The Mediatwin Blog

The next twelve months are very significant for all things James Bond. It's been 50 years since 007 first appeared onscreen in DR NO and all the stops are being pulled out to make 2012 a huge celebration of the world's favourite spy. There are plans to reunite all six EON Bond actors - Connery, Lazenby, Moore, Dalton, Brosnan and Craig - on the same stage for the first time ever. Of course, there's the latest instalment of 007 - SKYFALL - which opens in October and with the talent assembled in front and behind the camera, it's looking very good.

Kicking off the year is the BOND IN MOTION exhibition at Beaulieu motor museum in Hampshire. This is the most extensive collection of Bond vehicles and props ever put together and spans all 22 films. As a 007 fan, I was keen to see as early as possible and so went to the museum recently to see if it lives up to the hype.

Fortunately, it does. Even for the most casual Bond fan, there's a lot of good stuff here. There is, of course, the iconic Aston Martin DB5 from GOLDFINGER, together with the Rolls-Royce Phantom from that film. There's the Lotus Esprit S1 from THE SPY WHO LOVED ME, albeit in its submarine variant. "Little Nellie", the rocket-firing gyrocopter from YOU ONLY LIVE TWICE is present, as well as the AMC Hornet car which did the memorable bridge-flip from THE MAN WITH THE GOLDEN GUN. Plus the high-flying Glastron GT-150 speedboat from LIVE AND LET DIE and the "Q Boat" which memorably raced down the Thames in THE WORLD IS NOT ENOUGH.

Disappointingly, the Moon Buggy from DIAMONDS ARE FOREVER doesn't make an appearance, nor Scaramanga's flying car from ...GOLDEN GUN. No matter. There's enough here for even the most discerning Bond fan. It's worth noting that some of the vehicles from the upcoming SKYFALL are promised to make an appearance later in the year.

The exhibition is open now and runs until December; you can full details of opening times and how to find the Museum here. There are photos of the exhibited vehicles on my Flickr site here; I also shot some video, which you can find below.

So - that's that. The nominations for the 84th Academy Awards have finally been announced.

I'll leave it to the professionals to wade through the rights and wrongs of the various categories - but I have a few thoughts though...

Hugely disappointed that MELANCHOLIA - one of my favourites from last year - didn't get nominated at all. Hell, even REAL STEEL and KUNG FU PANDA 2 snagged one mention apiece. DRIVE, a very impressive flick, managed to grab just a solitary nom...for sound editing. What about Albert Brooks' superb performance in that movie...or Ryan Gosling's? Trent Reznor's excellent score for THE GIRL WITH THE DRAGON TATTOO? Zip.

But that's the way it goes. Some you win, some you lose...most you never even get a nomination for. By the way, it was curious that Spielberg was denied a Best Director nom for WAR HORSE. I'm not a huge fan of the film but the Academy traditionally falls for Steven in this category.

Bright spots: good to see Academy love for Terrance Malick. Rooney Mara getting nominated for her sterling work in DRAGON TATTOO. RANGO's nod in the Best Animated Film category. 

I'll do proper predictions closer to the time but I suspect that, come the night of February 26th, THE ARTIST will clean up. It's a good film and its retro celebration of silent movies will undoubtedly strike a chord with the Academy's voters.

And talking of looking back and the Oscars...

Trailers are the shop windows of movies. They clamour for your attention, teasing you with delights that - probably, hopefully - await you should you step over the threshold. And for most of the time, they have less than two minutes to do it in.

Take DESPERADO. This was writer/director Robert Rodriguez’s first foray in Hollywood, a hybrid remake/sequel to his self-financed EL MARIACHI. The film’s a pretty entertaining blast of Tex-Mex violence, sex, more violence and a cameo appearance from Rodriguez’s BFF, Quentin Tarantino. After seeing the trailer, you know exactly what to expect from the film:

It’s essentially a radically compressed version of the movie with all the talky stuff (and most of the smouldering looks between the leads) taken out. DESPERADO’s trailer gives the viewer a visceral rush that sells the film beautifully.Those rapid cuts timed perfectly to the music. The sheer cojones of packing in all those shots of bullets, bad guys and flying bottles of tequila.

I’ve the DVD of DESPERADO somewhere but to be honest - watching its trailer is a far more exciting proposition, amigo.

