The Australia Times - Film magazine. Volume 3, issue 6

Vol. 3 No. 6

June 2015

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Contributors:

The Australia Times Film is compiled

by a dedicated team of lm enthusiasts

who are passionate about everything

related to cinema. The aim of the page

is to increase the amount of information

and knowledge about old and new

types of cinema. All kinds of lms are

valuable to us, including mainstream

Hollywood lms, to foreign features

and local productions. Our interest

in the medium is expressed monthly

through lm reviews of new releases,

retrospective ashbacks to old lms

and feature articles analysing the

broad concepts of cinema itself. The

diversity of this content is reective of

the varying and universal effects the

medium has on people.

Gokul Gnaneswaran | Jade Manly

Patricia Terace | Emily Komiyama

Damien Straker

Editor:

Damien Straker

Welcome Note

We aim to inform, entertain, teach, encourage, educate and support the community at large

by facilitating communication between all Australians. By providing the opportunity for all

opinions to be shared on a single website.

Cover:

Editor’s Note ................................................................................................ 5

Review:

Ex Machina (2015) ..................................................................................... 6

Spy (2015) ..................................................................................................... 8

Pitch Perfect 2 (2015) ............................................................................. 12

Mad Max: Fury Road (2015) ................................................................. 14

Woman in Gold (2015) .......................................................................... 18

Pretty Good Friends (2015) .................................................................. 20

Double Feature: Superman (1978) and Superman II (1980) .... 22

The Passing of a Legend: Sir Christopher Lee (1922-2015) ..... 26

zero Gravity: Why Kyle Smith is Wrong about George Clooney 30

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The majority of the content in the June edition of TAT Film is

comprised of lm reviews. Gokul Gnaneswaran has delivered

four reviews of lms currently in release. They include the strong

science ction drama

Ex Machina

, which marks the directorial

debut of Alex Garland, the comedy spoof of secret agent

lms

Spy

, the apocalyptic thrill ride

Mad Max: Fury Road

, and

Pitch Perfect 2

, the anticipated musical sequel to the original

smash. Patricia Terace has given her view on

Woman in Gold,

which features a strong performance by Helen Mirren playing

Maria Altmann. Emily Komiyama has reviewed the Australian

indie mumblecore lm

Pretty Good Friends

and it has made

a sizable impression on her. It is about a young woman who

moves to Melbourne and her various bonds and friendships with people. Jade Manly has written the

retro reviews this month, looking back at both the

Superman

lms from the late 1970s and early 1980s,

with the rst lm coming out well on top. Additionally, she’s included a tribute piece on veteran actor

Christopher Lee, who recently passed away. Lastly, I’ve written an article responding to the author and

lm critic Kyle Smith who believes George Clooney is not a genuine movie star. If you have a lm review

or feature article like this we are now taking submissions for the July edition of TAT Film.

Damien Straker.

Editor’s Note

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EX MACHINA (2015)

By Gokul Gnaneswaran

Universal Pictures presents a lm by Alex Garland

Produced by Andrew McDonald and Allon Reich

Screenplay by Alex Garland

Cast: Domhnall Gleeson, Oscar Isaac and Alicia Vikander

Edited by Mark Day

Cinematography: Rob Hardy

Music by Geoff Barrow and Ben Salisbury

Running Time: 108 minutes

Released: May 7th, 2015

Rating: M

Score: 4.5/5 Stars

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The story centres on Caleb (Domhnall Gleeson), an exceptional programmer working for

Bluebook (the movie’s version of Google), who wins a competition to spend a week with

Nathan (Oscar Isaac), Bluebook’s eccentric and reclusive CEO. Once Caleb arrives at Nathan’s

Alaskan subterranean abode, he soon nds that he has been selected to take part in a Turing

Test that pits Caleb against the billionaire’s pièce de résistance, Ava, a robot housing the

world’s rst true articial intelligence. Adding another level of complication to the test is the

fact that Ava exudes an aura of sensuality with her beautiful face and body that exposes much

of her inner machinery and yet manages to convey the very essence of femininity.

The entire movie is a slow build, with layer upon layer being added to the story. The audience,

much like Caleb, are in the dark about the true motivations of Nathan and even Ava. There

is something sinister about Isaac’s character as he shifts in personality, almost exhibiting a

Jekyll and Hyde persona. Isaac brings a great performance to the role, one minute making the

character likable, yet narcissistic and a bit off-centre. He’s got a dance sequence in the movie

that comes out of nowhere that you have to see to believe. However, at the ip of a switch

Isaac also portrays Nathan with very dark and brooding undertones, making you worry for

Caleb’s well-being.

