Welcome back to Trivia Tidbits. For those of you out of the loop, this is a little compilation of 10 movie related facts that I always find interesting. So without further ado, this weeks are…
1: Tommy Lee Jones was the studio’s original (and preferred) choice to play Snake Plissken in John Carpenter’s “Escape from New York“. The studio was reluctant to cast Kurt Russell, who ultimately got the part, because of his previous work.
Director: Richard Linklater.
Screenplay: Richard Linklater.
Starring: Jason London, Wiley Wiggins, Matthew McConaughey, Rory Cochrane, Sasha Jenson, Cole Hauser, Ben Affleck, Milla Jovovich, Shawn Andrews, Adam Goldberg, Anthony Rapp, Marissa Ribisi, Joey Lauren Adams, Parker Posey, Deena Martin, Michelle Burke, Mark Vandermeulen, Esteban Powell, Jeremy Fox, Christin Hinojosa, Jason O. Smith, Terry Mross, David Blackwell, Nicky Katt, Renee Zellweger.
“Man, it’s the same bullshit they tried to pull in my day. If it ain’t that piece of paper, there’s some other choice they’re gonna try and make for you. You gotta do what Randall Pink Floyd wants to do, man. Let me tell you this, the older you do get the more rules they’re gonna try to get you to follow. You just gotta keep livin’, man…
L-I-V-I-N“.
Richard Linklater is one of those directors that consistently delivers fresh and original material yet somehow remains a filmmaker with a lower profile. His projects certainly gain the respect they deserve but they never really go over and above that in terms of awards. He’s always been innovative and has adopted some daring approaches to filmmaking with the likes of his free-form indie debut “Slacker“, the expansive “Before Sunrise” trilogy, the philosophical “Waking Life” and it’s rotoscope animated companion piece “A Scanner Darkly“. Even his forthcoming “Boyhood” – a 12 year project following a boy’s journey from 5 to 18 years old – is a feat that few, if any, directors have tackled. However, one of his most poignant and entertaining escapades happens to be the mosaic “Dazed and Confused“. It was largely ignored and a commercial failure upon it’s release but has since gained a strong cult status. And for very good reason.
Director: Ridley Scott
Screenplay: Cormac McCarthy
Starring: Michael Fassbender, Javier Bardem, Brad Pitt, Cameron Diaz, Penelope Cruz, Bruno Ganz, Rosie Perez, Toby Kebbell, Ruben Blades, Natalie Dormer, Dean Norris, Edgar Ramirez, Goran Visnjic, Sam Spruell, Richard Cabral, John Leguizamo.
“You are at a cross in the road and here you think to choose. But here there is no choosing. There is only accepting. The choosing was done long ago“.
Being a huge fan of Pulitzer-Prize winning novelist Cormac McCarthy, Ridley Scott was originally planning to adapt his controversial 1985 novel “Blood Meridian” before the project eventually fell through. Scott, however, was given another chance when McCarthy wrote his first ever original screenplay in the mould of “The Counselor“. Circling it for a short time, Scott eventually took the reigns and drafted in a star studded cast which led it to be one of the most anticipated movies of 2013. When it finally reached the public-eye, though, it was met with such a vehement backlash that I actually steered clear of it… until now.
Welcome back to Trivia Tidbits where this week I have a special Oscars trivia post just to get you in the mood for the big day on Sunday. So without further ado, let’s just dive right in…
1: According to legend, the name ‘Oscar‘ was given to the statuettes by Margaret Herrick, the Academy’s librarian. The statuette, reportedly, looked like her uncle Oscar.
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Director: J.C. Chandor.
Screenplay: J.C. Chandor.
Starring: Robert Redford.
“I’m sorry… I know that means little at this point, but I am. I tried, I think you would all agree that I tried. To be true, to be strong, to be kind, to love, to be right. But I wasn’t. And I know you knew this. In each of your ways. And I am sorry. All is lost here… except for soul and body… that is, what’s left of them… and a half-day’s ration…”
In dealing with the financial meltdown of an investment bank, J.C. Chandor’s directorial debut “Margin Call” in 2011, was an impressively handled, fast paced and very dialogue driven film. It also had a who’s who of familiar actors as they wheeled and dealed their way out of their crisis with a spot of verbal jousting. Now, in only his second feature, Chandor has left all that behind and delivers a film that couldn’t be further from his debut. There’s only one actor and you’re lucky if you get a couple of lines of dialogue in the entire film.
