Posts Tagged ‘movie’
Web | Promoting the End of the World Online
2012 is the new movie from Roland Emmerich about the end of the world. It’s due for release in Australia on 12 November 2009. You can read about the movie and watch the trailer here.
But in this post I’m going to talk about the movie’s online presence, because one of the really fascinating things about 2012 is its online promotion. This movie has not one but eight websites, and with some really fun interactive content, as well as an interesting use of social media.
A lot of work has gone into “spilling” the film’s narrative into real life through the web. Of course, the film has an official movie site, but the remaining sites are for organisations and characters. You might recall the promotion for The Blair Witch Project, a groundbreaking campaign that unfolded the story on the internet before the release to give the impression that this mockumentary was actually based on real events.
The use of the web to promote 2012 is very similar, though less about creating an impression of reality and more about extending the experience of the movie to the net.
Anyway, without further ado, let’s take a look at the campaign.
Film | 2012 (or, Three Years’ Away From Doom)
Forget Copenhagen and climate change, people, because the world is going to end in 2012. At least according to upcoming disaster flick 2012 from apocalypse obsessed director Roland Emmerich — who also brought us Independence Day, Godzilla and The Day After Tomorrow.
The year 2012 is eschatologically significant — it’s the end of the Mesoamerican, or Mayan, calendar. More precisely, 21/23 December 2012 of our Gregorian calendar. Legend has it that 2012 is not just the end of the calendar, but of the world as well. And this is the basic premise of the movie — surviving apocalypse.
In the eye of the storm is a broken Curtis family – science-fiction writer Jackson Curtis (John Cusack), his ex-wife Kate (Amanda Peet) and their kids. Disaster movies classically involve a broken family that’s restored through the natural disaster (what else would get you back together with Tom Cruise other than human eating plants?). It’s the usually subtext in these movies.
Film | Moon (2009)
Ground Control to Major Tom … or in this case, Sam Bell. Moon is the Space Odyssey 2001 meets Philip K Dick film from director (and Bowie son) Duncan Jones.
It’s the not-too-distant future of a post-climate changed planet Earth. Us humans have discovered a new and seemingly sustainable source of energy — fusion power from the Moon. Sam Bell (Sam Rockwell; Frost/Nixon) is stationed at a base that harvests the energy on the moon. For the duration of his 3-year contract, he’s pretty much alone. Well, all except for GERTY, an artificially intelligent computer modelled on Space Odyssey’s HAL9000 and with a penchant for using emoticons for expression. GERTY is voiced by Kevin Spacey.
Film | Has Lars returned to The Kingdom?
It looks like Danish film director Lars von Trier is returning to the supernaturalism of his roots with his soon-to-be-released horror flick Antichrist.
A couple (played by Willem Dafoe and Charlotte Gainsborough) go to a cabin in the woods to mourn and get over the death of their son. But, rather than finding bucolic bliss they instead discover that nature is indeed “the devil’s church” and soon become extremely reluctant parishioners.
Six superstars from the original Dreamland crew
Andy Warhol had Joe Dellasandro, Holly Woodlawn, Edie Sedgewick and Jackie Curtis. John Waters had the Dreamlanders. Nominate your favourite.
Like Warhol, Waters defied the art and film establishment with DIY, low-budget, taboo-breaking film making. But this culprit had his accomplices in his subversion and perversion. Oh, and don’t forget to vote in the poll at the end!
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Film | Her Majesty’s Secret Service (1969)
Australian actor George Lazenby does his service for the Commonwealth as James Bond in Her Majesty’s Secret Service
This Bond lives up to expectations — it’s action-packed, entertaining and glamorous stuff.
Film review: Across the Universe (2007)
Rebellion goes square in this cute, but unfortunately corny, High School Musical meets The Beatles rock opera
Directed by Julie Taymor (Frida), Across the Universe weaves together 33 songs from The Beatles list into a musical story about America’s movement through the turbulent and liberating 60s.
