1)      It can spoon feed us an entire plot (usually in chronological order) in the space of a few moments.

2)      It can reveal some of the film’s most interesting or exciting scenes and sequences.

3)      Most heinous of all, some are happy to explicitly divulge twists and reveals that spoilt the entire thing.

However, in today’s Spoilt in Sixty Seconds, I take a look at a movie that doesn’t necessarily have spoiler per se, or even narrative twists. David Fincher’s The Curious Case of Benjamin Button is a film that focuses on the magical and fascinating nature of storytelling.

Synopsis

Benjamin Button is simply a somewhat whimsical, yet poignant tale of a man (Brad Pitt) going through life in reverse. He is born an elderly man and grows younger in both physicality and mentality as the years go by. Assuming this makes perfect sense (in what reality, I am not sure), all audiences really need to know is that is also stars Cate Blanchett as one of the normal folk who don’t age in reverse, yet form a bond with the oddity.

Trailer 

Note: the actual trailer is only 2 mins 26 secs, followed by a presenter analysis.

*If you’ve not seen the film then the analysis that follows contains spoilers*

What the trailer reveals

Whilst specific twists aren’t shockingly exposed, the sheer element of the narrative is. Moments such as Benjamin being found and raised as a ‘baby’, the progression of his life, the relationships he forms (notably with Blanchett’s character), as well as the elements of war, his romantic liaisons and reconnection with said love interest offers audiences an appeal, as well as its interesting nature and tone.

Unfortunately, it delves too much into the love story between Pitt and Blanchett, whereas a little ambiguity and mystery surrounding both it, and the premise of an old man growing into a younger body, would have perhaps served it better.

Documenting all these moments of Pitt’s character getting younger and Blanchett’s going the other way is overly exposed as we see them interact at various stages of their lives. The most heavy-handed shot is depicting an early-twenties CGI-faced Pitt as the pair share an embrace.

Granted, the trailer does leave you with a slight sense of intrigue as to what this can offer, but that is dispelled when – after the terribly long duration of the film – you realise there wasn’t really much else to it (bar his ageing into a baby and inevitable death as a newborn).

The sad thing is that all the tenderness and wonderment of the film is bled dry in a trailer that could have easily left a little more to the imagination and could be far more ambiguous with its premise and development. Having seen the trailer before the film, it becomes clear that the heart of the movie is indeed revealed almost entirely within, which sort of defeats the point and should have been merely a set up to evoke audiences to get to the cinema in the first place.

Spoiler rating: 6/10

Sacha Baron Cohen returns once again to the sphere of scripted comedy which he last visited, to no great success, back in 2002 with Ali G In Da House. Since then, Cohen has focused more squarely on the mockumentary, stunts and interviews, style of comedy which he refined to great effect with Borat, and then failed to improve upon with the lacklustre Bruno. With The Dictator, Cohen has made a far more conventional movie considering his previous efforts but what it lacks in edginess and subtlety, it more than makes up for with provocative and deliberately offensive jokes. Some gags work better than others, and the odd gross-out moment can be a little too much, but overall there’s far more hits than misses in what is an enjoyably goofy comedy.

Despite what you may have garnered from the original trailer, the vast majority of the movie is not a satirical, ‘mad-dictator drunk on power’ story.  Although it does undeniably start out that way, with Admiral General Aladeen shown terrorizing the people of The Republic of Wadiya, ordering his minions to be executed for such heinous crimes as getting in his way on a staircase. An early highlight also sees Aladeen addressing his citizens whilst stifling fits of giggles as he promises the watching world they are only enriching Uranium for peaceful purposes.  After the United Nations Security Council decides to take military action against The Republic of Wadiya however, Aladeen and his treacherous Uncle Tamir (Sir Ben Kingsley) decide to visit New York and address the UN.

The General thus makes a triumphant arrival into New York City and after getting over the shock of being charged $20 for Wi-Fi in his hotel, “and they call me an international criminal”, he begins to make plans for his big speech. Unbeknownst to Aladeen though, Tamir has hired an assassin to take him out so that he can be replaced with a controllable decoy. Cue the General mocking his would-be assassin’s rudimentary torture equipment “these were banned in the Sudan for being too safe”.

Tamir meanwhile plans for the decoy to announce to the UN that Wadiya will soon begin the transition to a democracy. Tamir’s motives are far from admirable however as we soon learn he has promised the country’s vast oil reserves to Gazpro, BP and Exxon, as well as their money reserves to a  shady Chinese diplomat who confesses a penchant for sleeping with A-List Hollywood actors.

After escaping from his captor and getting caught up in a lively protest against his own presence in New York, Aladeen is forced to take shelter in the store of a feminist vegan protestor called Zoey (Anna Faris). From hereon in The Dictator is very much a fish-out-of-water comedy with the General struggling to blend in to normal civilian life. There’s also an inevitable romantic subplot as he begins to fall for Zoey and shows signs of maturing from a vulgar man-child into, well, a vulgar grown adult.  While working for Zoey at her Vegan store, Aladeen secretly plots with a former Wadiyan ally to replace the decoy, tear up the declaration of democratisation in front of the assembled dignitaries and once again restore his glorious dictatorship.

At this stage, perhaps I should flag up a warning, if you are going to go and see The Dictator, be prepared for some jokes that are in supremely bad taste. There’s pretty much no territory that Cohen and his co-writers won’t touch on and just when you think they’ve gone as far as they can, there’s another more offensive gag just around the corner.  9/11, the Israeli Olympic Team massacre and child abuse are just a few of the usually taboo areas which are lampooned by Cohen and co. Likewise, when it comes to the movies gross-out material, a great deal of it will not be to everybody’s taste and some scenes do work better than others .