Better late than never I say… Normally I don’t do lists of my favourite films of the year as the different release dates between the US and Europe can sometimes make it difficult to catch everything. However, this year I’ve been fortunate enough to keep up to speed and managed to see almost everything that received a major release or caught my eye with a few exceptions being “Captain Phillips” and “Blue Is The Warmest Colour“.
Everyone has a different process or opinion in constructing their films of the year but I normally go with those that are included in the years awards season. Some were released in the UK in 2014 but I still class them as 2013 movies. Anyway here they are…
Director: Alexander Payne.
Screenplay: Bob Nelson.
Starring: Bruce Dern, Will Forte, June Squibb, Stacy Keach, Bob Odenkirk, Angela McEwan, Rance Howard, Mary Louise Wilson, Tim Driscoll, Devin Ratray, Kevin Kunkel.
“These boys grow up staring at the rear ends of cows and pigs, it’s only natural that a real woman will get them chafing their pants“.
If he’s not already there yet, there’s no doubt that Alexander Payne is a director who’s name is fast becoming synonymous with quality. I’ve yet to see his 1996 debut “Citizen Ruth” but from “Election” in 1999 to the “The Descendants” in 2012, Payne has delivered a consistency that few directors can match. With every film, he just gets better and better and “Nebraska” is no exception.
Director: Spike Jonze.
Screenplay: Spike Jonze.
Starring: Joaquin Phoenix, Amy Adams, Rooney Mara, Olivia Wilde, Chris Pratt, Portia Doubleday, Steve Zississ, Bill Hader.
Voices: Scarlett Johansson, Brian Cox, Spike Jonze, Kristen Wiig.
“Love is a form of socially acceptable insanity”
After bringing the warped and surreal works of Charlie Kaufman’s “Being John Malkovich” and “Adaptation” to the screen, director Spike Jonze carved himself a reputation for the off-beat. However, a misjudged adaptation of Maurice Sendak’s classic children’s story “Where The Wild Things Are” followed and I have to admit that doubts were raised about his abilities. I wondered how much of Jonze was in his earlier films or did he actually need Kaufman in order to construct something of substance? On the evidence of “Her“, though, it’s apparent that Jonze is the real deal and fully capable of crafting his own original work.
Director: Jean-Marc Vallée.
Screenplay: Craig Borten, Melissa Wallack.
Starring: Matthew McConaughey, Jared Leto, Jennifer Garner, Denis O’Hare, Steve Zahn, Michael O’Neill, Dallas Roberts, Griffin Dunne, Kevin Rankin, J.D. Evermore.
“Let me give y’all a little news flash. There ain’t nothin’ out there can kill fuckin’ Ron Woodroof in 30 days”
There has been no better or more consistent actor over the last few years than that of Matthew McConaughey. It’s a fact! From someone who started a bright early career and worked with the likes of such quality directors as Richard Linklater, John Sayles, Steven Spielberg and Robert Zemeckis, he soon drifted into the dreaded rom-com territory that’s no better than drifting into obscurity altogether. His reputation wasn’t amounting to his early promise and it seemed he would never recover. So when did it all go right for him then? Well, in 2011, he got back in tow with Linklater to do “Bernie” and followed that up with dark and blisteringly brave performances in William Friedkin’s “Killer Joe“, Lee Daniels’ “The Paperboy” and Steven Soderbergh’s “Magic Mike“. It didn’t stop there, though. He continued his solid work in Jeff Nichols’ “Mud” and a brief but excellent role in Martin Scorsese’s “The Wolf Of Wall Street” before finally delivering this awards laden performance in “Dallas Buyers Club“. The resurrection of his career is complete and McConaughey’s work has now, rightfully, gained the respect of critics and viewers alike.
Director: John Wells.
Screenplay: Tracy Letts.
