Youth Review, Starring Michael Caine and Harvey Keitel

Youth, the latest film from Paolo Sorrentino (The Great Beauty), hits UK cinemas on Friday 29th January. I was lucky enough to catch it at the London Film Festival late in 2015, where I reviewed it for Starburst Magazine. Here's a snippet of my review:

Michael Caine and Harvey Keitel must have thought that writer/director Paolo Sorrentino was taking the piss sending them a script titled Youth. On the other hand, who could resist working with the Oscar-winning Sorrentino, especially when the long-in-the-tooth acting legends get to spend most of the shoot in a luxury Swiss spa in one of the most beautiful locations in the world.  
 
Caine and Keitel star as old friends Fred and Mick respectively. Fred is a retired composer, who while enjoying his vacation at the spa is visited by his daughter Lena (Rachel Weisz). He is resisting coming out of retirement to conduct a concert of his greatest work for the Queen of England. Mick, on the other hand, is an active film director, desperately trying to figure out an ending for his next film with a small group of writers who have joined him at the spa.

Like the sound of this? Read the rest of my Youth review at Starburst Magazine here. 

Watch the trailer:

  

More from the London Film Festival 2015

Kingsman: The Secret Service Review

When super spy Harry Hart loses a member of his team in the late 90s, he makes a promise to look out for the young son of the man who died trying to save him. Seventeen years later, Eggsy is a wayward teen with a permanently distraught mother and violent scumbag of a step father. When Eggsy is arrested for stealing a car, Harry Hart seeks out the troubled youth and offers him the chance to become a part of the mysterious and super secret spy agency known as the Kingsman. Seeing what Harry Hart can do, the gadgets he uses, and the class he oozes, Eggsy agrees to sign up to the competitive training regime that could see him taking on billionaire lisping megalomaniac Valentine (Samuel L. Jackson).

It is very clear from watching Kingsman that director Matthew Vaughn is not ready to give up on directing a Bond film yet. Whether he will ever get the gig in the future on the back of this film is very questionable. Kingsman is more like the film we would get if Tarantino ever gets to make a Bond film. It’s self-referential and smart, has a brilliantly foul mouth and is uber-violent from start to finish. Not to mention the fact that it takes an outsider’s perspective on Britain and fills the film with stereotypes of the class system, from the stiff upper lipped suited gents of the Kingsman to the ‘yeah bruv’ yoof of working class ladland.

Early contender for best scene of the year?

Kingsman takes great pleasure in pinching from Bond films, while giving tradition a good shake up. Valentine’s lisp, blade footed hench-woman and mountain lair all feel like they border on homage and parody, whereas other moments indulge in characters talking conventions before shockingly subverting what audiences have come to expect in these films.

To take the Tarantino comparison further, Matthew Vaughn really knows how to revel in the joy of a good splash of ultra-violence. The scene where Firth’s skilled spy is unleashed on a church congregation to the sounds of Lynyrd Skynyrd’s Freebird is one of the most excitingly executed, thrillingly shot and edited and funniest massacres in film history. Nothing in the rest of the film can touch it, but that doesn’t stop Vaughn from trying.

With its cast including Colin Firth, Mark Strong, Michael Caine, Samuel L. Jackson and Mark Hamill, it’s a wonder that Taron Egerton even gets a look in as Eggsy. Doubters may think that he is a poor man’s substitute for the swagger and savagery of Jack O’ Connell but Egerton emerges as a winning choice to hold the film together, charming with his sly grin and convincing with his way with an umbrella.

Though there is a worrying undercurrent of upper class superiority and even scepticism about those who campaign  about climate change, if you can cast those niggling fears aside, there surely won’t be a more gleefully violent film than Kingsman this year. 

Watch the trailer:

More recent reviews:

Son of a Gun

Big Hero 6

Inherent Vice 

Birdman

A Most Violent Year

Wild

Whiplash

Testament of Youth

The Theory of Everything

American Sniper

Interstellar Trailer and Review

Last week, I got invited to attend a special early screening of Interstellar for the wonderful folk at Starburst Magazine. I've been a big, big fan of Christopher Nolan since Memento but for some reason I wasn't overly excited about Interstellar.

With that in mind, my expectations were sensible for the film (which is always a good place to start) so I really enjoyed it. Here is my review of Interstellar for Starburst Magazine. It's a hard film to talk about without spoiling some of its secrets but I have not given anything away in my review. In fact I've given a lot less away than many other reviews I've seen!

It's out on Friday and with the name Christopher Nolan and the face of Matthew McConaughey attached, I have no doubt that Interstellar will be absolutely massive at the box office. Here is the trailer:



Here's a featurette on building a Black Hole for the movie:



And just one more trailer for fun:



Would love to hear your thoughts on the movie!

More reviews from I Love That Film

More trailers from I Love That Film

Buy my book on The Blair Witch Project

More on Christopher Nolan at I Love That Film

The Many Methods of Movie Marketing: Part 4 Premieres

This is the fourth part of my many posts on the different methods of movie marketing, this one covering premieres. 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.

Premieres are another way to help market a movie, particularly if the film has big internationally recognisable stars that are willing or contracted to attend. Premieres are the first official screening of the film to the public and are often big events in major cities across the world. They have a red carpet and the press and fans gather outside the cinemas to see the stars arrive for the screening. The press interview the stars and filmmakers on the red carpet (or blue in the case of Fast and Furious 6) and these interviews help to publicise the film in the media. 

Sometimes premieres for the biggest films even end up being covered by news programmes because they are such a big story. This is excellent publicity for the studios as it gets the film in the consciousness of everybody who watches the news or reads magazines. Often the stars are dressed in the latest fashions and minor celebrities also attend so pictures, videos and news items appear in celebrity gossip and fashion magazines. This targets an even wider audience for the film than the other forms of marketing.

The final Harry Potter film was covered by the news because fans were sleeping out on the streets in order to see the stars. Some premieres appear to take over Leicester Square with the landmark being transformed into a scene from Willy Wonka's chocolate factory complete with giant candy canes and lollipops for the premiere of Charlie and the Chocolate Factory. The bigger the stars and the more work that is put into making the premiere an event, the more attention it will get.

Having even just one international star can really boost a smaller film if that star attends the premiere. For example the small British film Is Anybody There? would not have the same marketing budget as a Hollywood blockbuster but because Michael Caine stars in it and attended the premiere, there will be more attention brought to it in the press than a similar small British film with no recognisable stars in the cast.

Next part is on press junkets and preview screenings.