Favourite Movie Friday with D12

Eminem’s posse D12 are currently in the country for a national tour and I chatted with two members of the `quartet’ about boxing kangaroos, Proof’s legacy and – naturally – favourite movies. Here’s what Swifty and Fuzz Scoota had to say:

Swifty: "I love Goodfellas. I like a lot of the mob movies, but Goodfellas is the best. One of my favourite movies is Dead Presidents, I love that."

Fuzz Scoota: "Holiday Heart with Ving Rhames playing transvestite *laughs*. And Swift loves Flashdance too. Se7en is one of my all time favourite movies, with Morgan Freeman. That was some cold shit."

For D12's tour dates click here.

Simply the best (men)

Australian comedy A Few Best Men doesn't play it safe and that's just the way director Stephan Elliott and star Kris Marshall like it. Elliott (The Adventures of Priscilla: Queen Of The Desert) says he set out to “push the boundaries of bad behaviour'' in his latest film A Few Best Men.
It comes as no surprise then that he cast the man he considers his “evil British twin'' - Kris Marshall.
"He likes to think that and we indulge him because he's 50 years older than me,'' says Marshall.
"No, really, I'm quite happy for him to keep making that comparison as long as he keeps hiring me for his films.''

Marshall is best known for his turn in hit ensemble comedy Love Actually, as well as roles in Death At A Funeral and The Merchant Of Venice. His ongoing partnership with the Aussie filmmaker originally came about when Elliott was preparing to film his period dramedy Easy Virtue with Jessica Biel and Colin Firth. Elliott, who also wrote the film, was scheduled to play the butler and when it became apparent he wouldn't be able to do that with the shooting schedule, he called the next best thing.
"I'd never met Stephan before and two weeks before shooting I got this vague message on my answering machine.
"It said `Kris mate, it's Stephan Elliott here. I want you to be in my movie.'
"I was honoured to enter the long pantheon of British screen butlers.''Marshall says it was the start of a "beautiful friendship'' and one that led to him nabbing a part as one of the troublemaking groomsmen in Elliott's latest A Few Best Men.
"Everything that goes wrong in the film is due to my character,'' says Marshall of the mischievous role that appeals to both his and Elliott's sense of humour.
"On set Stephan would always say to me `find the devil' and I would reply `it has to be justifiable, otherwise he's just a c***.'
"He (the character) just doesn't think about things properly. He has a very male, short-termist view.''

The film reunites Marshall with Death At A Funeral writer Dean Craig, who he says has a remarkable ability to "knock down the bastions of social life''.
Marshall says the "layers'' of Craig's comedy provide the most "important'' ingredients.
"An audience like to be led down a garden path, but they don't like to be cheated or kicked down a garden path. That's an important discrepancy.
"You need to slowly ramp up the tension.
"Good comedy is all about high stakes and what people have to loose. The schadenfreude amongst people and the more devilish side of humanity likes to sit and witness that with the comfort of being outside of it.'' From cocaine-induced mother in laws to CPR on a ram, A Few Best Men doesn't play it safe. For Marshall, that's just the way he likes it.
"When I read the script I was like `this is nuts,'' he says.
"Stephan said to me `this isn't War and Peace or Ides Of March, it's just a laugh'.
"In times of austerity and when the world's going down the tube, people need a laugh.
"It's a riot.''

A Few Best Men opens today.

Josh Hutcherson gets hungry

With five movies coming out this year – FIVE – Josh Hutcherson is shaping up to be the breakout star of 2012. He’s already a familiar face to movie buffs, having made his big screen debut at the age of 10 in the Oscar-nominated American Splendor. Since then he has proven himself to be one of the most versatile young actors in Hollywood. He’s balanced mainstream flicks like Bridge To Terabithia and Zathura with indie fare such as The Kids Are All Right and Winged Creatures. But he’s about to take on his biggest role yet.

The 19-year-old is starring as baker-turned-tribute Peeta Mellark in the highly anticipated The Hunger Games movie, based on Suzanne Collins’ best-selling dystopian series. If you’re not familiar with The Hunger Games story, firstly, check yourself before you wreck yourself. Secondly, get familiar with the intricacies of the plot here.

I was fortunate enough to interview Hutcherson earlier in the week when he visited Australia for the first time to promote his new flick Journey 2: The Mysterious Island. In preparation for the interview I put a call out on Twitter for fans to send me questions. And send them you did. My Twitter feed nearly crashed with all the suggestions and I sincerely thank all of you who tweeted me with great things you wanted to ask him and proclamations of love. The latter was unhelpful, but the former proves just how dedicated The Hunger Games fans are. Seriously, if my novel ever gets published I want a fanbase like you. Also, a movie deal.

