Movies Plus - April 2011 Sucker Punch Vaness Hudgens Cedar Rapids Winnie The Pooh & More

APRIL 2011 • NUMBER 110 • WWW.MOVIES.IE

Y 11 IN CINEMAS MA

April 1st Oranges & Sunshine Killing Bono Source Code

Calendar

Sucker Punch

April 2011 Watch the Trailers Online

Essential Killing Hop

on Movies.ie

April 8th

April 15th

Mars Needs Moms

Scream 4

Rio

Winnie The Pooh

The Roomate

Red Riding Hood

Snap

Your Highness

Tomorrow When The War Began

Little White Lies

April 22nd

April 29th

Adele Blanc-Sec

Thor

Arthur

Cedar Rapids

TT3D

Farewell

Fast & Furious 5 Pina

Today Is The First Day...

Of The Rest Of His Weekend.

ED HELMS JOHN C. REILLY ANNE HECHE ISIAH WHITLOCK JR.

and

SIGOURNEY WEAVER

IN CINEMAS APRIL 29 cedarrapidsmovie.com

GHT I L T PO S E I MOV

Words - Paul Byrne

We’re at Ashdown Forest, birthplace of Winnie The Pooh. Or, as his creator, Alan Alexander Milne, called him, Winnie-ThePooh. Disney have descended en force upon these spectacular grounds, situated just 30 miles south of London, but a world away from modern living. We’re in Buckhurst Park, the Sackville’s family home for 900 years, and pretty much the nerve-centre for the surrounding, sprawling Buckhurst Estate, which includes Pooh Bear’s old stomping ground, and Milne’s old country home.

Making his name as the assistant editor of the satirical magazine ‘Punch’ before going on to become a successful dramatist, Londoner Milne bought Cotchford Farm, a mile to the north of Ashdown Forest,

as a family getaway. The property would later go on to another claim to fame - it’s where Rolling Stone Brian Jones was found dead, on July 3rd, 1969, floating in the swimming pool.

It was for his only son, Christopher Robin, that Milne created a series of adventures in the nearby forest featuring his 5-year old’s much-loved stuffed toys. In the process, Ashdown Forest became The Hundred Acre Wood. The real-life Gill’s Lap became Galleon’s Leap, whilst a small clump of trees just north of Gill’s Lap became The Enchanted Place.

It was here, to Ashdown Forest, that E.H. Shepherd - the illustrator for those early books, Winnie-The-Pooh (1926) and The

House At Pooh Corner (1928), along with the volumes of verse When We Were Very Young (1924, where Pooh first appeared) and Now We Are Six (1927) - turned for inspiration.

The success of Winnie-The-Pooh was instant, and staggering. On January 6th, 1930, Stephen Slesinger paid Milne a $1,000 advance and 66% of Slesinger’s income for the US and Canadian merchandising, television, recording and other trade rights. By November 1931, Pooh was a $50m-a-year business.

Thirty years later, and Disney put their fingers in the honey pot, signing licensing rights both with Slesinger’s widow, Shirley, and Milne’s widow, Daphne. Today, Pooh makes more money for Disney than Mickey Mouse, Minne Mouse, Donald Duck, Goofy and Pluto combined.

“Just how much Disney make from Pooh, they won’t say,” says Brian Sibley, the noted expert on Winnie The Pooh who’s been drafted in today to provide a little peace, love and deep understanding. “Suffice to say, this is one of their most successful franchises. That’s why Disney have gone back to the style of their early Pooh outings for this latest movie.”

This latest movie is called, simply, ‘Winnie The Pooh’, and it’s a sequel of sorts to 1977’s The Many Adventures Of Winnie The Pooh. Which, in fact, wasn’t actually a movie per se, but three featurettes 1966’s The Honey Tree, 1968’s Oscarwinning The Blustery Day and 1974’s And Tigger Too - joined together.

During the 1980s, the Pooh offerings suffered, and by the turn of the century we were given uninspired spin-offs namely, The Tigger Movie (2000), Piglet’s Big Movie (2003) and Pooh’s Heffalump Movie (2005).