Caleb’s question and answer sessions with Ava make up a big part of the movie, letting us see

the relationship build between the two characters, developing into a type of cat and mouse

game, with the participants not sure who’s testing who. Ava initially seems very childlike and

almost scared of Caleb, but she too has an intensity to her that makes you wonder whether

her behaviour is merely a facade for something more sinister.

The lm is very minimalist, with Nathan’s dwelling very sparse and modern in its decor, the

austere white accentuated with pops of colour here and there, which is quite in contrast with

the surrounding Alaskan countryside, which is vibrant and just abundant in natural beauty. A

great juxtaposition of nature vs. man in his attempt to create life in the form of AI. Speaking

of which, the design of Ava herself is a work of art amalgamating nature with technology, the

natural curves of her form giving her an organic feel mixed with the high-tech circuitry and

hydraulics visible through the mesh that makes up much of her body.

In my opinion, the lm’s greatest strength is slow ratcheting up of the tension, the tone

changing from a simple sci- story into a tale of horror, where we don’t know who is

manipulating who and frankly whether anyone is worth rooting for. It is a refreshing change

of pace in time where most other movies feel like a million explosions a minute is the only

way to drive the story ahead.

That being said, the pace of the lm may be a turn off for some, as this is more of a psychological

thriller, delving into questions about what really makes us human rather than a fast-paced

action ick. I found the movie quite an enjoyable experience and if you would like to see

something a little more thought-provoking than the usual fare, I recommend you check it out.

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SPY (2015)

By Gokul Gnaneswaran

Fox presents a lm by Paul Feig

Produced by Paul Feig, Jessie Henderson, Peter Chernin and Jenno Topping

Written by Paul Feig

Starring Melissa McCarthy, Jason Statham, Rose Byrne, Miranda Hart, Bobby Cannavale,

Allison Janney and Jude Law

Music by Theodore Shapiro

Cinematography Robert Yeoman

Edited by Dean Zimmerman and Don Zimmerman

Running Time: 120 minutes

Rating: MA15+

Release Date: May 21

, 2015

Score: 3.5/5

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The latest comedy from writer/director Paul Feig, stars Melissa McCarthy, Jude Law and Jason

Statham, mixing the spy genre with the trademark humour for which Feig has come to be

known.

Susan Cooper (Melissa McCarthy) is a CIA agent whose marks were off the charts during

her training as a cadet. Now, due to a lack faith in her skills, Cooper nds herself providing

remote support and guidance to Bradley Fine (Jude Law), a eld agent for the CIA. Law as Fine

plays to all the stereotypes of a 1960’s gentleman spy. Smooth, suave, sophisticated and very

chauvinistic. In reality though, it’s Cooper advising Fine through an ear-piece that gets him

through most of the tough situations in which he nds himself.

A series of events ends up with Cooper having to go into the eld in place of Fine and this

is where the meat of the story lies. Instead being tted out with the cool box of tricks that

are normally bestowed to spies of this ilk, Cooper’s gadgets consist of weapons disguised as

haemorrhoid wipes, stool softener and a rape whistle. Supposedly this is to aid the believability

of Cooper’s secret identity of a frumpy, middle-aged cat lady.

As mentioned before, the third protagonist in the lm is Jason Statham, playing Richard Ford,

another CIA agent. Ford is the typical tough guy that Statham plays in all his movies but

here Statham is having a wonderful time sending up his own character, with Ford being a

dumb jock who is puffed up with his own self-importance, when in truth he is a fairly average

spy. Ford despises the idea that Cooper would make a good spy and does his utmost best

to ridicule her at every given opportunity. Laughs were guaranteed whenever Ford was on-

screen delivering more and more ludicrous stories of his own aptitude as a spy.

But the real scene-stealer was the Bulgarian arms dealer Rayna Boyanov (Rose Byrne). You

can tell that Byrne had enormous fun playing the villainous Boyanov. Equal parts spoilt, cruel

and naive, Boyanov’s disgust at Cooper was plain to see and evident in many of her quotable

one-liners.

Spy had some surprisingly good action sequences for a comedy, with the ght choreography

tight and well shot, and not leaving the audience confused as to what was happening onscreen.

The humour too was fast, and almost non-stop, however the jokes didn’t always land and

there were many times when there were large pauses in the laughter.

At the end of the day, Spy was an enjoyable lm but didn’t really elevate itself from any other

action comedy. I would have been perfectly happy watching this at home on DVD rather than

seeing it at the cinema.

