Off the screen magazine october 2014 by Jon Broeke

____________________________________________________________________

Contents On the Cover: 28 THE ROSE AMONG THE TURTLES Hollywood hottie Megan Fox talks to us about taking on the role of April O’Neil in the latest live action version of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles

Features: 20 DIRECT FROM THE HALF SHELL South African director Jonathan Liebesman talks about directing the latest incarnation of our favourite green, mutated ninja’s in Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles

36 TURTLE POWER In celebration of the release of the latest big screen version of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, we look back at their history, from comic book to TV show to feature films, for thirty years it’s been Turtle Power!

Our Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles coverage includes Director Jonathan Liebesman 20, Hollywood hotty Megan Fox 28 and a look at the last thirty year of the Turtles

Off The Screen Magazine ___________________________________________________________________

____________________________________________________________________

Cozi Zuehlsdorff and Nathan Gamble are back in the water in Dolphin Tale 2

80 TELLING A NEW TALE We talk to Cozi Zuehlsdorff and Nathan Gamble about reprising their roles with the real life dolphin with the prosthetic tail, Winter, in the family friendly, Dolphin Tale 2

Regulars: 12 WHAT TO SEE IN OCTOBER Snowpiercer Interstellar Horns Annabelle

Reviews: 46 RELEASED SEPTEMBER 12TH The Giver Letâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s be Cops 50 RELEASED SEPTEMBER 19TH Million Dollar Arm If I Stay 56 RELEASED SEPTEMBER 26TH The Maze Runner Planes 2: Fire and Rescue The Equalizer

The Great Beauty (La Grande Bellezza) 64 RELEASED OCTOBER 3RD Dracula Untold Dolphin Tale 2 I, Origins The November Man 74 RELEASING OCTOBER 10TH Gone Girl City of Violence

Off The Screen Magazine ___________________________________________________________________

____________________________________________________________________

Editor

Editors Letter

Jon Broeke

his month is all about our favourite heroes in a half shell with the release of the latest live action instalment of Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. We look at the previous incarnations in the franchise, including the animated TV shows, and the previous films, talk to South African director Jonathan Liebesman, who directed the film, and Hollywood hottie Megan Fox, who stars at April O’Neil. We also talk to Cozi Zuehlsdorff and Nathan Gamble about their reprising their roles in Dolphin Tale 2, and look forward to the films that you should be on the lookout for in October.. Check out our video interview with director Jerome Salle, who talked to us during his visit to South Africa for his latest film, the South African police drama, City of Violence, starring Forest Whittaker and Orlando Bloom, going up on Youtube soon. On a sad note, this will be the last issue of Off The Screen Magazine. We’d like to thank everyone who has read out magazine up to this point and invite you to please follow us on Facebook or visit our website – offthescreenmagazine@gmail.com – for more content and reviews, which we’ll still be running. Thanks for taking us into your hearts and giving us the best two years. All the best and, as always, we’ll see you at the movies.

jon.broeke@gmail.com

Photo Credits Nu Metro, Ster Kinekor, Getty Images, UPI.com, Google Images, imdb.com

Or www.offthescreenmagazine. com

Online at www.offthescreenmagazine. com

Published by www.issuu.com

Join us on Facebook www.facebook.com/ offthescreenmagazine

Best Wishes Jon Broeke Editor Off The Screen Magazine ___________________________________________________________________

Chris Evans, Jamie Bell, Tilda Swinton, Ed Harris, John Hurt, Ah-sung Ko DIRECTOR: Joon-ho Bong In the future, mankind has tried to solve the problem of global warming by introducing a synthetic compound into the stratosphere, but instead of slowing the global warming problem, the substance froze the world. What’s left of us found refuge in a train, the Snowpiercer. A train that circumnavigates the globe, always moving, always fighting the cold. Anyone outside the train is dead, but things inside the train aren’t

much better. Those in third class are on the verge of starving, and treated like slaves, or worse, like unwanted guests. They come up with a plan to invade the front of the train. Led by Gilliam (John Hurt) and Curtis (Chris Evans), the back of the train passengers push forward, fighting tooth and claw to get to the engine, and the mysterious Wilford (Ed Harris). I have actually seen this film already, so I don’t need to guess from the trailer how this film is going to be, I actually already know. It is weird. It’s a good

weird, but still weird. There seems to be a style in Korean film making, the director is Korean, if you didn’t figure that out from the name. This style is difficult to explain. It starts with massive action sequences that carry on longer than is actually necessary, and involve a lot of dead bodies. After that you have these odd, completely out of the ordinary people, who you would never actually meet in real life, who get in the way of our hero, who triumphs, of course, but only then to face something very bad, or

Off The Screen Magazine ________________________________________________________________

willing to do anything to get it, and you get a fascinating cast of characters that keeps the audience glued, whether for the right, or wrong reasons. If you like this type of genre then you’ll love this film, but it is a little too weird for my taste.

worse, face something from their past that could destroy them, and usually that thing is so gross and creepy that it virtually turns the viewer off the film and makes you really not want to like the film. Now, to be honest, this is like only the second Korean film I’ve seen, I think, the other being the American re-make of Old Boy, but the format seems to stand, and it’s disturbing. If you’ve seen Old Boy you’ll understand what I’m saying, and if you see this one you’ll understand too, but, that being said, this is a very interesting movie. The characters are developed and layered. I loved Tilda Swinton as the voice of Wilford. She comes across as

Snowpiercer opens in South African cinemas October 17th

an Effie, from The Hunger Games, character, but without the heart of gold. She looks like her too. It’s amusing, but at the same time disturbing. Then there’s the uzzi toting teacher, and the knife, machete and axe wielding guards, and the dancing masses, and that’s just from the front of the train. Add to that Hurt’s Gilliam, who is more than meets the eye, Harris’ Wilford, who is thoroughly creepy and Korean actors Kang-ho Song’s Namgoong Minsoo, the engineer of the train who helps the back of the trainers get to the front and his daughter, Yona, played by Ah-sung Ko, who are both addicted to a substance on the train and

Off The Screen Magazine ________________________________________________________________

Matthew McConaughey, Anne Hathaway, Jessica Chastain DIRECTOR: Christopher Nolan Set in the future, the world has been ravaged and there is no food left. People are dying, and there is little hope left. One man, Cooper (Matthew McConaughey), could possibly save us. He is given access to a new type of space ship, designed by a scientist (Michael Caine), when those in charge decide the best way to save the human race is to abandon Earth. He is sent off into space with a group of astronauts, including Brand (Anne Hathaway), to use this new ship which is capable of interstellar travel, to try and find a new world for us to live on, but to do so he needs to leave behind his son and daughter, Murph (Mackenzie Foy), possibly to never see them again. The overall plot on this film is being kept a tight secret, but a few things can be gleamed from the trailer. One, we see McConaughey as a red neck with a slew of qualifications, being offered a chance to save the world with a new ship, two, we see that he needs to leave his family behind, not knowing when, or indeed, if he will see them again. Obviously he does this, because we see him flying away in the trailer, what is a little more unclear is whether or not he

does, indeed, come back, and from the trailer we hear them talking about lasting longer out there than any one has before, so what does that mean? Well, a little digging on my favourite site for some leaks, and we see that Jessica Chastain is listed as playing Murph, while Foy is listed as young Murph, so we can conclude that he does, indeed, make it back to Earth, but sometime in the future? This could possibly open up a whole can of worms right there. Do we still need to leave? Does he rescue us, or have we rescued ourselves at that point? Well, we’ll just have to watch the film to find out. What I do know is that McConaughey is a fabulous actor, even if he’s made some odd choices in films as of late, so I expect a great performance from him. Foy looks like she might actually be able to act, something we were never really sure of with her time

in The Twilight Saga, so I look forward to her performance too. Add to that actors of Hathaway, Chastain and Caine’s calibre, and the directing and writing chops of Christopher Nolan, and this looks like it should be a big one for fans of the sci-fi genre.

Interstellar opens in South African cinemas November 7th

Off The Screen Magazine ________________________________________________________________

Daniel Radcliffe, Juno Temple, Heather Graham DIRECTOR: Alexandre Aja Ig Perrish (Daniel Radcliffe) and Merrin Williams (Juno Temple) are madly in love with each other, but Ig’s life is shattered when he wakes up to discover that Merrin is dead, and everyone thinks that he did it, even though he didn’t. As if that wasn’t bad enough all of a sudden Ig sprouts horns, actual horns, on his head, and all these people he doesn’t know suddenly start telling him about all the bad things they’ve ever done. At first he just wants it to stop, going to doctors and even priests, but then he realises that he can use this insanity to find out who really killed Merrin, and bring that person to justice, but as the whole world slowly goes insane, and it seems because of him, how long

before he follows suit and leads the madness to a blood soaked conclusion? This looks like a fascinating film. I wasn’t quite sure of what to make of it when I first learnt about it, but after watching the trailer I am dying to see it. It looks gory and twisted, but at the same time funny and thoroughly entertaining. Radclliffe looks great as the title character, and the horns look amazing. He really seems to get his teeth, or horns, if you’ll forgive me, into the role, and looks like he really did a great job with a character that is incredibly complex. In terms of supporting cast we don’t see much in the trailer, but with the calibre of actor, Temple, Heather Graham as a bad waitress, they should be top class. An interesting thing I noticed was that Sabrina Carpenter is listed in the credits as young Merrin, so I

wonder if there’s some kind of back story that explains the horns. From the little Temple is featured in the trailer is certainly comes across as if she knew she was going to die before she did. Guess we’ll just have to watch the film and find out. It should be great fun.