Anyway, because there were so many questions – I couldn’t ask them all, sorry – and we covered so many topics, I’ve pondered for a while about how best to present this interview. The best way, I’ve decided, was to break it down into topics. Here it is - Josh Hutcherson talks The Hunger Games, the power of the individual and much, much more.

May the odds be ever in your favour.



Josh Hutcherson on what appealed to him about the character of Peeta:
“I never read a character I related to more, honestly. He has this idea that no matter what situation you’re in and where you are, you have to stay true to yourself and the values you stand by. That’s pretty much the moral I live my life by.”

On preparing for The Hunger Games fandom:
“It’s hard. I don’t know if anyone can prepare for that kind of thing. I’ve never been part of a project that had so much anticipation surrounding it before we even started filming. It brings added pressure, but at the same time it makes you strive to work better and harder. I think we’ve done a really good job on the film and I hope people like it, especially the fans. In fact, I know they will.”

On how The Hunger Games differs from your everyday blockbuster:
“It’s serious and darker, which makes it all that more important.” On working with Jennifer Lawrence:
“Jennifer is one of those people who can be herself in any situation and says what she wants. To meet someone as talented and beautiful as she is who’s like that is really refreshing.”

On reality television and its effect on society:
“I’m not a huge fan. I don’t watch a lot of TV in general and especially not the reality stuff. It’s interesting how people push themselves to the limit to get in front of the cameras. The idea they would push themselves to battle each other in a similar arena isn’t that much of a stretch.”

On stunt work and weapons training:
“In the beginning Peeta has a spear, but I get injured pretty early on so I don’t have to do too much of that.”

On The Hunger Games social commentary:
“The movie speaks a lot to the individual power of an individual and how a group of people can band together. Especially with what we’ve see at the moment with the 99 per cent fighting the 1 per cent in the Occupy Wall Street Movement, that’s very relevant. The Hunger Games series is an interesting commentary on that.”

On what strategy he would take if he had to compete in The Hunger Games:
“My family. I’d be driven like Katniss is and try to focus on getting back to my family and helping and supporting them.”

On being on board The Hunger Games sequels:
“For sure, as long as people come out and see the movie. I’m very excited about it. We need to make sure that people see the movie first before we get ahead of ourselves. But I’m really excited about it and where the story goes, especially for my character.”On working with Liam Hemsworth:
“Liam and I get on so well. He’s like my 6.4ft Australian brother. I’ve worked with both of the Hemsworths now because his brother Chris and I did Red Dawn together. I’m kind of an honourary Hemsworth.”

On his diverse body of work:
“That’s my main goal as actor. I want to try as many roles and movies as possible and tell as many different stories as I can. I’m lucky had the opportunity to do that so far.”

On the favourite role he’s played:
“Probably my character in The Kids Are All Right. I liked him a lot.”

On becoming famous:
“At the end of the day I’m the kind of person who does what I believe in and what I want to do. I think that’s a really important value to stick to.”

On crashing my Twitter feed:
*laughs* “Sorry.”

Movie tips from comic strips

Comics are taking over Hollywood. This is not a drill. This is reality. Or, coincidentally, hyper reality. The world of superheroes and superheroines, capes and crusaders, tights and tightly wound villains will be dominating our screens in 2012. It has been a growing trend, but when you look at the upcoming slate of blockbusters it's clear to see the takeover is complete.

Take The Dark Knight Rises, the third and final Batman film to be directed by Christopher Nolan and starring Christian Bale as the billionaire vigilante. It's the most anticipated film of the year and after its predecessor The Dark Knight grossed over $US1 billion, early predictions tip the July 19 release to set new box office records. Yet it's not the only film lifted straight from comic book panels that's vying for the audience dollar in 2012, with Marc Webb's reboot of Spider-Man - The Amazing Spider-Man - out three weeks earlier. Add to that Ghost Rider: Spirit Of Vengeance, G.I. Joe: Retaliation, Dredd and Diary of a Wimpy Kid: Dog Days - to name a few. In a world where film studios are looking for the safe bet at the box office - hence the remake, reboot and sequel culture - comic book movies have become the sure thing. Thor and Captain America: The First Avenger were two of the big hits of 2011, while even flops like Green Lantern still get green lit for a sequel. James Jagic, manager of Queensland's oldest comic store Comics Etc in Brisbane, said part of their appeal is they have a "different feel'' to a regular action film. There's also the built-in audience to consider. Titles like Batman and Superman have been around since the 1930s, with several generations of fans already invested and interested in the characters before they hit the big screen.