I give Spy 3.5 out of 5

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PITCH PERFECT 2 (2015)

By Gokul Gnaneswaran

Universal Pictures presents a lm by Elizabeth Banks

Produced by Elizabeth Banks, Paul Brooks, Max Handelman and Jason Moore

Screenplay by Kay Cannon

Starring: Anna Kendrick, Rebel Wilson, Brittany Snow, Hailee Steinfeld, Adam DeVine, Skylar

Astin, Katey Segal, Alexis Knapp, Ester Dean, Ben Platt

Music by Mark Mothersbaugh

Cinematography: Jim Denault

Edited by Craig Alpert

Running Time: 115 minutes

Rating: M

Release Date: May 7th, 2015

Score: 3/5

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PITCH PERFECT 2 (2015)

Back in 2012, a little movie called Pitch Perfect popped into the scene. The lm focused on

college a-Capella groups and introduced this world to the audience through the eyes of Beca

Mitchell (Anna Kendrick), a rebellious freshman who joins an all-female sorority, the Barden

Bellas, and infuses their songs with fresh new ideas that propels the group to win the national

a-Capella competition. The lm was a surprise hit with just the right mixture of toe-tapping

songs, fun dance sequences and a healthy dose of humour that had audiences laughing in

their seats.

Earning over USD$115 million worldwide, and becoming the second highest grossing music

comedy lm of all time, it was a shoe-in that a sequel would be on the cards, and now cinema-

goers once again have the chance to see the exploits of the Barden Bellas.

The movie opens with the Bellas performing at the Lincoln Centre. After a humiliating wardrobe

malfunction involving Fat Amy, the group is suspended from the a-Capella performing circuit.

The girls then hatch a plan to regain their reputation by winning the international competition,

a feat that no American team has ever done.

In addition to the returning cast of the rst movie, we are also introduced to Das Sound

Machine, a German a-Capella group that serve as the main competition to the Bellas, and

perform intricate a-Capella sequences with machine-like efciency (and slight German

accents).

If I hadn’t seen the rst Pitch Perfect, the sequel would have been a great little movie that

offered catchy songs, funny jokes and a fun insight into the world of competitive a-Capella (a

sentence I never thought I would see myself writing). As it is, most of the movie is a re-hash

of the rst one. It’s like the writers and director thought, “They liked the rst movie so much,

let’s give them more of the same. Just dial it up to 11”.

So we get more Fat Amy, more Beca going against the group, a riff-off that is so contrived

that it’s fairly obvious that it’s only in the story because the scene was a great hit in the rst

movie. While the songs are still as catchy as they were in the rst lm, the movie fails to have

the same spark that made its predecessor so much fun to watch, and ultimately falls at.

However the movie has already made more money in its rst ve days of release than the rst

movie in its entire run, so we will denitely be getting a Pitch Perfect 3. Hopefully they nd a

way to inject some new ideas into that sequel.

In the meantime, I give Pitch Perfect 2 a 3 out of 5.

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MAD MAX:

FURY ROAD (2015)

By Gokul Gnaneswaran

Roadshow presents a lm by George Miller

Produced by Doug Mitchell, George Miller and P. J. Voeten

Written by George Miller, Brendan McCarthy and Nico Lathouris

Starring Tom Hardy, Charlize Theron, Nicholas Hoult, Hugh Keays-Byrne, Rosie Huntington-

Whiteley, Riley Keough, Zoë Kravitz, Abbey Lee and Courtney Eaton

Music by Junkie XL

Cinematography John Seale

Edited by Margaret Sixel

Running Time: 120 minutes

Rating: MA15+

Release Date: May 14th, 2015

Score: 4.5/5

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MAD MAX:

FURY ROAD (2015)

Insane. In your face. Balls to the wall action. Amazing. All these words perfectly sum up Mad

Max, and you know what? I loved it every bit of it. In a world where movies are now bleak,

desaturated and brimming with CG effects, Mad Max is a refreshing break from the norm,

that hits you at a 100 miles an hour with its bright colour palette, eccentric characters, wild

costumes, and practical effects that make you think “Oh my god, did they really do that?”

It’s been a while since movie-goers have seen Mad Max. 30 years in fact. In that time a whole

generation of the audience has grown up, not knowing who Max is, and some have not even

seen the rst three movies. However while this latest installment does have Easter eggs

pointing to its predecessors, you can easily watch this lm without any knowledge of what has

happened previously. It is made to be just another tale in the legend of Mad Max.

Max is a drifter in a post-apocalyptic Australia. It’s a harsh place, full of danger, where its

inhabitants have taken the law into their own hands and where civilization as we know it has

crumbled into small pockets of humanity trying to survive in a world with little water, oil or

hope. The lm opens with a car chase that ends with Max taken prisoner to one of these

pockets, controlled by Immortan Joe, a diseased leader of a people consisting of the poor

downtrodden common folk, and chalk-skinned War Boys, a fanatical group of scarred soldiers

that are willing to die for Joe to get a chance to live forever in their version of Valhalla.

