL KLEIN, SAB ASTLEY, 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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DEMONIC

Neill Blomkamp

Photos: Signature Entertainment

discusses new film

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Words: Mark Carnochan

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ell over a year removed from the beginning of the first official lockdown imposed on the UK (and much of the rest of the world) and with the virus having caused so much damage the world over, it is easy to consider only the negatives of the pandemic. Much like other sectors around the world, the Arts have suffered greatly throughout with venues closing their doors, productions halted and major releases postponed. However, that isn’t to say that there have been no positives.

In spite of the multiple productions which had to be shut down as a result of the pandemic, many creatives found imagination within the restrictions, bringing us fantastic products of lockdown such as Rob Savage’s Host, Ben Wheatley’s In the Earth and now Neill Blomkamp’s Demonic.

DEMONIC

The release of the director’s fourth film comes as somewhat of a shock given that his last feature length film, Chappie, was released six years ago back in 2015. “I would say the biggest reason, which is unrelated to any of those, is the formation of Oats Studios and building Oats. I basically left Hollywood to go and build this experimental studio really… So that was the primary reason, but I also think, you know, it’s not bad to take some time off and just go and like reflect and think about stuff so (pauses) yeah... I haven’t thought about it as tactically as that, but definitely my day to day was getting up every single day and going to Oats and working with all of the artists at Oats and building that studio, that was solid work for 3 years.” Blomkamp tells Filmhounds about his six-year-long absence from Hollywood over Zoom only two weeks after the trailer for Demonic was released.

The shocking return of Blomkamp to feature filmmaking was made even more interesting

AUGUST 2021 FILMHOUNDS 07

BODY DAVIDOFARQUETTE WATER

DAVID ARQUETTE TALKS NEW FILM DR. BIRD’S ADVICE FOR SAD POETS

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avid Arquette has had a very impressive career.

Ranging from playing police sheriff Dewey in the iconic horror franchise Scream, to becoming WCW World Heavyweight Champion in 2000. Jed Wagman spoke to David Arquette to talk about his role as cult leader Xavier in his latest film Dr. Bird’s Advice for Sad Poets which is out now on digital.

What’s your favourite scary movie?

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Oh, man. I loved The Shining. Jack Nicholson’s performance in that movie is just so incredible.

How’s lockdown been for you, have you been keeping busy?

Yeah, I’ve been keeping busy trying to just get projects off the ground.

When you’re an actor in Hollywood for as long as I’ve been, you have to figure out all these different businesses and jobs to do so you don’t go crazy either waiting for the next one or seeing how they felt about an audition.

Anything exciting that you can talk about?

I have a movie called Domino: Battle of The Bones that just came out last Friday, which was really fun. It’s with Snoop Dogg and Baron Davis directed it. It’s a really fun movie.

In Dr Bird’s Advice for Sad Poets, your character Xavier is so funny.

Is that what attracted you to the character?

It was really fun! I’m so honoured to be part of such a creative, beautiful film with such wonderful actors. I was born on a commune in Virginia, like a hippie commune, so the role of Xavier and this cult feeling was really kind of funny to me. And even, some of my

Words: Jed Wagman

“I WAS BORN ON A COMMUNE IN VIRGINIA, LIKE A HIPPIE COMMUNE, SO THE ROLE OF XAVIER AND THIS CULT FEELING WAS REALLY KIND OF FUNNY TO ME”

movements is real hippie style, which is just sort of a nod to that kind of life and to the sort of people who believe these sorts of extreme things.

You certainly look like you’re having a lot of fun playing here and I guess that must have been the case?

It was. It’s funny because I was playing the sort of sex symbol, and that was before I started wrestling and doing my documentary about wrestling and getting in shape so I’m not in the best shape. And I’m kind of acting as if I am. It’s really fun!

AUGUST 2021 FILMHOUNDS 13

DAVID ARQUETTE Was there any opportunity to improvise anything? Or was it all scripted?

It was mainly all in the script. I mean, it was really great and a lot of the improvisation came from the movements and the reactions and stuff like that.

So is that what you tried to then bring to the character because the film is full of so many eccentric characters?

Yeah, totally. The whole world is such a rich world of imagination and creativity and some insight into someone’s mind, and the beauties of it and the darkness of it too. So I love that this film takes a look at mental health. And I have a 17-year-old daughter and the kids today, there’s such anxiety.

It’s such a world, even I feel tonnes of anxiety still, so I understand that. And it’s a beautiful film that starts looking at some of that. And there’s a beautiful adventure they go on and a love story.

We don’t learn a lot about your character in the film, did you make up any wild backstories in your head about who he might be?

Yeah, throughout life, you run into charlatans and con men, people that talk a good game but aren’t the purest of souls. So that’s sort of where I went for my inspiration, just remembering certain creepy people and remembering times that feel like and show you these types of adventures and crazy situations. Like, a lot of the time when I’m watching people or if I’m friends with people, I watch how people behave and it’s funny to just find humour in human behaviour,

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because all the time, that’s some of the funniest stuff.

Do you have any funny moments or stories from being on set?

They filmed it in this really weird community outside of Atlanta.

And it was almost like a Stepford kind of community, everything’s so perfect. And they had just built it and not all the houses were moved into so it felt kind of empty. It was really beautiful. But it was lonely too. I was alone in this little Airbnb, and I didn’t know where the rest of the cast were or any of the people so I just kind of wandered around. And it’s not like they had 7-Elevens or even a supermarket.

I couldn’t find anything. And we’d walk a couple miles to a really nice hotel that’s in the community and that had a restaurant, but I had to discover all this. So it’s kind of a weird world, just walking around and I was very much in my head the whole time.

In the film, you’re working with young actors and as an experienced actor, did you help the young actor with their performances or give them any guidance?

No, not at all. If somebody asks for your thought on something, you have to be a little careful about that on set. Even if you’re directing something, you have direct, I’ll just explain it this way. I directed a film called The Tripper where I got to work with one of my best friends and an incredible actor Paul Reubens who played Pee-wee Herman and he was playing this bad concert promoter. And then he came in and it was my first time working with him when I was a

ON SCREAM 5: “IT WAS SAD DOING IT WITHOUT WES, BUT I THINK PEOPLE ARE REALLY GOING TO LOVE IT.” first-time director. And then he did this really silly, fun take. And I was still at a point where I was trying to discover the tone of the film. And I said, alright, that was fun, why don’t you try it this way.

Try it, you know, like he’s this bad guy’s coming in and blah, blah, blah. And I saw the second take, I totally deflated any confidence or any silliness or any joy in his performance. He was just cold. And

he did it great, he did it mean, but it wasn’t fun at all. It really wasn’t.

So I learned in that moment that different actors react differently.

And I told him for the next take forget anything I said last take just go back to the first time and do what you did, but then go further.

And that’s how we discovered the character throughout the film. We kept going further and further and it led to incredible improvisation.

He ended up cursing all throughout the movie because of it. It was pretty fun!

Moving forward, what’s next for your career? Are you focusing more on the wrestling or the acting or something else?

No, not much wrestling anymore.

For me that was in that movie, in that world and that time period.

But I don’t know exactly. I have a bunch of stuff with my wife and the company we started called XTR, it’s a really amazing documentary

film studio. And we’re producing the Magic Johnson documentary and we’re really excited about that.

And also there’s Documentary+ we started which is a free streaming service. So if you go to iTunes or you could go to Docplus.com and it’s a free streaming service.

We curated some of the greatest directors and documentaries for people to enjoy just like a library for documentary films.

my movie [You Cannot Kill David Arquette] knowing I’m a huge Andy Kaufman fan, there’s definitely some tributes and honouring him.

There are quite a few wrestlers who have become actors but there aren’t many actors that then went into wrestling, what’s it like being one of few actors that made the transition in that direction?

Oh man it was great! I can’t really talk about it too much. I love playing the role of Dewey. It’s so fun. And there’s some incredibleMatt and Tyler, the directors are just brilliant. So it was sad doing it without Wes, but I think people are really going to love it. It’s a really fun film and it’s just an iconic horror franchise that I love being a part of.

Actually Freddie Prinze Jr. went way further into the wrestling business than I did. He was a writer at WWE for years and he knows the business in a whole different way.