Horns opens in South African cinemas October 31st

Off The Screen Magazine ________________________________________________________________

Ward Horton, Annabelle Wallis, Alfre Woodard DIRECTOR: John R. Leonetti After a young couple, Mia (Annabelle Wallis) and John (Ward Horton), witness the death of their neighbour at the hands of his wife, who then comes into their home and tries to kill them, getting herself killed in the process, they move homes and try to start fresh. Things don’t go

the way they planned though, from the moment they open a box and discover one of Mia’s dolls, Annabelle, the same doll that the crazy woman was holding when she died, and that John thought he threw away. Mia decides to keep the doll, but soon after strange things start to happen in the house. They go for help, talking to

everyone, and ending up at a spiritualist, Evelyn (Alfre Woodard) who tells then that it might be a demon that’s out to get them. They then set about fighting this monster, all the while trying not to lose themselves. I was quite excited to see this film when I learnt about it, but after seeing the trailer I’m a little on the fence about it. It looks scary

Off The Screen Magazine ________________________________________________________________

enough. The tense moments are tense and shocking thrills are all there, but is that enough anymore? Doesn’t the audience deserve something a little new? Of course, the fact that this film is following on from the hit horror film, The Conjuring, means that it’s probably not going to be as good as the original, but it’s also because we’ve seen it before. How many demon possession films can we take? Especially when there’s still a slew of Paranormal Activity films coming our way. I will say, though, that the doll is seriously menacing, giving Chucky a run for his money, but I just hope there’s more to it than the hapless

woman being scared by things moving on their own, and doors closing themselves, because we’ve seen all that before.

Annabelle opens in South African cinemas October 24th

Off The Screen Magazine ________________________________________________________________

_____ _____________________________________________ ______

Turtle Power: Jonathan Liebesman

Direct from the Half Shell South African born director Jonathan Liebesman tells us about taking the lead on the latest live action version of those mutated turtles we all love so much with the new film Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles

t’s always nice when we see a South African making it big overseas in Hollywood. The first, and possibly most famous, is Charlize Theron, who made us all proud when she won her Oscar. Since then there have been actors, Arnold Vosloo and Sacha Pieterse, and directors Gavin Hood coming to mind. This month sees another of our home grown film makers taking the helm on a highly anticipated film, the latest live action version of a story about four mutated amphibians who are taught ninja skills and battle an evil man in a metal suit, of course I’m talking about the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, and the director

who is leading the ninja team is our very own Jonathan Liebesman. Liebesman was born in Johannesburg, South Africa, and started his directing training at the South African School of Motion Picture Medium and Live Performance before a visit to see his cousin in New York City led to him enrolling at NYU's Tisch School of the Arts. His short student film, Genesis and Catastrophe, led to him getting Hollywood representation and to his debut feature, Darkness Falls. Another short film, Rings, put him on producer/director Michael Bay’s radar, which led to him directing The Texas Chainsaw Massacre: The Beginning. Since then he’s directed Battle Los Angeles,

The Killing Room and the Greek mythology based actioners Clash of the Titans and Wrath of the Titans. Liebesman talks to us about his connection to the heroes in the half shell, how this film portrays them differently from how we’ve seen them before, the actors, not only in the shells, but the supporting cast too, and more… Did you know the Turtles growing up? I grew up with Ninja Turtles. I loved the humour, that the cartoon had when I was in South Africa. I’d watch it every day, the re-runs, I loved it. The first movies I saw in South Africa and they were fantastic, and what’s so great is with today’s technology we’ve been able

Off Off The The Screen Screen Magazine ________________________________________________________________ ________________________________________________________________

_____________________________________________

Turtle Power: Jonathan Liebesman

“The opportunity was to make

them even more bad ass than I’d seen them before.”

Off The Screen Magazine ________________________________________________________________

_____________________________________________

Turtle Power: Jonathan Liebesman something I always wanted to understand, and you cannot ignore that these turtles were once real and then mutated into Ninja Turtles, so I wanted to see that happen. And again, when I go and see superhero movies today, I love the spectacle and the wish fulfilment of the extra strength, or in the Ninja Turtles case, ninjitsu, can bring to your action sequences, so that was something we really wanted to realise in this movie.

to update the Ninja Turtles, and give them a scope that they’ve never had before. Also in the Michael Bay production, you’re allowed a massive amount of action and scope in your films, so we’ve had the ability to retain the humour and the charm of the cartoons, and the first films, and we’ve been able to bring in the scope that the big actions films of today have, and sort of marry the two into a

massive action, entertaining experience. What do you feel is most important in the Ninja Turtles movie? I think the most important factor for Ninja Turtles, is that they are fun. That was the most important thing that I remember from being a kid, Michelangelo being funny, so that was number one. Number two, that they mutated. That was

How are these Turtles different from the way we’ve seen them before? The Ninja Turtles actually originated in the Eastman and Laird comics as very hardcore vigilantes, so I thought the opportunity here, that I hadn’t really seen in the past films, was to make them even more bad ass than I’d seen them before. A lot of the fan art I found on the internet, which I thought was amazing, was really bad ass, sillouhettie, really big Turtles, and that was very interesting to me, so I thought, in re-inventing the Turtles this time, if we made them a little larger than life, a little darker in their design, maybe we could have our cake and eat it too. Was making this film and origin story of the Turtles important?

Off The Screen Magazine ________________________________________________________________

_____________________________________________

My favourite of episode of any comic book franchise is the origins, so yes, it was very important to make this an origin and start it off as a fresh chapter. How is April O’Neil different in this film? We sort of took the archetype of April O’Neil, the damsel in distress, and moulded it specifically to Megan, who I think brings a very determined sort of personality to the role. Tell us more about April O’Neil. April is a character who, in the movie, has a lot to prove. Everyone doubts her because she’s beautiful, and you really get a sense throughout the movie that she wants to show people

Turtle Power: Jonathan Liebesman

that there’s more to her than meets the eye, literally, and she becomes a real famiy member, a real hero, with the Turtles, and there’s just these great relationships between April and Raph, or April and Michelangelo, who has a real crush on her, and a real respect, between her and Splinter. A lot of that comes, I think, from Megan and the way she feels about the character, because she’s a massive fan of the Ninja Turtles, I think The Secret of the Ooze is like her favourite movie, and when we met her, she emailed myself and the producers to tell us what a big fan she was the films, and I see it every time I show Megan a trailer or a new piece of footage. She loves the Turtles, as a fan does, not as an actor in the

movie, so we just bought as much of Megan to the archetypal April as possible. What’s great about this film? I think a lot of what works so well in the movie, is the banter between the characters, the warmth and the charm that the Turtles have with one another, the brotherhood and the family. How did you cast the Turtles? In a sense, what’s funny is that when we cast the actors for the roles of the Ninja Turtles, it was like any other audition, because we wanted to keep it as real as possible. Noel embodied the fun innocence of Michelangelo. I’d worked with Noel in Battle: Los

Off The Screen Magazine ________________________________________________________________

_____________________________________________ Angeles and he’s an amazing actor, and so he was great because he could elevate the role. So in addition to Michelangelo’s comedy there is a depth and something you really care about in his character. Allen really optimizes that sort of brashness that is Raphael, and you saw it in his audition. The same with Jeremy who brought this nervous nerdiness to the role of Donatello, so the actors had to go through more audition process so we could see kind of, how the characters were going to be before we really even got to see the characters. Talk to us about Will Arnett. We got really lucky to get Will Arnett, who is such a

Turtle Power: Jonathan Liebesman

great comedian, he is so funny in the movie, it’s awesome, every time he’s on screen the audience laughs. He just was really helpful. I could just leave the camera running, so we had this embarrassment of riches to pick from for each of his performances. He’s extremely talented and really elevated every scene he was a part of. William Fichtner plays the villain in the film. Tell us about working with him. You always need great villains in a comic book movie, and Fichtner is such a great actor. He brings a credibility and sort of a gravity to the villain role that is really important.

Whenever Fichtner was on set, which was also great, was that the other actors kind of rose to his level, and that helped a lot in a scene. Whenever you’re directing a scene and Bill’s in it, it’s a better scene, and as a director that’s amazing, because you can’t really direct that, it just comes naturally to an actor, so to put a camera on him and think that you don’t have to do anything, it’s pretty great.

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles opens in South African cinemas October 17th

Off The Screen Magazine ________________________________________________________________

_____________________________________________________

Turtle Power: Megan Fox

the Rose among the Turtles Our favourite ninja fighting heroes in the half shell are back on the silver screen this month, but who are the Turtles without April Oâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;Neil. We chatted to Hollywood hotty Megan Fox about her take on the character and why it meant so much to her to get the role

Off The Screen Magazine ________________________________________________________________

_____________________________________________________

Turtle Power: Megan Fox

egan Fox is no strang er to acting alongs ide giant monsters, having made her name acting alongside giant robots in Transformers and Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen. Now see her acting alongside seven foot turtles in the latest live action incarnation of the beloved 80’s animated show, the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. In the film Fox plays the beloved character April O’Neil. A channel six reporter who gets caught up in craziness when, during investigating a story about a gang calling themselves the Foot, she stumbles upon a team of four giant, talking, ninja fighting Turtles. We sat down and talked to the actress on the set of the film, and she was really, really, really excited to be part of the film. “I was really, really, really excited to get to do this movie,” she told us. “And I wanted this part really bad and I was positive that of all the actresses in Hollywood, there was no way there was somebody who was a bigger fan than I was, so this is the most excited I’ve been to be part of a movie.”