It is little things like this that really esh out this world. With the lack of gasoline and fuel,

an entire religion has risen around vehicles, where the steering wheel is an object to be

worshipped, where there is nothing greater than dying in the chase. But where the War Boys

are devout to Immortan Joe without question, the rest of the populace only bows to Joe

out of fear and because Joe controls another precious resource, water extracted from deep

underground.

Rounding out Joe’s community are The Wives. These are women who are pretty much forced

to be Joe’s sex slaves, in his attempt to breed a perfect son. And The Wives play an integral

part to the story as the main part of the movie begins when Impertor Furiosa (played by

Charlize Theron) helps The Wives escape from Immortan Joe, driving away in a modied war

truck to try and nd the Green Lands, a place where water is abundant and the land is fertile

and lush, away from Joe’s tyranny. This act sets the ball rolling, spurring Joe and his pack of

War Boys to chase and hunt down Furiosa and to get his Wives back.

It is incredible that without falling to the clichéd tropes of exposition, George Miller manages

to convey the back story of Furiosa, Max, The Wives and even create a whole character arc

for Nux, one of the War Boys, while keeping the action going, the music blaring and all the

while having multiple cars, bikes and trucks racing across the screen with explosions being let

off left, right and centre. This movie is ultimately a two hour car-chase across a barren, yet

beautiful, wasteland and when we do get to a quiet moment, it feels earned, the characters

ghting with every essence of their being to get that brief reprieve from their pursuers.

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As mentioned before, this is a very gorgeous movie. Where most post-apocalyptic lms are

devoid of colour, Fury Road is vibrant and just pops of the screen. From sand storms that

are just awe inspiring with their swirling red and orange hues, with the occasional bolts of

lightning to dazzling ares lighting up the sky, there is always something to capture the eye.

Coupled with breathtaking stunts and crazy ght sequences, I would recommend this movie

just for the visual aspect alone. But it’s not just the visual sense that is catered for. The score

is pulsating and gets your heart-pounding, a perfect match for the events taking place on

screen. In fact one of the characters in the lm exists solely to thrash an electric guitar while

tied to one of the vehicles chasing Max. A twisted, futuristic version of the bag-pipers that

used to accompany soldiers into battle. If that isn’t awesome, I don’t know what is. This has

easily become the best movie of the year so far. With a simple story, great action and a fully

realised world, I can’t wait to see what the future holds for Max.

I give Mad Max: Fury Road 4.5 out of 5

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WOMAN IN GOLD (2015)

By Patricia Terace

Roadshow presents a lm by: Simon Curtis

Produced by: David M. Thompson and Kris Thykier

Written by: Alexi Kaye Campbell

Starring: Helen Mirren, Ryan Reynolds, Daniel Brühl, Katie Holmes and Jonathan Pryce

Edited by: Peter Lambert

Cinematography by: Ross Emery

Music by: Martin Phipps and Hans Zimmer

Running time: 109 minutes

Released: April 10th, 2015

Rating: PG

Score: 3.5 out of 5 stars.

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WOMAN IN GOLD (2015)

The title of the lm

Woman in Gold

has a dual meaning for Academy Award winner Helen

Mirren with her awless performance as Maria Altmann by making her a serious best actress

contender for the 2016 Academy Award nominations.

Mirren never falters with her strong performance as Jewish immigrant Maria Altmann. Based

on a true story, Maria Altmann is desperate to reclaim a family portrait of her Aunt Adele

Bloch-Bauer titled,

Portrait of Adele Bloch-Bauer

painted by Gustave Klimt which is considered

to be an Austrian masterpiece. The masterpiece which was stolen during the violent Nazi

occupation of Austria in WW2 was renamed

The Lady in Gold

by the Nazis. The dilemma

arises for Maria Altmann, when the Austrian government refuses to return the painting to its

rightful owner, as they claim it is a national treasure and should remain in Austria. Altmann

launches a legal battle with her young lawyer Randy Schoeberg played by Ryan Reynolds to

retrieve the portrait.

Reynolds is convincing as the initially reluctant lawyer and his portrayal is strengthened by

Mirren’s superior acting skills and their snappy dialogue which highlights their wonderful

onscreen chemistry. It is this which enthrals the audience elevating the lm to a more

compelling drama than what would otherwise be an ordinary and lacklustre lm.