“This latest movie is very true to A.A. Milne’s books” says 75-year old Disney veteran Burny Mattinson, who first joined the company in 1953. “The adventures here come from those original books - and Disney have put their best animators, and finest voice actors, on the case. There’s a lot of love and detail gone into this movie.”

Thanks largely, no doubt, to John Lasseter, the Pixar mastermind who, in 2006, also became chief creative officer of Disney Animation Studios. Lasseter is a strong believer in ‘classic’ storytelling, and, despite pioneering computer animation with 1995’s Toy Story, a firm believer in hand-drawn animation.

“Anyone who has seen those original Disney Pooh outings will know what to expect here,” says Winnie The Pooh’s co-director, Stephen J. Anderson. “There’s real love for Milne in these films, and we’re all very proud of what we’ve achieved here. I think Pooh fans are going to love it.”

And so will Disney shareholders, no doubt.

Walk into any Disney store, and you’ll never see Pooh or any of his Hundred Acre Woods’ buddies in the bargain bin.

Other hits will come and go, but Pooh is, well, Elvis. Which must make Mickey Mouse Jerry Lee Lewis. Or thereabouts. “He is Elvis, right!” laughs Sibley, as he steadies himself with his cane. “He’s timeless, and, if anything, his legend grows with each new generation who discovers him. There’s a mythical quality to Pooh now, and all this - the movies, the merchandising, the games, the stuffed toys - they’re all there because of those sweet, childlike stories written almost 90 years ago - full of joy, and humour, and innocence”.

“If people keep going back to those stories, I think A.A. Milne would be perfectly happy with the circus that surrounds his little bear today…”

WINNIE THE POOH hits Irish cinemas on April 15th.

Watch video interviews with the Disney animators on Movies.ie

My movie world

Verity Rushworth will star as ‘Maria’ in “THE SOUND OF MUSIC”when it comes to Grand Canal Theatre from 5th - 30th April 2011. Aussie actor Jason Donovan also stars.

Tickets are on sale now.

MY FAVOURITE EVER FILM I’m cringing at myself but…

“The Slipper and the Rose’. I know I’m sad but I love a happy ending and a good fairytale!

Verity Rushworth

THE LAST MOVIE I SAW...

Bucket List on DVD. Well, Jack Nicholson and Morgan Freeman still have it at 74.

It’s Jack’s quirkiness and Morgan’s freckles that do it for me!

THE FILM THAT MAKES ME CRY...

MY FAVOURITE IRISH FILM The Magdalene Sisters. It’s so tragic but meaningful, well acted, funny and touching – I just love it!

MY IDEAL MOVIE CAST...

Angelina Jolie – Hot, good and I’d get to meet Brad.

Spielberg – Oscar winner!

Robert Downey Jr – he’s amazing and hot!

I cry all the time!

Moulin Rouge destroyed me!! I was left seriously broken-hearted!

THE MOVIE ADAPTATION OF MY LIFE WOULD STAR...

THE MOVIE I NEVER WANT TO SEE AGAIN...

Sandra Bullock. She’s quite ditzy but not a bimbo. I find her very interesting to watch.

Invictus! Sooo dry and dull to watch. Slow isn’t a strong enough word.

“Amelie meets Indiana Jones.

Charming, funny and exciting ” ++++ Empire

A FACE OF BEAUTY. A MIND FOR ADVENTURE.

OPENS April 22

Words - Paul Byrne

It’s not easy, growing up in public. Paul Byrne offers Vanessa Hudgens some advice to the ex-High School Musical Star.

There’s many a young good-looking leftover strewn through Hollywood’s history, pretty young things who, in yesteryears, had the world at their feet. And then the world pulled the rug from underneath them. For growing up.

For Vanessa Hudgens, playing the all-singing, all-dancing, all-incredibly-coy Gabriella Montez in Disney’s all-conquering High School Musical series brought her fame, fortune, a celebrity boyfriend, and a major problem. Namely, how to move forward with her career without becoming the next Lindsay Lohan?

For millions of tweens around the world, Hudgens will forever be the all-singing, all-dancing, highschool musical girl. And for the 22-year old actress herself, that means she’s got to let them all know that this is not the only role that Vanessa Hudgens can make her own.

