THN NEWS ROUND-UP #2

Here's my weekly lowdown on what's happening in the worlds of film & TV courtesy of The Hollywood News...

Michael Haneke's 'Flashmob' Popping Up Soon...

http://www.thehollywoodnews.com/2014/05/27/michael-hanekes-flashmob-popping-up-soon/

Pixar Get All Emotional For 'Inside Out'...

http://www.thehollywoodnews.com/2014/05/27/pixar-get-all-emotional-for-inside-out/

Johnny Depp Wanted For Actioner 'The Secret Life Of Houdini'...

http://www.thehollywoodnews.com/2014/05/28/johnny-depp-wanted-for-actioner-the-secret-life-of-houdini/

Madeleine Stowe Gets Caged For 'The Runner'...

http://www.thehollywoodnews.com/2014/05/28/madeleine-stowe-gets-caged-for-the-runner/

'Stargate' To Return In New Trilogy...

http://www.thehollywoodnews.com/2014/05/30/stargate-to-return-in-new-trilogy/

Also here are two pieces, one about the Coen Brothers musical history and 'Inside Llewyn Davis'...

http://www.thehollywoodnews.com/2014/05/26/bunyan-balls-and-bluegrass-the-road-to-inside-llewyn-davis/

The other is a review of BBC drama 'Quirke' starring Gabriel Byrne...

http://www.thehollywoodnews.com/2014/05/27/quirke-episode-1-christine-falls-review/

DREDD Review

With recent news that Karl Urban is urging fans to instigate a sequel via Kickstarter, here's a review of what will hopefully be the first DREDD...

It would be easy to begin this review by ripping hell out of Sylvester Stallone's Judge Dredd.  So let's do just that.  While I wasn't as bothered as some about a Hollywood Dredd with his helmet off, the 1995 attempt was as misguided as a Mega-City Bible salesman in its efforts to fuse the hard, sleazy edges of 2000 AD with the touchy feely world of an A Lister looking to broaden his repertoire.
 
This new take is much more on the button.  Not only does it summon up the social decay and eye-popping splatter-fests of the comic, it is also savvy enough to be an intelligent film adaptation in its own right.  This is especially apparent in director Pete Travis's use of downtown Johannesburg as an oddly contemporary but highly effective setting for the opening action sequence, a pursuit of futuristic justice.  The Judges and their hardware are toned down just enough to fit against this more realistic backdrop - they are now a warped development in the war on crime rather than eagle-adorned cartoon characters.  Travis may not have the budget to create the garish sprawl we associate with Mega-City One, but he makes up for that with a strong feel for the material.  Where the film becomes really clever is in the way it concentrates the main action into a single location - one of the epic tower blocks that sprout out of an otherwise humdrum cityscape.  Once we get through the doors we are firmly in the world of Dredd, where the more extreme elements can be given free reign.
 
Unlike many of the 3D films being released hand over fist this makes decent use of the medium.  One of the central ideas in the film is a freaky drug that slows time to an indulgent crawl and there are numerous striking sequences of suspended water droplets and slow motion death plunges.  A much better deployment of 3D than just shoving things in peoples’ eyeballs (though there’s a fair amount of that sort of nastiness going on too).

While it could be argued that all you need from the title character is a big chin and gravelly voice, the film has a serviceable one of each in Karl Urban.  Like many young up-and-comers he is being shoehorned into as many franchises as possible, so just as Jeremy Renner has become Hawkeye and the new Jason Bourne, so Urban is Dr McCoy and now Dredd.  The advantage with Urban is that he is more an actor in the Michael Sheen mould, merging into each role rather than starring in it, so in that sense he is an excellent choice for the largely emblematic Judge.  Women won’t exactly be cheering from the rooftops about the female characters, but the film is noticeable for supporting Urban with two actresses.  Lena Headey is ‘Ma-Ma’, a vengeful ex-prostitute-turned-drug lord.  How much of her effectiveness comes from the fact we’ve never seen Headey with a mangled face before isn’t clear, but she is certainly an unsettling presence.  The ethereal Olivia Thirlby delivers a good performance as Judge Anderson, a psychic angel amongst the human detritus.

While this lacks the richness of something like The Dark Knight Rises, it also doesn’t get caught up in a lot of portentous knots, making it a more entertaining comic book translation as a result.  Like Dirty Harry the sole concern is dishing it out to an assortment of sweat-drenched crazies and there’s nothing wrong with a judicious wallow in the mire every now and then.  The Judge has the right team behind him and I’m looking forward to future instalments.      

 

This review was previously published in Strange Skins Magazine

THN NEWS ROUND-UP #1

Here's my round-up of movie & TV stories for the week courtesy of The Hollywood News:         

Robert De Niro Gets Taken On 'Bus 757'                                                         http://www.thehollywoodnews.com/2014/05/19/robert-de-niro-gets-taken-on-bus-757/

 

Adrien Brody To Become 'Emperor'                                                                       http://www.thehollywoodnews.com/2014/05/20/adrien-brody-to-become-emperor/

John Slattery Talks 'God's Pocket' & Philip Seymour Hoffman                             http://www.thehollywoodnews.com/2014/05/20/john-slattery-talks-gods-pocket-and-philip-seymour-hoffman/

Steven Soderbergh Will Be There For 'Magic Mike XXL'                                           http://www.thehollywoodnews.com/2014/05/21/steven-soderbergh-will-be-there-for-magic-mike-xxl/

Warner Bros Release New 'Interstellar' Images                                                  http://www.thehollywoodnews.com/2014/05/21/warners-bros-release-new-interstellar-images/

Stephen King's 'It' Floating To New Line                                                    http://www.thehollywoodnews.com/2014/05/22/stephen-kings-it-floating-to-new-line/

From 'Blue Ruin' To 'Green Room' For Jeremy Saulnier                                  http://www.thehollywoodnews.com/2014/05/22/from-blue-ruin-to-green-room-for-jeremy-saulnier/

Angela Bassett To Direct 'Whitney Houston'                                                       http://www.thehollywoodnews.com/2014/05/23/angela-bassett-to-direct-whitney-houston/

'Spooks: The Greater Good' Releases Kit Harington Image

http://www.thehollywoodnews.com/2014/05/23/spooks-the-greater-good-releases-kit-harington-image/

Ryan Gosling's 'Lost River' Teaser Trailer Released                                   http://www.thehollywoodnews.com/2014/05/19/ryan-goslings-lost-river-teaser-trailer-released/

And here are a couple of features:

Adam Sandler & Drew Barrymore Become 'Blended' In New Comedy       http://www.thehollywoodnews.com/2014/05/23/adam-sandler-and-drew-barrymore-become-blended-in-new-romantic-comedy/

Review Of 'Dylan Thomas: A Poet In New York'

http://www.thehollywoodnews.com/2014/05/20/dylan-thomas-a-poet-in-new-york-review/

THE HOLLYWOOD NEWS

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