A tender story of boy meets horse, boy loses horse, as his steed is despatched to France for service during the First World War. Steven Spielberg directing a screenplay co-written by Richard Curtis - itself adapted from Michael Morpurgo’s hugely successful children’s book and stage play. A cast showcasing some of the finest British acting talent around today.

So - er - why the long face?

Regrettably, the blame for WAR HORSE not being as effective as it could have been lies squarely with Spielberg and his directorial choices. The first third of the film, set in a pre-war farming village, sinks under a thick Hollywood glaze - Devon, as if recreated on a Hollywood backlot . No pastoral cliche is left unploughed, as Joey the foal gambols under Technicolor GONE WITH THE WIND skies to the cloying sounds of John Williams’ over-lush score.

Fortunately, the film does improve once Joey the horse is transported across the Channel and thrust into the nightmares of battle. There’s a welcome return of Spielberg’s grittier side, as the horrors of the First World War are superbly realised. One sequence - set in a battlefield’s No Man’s Land and bringing together two soldiers from different sides of the conflict - is dramatically stripped to the bone, tautly directed and is arguably the highlight of the film.

Steven Spielberg has proved himself at knowing - most of the time - exactly how to handle his audience. Whether it’s Indiana Jones chasing after Nazis, cute aliens promising “I’ll be right here” or sharks terrorising summer towns, he has masterfully demonstrated that he knows exactly which buttons he needs to push . Here, however, his manipulative tricks are clumsy and obvious. It’s the same kind of wrong-handed approach he brought to THE COLOR PURPLE and ALWAYS - suffocating the film under unnecessarily glossy visuals. At times, it feels more like somebody trying to imitate his style, rather than Spielberg himself.

Tellingly, as a contender for Oscar glory, WAR HORSE has gone from morning line favourite a few months ago to extreme long-shot. I suspect Spielberg’s next film - a biography of Abraham Lincoln - will prove more to the Academy’s taste. Still, let’s not be uncharitable - WAR HORSE isn’t a bad film and hardly destined for the knacker’s yard. It’s just that, with such a high pedigree of talent before and behind the camera, you’d expect more than what’s been trotted out.

Thank you, Ed “Stewpot” Stewart.

My introduction to David Bowie (who turns 65 today) came through Stewart’s Junior Choice radio show. In between plays of “Cinderella Rockefella” and “Ernie (The Fastest Milkman In The West)”, Stewart would often drop the needle on Bowie’s “The Laughing Gnome”. This novelty record from ’67 was hardly a signpost to the rest of Bowie’s career (well, perhaps LABYRINTH) but was good, childlike fun nonetheless. The NME certainly thought so. In 1990, Bowie announced that the set lists for his greatest hits Sound + Vision tour would be determined by phone votes from the public. The NME immediately launched a campaign to rig the result through its “Just Say Gnome” campaign. Regrettably, the phone vote plan was subsequently abandoned and the sight of Bowie returning to his earlier triumph never came to pass.

It’s impossible to sum up Bowie’s career and influence on rock music in just a few paragraphs. His determination to constantly reinvent himself is remarkable, challenging his audience to keep up with his chameleon-like ch-ch-changes in fashion,music and persona. Whether it’s the folky psychedelia of “Hunky Dory”, the barren sonic landscapes of “Heroes” or the pure ‘80s big beat sheen of “Let’s Dance”, Bowie created an enviable back catalogue of commercially successful and critically acclaimed singles and albums. The list of rock and pop stars that admit they were heavily influenced by him - Boy George, Ian McCulloch, Brett Anderson, Trent Reznor - is long and distinguished. It’s easy to see how closely Lady GaGa has studied Bowie’s career and modelled herself on it.

Bowie’s last proper album was 2003’s “Reality”. Since then, he’s made the occasional appearance in the media - singing with David Gilmour in 2006, playing Nikola Tesla in THE PRESTIGE - but it seems increasingly unlikely that he’ll return to music full-time. Or is it? With Bowie - you just don’t know what’s coming next. He’s reassuringly unpredictable.

There are so many great songs to choose from but this - the recently rediscovered performance of “Jean Genie” on a ’73 Top Of The Pops - is certainly one of them. Ground Control to Major Tom: happy birthday.

Ah, Christmas. The perfect time to break out those seasonal classics - IT'S A WONDERFUL LIFE, SCROOGE - as well as some more...unusual choices.

