by Cookie N Screen

Dear Directors of Artistic films.

Your extremely slow films are wonderful, truly. For any movie snob, we’d gladly take unnerving and picturesque over something mindless and entertaining. In fact, we’d rather sit through the twenty hour shot of someone’s face over an explosive sequence with a quip any day. No, seriously. A bag caught in the wind is more spectacular to watch than a musical number. We certainly enjoy it, we’d gladly sit through it and throw our hard earned cash at it.

Said No One Ever.

Ok, ok. So I very much like a great balance in my cinematic diet. I munch down indie and foreign films as happily as I do mindless entertainment (in fact, more so). Paced artistic films with a fantastic story in the middle and evocative performances are great when the narrative and editing calls for lingering imagery that push the story forward.

The problem is when the drawling shots overshadow and bore, the attention is taken away from quite an important story. Stray Dogs suffers majorly from this lack of flow.

by Cookie N Screen 

This past Academy Award ceremony, for those a fan of animation, it seemed a bit superfluous that Disney would grab both the Feature and Short awards for the medium. It’s not that the artists and filmmakers haven’t done good jobs in Feast and the feature that followed Big Hero 6. But there weren’t excellent films. Nor were they the best. Comparatively to Song of the Sea, How to Train Your Dragon 2 and The Tale of Princess Kaguya, Disney hadn’t produced their best work and the strangled grip of the company who have enchanted many rung out in the community. Did they deserve to win this time? No. 

But Big Hero 6, despite its faults, is still an enjoyable thrill ride.

by Cookie N Screen

That intrepid road from the stage to the screen is as winding as the paths taken by our character in this wildly enjoyable adaptation Into the Woods. It is a give and take relationship between the theatre and the movies, (a relationship, by the way, gloriously explored in the recent Birdman.) There are movies such as Heathers, Hairspray and Mean Girls that leap into the stage for phenomenal musical versions whilst film often, ha ha, stage their own adaptation of works previously kept to theatres. Each opens pathways for people to explore the mediums and the same can be said about today’s DVD release - Into The Woods which may have polarised theatre and cinema fans alike but still opened the up the road to the production that wasn’t necessarily the most famed.

by Cookie N Screen

Scooping up the award and clutching it like a lanky British elf, Eddie Redmayne looked entirely overwhelmed by this revelation in his career. Winning an Oscar, after all, is considered the pinnacle of the film industry and heck, even a nomination would have you burning with glee. When you look at the other contenders, it was definitely one of the more eclectic yet stellar bunch of thespians all with possible Academy Award glory in their eyes. Alongside Redmayne, there was Michael Keaton's stellar turn in Best Picture Winner Birdman, Benedict Cumberbatch's enigmatic role in The Imitation Game, Steve Carrell's fantastic transformation in Foxcatcher and Bradley Cooper in American Sniper. Out of that bunch, it was a young Eddie Redmayne who scooped up the win and charmed us all over again. 

So for the DVD release of The Theory of Everything today, let's look at the reasons why he won! 

by Jennifer Drewett 

The face of Hollywood is a seemingly ever changing thing and yet some of the facets have remained the same: celebrity and scandal can vastly overshadow the talent and achievements of a person in the spotlight, certain figures receive almost worship-style attention and it is such a different world it seems almost unreal. One of the most iconic Hollywood films of all times shows this off in a rather incredible way that had never been seen before and may never be truly matched. That film is Citizen Kane.

by Cookie N Screen 

If you sat people down and really spoke to them, you’d find a story worth documenting. Sure, not all tales would suit big screen outings. But whether it’s short form or not, there is no denying that people are interesting creatures who recant hilarious, terrifying or adventurous tales over a beer or two. When you speak to the older generation, you’ll find that they have truly lived. The older you are, the more you have lived - literally. And in this day and age, it is good to sit down, and look back over all the spectacular years that people have lived - enriching the world now with their bewildering lives. Turned Towards the Sun focuses on the magnificent life of Michael Burns.

by Cookie N Screen

Growing up in my household, there was only one comedic troop that we practically worshipped. And that was Monty Python. I remember my first meeting with the hilarity was when I accidentally walked in on my parents watching it after camping outside and became entranced ever since Terry Jones waved his bearded penis as the dumb religious man angry at Brian for breaking his vow. After that, it was all a snowball of films, sketches and hilarious songs filed with satirical humour, intelligent slapstick and great surreal moments. It even included departing into the solo efforts of the team which included the likes of 12 Monkeys, The Wind and The Willows and the excellent A Fish Called Wanda. But leaping off from that last one, the team of Monty Python-ers John Cleese and Michael Plain with A Fish Called Wanda cast Kevin Kline and Jamie Lee Curtis return for the ferocious Fierce Creatures. A family favourite that has been re- released on Blu-Ray today.

by Leah Stone

Remakes can be quite controversial. Why? Because if people consider the original or the most popular version to be utterly brilliant that they don’t see the need for another version to be created. Is the film not perfect enough as it is? And what if the new film ruins the reputation of the old one?

by Cookie N Screen

Have you ever eaten your own words?

After all, that’s one of the things you have to accept in this era of trailers and news. We are asked to make rash decisions on one or two pieces of put together footage and sometimes, our opinion comes out wrong. A film that looks brilliant could leave you hollow and broken inside (cough, Spring Breakers, cough) whilst a downright awful film could lift your spirits by being well executed and greatly done. With Judas Ghost, after one trailer I thought I had it pegged and after a lot of criticism, I did the harshest thing - I narrowed my mind as I went into the film.

Fortunately, I was heavily mistaken and Simon Pearce directs a triumph for independent low budget horrors. 

by Cookie N Screen

Concluding a trilogy is a very tricky thing indeed. That aura of finality clings to each roar of dialogue and every slice of action. The filmmakers have a duty of care to their audience - make sure all loose ends are tied up while delivering a well-executed final blow that wraps up years of agonising waits, shock twists and undeniable grandeur.

So when the third film in a series, a series that never should have been stretched into three parts in the first place, and the concluding romp is more of a lacklustre affair, it feels like a bum note to end on. Not just for the initial trilogy it is part of but for the wider series that depends on this finale to smoothly transition into the next, giving a wider sense of completion. Sadly, The Hobbit: The Battle of The Five Armies is a film that leaves Middle Earth with less of a bang and more of a fizzle.