Directed by Simon Curtis who is best known for his drama piece,

My Week with Marilyn

the lm fails to emotionally engage the viewer and the backstory of the portrait is far more

interesting than what is interpreted by Curtis on screen.

Curtis intercuts the story between the past and the present by employing the ashback

technique. These interspersed scenes are effective for narrative pacing and contribute to the

storytelling, although the ashback scenes would have been more powerful if they had been

lmed in black and white rather than colour, as this would have heightened the authenticity

and the suspense of the lm which it lacks.

Woman in Gold lacks the emotional rawness and intense desperation which drove the 2013

lm, Philomena, directed by Stephen Frears. Woman in Gold in its entirety fails to engage the

viewer of the haunting loss in one of the most memorable events in history-not merely the

theft of possessions but the theft of identity.

Overall score three and a half out of ve because of the strength of the leads.

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PRETTY GOOD FRIENDS (2015)

By Emily Komiyama

Directed by Sophia Townsend

Produced by Nathan Barillaro, Rain Fuller, Tom Swinburn and Sophia Townsend

Written by Nathan Barillaro and Sophia Townsend

Starring: Rain Fuller, Michael Edward Williams, Nathan Barillaro, Glenn Luck and Jenni

Townsend

Cinematography: Tom Swinburn

Score: 4.5/5

Mumblecore; the term that every aspiring lmmaker should appreciate. The lm industry

comes with the misconception that every production will cost you an arm, a leg and a

mortgage. But with the rise of digital technology in the past 15 years, every man and his dog

can now shoot on digital format. The Mumblecore movement was born back in 2002 with

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PRETTY GOOD FRIENDS (2015)

Andrew Bujalski’s indie lm

Funny Ha Ha

, that focused on the post-university lives of people

in their twenties. Praised for it’s realism, it spawned a decade of low-budget independent

lms that depicted life as it really was. And local Melbourne director Sophie Townsend has

just released Australia’s rst contribution to the movement.

Her directorial debut

Pretty Good Friends

focuses on Jules (Jenni Townsend), a woman who

moves to Melbourne to get in touch with herself before turning 25. After moving in with her

best friend Sam (Rain Fuller) and her partner Alex (Nathan Barillaro), both bonds and rifts

begin to emerge in all the wrong places.

Jenni Townsend (no relation to Sophie) is delicious as Jules. Awkwardly hilarious and down

right relatable, she brings warmth to a well eshed out character who is experiencing the

quarter-life crisis that we’ve all encountered or are yet to encounter. Fuller is fantastic as Sam,

whose bubbly persona is slowly eaten away by bitterness and jealousy. Barillaro is great as her

partner Alex, but the show really belongs to Townsend and Fuller, whose chemistry is electric

- both in their friendship and it’s demise.

Committing to Mumblecore, Townsend shot

Pretty Good Friends

locally around Melbourne

with just two cameras, natural lighting, a small cast and crew and a exible screenplay (penned

both by S. Townsend and Barillaro) that left the actors to their own devices. It is impossible

to tell what is scripted and what is improvised here as the actors bounce off each other so

well. Tom Swinburn’s cinematography is luminous and will make Melbournians extremely

sentimental. Being from Perth, even I was impressed with how he captured this beautiful city,

especially at nighttime.

Townsend’s exploration of the ‘emotional affair’, where a connection is undeniable but not

acted upon, is uncomfortably real. Despite our best efforts, chemistry is something that

words cannot hide. This is covered in such an unpretentious way that you almost forget

you’re watching actors. And that is thanks to Townsend’s awless directing and the chemistry

between all three actors. Unlike many productions that try to mimic naturalism with bigger

budgets, Townsend creates realism with realism. With no funding, the lm is so natural and

well crafted that it leaves you looking at your own life from a different angle. As a 25 year

old aspiring screenwriter, also new to Melbourne, this lm affected me in so many different

ways. As a woman nding her way, as a writer, as a friend and as a girlfriend. I may have been

the most appreciative audience member at this screening, as Townsend and her actors were

present for a Q&A session afterwards.

This is the kind of lm you need to see if you’re an aspiring lmmaker. For both the story

and the production values. This was shot with no funding and yet is now winning awards in

numerous international lm festivals around the world. If you’re an artist, there is no excuse.

Get writing, get directing and get cracking. Sophie Townsend should be proud that she may

have just given birth to a brighter future for the Australian lm industry.

