Spectre Extended TV Spot - Bond gets Belluci Up Against Wall

We all know that James Bond can be a bit of a grubby sex pest, but Spectre looks to be taking Bond's ways with the ladies to unprecedented levels of creepy. Or maybe Daniel Craig menacingly saying his name with his face only centimetres from Monica Belluci's face is meant to be sexy and appealing. I don't think it's just because I'm a dude, but if someone introduced themselves to me while I was backed up against a wall and had their nose about to touch mine, I'd be tempted to shove them backwards down the stairs.

The latest TV spot for Spectre shows Naomie Harris struggling to deliver some godawful sounding exposition about how the new film will link back to Skyfall, before revealing some stuff we've already seen in the previously released trailer. We get that awesome 'kite dancing in a hurricane' line again before a bunch of shots of the big action set-pieces.

Christoph Waltz is still purring from the shadows (and definitely not bald or stroking a cat), but the car chases, helicopter attacks and plane crashes look like they are going to be an absolute blast.

Sam Mendes has set the bar bloody high with Skyfall so it will be exciting to see if he can outdo himself with Spectre. Just please get Craig to back off Belluci. Anyone would think Bond had watched Irreversible too many times and is about to reenact its most bloody horrible scene by the way he's harassing her.

With this, The Martian and Hunger Games Mockingjay Part 2 all released in the same month, November is going to be a busy month at the cinema.

Bond 24 Titled Spectre and gets a Teaser Poster

Big things are about to happen in the world of Bond 24 so get watching below:

Sam Mendes calls the 007 stage ‘The stage where budgets go to die’

The title will be: Spectre

7 month shoot across the globe.

Sam Mendes mentioned the key new additions to his crew:

Editor: Lee Smith

Cinematographer: Hoyt van Hotema (Interstellar)

Mendes then unveiled the new Aston Martin DB10

Before he introduced his returning cast:

Rory Kinnear as Tanner

Ben Whishaw as Q

Naomie Harris as Moneypenny

The 'extraordinary' Ralph Fiennes as M

and Daniel Craig back as Bond

As for new cast members, it's a tantalising bunch: 

Andrew Scott as Denby

David Bautista as Hinks

Monica Belluci

Lea Seydoux as Madeline Swann

Christoph Waltz

And here is the teaser poster:

 

Horrible Bosses 2 Review

Everything you need to know about Horrible Bosses 2 is in the hysterical opening scene. Nick, Kurt and Dale have overcome the difficulties they had with their former horrible bosses and are setting up their own business together with their patented product the Shower Buddy. Appearing on a daytime TV show, Charlie Day is sweaty, high pitched and nervy. Sudeikis is confident, idiotic and mouthy, while Bateman is the usual straight guy trying to keep his two friends under some semblance of control.

The opening scene sets the tone for the onslaught of jokes to come, mostly based around sexuality, race and gender. First they make themselves look gay, then they make themselves look racist and finally they make every hot female look like a target for a sexual conquest. The only thing that saves Horrible Bosses from being hideously offensive to everyone who isn't a straight white man is that the three straight white men at the centre of all this are the most moronic bunch of man-children you will ever meet.

So when they meet with Christoph Waltz's oily businessman Bert Hanson and his slick son Rex (Chris Pine) to set up a distribution deal for their Shower Buddy enterprise, it is highly unsurprising when it all goes wrong. Horrible Bosses 2 might be saying something critical about the ruthless capitalist mindset but more than anything, it is demonstrating just how unrelentingly stupid a trio of ordinary guys can be. There are pops at the NSA and the American Dream being Made in China, but really the funnies are brought by the boys' banter, and more often than not, the sight of the three men all talking, yelling or screaming over the top of each other.

Deciding to kidnap Chris Pine in order to extort money from Waltz's bigwig, the script just about manages to justify cramming in cameos from former bosses Kevin Spacey and Jennifer Aniston, giving little for the former to do but considerably beefing up Aniston's presence and amping up her wild side. Chris Pine unleashes his charisma to teeth whitening effect, bravely attempting to hold his own when up against the unstoppable silliness of Sudeikis, Day and Bateman.