So hats off to Freddie Prinze Jr. but Andy Kaufman also did, he loved wrestling and if you watch

We’ll be seeing you again next year in Scream 5, what sort of thing can we expect from the sequel and what was it like being back after such a long time and without Wes Craven?

DR. BIRD’S ADVICE FOR SAD POETS IS OUT NOW ON DIGITAL.

AUGUST 2021 FILMHOUNDS 15

BOND

007 RATED: James Bond

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ood evening Mr. Bond, we’ve been expecting you. For quite some time in fact.

The return of Ian Fleming’s James Bond 007 has been tantalisingly close on a few occasions, but with the pandemic causing many blockbusters to shift their release dates, No Time To Die remains just out of reach.

September 30th is the current date in place, and all being well it looks as though audiences and Bond fans will soon be able to feast their eyes on Daniel Craig’s final outing as the British spy with a licence to kill. It’s been a long road, even before the shifting release schedule, one which started way back in 2015 with the release of Spectre, where Craig said at the time he would rather ‘slash his wrists’ than consider a return.

It seemed his time was done in the

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tux, but after letting the Spectre dust settle, development did soon begin on a fifth outing for Craig’s Bond, with the messaging clearly being that it would be his last.

Pre-production was hardly a smooth ride. With Skyfall and Spectre director Sam Mendes shooting down the opportunity to return, the search began for a new director. For a time, it looked as though that filmmaker would be Oscar-winner Danny Boyle.

Producing a screenplay with his Trainspotting writing partner John Hodge, all seemed well until ye old creative differences reared its head and halted Boyle’s take in its tracks.

With that story thrown out, longtime producers Michael G Wilson and Barbara Broccoli brought back veteran writers Robert Wade and Neal Purvis to crack the story, before hiring Maniac and Beasts of No Nation’s director Cary Joji Fukunaga to helm.

He would go on to rewrite the script, with Phoebe Waller-Bridge also

Words: Andrew guadion joining the party during production.

The shoot seemed to go smoothly.

Posters were revealed, and trailers soon came following. April 2020 couldn’t come soon enough - but you know the rest.

The footage that we did get to glimpse promised huge scale action, a tantalisingly strange villain in Rami Malek, and some gorgeous compositions courtesy of La La Land cinematographer Linus Sandgren.

Being a Bond movie is enough to stoke anticipation, but seeing how intriguingly weird this one looks has made the delays even more agonising.

No Time to Die will be the 25th entry in the official James Bond franchise, taking its place along a long line of movies that date back to 1962.

The series began life as a series of novels written by Ian Fleming, using the character to live out his spy fantasies after serving as a Naval intelligence officer during World war Two. That nearly 60 year history has

seen the franchise transform across six actors’ portrayals, evolving to reflect modern times and retooling itself often to maintain its relevance. It is a thoroughly unique franchise because of this history, and how entries can be treated as time capsules for the tones, tastes and political makeup of the period in which it was made.

It’s not always been plain sailing, as this incoming ranking will demonstrate, but even at their worst, Bond movies offer that unique cocktail of action-packed set pieces, vicious rogues and beautiful accomplices, with any entry capable of scratching that particular Bondian itch. Let’s put the franchise in the crosshairs, and head out on an epic ranking of the 24 instalments that make up the adventures of one Bond, James Bond.

24 Moonraker I’ll be straight up with you reader, I’m not the biggest Roger Moore Bond fan. While I find his take charming enough and appreciate some of the goofier elements, they are arguably also the collection of films that have aged the worst, and the most scattershot in their approach. While Moonraker has a chilling enough villain in Hugo Drax, it comes at the bottom as it is an

23 Diamonds Are Forever Sean Connery looked like he was finished after walking away from the role after You Only Live Twice.

But after George Lazenby retired after just one film, a deal was made for Connery to return in a final official outing (he would go on to play Bond in the non-EON produced Never Say Never Again in 1983. The results are somewhat anticlimactic, with Connery fairly unengaged in a film which sticks pretty tightly to formula, if never producing anything that exciting. Shirley Bassey’s theme song remains one of the best, but the film itself is ultimately a bit of a shrug as the final word of Connery’s beloved portrayal of the character.

22 Octopussy Octopussy has all the camp and quirk you’d expect from a Roger Moore era Bond movie, without ever being particularly memorable at any point. It boasts a fun opening sequence with a BD5- airplane, but the bland Rita Coolidge song that follows very much characterises this tired entry. Roger Moore himself is starting to creak a bit in the role, shuffling through an adventure where the formula is starting to smell stale. Moore would go on to one more film, but it is hard not to think he’s past it by this juncture.

21 Die Another Day The film that sounded the death

knell for Pierce Brosnan’s iteration of the British superspy. All of Brosnan’s movies have a more exaggerated, close to sci-fi approach in the action and gadgets, but Die Another Day pushes it to the max with invisible cards, face swapping, a satellite with the power of the sun, and ropey CGI windsurfing. It is a bizarrely plotted film (even relative to this franchise) that is full to the throat of ham-fisted references to the franchise’s past. It will always have some nostalgic value for me personally, as it was the first Bond movie I saw in the cinema, but it is hardly a victory lap for Brosnan’s take on 007.

20 A View To a Kill Roger Moore’s final outing sees the beloved actor offer some one liners one last time. Similarly to Octopussy, he does struggle to convince in the role, his pairing with much younger co-stars often feeling odd and uncomfortable. But A View To A Kill has a lot more going for it than meets the eye. It has a more intense tone than previous Moore entries, thanks largely by Christopher Walken’s villain Zorin and Grace Jones’ May May and it also boasts a brilliant John Barry score, as well as a fun theme song courtesy of Duran Duran. It is all absurd of course, but far from Moore’s worst adventure in the tux.

19 Quantum of Solace Coming fast on the heels of Casino Royale’s success, Quantum of Solace is a film that keeps things pretty lean and mean, but struggles to recapture the same depth of its predecessor. It is filled with a number of intense, rapidly cut sequences that follow one another quite quickly, making the whole mission feel very rushed. Daniel Craig’s work remains magnetic, his more tortured approach coming through very strongly in a film which

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Photos:Dove © 2021 DANJAQ, LLC AND MGM. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.

It is a purely cinematic series, with huge globetrotting on location shoots and massive practical stunts that many franchises aspire to. Even if you’re not a fan or haven’t seen any before you know the name, you know the theme tune, you know the tux, you know the Martini preference. It is in the Mount Rushmore of pop cultural phenomenons whose influence can be felt in both film and music over the last 60 years, with its history of reinvention creating the impression that James Bond will, one way or another, always return.

odd blend of cringe-worthy comedy and lazy plotting that looked to cash in on the space-craze left in the wake of Star Wars, but it still features impressive stunts and production design along the way. It is the film that is the furthest away from what makes the character of Bond himself interesting, often coming across more as a parody designed by committee than anything genuinely worthwhile.

BOND touches on the messy journey of grief, but it is a movie that struggles to build a decent story around this otherwise invigorating version of Bond.

18 The World Is Not Enough Michael Apted’s The World Is Not Enough begins with one of the longest pre-credit sequences of the series, but it is also one of the best.

The thrilling and witty chase through the Thames stands as one of the best sequences of Brosnan’s tenure.

Alas, the film itself can’t maintain that level of excitement. Robert Carlise’s numb bad guy is never particularly engaging, and Denise Richards Dr. Christmas Jones is not exactly a Bond girl for the ages. It’s arguably Brosnan’s most forgettable entry, not through lack of solid craft or charisma on Brosnan’s part, it simply doesn’t offer anything particularly striking beyond its first 20 minutes.

17 The Man With The Golden Gun Roger Moore’s second entry as Bond is one that does go someway to encapsulating the general makeup of a Moore Bond movie.

While not the best, it certainly has most of the hallmarks. A cheesy sense of humour, a knowing wink in the action, exotic locations, questionable depictions of other cultures and outdated sexual politics, but it is still an engagingly odd film with some fun, trippy sequences. It also features one of the best Bond villains of the bunch in Christopher Lee’s three-nippled Scaramanga. Very much Bond’s equal, he is very intimidating in Lee’s hands, crafting one of the iconic rogues in the whole gallery.