For me, this is the best time of year to settle down and watch THE SHINING. The wintry light and chill outside is the perfect accompaniment to director Stanley Kubrick's magnum opus. I'd go so far as to say that, in my opinion, THE SHINING is one of the horror film greats. Not so much for "jump scares" - although it has a couple - but the vice-like grip it holds you in, from opening to closing credits. Even author Stephen King - who wrote the original book and has famously derided the film as a weak adaptation - admits that his first viewing of the film was "dreadfully unsettling." 

For audiences in 1980, the first glimpse of footage from the film was in the trailer:

Even after thirty plus years of viewings, it's still an incredibly powerful image - made all the more eerie by the atonal music playing underneath. It would have been very easy to turn this trailer into a traditional "jump scare"; the "blood flood" could have gushed forth at standard speed, with acompanying loud sound effects as it washes the furniture around the screen. Kubrick's more restrained approach in doing the complete opposite makes for a far more disturbing sequence.

This was the third (and final) take of the "blood from the lift" sequence - Kubrick was concerned on the first two that the liquid "didn't look enough like blood." Due to the logistics of resetting the scene, it took nine days each time to flush the set of the splashed "blood" and clean it up to Kubrick's satisfaction. 

For fans of the film, I'd recommend seeing this promotional film made to advertise More4's 2008 "Stanley Kubrick Season". The breadth and accuracy of detail is astonishing and repays multiple views:

Finally - and on a lighter note - there's this classic fan trailer:

With the COMING ATTRACTIONS feature, I like to showcase the very best in movie trailers past and present.

This time around - well - not so much.

The announcement this week of SKYFALL, the new James Bond film, prompted this rather self-indulgent entry. Now, MOONRAKER isn't often to be found at the top of those "best Bond movies" lists. In fact, it's often cited as the worst 007 film (to which I say - have you never seen A VIEW TO A KILL?). Curiously, it wasn't meant to be the 11th Bond movie. At the end of its credits, its predecessor, THE SPY WHO LOVED ME, promised that 007 would return in FOR YOUR EYES ONLY. The success of a little film called STAR WARS prompted a rapid change in direction and soon EON Productions was jumping on the cantina band wagon and launching the star of the franchise skyward.

The teaser trailer for MOONRAKER was a neat parody of commercials. For years, it remained frustratingly hard to find but has recently surfaced again on YouTube. The quality isn't great but you'll get the idea:

Immediately prior to the film's release, the official trailer was launched. Clearly, all the imaginative effort was used up on the teaser. This version takes the lazy option: want to see MOONRAKER but only have four minutes to spare? Then just watch this trailer - it's a compression of the film with the talky bits taken out. Hardly a shining example of how to craft a trailer but from the opening shot of a space shuttle scored with Brazilian beats, it's undeniably exciting:

As a 14 year old kid in 1979, this trailer ticked all the boxes for me. OO7? Check. Outer space? Check. Big action setpieces? Check. Good-looking girls in short skirts? Where do I buy my ticket? Thirty-odd years on, I've become more critical and can see the many flaws in MOONRAKER. Then again, I'll argue there's a lot to still enjoy in the movie. There are Ken Adams' brilliantly OTT sets, Derek Meddings' crisp special effects and John Barry's atmospheric score.

And through the refractive haze of nostalgia, I can even forgive MOONRAKER most of its weaknesses. Just not the Shirley Bassey theme song.

A predictably star-studded press conference today finally heralded the return of James Bond to Her Majesty's cinematic service. And it now has a proper name: goodbye "Bond 23", hello SKYFALL.

There's been a prodigious amount of first-rate talent hired both in front and behind the camera for this next instalment. Daniel Craig returns to the fray as Bond, as does Dame Judi Dench as M. New blood includes Naomie Harris as a fellow spy and Bérénice Marlohe as Severin, an "enigmatic yet glamourous" character. The big new additions to the cast are Javier Bardem, Albert Finney and Ralph Fiennes.

It's hotly rumoured that main villain Bardem will be portraying arch-nemesis Blofeld, after a legally-enforced absence from the series of some thirty years. At the press conference, producers Michael G Wilson and Barbara Broccoli made reference to three former Bond characters making a surprise return. It's a good bet that two will be Moneypenny and Q - could Blofeld be the third? Just to add some credibility to the rumour, director Sam Mendes was quick to stress that SKYFALL would not be connected in any way to either CASINO ROYALE or QUANTUM OF SOLACE. So that means criminal organisation Quantum won't be reappearing...leaving a conveniently SPECTRE-shaped gap to fill.