Horrible Bosses 2 is like its central characters; loud, obnoxious, incredibly dimwitted, but strangely loveable. There are many big laughs, even if some of the jokes get repetitive and almost every scene seems to end with the trio bellowing over each other. Bateman, Sudeikis and Day are effortlessly funny guys and the script zips along aided by some creative directing from Sean Anders. If you're not on board by the outtakes (which unless you've lost your funny bone, you probably will be), stick around in the credits to see just how much fun the cast were having while making the movie. They had a lot of laughs even if you didn't.



What did you think of the film?

More from I Love That Film:

Trailers at I Love That Film

Reviews at I Love That Film

London Film Festival 2014

Buy my book on The Blair Witch Project

Videos from I Love That Film

The Many Methods of Movie Marketing: Part 6 Film Festivals

This is the sixth and final (hooray!) part of my many posts on the different methods of movie marketing, this one covering film festivals. This is mainly for my film students who are looking at the relationship between film producers and audiences. First we looked at how producers get information from audiences and now we move on to how producers give information to audiences. You can find part one on posters and trailers here. Part 2 on TV, radio and print media advertising and using the internet and viral marketing is here. Part 3 on movie merchandise is here. Part 4 on premieres is here. Part 5 on press junkets and preview screenings is here.

Finally film festivals are an increasingly powerful tool for a range of films to get promoted to as big an audience as possible. Festivals such as Cannes, Berlin, Toronto, London, Sundance and SXSW all hold competitions and give out awards to films that are shown there. Festivals attract the press and so hold fancy events in often glamorous locations. Independent and world cinema films used to be the biggest offerings at film festivals but recently the major Hollywood studios have descended on them and flexed their marketing muscles with publicity stunts and parties. Film festivals traditionally gave a boost to smaller films but now are being increasingly taken over by the studios output.

The Cannes film festival has the coveted Palme D’Or as well as many other prizes that can be won by films in competition. They are voted on by a jury that in 2013 includes directors Steven Spielberg, Ang Lee and Lynne Ramsay and stars Nicole Kidman and Christoph Waltz. If a film wins prizes at a festival, it can use this in other forms of marketing such as trailers and posters. Last year’s Palme D’Or winner Amour went on to be nominated for Best Picture at the Oscars. This year at Cannes, the Hunger Games sequel dominated headlines as the stars turned up for a party thrown by studio Lionsgate to help promote the movie.

Film Festivals mostly show films before they are released worldwide and help to build a buzz around them. The press write about film festivals and keen film fans will always be aware of the latest films that are being screened. Smaller independent films like The Blair Witch Project picked up distribution deals at Sundance Film Festival and went on to become huge hits with mainstream audiences. 

And that is the end of my series on movie marketing! Hope it has been useful to my students and occasionally interesting to anyone else who may have read it!

More on movie marketing:

Part one on posters and trailers
Part 2 on TV, radio and print media advertising and using the internet and viral marketing
Part 3 on movie merchandise
Part 4 on premieres is here 
Part 5 on press junkets and preview screenings

Epic Trailer and The Art of Epic Book Review

Some tunes are just made for trailers. They sound epic enough to market any grandiose piece of blockbusting entertainment. Guardian at the Gates is one of those tunes and features very briefly at the start of the trailer for the new animated film from Blue Sky Studios, Epic. This is the studio that brought us Ice Age and Rio but don't hold any of that against them, Epic looks like their most ambitious and... yes... epic films to date.

Starring a wonderful voice cast including Christoph Waltz on villain duties and Colin Farrell and Josh Hutcherson as the heroes but also the likes of Steve Tyler and Beyonce on supporting vocals, it could be an animated adventure that will appeal to all ages.

It's all about a bunch of tree dwelling little people. No not dwarves but really really little people that live in the leaves and talk to slugs and ride hummingbirds and stuff. It could be a tree hugging epic on the scale of Avatar and no doubt that was a little bit of the reason for using the epic sounding Guardian at the Gates which I last heard used in the Avater trailer. As soon as I heard it, it certainly brought back memories of my agonising wait to see that film and the countless times I watched the trailer in preparation.