Off The Screen Magazine ________________________________________________________________

_____________________________________________________

Turtle Power: Megan Fox

tangled in their lives, in a much deeper way than she thought.” Without giving too much away it turns out that April knew the turtles back when they were ordinary turtles, before the mutagen changed them in the ninja team they are today. All this comes out through the course of the film, as well as the bad guys, which is the Shredder and someone else, that I’m not going to say because it’s a twist that I don’t want to ruin. Of course the film is about the Turtles, at the end of the day, and their master, Splinter, who taught them everything they need to know. Fox has a deep metaphorical explanation as to the origins of the Turtle characters, and why after over 30 years, they are still a fan favourite. “I think, first of all, the four characters, the four Turtles, are based on the

Dressed in her trademark yellow, not the jumpsuit like from the animated series, but a yellow raincoat, Fox looks the part of April, but who is this woman, and what is her connection to these mutated turtles. “April is, in my mind, she’s kind of, a little bit, of a Joan of Arc,” she said. “In

the sense that she’s willing to do whatever she needs to do for what she sees is right. That’ll make sense to you when you see the movie. But she ends up finding that she has a closer tie to the Turtles than she initially anticipated. She originally tracking them as part of a story, she’s a journalist, of course, April O’Neil, and, as she meets them, she sort of gets

Off The Screen Magazine ________________________________________________________________

“Everybody

_____________________________________________________

has a favourite Turtle, and if you pay attention, it’s usually because that Turtle reflects your own personality.” four Greek temperaments,” she told us. “So everybody has a favourite Turtle, and if you pay attention, it’s usually because that Turtle reflects your own

personality traits back onto you, and so, everybody sees themselves in one of the Turtles, and it’s a really brilliant way that they were put together.” Each Turtle has their strengths and weaknesses and represent those traits in each of us. We asked her to tell us about the four

Turtle Power: Megan Fox

Turtles. “Well,” she started. “You have Michelangelo, who was always my personal favourite. He’s the comedian. He’s that sort of laid back, Cali-style, even though he lives in the sewers of New York city, he’s the Cali-style cowabunga dude. He loves pizza, and, yes, we’re sticking to it, we’re sticking to the original. In this movie I sort of have a closer relationship with Raphael, and he wants to be the leader, in his mind he’s the leader. He’s angsty, he’s brooding, he’s big, he’s all the things he should be. The true leader, the Zen leader, which is Leo, he’s Leo. He’s classic Leo. He’s in control, he’s calm he’s full of integrity. And then Donnie’s

Off The Screen Magazine ________________________________________________________________

_____________________________________________________

Turtle Power: Megan Fox

the geek. He’s the genius, he’s the electronic genius. He’s the one who’s sort of the hacker and gets us in where we need to go, and he shuts down security systems and all of that.” To see Fox in her yellow outfit, matching wits against some really bad dudes, and the Turtles in their live action spectacle, check out Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles

opening in cinemas nationwide

October 17th.

Off The Screen Magazine ________________________________________________________________

_______________________________________________________________

Turtle Power

The Turtles in the latest live action film, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Off The Screen Magazine ________________________________________________________________

_______________________________________________________________

Turtle Power

No show has captured the imagination of the world as the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, but what is it about four mutated turtles that made the world love them so much? We look back at the last thirty years of the Turtles, before looking at the latest film in the franchise, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles

Off The Screen Magazine ________________________________________________________________

_______________________________________________________________

The cover for the first Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles comic

n the eighties many kids’ animated kids shows hit the small screen and tried to find a place in the hearts of kids watching TV on Saturday mornings. Among these shows were He-Man and the Masters of the Universe, his twin sister, She-Ra, the Princess of Power, the

Thundercats, The Bionic Six, there was even a show by MC Hammer about a guy with magical shoes, but none of these shows captured the imagination like the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, and now, thirty years after their creation, the Turtles are back on the big screen in the latest live action incarnation,

Turtle Power

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. Created by Peter Laird and Kevin Eastman as comics, the first of which hit the shelves with a run of only 3000 copies back in 1984, the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles are four mutated turtles who are taught ninja skills by their father, and mentor, a mutated rat named Splinter. They use these skills to battle the evil Foot Clan, a ninja clan who are behind a lot of the crime in New York City, where the Turtles live. They are aided by a reporter April O’Neil, love pizza and kick some serious butt. Laird and Eastman had no idea how popular their comic was going to be, but by the time they hit their second issue they had a pre-order of 15 000 copies. The Frank Miller and Jack Kirby inspired black and white comic is refuted to have started the black and white boom of the 80’s and by the time they reached issue 8 of the series they were selling in excess of 135 000 copies. At this point they were approached by licensing companies to sell their product. One of these companies was Surge Licensing, who sold the product to Playmate Toys for a toy line. They developed a series of action figured, centred around the original characters, but were

Off The Screen Magazine ________________________________________________________________

The Turtles in the 1989 animated series

_______________________________________________________________

Turtle Power

The Turtles in the latest Nickelodeon animated series

hesitant to put the toys out there without a TV contract to boost sales, so the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles animated series was created as a five part miniseries to bolster sales. Fred Wolf came on board as producer of the show and it went through the roof, selling the toys on a massive scale and making the Turtles a household name. When the network contacted Wolf to ask about the second season they were told there wasn’t one. The creators of the show were happy with what they’d done, and Playmate Toys was happy with sales, but the network wanted

more, so Wolf bought the rights to the animated series and made 193 episodes of Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles between 1987 and 1991. In 1990 the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles were introduced to the big screen for the first time in the first, live action, feature film. The Turtles, which were people in suits with animatronic heads made by Jim Henson, the famed puppet maker best known for creating Sesame Street, were incredible for their time. The suits weighed in excess of 90 pounds and were not great to work in, but they were amazing to see on the

screen and made millions at the box office, a huge success. It spawned two sequels, both with moderate success. The second, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: The Secret of the Ooze, follows from where the first ended off, with the Shredder, the Turtles adversary from the comics, the TV series and the first film, returning after being thought dead and discovering the origins of the Turtles, a mysterious ooze that mutated them before trying to get hold of the ooze and use it to destroy them, while the third film, entitled Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles III, sees the Turtles travelling back in time to feudal Japan with the help of a mystic sceptre to save April, who has also found herself back in time. Both of the films made money at the box office, but weren’t the success the first film was. After the third film a new TV show, this time live

Off The Screen Magazine ________________________________________________________________

The Turtles kicking butt in the comics Megan Fox as April O’Neil in the latest live action feature _______________________________________________________________

Turtle Power

The Turtles in the first animated series

The Turtles are covered in ooze, which mutates them into heroes, in Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles II: The Secret of the Ooze action, was made that followed on from where the films ended off, with the Turtles fighting other villains, thinking Shredder defeated, and introduced a fifth Turtle to the mix, a girl named Venus de Milo. She only ever existed in this series, which only lasted one season of 26 episodes. The next appearance of the Turtles, only the original four, was in 2003 with a new animated TV show, which included them travelling forward in time to a time when they didn’t have to hide in the sewers. This was an interesting take

on the format and the series ran from 2003 to 2009. In 2007 the Turtles had their first real taste of the CGI world with the release of a new feature film, TMNT. This time we met the Turtles at some future time. The Shredder was defeated, they weren’t fighting anymore, Leonardo is in the jungle training,

Donatello is a computer tech, Michelangelo is delivering pizza and Raphael is a vigilante, though no one else knows this. They’re brought back together when a group of rock sculptures start gathering up monsters in New York and they need to discover who these sculptures are and what

Off The Screen Magazine ________________________________________________________________

Shredder versus Splinter in the latest live action film _______________________________________________________________

they want. They’re a very different looking group of Turtles, but the film stayed true to the characters and did well at the box office. Since that film there has been another TV show started on Nickelodeon featuring the Turtles as we know them, fun loving teenagers fighting the Shredder and his mutated cronies, which brings us up to date and the latest big screen installment, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. The latest feature film takes us back to the beginning as we start all over again with the origin story of the Turtles. It tells

us how they were regular Turtles, who were exposed to a mutagen and this caused them to transform into human like Turtles. In this film Splinter, who is their master still, was a lab rat who mutated as well, and took after them, teaching them how to fight after learn how to do so himself. They now battle against the Foot, a group of heavily armed, almost military in this version, terrorists, who are terrorizing the city. Thrown into the mix is April O’Neil, played this time by Megan Fox. She was played by Judith Hoag in the first film,

Turtle Power

Paige Turco in the second and third, and voiced by Sarah Michelle Gellar in TMNT. April is a channel six news anchor who is really pretty, so lands with all the human interest stories, and nothing with any real value, in her eyes. One night she finds the Foot, led by Karai, played by Minae Noji, ripping off a cargo vessel at the docks and stops to take footage, ending meeting the Turtles, who were told not to go out by Splinter. After the Foot try to kill April, so the Turtles go out to save her life, which they do, bringing her to the sewers with them, but that’s just

Off The Screen Magazine ________________________________________________________________ Raphael, leaner, meaner and greener, in the latest live action feature film

Michelangelo is still full of the jokes in the latest live action feature film _______________________________________________________________

the start of their troubles. This is a much darker version of the Turtles, even than the first feature. They’re huge, like seven foot tall, seriously mean looking and you can really see them taking on a platoon of guys, not to mention that they’re really strong in the version. There’s a lot more to them too. The film makers made use of motion capture technology with this film, The Turtles’ animatronic heads in the 1990 feature film

placing little balls on the actors and using those balls to put the actor into the actual animation. It works so well, making the Turtles quite a lot more lifelike than before and giving them real depth of emotion. The action, as always, is really cool with a lot of fighting and explosions and amazing use of the shell, some else we’ve never really seen before.

Turtle Power

So there you have it, thirty years of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. We all have our favourite version, whether it’s the feature films or the first animated series or the live action TV series, we all love the Turtles in their many shapes and sizes, but one thing never changes. They always love pizza, they always say cowabunga at some point in the story, and they are our favourite heroes in a half shell. Turtle power today, Turtle power forever.

Off The Screen Magazine ________________________________________________________________

IN C INEM AS

The Giver every morning, and feeling nothing, but he is a little different. He has flashes of emotion, sees flashes of colour. It’s for this reason that on the day each 18 year old in the community is given their life mission Jonas is set to become the new carrier of knowledge. He is mentored by the old carrier (Jeff Bridges), who shows him the past of humanity, all the good, like love and dance and joy, things that have been forgotten. Jonas enjoys learning, taking it home with him to show his parents (Katie Holmes and Alexander Skarsgård), who don’t really understand, but when he stops taking his injection, and starts to feel, especially for his childhood friend, Fiona (Odeya Rush), he begins to understand the flaw in the society, and begins to consider a way to fix it, until he discovers the bad that goes hand in hand with the good and wonders if he should.