16 Spectre

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Spectre is a huge Bond movie, with incredible stunts, stunning cinematography and incredible use of globe-spanning locations.

It has all the ingredients to be a very classy adventure for 007, with plenty of style from returning Sam Mendes. Sadly, on a storytelling level, it is a bit of a different matter.

It is over-complicated as it tries to find ways to link all of Craig’s previous entries together, jumping through hoops and getting itself tangled up as the plot begins to bloat. It leads to a film that is often quite slow, punctuated by admittedly stunning sequences, but overall sits a bit heavy on the palette, never quite convincing as a natural next step for Craig’s Bond.

15 Thunderball After the success of Goldfinger, the makers behind Connery’s next outing very much aimed to strike the same chord. Director Terence Young (who had previously done Dr. No and From Russia With Love) is someone who clearly seemed more at home with the more classical spy elements of his previous entries.

Thunderball tries to up the ante somewhat with bigger stunts to match the more fantastical elements introduced through Goldfinger’s gadgets and laser beams, but doesn’t quite have the same impact.

It has an iconic sequence in the underwater fight at the end, but it is often a slow burn, never quite offering anything as thrilling as anything in Connery’s previous entries.

14 Live And Let Die Roger Moore’s introduction in the role came in the blaxploitation styled Live And Let Die. Its depiction of voodoo culture may not have aged well, but it makes for a satisfyingly strange addition to the

franchise. Moore also quickly gets into his groove, offering a Bond with more of a sense of humour about himself. It’s more subtly played in this entry than in later ones, but he shakes the weight of expectation, all the while hopping over Alligators in the process. It is also responsible for delivering one of the best Bond themes of all time in Paul McCartney and Wings’ raging fire of a theme song.

13 For Your Eyes Only Almost certainly Roger Moore’s most underrated effort, For Your Eyes Only still has much of the wit that his take on the character is known for, but offers a few greyer, darker shades along the way. It is a clear reaction to the overblown nature of its predecessor (Moonraker), offering a more traditional spy mystery involving cold war tensions and a race for a piece of game-changing tech. It may not be as exciting as some of his other efforts, but there’s more to his Bond here than in any other of his movies, displaying a slightly more nuanced portrayal of a man who is essentially a well-dressed assassin.

12 Tomorrow Never Dies This is another one, like Brosnan’s Die Another Day, that holds special significance for me as a Bond fan.

It was the first Bond film I ever saw, very much kicking off a love affair with the superspy that has been going strong ever since. It may not be the best Bond movie, but there is no denying the level of fun and confidence Brosnan’s second outing kicks-off with. The first hour as Bond investigates media mogul Elliot Carver (Johnathan Pryce) contains some thrilling sequences and an intriguing villain who is just as relevant today. The second half is less sophisticated, very much

resting more on a by-the-numbers approach, but it is one installment of Bond that has aged better than most.

11 The Living Daylights Appreciation for Timothy Dalton’s take on the character has grown in recent years. Retrospective reviews look at his movies in a more favourable light than their initial release, with Dalton’s more serious approach being considered ahead of its time in the wake of Craig’s gritty portrayal. His first entry, The Living Daylights is less impactful than his second, but it does a decent job at reinventing Fleming’s spy post-Moore. There’s still plenty of gadgets, explosions, and womanising, but the quips are far and few between, with Dalton offering both a stern and more emotional Bond for late 80’s audiences. Its Afghanistan set final act is a bit of a drag, but as an introduction to Dalton’s take, it is a very solid package, with a fantastic John Barry’s score, which also proved to be his last.

10 GoldenEye

007

There was a moment for a second there where audiences thought James Bond was going to end along with the Cold War. A by-product of post WW2 political tensions, and whose many previous missions involved Soviet villains and/or counterparts, it must have been a difficult task to come up with the best way to reboot the character after a six-year hiatus. The answer in the end looks pretty simple: cast the most handsome Bond there has been (Brosnan’s feathered hair is glorious) and create an exciting action blockbuster, one that uses artefacts of the Cold War to its advantage.

Another masterstroke is in the casting of Dame Judi Dench as M, who epitomises the spirit of this reinvention, one which is willing to do away with outdated components of the franchise, and do so with swagger to spare. Both Dench and Brosnan ease into their roles, relishing the chance to contribute to the storied franchise. It may be a little dated by comparison now,

but there can be no underselling the significance of GoldenEye in demonstrating Bond’s capacity for change. If this one were to flop, it is likely the franchise would have died back in 1995. That it was a hit has only cemented the enduring nature of this franchise.

9 You Only Live Twice Yes, the one where Sean Connery disguises himself as a Japanese man. Like many of the older entries in the franchise, You Only Live Twice has elements which may seem cringe worthy to modern sensibilities. But if you can get past that, there’s no denying that You Only Live Twice is a quintessential James Bond adventure, one that is full to the brim of classic elements.

Ken Adams production design is second to none in this entry, with the volcano lair of arch-villain Ernst Stavro Blofeld standing as one of the most iconic villain HQ’s of any franchise. The Little Nellie aircraft is also delightfully absurd, and John Barry’s excellent score, paired with Nancy Sinatra’s main song, gives

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BOND

007 the film the big brass 60’s stylings that provides incredible flair to the proceedings.

For a time it looked as though this would be Connery’s last entry, and it would have certainly made for a more fitting conclusion than Diamonds Are Forever. It balances the absurd with gritty fights and globe-trotting escapades and is one of a handful of Bond films that best epitomises what makes up the DNA of a James Bond movie.

8 Dr. No It is easy to forget how much of the iconography was already in place throughout the first installment of the franchise, Dr. No released back in 1962. It helps to have such a striking character to adapt from Fleming’s novels, a suave British gentleman with a cold hard streak that makes him an efficient killer.

But the real slam dunk is, of course, the casting of Sean Connery.

From the very first moment Bond is introduced, sitting around a Baccarat table in a battle of wits with Eunice Grayson’s Sylvia Trench, we are instantly compelled by the magnetism of Connery. Lighting that

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cigarette and uttering those words - ‘Bond, James Bond’ - it is one of the coolest character introductions in cinema history. The rest of the film allows Connery to demonstrate more wit and grit, deftly switching between charmer and assassin as the occasion calls for it. He’s the best Bond at demonstrating that switch, and it is already on full display in his first outing.

This mission in Jamaica to find the mysterious Dr. No (Joseph Wiseman) is peppered with moments that have become synonymous with the franchise, chief amongst them being Ursula Andress as Honey Ryder emerging from the ocean with a shell in her hand and a knife by her side. It was also the world’s first introduction to that theme tune. Written by Monty Norman and orchestrated within an inch of its life by John Barry, it more than matches the confidence exuded by Sir Sean Connery.

7 On Her Majesty’s Secret Service It could not have been easy for audiences back in 1969 to consider a Connery-less Bond. But with Connery falling out with producers,

so began the tradition of a new actor stepping into the tuxedo to offer their take on Fleming’s secret agent. In came George Lazenby, an Australian model with little acting experience. While he may not ever seem as confident as Connery’s Bond, his more weary, more emotional Bond proves to be an intriguing hero for this darker, stranger take on the character. It is a story that leads him down a path of misplaced hope, becoming one of the first films that demonstrates the cursed life that Bond has chosen to lead where happiness and contentment will forever be out of reach.

Lazenby may not be the best Bond, but he is housed in a story that is faithful to Fleming’s novel, giving the character a touching love story with Diana Rigg’s Tracy di Vicenzo, and making him question his position as a government gun for the first time.

There’s also plenty of exciting action sequences as well, from excellent chase sequences, to a gun-blazing siege on Blofeld’s alpine lair. It is one of the first films to create Bond as a more nuanced individual, an element which has given more of a lasting appeal than others.

6 The Spy Who Loved Me The crowning jewel of Roger Moore’s run as the character, The Spy Who Loved Me is an action-packed night at a 70’s disco, all set to funky bass lines, glamorous locations, and exceptionally stylish production design. At every corner, you bump into something that has stood the test of time when it comes to the imagery of the franchise.