The comedy is a million miles from subtle, but there’s the odd surprisingly clever gag in there too. Towards the end there’s even an inspired satirical moment where Aladeen explains to the assembled American dignitaries the advantages of a dictatorship over a democracy, hammering home the point that in many ways there wouldn’t be that many changes needed.  You get the impression though that while there is the odd nod towards a broader satirical point being made regarding the West’s real reasons for wanting democracies to prosper, this was always secondary to making another offensive joke. In other words, on the comedy swingometer, with Dr Strangelove at the one end and Jackass at the other, The Dictator is markedly closer to the latter. At times, this does feel like a wasted opportunity, especially given how clever the final five to 10 minutes prove to be.

It’s noticeable that Sacha Baron Cohen has come a long way since the heady days of Ali G a decade ago.  He can now get Megan Fox in for a mere slutty cameo, have Ben Kingsley kiss his armpits, and rope in another A-list actor later on for an amusing turn as a boy toy of the wealthy Chinese diplomat. Like we’ve come to expect, Cohen is fearless throughout and once again proves that when it comes to controversial mainstream comedy, he’s up there with the best of them.

In a film with so many gags, it is inevitable that some will hit and some will miss. Whether you enjoy The Dictator or not really comes down to a simple mathematical case of whether, for you, there’s more of one than the other. As someone who is pretty hard to offend when to comes to suitable topics for comedy, I thought it was a solid, silly comedy that was perfectly enjoyable if nothing remarkable. I cannot emphasize enough though, there’s plenty to take offence at here, so brace yourself.

Max is again on top form, even with him struggling with a nasty bought of gas.

Enjoy!

I feel obligated to mention that some of these examples do include spoilers, but seeing that the most recent example I’ve used is from 1998, I hope their inclusion can be forgiven.

So let’s get into the good stuff…

5. Jack fails to save Sally in Blow Out

Considering some of the amazing camerawork on show in this Top 5, I’m sure some might argue against my decision to include this. But as the title of the article states, in terms of ‘Eye Candy’, there isn’t much better than John Travolta’s Jack slumping to his knees and cradling Nancy Allen’s lifeless body. The vivid fluorescent light shines from the parade below, cascading all over Travolta’s confused expression and the realisation that he was responsible. This is all set in front of the glowing flag of red, white and blue, and climaxing in a low angle shot as fireworks rain above, lighting up the black sky.

4. Carrie is named Prom Queen

There are so many stand-out shots and sequences in Carrie that I was a little bit spoiled for choice. You have the long one-shot revealing the bucket of blood and the dizzying dance between Carrie and Tommy, but even though these are maybe technically more complex in execution, I chose the slow motion sequence when Carrie is named Prom Queen, followed by her ascension to the stage.

So dreamlike, Mario Tosi’s cinematography impresses as you see the one thing Carrie has craved all her life has finally come true: acceptance. But the audience knows what’s in store for her, and the scene is filled with a horrible atmosphere; the tension De Palma creates is palpable. For me one of the best of his career.

3. Opening Tracking Shot in Snake Eyes

De Palma and steadicam should go down as one of cinema’s greatest duos, like Laurel and Hardy or Mel Gibson and Anti-Semitism. They seem to fit so well together! And even though this example does have a few cheats (it’s actually three shots masterfully camouflaged as one) the sheer tenacity that De Palma must have had to begin his film with a 13-minute tracking shot is insane. He used a similarly great shot in Bonfire of the Vanities a few years earlier, but this one just beats it to the punch. It’s such an effective way to map out the environment as well as introduce us to nearly every character in the flick.

You have The Cage being crazy as only The Cage can, and in a shirt that could melt your retinas. Say what you want about the film itself (I kinda like it), but this opening shot is the work of one of the world’s best, a man who takes a technique and uses it to full effect. And let’s not forget to mention legendary steadicam operator and long-time De Palma collaborator Larry McConkey, whose incredible skills made this, and many other similar shots, possible.

2. Build up to Malone’s Death

The Untouchables is one of De Palma’s best, but also one of his most conventional films. The inclusion of this POV scene, as one of Al Capone’s men stalks Sean Connery’s Malone in his apartment, was a surprise when I first saw the flick. Skulking outside, we watch Malone enter room after room, waiting for the precise time and place to make his appearance. It’s very Argento, with obvious Giallo influences, and seeing that distinctive European style incorporated in a mainstream American film was refreshing. And it didn’t just look great; it gave Malone the epic death he deserved, showing the impact and importance of his murder as THE catalyst to the direction the film would then take.

1. Split screen in Phantom of the Paradise

De Palma and his steadicam can sometimes get a bit kinky, because once in a while they get a little three-way going with another of his mistresses, the split screen. We’ve seen it in so many of his films, but the time bomb in car sequence in Phantom of the Paradise has to be my favourite. The split screen is such an amazing tool for filmmakers, especially dealing with suspense, but it seems only a few greats are able to use it effectively. The murder cover up in Sisters was a close second; there really are many examples where De Palma proves himself able to take this technique and use it to its full effect.

He knows exactly when to use it too, and the tension he’s able to create is, at times, staggering. His use of split screen is nearly always a masterclass of scene blocking and pacing, and just one of the many tools in his directorial arsenal.

How about you? Any favourite De Palma shots or sequences?

Check out our contestants’ guesses here.

Figures correct as of 13th May.

MARVEL AVENGERS ASSEMBLE/THE AVENGERS – Worldwide Total: $1,016,095,436

Blimey.