RELEASE DATE: September 12th CAST: Brenton Thwaites, Jeff Bridges, Meryl Streep, Alexander Skarsgård, Katie Holmes, Odeya Rush DIRECTOR: Phillip Noyce

THE STORY In the future we have found a lasting peace. Cut off from the rest of the world, the last of humanity live in a paradise community, but the peace has been attained by

doing away with emotions. Love, hate, joy, sadness, these are just words that people understand, but no one really feels. Even the colour has been done away with because it could lead to emotion. Everyone is content to live like this, an injection every morning giving them what they need, all except Jonas (Brenton Thwaites). He is like the others, taking his injections

THE VERDICT This is an interesting concept, but it has been done before. The concept that it is our emotions, our hatred, fears and prejudices that make the human race so dangerous, has been pondered in books and movies for years, and it’s not wrong, if you consider how many wars, especially nowadays, are fought because of differing

Off The Screen Magazine ________________________________________________________________

IN C INEM AS

ideologies and thinking. Creatives have long pondered that taking away those emotions, making us all understand each other better, could be a way to stop that from happening. It’s an interesting concept, and could work, in theory, but in these films there is always someone that realises what we’ve lost, what we’re willing to do to keep those emotions at bay, and puts things right. What’s interesting about this film, especially, is the lack of colour. Emotions, and discovering them after not having them for your whole life, is very difficult to relate to an audience, but the way the film makers used the absence of colour, and then Jonas’ sudden discovery of it, makes it work so much

better. The audience gets pulled in as they start to see colour on the screen for the first time in the movie, just like Jonas discovering his feelings, especially for Fiona. It is very smart and well done, but it would be nothing without a stellar performance from Thwaites, who carries a very emotionally charged and difficult role very well. He is believable and sympathetic and when he discovers the truth behind the communities moving on concept, which is in fact an injection in the arm and death to anyone who doesn’t meet with their approval anymore, he is shattered and it shows on the screen. The audience feels it as he does, and his escape to freedom, and

trying to save his world, is adventurous and moving. Other performances in the film are good too. Rush is sweet and pretty and a great leading love interest. She also has some interesting emotional moments, when she too stops her injections. Holmes is creepy and frightening as Thwaites’ mother. She’s doing what she thinks is right for everyone, but it’s so out there that a normal person, like any of us, think it’s complete madness. The same can be said about Skarsgård and Streep, both are emotionless drones who kill as easily as they say hello. It’s decidedly weird, and wonderful. Bridges is good as the only other person feeling in the community, but I really would have liked more from him. He seems a little stilted, which was a little bit of a pity. There are a couple plot points that aren’t explained very well, which is also a pity, because they take away from the enjoyment of the film, but they can be overlooked, because this it such fun, and has a very strong message, exploring the human condition, good and bad.

9/10

Off The Screen Magazine ________________________________________________________________

IN C INEM AS

Let’s Be Cops

RELEASE DATE: September 12th CAST: Jake Johnson, Damon Wayans Jr., Rob Riggle, Nina Dobrev, James D'Arcy DIRECTOR: Luke Greenfield

THE STORY Ryan (Jake Johnson) and Justin (Damon Wayans Jr) are both losers living in LA. Justin works as an assistant at a video game company. He wants to design games, but doesn’t have the guts to make himself heard over his overbearing boss. Ryan doesn’t work at all, living on the memory of a promising football career that he had in college that dried up after he injured himself, but when they dress as cops for a costume part, and people think they’re the real thing, they suddenly get the respect they’ve been looking for, but when they take it too far, and actually start going to crime scenes and getting involved in investigations, they end up on the radar of both the police, who will arrest them for impersonating police officers, and the criminals that they’re interfering with, who just want to kill them.

THE VERDICT This film is funny enough, if you’re into below the belt comedies about ridiculous people doing ridiculous things, but I have to say, I expected more. It’s not that it’s bad, but whenever you see Wayans attached to film, Off The Screen Magazine ________________________________________________________________

IN C INEM AS whatever capacity it’s in, you have some expectations. I know that’s not fair, especially since Daman Wayans Jr isn’t one of the original Wayans that had such success with Scary Movie and such, and to compare him to his father and uncles isn’t fair, but that’s the nature of this business, especially if your name is Daman Wayans Jr. He is good in the film, starting off rather slow, but then developing the character and having some real fun with it, but as a Wayans there should have been more. Johnson is funny enough, but his character is void of any morals for most of the film. He develops them near to the end, very near the same time Wayans’ character develops, but it’s almost too little too late. The biggest problem with the film is that it takes too long to get going. The first forty-five minutes are actually really boring, just watching these two jackasses making fools of themselves. Once the action starts then it’s fun, making me think of Hot Fuzz, but, again, it’s almost too little too late. The standout for the film is James D’Arcy as the bad guy, who is mondo creepy and intimidating, but not even he can save this film. This is strictly for fans of this genre, the buddy cop film without any actual cops.

6/10

Off The Screen Magazine ________________________________________________________________

IN C INEM AS

Million Dollar Arm RELEASE DATE: September 19th CAST: Jon Hamm, Aasif Mandvi, Alan Arkin, Suraj Sharma, Madhur Mittal, Pitobash, Lake Bell DIRECTOR: Craig Gillespie

THE STORY JB (Jon Hamm) is a sports agent how is struggling after leaving his old boss and striking out on his own. When his cash cow decides to go with another agency he has no idea what he’s going to do, and fears losing everything he and his partner Aash (Aasif Mandvi) have built, then he gets a crazy idea. He’s watching a cricket match, Aash’s favourite sport, when he thinks, why can’t those bowlers be taught to pitch for baseball? With this idea in mind, he goes to India .

searching for someone that can throw fast, and accurately, enough to make it in the big leagues. He designs the search as a reality show “Million Dollar Arm”, and finds two young men, Rinku (Suraj Sharma) and Dinesh (Madhur Mittal), and brings them back, hoping they can change his fortunes, but once back in LA things change. He goes back into agent mode, alienating the boys, and risking everything.

THE VERDICT This film is classic Disney, and classic sports film, thrown into one. Based on a true story about the man who really did this, this film is an exploration into the madness that is American sports. The incredible salaries these kids get paid

to throw around a ball, and what the rest of the world thinks about it. It‘s an interesting look at it, from an outside perspective, as in the two Indian boys. There, sport is just as important as in America, leading to a life that many of these boys, from the lowest cast in the country, couldn’t even imagine, but even so, it’s nothing compared to the American life, so the culture clash, especially when they come to America is incredible, and it’s shown in this film in a humorous and touching way. We also have the internal struggles that Disney films are famous for as the workaholic JB needs to discover that there is more to life than his work, and making a buck. He discovers family and friends,

Off The Screen Magazine ________________________________________________________________

IN C INEM AS

and even love, something he never imagined. Hamm is completely out of it for most of the film, his priorities completely screwed, and he does it wonderfully. You really get under his skin and understand where he’s coming from, but also that he’s completely wrong, which is great. The highlights of the film, though, the two performances by the Indian actors, Mittal and Sharma. Each one are wide eyed and totally naïve about the world around them, only knowing their little piece of it, so their amazement, especially when they see the university practise fields they’re going to be using, is heartfelt and wonderful. They both do a tremendous job of showing that there is more to life than money or fame or anything, even if you get those things, never forgetting where they come

from, or the families they left behind, something they teach JB. They really do shine throughout this film and it really wouldn’t have worked without them. If you like heart-warming dramas, or good baseballs film, then you’ll get something out of this. It really is a lot of fun.

8/10

Off The Screen Magazine ________________________________________________________________

IN C INEM AS

RELEASE DATE: September 19th CAST: Chloë Grace Moretz, Mireille Enos, Jamie Blackley, Joshua Leonard, Liana Liberato, Jakob Davies DIRECTOR: R.J. Cutler

THE STORY Mia’s (Chloë Grace Moretz) life is changed forever when, during a drive with her parents (Mireille Enos and Joshua Leonard) and her young brother, Teddy (Jakob Davies), they’re involved in a crash. Mia finds herself out of her body, seeing herself going through surgery, as the doctors try to keep her alive. While she wonders what to do she remembers her life. Her time with her parents, her first love with Adam (Jamie Blackley), who bought her out of her shell

If I Stay

and got her into the world, her love of the cello and her audition for Julliard that could ruin her entire relationship with Adam, but all the while she wonders whether she should stay or leave, especially when she discovers that her parents both died in the crash, and she’s going to be waking up an orphan.

THE VERDICT This is an incredibly moving piece of cinema. It’s touching, exploring the universal question of what course a person should follow, not only life and death, which is in this film, but in everyday situations too. Should we go on that date? Should we try out for that exclusive school? Should we stay with those

we love, or risk everything to get what we want? These are all things we can relate too, and things that are explored in this film. Moretz is wonderful again, as we expect from her at this point. She is really the emotional crux of this entire film and it really wouldn’t be as good without her. Blackley is good, though somewhat whiny. I do understand that this is the character he’s playing, but it comes across as a little childish in his performance, which is a little of a pity. Liana Liberato is cool as Moretz’s best friend. She’s quirky and outspoken and really needed more screen time. Enos and Leonard both shine as Moretz’s parents. They

Off The Screen Magazine ________________________________________________________________

IN C INEM AS

are rock while she is classical. They don’t really understand her, but are so supportive and really believe in her that they give her the courage to believe in herself. I really love the moments with them and Blackley too, someone they feel more comfortable with than with their own daughter. It leads to some really funny scenes when they try to push the two together. I will say that it’s not as good as The Fault in our Stars, the most resent teen drama that could connect to this film. They tend to do the same thing over and over again in this film, especially the fight between Blackley and Moretz’s characters which is the same thing over and over. It does tend to become

a little tedious. Then there’s the heavy metaphor of should I stay or should I go which runs through the entire plot, in one way or another. Again it becomes a little tedious, but because of great emotional moments and great performances this is still a film I would recommend to anyone who likes their films to jerk some serious tears.

8/10

Off The Screen Magazine ________________________________________________________________

IN C INEM AS

The Maze Runner leader, Alby (Aml Ameen) and makes friends with Newt (Thomas BrodieSangster) and Chuck (Blake Cooper), but he’s not like the rest, curious and desperate to find a way out, even going so far as to enter the maze, against the rules, to save Alby’s life, battling the monsters that live in the maze, the grievers. Everything changes when the lift comes up again carrying the only girl, Theresa (Kaya Scodelario), that’s ever come to the glade. She brings with her two vials, and maybe answers, but when the maze doesn’t close at night, and the grievers attack the gladers in their homes, Thomas realises that they need to get out, or die.