Anyway the main reason I'm talking about Epic is that as part of my continuing writing for Starburst magazine, I managed to pick up a copy of The Art of Epic, one of those gorgeous, big coffee table books that features loads of pictures including stills from the film, storyboards and rough sketches. Here is my review of The Art of Epic. Check out the trailer for Epic below:



What do you think? Epic or epic fail?

Django Unchained Review

Tarantino is no slave to historical accuracy but he still knows how to write and direct a brilliant film.

Django Unchained is not only a riveting bit of entertainment but also has vital and brutal bits of history lesson for a person like me who knew little of the horrors of the slavery beyond the obvious. From hot boxes to scarring runaways, the film goes deeper than beatings and lynchings to show far more of the madness of slavery than I had ever encountered before. 

Does it wallow in the evil of slavery? It certainly does indulge in the N word and never shies away from the worst examples of slave torture and murder but all of this is to make the villains stand out as the nastiest pieces of work that Tarantino could conjure. Some might say it trivialises the truth of the past but it also gets every person in the cinema on side with the hero and makes for a riveting rescue and revenge mission.

It is probably Tarantino’s most conventional film to date. It has a hero on a quest, a princess in need of rescue, a father figure mentor and an evil villain who tries to stop the hero from getting his princess. It is also linear and lacking in any of Tarantino’s most excessive stylistic flourishes. Nevertheless the excellent choices of music, cartoonish violence and wonderful dialogue are present and correct making this still feel recognisably Tarantino-esque.

Django is a pleasure to watch as he attacks white supremacy throughout. He is a cool killer and a romantic hero and a joy to ride with from unchaining to violent retribution. Jamie Foxx emerges from under the long shadows of Christoph Waltz and Leonardo DiCaprio to hold his own, despite both these two actors' best grand standing. His Django is noble, ruthless and seething with quiet rage. While Waltz and DiCaprio are also on top form, it is great to see Sam Jackson giving one of his finest performances in years also.

It felt to me like the anti Gone with the Wind. It is challenging, shocking and felt more historically accurate than any representations of slavery and the South that I’d ever seen before. There might be little to no evidence of Mandingo fighting and certain other excesses but the representation of slavery, oppression, torture and punishment was eye opening and powerful with much that there is recorded evidence of. There are many hateful characters here, not least Samuel L. Jackson’s hideous house slave Stephen and DiCaprio's Calvin Candie and their comeuppances are all a joy to watch.

It is wish fulfilment from start to finish. Like the killing of Hitler in Inglourious Basterds, the uprising of the slave against overseers and slave masters is cathartic, heroic and triumphant. It might trivialise it to an extent by packaging slavery as a Sergio Leone style Spaghetti western but it also opens your eyes to some of the awful and despicable behaviour of people in the past and opens the doors to debate, all while being thoroughly entertaining.

Seriously Spike Lee, please go give this movie a shot. I would love to hear your honest and considered opinion after seeing it. Not that Lee would care for this appraisal much but its Tarantino's best since Pulp Fiction.

Sexy New Spanish Django Unchained Poster

Yesterday we got a new trailer.  Today there's a new Spanish poster for Quentin Tarantino's upcoming Django Unchained.  The main cast are here and it's something of a departure from the bold red and black previously released UK poster.

 

Jamie Foxx, Christoph Waltz and Leonardo DiCaprio all feature on the poster with Leo's villain being all menacing in the background of the scorching red blood splattered sun.

The Western iconography is to the fore with costumes and guns on display.  It's Django's shades that keep the cool factor.

The release date is set for 18 January 2013 in the UK so expect much more in the way of marketing materials before we finally get to see the film.

Read more on the new poster over at Filmoria.

The trailers just keep getting better and better for the film with this latest offering more of a glimpse at Leo as the big bad villain and a bit more of the funky music, funny dialogue and potential for bloody violence.