Marvel's superhero movie to end all superhero movies, The Avengers, is out in May and is set to cash in on this fanbase. Directed by Buffy The Vampire Slayer creator Joss Whedon, it will feature iconic characters such as Iron Man, Captain America, Hulk, Thor, Black Widow and others together on film for the first time. British actor Tom Hiddleston plays the villain in the film, Loki, and said comic book characters and storylines have become generationally important.
"I think that's what Marvel is now - comics and superheroes and super villains - it's the modern version of mythology,'' he said.
"You have Captain America, Iron Man, Wolverine, there's just a depth of pain and experience to them.
"Part of the reason we love them is despite that, they always choose to do the right thing.'' Arguably one of the reasons we're being inundated with more comic book movies than ever is the most influential directors in Hollywood grew up reading and appreciating comics. Directors like J.J. Abrams, Joss Whedon, Kevin Smith, Christopher Nolan and Robert Rodriguez grew up as fanboys and now they're calling the shots.
"The thing with Chris Nolan is he was writing comics for 15 years before he became a filmmaker, not many people know that,'' said Mr Jagic.
"He wrote Justice Society which was a spin-off of Justic League and Joss (Whedon) did Buffy (The Vampire Slayer), but he's gone on to write comics across a number of titles.
"It used to be a special event when someone from books or movies went across to comics, now it's the norm.
"Damon Lindelof (Lost, Strar Trek) is doing a Wolverine run and Stephen King does comics every month, at least three or four of them.''

Although Mr Jagic said the box office returns from the films is still strong, he expects people to "get sick'' of the genre soon. Just not too soon. Already 2013 is to be as equally packed as 2012 with comic book movies such as Man Of Steel, Green Lantern 2, Iron Man 3, 300: Battle Of Artemisia, Thor 2, Sin City 2, The Wolverine, Kick Ass 2, X-Men First Class 2 and The Adventures of Tintin: Prisoners of the Sun slated for release.

Favourite Movie Friday with Parkway Drive

If you’re talking about Australia’s heavy music scene there’s really only one name you need to be discussing; Parkway Drive. The Byron Bay boys have had a hectic past 12 months, touring everywhere from Guatemala to Kolkata. I spoke to drummer Ben `Gaz’ Gordon ahead of their gigs at the 20th Big Day Out and, naturally, I asked him the tough questions like `what are your favourite movies of all time?’ Here’s what he said:

“I’m a bad person to ask about movies because I mainly like to watch documentaries. I guess my favourite series would have to be the Die Hard movies. (I tell him there’s going to be a fifth Die Hard movie) No way, that’s awesome. I reckon he’s going to die in this one. Bruce Willis is a legend.

Besides that I haven’t watched many movies in the past 10 years. I’m a terrible person to watch movies with because I’m very judgemental of the Hollywood system. My favourite documentaries are The Human Planet, it’s the best, and Frozen Planet. Also anything that David Attenborough has touched or is involved with is awesome.”

Parkway Drive have a new concert DVD and album scheduled for release in 2012. BDO tickets are available here.

Dragon Tattoo remake is Stieg Larceny

Once you strip away all the complexities and detail from the Stieg Larsson's best-selling Millennium Trilogy, the books preach two things;
1. Corporations are bad.
2. Yay for women.

It seems utterly blasphemous then that these are the two things most obviously ignored in director David Fincher's Hollywood remake of The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo. Of course, there have already been three Swedish films made of Larsson's books. These had an unusually large mainstream audience for foreign films and its stars - Noomi Rapace as Lisbeth Salander and Michael Nyqvist as Mikael Blomkvist - have both gone on to major Hollywood roles in films such as Sherlock Holmes: Game Of Shadows for the former and Mission Impossible: Ghost Protocol for the latter. Why an English-speaking version set in Sweden where half of the main characters speak with an American accent and half speak English with a Swedish accent was needed is beyond me. The accent discrepancy being just the most obvious (and annoying) flaw.The first poster for The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo, for example, featured Daniel Craig's character fully dressed and holding actress Rooney Mara from behind as she stands topless with her pierced nipple exposed. Yes, nothing represents feminism more than a highly sexualised and exploitative poster that actually tells us nothing about the story and contradicts the Larsson's themes. Sigh.

And nothing better portrays Larsson's anti-corporation stance than the shameless product placement scattered throughout the film which includes multiple scenes of the female protagonist eating McDonalds Happy Meal's and drinking Coke. I can see the advertising pitch now featuring Mara in character as Lisbeth Salander: *sips coke* “Mmmm, when I’m done bringing the elite powers that rule the planet under a totalitarian government that uses the media to keep people stupid and women in their place, I get thirsty. That’s why I drink Coke.”