THE VERDICT

RELEASE DATE: September 26th CAST: Dylan O'Brien, Kaya Scodelario, Will Poulter, Ki Hong Lee, Aml Ameen, Blake Cooper, Thomas Brodie-Sangster DIRECTOR: Wes Ball

THE STORY Thomas (Dylan O’Brien) awakens in an industrial, metallic lift with no memories of whom he is or where he comes from, only

his name. When the lift opens he finds himself in a glade with a group of other boys, surrounded by a huge wall, that he soon discovers is, in fact, a massive maze. Each morning a few of the boys, the runners, led by Minho (Ki Hong Lee), enter the maze, trying to find a way out, but after three years they haven’t found anything. Thomas is shown the ropes by the groups’

Based on the first book in the YA (young adult) novel series by James Dashner, this film falls comfortably with Hunger Games and Divergent as the latest in the long line of YA film adaptions. It’s an interesting concept, boys, trapped in the middle of a maze, trying to find their way out, like a futuristic version of Lord of the Flies, but it’s far more civilised than those boys were. Alby does refer to a time when there was no law and things were bad, as he puts it, but now they have order and peace, except

Off The Screen Magazine ________________________________________________________________

IN C INEM AS

with the grievers in the maze. It’s an interesting exploration of peoples will to survive, even in the most dire of circumstances, especially near the end when it’s obvious they need to escape, and yet a few of the boys will not leave, thinking of the glade as their home. It’s a very interesting dynamic. These films only work if the sets are incredible, and these are, not just the glade, which actually looks like a rather nice place to live, but the maze itself is awesome. It is frightening, reminding me a little of the maze in Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire, though this is more industrial. It’s remarkably put together and really becomes a character all its own. Then you add the grievers, who look like robotic spiders, mixed with a fly’s head and a scorpion’s tail, and thoroughly creepy, and you’ve got some of the

most frightening visuals since the Thing. They really aid in the terror of the maze itself. The acting is good too, especially from O’Brien who is a great actor to watch. He just has something that makes you want to watch him. The rest of the boys are great. It was nice to see Brodie-Sangster in a feature again. You’ll remember him as the cute little boy who was in love in Love, Actually and as the eldest brother in Nanny McPhee. He really is a great actor and I hope to see more of him. A special mention needs to go to Will Poulter as the glader who doesn’t like Thomas. He does a great job, especially at the end when he loses his mind somewhat. I think he’s a fabulous actor and really hope he gets some really juicy roles. He’d be great.

If you’ve liked the other YA features, then you’re going to really enjoy this one, even if the overall plot is somewhat convoluted near the end and doesn’t make very much sense. It is an enjoyable watch, and we’re all going to be waiting for the sequel, there are three books in the series.

8/10

Off The Screen Magazine ________________________________________________________________

IN C INEM AS

Planes 2: Fire and Rescue RELEASE DATE: September 26th CAST: the voices of Dane Cook, Ed Harris, Julie Bowen, Wes Studi, Teri Hatcher, Hal Holbrook DIRECTOR: Roberts Gannaway

THE STORY It’s been a while since Dusty Crophopper (voiced by Dane Cook) won the around-theworld aerial race, and he’s been winning races all over ever since, but when he has engine trouble he learns that because of the racing, his gear box has been damaged, and worse is that it’s out of production so he can’t get a new one. As he’s coming to terms with the fact that he may never be able to race again he accidentally causes a fire at

the landing strip. This leads to the abilities of the old fire truck, Mayday (Hal Holbrook) being called into question, and the strip being shut down right before the corn festival, which could mean the end of their little town unless they can find a second fire fighter. Dusty volunteers and heads off to Piston Peak to join Blade Ranger (Ed Harris) and his elite team of fire fighters that includes Dipper (Julie Bowen), who has a huge crush on Dusty, and the enigmatic Windlifter (Wes Studi), as Dusty tries to learn what it means to be a fire fighter, and that there may be life after racing.

THE VERDICT The original Planes was a great film. It was full of

inspiration and messages about following your true calling, even if that’s not what you were built for. Even with that it didn’t do as well as it’s on the ground original, Cars, but was still a hit among the younger audiences. Planes 2: Fire and Rescue is going to be even bigger. It’s got all the inspiration that I loved about the first film, but this time it has a real message about fire fighters, and how these people put themselves in real danger every time they go out to do their jobs, and we should all be grateful. Our favourite characters are back, but they’re joined by great new characters like Blade, a helicopter with a tragic history, and Mayday, a

Off The Screen Magazine ________________________________________________________________

IN C INEM AS great fire truck, who is just past his prime. These new characters help Dusty to see a way into the future, even when all hope seems lost, which is something I think every one of us usually have to face at one point or another in our lives. After that you also have this incredible animation, especially the fire, which is frightening and actually looks hot and destructive. The cars in the film, the jumpers, are really cool too, and one of them is even voiced by our very own Darren Simpson, see if you can spot which one, because I couldnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t. I especially loved the CHiPâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s throwback, which was really funny. This is a great film that young and old will enjoy.

9/10

Off The Screen Magazine ________________________________________________________________

The Equalizer IN C INEM AS

Slavi, to give her, her freedom, but Slavi is not interested. It’s at this point that we discover who Robert really is, as he kills five men in the room, all armed, in a matter of seconds, including Slavi. What Robert doesn’t know is that Slavi was just a middle man, representing a real bad guy named Vladimir Pushkin (Vladimir Kulich), and when Pushkin learns of Slavi’s death he sends an equally insane person, Teddy (Marton Csokas), after the man responsible. Now Robert has to break a vow he made to his late wife and go back to the life he’d left behind, and become a man that he’d hoped he’d left behind.

THE VERDICT RELEASE DATE: September 26th CAST: Denzel Washington, Chloe Grace Moretz, Marton Csokas, Johnny Skourtis DIRECTOR: Antoine Fuqua

THE STORY Robert McCall (Denzel Washington) seems like a regular guy. He’s liked by all his co-workers at HomeMart, he’s helping a friend, Ralphie (Johnny Skourtis), to pass his test to become a security guard, but he is a little OCD, and doesn’t sleep very well, which leads him to a small diner in the middle of the night where he meets Teri

(Chloe Grace Moretz), a very young Russian hooker, who also frequents the diner. They become friends as he tells her about the books he’s reading and she tells him about her hopes to become a singer, and not do what she does anymore, but things change when she doesn’t come in to the diner for a few nights. The owner tells Robert that she was beaten really badly and is in intensive care. Robert goes to see her and discovers who is responsible, her pimp, Slavi (David Meunier), so Robert goes to Slavi’s club to try and buy Teri, whose real name is Aleena, from

Based on a TV series that ran from 1985 to 1989, The Equalizer is an action packed ride that leaves you wanting more. It’s exciting and entertaining, and uber violent. Everything you could want from an ex CIA assassin turned vigilante movie. Washington is great, drawing on the work he did from the last time he teamed with director Fuqua, which was Training Day. He does a great job of showing the duel personalities of this character. On one hand he is a really great guy. The father figure to pretty much everyone he meets, especially Aleena and Ralphie, but also a fun loving

Off The Screen Magazine ________________________________________________________________

IN C INEM AS

guy, like he is in the eyes of the younger kids he works with. He is the kind of guy you would go to with your problems, because he would listen and give you good advice on how to sort it out yourself, but then he changes into the killing machine. All compassion, all mercy, all fear goes out the window and his eyes go completely dead as he

makes others in the room just that. He does a great job to convince us completely believe that these two personae’s could easily exist in the same person. Moretz is wonderful, even if she has a really small role this time around. She is the catalyst for Washington to go homicidal again, and really comes across as a vulnerable little girl at one

second, but then a tough, street wise hooker a second later. She is simply sublime. The other great character is the psychotic hunter Teddy. CsoKas is creepy and violent, and really not the kind of person you ever want to meet. He doesn’t have the layers that the other characters have, but what he has he makes good use of, really giving Washington a run for his money, and dying in spectacular fashion after killing in equally spectacular fashion. If you like action films with a healthy dose of story and violence, then this is the film you should see. You won’t be disappointed.

9/10 Off The Screen Magazine ________________________________________________________________

IN C INEM AS

The Great Beauty (La Grande Bellezza) RELEASE DATE: September 26th CAST: Toni Servillo, Carlo Verdone, Sabrina Ferilli DIRECTOR: Paolo Sorrentino

THE STORY The life of Jep Gambardella (Toni Servillo) is a barrage of parties and art exhibits as he lives his life as an art critic in Rome. He has a group of friends, if you can call them that, who he sees all the time, moving between the same circles. He is accepted as a serious writer from the one serious novel he wrote many years ago, and seems content with his life of

parties and art exhibits and insanity that is his life, but on the night of his 65th birthday, with the madness of friends surrounding him, he begins to think that perhaps there is more to life than what he’s doing. He begins to think about his past, about the one woman he ever loved, the one that got away, and about a future he never thought about before, and starts to see the beauty, and horror, that is all around him.

THE VERDICT This film is strictly for the art house crowd. Firstly, it is in

Italian, so you have to read the whole film, which I know doesn’t appeal to the large majority of the South African audiences, and secondly, it is so slow and so artistic that the majority of the South African audience will either fall asleep, or walk out, twenty minutes into it. That being said, it is one of the most beautiful, most thought provoking films I’ve seen in a while. Of course you need to watch it all the way to the end for it make any sense, which is half of the problem, but if you do it weaves a tales of beauty and loss that really reflects what

Off The Screen Magazine ________________________________________________________________

IN C INEM AS

everyone goes through on this ridiculous little blue planet of ours. The city is incredible. Rome is one of the most amazing cities in the world, and really features in this film, both good and bad, starting with a tourist having a heart attack while looking at the splendour, which has no point to the story, but that’s the kind of film this is. Then there are the insane

parties, the more insane art, and I use that word very loosely, exhibits Jep attends, including one where the artist runs head first into a wall, giving herself a concussion, really weird. Then there’s the bo-tox party that completely lost me, but that’s the joy of this film, which I discovered once sitting through it. Yes, it is completely mental, and yes, it makes no sense as a group

of scenes, but if you look through that. If you look at the sum of the whole, rather than the pieces of it, then it really has an amazing message that touches your very soul. I think this film deserved the Best Foreign Language Film Oscar in 2014 and is amazing piece of cinematic mastery, but it is not for everyone, so if you’re not sure, then rather skip it and go watch the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles instead.

8/10

Off The Screen Magazine ________________________________________________________________

IN C INEM AS off the Turk invasion of his land. He finds an old vampire (Charles Dance) in the cave, the first of his kind, cursed by a demon to stay in the cave until someone comes to take his curse and free him. Vlad takes the curse, becoming a vampire, but if he doesn’t drink blood for three days he will return to his mortal form. He only hopes he can withstand, and destroy Mehmet’s army in that time.

THE VERDICT

Dracula Untold RELEASE DATE: October 3rd CAST: Luke Evans, Dominic Cooper, Sarah Gadon, Art Parkinson, Charles Dance DIRECTOR: Gary Shore

THE STORY After years of fighting for the Turks, after being taken as a child and being trained to be a monster, Prince Vlad Tepes (Luke Evans) returns to his beloved Transylvania to rule in peace. For years he does just that, until he learns that a patrol of Turks, who still control Transylvania, have been killed by a creature living in Broken Tooth Mountain.

When the Turk emissary comes looking for answers, Vlad has none, so the Turk passes on a message, that they must send 1 thousand boys to the Sultan Mehmet (Dominic Cooper), to join his army for the invasion of Europe, and Vlad’s own son, Ingeras (Art Parkinson), is to be among them. At first Vlad is inclined to agree, not wanting war, and not being able to win if it came to that, but when he can’t turn his son over to the Sultan, he goes in search of the creature that killed the patrol, for the power to fight

I’m a huge fan of Dracula, having seen pretty much every film that’s been made to include him. This isn’t the first time that we’ve seen the origins of the famed vampire. In Bram Stoker’s Dracula (1992) we saw Gary Oldman’s Dracula cursing God and drinking blood after the death of his beloved wife, played by Winona Ryder in that version. That entire scene was only about five minutes at the beginning of the film though, so this is the first time that the origin has been looked at in so much detail. This time, instead of cursing God and taking on the curse for revenge, he takes it to save his family and people. He is noble and pure of spirit and, spoiler alert, actually manages to withstand the blood lust, but it doesn’t matter. His people turn on him when they see what he’s become, even though

Off The Screen Magazine ________________________________________________________________

IN C INEM AS

he did it to save them, and then worse happens, which leads to him not caring if he stays a vampire forever, and searching for revenge. One of the most heart breaking scenes is at the end, when he gives up his family, and indeed his entire people, for the greater good, knowing that he is now a monster forever. It is touching in a way you didn’t think would work, but it really does. A lot of the emotion, and the depth of the movie, is thanks to Evans. He is a hero, but also a monster. As Tepes, the warrior for the

Turks, he impaled thousands of people on pikes, creating himself as a monster to stop others from rising against the Turks. His thinking was that if they’re that afraid they wouldn’t revolt and he wouldn’t be sent to kill them. It worked, but turned him into the monster. When his kingdom is threatened he does the same thing, becoming the monster with the mind to repent later. It’s an ends justifies the means, situation, which we all know rarely works out. Cooper’s Mehmet is greedy and foolhardy and

everything you could want from a villain who stands against Dracula himself, even seeming to have a chance to defeat him. It’s an added element for both characters that they used to be friends, which creates extra animosity between them. The supporting cast are good too, including Sarah Gadon as Tepes’ wife, and his centre. She is the one who controls the beast, even after he becomes a vampire, but ultimately also leads to his downfall, which was inevitable.

Off The Screen Magazine ________________________________________________________________

IN C INEM AS

Parkinson does a great job as the son Dracula will kill, or die, for, and has a couple of the most touching emotional moments in the film. The other vampire in the film is Dance’s master. He is creepy and violent and everything you would want from the dangerous, soulless creature. He has a small role, but the scenes he’s featured in he really steals. Of course, you can’t have a Dracula film without good effects, and this film has them in spades. The bats are really cool, and used to great effect in the film. The makeup is also really great, especially for Dance as the master vampire. If you like vampire film then you’ll enjoy this one, and the

ending looks open for a sequel, so let’s hope that happens, because that would be really cool.

9/10

Off The Screen Magazine ________________________________________________________________

Dolphin Tale 2

companion, passes away. Due to ASDA regulations, if Winter doesn’t have a companion she has to go to another aquarium, but Clearwater doesn’t have another dolphin to pair with Winter, until a very young dolphin is found, who they name Hope. Now they prepare to pair the two together, and just hope they like each other. Meanwhile Sawyer (Nathan Gamble), Winter’s best human friend, is offered a scholarship to a school semester at sea on a boat and has to decide whether he wants to go, and leave Winter, or not.

THE VERDICT

IN C INEM AS

RELEASE DATE: October 3rd CAST: Morgan Freeman, Ashley Judd, Nathan Gamble, Cozi Zuehlsdorff, Harry Connick Jr. DIRECTOR: Charles Martin Smith

THE STORY Following on from where Dolphin Tale (2011) left off, Dolphin Tale 2 tells the

further adventures of the dolphin with a prosthetic, Winter. It’s been a few years since Winter was taken in at the Clearwater Marine Hospital and she’s doing very well, bringing in loads of visitors to see her, but things change when her friend, Panama, an elderly dolphin that was Winter’s

This film is exactly what you expect it to be. It’s sweet and touching and a really cool film for kids, and adults alike. The kids will love the dolphins and the story, while the parents will like it because it’s not as babyish and sickenly sentimental as some of these films can get. What’s better is that it’s all true, which is proven at the end when they have actual footage from the events depicted in the film. It’s really inspiring. The performances are good too, especially from the younger cast. Cozi Zuehlsdorff, reprising her role of Hazel, and Gamble both give great performances in the film. Gamble shows the confusion behind making a decision

Off The Screen Magazine ________________________________________________________________

IN C INEM AS

that could change his life forever, while Zuehlsdorff has love to contend with as she sees another girl showing interest in Sawyer and has to deal with that. They are both good actors and I look forward to seeing them in more roles. Harry Connick Jr. does a great job too as Dr. Clay Haskett, the leader of the Clearwater Marine Hospital. He carries all the emotional turmoil well, especially when he needs to decide whether to keep or release a

dolphin they found, which result in losing Winter as well. He is completely believable and focused. Of course, the animals are the stars of this film, and I sat in the screening trying to see where the animal ended and the CGI started, but I seriously couldnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t. The film makers have done such a great job that they look amazing, especially the pelican, who is completely insane and steals all his scenes. It really loved him.

9/10

Off The Screen Magazine ________________________________________________________________

I, Origins

IN C INEM AS RELEASE DATE: ocTOBER 3RD CAST: Michael Pitt, Brit Marling, Astrid BergèsFrisbey DIRECTOR: Mike Cahill

THE STORY Ian (Michael Pitt) is a molecular biologist with a special interest in eyes. His idea is to prove the evolution from the first animals to have them to human beings, to prove the theory of evolution once and for all, thus he takes photos

of people’s eyes. On a night out at a party he runs into a girl in a mask, Sofi (Astrid Bergès-Frisbey) and they hit it off, and he takes pictures of her eyes, which are really unique. He loses her after the party, but he tracks her down again and they start a relationship, culminating in him asking her to marry him. She agrees, but before they can follow through tragedy strikes and she dies. Years later and he’s now married to his former laboratory

assistant, Karen (Brit Marling), and they’ve just had a child, but when the hospital checks the child’s retinal scan for the computer system it comes up as that of a man who dies recently. This leads Ian on a global search for the most unique eyes he’s ever seen, eyes he’d though he’d lost forever, and a discovery that could change the world.

THE VERDICT This film is a bit of a pity. It had the possibility of being a

Off The Screen Magazine ________________________________________________________________

IN C INEM AS

really interesting and intense film, but it seems to have been let down by a film maker, rather than a story. The story is amazing, and this is a major spoiler, so beware, after the mix up in the hospital Ian fins himself discovering that maybe people have the same iris patterns, but more than that. The discovery leads him to the conclusion that perhaps the iris patterns are the same because the person has been reincarnated. That’s the point of this film. After he’s lost Sofi he finds her incredibly unique eyes on a little girl in India, a girl who was born after Sofi died, so he goes to India to find her and prove whether or not it’s Sofi reincarnated. Sounds great right? Well it could have been, but the

first hour of the film is slow and boring and not even about the main plot of the film, instead focusing on strange scenes between Sofi and Ian, which could have been covered in five minutes. Then we jump forward in time, and into the actual plot, but by then you don’t care, and it’s still marred by these artistic shots, and overly unnecessary dialogue. It’s almost like the film makers had a short story idea and then tried to turn it into a feature length film by adding unappealing artisticness to it. And who was that guy on the elevator? It’s a real pity, because with a little more focus there could have been something really good here. The performances are good, the story, once it gets going, is compelling, but it’s ruined

by overthinking. What a shame.

7/10

Off The Screen Magazine ________________________________________________________________

The November Man

IN C INEM AS RELEASE DATE: October 3rd CAST: Pierce Brosnan, Luke Bracey, Olga Kurylenko DIRECTOR: Roger Donaldson

THE STORY Ex-CIA operative Devereaux (Pierce Brosnan) is brought back into the fold when he discovers that a woman he once turned from the Russian’s into a CIA asset, Natalia (Mediha Musliovic) is in danger and needs his help. He goes after her to save her, but just after he’s

found her and is getting her out, she’s killed. He tracks the guy that shot her and discovers that it’s his old protégé, Mason (Luke Bracey) who is now a fullfledged CIA agent. Now Devereaux needs to discover what Natalia was carrying, and what it means to the next president of Russia, Arkady Federov (Lazar Ristovski), who is willing to kill to get it back, and those in power at the CIA who seem willing to help him.