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A lm by Warner Bros. Pictures

Directed by: Richard Donner

Written by: Mario Puzo, David Newman,

Leslie Newman and Robert Benton

Produced by: Alexander Salkind, Ilya

Salkind and Pierre Spengler

Starring: Christopher Reeve, Margot

Kidder, Gene Hackman and Marlon

Brando

Edited by: Stuart Baird and Michael Ellis

Cinematography: Geoffrey Unsworth

Music by: John Williams

Released: 10 December 1978

Running time: 146 Minutes

Rating: PG

Score: 4.5 out of 5 stars

Faster than a speeding bullet, more powerful than a locomotive, able to bend steel with his bare hands…

Based on the character created by DC comics, Richard Donner’s

Superman

became the benchmark upon

which all superhero lms would be measured.

The lm begins with the destruction of Krypton as Superman’s parents Lara and Jor-El decide to send

their infant son, Kal-El to planet Earth to save his life. The child is found in a town called Smallville and is

raised by a childless couple named Jonathan and Martha Kent.

After discovering his alien heritage and donning the red and blue suit, Clark Kent moves to the city of

Metropolis. Kent is hired as a reporter for The Daily Planet newspaper alongside Perry White, Jimmy

Olsen and Lois Lane. As the story unfolds Superman is pitted against Lex Luthor, a criminal mastermind

who is bent on world domination.

Superman

features an ensemble cast including Marlon Brando as Jor-El and Gene Hackman as the

nefarious Lex Luthor. Christopher Reeve epitomises optimism and goodness in his portrayal of Clark

Kent/Superman and Margot Kidder is particularly endearing as the inquisitive reporter Lois Lane.

Created before the invention of CGI and digital effects, the techniques used to make

Superman

‘y’ were

DOUBLE FEATURE:

SUPERMAN (1978) AND SUPERMAN II (1980)

By Jade Manly

Retro Film Reviews

Independent Media Inspiring Minds

FILM

ground breaking for the time. The look and feel of the lm was achieved through the use of

matte paintings, miniatures and lming techniques.

Superman

received a Special Achievement Academy Award for Visual Effects. The lm was also

nominated for three Academy Awards including Best Film Editing, Best Original Score and Best

Sound Mixing.

Superman

was an instant success, grossing over $300 million at the box ofce and spawning

three sequels:

Superman II

(1980),

Superman III

(1983) and

Superman IV

The Quest for Peace

(1987).

A lm by Warner Bros. Pictures

Directed by: Richard Lester

Written by: Mario Puzo, David Newman, Leslie Newmanand Tom Mankiewicz

Produced by: Alexander Salkind, Ilya Salkind and Pierre Spengler

Cast: Christopher Reeve, Margot Kidder, Gene Hackman, Sarah Douglas, Jack O’Halloran and

Terrance Stamp

Edited by: John Victor-Smith and Stuart Baird

Cinematography: Robert Paynter and Geoffrey Unsworth

Music by: Ken Thorne with original theme by John Williams

Released: 4 December 1980

Running time: 127 Minutes

Rating: PG

Score: 3 out of 5 stars

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Whilst the previous lm explored Superman’s origin story Superman II sees the triumphant hero battle

against General Zod, Ursa and Non, criminals from Krypton who were banished to the Phantom Zone

at the beginning of the previous lm.

During this lm Lois discovers that Clark Kent and Superman are one and the same and becomes

romantically involved with Superman. Not realising the dangers currently faced by the people of planet

Earth, Superman relinquishes his powers to live a mortal life with Lois.

Terrance Stamp stars as the evil General Zod with Sarah Douglas and Jack O’Halloran as Ursa and Non,

respectively. Gene Hackman returns as Lex Luthor, albeit serving a more of a humorous role than in the

original lm.

Despite the success of Superman, during the production of Superman II, Richard Donner was replaced

as director by Richard Lester at request of the producers, Alexander and Ilya Salkind. It is obvious that

creative differences had a signicant impact on this lm. Although Superman II is fun and enjoyable, it

lacks the heart and cohesion of the rst lm.

Interesting Facts:

•

Superman

(1978) and

Superman II

(1980) were lmed simultaneously over a 19

month period.

• Superman’s suit is actually turquoise not blue, to stop it blending in with the blue

screen during special effect sequences.

• In the US,

Superman

(1978) was number one at the box ofce for 13 consecutive

weeks.

• Other actors to portray Superman on lm and television include: George Reeves

The Adventures of Superman

(1952), Tom Welling in the television series

Smallville

(2001) and most recently, Henry Cavill in the 2013 lm

Man of Steel

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When the media reported the death of Sir Christopher Lee, fans took to social media with

an outpouring of tributes for the screen legend. Starring in over 250 lm and television

productions Lee had an active career until his death. This November, Lee was slated to star in a

new lm The 11th about the 9/11 attack on the World Trade Centre alongside Uma Thurman,

but due to Lee’s death his role will now be recast.