“I’m forever going to be grateful to High School Musical, because it brought me so much in my life,” she says, “but, there always comes a point when you have to move on. And that’s what I’m doing.

“For those who have Gabriella forever in their minds when they see me, well, I’ve just got to keep doing work that changes that perception. The great thing is, it’s been great fun, going out there, and making movies like ‘Bandslam’, like ‘Beastly’, like ‘Sucker Punch’…”

‘Sucker Punch’ is the latest fantasy epic from uber-geek Zack Snyder, the man behind the box-office-breaking, specialeffects-driven ‘300’ &‘Watchmen’, and the certifiably bonkers ‘Legends Of The Guardians: The Owls of Ga’Hoole’.

Snyder is back on familiar ground with ‘Sucker Punch’. Get a bunch of hot girls, dress them up in leathers and lace, and send them into battle with all sorts of CGI freaks and geeks. Hey, it’s ‘Showgirls’ for the videogame generation!

“I knew Zack was special, the minute I

saw ‘300’,” says Hudgens, “so, when I got the chance to be part of a project of his that had that same kind of hi-tech fantasy mixed with down-and-dirty battles, well, how could I refuse?

“The best part was getting to dress up and just let loose. What other job would give you the opportunity to sport these hot leathers and just become this incredible alter ego?”

Eh, an S&M club?

Hudgens lets out a laugh.

“Well, besides an S&M club. And they just wouldn’t have the budget Zack does here, to make the world around you fit into that fantasy. It felt amazing, just being able to let yourself go.”

And, no doubt, to sign up for an action movie when most of Hudgens’ friends reckoned she was just too slight, and too pretty, for such a genre. In ‘Sucker Punch’, amongst other skills, Hudgens proves herself handy with a hatchet.

“That’s right!” she exclaims. “I kept getting told by my friends, ‘Nah, you won’t be doing any action movies for years and years to come’. They reckoned I was going to have to be pretty grizzled before anyone would let me hold a gun, never mind become an action hero. So, this was something of a dream come true for me.

And I threw myself into playing this tough cookie, Blondie.

“At the end of each day, it took a little while to adjust back to my normal self.”

It’s hard to imagine what Vanessa Hudgens’ normal self might be though. Having recently separated from her boyfriend of the last three years, ‘High School Musical’ co-lead Zac Efron, Hudgens is once again busy battling a media storm over some leaked nude photos.

Google and the gawpers went into overdrive. Even if the pics, allegedly, were just more from the same original batch leaked in September 2007, featuring Hudgens taking some self-portraits in a hotel room. With nothing on.

Naturally, a condition for being one of the few who talks to Vanessa Hudgens is that one shouldn’t, under any circumstances whatsoever, mention the pics.

Let’s talk about something else instead then. Like Hudgens’ fine Irish heritage.

On her mum, Gina’s, side, it’s Filipina, Chinese.

“It must have been, yeah,” laughs Hudgens.

“I’m basically a mutt. I got lucky; I got a pot of gold. I think having all those different nationalities definitely gives you a greater sense of the world.

“I think it’s partly why I enjoy this job so much. It’s quite a nomadic lifestyle, and I’m fascinated by this big, incredible world of ours. I want to explore every inch of it, and get to know all these different ways of living, these different cultures, and ways of thinking.

“That’s what movies do, really. They’re stories of other people’s lives, and that’s always fascinating.”

I’m not quite sure how a movie about an institutionalized young girl banding together with four other kick-ass babes to escape their mean captors sheds some light on this world of ours. The director of ‘Sucker Punch’ reckons it’s “Alice In Wonderland with machine guns”. And the moral of the story is…?

“Don’t be mean to hot young girls in mental homes?” laughs Hudgens. “Or maybe it’s more about doing everything and anything you possibly can to earn your freedom. There are hundreds of messages in there. It’s just most of them are dressed up in leather. And they come with heavy gunfire too.”

Up next for Hudgens is a sequel to 2008’s ‘Journey To The Center Of The World’, called ‘Journey 2: The Mysterious Island’. On this side of the water, we’ll also have ‘Beastly’ heading our way, Hudgens and ‘I Am Number Four’ star Alex Pettyfer

updating the ‘Beauty & The Beast’ fairytale.