THE VERDICT This film is full of action and explosions. Brosnan is kind of like an American version of James Bond, just without the woman. He is a one man killing machine and carries it off well, making you believe that he really could do everything he is supposed to do in the film. Bracey is cool as the younger agent. He looks to Devereaux as a father figure, until he discovers that he didn’t recommend him to be an agent, at which point he’s just out to prove him wrong. The story is compelling and well thought out. It has enough twists and turns to keep the audience on their toes, and enough gun fire and explosions to keep any action fan happy. If you like action then this is one you should see.

8/10

Off The Screen Magazine ________________________________________________________________

IN C INEM AS

Gone Girl RELEASE DATE: October 10TH CAST: Ben Affleck, Rosamund Pike, Neil Patrick Harris, Tyler Perry, Carrie Coon, Kim Dickens, Patrick Fugit DIRECTOR: David Fincher

THE STORY On the day of their fifth wedding anniversary, Nick Dunne (Ben Affleck) comes home to find the coffee table in his living room broken and his wife, Amy (Rosamund Pike) missing. In the ensuing investigation by the lead detective, Rhonda Boney (Kim Dickens) begins to think that Nick was responsible for whatever happened to his wife, putting together the evidence, which includes a series of clues she left

behind for their wedding anniversary treasure hunt, the fact that Nick wasn’t exactly faithful in the marriage and doesn’t appear all that broken up by the disappearance, and that Amy appears to be the perfect woman, but as the investigation continues, and Nick tries to find out what happened himself, things begin to unravel and the truth, which is far more complex than any of them could have imagined, becomes clear.

THE VERDICT It’s really difficult to say anything about this film without giving away the major plot twists, and there are several of them. I don’t want to give away too much, because it really would a

spoiler for the film, but I can tell you that nothing is as it seems. It’s all a mystery, wrapped in an enigma, covered by a conundrum, and it’s wonderful. The story is so complex with so many layers and turns that the audience really doesn’t know where it’s heading until the very last moments. Affleck is wonderful as the charming, though emotionally unavailable husband. He’s not a good man, he’s a normal man, who does silly things, and though they are not illegal, they are somewhat immoral. He gives a good performance in what is a complex character. He has many layers and Affleck manages to pull each layer off at the correct time in the

Off The Screen Magazine ________________________________________________________________

IN C INEM AS

film for it have the utmost impact for the viewer. He is actually a good actor and makes very good use of the twists in the story. The supporting cast, Dickens as the detective who is convinced Nick is guilty, Patrick Fugit as her partner, who is even more convinced, Carrie Coon as Nick’s twin sister, who wants to believe him, and really does, but as the evidence starts to mount against him, and things start to look murky, isn’t really sure what to believe, Neil Patrick Harris as Amy’s high school boyfriend, who doesn’t have a huge role in the film, but steals the scenes he is in, and is a serious turning point in the film, and I’ll say no more about that and Tyler Perry as the lawyer Nick goes to after the truth

comes out. He also doesn’t have a huge role, but he is great in the scenes he’s in. Each and every one of these actors does a great job in supporting Affleck and pushing the story forward. The stand out, and the performance of her career, comes from Pike. Again I don’t want to give too much away, but she is incredible in this performance. She is everything this woman needs to be and completely convincing in doing it. At the end of the film you sit for five minutes, completely speechless as the film washes over you, and that is, in large part, because of Pike. She is astounding. If you like mysteries with some serious plot twists this is a fil you need to go and see. You will absolutely love

it, and want to watch it again.

9/10

Off The Screen Magazine ________________________________________________________________

IN C INEM AS

City of Violence RELEASE DATE: October 10th CAST: Orlando Bloom, Forest Whitaker, Tanya van Graan, Sven Ruygrok DIRECTOR: Jérôme Salle

THE STORY South African police officers Ali Sokhela (Forest Whitaker) and Brian Epkeen (Orlando Bloom) stumble onto a much bigger case than they first suspect when the body of a young woman is found in the hills of Cape Town. At first it seems like a she was beaten to death, and drugs where involved, but as they investigate they stumble onto a conspiracy that reaches across the ocean and back in time to the Apartheid era in South Africa, a time that is still having vast reaching consequences on both of their lives.

THE VERDICT

This is an interesting film. Firstly, it’s based on a book by a French author, which is interesting considering it’s a South African story with South African characters, but it is a great story. Based on true events, albeit loosely, the film focuses near the end, spoiler alert, on a concept developed during apartheid to deteriorate the black population in South Africa. Now that apartheid is over, the drug is being sold to a buyer overseas, and that is what the police officers are fighting, but there are a lot of other levels to the film, levels that we, who live in South Africa, will understand. The fear of the black population, without jobs or prospects, the fear of the white population, concerned about losing their jobs and being cast aside because of the colour of

their skins. Every one lives in fear and suspicion. It’s something we deal with every day, and it’s well translated onto the screen by director Jerome Salle. The actors are good in their roles, but I have to say that it’s a pity that they bought in and America and a Brit to play South Africans. Even so, Bloom and Whitaker are both really good. They both have complex and layered characters to play with and both do good jobs with them. Bloom accent is really good, and obviously he spent quite a lot of time on it. Whitaker’s accent is also good, especially when he speaks in Zulu, but he does have a little of an American twinge every now and again on the English parts. The South African actors, on the other hand, are not so great. There are a few of them in the film, none really

Off The Screen Magazine ________________________________________________________________

IN C INEM AS

featured, with the exception of Danny Keogh as Bloom and Whitaker’s boss on the force who is actually quite good, but the rest are wooden and unconvincing, especially when they are on screen beside Bloom and Whitaker. It’s a bit of a pity, especially since we know that our actors have the talent to stand up next to the best on the world, but for some reason they just

can’t do it here. It’s a shame, but not a huge distraction to the film. If you like good thrillers with good stories, then this is one you will enjoy.

8/10

Off The Screen Magazine ________________________________________________________________

___________________________________________ ____________ __

Cozi Zuehlsdorff and Nathan Gamble

Telling a New Tale Our favourite dolphin with a prosthetic tail is back this month in Dolphin Tale 2. The two young stars, Cozi Zuehlsdorff and Nathan Gamble, tell us about returning to the aquarium and swimming with the dolphins again

n 2011 a young dolphin that had lost her tail swam into our hearts when we watched Dolphin Tale and learnt about Winter, the real-life dolphin who lost her tail and was fitted with a prosthetic to save her life. This month we see the release of the sequel in Dolphin Tale 2. This time Winter faces a personal loss when her friend and companion, Panama, passes away. Due to ASDA rules the Clearwater Marine Hospital

risks losing Winter if they can’t find her a suitable companion, something she needs to have, but that proves to be more difficult than they first thought. Also returning for this film are the two young stars that featured in the first film, Cozi Zuehlsdorff and Nathan Gamble. This time both the human characters also face dilemmas, Gamble’s character, Sawyer, is offered a scholarship to spend three months on a boat in the middle of the ocean researching ocean life, but

isn’t sure he wants to leave Winter, and Zuehlsdorff’s character, Hazel, faces a dilemma of her own when a young volunteer starts showing interest in Sawyer and she has to face her feelings for him and make a decision. We sat down with both Zuehlsdorff and Gamble to chat about their characters, playing documentarian, her music, what they learnt from Winter and where they’re planning on going in their careers…

Off Off The The Screen Screen Magazine Magazine ________________________________________________________________ ________________________________________________________________

___________________________________________

Cozi Zuehlsdorff and Nathan Gamble

“I’ve never met a kid who’s been inspired by Winter with a bad attitude.” – Cozi Zuehlsdorff

Off The Screen Magazine ________________________________________________________________

___________________________________________

Cozi, your character is a documentarian in this. Had you ever touched a camera before, or did you have to learn? COZI ZUEHLSDORFF: Oh, no, I’ve always loved making movies. Same with Nathan. We both love to be filmmakers. From my earliest memories, my friends would always come over and I’d be like, ‘Cool, it’s fun to talk, but let’s make a movie.’ Like my American Girl dolls would be saving the world. I had it all set up. NATHAN GAMBLE: I actually go to this film camp every year that my buddy runs. They bring in real DPs [directors of photography]. There’s a guy from Pixar that

Cozi Zuehlsdorff and Nathan Gamble

comes and talks about how to write a really good story. Basically, you have three hours to film it, three hours to edit it, and then you show it at the end of the week. And whatever I’m doing, whether it’s acting, directing, writing or producing, it’s cool because you get to be all those parts throughout the week. You can act in it and produce it and write it. COZI ZUEHLSDORFF: I’m hopefully going next year. NATHAN GAMBLE: I’m trying to convince her to go. But any part of filming, I love every minute of it. Making these movies must have been a real learning experience for you. What

did you learn from Winter that reflects in you now? NATHAN GAMBLE: I think how Winter inspires people is not to give up hope. And I think everyone, in some part of their life, goes through a rough patch, and you think there’s no hope. But I think if you just believe that you’re going to get through it and that it’s going to make you a better person, that helped me. I think Winter’s message helps thousands of people. COZI ZUEHLSDORFF: And through her we’ve met so many beautiful children. And so many beautiful people—army veterans, Wounded Warriors, just incredible people that are going through all kinds of life

Off The Screen Magazine ________________________________________________________________

“Parents have

___________________________________________

Cozi Zuehlsdorff and Nathan Gamble has

gone up to me and said, ‘My kid has watched Dolphin Tale 70 times.” – Nathan Gamble challenges. That’s something that every human on this Earth has in common. We’ve all had something hard happen to us. And it’s just incredible to watch these children, because, honestly, I’ve never met a kid who’s been inspired by Winter with a bad attitude.

opened my eyes. Before the first Dolphin Tale, I would see them in their wheelchairs or whatever, and I would just think of them differently, right? But I got to meet them, and they’re just like us; they have personalities. They’re just, like Cozi says, a little braver than us.

They’re all going through something harder than I’ve ever dealt with, and they all have a better attitude than I could ever hope to have. [Laughs] They’re incredible.