Proving just as popular worldwide as it did in the US, Avengers has crossed the threshold of being one of the truly (unadjusted for inflation) biggest hits of all time, which, even with 3D ticket prices included, is a hell of a haul considering the fact that none of the Marvel Studios movies thus far have even come close. The world was crying out to be saved from the doldrums of early year releases and was rewarded with a film which proved attractive to the ”four-quadrant” audience and appealed to people of virtually any language. It’s also had the benefit of not having too much strong competition worldwide as of yet, Marvel picking out an absolutely perfect platform to position themselves on. Looking to bust the predictions of every single person playing the game so far, the only question is just where it will actually end up in terms of position at the end of the game. In all honesty, I can’t see anything matching this, as even though Dark Knight Rises looks to be worthy competition, it’s also entering the fray at a later stage and with more competition surrounding it, both within the cinema and outside of it.

George Cook is looking strongest at the moment but even his guess, the highest at $1.2 billion, is going to look pretty puny when all is said and done. Thegreatsd is looking a little ropey at the moment with a guess of only $700 million though in terms of actual placement on the chart, our own Jordan and Brad are looking the most exposed, with each placing the film third in their standings, when I’d certainly wager it’s going to be at the very least the number 2 film in the chart when all is said and done. The thing is, barely anyone would have suggested the film was going to cross this mark so fast but hey, good reviews + insane marketing budgets = MONEY.

DARK SHADOWS – $68,696,729

Well… not a terrible opening all told but still, if this is the best it’s got in the tank for the opening salvo, it may not be a hot contender when all is said and done. Johnny Depp and Tim Burton have been dynamite at the Box Office before, though not always guaranteed, but this will be their most disappointing commercial venture in well over a decade. It was a tricky sell and I think anyone would agree that Warner have done their best, certainly with a trailer which is a hell of a lot better than the film itself, but with an awful lot of competition coming this could be getting squeezed out of cinemas quicker than anticipated. It’s not opened in Asia as of yet, so it could have a chance of connecting there as the combination of the odd and the megastar I would imagine will go down well, but I see this getting drowned out quickly.

Here, I’m thinking that George Cook and Brad could be onto winners here with $200 and $211 million totals respectively looking like the way to go, a multiple of around three times this opening weekend feels like a pretty safe bet to me and could prove to be successful entries for these two guys. It’s safe to say that the low placing most of our contestants have given the film will likely prove to be a consensus decision which really pays off.

AMERICAN PIE: REUNION - $200,654,370

Shows how much I know… With a UK debut which has proved to be incredibly successful as well as a brilliant near $20 million total in Germany of all places thus far, my guess that Jason Farrell’s $215 million guess was pushing it a bit is showing some serious egg on my face. While this is going to slow down now, it’s still done far better than its less than $60 million US showing would suggest, as worldwide audiences have indeed shown that they want the pie. With the gross comfortably quadrupling the production budget, this is turning into a solid earner. George Cook’s slightly late guess of $220 million is also looking pretty safe and will help him out in the end of the game methinks. George is onto a stormer here!

THE LORAX – $303,789,480

Not much going on here with only about $13 million added in the last couple of weeks as the film has only opened in South Korea since then. It’s going to be a while until it starts rolling out again through the Summer holidays, so this will be quiet for a while methinks.

BATTLESHIP – $215,300,00

Jumping close to $100 million since our last update and with the US still to come with it opening there this weekend, how this pans out for our contestants really does depend on how the film hits over there in the next few weeks. I think I was underestimating how well it would do as my lowballing of Thegreatsd’s $250 million guess looks to be beating handily, instead Jordan’s $300 million guess looks shaky and Brad’s $350 million looks to be closer to the mark. It’s interesting seeing just how… meh this Transformers clone has been overall though, with a marketing campaign looking to make a bit of a monster not doing that at all really. It’s not going to be at the bottom of the total by any means, but everyone’s looking pretty safe with a mid-low placing for the film overall.

I’ll be back with another look at how things are going in two weeks time as The Dictator comes out with what MAY be a bit of a dark horse, together with one of the summer’s riskiest big propositions – Men In Black 3 could do very well or could underwhelm massively. With this, plus more of the current films set to make more money, things could be changing. As of next time I’ll be posting the grosses for each film in a chart and directly comparing each competitor’s placing to start turning the screws. Shit’s about to get real.

CRIME OR PUNISHMENT?!?
Keralino Sandorovich, 2009, Japan
UK DVD (Third Window Films)

Comedy comes in many different flavours, and is perhaps the hardest film genre to get right. It’s also the genre that travels the least well – while an effective horror film or thriller can work anywhere in the world, there’s nothing more region-specific than a sense of humour. I think this is a lot of the reason that we see so few Asian comedies in the West – as in Hollywood, it’s a massively popular genre, and yet you’d be forgiven for thinking that Asian audiences exist solely on a diet of action movies and dark, violent thrillers for all the exposure it gets here. Thankfully, Third Window Films are dedicated to releasing the sort of movies that would otherwise remain unseen outside of Japan. Crime Or Punishment?!? is a wild, colourful and unashamedly wacky farce – possibly too zany for some viewers, but those willing to embrace its insanity should find much to enjoy.

The multi-character, timeline-flipping plot takes a while to come together, but essentially centres upon Ayame Enjoji (Riko Narumi), a shy, struggling glamour model whose big magazine break is ruined when her first pictorial is printed at the back of a magazine, upside down. In anger Ayame steals a copy of the magazine – she is caught, but instead of the usual punishment is given a 24-hour assignment as the city’s Police Chief (don’t ask). At the police station she runs into Haruki, an old boyfriend for whom she still has feelings despite his predilection for brutally killing innocent young women. There’s also a trio of bungling crooks planning a grocery store robbery, Ayame’s former friend and modelling rival Momo (Love Exposure’s Sakura Ando), her long suffering agent and any number of oddball cops, criminals and crazies.