That is clear from the off, as a canary yellow ski suit clad Moore makes his way down a mountain side, dispatching goons while he slaloms, culminating in a leap from a cliff edge to deploy a Union Jack parachute. Alan Partridge simply cannot contain himself.

The stylish action only grows from there, as Moore teams up with Barabba Bach’s Russian spy to track down a megalomaniac who wants to pull civilization into the sea (no, seriously, that’s the grand plan). From a striking set piece amidst the pyramids of Giza and one of the most outrageous villain lairs of them all, not to mention the introduction of Richard Kiel’s metal toothed henchman Jaws, The Spy Who Loved Me is not only the high point of Moore’s contribution to the franchise, but is one of the most entertaining entries full stop.

5 Casino Royale After a four year hiatus following the over-blown Die Another Day, Bond was once again in dire need of reinvention. With the Bourne trilogy shifting spy-based action into a more grounded, character based approach, Casino Royale shifts towards a similar style, giving more layers to the character than ever before. With GoldenEye’s Martin Campbell back in the director’s chair, Casino Royale comes storming out the gate with a great deal of confidence, muscular action and in Daniel Craig, it has a Bond fit for the modern era.

Operating as a reboot of sorts, Casino Royale drops the quips and outlandish gadgets but keeps Dame Judi Dench, the tux and the cars, as Bond heads out on his first mission as a double-0. Tracking Mads Mikkelsen’s terrorist banker to a high stakes poker game, all the while falling for Eva Green’s Vesper Lynd, the film is all about stripping Bond down to find the tortured man within. Craig is perfect for this approach, offering just enough sardonic humour and vulnerability to make this Bond a more tangible hero for post 9/11 audiences.

When the film was released, many were left eating their words after criticising Craig’s initial casting. He portrays a Bond who is driven by ego, fuelled by hard liquor. While he may get the job done, he’s going to be a bit of a wreck when all is said and done. It was one of the finer reboots of any pop cultural figure in recent memory, re-assessing the character to provide intrigue and a new distinctive flavour to the long running franchise.

4 Licence to Kill The argument can be made that if there was no Licence to Kill, there would be no Daniel Craig or Casino Royale. The seeds for Craig’s more emotionally raw and vulnerable take can be traced back to both the martini sodden pages of Fleming’s novels, but also by the Bond’s that came before him, namely Timothy Dalton.

Licence to Kill was the first time the franchise aimed for something a little harder edged, with some bloody violence, drugs and swearing to boot. The R-rated nature of the proceedings may have seemed like a hard cocktail to swallow upon release, but time has been incredibly kind to Dalton’s second, and final, outing as 007. The film sees him untethered, going rogue to pursue brutal drug lord Franz

Sanchez (a brilliant Robert Davi), after Sanchez leaves Felix Leiter (David Hedison) for dead on his wedding night.

It is significantly darker than any other Bond film that came before it, but the tone pairs well with Dalton’s more intense depiction of the character. There’s still notes of camp throughout, particularly supplied by Desmond Llewyn’s Q, who is much more involved here than in any other installment, but it doesn’t rob from the film’s impact.

The action comes thick and fast, with some stunning stunts both up in the air and down on a desert road with a free-wheeling oil tanker. It’s a thrilling installment, and one that stands as a distinctive entry that physically wrangles with franchise expectation to deliver a dirtier cocktail with a hell of a kick.

3 Goldfinger While it may not be top of this list, 1964’s Goldfinger is the film which epitomises what a Bond film is the most distinctly. For starters, Shirley Bassey’s thundering vocals and John Barry’s massive arrangements crafted a theme song gold standard for the series going forward. That is just the first ingredient that goes into the Bond formula that becomes fully formed across Goldfinger.

There’s a slightly more outlandish approach to the gadgets with the introduction of the ejector seat, machine gun toting Aston Martin DB5, and it has a villain with a penchant for theatricality complete with laser beams, gold painting and bowler hat throwing henchmen.

These elements would soon become the trademarks of the franchise, and it is Goldfinger that laid down the marker.

Connery is entirely in control of the role at this point, swaggering from scene to scene with exceptional style, tailored in some stunning suits and driving what remains one

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BOND

SKYFALL © 2012 Danjaq, LLC and Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Studios Inc. All Rights Reserved.

of the finest pairings of character and car in cinema. Beyond that, the film itself remains a fun spritely paced tale of espionage that provides big thrills, silly jokes and memorable characters. It is arguably the one that has been parodied the most, but that is only because of how big and bold it is for the franchise, offering a crowdpleasing adventure oozing with 60’s style.

2 Skyfall While Craig knocked it out the park in his first installment, his second go-around was a little bumpier, failing to quite capitalise on what made Casino Royale tick. His third outing, released on the 50th anniversary of the franchise, is one that manages to course correct his take on the character by crafting the perfect old fashioned. Skyfall is the most successful Craig’s run has been at crafting a Bond film that builds on the more introspective character approach, but also finds ways to bring in more classical Bond flavours without undermining Craig’s more nuanced approach.

After a mission goes awry, Bond is

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presumed dead and is quite happy to let that remain the case, hiding in a bottle until M comes under attack from a previous agent from a past life, the vengeful Silva (Javier Bardem) In Bardem, Craig has his first great Bond villain to contend with, while Sam Mendes and Roger Deakins make sure to craft the most stunning Bond movie yet, with some incredibly artful lighting driving the action sequences throughout. Craig himself also seems very at ease, giving his Bond a bit more of a dry sense of humour, while continuing to convince as a more human Bond who takes the hits and has to deal with the consequences.

1 From Russia With Love Truly the crème de la crème of the franchise, From Russia With Love is the series at its classiest. It is a lean, mean spy thriller that thrusts Bond into a game of shadows with rival organisations to track down a piece of Soviet tech that could change the balance of the Cold War. Before the franchise slipped into more outlandish elements with the bigger Goldfinger, Connery’s second outing made it all about the spy game, one being played behind the

scenes, a game that can sometimes get a little dirty.

It still has elements of the Bond formula, from the gadgets to the glamorous women and the bruising baddies, but it is more a tale of espionage, largely played straight and down to earth. It peppers in impactful action sequences as it travels across Istanbul and climbs aboard the Orient Express. Robert Shaw’s Red Grant remains one of Bond’s more intimidating adversaries, with their claustrophobic fight onboard the famous train standing as one of the franchise’s most intense and surprisingly brutal sequences that still packs one hell of a punch.

Time has only been kind to From Russia With Love, fermenting it like a fine wine across nearly 60 years. It stands as one of the great examples of 60’s blockbuster filmmaking. It is gorgeously designed, with great care taken in the details to make this one smooth elixir, right down to costume, music, action and pacing.

It is an incredibly classy thriller that is Bond at his absolute finest.

Hugh Jackman returns from a long acting hiatus in a sci-fi epic that emits an essence of Inception written and directed by the co-creator of Westworld, ironically not the one that’s Christopher Nolan’s brother. In a Miami that’s being drowned by the sea, in an America that’s in a state of war, people don’t have much to look forward to. So they look back instead. Jackman provides people with a chance to relive their memories. When he’s introduced to Rebecca Ferguson’s Mae, things start to get more exciting for him. - Freddie Deighton

preview

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

REMINISCENCE AUGUST 2021 FILMHOUNDS 05 23

Cannes

Photo courtesy of Cannes Film Festival

Cannes

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O

h, how the cinema gods have miraculously graced us with the power of film! A miracle in & of itself for its extensive health measures and continuous support of independent artistry, one of the greatest cultural events to happen this year thus far is easily the Cannes Film Festival. One of the first festivals to incorporate full capacity in-person screenings and newly incorporated vaccination portals as means to tighten and prevent the spread of COVID-19, only approximately 70 positive cases were detected throughout the entire duration of the festival; with 28,000+ guests attending. With over a million euros spent on testing for the patrons and press covering the festival, the long-awaited return of the French Riviera cinema celebration event had to meet a certain criteria of high expectations.

As expected from a festival with specialized programming moderated by the one and only Thierry Fremaux, this year’s lineup was a revelation of wonders; renowned auteurs once again bringing new works to the forefront of world cinema. Selfcontaining a year and a half worth of new films, this year’s selection —for better or for worse— might go down in history as one the most overwhelming festival editions in recent memory.

It wasn’t even the films that particularly overwhelmed newcomers. A new cinema opened in Cannes this year, equipped with an IMAX screening room and DTS-enabled sound-enhanced auditoriums. A new ticketing server was created for Covid-19 contact tracing; where attendees could easily book a ticket for a screening session days in advance, without a single ounce of stress in the

Words: David Cuevas world. Free PCR Covid-testing was provided, for both international and domestic guests. Spike Lee, the jubilant jury president, accidentally announced the Palme D’or winner early; further boasting the festival’s chaotic madness. At one point, the last minute addition of Mamoru Hosoda’s latest had some questioning if Thierry Fremaux was previously subscribed to the Anime streaming service Crunchyroll. Even the sidebars had their fair share of glory, with the Semaine de la Critique celebrating its 60th anniversary and Un Certain Regard returning back to its initial programming routes by representing newcomer filmmakers in its proclaimed programme. But I digress.

Those who attended the festival had a feast of cinematic delicacies daily; discovering what would soon be titled as some of the most alluring, provoking, and intellectually stimulating films of the early 2020’s. In a festival that brought us new films from Wes Anderson, Leos Carax, ldikó Enyedi, Sean Baker, Bruno Dumont, Apichatpong Weerasethakul, Ari Folman Kornél Mundruczó, Julia Ducournau, Kogonada, Asghar Farhadi, Gaspar Noé, Nadav Lapid, Hong Sangsoo, Jafar Panahi, Laura Poitras, David Lowery, Anthony Chen, Juho Kuosmanen, Ryusuke Hamaguchi, Andrea Arnold, Jacques Audiard, Joachim Trier, Oliver Stone, Nanni Moretti, Kirill Serebrennikov, Justin Kurzel, Catherine Corsini, Eva Husson, Clio Barnard, François Ozon, Todd Haynes, Arnaud Desplechin, Mia Hansen-Løve, Justin Chon, and Paul Verhoeven — it was difficult to pick through the top festival contenders. Alas, with reflection and time, here are a few notable films that I found to be rather brilliant from this year’s strong selection of films.

After Yang Colin Farrell, A Mitski cover, humanoids, and the search for remorse in the face of mortality.

Kogonada’s followup to his Sundance sensation Columbus is nothing short of breathtaking.

Implementing contemporary sciencefiction themes and rhetoric against its narrative about the preservation of the human spirit and the memories we share with artificial intelligence; After Yang finds a tender sweet spot within its affecting worldbuilding and riveting melodrama.

The death of a loved one has never looked this technologically savvy!

Ahed’s Knee Every filmmaker deserves a second chance. I was never a big fan of Synonyms (2019); Nadav Lapid’s Golden Bear winning feature that managed to enrapture the hearts and souls of cinephiles and critics worldwide — with the exception of yours truly. I went into Ahed’s Knee with bare-none expectations; as I entered the Bazin theatre, patiently seated for a potential trainwreck. But alas, I’m a man of great honesty. Ahed’s Knee is easily the most angry film from this year’s festival; a film caught in a whirlwind of political

AUGUST 2021 FILMHOUNDS 25

Photo: Focus Features

BRITISH HORROR

ast year was a feast for horror movie fans, especially those who like their jumps a little more British. While big blockbuster horror like The Invisible Man or several other Blumhouse productions had their time in the cinema before doors shut, much frightful viewing was done at home.

Shudder-produced micro-Zoom horror Host, Netflix-backed refugee ghost story His House and mind bending character study Saint Maud all showed the varying ways in which horror can touch our very souls in a quintessentially British way.

L

Britain does horror like no other country. Unlike the French Extreme wave of the early 2000s - a sort of arty repose to the Torture Porn boom - or even the ever present melancholic terror of Japanese ghost films, Britain has a penchant for mixing it’s frights with a soulful examination of what makes us human. It’s why Hammer Productions remains one

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of the world’s most important film studios, and it’s why this year, welcoming us back into comfy popcorn scented seats are some bracing shockers.

Unlike last year’s debut-centric horrors, this year (save for one) sees veteran filmmakers offering up their horror movies for a taste of the British fear factor. The long delayed Edgar Wright film Last Night in Soho which sees women of the moment Anya Taylor-Joy and Thomasin Mackenzie in a film that shows the quintessential horror of the big city.

Wright’s film is part of a tradition of British horror films that draw on the fear of being adrift somewhere new. Like Repulsion starring Catherine Deneueve before it, Last Night in Soho sees a young woman with a life dedicated to beauty (Deneuve is a manicurist, Mackenzie’s Eloise is a fashion designer) finding that London holds very little in the way of welcoming her. Wright’s previous films that dabble in horror - all three Cornetto trilogy films flirt with the genre tend to be more in the mould of small-town fear. The suburbs of

Britain has a penchant for mixing it’s frights with a soulful examination of what makes us human London shown in Shaun of the Dead giving way to zombies, the quaint British towns of Hot Fuzz and The World’s End giving way to a slasher film and a Village of the Damnedstyle horror respectively.

Soho comes from a tradition of showing the alienation of major cities and the fracturing of the mind as a result. The merging of time that sees Eloise and TaylorJoy’s Sandy connected, draws on a psychological horror that encapsulated a lot of 1970s horror.

The new surroundings that Eloise finds herself in echoes the work of Nicholas Roeg in Don’t Look Now, where reality and fantasy appear

Words: paul klein

A Hammer to the Heart:

Raising British Horror from the Dead to merge as a couple attempt to holiday in Venice to escape a tragedy. What remains to be seen is how the horror of Last Night in Soho and the time collapse plot of the narrative.

These reference points aren’t simply confined to homage in the narrative, but in the horror they depict. Wright is keen to draw a parallel between the city as a setting and as a character. Soho of the 60s is a vastly different place to the Soho we have to day, and the disconnect between the two is cause for much of the tension and fear in the film. It’s the nature of being out of place and scared of your surroundings. Your mind and your body are physically changed by your surroundings. If you go by the dictionary definition of nostalgia it is - a sentimental longing for the past. This rose coloured glasses about a period of time and the reality of what it was like is also at the heart of Last Night in Soho, what we think the past was and what it really was are very disparate things.

With Prano Bailey-Bond’s debut Censor we have a film that channels

a different kind of British horror.

Britain is prone as a nation to knee-jerk reactions to situations and in the 80s, the Video Nasties scare was a big issue. It was a situation in which the BBFC tried, and banned, films for VHS release in the UK under the Obscene Publications Act of 1959. The belief was that the works cited could deprave or disturb those who watch them. What Bailey-Bond does is to draw a line between her protagonist - film censor Enid (Niamh Algar) and her job as a censor and the David Cronenbergesc question of what would happen if the films we watched genuine did change us.

Arguably, Censor is the natural descendent of Peeping Tom, Michael Powell’s controversial film in which a man films people as he kills them. A prototype of the found footage genre, Peeping Tom is a film that pointedly says at one point “all this watching, it isn’t healthy, is it?” The act of viewing something and your reality merging with the fiction on screen is one that saw Powell’s film mired in controversy for it’s violence and overt sexual imagery - the sight

of a phallic camera tripod being forced into a woman to kill her is one image that has stayed with viewers since. With Enid, her act of cutting and censoring films for the protection of others has an effect on her, an extension of the “who polices the police” belief.

Who protects the mental wellbeing of the censors? As Enid’s reality closes the gap between fiction and what is real becomes thin, changing her mind set because of the films she has seen.

The British have a very fearful outlook on films and their power, it was because of outrage over A Clockwork Orange that Stanley Kubrick pulled it from circulation, and the same fear was made of Powell and Peeping Tom. Powell’s film caused such an intense reaction that his career was serious damaged as a result of it, and he struggled to make substantial work for the last thirty years of his life.

The blurring of lines and the advent of video is something that was an issue in the 1990s.

In the 90s the murder of James Bulger was mired in controversy with the press blaming Chid’s Play

AUGUST 2021 FILMHOUNDS 31

CENSOR RETURN OF THE REPRESSED

Prano

Bailey-Bond Discusses her film Censor

P

rano BaileyBond’s Censor premiered at the 2020 Sundance festival to rave reviews and a strong word of mouth. The story of Enid, a repressed film censor who spends her days watching and reviewing video nasties in Margaret Thatcher’s Britain, captured the attention of audiences and this August, Censor finally arrives on screens across the UK. We hit Bailey-Bond up on Zoom to discuss what frightens her and working with Niamh Algar among other things.

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What was your first introduction to horror?

I have an older brother and sister, so I wanted to watch, as a kid, everything they were watching, which was obviously stuff that was not suitable for people my age, because they were eight and 10 years older than me. It’s not exactly horror, but I watched Twin Peaks when I was in primary school. And that had a massive impact on me.

And I remember the man with no name, I think it was called. He was the first thing that really frightened me as a kid. There was something about Twin Peaks and the sort of surrealism of it that spoke to my nightmares and intruded in my nightmares as well. I guess Twin Peaks is the first thing that frightens me, but I used to watch

things like Strange But True. I loved anything that would kind of leave me a bit scared to walk up the stairs after I’ve seen it.

Were you impressed by the feeling of a film or a TV show being able to make you scared? Do you remember where that fascination came from?

Basically, I enjoyed [it] because I knew it wasn’t real. I’ve mentioned this before, because it relates to Censor slightly, but the first time I saw Simon Bates introduce a film with the classification rating when he came on and said this film is a 12. Anybody under the age of 12 should not be watching it. And I was terrified by him more than I

Words: Maria Lättilä

AUGUST 2021 FILMHOUNDS 35

Phtoos: © Warner Bros. Entertainment Inc.

Harry potter ‘FOUR UNIQUE VISIONS’ HARRY POTTER AND THE DECADE OF CHANGE

Words: Callum Barrington

2

001 was a big year for fantasy films. Two competing adaptations of bestselling books were released within weeks of each other- The Lord of the Rings and Harry Potter. Both have gone on to define the genre, but while Rings had the singular vision of Peter Jackson and released the full story over a three-year period, it would take four directors and ten years for the complete Harry Potter tale to be told.

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The four directors of the Harry Potter series have vastly different styles and backgrounds- one is American, two are British and the other is Mexican. As the books grew progressively darker, so too did the movies, with the bright and breezy innocence of Philosopher’s Stone a direct contrast to the gloom and misery of Deathly Hallows Part 2. Viewing the eight films back-to-back reveal a franchise that evolves and expands, both in terms of special effects and story creativity.

CHRIS COLUMBUS

As the tenth anniversary of the series finale approaches, with

Many filmmakers had been considered to direct the first film

twenty years passed since it first began, this feature will look back at how four unique visions shaped the trajectory of Harry Potter on screen, from humble origins to spectacular climax. Two things unite them all- honouring J.K Rowling’s vision and trying to please a legion of fans who would scrutinise their every move. Here we go:

when the rights were initially bought by Warner Bros in 1999.

Steven Spielberg pulled out of the running, as did Rob Reiner.

Rowling’s first choice had been Terry Gilliam, one of the Monty Python troupe, but the studio decided to hire Chris Columbus, who had directed family hits such as Home Alone and Mrs Doubtfire.

The plan had been for Columbus to helm the entire series, but in the end, he would only direct the adaptations of Stone and Chamber of Secrets.

Columbus’ two films are certainly the most faithful to the novels they’re based on (most of the dialogue is taken from Rowling and almost everything is translated) and they are perfectly adequate movies, but they’re bland.

Columbus is more of a journeyman director than a proper filmmaker and his desire to be faithful to every aspect of the books causes his films to feel rather flat. Both Stone and Chamber are films made by committee; overlong, slightly tedious movies that are essentially audiobooks with images.

His vision is colourful, and his style is light-hearted and comfortable, which works well enough, but there’s never a sense of identity and purpose in his work. Columbus can be safely described as a safe pair of hands- he’ll get the job done, yet he never takes enough risks. There’s nothing remarkable about either of his films, unless you count the dodgy special effects and the occasionally deafening audio.

Columbus does, however, deserve credit for managing to get the series to the screen, hiring John Williams to do the music, and crucially, his casting decisions. The

three leads and cast members such as Maggie Smith, Robbie Coltrane and Alan Rickman (arguably his most successful decision) were all chosen by him and would remain with the series throughout its tenyear run. He lays the groundwork and builds the foundation, doing just enough to get himself in a place in cinematic history.

Alfonso Cuarón When Columbus stepped aside after the second film, the studio decided to take a gamble with his replacement and hired Alfonso Cuarón, the Mexican director known for A Little Princess, a modernised version of Great Expectations and his major hit, Y tu mama Tambien. Cuarón, unlike Columbus, was not an initial fan of the series, but his interest in the emotional development of Harry and the expansion of the wizarding world persuaded him.

Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban is the turning point of the series, the moment it comes of age. Cuarón chooses to shoot much of the film on location in Scotland, using real-life locations and altered set design to bring to life a world that had become decidedly stale.

For the first time, Hogwarts feels like a real place, full of wonder and intrigue, danger, and surprise. The castle is captured in wide angle shots that emphasise not only its vastness, but the affection that so many people have for it. It’s no longer a place with dimly lit corridors and anonymous locations, but a place where things can, and indeed do, happen.

Harry, Ron and Hermione begin to develop their own personalities and

feelings, reflected in the clothing they wear and the relationships they have with each other and other characters. The first two films favoured adventure and simplicityCuarón decides that the focus should be on the characters and their continuing education, as students and as teenagers.

Cuarón understands tone and respects the spirit of the book, but he doesn’t allow the movie to become a slavish reproduction of the text. While some fans argued this was the point the series began to ignore the books, nothing in the film betrays what Rowling wrote- in fact, it avoids the fatal mistake of simply regurgitating her writing.

Azkaban is a film driven by its own urgency and a director with his own endgame, who appreciates the differences between literature and visual medium. The pacing is focused, the editing is tight, and the score is dramatic and impactful. His mature approach allows the series to finally be taken seriously in a crowded field. At last, the Potter franchise begins to take its own steps forward.

Mike Newell Although Cuarón film was acclaimed, he would never return to director another instalment. For the fourth film, Mike Newell was selected. Newell was the first British director to direct a Potter film, with his best-known work being Richard Curtis’ Four Weddings and a Funeral and the gangster film Donnie Brasco, with Al Pacino and Johnny Depp. Newell faced the unenviable task of adapting the longest book into a two-and-a-halfhour film.

AUGUST 2021 FILMHOUNDS 41

‘Terminator 2: Judgment Day’ at 30

Photo: ©1991 STUDIOCANAL. Distributed by STUDIOCANAL LIMITED.

T2

Words: Chris Gelderd

S

o much can be said about a film as important and groundbreaking as this after 30 years of constant adoration and cultural significance. It’s important to note that out of the 3 available versions of the film, this retrospective focuses on the Extended Special Edition for the full 154 minute experience, hence a far longer narrative structure and extended scenes that are missing from the 137 theatrical version totalling a stacked 17 more minutes.

First up is the perfect casting.

Thankfully securing many original faces such as Arnold Schwarzenegger as the Terminator and Linda Hamilton as Sarah Connor returning from the 1984 original which continues the story brilliantly. Young Edward Furlong is the newcomer and does the job of a fiery young John Connor perfectly. Connor is a child. He’s got zest, rebellion and attitude rife for the early 90s generation of

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teenagers. A child struggling with a broken home at first, but soon developing into a potential mature young man due to his responsibility learnt throughout the film being the leader of the human resistance in the future war. All three form the perfect dysfunctional family, with the father figure in the guise of a wonderfully developed T-800 killing machine brought to life by the inimitable Schwarzenegger. He’s given more room to flesh out his character with both Sarah and John Connor as they try to teach him what it means to be human.

This leaves room for subtle humour injected into their relationships and is nice to see without turning the Terminator into a comedy side-kick as future films decided to do. Schwarzenegger proves once more his role as the Terminator is his defining work thanks to his imposing image and delivery of monotone lines. He showcases his talent for action scenes, building on the underlying nightmarish character from the original.

Robert Patrick stars as the uberadvanced T-1000 liquid-metal

shape-shifting Terminator which straight away makes the T-800 seem redundant and clunky.