COZI ZUEHLSDORFF: Yeah, exactly. Something we always try to tell kids is, ‘Whenever you see someone who’s just like you except for has a harder life challenge, just know the only difference is that they’re braver.’

NATHAN GAMBLE: That’s something that I really need to thank Winter for, is that meeting all these kids who are amputees, wounded veterans, people with physical handicaps, it really

Talk a little bit about your music, Cozi? COZI ZUEHLSDORFF: Well, I have a song in this movie, called ‘Brave Souls,’ which is very fitting, that goes out to those children, especially

one in particular that I was thinking about when I was singing, who passed away two days after she met Winter while we were shooting. She was four years old and died of leukemia. Her name was Zoe. So I think of her. They just stopped by the aquarium. They were trying to get her some medical treatment. But her family actually visited afterwards and told us how amazing that had been. But, really, my music career is something that’s always been a part of my life. Music was really my first thing, and my first role was Annie in Annie, the musical. I have an indie pop kind of style. Everyone has to tell me, ‘Be a little more pop.’ I’m like, ‘Okay, but I like to be indie.’ But, yeah, I love to write. So, hopefully you’ll

Off The Screen Magazine ________________________________________________________________

___________________________________________

Cozi Zuehlsdorff and Nathan Gamble beautiful voice too, by the way. COZI ZUEHLSDORFF: Yeah, he loves jazz music and musicals and stuff like that. Loves some good West Side Story, just all sorts of things. NATHAN GAMBLE: He was bellowing it at one time. It was fun. COZI ZUEHLSDORFF: He’s so great. He’s a really good singer. You’ve spent a lot of time at the aquarium and working with the dolphins. COZI ZUEHLSDORFF: And Nathan is now a spokesperson. What is it that brings you back to it? Is there something behind the filming experience? COZI ZUEHLSDORFF: Well, we love the aquarium.

see an EP coming from me later this fall. I’m going to have a huge hand in writing it, because that’s just my favorite thing in the universe. Did you guys notice that dolphins respond to any particular music with your opportunity to observe them?

COZI ZUEHLSDORFF: Oh gosh! NATHAN GAMBLE: Morgan Freeman, which is weird. COZI ZUEHLSDORFF: Steel drums. NATHAN GAMBLE: Because he sang more than Harry Connick did. He has a

NATHAN GAMBLE: It’s just the love that we have for Winter, for everyone who works there, for David Yates. We just want to support them as much as we can. COZI ZUEHLSDORFF: For their message - Rescue, Rehab and Release. The great work that they do there is something that needs to be out in the media more. They rescue animals;

Off The Screen Magazine ________________________________________________________________

___________________________________________ they rehab them, and then they release them. And it’s so amazing to watch their work flourish and to bring people’s attention to that through our celebrity. Can you talk about the little spark of romance between your two characters? COZI ZUEHLSDORFF: Oh gosh! Well, we’ve grown up with our audience, and we’re providing some excellent story material for children, teenagers and adults. And we wanted to provide something for the teens, so we added a little element of possible romance. It’s very innocent for the children, but also adds that little spark. NATHAN GAMBLE: It ends

Cozi Zuehlsdorff and Nathan Gamble

on such a little cliffhanger almost. COZI ZUEHLSDORFF: I think what’s so cute about the relationship between Hazel and Sawyer is that Hazel obviously likes Sawyer and Sawyer has no idea how he feels yet. NATHAN GAMBLE: He’s so oblivious. COZI ZUEHLSDORFF: So, I could totally relate to Hazel, for all those girls who are out there who think, ‘Does he like me?’ Or: ‘What kind of signal is he sending me? Does he like me?’ It’s so cute, because on that one scene where I ask, ‘That volunteer, what was her name again?’ And he says, ‘Oh, Suzie.’ [Laughs] It was

so funny! NATHAN GAMBLE: You were really good at that fishing for some sort of comment. COZI ZUEHLSDORFF: Yeah, thank you. You were really good when you turned your back, too, because as a girl, I could sympathize. I was thinking, ‘Come on. Don’t like turn away where I can’t even see your face.’ Are you that clueless in life, Nathan? NATHAN GAMBLE: Like with female specimens? I’d say very clueless. I am 16 right now and I have yet to go on a date. COZI ZUEHLSDORFF: He

Off The Screen Magazine ________________________________________________________________

___________________________________________ called us specimens because I have a nickname for him. I call him “male specimen” all the time. “Spec,” for short. Which direction do you want to go in your careers? Do you have it mapped out or are you winging it? NATHAN GAMBLE: All my chips are in acting right now.

Actually, I have no idea. I’m having a great time acting, really. I love writing. I’ve directed something that I really enjoyed. Just anything that has to do with film. COZI ZUEHLSDORFF: Yeah. He’s a great director and

Cozi Zuehlsdorff and Nathan Gamble

filmmaker. I watched his short film that he made at the camp, and man, he’s going far no matter what he pursues in the industry.

role that I can count on all the time in my life. So I’m definitely looking at other things that I am just as passionate about.

Cozi, you’re balancing acting and music?

Is it important for you to represent these characters you play in Dolphin Tale 2, who are just good natured, who are just kids who like dolphins and like science.

COZI ZUEHLSDORFF: Yes. I’m going to college. I’m possibly pursuing a job as an

elementary school teacher. There are many things that I would like to do with my life. I want to leave my options opens for the Lord to direct me wherever He wants me to go. I recognize that with my really strong beliefs there may not even be a like

NATHAN GAMBLE: It’s so important, because I can’t tell you how many times parents have gone up to me and said, ‘My kid has watched Dolphin Tale 70 times.’

Off The Screen Magazine ________________________________________________________________

___________________________________________

Cozi Zuehlsdorff and Nathan Gamble of the greatest teachers I’ve ever worked with. COZI ZUEHLSDORFF: His on set teacher. I love her too. NATHAN GAMBLE: She has Spina Bifida. And I really got to see how she deals with it and how she interacts with Winter and how she sees Winter. And when she talks about what Dolphin Tale and Dolphin Tale 2 means for her, it just blows me away. COZI ZUEHLSDORFF: For me, I guess the most special ones are these kids who are so close to going up to heaven. I wouldn’t really call those ‘fan encounters’ as much as just a dream fulfilled. So we’ve seen so many dreams fulfilled.

COZI ZUEHLSDORFF: Yeah, and our characters have no affectations to them, which is so cool. I told my mom I was always so frightened of being a teenager because I thought I would turn into the Hulk and have no control over my actions. [Laughs] But it was just cool to really grow up and know that you don’t have to say, ‘Mom, you’re lame.’ I think we’re putting something out there that hopefully, like Morgan Freeman says in the film, ‘They’re not listening to what we say, they’re watching what we do.’ Hazel has some conflict with

her dad and she approaches him with respect, and he listens to her with respect. It’s like, ‘Dude, that’s how we should treat our parents.’ NATHAN GAMBLE: Beautifully written by Charles Martin Smith, too. Can you talk about your most touching fan encounters? There’s got to be one that just blew you away. NATHAN GAMBLE: You know what? My teacher for both movies, she’s a wonderful lady, I think one

One boy had a condition called ‘butterfly skin.’ There’s a scientific name it, but the American term for it is ‘butterfly skin,’ where you skin just comes off and you can’t do anything about it. His hands are gone, and I’m watching him come to the aquarium. He was so excited. And he gave me a T-shirt that said, ‘Support people with butterfly skin.’ It was incredible. And just watching all these beautiful children, honestly, it seems too deep to call it a fan encounter. NATHAN GAMBLE: With David Yates, he’s the CEO of

Off The Screen Magazine ________________________________________________________________

___________________________________________

Cozi Zuehlsdorff and Nathan Gamble gets it. He knows how to make a really great movie. COZI ZUEHLSDORFF: Like, on emotional scenes, he doesn’t let the crew joke around you. He doesn’t let everything be really loud. He brings you in at the last second possible before you shoot. No rehearsal.

the aquarium, on the opening weekend that Dolphin Tale came out, he got over 10,000 emails from families just talking about how inspired they were by the movie. So, you can’t just pick one, because there’s so many. You’ve both been acting from a very young age. How has your approach shifted to now? COZI ZUEHLSDORFF: It’s way different for me. NATHAN GAMBLE: When I first got into it, I thought every time I auditioned I was going to get it. [Laughs] The first audition I had, I got it. It was for some commercial. COZI ZUEHLSDORFF: You’re like, ‘I nailed it! I’ve got this down.’ NATHAN GAMBLE: Yeah. ‘This is easy.’ But growing up into this business, you realize that you can go on a bazillion auditions and maybe get one. So, you’ve

really got to learn how to get tough skin. COZI ZUEHLSDORFF: That’s true. You feel immortal when you first book your first role. You’re like, ‘Now I’ve made it. Goodbye, school!’ When I was in like middle school, I thought, ‘I’ve made it. There’s no more normal life for me.’ And our faith has helped us so much with that. There’s a Bible verse that talks about, ‘I’ve learned the secret to being content in every situation.’ That’s what keeps us grounded. NATHAN GAMBLE: And really phenomenal families, too. I think they have a massive part in how we stay grounded. How is Charles Martin Smith to work with as a director? NATHAN GAMBLE: I think Charles Martin Smith is one of the greatest directors I’ve worked with. One, because he is an actor; he knows exactly what I’m going through. And two, he just

He told me this story about when he was 17. Everyone was joking around and, I forget who it was, but the lead actor in the film said, ‘Hey, everybody stop. This kid has to break down in a second. Stop joking.’ And how much that meant to him. So now he does that for us. He’s very intuitive. Did you also glean from him that the position of a character actor can be just as important as a lead actor? COZI ZUEHLSDORFF: He is a fantastic character actor, but he was the lead in Never Cry Wolf. He was amazing. NATHAN GAMBLE: It was a great movie, and Charles was really good in it. COZI ZUEHLSDORFF: He’s great. Oh man. I love Charles. I can’t believe he directed, wrote and acted in the film this time. That’s so cool. You can see his color palette just all over the movie.

Off The Screen Magazine ________________________________________________________________