The prolic actor was best known for his portrayal of villains and made a name for himself

starring in Hammer Horror lms. Lee’s rst Hammer lm was The Curse of Frankenstein

(1957), playing Frankenstein’s creature alongside life-long friend, Peter Cushing as Doctor

Frankenstein. Lee’s most famous Hammer character was Dracula featuring in seven lms:

Dracula (1958), Dracula: Prince of Darkness (1965), Dracula Has Risen from the Grave (1968),

Taste the Blood of Dracula (1969), Scars of Dracula (1970), Dracula A.D. 1972 and The Satanic

Rites of Dracula (1973).

During his career Lee brought an assortment of iconic characters to life including: The Mummy,

Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde, Sherlock Holmes and Rasputin. In 1974 Lee played the main villain,

Francisco Scaramanga in the James Bond lm The Man with the Golden Gun alongside Roger

Moore.

Christopher Lee has inspired numerous lmmakers including: Tim Burton, George Lucas and

Peter Jackson. Lee worked with Burton on ve different lms: Sleepy Hollow (1999), Charlie

and the Chocolate Factory (2005), Corpse Bride (2005), Alice in Wonderland (2010) and Dark

Shadows (2012).

With his towering height and sonorous voice Lee was arguably the best thing about the Star

Wars prequels Attack of the Clones (2002) and Revenge of the Sith (2005) starring as the evil

Count Dooku. Remarkably, Lee did a lot of his own stunts for these lms even though he was

80 years old at the time.

THE PASSING OF A LEGEND:

SIR CHRISTOPHER LEE

(1922-2015)

by Jade Manly

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Although he auditioned for the role of Gandalf, Lee was cast as Saruman in Peter Jackson’s

Lord of the Rings trilogy (2001 - 2003) a role which he later reprised in The Hobbit

Trilogy (2012 - 2014). The original novels were close to Lee’s heart and interestingly, he

was the only cast member to have met J.R.R. Tolkien in person.

Sir Christopher Lee died of heart failure and respiratory problems on 7th June 2015, at

the grand age of 93 and is survived by his wife and daughter. Lee will be remembered as

a talented actor with an impressive lmography spanning across 70 years.

Interesting Facts:

• Lee was an avid fan of heavy and symphonic metal music and recorded an album

with the Italian band, Rhapsody of Fire.

• Lee served in the British Royal Air Force (or RAF) during World War II.

• Lee is distantly related to James Bond author Ian Fleming.

• Christopher Lee was knighted in 2009 for his contributions to drama and charity.

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ZERO GRAVITY:

WHY KYLE SMITH IS WRONG ABOUT GEORGE CLOONEY

by Damien Straker

Featuring in the New York Post last month,

Kyle Smith’s slander piece on George Clooney

is crass, misinformed and poorly researched.

Bluntly titled “Face it, George Clooney sucks”,

the piece is about the failure of

Tomorrowland

(2015), the George Clooney science ction

movie, which has performed poorly at the box

ofce. Smith is using the lm to launch a tirade

on Clooney and how the poor box ofce of

several of his lms means he is, in his eyes, not

a star: “The failure of this supposed tent pole

release is yet another sign that Clooney, who

has been headlining movies for 19 years, just

doesn’t sell tickets”, Kyle states. He compares

Clooney box ofce failings to Dwayne ‘The

Rock’ Johnson, who by Smith’s comparison,

is innitely more successful as a movie star

because of the big dollars his lms earn and

how his fans are more excitable. This is despite

the recent success and popularity of Alfonso

Cuaron’s

Gravity

(2013), which Clooney co-

starred in and helped the lm earn over $700

million dollars.

Kyle Smith is not one for soft peddling words.

He is a lm critic who fearlessly attacks populist

and critically lauded lms, like

Guardians

of the Galaxy

(2014). He was once named

by the website The Wire as America’s Most

Cantakerous Film Critic: “Smith blew away

the competition. Between 2009 and 2011, he

disliked 13 of the 90 best-reviewed movies and

liked nine of the 90 worst-reviewed ones.” His

take-no-prisoners approach is commendable

at a time when lms are generally overpraised

and under analysed. However, his attack on

Clooney though is unsurprising and overly

personal. Kyle Smith is politically conservative.

He was a soldier in the Gulf War between

between 1990 and 1991. These conservative

values have ltered into his written work.

A recent example is his praise for the lm

American Sniper

(2014), saying it shows

the soldiers as the heroes that they are and

calling it the year’s most extraordinary lm.

By contrast, Clooney is well-documented as

an American liberal and once compared the

Bush administration prior to the War in Iraq as

mobsters and the equivalent of the Sopranos.