No prizes for guessing Hudgens’ role.

“It’s still early days for me,” she finishes, “and that means trying all these different genres, these different characters. I’m lucky in that I have the opportunities to make movies, and I’m determined to make good choices.

“I plan to be around for quite some time, and I’m not sure exactly what I would do with my life if I wasn’t doing this…”

SUCKER PUNCH is now showing at Irish cinemas

Watch video interviews with the entire cast on Movies.ie

in cinemas april 22

Insurance isn’t the most obvious subject matter for a riveting, pulse-pounding movie experience is it? Have you ever actually even read any of your insurance contracts?

Do you avoid speaking to insurance sales people in the same way you dodge guilt-inducing calls from your mother?

So if the topic is such a (wait for it) ‘liability’, why then is Hollywood perpetually drawn to insurance and its peddlers as ‘premium’ plot devices for its movies? The latest vehicle to hedge its bets on the theme is Cedar Rapids (out April 29th), starring ‘The Office’ and ‘The Hangover’ funny-man Ed Helms as a sad-sack insurance agent whose small world is opened up when he is picked to represent his company as a convention in the titular Iowa town.

Perhaps the plot of Cedar Rapids gives us a clue as to why insurance is such an attractive option for screenwriters and storytellers: it’s seen as grey and boring, and, so, by implication, are its practitioners.

Therefore, these characters are capable of great transformation within a two hour timeframe: they could either be driven to corruption and/or insanity by the drudgery of the job, or find themselves blossoming once they get a glimpse of life outside the world of adjustments and risk assessments.

To that end, let’s take an appraisal of some of the best movies with insurance agents at their core. Are these the best-written under-writers yet seen on the big screen?

Double Indemnity (1944): Insurance hack Walter Neff (Fred McMurray) is drawn into a scam with sultry desperate housewife Phyllis Dietrichson (Barbara Stanwyck) where in he’ll off her husband and make it look like an accident in order for her to double her life insurance payout. Needless to say it ends up going as pear-shaped as femme fatale Phyllis’ rear end.

Sample quote: “I killed him for money and a woman - and I didn’t get the money and I didn’t get the woman. Pretty, isn’t it?”

Memento (2000): Leonard (Guy Pearce) is an insurance investigator suffering from anterograde amnesia, meaning the person can’t store any recent memories. This makes life quite tricky for Leonard as he is trying to piece together the circumstances of his wife’s murder with the help of tattoos and Polaroids. Unconfirmed reports indicate that the Moriarty Tribunal took similar steps in its epic 14-year investigation.

Sample quote: “I meet Sammy through work. Insurance. I was an investigator. I’d investigate the claims to see which ones were phony. I had to see through people’s bullshit. It was useful experience, because now it’s my life.”

The Rainmaker (1997): Rosy-cheeked cherubic law grad Rudy (Matt Damon) tries to take on a corrupt insurance company with the help of Deck Shifflet (Danny DeVito), an ethically questionable ex-insurance assessor turned failed paralegal. But big bad lawyer Job Voight is also on hand to stop any lawsuit in its tracks - and he wasn’t afraid to take on Anacondas and Jennifer Lopez, so Matt’n’Danny are right to be nervous.

Sample quote: “You know what a Rainmaker is, kid? The bucks are gonna be falling from the sky.”

About Schmidt (2002): Retired insurance actuary Warren Schmidt (Jack Nicholson) is going through an existential crisis and so decides to take a road trip to see his estranged daughter (Hope Davis) in order to talk her out of marrying waterbed salesman Randall (Dermot Mulroney). The film is most famous for a scene where Kathy Bates gets naked in a hot tub in an attempt to seduce Jack.

Apologies, I must now ring my own insurance company as my laptop just exploded from typing that sentence.

Sample quote: “I know we’re all pretty small in the big scheme of things, and I suppose the most you can hope for is to make some kind of difference, but what

kind of difference have I made? What in the world is better because of me?”