Starring: Meryl Streep, Julia Roberts, Ewan McGregor, Chris Cooper, Juliette Lewis, Julianne Nicholson, Benedict Cumberbatch, Abigail Breslin, Margo Martindale, Dermot Mulroney, Sam Shepard, Misty Upham.
“I thought we were having a funeral dinner not a cockfight“.
If you’re aware of the work and tone of play-write Tracy Letts (who also provides the screenplay here) then you’ll pretty much get the gist of this one. He was responsible for two of William Friedkin’s finest moments; the dark, psychological horror “Bug” and the intense and disturbing thriller “Killer Joe“. Now, this doesn’t quite explore the depravity of those aforementioned films but it’s no less powerful in capturing a similar claustrophobic tension.
One of my favourite actors and, most certainly, one the very finest actors of his generation, Philip Seymour Hoffman is without doubt a true talent. His commitment to his craft was always plain to see as he threw himself into every role he played, no matter how small. His tragic and untimely death on February 2nd 2014, is a sore loss for cinema and theatre but we can at least be thankful that he’s left us with some legendary characters and performances. The following clips include a selection of some of his best moments.
Director: Todd Louiso.
Screenplay: Gordy Hoffman.
Starring: Philip Seymour Hoffman, Kathy Bates, Jack Kehler, Stephen Tobolowsky, Annie Morgan, Kelli Garner.
“I own a plane and it runs on gas and I wanna fly the thing right fucking now“.
In the wake of the saddening news yesterday that one of my favourite actors, the marvellous Philip Seymour Hoffman passed away due to a suspected overdose, I thought it fitting to look back at his first leading role where he proved his extensive talents.
Despite him regularly being the support with smaller roles, Hoffman was an actor that always managed to grab my attention with his consistently excellent performances, while the “bigger stars” around him struggled to keep up. Written by his brother Gordy, this was the film that gave him the leading role that helped cement his reputation as one the finest actors of his generation.
Welcome back to Trivia Tidbits. For those of you out of the loop, this is a little compilation of 10 movie related facts that I always find interesting. So without further ado, this weeks are…
1: Matthew McConaughey was for some time strongly considered to play Jack Dawson in James Cameron’s “Titanic” until Leonardo DiCaprio decided to accept the part.
Director: Martin Scorsese.
Screenplay: Terrence Winter.
Starring: Leonardo DiCaprio, Jonah Hill, Margot Robbie, Matthew McConaughey, Jean Dujardin, Kyle Chandler, Jon Bernthal, Jon Favreau, Rob Reiner, Pj Byrne, Kenneth Choi, Ethan Suplee, Jake Hoffman, Joanna Lumley, Shea Whigham, Cristin Milioti, Leah Ebersole, Katarina Cas, Brian Sacca, Henry Zebrowski, Spike Jonze.
“On a daily basis I consume enough drugs to sedate Manhattan, Long Island, and Queens for a month. I take Quaaludes 10-15 times a day for my “back pain”, Adderall to stay focused, Xanax to take the edge off, part to mellow me out, cocaine to wake me back up again, and morphine… Well, because it’s awesome“.
Although retirement may possibly be on the horizon for one of America’s finest directors, at age 71, Martin Scorsese certainly doesn’t look like he’s slowing down. If anything, he’s as racy as he’s ever been and shows as much energy as someone half his age. “The Wolf Of Wall Street” may not be his most original approach to filmmaking. We’ve seen all this before as it strongly resembles the structure and downfall of Henry Hill in “Goodfellas“. It does feel a little like he’s repeating himself here but it’s still entirely suitable for the story he’s relating. I can’t see how else he would have done it. If he’d played it more straight, it probably wouldn’t have worked. He had to be outrageous and for that, it’s most certainly amongst his funniest outings.
Director: Ron Howard.
Screenplay: Peter Morgan.
Starring: Daniel Brühl, Chris Hemsworth, Olivia Wilde, Alexandra Maria Lara, Stephen Mangan, Christian McKay, Julian Rhind-Tutt, Jamie de Courcey, Pierfrancesco Favino, Natalie Dormer.
“A wise man can learn more from his enemies than a fool from his friends“.