Writer/director Keralino Sandorovich is something of an independent renaissance man – having fronted a rock band and run a record label in the 1980s, during the ‘90s he became known as one of the leading figures in Japan’s contemporary theatre scene. His gifts for music, writing and the visual arts come into sharp focus on Crime Or Punishment?!?, which suggests a man freed from the constraints of the stage. The first thing to go out of the window is chronology; at first I thought I was watching a series of random sketches – the pervy old man going shopping, the disenchanted model, the idiotic, bickering criminal gang. But disarmingly clever plotting gradually tie all the parts together, Sandorovich using flashbacks to fill in the gaps and streamline the narrative. It’s Ayame’s story really, and although everything is played very broadly, 16-year-old Riko Narumi’s heartfelt performance as a young woman convinced that everything she does is destined for failure is quite affecting. The love story doesn’t really work, but given Haruki is actually a deranged serial killer I’m not sure it was ever supposed to. And it does provide some amusing moments, as Haruki attempts to give himself up but is constantly thwarted by his superiors who think it will give the police a bad name.

Where Crime Or Punishment?!? really impresses is in the level of comic invention that Sandorovich maintains. He delivers an almost constant stream of visual and verbal gags, some obvious (one policeman accidentally pissing in another’s face, some very silly stuff involving a stun-gun), others surreal and more subtle, such as Ayame’s decision to nickname all the officers under her command, such as the high-talking ‘Soprano’ and ‘Mosaic’, whose face is distorted by that TV mosiac effect. There are fantasy sequences that exist only in Ayame’s head (I loved the German-speaking doctor who pops up to psychoanalyse Haruki), various jokes involving bodily functions, gory chainsaw attacks and lots of running around, all tied together by a cool, ’60s-influenced soundtrack from Fumio Yasuda.

I suppose there might be some satire in here, about the redundancy of modern law enforcement and how a rubbish teenage glamour model can do a better job than those supposedly running the police force. But the film’s restless energy ensures that we’re not given much time to dwell on such thoughts. At nearly two hours, Crime Or Punishment?!? might slightly outstay its welcome – a danger for any comedy, particularly one as broad as this – but Sandorovich’s quest to make us laugh ultimately proves both noble and successful.

1. Avengers Assemble (498 sites) W/E: £4,169,087 Total: £40,279,282

2. American Pie: Reunion (487) W/E: £2,546,626 Total: £12,208,052

3. Dark Shadows (510) W/E: £2,404,029 NEW

4. The Lucky One (365) W/E: £431,576 Total: £2,311,538

5. Beauty and the Beast 3D (380) W/E: £422,924 Total: £1,837,991

6. Safe (290) W/E: £298,201 Total: £1,552,728

7. Salmon Fishing in the Yemen (259) W/E: £259,550 Total: £5,316,260

8. Piranha 3DD (318) W/E: £242,889 NEW

9. How I Spent My Summer Vacation (250) W/E: £152,728 NEW

10. The Hunger Games (157) W/E: £143,542 Total: £23,480,585

Source: The Guardian

Despite a just under 50% drop week-on-week, Marvel Avengers Assemble continues to top the chart with another intimidating figure which would look amazing for most films in their first week, let alone third. The question at this point is how the hell any other summer film can look to even coming close to this kind of money, and especially when the rest of the big contenders have both close competition in release schedules but also a rather huge summer of sport. Even Dark Knight Rises, with a marketing campaign which seems to be depressing as much as impressing, has the juggernaut that is the Olympics to contend with a mere week after opening, whereas Avengers has been unburdened by anything which has been thrown at it, and barring a massive breakout hit for The Dictator looks to continue this on this upcoming frame. Could it be the first film this year to do four weekends at the top? It may just though The Dictator’s extra two days of previews could give it the edge, albeit unfairly.

American Pie: Reunion also manages to hang in at the number 2 position despite a huge drop, though that was added too by the two extra days of previews they had last week. With that considered, it’s not a bad drop really, given that word of mouth hasn’t exactly been overwhelming and with the sheer wealth of choice for folks at the Box Office at the moment. With an over £12 million total at this point, it’s also far outpaced its performance in the US, something which will do wonders for its overall international box office total and could prove to be more concrete evidence of the want for another installment than has been provided in the US. With The Dictator coming this week, the film’s got very much direct competition opening but Universal will certainly be thrilled with this performance, and especially in comparison to the under-firing Battleship.

In at number 3 is a film, which on paper maybe should have done better, Dark Shadows debuts with an OK enough total, though the sheer fact that Tim Burton and Johnny Depp’s last effort, the shitpile which was Alice In Wonderland, made over $1 billion worldwide, you’d expect better of this even with the difficult subject matter and challenging prospects the marketing department had. The only thing this really has going for it is that it may be skewing more females than most of the chart, and certainly more so than the big two new releases of the week, and so this may well hold on in there, but with bigger guns coming out after this weekend, Dark Shadows may not be able to hold onto screens enough to get a decent running total going. Next week’s release of What To Expect When You’re Expecting could also hurt the film. I have a feeling that thing is going to open huge, and especially when it’s counter-programming against Men In Black 3.

Holding fairly well given the two extra days of previews last week, the Zac Efron-starring The Lucky One does well to dip just over 50%, though like Dark Shadows this could get into trouble in the weeks ahead, but unlike that film, this one didn’t cost around $200 million. At least I pray not. Also holding well, in fact the best in the chart so far, is Beauty 3D which in all fairness probably makes the vast majority of its money at the weekend, though it has not even matched the opening weekend of The Lion King 3D as of yet after 10 days of play. As said last week, this was always going to be a tougher proposition than Lion King but it really is crazy just how well that re-release went in the end.