Fight Club (1999): The nameless narrator (Edward Norton) works investigating insurance claims for a car company, and suffers from jet lag-induced insomnia as a result. He seeks solace in various self-help groups before he meets charismatic soap salesman Tyler Durden (Brad Pitt), who introduces him to the world of underground fist-fighting. That’s probably all I should reveal about the plot, but for those who haven’t yet seen the movie, step away from the computer and bang your head off the wall 10 times and/or until you pass out. What have you been doing for the past decade? You make me sick. Anyway, when you come to, watch Fight Club very, very closely.

Sample quote: “This is your life and it’s ending one minute at a time.”

The Incredibles (2004): What happens when one-time superheroes are shunned and forced to seek regular employment? They become insurance brokers in soul-destroying offices like hulking Bob Parr (aka Mr Incredible, voiced by Craig T Nelson), working for nasal weasel Gilbert Huph, who continually lectures Bob for helping clients find loopholes to win their claims. When Huph stops Bob from stopping a mugging outside on the street, the superhero sends his boss ploughing through four walls.

Insurance agents everywhere stand up in the cinema and cheer, knocking popcorn all over their grey suits.

Sample quote: [Huph]: “We’re supposed to help our people! Starting with our stockholders, Bob! Who’s helping them out, huh?”

Honorable mentions: To Catch a Thief, The Fortune Cookie, Along Came Polly, Sicko, Monty Python’s The Meaning of Life (first chapter) CEDAR RAPIDS hits Irish cinemas on April 29th.

Read fun original feature articles every week on Movies.ie

F ROM T HE DIREC T OR OF

MOON “A HE AR T-R ACING, MIND -SPINNING AC T ION T HRILLER” Danny Leigh, Film 2011

+++++ THE SUN

“UNMISSABLE” DEN OF GEEK

++++

++++

EMPIRE

TOTAL FILM

++++

++++

HEAT

SUNDAY MIRROR

jake

michelle

vera

GYLLENHAAL

MONAGHAN

FARMIGA

CHANGE THE PAST. SAVE THE FUTURE.

www.facebook.com/SourceCodeUK

www.facebook.com/SourceCodeUK

IN CINEMAS NOW

HIGHLIGHTS THIS MONTH ON MOVIES.IE

Want more? Irish cinema website Movies.ie is updated every day with movie news, features & competitions. Here are some highlights to discover on Movies.ie this month

WIN ‘THE GREEN HORNET’ ON DVD We have copies of the Seth Rogen crime fighting movie to give away. Full details are on Movies.ie this month.

WATCH OUR THOR VIDEO INTERVIEWS Director Kenneth Branagh leads a cast that includes Chris Hemsworth, Tom Hiddleston and Natalie Portman in the Thor's big-budget, silver screen debut.

We’re meeting the cast & crew of THOR later this month, you can watch our video interviews online on Movies.ie

FAST AND FURIOUS 5 Watch our video interviews with the cast of the new movie in the Fast & Furious franchise.

WIN A ‘HOP’ DRUM KIT To celebrate the release of ‘Hop’ we have a fab drum kit to giveaway. Your neighbours will love it if you win! Full details are on Movies.ie

my

The rights of the uncommon man must always be respected Roger Livesey as Doctor Frank Reeves A Matter of Life and Death (1946) Directed by Michael Powell and Emeric Pressburger

Harry Potter And The Deathly Hallows Part 1 out 8 April

Titles and prices subject to availability while stocks last at participating stores/online. Prices may vary online. Š 2011 WBEI. Harry Potter Publishing Rights Š J.K.R.

Photography by Dennys ilic

“A LIFE AFFIRMING HEART-STOPPING JOY RIDE FOR ANYONE WITH A PULSE”

“A LIFE AFFIRMING HEART-STOPPING JOY RIDE FOR ANYONE WITH A PULSE”

★★★★

TOTAL FILM

TOTAL FILM

Cert tbc

Narrated By JARED LETO

JUST BECAUSE YOU’RE BREATHING DOESN’T MEAN YOU’RE ALIVE

IN CINEMAS APRIL 22 PREVIEWS FROM APRIL 20 PLAY THE MOVIE GAME @ FACEBOOK.COM/TT3DMOVIE IN CINEMAS APRIL 22 PREVIEWS FROM APRIL 20 PLAY THE MOVIE GAME @ FACEBOOK.COM/TT3DMOVIE