A number of his lms like

The Men Who Stare

at Goats

(2009) are liberal in their viewpoints.

What this article is about is not Clooney’s star

power but an opportunity to pitch right-wing

political superiority over what Smith would

deem to be Hollywood’s fading liberalism,

while merely posturing as being concerned

with popularity and stardom.

A major fault with this article is Smith’s

tendency to underplay the success of two

of Clooney’s best lms by stating: “A couple

of his Oscar-bait movies, “Up in the Air” and

“The Descendants,” maybe broke even. It’s

hard to say. Running a simultaneous Oscar

campaign and general publicity campaign

is so expensive that it might have eaten up

most or all of the apparent prot on these

seemingly modestly budgeted lms.” Jason

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Reitman political, economic and social satire

Up in the Air

(2009) was made for merely $25

million dollars. It earned $166 million in return,

meaning a prot of $141 million, which is an

enormous hit for a relatively small scale movie

without blockbuster ambitions. Similarly,

Alexander Payne’s comedy-drama

The

Descendants

(2011) cost $20 million dollars. It

clawed back $177 million at the box ofce for

a prot of $157 million dollars. Together these

two small, low budget lms earned nearly

$300 million dollars at the expense of $55

million. Smith has downplayed their success

by arguing it costs so much to run an Oscar

campaign for these types of lms, which eats

into the prots. Stephen Follows blog on “How

much does a Hollywood Oscar campaign cost”

provides a detailed analysis of the individual

costs. The most important gure is that he

says it only costs $10 million dollars, loose

change in Hollywood, to fulll a Best Picture

Oscar campaign. Both

Up in the Air

and

The

Descendants

were nominated for Best Picture

but neither lm won, which means Smith is

clutching at thin air if he thinks their Oscar

hopes spoiled their box ofce triumphs. He

has failed to research the takings properly and

overstates the Oscar costs to downplay how

successful these two lms were with audiences.

Another error he makes is placing Johnson

over Clooney because his lms excel at the

box ofce. This popularity contest is merely

hiding his political feud. Johnson’s lms harp

back to the 1980s style of action heroes of

the Reagan era, like Chuck Norris and Arnold

Schwarzenegger, who saved the world all

on their own. Like the latter star, Johnson

has played Hercules, one of the lms Smith

triumphs as being a box ofce success. But

is anyone today fooled into believing a star’s

value is in their box ofce takings alone? If

this were the case, Michael Bay would be

a champion auteur of modern cinema. His

lms like the

Transformers

series have earned

billion of dollars and have an established fan

base. Truthfully, not all of Clooney’s lms

have worked. His recent directorial effort

The

Monuments Men

(2014) was a colossal failure

both critically and commercially. Clooney’s

strength and what makes him a star though

is that artistically he has taken chances

throughout his career. Some of these have

worked signicantly like the aforementioned

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comedy-dramas and others have failed. But

regardless, he’s used his star power and his

reputation to support smaller lms which

aren’t always likely to attract the big numbers

of summer blockbusters, which are easy to

market and twice as easy to throwaway. One

of Clooney’s less celebrated features is

The

American

(2010), a very tense thriller which

Smith doesn’t mention in his piece. It cost

$20 million dollars and earned $67 million

in return. It’s not comparable to Johnson’s

gures but it shows there’s still an audience

for more obscure, smaller features if they have

a name like Clooney’s attached to them. Smith

also failed to mention Burn After Reading

(2008), which featured Clooney and earned

$166 million from just $37 million dollars.

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The stats and the truth about what makes a star

won’t matter to Smith. His article ends with a

comical graph comparing Clooney vs. Johnson,

labelled “Box Ofce Brawl”. It almost tries

to make it a physical comparison by having

Clooney in his Batsuit and Johnson shirtless. Silly

comparisons are made such as comparing their

athletic career, books authored and college

degrees. Who cares that Clooney unked out

in his tryouts? Today, he’s taking far more

artistic risks than Johnson and has shown he

can stretch his acting range much further than

someone only eleven years younger than him.

Despite a resurgence in older action heroes

recently, a younger generation including

some female stars like Jennifer Lawrence, are

dominating the action genre and box ofce

which puts a time limit on actors like Johnson.

In terms of taking risks and testing himself in

the deep uncertain waters of Hollywood and

smaller lms, Clooney is well ahead of many

other actors. It is also much more of a challenge

to test people politically in lms when they can

be subjected to all kinds of slanderous criticism,

especially from those like Kyle Smith, who with

a boombox on one shoulder, still want to keep

rockin’ in the 1980s.