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Film review: Beowulf (2007)
World of Warcraft meets Lord of the Rings in this retelling of the classic Old English epic using motion capture technology.
The story is set in Heorot, in ye olde Denmark, where King Hroðgar (Anthony Hopkins) reigns. One night, the King and his thanes are raucously celebrating their victories in the mead (beer) hall when they unwittingly awaken their neighbour, Grendel (Crispin Glover), the village monster and long-time curse for the King. Grendel pays them a surprise visit, and rather than tell them to keep the noise down, tears the hall (and its folk) to bits.
Film | Dreamgirls
The supreme rise of The Dreams
Just when I thought I lost the capacity to cry and hoorah, after La Vie en Rose failed to summons any tears, along comes Dreamgirls.
A film adaptation of a book and broadway musical, Dreamgirls tells the story of the phenomenal rise of The Dreams, a three-piece RnB group of the 1960s/70s. The story is loosely based around The Supremes — Diana Ross, Mary Wilson, Florence Ballard and (later) Cindy Birdsong. Instead, we have (respectively) Deena (Beyonce Knowles), Lorrell (Anika Noni Rose), Effie (Jennifer Hudson) and Michelle Morris (Sharon Leal).
But, Dreamgirls is more than just a story about The Dreams. It’s the story of the move of Afro-American music into mainstream pop culture, timed as it were with the emerging civil rights movement and turbulent race relations of the time, which background the story. At the centre of this story is Curtis Taylor Jnr (Jamie Foxx), manager of The Dreams and based on Mowtown records founder Berry Gordy. The mainstream music industry throws up its own set of challenges, and its Curtis that manages this.
The film owes a lot to the Effie White character, based loosely upon Ballard. Like Effie, Ballard was originally the lead singer of The Supremes until the decision was made to lead with the soprano voice of Diana Ross. Like Effie, Ballard was resentful of the change and ultimately left the group following increasing alcoholism and no-shows at rehearsals. Cindy Birdsong replaced Ballard, who would pursue a brief solo career. In 1974, Ballard was invited to join The Supremes on stage at a special performance. This she did and, although she chose not to sing, her appearance drew ovations from the audience. Tragically, Ballard died two years later aged 32.
The other curious character in the film was Curtis Taylor Jnr, manager of The Dreams. Both groundbreaking and opportunistic, Curtis knows what hand to play and when. Curtis is a contrast to the ‘I got soul’ of James ‘Thunder’ Early (played by Eddie Murphy), who is fun, if not off-the-rails. This is a slightly darker side of showbiz, with the drugs and commerciality that has its own victims. Note the hat-tip to the Jacksons.
The other characters, however, were disappointingly flat. Some character development in Deena would have been appreciated — it wasn’t until the pivotal song ‘Listen’ that some depth here came through, but too little too late.
There are a number of key songs in this movie for me, but my favourite was ‘Listen’, performed by Beyonce. I also thought Hudson’s version of ‘One Night Only’ was fantastic and touching, but surprisingly absent from the soundtrack, as was her ‘Love You I Do’. Hudson’s hit song was ‘And I am Telling you I am not Going’ and to be honest, I just wished she did go when I heard this song. The scene and song would be better given to Faye Dunaway in Mommie Dearest, because Hudson was getting a little meldramatically monstrous.
There are some campy and well-choreographed pieces, notably ‘Steppin’ to the Badside’ (another favourite) and The Dreams’ performance of ‘One Night Only’, when the movie remembers that it is a musical in the same vain as Chicago. And a musical it is, as dialogue grows into shudderingly fantastic numbers.
I was pleasantly surprised by the movie, because the first half seemed relatively average. It was looking a lot like a slideshow of moments leading up to the rise of The Dreams, barely allowing me to take a breath — the switch between scenes was like being on a rollercoaster ride. The film needed to just sit with a few moments so they could resonate — a shame because there were some powerful moments.
Dreamgirls is a fun, glam picture, with great performances and numbers — just a little ambitious and glib. I cried, I clapped and I cheered, and for that I am grateful.