A drop of less than two-thirds is a pretty decent hold given the competition in play for the latest Stath Injection as Safe bubbles away for an OK weekend, though this may go to show that unless he’s in an ensemble, it may be better to release his movies in quieter times as while I certainly drop everything to watch one of his films, I don’t think the audience at large does. Still, Momentum will be looking forward to a decent reception for the film on the small screen. Dropping somewhat harsher than I’d have expected, though I’m also thinking it likely lost a lot of screens last weekend is Salmon Fishing in the Yemen which is certainly running out of steam quicker than its debut may have suggested initially. Dark Shadows may well have taken a fair bit of its business as in retrospect it would make sense that that film would skew older, as well as female, and with the fact that this film’s starting to feel a little too ripe in comparison to fresher offerings in the chart, this should be on its way out in the next couple of weeks.

Perhaps disappearing faster though are the next two entries as Piranha 3DD and How I Spent My Summer Vacation both belly flop in their debut weeks with 3DD not coming anywhere near to matching the over £1 million opening of the Alexandre Aja initial reboot of a couple of years ago and Summer Vacation showing that appetite for Mel is not all that evident despite the fact that reviews have been somewhat kind to the film. Both of these could well be out of there next week with The Raid certainly capable of eating large chunks out of the audience for both. Piranha’s performance is also particularly poor considering the fact that this will have only played in 3D in the UK, I can’t imagine there were too many cinemas wanting to offer both options for this one, and when you consider how well Avengers continues to do, I wouldn’t be surprised if exhibitors would rather have had extra shows of that instead, if they could get away with it that is. Finishing off for the week, The Hunger Games makes what could be its last appearance, though there’s a chance the drop off for a few of the films above it this week could be worse going into next weekend, but with a £20 million total, no one will be crying about that. Roll on Catching Fire next year.

This week sees a couple of films which are somewhat hard to track. Sacha Baron Cohen has been promoting the ever-loving hell out of The Dictator but after the underwhelming performance of Bruno a few years back, it’ll be interesting to see just how large this one plays with a key demographic of teens who may not be as hot on Cohen as the teens of the late noughties were. With reviews ranging from mediocre to AAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH it’s going to have a tough time with older audiences but if it hits with the Orange Wednesday crowd, and with a way less than 90-minute runtime meaning lots of shows, this could open really strong. More of a question mark is Momentum’s incredibly ambitious release of The Raid which has had months of publicity and opens wide in a little under 300 sites, the largest foreign language opening since old SugarTits’ Apocalypto. With the marketing wisely not letting onto the fact it’s subtitled, this has got a chance to open in a big way with almost uniformly OMG word-of-mouth adorning the marketing (including a quote from this very site no less). If it crosses over in the way that is bubbling under the surface, this could be a real dark horse this weekend, though the 18 cert will certainly be a hindrance. Also opening wide is Julie Delpy’s 2 Days In New York, a sequel to a film most audiences won’t have seen but with decent buzz and a very game for promoting the film Chris Rock on-board, this could do well for those who don’t want race jokes or people being thrown out of windows.

Next week’s box office is one I’m very much looking forward to seeing the results of, so come back and let’s survey the wreckage shall we?

For this month’s (belated) Staff Miscellany, the writers here at EatSleepLiveFilm.com have picked their favourite ‘looks’, one series of muscular movements that encapsulate that character, that moment in the film that tells you everything you need to know. Some are comic, some are terrifying and some are heartbreaking but all of them have had an impact on one of our writers.

The relationship between the director and their talent (or talking props) is never more evident than in the dissection of ‘the look’, it’s the image that comes to mind when you think of every great performance in every great film and there’s countless examples that could make this list without breaking a sweat. The only reason they don’t is that out writer’s have very acquired tastes…

So, without further ado:

MIKE WILLIAMS

NAME OF FILM: The Big Lebowski (Joel Coen, USA, 1998)

THE ACTOR IN QUESTION: Jeff Bridges

THE LOOK:  A lifeless look of disdain that summarises his appalled perception of the people around him.

IN THE GRAND SCHEME: Perhaps the most priceless look Jeff Bridges gives us as hapless bum The Dude is where Walter (John Goodman), attempts to scatter the ashes of their recently decreased pal Donny (Steve Buscemi). As Walter empties his remains into the sea below, the wind blows it all back into The Dude’s face. His reaction is to stand there (mouth wisely closed) staring in utter disgust at Walter for several seconds. The look is both hilarious and awkward in the context of the scene and works brilliantly.

The Dude merely projects a lifeless look of disdain that summarises his appalled perception of the people around him (notably Walter, and on several occasions, mind) for the duration of the film.

There are several other great expressions The Dude offers throughout, such as when a police officer throws a mug at his head; when Bunny offers to fellate him for the bargain price of $1,000; or as he is questioning little Larry over a stolen briefcase, but this by far expresses the most poignancy and hilarity in one single moment.

This is just one of many brilliant looks and reactions to the bizarre scenarios The Dude finds himself in. Most are unbelievable, so his expressions are usually of shock or bewilderment.

Throughout the movie, The Dude tends to be speechless in relation to the weird and wacky actions of other characters, and this expression tonally sums up the film with a look of ‘what the fuck?!’, which seems to be a recurring theme for him.

 JAMIE LEE NARDONE

NAME OF FILM: Live and Let Die, The Man with the Golden Gun, The Spy Who Loved Me, Moonraker, For Your Eyes Only, Octopussy, A View to a Kill

THE ACTOR IN QUESTION: Roger Moore

THE LOOK: A twinkle in the eye with a slight turn of the head and closed lips. Sometimes his mouth will curve up to one side, most often with some raised eyebrow movement.  The look is often directed towards or is a cause of an alluring female. Occasionally accompanied with a slight nod (this usually demonstrates above-average interest). Can also be seen in episodes of The Saint, in which he plays the lead role of Simon Templar.

IN THE GRAND SCHEME: Looking back on Moore’s lengthy stint as Bond, his character can be viewed as incredibly sexist. However, it is important to view the films contextually in the era in which they were made. Ergo; incredibly sexist. Bond’s women either had virtue and lived, or succumbed to his charms like a harlot and met their demise at the hand of his enemies. How he treats women in general is summed up in the one look; he’s saying ‘I’ve noticed you, I’m interested, I could have you’. And the greater the challenge the better. As a character, he is the quintessential action hero with an unrivaled watch collection and knowledge of fine wine, who saves the world with that cheeky smile and gets the gal(s). He is the essential 70s Bond. As a reflection of society as a whole at the time? Lest we forget that women had only just been given the right to equal pay and screen time without a bouncing bust and weak sexual morals.

 DAVID HALL

THE FILM: Once Upon A Time In The West (Sergio Leone, USA/Italy, 1968)

THE ACTOR IN QUESTION: Henry Fonda

THE LOOK:  At the culmination of the 14-minute long opening sequence of Leone’s most outlandish, operatic western, the clear, baby-blue eyes of Henry Fonda – an actor hitherto known for playing men of fine character and moral upstanding – are employed to devastating, ironic effect. Following a languid build-up of near-farcical stillness, a team of hired guns slay a family with extreme prejudice. But even worse is to come.  Fonda’s steely, cruel, unforgiving peepers hover into view, fixing upon us and their final target.  As Ennio Morricone’s score swells to grandiose proportions, we must prepare ourselves for the awful, inevitable truth. The man who cemented his beloved (onscreen) reputation playing Wyatt Earp and a young Abraham Lincoln is about to do the unthinkable and execute an innocent child, in cold blood.

IN THE GRAND SCHEME: Funereal, romanticised and corpulent, West is – like all Leone’s films – built on image and sound, not dialogue. The ‘look’ – often lingered on for a perverse, almost comedic length of time – is all. Leone’s westerns tell it no more like it was than the classic Hollywood ones, aside from their acceptance – and even celebration – of cruel, inevitable death. The deliberate use of an icon such as Fonda feels like an invitation to American audiences to question their own heroes and mythology, their own ‘history’.

Fonda only accepted the role after much persuasion from Leone and at the behest of Eli Wallach – who assured him he would have the time of his life working with the Italian maestro.  But the American actor misjudged Leone’s radical intentions completely and arrived on set with brown contact lenses and a beard – believing that audiences would need distance to accept him as a sadist and murderer. Leone ordered him to shave immediately and remove the lenses.

If it is hard to grasp the seismic impact of such a casting choice nearly fifty years down the line, imagine this. A new big-budget action flick opens in which Tom Cruise or – better still – Tom Hanks marks their entrance by pulling out a 44 Magnum and blowing away an innocent child (played by some *adorable* Fanning-like moppet).

Such audacity, even now, is unthinkable.

 CHRIS WARD

NAME OF FILM: Rocky (John G. Avildsen, USA, 76)

THE ACTOR IN QUESTION: Carl Weathers

THE LOOK: Apollo Creed (Weathers) knocks down Rocky Balboa (Sylvester Stallone) in the 14th round thinking he has finally put the Italian Stallion down, but Rocky defies the odds and, against the advice of his manager, gets up and signals Creed to carry on, with Apollo looking bewildered as to what he has to do to keep this man down.

IN THE GRAND SCHEME: The whole ethos of Rocky as a character and as a story is summed up in that look; Apollo Creed, the World Heavyweight Champion has treated the fight like a publicity stunt, thinking he would knock out this club-level bruiser – to whom he has given this title shot – within three rounds.  He wins the fight, having given an unknown Rocky a shot – albeit an unrealistic one – whilst Rocky gets his time in the limelight and a nice paycheck – everyone’s a winner.  But he didn’t count on Rocky taking the fight seriously and he certainly didn’t count on Rocky having a granite jaw and the heart of a lion, so long after Rocky should have hit the canvas and stayed there he’s still coming at the champ, giving the complacent Apollo a run for his money.

What that look really says is ‘Are you kidding me?  I’ve thrown everything at you and you still keep coming.  Why won’t you just give in?’  Of course, Rocky doesn’t give in and although (spoiler!) he doesn’t win the fight, he is still standing when the final bell is rung and that is all that Rocky wanted to achieve.  But for Apollo, he may have won but he didn’t beat him and it is that look in the 14th round that signals where Apollo Creed the showman realises that the little man is not to be underestimated.

NOEL MELLOR

NAME OF FILM: Shaun of the Dead (Edgar Wright, UK, 04)

THE ACTOR IN QUESTION: Simon Pegg

THE LOOK: A shudder of sheer bewilderment and disdain directed at David (Dylan Moran).

IN THE GRAND SCHEME: Having scaled the walls of the suburban fortress that has hopelessly imprisoned his beloved Liz (at least in his mind), Shaun has taken the first major step on his road to heroism and personal salvation. Liz’s heart is just that tiniest bit closer to becoming his once more and as thoughts turn toward the chariot that will speed he and the collective to the safety of The Winchester, one question needs to be asked: “Has anyone got transport?”

Though useless, the response from Liz’s flat mate Dianne about having a driving license was at least an attempt to be helpful. Typically however, it’s her boyfriend David (Dylan Moran) who offers up something far more pompous and ineffectual as a contribution to the terrifying reality they all now face. David, it seems, doesn’t see the point in owning a car in London. A personal belief he manages to communicate in a way that highlights his contempt for Shaun, while underlining his presence as the most irrelevant and poisonous member of the group.

Wonderfully, this is met with perhaps the single most hilarious glance of perplexed frustration one could ever imagine. Accompanied by a whimper and a light shrug, it’s the moment where Shaun’s revulsion for this man bubbles to the surface. However, it’s the heaped spoonful of pity and severe lack of surprise that comes with it which provides the most entertainment. Every muscle on our hero’s face screams ‘well, of course you’d say that’ and seems just a breath away from an outright belly laugh. ‘You’re an unbelievable, detestable fool’, Shaun is thinking, ‘but I kind of knew that already’.

 DAN AUTY

NAME OF FILM: Police Academy (Hugh Wilson, USA, 84)

THE ACTOR IN QUESTION: George Gaynes

THE LOOK: Technically it’s a series of looks, but my personal choice is freeze-framed below. It’s a look that encompasses a wide range of emotion: pleasure, confusion, anticipation, fear. But more than that, it is a look that asks the question that all of us have asked at least once in our lives. One of the big questions, the sort that scholars, scientists and philosophers have spent thousands of years debating. Namely: “Who is giving me a blowjob under this podium while I try to give a presentation? And why?” OK, two questions.

IN THE GRAND SCHEME: Police Academy has many classic comedy moments. Who can forget Mahoney putting boot polish onto Harris’s megaphone, Jones’s endless stream of wacky noises, Callahan’s top-heavy self-defence class and, of course, the immortal Blue Oyster Bar scene? But the biggest laughs come about two-thirds of the way through. There are so many reasons to love the Lassard blowjob sequence – Steve Guttenberg’s expression when he hears Lassard’s zipper go down, the way George Gaynes utters “oh my god!”, the moment after when Lassard looks back to the podium and sees Mahoney’s head pop out, plus the fact that it’s The Devil in Miss Jones star Georgina Spelvin providing the oral pleasure. But it is Gaynes’s look throughout that gives the scene its power and poignancy. It is a look that speaks volumes about the human condition, and makes us wish that, at least once in our pathetic, miserable working lives, we could all enjoy the gentle touch of a fast-talking, gum-chewing hooker in a skimpy red dress.

 JAMES MCDONALD

NAME OF FILM: Aliens (James Cameron, US, 1986)

THE ACTOR IN QUESTION: Sigourney Weaver

THE LOOK: Pure determination for saving a child.

IN THE GRAND SCHEME: Having learned of her child’s death in the beginning of the film, Ellen Ripley changes from a human being who’s rightfully afraid of the deadly xenomorphs to maternal mother with a grudge and absolutely no fear. With one single look. In the film the little girl, Newt, the sole survivor of the infested camp is taken in the third act by the aliens to become a host for a fresh new facehugger.

Ripley grabs a couple of guns and heads into the elevator to load up and go rescue her from the nest. After finishing reloading the weapons, she straps them together, stands up, puts the weapons on, closes her eyes, takes a deep breath then BAM! that’s the look right there. When she opens her eyes it’s almost like she’s a changed woman. No longer afraid and having complete tunnel vision for one sole task. Anything gets in the way? Mow it down. As any self respecting parent would. Although not technically Ripley’s daughter, it’s more symbolic, and almost like she has to make up for past grievances due to the loss of her own. She takes on the role of rescuer without hesitation. Her pure determination, beginning in that elevator, right after she opens her eyes. Weaver got it spot on. It’s my favourite film for very good reason. Way deeper than it may first appear.

BRADLEY PORTER

NAME OF FILM: Babe (Chris Noonan, UK/USA, 95)

THE ACTOR IN QUESTION: James Cromwell

THE LOOK: Farmer Hoggett (Cromwell) looks down at triumphant Sheep-Pig Babe and smiles warmly, acknowledging his tremendous achievement in the same way a proud father would look at his son. Except it’s a pig.

IN THE GRAND SCHEME: Babe is an enduring classic, existing somewhere between reality and FUCKING BUGNUTS. This final scene is already iconic, the immortal line reading of “That’ll do, Pig” echoing throughout eternity. It’s been parodied, repeated and lovingly caressed since the moment those words were uttered.

It’s the way Hoggett looks at Babe with a one of a kind mixture of pride, relief, lust, hunger, love and constipation. So many thought processes going on at once and somehow the inimitable Cromwell manages to display each and every one of them at the same time. You can look at that frame and think “awww, he’s proud of his pig, he wants to take him home and stroke him until he falls asleep in front of the fireplace. You can look at it and say “mmmmm, Bacon Skewers!”, or “Thank fuck that’s over but you know what Babe? We did it. We can go rest easy and live the re– wait a minute, this is never over is it Babe? I’m gonna spend the rest of my days as the guy who trained a fucking pig to herd sheep and when you’re long dead and buried some little cocksnatch is going to point and laugh and me in the street, oinking away like a little cuntnugget!”". Or alternatively he could just be passing wind.

It’s an indelible image and one which provokes such a variety of impassioned responses. Although it’s hard not to feel, when coupled with the next ‘look’ that really, this is just a love story about a man and a pig.

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Question:

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What was Gareth Evan’s directorial debut?

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Mallory Kane (Gina Carano) is a badass operative. She works for a firm who do the jobs the world’s governments don’t want to get involved in. After rescuing a hostage in Barcelona, she finds herself being targeted by members of her own team after discovering she’s been set up, and as well as trying to stay alive, tries to find out just why she got burned and aims to get revenge on those who’ve wronged her.

Steven Soderbergh, as I’m sure those reading this know, is one of America’s most well-respected directors. The cream of the crop flock to work with him as he cherry picks any and every genre he fancies getting involved in and with an apparent break from filmmaking planned, he’s finishing off with a trio of films which couldn’t be any more different. On either side of this we have paranoia infected virus thriller/procedural investigation Contagion, and broad comedy/drama stripper film Magic Mike, but here with have what is essentially an old-school B-movie told with a very much A-list cast ,and with a screenplay written by Lem Dobbs who previously collaborated with Soderbergh on the fantastic Terrence Stamp headlining The Limey, as well as one of the director’s lesser seen works Kafka.

The plotting of Haywire is certainly not one of its strongest points, and this is something I think pretty much anyone would agree with. Cutting through the connective tissue of the film will reveal any number of other like-minded films which have taken issues of being burned by your own people. Indeed, this has that in spades as Mallory runs around trying to work out who is on her side and essentially running up to and punching those who aren’t (one moment late on literally playing like and shot in a way which has me convinced that Soderbergh was in on the joke). Like many action films though, the actual narrative isn’t all that striking, but when the rest of the elements of the film are as honed as they are I’m inclined to give the film a huge benefit of the doubt.

When you think “action” there’s a high likelihood that your mind won’t be screaming “the director of Erin Brockovich!!” so to me it was a bit of a surprise that what we have here is as effective as it is, and that’s down to a combination of incredible fight choreography (coupled with the fact that it looks like no stuntmen were involved at all) and the way in which Soderbergh puts his own stamp on them, particularly in the way that the David Holmes score which is highly present throughout much of the film barely, if ever, makes an appearance during these sequences. Instead you hear either the grunts of people engaged in combat or like in an early scene, a sense of the sound design being drowned out and replaced by muffled bass, a highly subjective POV take which feels exactly like how events would be playing out in Mallory’s head. Other than the shooting style, there’s a huge sense here that everything is being done to make the film feel as realistic as possible when it comes to the fighting, so when Mallory runs, she runs with a constant pace and controls her breathing, when she has to get out of a tricky car based situation, she doesn’t do flash handbrake turns or jumps, she just reverses skillfully while a stunned Michael Angarano looks on, and when being chased through Dublin, she manages to both kick some cop ass but also evades the authorities by trying to blend in, almost at the same time. It’s pulse-pounding stuff which had me wholly engaged throughout with original, inventive action which holds far more interest than 95% of today’s bigger budgeted action fare.

Many have been rather uncharitable to Gina Carano. Soderbergh has a reputation of pairing up his roles with people with like-minded experience in real-life, such as with much of the casting in The Girlfriend Experience for example, and a question I’d ask is what would we rather have with this character? A woman who absolutely fits the part of an ass kicking machine who may occasionally falter when it comes to line delivery or a Hollywood actress who may get away with the performance but would never believable be able to handle the more bone crunching action on show, instead having to rely on face replacement or shots compositions which aren’t as in-your-face as we have here? I’m going to stick with the former thanks and I think Carano does just fine. It does help that around her she’s got actors who are more than capable of raising the general acting bar, though it must be said that Michael Fassbender and Channing Tatum also take memorable beatings where it looks like stuntmen weren’t being used at all on set.

Haywire is a more than solid action flick which manages to craft some genuinely memorable moments thanks to a very game cast and a sense of cool which gives the whole thing a high-class sheen which I for one can only appreciate Soderbergh more for.

Onto the disc itself and we have a rather striking 2.35:1 1080p image to start off proceedings as Soderbergh’s digital cinematography (he working under the alias Peter Andrews as usual) is brought to HD with great clarity and handles the almost constantly changing look of the film well, with the cold of the beginning transitioning to the warm Barcelona and beyond without skipping a beat. It’s obviously a heavily manipulated image but it looks fine and has little of the softness I’ve found some digitally shot films suffering from (the last couple of discs from David Fincher spring to mind). Pairing with this we have a decent, though unspectacular, DTS-HD 5.1 soundtrack which is clear throughout and packs a punch in moments but never feels quite as involving as you want it to, a fault maybe with the sound design more than anything else, but it does feel like this track was prepared with a by the numbers approach which if anything takes away slightly from the visceral impact of the visuals.

Onto the extras, and first it’s worth pointing out that in the press release given with this disc, which has been copied online for various articles announcing it, there is a commentary listed which doesn’t actually appear on the disc, a real shame as I’d have loved to hear Soderbergh, Dobbs and Carano talk about the making of the film. What we do have though kicks off with a 15 minute piece which focuses on Carano’s pre Haywire MMA career, including some stunning footage of her first professional fight, before moving on to looking at the big fights within the film, focusing rightly on the brutal Carano/Fassbender duel where it’s confirmed that neither had doubles for the fight and how the two had to have a great level of trust and belief in each other to get the results we see on-screen. This is a solid little doc which I’d have liked to have seen more of. Following this we have a six minute piece where Fassbender, McGregor, Tatum and Banderas talk briefly about working with Soderbergh and Carano which never scratches beneath any real surface. We then get a nine minute piece called “The Characters of Haywire” which is basically a collection of internet trailers focusing on the different aspects to the film’s plot, a feature which isn’t really needed by anyone whose actually seen the whole thing and to finish off we have the UK trailer.

A great film and brilliant video with a competent audio track which is only properly let down by an underwhelming set of extras but still, based on the film alone, this is a hell of an easy recommend from me.

Haywire is out on Blu-Ray and DVD next Monday (21^st May) through Momentum Pictures.