The film follows journalist Mikael Blomkvist (Craig) who - after a fall from a grace - is hired to investigate the disappearance of a woman some 40 years earlier. He's aided by Goth computer hacker Lisbeth Salander and together they uncover a spate of gruesome serial killings that target women. Technically there's not much to fault. The production is all indicative of the $90 million budget and it's money that has been well spent on immaculate set pieces, breathtaking on location shoots and explosive action sequences. What's missing is the tension and building sense of dread that was so beautifully translated from the book and into the Swedish version of the film. The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo crawls in some parts and with a run time of almost three hours, there are often scenes so necessary you can't help but wonder whether the editor stepped outside for a coffee. Or nine.The performances are solid and once you get past the fact Mara's eyebrows have been bleached white so that she resembles a 14-year-old albino punk, she's quite good. Considering Rapace's performance in that same role has already become iconic, Mara does an impressive job at making the character her own and taking it in a new direction while remaining faithful to the original nature. The opening credits are like the beginning of a Gothic James Bond film and you will not find a better two minutes in the film as Trent Reznor and Karen O's haunting song accompanies the visual art.

Reznor's score seems strangely underused for the remainder of the film and the only other musical highlight is during a climatic scene which will see you deleting Enya's Sail Away of your iTunes as soon as you home from the cinema. The remaining two sequels for this film have already been green lit and maybe - if Fincher returns - he can learn from his mistakes with this one. However, fans of the book and Swedish film, not to mention those who enjoy a good thriller, will be disappointed with this movie which can only be described as a sell-out.

The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo is out Thursday.

Movie Mazzupial's films to watch in 2012

Ah yes, with 2011 comfortably over it's time to shift focus to the films of 2012. Not to get ahead of myself, but it's going to FREAKIN' AWESOME BRO! Even Bane's excited. Although there were some gems last year - as evidenced in my top 10 and honourable mentions - in general the films of '11 could be summed up with one word; disappointing. From Sucker Punch to Red Riding Hood, blockbuster after blockbuster sucked. It was the small films from unexpected corners of Hollywood that brought audiences to the proverbial yard.

In 2012 that's likely to be the opposite. With two new films from Tim Burton, the first instalment in Peter Jackson's The Hobbit, the superhero movie to end all superhero movies Avengers, World War Z, The Great Gatsby, Tarantino's newbie Django Unchained and SO many other massive flicks, it's safe to have our expectations set relatively high. There are big directors making big movies this year. There are also some smaller gems that will bring an entirely different (yet tasty) meal to the table. I'm talking genre flicks like Hansel and Gretel: Witch Hunters from the stylish team behind Dead Snow, Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter and a movie adaptation of one of my favourites books Warm Bodies. Out of left field there’s The Grey which pits Liam Neeson against wolves, Martha Marcy May Marlene, Michelle Williams vehicle My Week With Marilyn, the hilarious A Few Best Men and Ralph Fiennes directorial debut Shakespeare war film Coriolanus.

The film I’m most looking forward to in 2012 is unsurprisingly The Dark Knight Rises. Everything else I’m excited about is on this list, including the epic looking Snow White and The Huntsman and animated charmer The Pirates! Band Of Misfits. I’m also going to make an early call and predict Mirror, Mirror as the worst film of the year and The Hunger Games as the biggest disappointment. Don’t get me wrong, I’m a colossal fan of Suzanne Collins' book series but from the casting to the severely disappointing trailers, I think this is going to be a disaster. I hope I’m wrong.

Movie Mazzupial's films to watch in 2012

The Muppets
Hansel and Gretel: Witch Hunters
Warm Bodies
The Grey
A Few Best Men
J. Edgar
World War Z
The Woman In Black
Cabin In The Woods
The Dark Night Rises
Young Adult
Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter
Martha Marcy May Marlene
Coriolanus

Contraband
Dark Shadows
The Pirates! Band Of Misfits
Ghost Rider: Spirit Of Vengence

My Week With Marilyn

Under The Skin
Voyage Of Time
John Carter
Frankenweenie
Brave
Magic Mike The Great Gatsby
Avengers
Neighbourhood Watch
Argo
Ted

Premium Rush

The Great Gatsby
Cloud Atlas
Snow White and the Huntsman
Looper
A Dangerous Method
Paranorman
Red Dawn
Skyfall

Django Unchained
Gangster Squad
47 Ronin
Hippie Hippie Shake
Red Lights
The Darkest Hour
On The Road
Byzantium
Haywire

The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey
Shame
Seeking A Friend For The End Of The World
Anna Karenina

Stoker
Filth
Man On A Ledge
A Single Shot
A Late Quartet
Savages
The Master
Moonrise Kingdom
Jack The Giant Killer

Prometheus
Nero Fiddled
Thicker
Seven Psychopaths
The Girl
Dorothy Of Oz
Wettest Country
Lovelace
Rock Of Ages
The Brass Teapot
The English Teacher
He Loves Me
The To Do List
21 Jump Street
Hit Somebody: Home
The Place Beyond The Pines

The Raven
The Perks Of Being A Wall Flower