Patrick is the sleek and efficient killer that Schwarzenegger was in the 1984 original, but seemingly more humane and created to blend into the crowd. His presence is fuelled by menace, by a silent determination in which he stalks his prey and cuts down anyone and anything in his way. Patrick embodies the role perfectly just as well as the original Terminator; focused, cold, effective and ruthless. But he moves and acts fluidly so that his model Terminator is comparable to a Porsche, with the T-800 resembling a Panzer tank.

There are thankfully a limited array of characters so we don’t get lost in too much lore and development, and instead have the time to develop those we spend time with.

Supporting performances by the wonderful Joe Morton as Miles Dyson, future creator of SkyNet, and the return of Earl Boen as Dr Silberman, bring importance and gravitas to a story in which they all play a vital part.

Director James Cameron is one of the most creative and dedicated film-makers out there. He doesn’t churn out movies yearly, but rather he waits until he has the resources to make a film he wants.

Like Alien, The Terminator and of course Avatar, each film uses the technology and cultural importance of the time to make it relevant and current. Every frame of Cameron’s films speaks volumes about the theme and culture itself and what he wants to say about society.

The mise-en-scene and cinematography in this film are some of his best work, and the diegetic sound is perfect.

Everything seems to happen naturally, but you know Cameron has crafted everything meticulously to create a vividly entertaining and powerful film. For example, most scenes with the T-1000 are coloured in a crisp blue to signify the robotic, synthetic quality he represents. The memorable score

by Brad Fiedel is full of repetitive, machine like riffs that accompany both Terminators on screen to give a nightmarish and artificial presence to their scenes.

Many camera angles focused on the T-800 are at a lower angle to remind us of his giant stature and power in every scene. In fact, it’s heart-breaking to note that the only time we look down on the broken image of the T-800 in a weak state is the final moments before he goes offline, making his sudden turn of power more emotional than any other aspect of the film, and probably the series even now at 30 years old. This is credit to the scene’s production by Cameron and his team, and the acting by Schwarzenegger, Hamilton and Furlong.

It’s all these little moments that add to the enjoyment of the film but show how thoughtful Cameron is in directing a film as big as this.

From little touches such as the

T-1000 growing a third hand to pilot the helicopter whilst using two hands to fire his weapons, and the use of real life twins with camera angles to represent character duality without CGI, these can be seen but never appreciated because they just work and aren’t presented in a grand way. It just happens. It’s natural within the film. You accept it, and never question the reasons why.

A special mention has to be given for the ground-breaking special effects. 30 years later and it’s amazing how well the transition between actor Robert Patrick and his computer generated T-1000 are blended better than most modern films. With the CGI used to enhance and create these futuristic killers rather than build a modern day world around them, there is less than 10 minutes of CGI creation used as it is done sparingly and never abused. Everything else is done for real with model work, miniatures, stunt doubles, actual sets and locations and brilliant make-up and costume.

This is why this science fiction epic always feels and looks real. You hear and feel all the gun shots, the bone crunches, the slicing flesh and clashing of metal.

With wonderfully gentle pacing to provide real fans of the Terminator franchise lots of backstory about the creation of the SkyNet programme that forms the backbone to the whole series, this version takes its time between the stand out action sequences to develop character relationships and the reasons that they have all been brought together. You see more development between the T-800, John and Sarah as the nightmare of 1984 is never forgotten in Sarah’s eyes and her trust issues are still there. Dyson and the development of SkyNet is vitally important to see how a

normal man can create something as deadly as the atomic bomb without even knowing it. Questions are asked, thoughts are presented but it all embodies the core story, and it’s never complex, boring or pointless. Every minute is used to build the characters, the world and the story.

For many this sequel is far superior to the original, but in some ways it should never be compared because of how different they are and the tone they are both taking.

The continued fight between man and machine has never been more exciting as it has been portrayed here and it’s a real shame all future Terminators decided to recycle most of Terminator 2 for their own individual stories. It proves how beautifully crafted and unique Terminator 2: Judgment Day is to tell a story and entertain audiences using a brilliant cast, steadily paced action sequences and plot development. Nothing is wasted, no sequence is over-long and the camera thankfully lets you see the action on screen without the need for hectic ‘shaky cam’ that reduces it to a blur.

It’s remarkable this was made in 1991 due to how rich, smooth and visually stunning this film is.

Most modern films now are proof that blown up budgets, egotistical actors and CGI slop don’t always guarantee a film’s legacy and success compared to one made out of genuine passion and love for the craft and story telling, as this one shows.

The unknown future of the now nearly terminated ‘Terminator’ franchise rolls toward us. We have face it with a sense of hope, because if a director can remind us of the value of real film-making done right… maybe future directors can too.

AUGUST 2021 FILMHOUNDS 47

Musicals

Top 20 Greatest Ever

Film Musicals o celebrate the release of In the Heights the team at Filmhounds have collated their all-time Top 20 Musical Films. From an original 72 entries, we have crunched the numbers and put in the work to bring you the exclusive and definitive list. To clarify, we have not considered any animated works or biopics in this feature, so to the die-hard Elton and Queen fans, please bear that in mind. Spanning a period of over 60 years, the following comprise some of the most shocking, controversial and scintillating entries in the genre.

Including the seminal and the contemporary, this list will have something for the hardcore musical fans and the casual cinemagoer alike.

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From The Jazz Singer in 1927 right through to the present day where Lin-Manuel Miranda is taking the world by storm, the musical medium has provided an opportunity for creative minds to push the boundaries of choreography, costume and set design. From Leslie Caron to Ginger Rogers, from Fred Astaire to Gene Kelly, some of the biggest names of the 20th century earned their incredible reputations through musical films. As we await with bated breath Spielberg’s remake of West Side Story, and with the tenacious In the Heights doing the rounds, those boundaries look set to be stretched once again.

So please…. grease up those hinges, apply your hairspray, pay your rent and prepare for all things related to the sound of music in film with our very own Top 20.

Dave Manson

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20 Little Shop of Horrors 19 Oliver!

18 Enchanted 17 The Muppets Christmas Carol 16 A Star is Born (2018) 15 Seven Brides for Seven Brothers 14 Hairspray 13 Les Misérables 12 Sing Street 11 The Wizard of Oz

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Sweeney Todd

he macabre meets the musical in Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street. The film adaptation of Stephen Sondheim’s hit play was in production for years until it finally reached screens over the holiday period of 2007/2008.

Many directors had been linked to the project, but none other than Tim Burton, a filmmaker with his own quirky style, could have done it so well. This is the film he was born to make, his visual eye, attention to detail and reliance on set design over CGI bringing to life a Victorian London full of seediness, filth, and cruelty.

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While it might initially seem strange that a serial killing barber suddenly bursts into song, the power and intensity it generates makes it seem natural. This isn’t a musical for those seeking escapism or elation. Mamma Mia! has its audience dancing in the aisles. La La Land gets them weeping. Sweeney Todd has them exhausted and hypnotised.

It’s a molten pit of smouldering fury, black comedy, and twisted beauty. Even the appearance of Sacha Baron Cohen as a flamboyant rival barber doesn’t distract from the growing sense of dread that spreads like mould.

Burton’s favourite leading man, Johnny Depp and his former partner Helena Bonham Carter stand at the centre of his hypnotic altar. Depp’s Oscarnominated performance is a reminder of how brilliant he can be when given the chance to shine and his rocker-like voice gives Todd a gravelly, almost animalistic quality. Carter makes Mrs. Lovett more misguided than evil, a foolish woman blinded by obsession. Their

chemistry together creates a relationship that can only ever end in tragedy. With the late Alan Rickman adding his own slithering brand of evil, Timothy Spall doing sleaze as only he can and Baron Cohen being his usual extravagant self, Burton assembles a cast who weave a hauntingly effective web.

In the crowded field of musicals, Burton’s Sweeney Todd stands out. It’s his darkest, bravest, and most daring film to date, one that isn’t afraid to back down for the sake of appealing to a mass audience. Bloody and yet thrillingly, achingly human, it’s a tribute to the tradition of Grand Guignol, to the genius of Stephen Sondheim and to the fragility of the human soul. There’s no happy ending here and there shouldn’t be. Musicals don’t have to be simplistic or gaudy- all they need is a master filmmaker, a compelling story and songs that are searingly performed. This is Burton’s masterpiece.

Callum Barrington

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Photo: ©2007 Warner Bros. Entertainment, Inc. All rights reserved.

The film itself does not skimp on the violence which is so often held back in the stage play. Buckets of blood are spilt, making this as much a horror film as it is a musical. Those going to see it in cinemas were left somewhat unimpressed by the emphasis on singing and music.

But it is the music that gives Sweeney Todd its uniqueness. The songs, so theatrically performed on stage, are here internalised,

used as an expression of rage, grief, or arrogance. They help tell the story and inform the characters and their motivations.

© 2020 Twentieth Century Fox Film Corporation. All Rights Reserved.

MUSICALS

THE WEST SIDE STORY REMAKE AND THE RESURGENCE OF THE MOVIE MUSICAL

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WORDS: SARAH LORD

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teven Spielberg’s new take on West Side Story makes its way to theaters later this year, and it’s only the latest in the current resurgence of musicals being adapted for the big screen. Obviously, musicals have been made into movies since the dawn of time (i.e., the 1930s) and many of them are considered to be classics, including the original West Side Story, which came out in 1961. Films like Oklahoma and Sound of Music are seen as the gold standard of movie musicals; big, sweeping productions that take full advantage of being a movie and

yet still captures the spirit of the original musical production. Movie musicals since then have been a mixed bag of faithful spectacle (2002’s Chicago) to desperate imitation (2012’s Les Miserables), and it doesn’t look like that trend will be stopping anytime soon.

This year is contributing to the rise of the movie musical with the recent release of In the Heights, the Autumn release of Dear Evan Hansen, and the winter release of the West Side Story remake.

While this will be a treat for movie musical fans, this may not sit well with those who prefer the live musical theater experience. Seeing a musical performed in front of you is its own special experience that can’t be replaced by a movie

adaptation. The best that a movie musical can do is take advantage of the cinematic medium while still capturing what makes musicals so special, which for the most part is the choreography and the singing.

The movie musicals of the 50s and 60s succeeded expertly in this, letting large musical numbers be as big and exciting as they could be for the big screen. Modern day musical adaptations tend to be flashier, either attempting desperately to recreate the live musical experience or over-using technical film elements that keep you from being able to fully enjoy the musical numbers. Because of this, modern movie musicals are more heavily criticized.

Over the last couple of decades,

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MUSICALS with screenwriter and playwright Tony Kushner, will be able to reenact that kind of magic again this go around while also bringing something to the table that the original film didn’t.

movie musical adaptions have been hit or miss, some finding more appreciation over time than when they first came out. The mid-2000s especially produced a substantial amount of movie musicals, mostly adaptations of already existing Broadway shows. With Chicago going quite big and flashy in 2002 and winning the Academy award for Best Picture the next year, it’s only fitting that other filmmakers attempted the same feat. Joel Schumacher brought The Phantom of the Opera to the big screen in 2004, and Tim Burton even tried his hand at a musical with his interpretation of Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street in 2007. Both films faced a certain amount of criticism (Phantom of the Opera more so), but there’s still something to admire from both of them, especially the fact that both directors were aiming to do something more challenging at that point in their careers.

Out of the three movie musical adaptations coming out this year, the most surprising director of the bunch is Steven Spielberg. His remake of West Side Story marks his first time making a musical. Not only is it one of the most beloved stage musicals of all time, but

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the original film is also extremely highly regarded and is considered to be one of the greatest movies of all times. Spielberg is no stranger at adapting an already existing work to the big screen (Ready Player One, Jurassic Park, and War Horse to name a few). While his later career is a mix of great and not-sogreat films, it’s safe to say that his earlier works are some of the best movies to come out of the 70s, 80s, and 90s. It’s refreshing to see him tackle something he’s never done before, especially something that calls for actual “old school” filmmaking technique and skill as opposed to his last movie Ready Player One which relied heavily on CGI and digital effects. With West Side Story, it will hopefully be a return to form for Spielberg. It will also be interesting to see how his directing and staging will differ from the original 1961 film. The major advantage that the original West Side Story had is that it was co-directed by Jerome Robbins, the creator and producer of the original Broadway show. He and established filmmaker Robert Wise were able to combine their own individual talents in their respective fields and create something that is the perfect blend of stage and cinema. Hopefully Spielberg, along

West Side Story is the only musical adaptation of a Broadway show that’s already received the cinematic treatment coming out this year, with In the Heights and Dear Evan Hansen continuing the trend of first-time film adaptations of hit musicals.

In the Heights has given us a taste of how movie musicals will be received this year. Although it premiered in theaters and on HBO Max at the same time in the US, the eagerness of audiences to see Lin-Manuel Miranda’s love letter to the neighborhood of Washington Heights in New York City paid off, despite whatever the box office numbers say. The excitement of those who’ve seen it is undeniable, and the experience of seeing it in a theater is an extreme visual treat.

While it’s safe to say that In the Heights was mostly a success, it did have questionable filmmaking choices and sparked discussion of its issues with representation.

Director Jon M. Chu, who has experience filming elaborate dance sequences with Step Up 2: The Streets and Step Up 3D, has an impressive control of the camera. Unfortunately, the editing of certain musical numbers is a detriment to In the Heights, mostly in big scale dance sequences where you only get to see bits of the choreography thanks to constant cutting back and forth between different groups of dancers and the ensemble cast in general. It’s understandable that Chu and his team wanted to utilize as much of their cinematic techniques as possible to make In the Heights more than just a typical musical

movie. While it does work at certain moments, the endless editing becomes quite noticeable, especially in the number “96,000” which is one of the biggest set pieces of the movie. It’s an impressive musical number, for sure, and is filled with such energy that it’s invigorating each time you watch it. That being said, you can’t help but wish that whoever edited it took a minute to realize that maybe the audience would like to see more than just five to ten seconds of choreography at a time. That’s why movies like the original West Side Story hold up so well. Yes, there is some lite editing and cutting, but so many of the dance heavy numbers like “The Dance at the Gym” are initially staged as a wide shot, and the camera only cuts and moves to continue the momentum of the story at a steady pace.

While In the Heights and West Side Story have many big scale musical numbers that involve a substantial amount of dance choreography, Dear Evan Hansen is much more about the story and the songwriting. From the same songwriters/composers as La La Land and The Greatest Showman, Dear Evan Hansen premiered on Broadway in 2016 and

became an immediate hit in the musical theater world. It became immediately known as a must see show and did extremely well at the Tony Awards the following year, winning the coveted Tony for Best Musical. While I’m sure the musical is a unique experience (this is where I admit that I haven’t seen it), the movie version looks to have a few things going for it. For starters, the screenplay is written by the original writer and creator of the musical, Steven Levenson. With an extremely deep and personal story, it’s definitely a plus that Levenson got to adapt his own work.

Another bonus is that this adaptation is directed by Stephen Chbosky, who’s most well known directing credit is The Perks of Being a Wallflower (2012). He also wrote the screenplay for the 2005 film adaptation of Rent.

Having worked on those two films should give Chbosky the edge he needs to create a worthy and faithful adaptation of the original musical. Where the Dear Evan Hansen film might stumble is the casting of Evan Hansen himself, playing into the trap that many film musical adaptations fall into

in trying to capture the original stage version too desperately. Ben Platt, who originated the role of Evan Hansen on Broadway, plays him in the movie as well. While his performance in the musical was received tremendously well, it’s very obvious in the trailer for the Dear Evan Hansen movie that he’s a 27-year-old playing a high school student, which will most likely take a lot of people out of what should be a highly emotional cinematic experience.

It’s safe to say that the movie musical is not going away any time soon. While we can hope for more original movie musicals like La La Land and Repo! The Genetic Opera (a personal favorite), we all know that hit stage musicals will keep being adapted for the big screen.

One can only hope that filmmakers wanting to make an existing musical into a movie or remake an existing movie musical adaptation are doing it for the right reasons.

I don’t think the world is ready for another catastrophe like 2019’s Cats.

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