Zootropolis Review

Zootropolis is going up against Metropolis this weekend. Are these bunnies nuts or what? Despite a name change from the American title Zootopia, the film has already racked up huge dollar at the box office elsewhere ($200 million in the US alone), so maybe Batman V Superman V Zootropolis isn't such a bad idea after all. It might be going up against DC's finest, but it's got the Easter holidays on the way to keep kiddies entertained. Here's a snippet of my review:

It's a brave move to make a kids film where there is a montage of the do-gooder main character dishing out 200 parking tickets. Zootropolis could have done without this scene, but impressively it manages to make its leading bunny likeable, no matter how many other Zootropolis-dwelling animals’ days she ruins by slapping them with a fine. 
 

Judy Hops (Ginnifer Goodwin) is the bunny tasked with parking duty, after she works her fluffy little tail off to get out of her small town, get herself through police academy and finally live her dream of tackling crime in the big city of Zootropolis. Judy is a dreamer, determined to leave her carrot-farming folks behind and be the first ever bunny police officer. But life in the city isn't quite how Judy imagined it would be, and she is forced to team up with streetwise hustler fox, Nick Wilde (Jason Bateman), to unravel the mystery of some missing mammals.

Read the rest of my Zootropolis review at Starburst Magazine.

Here's the trailer:

Welcome to The Jungle... Book Trailer

The first of two incoming adaptations of The Jungle Book is on its way in 2016 and Disney have just released the first trailer. The trailer follows hot on the heels of director Jon Favreau’s seconds long tease of the trailer on Instagram yesterday.

Favreau’s Disney funded adaptation is going to beat Andy Serkis’ own adaptation, titled Jungle Book: Origins to screens by over a year. However, the pedigree of talent involved in each means that they may yet both be worth a look.

The trailer for Favreau’s version shows jungle-boy Mowgli skipping along tree branches, facing up to his rather large snake mentor Kaa, and running for his life from villainous tiger Shere Khan. There’s even time for a quick float down the river on the belly of Baloo as the bear whistles the Bare Necessities. 

Favreau directed the first two Iron Man films as well as modern Christmas classic Elf. Unknown actor Neel Sethi will make his feature debut as Mowgli and will be the only actor appearing on screen in live action. The locations and all other characters have been created using CGI and the voice cast includes Scarlett Johansson as Kaa, Idris Elba as Shere Khan, Bill Murray as Baloo, Ben Kingsley as Bagheera and Christopher Walken as King Louie.

With that cast, you’d think Serkis’ own version wouldn’t stand a chance but don’t worry too much for him. Serkis has Christian Bale, Cate Blanchett and Benedict Cumberbatch all on board for his version.

Watch the trailer for Jon Favreau's The Jungle Book here:

Big Hero 6 Review

San Fransokyo teen Hiro uses his technical wizardry to hustle his way to winning in illegal robot fighting matches. His brother Tadashi recognises Hiro’s genius for robot building and encourages him to take up a place at the ‘geek school’ for tech whizzes where Tadashi has built huggable big nurse ‘bot Baymax. When a tragedy befalls Hiro’s family, he must band together with Baymax and other allies from the school to take on a mysterious masked figure who is using Hiro’s microbot invention for his own nefarious purposes.

This Marvel-Disney mash-up looked insufferable from the brightly coloured and barely coherent trailer so it is a pleasure to report that Big Hero 6 is a surprisingly heartfelt and exciting family movie. Baymax might look designed to simply sell a shed load of merchandise, but he is actually the film’s true wild card. While the rest of the characters pass by in a blur of colourful enthusiasm, but will linger as long in the memory as the flavour of bubblegum lasts, Baymax really is a keeper. It is amazing how much the big ‘bot manages to swipe your heart away, even if many of the best moments are half swiped and rejigged  from the poignant moments between the young John Connor and his robot pal, the T-800 in Terminator 2.

Nevertheless, it may not be hugely original but Big Hero 6 is the most exciting animated action film since The Incredibles. When Hiro and his team face off against the villain, the stakes are high, but more importantly the idea of revenge makes Hiro himself into the most riveting character on screen. There are huge set-pieces, some decent laughs, but the best thing about Big Hero 6 is the ultimate question of whether Hiro will really be a hero or if his thirst for revenge will get the better of him.

Most impressive is the fact that Big Hero 6 balances its origin story perfectly with the introduction of its super-villain. There might be some awkward exposition to begin with, but its snappy enough that the story pieces together like a well constructed robot with a heart as big as Baymax’s. 

Watch the trailer:

More recent reviews:

Inherent Vice 

The Imitation Game

Birdman

A Most Violent Year

Wild

Whiplash

Testament of Youth

The Theory of Everything

Into the Woods

American Sniper

Saving Mr. Banks Review

Is it supercalifragilisticexpialidocious or will it take more than a spoonful of sugar to make this medicine go down? Saving Mr. Banks tells the impossibly boring sounding story of Walt Disney's attempts to get author P.L. Travers to relinquish the rights to her beloved Mary Poppins so that he can make an all singing, all dancing Disney adaptation of the book. Travers is a miserable, jaded and stuck up Emma Thompson and Disney is nice guy Tom Hanks. What a surprise; Saving Mr. Banks is produced by none other than Disney.

Saving Mr. Banks is not a bad film. Thompson peels away the layers until we start to see the sympathetic soul beneath the icy exterior of Travers while the supporting cast of Paul Giamatti and Colin Farrel are superb. When Travers gets lured to Hollywood due to financial problems, Disney attempts to woo her with Sherman brothers songs, delicious sugary treats, a tour of Disneyland and even her own personal driver. Travers hates all the confectionery, the rooms full of Disney merchandise and the sugar coated songs but most of all she hates animation.

With flashbacks to her childhood in Australia humanising this hard to like figure and a developing relationship between (most poignantly) her and her driver played by Giamatti, Disney's film wins you over in the end, much like Disney himself ends up winning Travers over. That is all well and good; a nice little yarn about a woman learning to loosen up and forgive her self and at the same time a sweet, if slightly dubious, message about the power of movies to bring joy to people's lives.

I went home wondering if all this was true or how much the writers made up. So I did some exhaustive and extensive research (well I looked on Wikipedia) and found out that Travers was indeed an adviser to the production for two weeks and one of the real Sherman brothers who got the pleasure of working with her insists she was even worse than how she is portrayed in the film. 'She disapproved of the dilution of the harsher aspects of Mary Poppins' character, felt ambivalent about the music, and so hated the use of animation that she ruled out any further adaptations of the later Mary Poppins novels.'

In Saving Mr. Banks she does not get invited to the premiere but requests a ticket from Disney herself. This is true but instead of crying and tapping her feet and Disney and her parting ways on fond terms, this is what apparently really happened: 'she reportedly approached Disney and told him that the animated sequence had to go. Disney responded by walking away, saying as he did, "Pamela, the ship has sailed."' Whatever happened, she never agreed to let Disney adapt any more of her novels again.

I get the feeling that Travers would have hated Saving Mr. Banks for its sugar coating of her story and I doubt much that Disney would have approved much of the way it softens her. It's a sweet movie with solid performances but forget a spoonful of sugar, take it with a pinch of salt.

More reviews at I Love That Film:

The Hunger Games: Catching Fire

Don Jon

Machete Kills, The Conspiracy, Snitch and more

Ender's Game

Sunshine on Leith

How I Live Now

Filth

The Call

Rush

The Lone Ranger

The Many Methods of Movie Marketing: Part 3 Merchandise

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

 

Merchandising is another useful way to market a movie and has become increasingly important since the days of films like Star Wars and Jaws. Not only can merchandise help to spread the word about a movie, but it also can make the studio a lot of money. The audience are basically paying to help market the movie. Merchandising means putting an image or logo from the film on a range of products and selling them to the public. Merchandise can range from t-shirts, toys, lunchboxes and duvet covers to collectible items such as replica weapons and props from films. 

Blockbusters and high concept films that can be sold on the strength of a single image can be particularly beneficial for selling merchandise as the image or logo is easy to recognise and gives the film brand recognition. Spiderman, Batman, Jurassic Park and Jaws all have distinctive, easy to reproduce and recognisable logos or posters which can be put on any products the studio wishes to sell. Transformers was a toy range before becoming a film but now with the film versions begin released, Hasbro can make more toys that tie in with the films. George Lucas, the writer and director of Star Wars kept ownership of the licensing and merchandising rights  (which the studio did not realise could be so profitable) and made a fortune from selling Star Wars toys, collectibles and games based on the franchise.

Merchandise is often, but not always, aimed at children so family movies can often have a larger and more successful range. Disney, Pixar and Marvel will make huge amounts of money from selling toys of the characters and a huge range of products with images from the films on them. The idea is that once a child sees the movie, they will want a souvenir and then fortunately for the studio, that piece of merchandise will advertise the film to more children.

More Star Wars Sequels and Spin Offs Every Summer

Disney has announced that every summer for the foreseeable future will now see a new Star Wars film unleashed on audiences. Starting in 2015 with J.J. Abrams’ Star Wars: Episode VII, every summer will now be dominated by a sequel or spin off from George Lucas’ galaxy far, far away.

The news comes as little surprise to any fan keeping their eye on the internet for updates on the new Star Wars films since Lucas decided to sell the rights. What is slightly disconcerting is the sheer regularity of product that Disney intends to dish out for fans of Star Wars.

Following hot on the heels of Abrams’ hotly anticipated trek into a new science fiction franchise, what can fans expect from future Star Wars films?

Created by Josh Lange

With the announcement that Abrams’ is responsible for the seventh entry in the main timeline of films, following on from the prequels and the original trilogy, it is safe to say that once every two or three years, we will be getting a Star Wars: Episode VIII and Episode IX. With those potentially taking up the summers of 2017 and 2019, the next question is will there be an extension in the future? Could the summers of 2020 and beyond feature a fourth trilogy of Episodes X, XII and XII? Will Abram’s stick around long enough to shepherd the franchise boldly forwards?

In the meantime, my thoughts have turned to what will be the Star Wars films filling multiplexes between the main episodes of the franchise and who will be taking the reigns for Disney?

Spin offs have already been rumoured for a young Han Solo, Boba Fett, Yoda and Lando Calrissian. The prequels already gave us the back-story on Anakin, Leia and Obi Wan but there is still plenty of room for further expansion with a huge range of characters from the universe.

The spin offs have an impossibly huge universe as set up by Lucas but also by the endless amounts of fan fiction that have already been written around the characters and even the most minor and insignificant ones at that.

Created by Josh Lange

The trick for Disney will be to keep the franchise fresh and approachable to newcomers without alienating the long term fans. Too much introducing of new cute and fluffy characters will lead to accusations of trying to sell toys as with the introduction of the Ewoks back in Return of the Jedi. Too much focus on existing characters might take away some of the mystery and allure surrounding particular characters.

With J.J. Abram at the helm of the first in the new summer Star Wars films, Disney has made a smart move and will likely get off to a good start. His Star Trek managed to appease long term fans while attracting a whole new audience to that science fiction franchise. The question is will he be able to do the same with Star Wars and what will his involvement be in the further sequels and spin offs?

More to the point, will this Disney cash cow continue to deliver the goods for may summers to come or will the Star Wars udders dry up pretty quick?

Employment legislation in the TV and Film Industries

Employment legislation covers laws and standards that ensure that employees do not suffer from dangerous or unhealthy working environments or practices. Employment legislation has a number of different parts.

Health and safety ensure a safe and healthy working environment. The BBC for example has strict policies regarding accident and incident reporting, guidelines for health and safety, a risk assessment procedure and a security policy. Employees will be expected to abide by these rules and know the policies in order to help the BBC make sure the working environment is safe. On the BBC website, all these policies can be found and there is even a separate section for freelancers who are unlikely to be a familiar with the policies as full time employees.

Most media industry employers (if not all) will have a policy that ensures equal opportunities for all by not allowing any discrimination in terms of gender, race, disability, sexuality, religion or age. There is a law against this type of discrimination but some employers will be better at providing equal opportunities than others. Channel 4 even goes as far as to regularly monitor figures, stating on their website that ‘the representation of ethnic minorities amongst permanent staff in 2010 was 13% (2009: 12%). Women continue to form the majority of staff at 57% (2009: 55%)’.

The BBC recently was criticised for age discrimination under Employment Equality Age regulations when ‘Mia Costello, Managing Editor of regional station BBC Radio Solent, told presenters in an official email that they should prevent any "elderly" callers from being allowed on air.’

Employers must get insurance in order to cover themselves, should they be liable to pay compensation to an employee who has injured or become sick due to their job. The BBC recommends this insurance to all filmmakers in order to ‘provide indemnity in respect of your legal liability to pay compensation for death, disease or bodily injury to employees arising out of and during the course of their employment’. This means the filmmaker will be covered by their insurance should they have to pay compensation to someone.

Employees will have many rights in their contracts regarding payments, sickness, holidays and the right to not be harassed, bullied or discriminated against. They will also have the right to belong to a trade union, such as BECTU. Trade unions such as this can provide many benefits to members such as negotiating pay, conditions and contracts with employers and helping individual members with support, advice and representation if they find themselves having trouble with employers.

Employees must also be aware of intellectual property issues such as copyright and trademarks. Workers in the media industry will often be in creative roles and will need to understand whether they as the author of the work will own the rights to it or if the company that they are producing the work for owns the rights. Scriptwriters will likely sell all the rights to their original work in order for the screenplay to be turned into a film by a production company. This means once the company own the copyright over the script, they can do with whatever they please and the original author has no rights over it. An employee in a TV company may also need to obtain copyright information if they wish to use a clip from another show in their own media product.

Trademarks are signs in the forms of a logo or word that distinguishes one company’s brand from its competitors. These trademarks must be registered with the Intellectual Property Office and as they stand for a recognisable brand in the consciousness of the public, have to be protected from misrepresentation. Disney has many major trademarks including the world famous Disneyland logo and it is important to protect this family friendly brand from anything that could ruin its reputation. For example Disney refused to release the controversial film Kids through their subsidiary Miramax due to the content and potential damage to Disney’s brand.

http://www.channel4.com/info/corporate/corporate-responsibility/people

http://www.workplacelaw.net/content/7950

http://www.bbc.co.uk/filmnetwork/filmmaking/guide/production/insurance

http://www.bectu.org.uk/home