Before he became a director, Ron Howard was originally known for his acting as Richie Cunningham from “Happy Days” and that character seems to have plagued his career since. Howard can certainly resemble the character’s name in some ways; He makes production companies ‘rich’ and he most certainly delivers ‘ham’ but he lacks the ‘cunning’ to be the truly great director that he perceives himself to be. Please excuse the very poor puns but if Howard can get away with as many clichés as he does, then I deem myself the right to use as many bad puns as I want. “Rush” is further proof of Howard’s over-praised talents and no amount of money or positive word-of-mouth will change that.
Welcome back to Trivia Tidbits. For those of you out of the loop, this is a little compilation of 10 movie related facts that I always find interesting. So without further ado, this weeks are…
1: Writer/Director Spike Jonze claimed in an interview that when he was shopping the screenplay “Being John Malkovich” around Hollywood, at least one unspecified producer asked if he could possibly rewrite the film as “Being Tom Cruise“.
Director: Steve McQueen.
Screenplay: John Ridley.
Starring: Chiwetel Ejiofor, Michael Fassbender, Lupita Nyong’o, Benedict Cumberbatch, Brad Pitt, Paul Dano, Paul Giamatti, Sarah Paulson, Alfre Woodard, Scoot McNairy, Michael Kenneth Williams, Quvenzhane Wallis, Dwight Henry, Garret Dillanhunt, Kelsey Scott, Bryan Batt, Taran Killam.
“My sentimentality stretches the length of a coin”
After so vividly scrutinising the agony and the plight of Irish revolutionary Bobby Sands, in his 2008 directorial debut “Hunger” and following that up with an equally agonising portrait of sex addiction in 2011’s “Shame“, artist turned director Steve McQueen quickly established himself as a very raw and unflinching filmmaker. As did, his fearless leading actor Michael Fassbender. Now, with their third collaboration, it doesn’t look like they’ve had any change of heart and tackle the painful subject of slavery in 1840’s America.
Welcome back to Trivia Tidbits. For those of you out of the loop, this is a little compilation of 10 movie related facts that I always find interesting. So without further ado, this weeks are…
Director: David O. Russell.
Screenplay: David O. Russell, Eric Singer.
Starring: Christian Bale, Bradley Cooper, Amy Adams, Jennifer Lawrence, Jeremy Renner, Robert DeNiro, Shea Whigham, Michael Peña, Louis C.K., Jack Huston, Alessandro Nivola, Saïd Taghmaoui, Elizabeth Röhm, Paul Herman, Barry Primus, Anthony Zerbe.
“She was the Picasso of passive-aggressive karate“.
Following on from the Oscar winning success of “The Fighter” and “Silver Lining’s Playbook“, director David O. Russell is seemingly intent on sticking with a winning formula. His choice of actors in “American Hustle” have all delivered wonderful work for him in the past, so it makes sense to go with the ensemble that he has. Bale and Adams return from the former and Cooper, Lawrence and DeNiro return from the latter. One thing’s for certain, it was a very wise decision as every one of them deliver excellent work again.
Director: Peter Jackson.
Screenplay: Peter Jackson, Guillermo del Toro, Fran Walsh, Philippa Boyens.
Starring: Martin Freeman, Richard Armitage, Benedict Cumberbatch, Ian McKellan, Evangeline Lilly, Orlando Bloom, Luke Evans, Lee Pace, Ken Stott, Graham McTavish, Aidan Turner, James Nesbitt, William Kircher, Stephen Hunter, Dean O’Gorman, John Callen, Peter Hambleton, Jed Brophy, Mark Hadlow, Adam Brown, Sylvester McCoy, Mikael Persbrandt, Stephen Fry, Ryan Gage, Cate Blanchett.
“Truly songs and tales fall utterly short of your enormity, O Smaug the Stupendous…”
Now a year down the line, the residing question of whether Peter Jackson’s decision to adapt “The Hobbit” into a trilogy was a wise choice or not, has become a little easier to answer. I’d have to say, that he can probably feel somewhat vindicated as his vision seems to be working. That being said, there’s still an abundance of padding and repetition going on in this second instalment – just as there was in the first – but Jackson has definitely improved here by ironing out the creases a little more.
MARKED MOVIES 