So far, so good, so SKYFALL. Or is that SKYFAIL? Or SKIFFLE? It's not a strong title for the film, sounding more like a bad SF book.The Bond films have been blessed with many great titles - FROM RUSSIA WITH LOVE, YOU ONLY LIVE TWICE, LIVE AND LET DIE...Even the otherwise wretched QUANTUM OF SOLACE had Ian Fleming DNA in its name, the title coming from one of his 007 short stories. SKYFALL rather lets the side down.

Another anouncement that was made but overlooked is that Roger Deakins is the film's director of photography. Deakins is arguably the world's best DoP, with nine Oscar nominations under his belt. He's the Coen Brothers' first choice for photography and has worked twice before with Mendes. If nothing else, SKYFALL is going to look terrific.

A promising start, then, to the next Bond epic. The film gets released late October 2012 in the UK, early November in the US. 

Hollywood's never met a pandemic it didn't like. Rampaging viruses have been the subject of previous cinema offerings such as THE ANDROMEDA STRAIN, THE SATAN BUG and OUTBREAK. With avian flu and SARS making headlines during the last decade, we were due another. So here is CONTAGION, a "killer bug on the loose" epic spanning several continents and a range of A-list stars.

One of these big names actually checks out of the movie in its first ten minutes; that's not a spoiler, it's heavily featured in the trailers. Globetrotting exec Gwyneth Paltrow returns home to hubby Matt Damon and kids, laden with gifts and a rather nasty virus. This new strain of bug is ferociously contagious and within days, it's spreading rapidly around the world. Step up Dr Laurence Fishburne and his army of household name microbiological scientists to try and find a vaccine.

On paper, CONTAGION should be nothing more than a big-budget giggle. Kate Winslet playing an overly earnest American doctor? Jude Law playing a conspiracy theorist with a shaky Australian accent? Bizarre casting was often the hallmark of those '70s disaster epics, so you'd be forgiven for expecting the germ equivalent of THE SWARM.

Fortunately, the star-studded cast serves the film well. Despite the reservations about their accents, Winslet and Law acquit themselves well, as do Matt Damon, Marion Cotillard, Elliott Gould and Jennifer Ehle.

CONTAGION boasts a lean, punchy script, which manages the neat trick of skipping briskly between countries and characters without losing the audience. The film also benefits hugely from Steven Soderbergh's restrained direction. It would have been so easy to pump up the onscreen ick factor with gallons of mucus and drool but Soderbergh doesn't take that path. The focus instead is on the various characters and how they respond to the stress of facing a seemingly unbeatable enemy.

An exemplary, intelligent and powerful thriller, CONTAGION is a must-see. It has a 12A certificate and is now showing in cinemas and IMAX around the UK.

Just don't talk to me about Colin Firth and stammering royalty.

In my humble opinion, the best film of last year was The Social Network. It was an incisive examination of how the most significant cultural phenomenon so far of the 21st century came about. Brilliantly written by Aaron Sorkin and shrewedly directed by David Fincher,  it was a massive critical and commercial hit, with a Best Picture Academy Award surely just a matter of time and vote-counting.

Alas, it was not to be. A late-runner in the Oscar stakes, The King's Speech snuck up on the inside and bagged four Oscars, including the coveted one for Best Picture. The Social Network managed a respectable three (Adapted Screenplay, Editing & Score) but there were no golden statuettes coming Fincher's way this time.

The King's Speech is actually a decent enough movie - I just never saw it as being the best film of 2010. Still, that was six months ago. Time to breathe out and let go.

Forget it, Phil, it's Chinatown.

Anyway, this column is about trailers and the advance marketing of The Social Network provided one of the very best. In fact, it's my personal all-time favourite and stands up as a work of art in itself:

What hits you straight off the bat are the striking choice of music and images - Scala & Kolacny Brothers performing a choral version of Radiohead's Creep, over a variety of rapidly changing Facebook pages. It's a whole minute before any footage from the film appears...then it's a selection of key scenes and dialogue, grabbing the audience's attention but not acting as spoilers.

The cherry on the top is the perfect strapline to both trailer and poster: