Back to the Future: 30 Years On

It’s been so long since its original release that real time has caught up with the futuristic date set in part 2 (2015, we have no hover boards or flying cars) but ‘back to the Future’ still stands tall as not only a staple of science fiction cinema but perhaps the ultimate summer blockbuster. There are many things that make it great, and here I’m going to give a quick rundown of them.

Perhaps it’s the melancholy attitude that Robert Zemeckis takes when dealing with what could be seriously disturbing and suspenseful material with other writers that turns it into less of the action extravaganza that it could have been and into a more Capra like caper. As Gene Siskel said when describing the film ‘If I had the ability to make pictures I hope I’d have the ability to make a film as enjoyable as ‘Back to the Future’.

One of the things that makes it so enjoyable is the chemistry between Doc Brown and Marty McFly. Though it’s never really explained why a teenager would hang out with a mad scientist old enough to be his grandfather, it works. Maybe that’s why we don’t need an answer to that question and why we just accept their relationship. They each complement the other and maintain a strong individuality, serving as one of the greatest double acts in movie history. It’s hard to imagine anyone else playing the role, but of course Michael J Fox was initially unavailable to play it, however after some begging Fox was allowed to accept the role, which he did without even reading the script. Is there anyone that would dispute that this was one of the best move’s in film history, as Fox’s performance defines comedic timing, use of physical expression and a fantastic fish out of water attitude. Naturally he seems so out of place against the 1950s environment is where a majority of the humour comes from, not to mention his perfect amazement and nervousness at seeing his parents as youngsters.

The other half of this double act is Christopher Lloyd, who brought Doc Brown to live in so many ways. He also nearly passed the role, but was convinced by the director’s passion. Again this is just a role where no one else could do it as well. There is no point where I doubt his intelligence and madness of this character whether he’s acting straight with giant devices perched precariously on his head or building an exact scale model of the town then apologising for its crudeness. It’s zany, exciting and over the top, utterly contradicting depending on the time zone and utterly brilliant.

The time machine was originally written as a fridge, but Spielberg was worried that kids may copy the film and climb into fridges, so it was changed to a Delorean (because kids’ climbing into cars is much safer). It was undoubtedly an inspired move as it gave them the perfect opportunity to fabricate the machine with a futuristic style, but still one that looks chaotic as if it was assembled at home by an eccentric lunatic. The innards are perfectly realised and given just the right amount of explanation. How does a Flux Capacitor work, we don’t know, it just does.

The super efficiency of ‘Back to the Future’s’ script is one of the films strongest aspects. If you wanted more detailed thoughts on why the script is a marvel of writing then go to the link below in order to reach a new blog I have CineTheory, in which I go deep into certain film topics and subjects.

http://cinema-theory.blogspot.co.uk/2015/08/why-back-to-future-is-perfect-screenplay.html 

Fant4stic

"This is the end of your world, and the beginning of mine."

Some people accuse the Marvel Cinematic Universe of just following a basic formula and not deserving their huge financial success. Some curse them for initiating this tidal wave of superhero films that are about to hit us, and criticise how the genre is relatively easy to turn bangs into bucks. However I would point to a film like ‘Fant4stic’ (they called it that, the promotional material says so)and argue that actually, Marvel are very good at this, as what we have here is a prime example of how not to do a superhero movie the right way.

Having been employed by the government to conduct research and experiments towards interdimensional travel, Reed Richards (Miles Teller) puts his friends lives at risk when one experiment goes horribly wrong, transforming them into super powered beings.

This film has been met with backlash right from day one. Whether it be fans pointing out how this version exists primarily so Fox have a reason not to hand the rights back to Marvel, on set turbulence and the reported recklessness of Josh Trank as a director, not to mention the fact that he was signed up to direct an upcoming ‘Star Wars’ film for Disney, but mysteriously dropped out for unknown reasons (all we do know is that it was most definitely not a graceful shaking of hands and parting of ways as Trank engaged the world’s largest film studio in a one man Twitter war, bragging about how Fox were desperate for him to direct another Fantastic Four film and he was not sorry to leave the ‘Star Wars’ project).

But putting all of that aside, what does ‘Fant4stic’ have going for it? Well to its credit there is a good balance of emphasising both teamwork and the personal tribulations such a transformation might do to someone (instead of madly glossing over it like the previous films did) and shines a light on some of the character’s history and interaction before the accident. The cast is also pretty solid and the end result is certainly a different take and incarnation of a superhero team. So those are a few things on the positive spectrum.

That being said, on the negative spectrum, there is the slight issue. The issue is that this movie is just awful in literally ever way other than the few things that I mentioned there. Like I said there are good things but these plus points pale into significance when compared to the massive structural and tonal issues that are frequently on display.

It opens with this weird ‘Goonies’ like sequence, then shifts to a lighhearted science project before delving into sudden and rather unpleasant body-horror-esque sequences and there are about a dozen other changes that are all fairly boring and uneventful all before it delves into what has to be the most rushed hero section (the point in any superhero movie where the hero accepts who they are and set out to vanquish evil) of any superhero film I have ever seen. Dr Doom is laughably in its look and mind set, as well as being ridiculously underused.

Like last years ‘Amazing Spider-Man 2’, ‘Fant4stic’ is all exposition, building towards a film that has not yet happened, trying to set up this cinematic franchise that will probably never happen now. For the last time studios, focus on the movie you’re making right now instead of one that’s three years away. Though the CGI is mostly competent there are moments where it just looks horrendous, like 1990s cheap CGI bad. Even when it’s good there’s no point that I actually believed it was real, I was constantly aware that I was watching CGI.

‘Fant4stic’ is not even bad in a hilarious way as the dark tone just makes it feel, above all else, depressing. A structurally unstable, tonally uneven, sleep inducing, rushed and depressing film.

Result: 2/10 

Journal of Whills: Part 9 - Samurais in Space

Akira Kurosawa and George Lucas

If you remember my brief rundown of some of the early influences on George Lucas, you may remember that one of my selections was Akira Kurosawa’s ‘Hidden Fortress’ that acted as a key influence for ‘Star Wars’. Of course, if you look at the whole Kurosawa culture, his influence stretches far beyond one film, and there may be more distinct reasons for one filmmaker having such a profound effect on the other.

Let’s take trip back in time, to 1920s Japan when a schoolteacher decides to omit his son from the Japanese films that were available and instead takes him to American Westerns and silent movies. Of course, back then foreign films would be brought over rather than officially distributed, and therefore lacked translation and as a result Japanese cinemas came with a narrator (called a Benshi). At the time the son’s older brother was a Benshi, resulting in an early appreciation of cinema.

Then in 1940, the son enters the film industry and writes an essay that exenterates the Japanese film industry from a western outlook. This gains him some recognition and eventually he works his way up to working as a director. But by now Japan is at war with the west, so any evident western influences are, shall we say, frowned upon, with prison sentences and bullets. So this director can’t make the films he wants and instead makes some propaganda films to try and scrape a living and hope that eventually he can make his passion project. When he is finally ready to make his own films, Japan loses the war, typical. America is now keeping a close eye on Japan so now the director’s pretty much back at square one and is artistically limited by the political climate.

America themselves are doing pretty well. Hollywood is in its golden age as every studio is vertically integrated meaning that they control the production, distribution and exhibition of every movie. So the next time your film snob friend starts prattling on about the golden age, remind them that this ‘golden age’ was a tyrannical monopoly. The US Courts thought the same thing as in 1948 vertical integration came to an end. Things only got worse as now that the war was over and the economy was recovering people moved into the suburbs and filled their houses with television that eliminated the need for them to drive to movie theatres.

Back in Japan censorship has been lifted so now studios can finally make the films they want to. Directors like our old friend (if you haven’t guessed who the mystery Japanese director was by now) Akira Kurosawa start to flourish. Akira’s career takes off following his 1950 period piece ‘Rashomon’. Most American studios don’t want to hear about it (or see it, because it’s a film) but when it’s entered at the prestigious Venice Film Festival, it wins it. Now everyone’s paying attention to Japanese cinema and in particular, what Kurosawa will do next. What he does do next is several other masterpieces such as ‘Throne of Blood’, ‘Seven Samurai’ and ‘The Hidden Fortress’ which is about two peasants that stumble across secret plans to aid a rebel force, a captured princess and an ageing warrior… this sounds familiar right.

In Hollywood studios are recovering but know that if they want to avoid another catastrophe they have to think outside the box and bring in a new perspective to attract audiences, they need new filmmakers. Meanwhile an aspiring race car driver called George gets into a near fatal motor accident. He gives up on cars and instead get into films. Eventually he discovers the work of Akira Kurosawa and because they both loved the same westerns and silent films Akira’s films have a special appeal to George Lucas.

As I said before Hollywood wanted something new so they went straight to the youngest and craziest filmmakers they had at the time. The four biggest players now were Francis Ford Coppola, Martin Scorsese, Steven Spielberg and George Lucas. Hollywood gave them a chance and they delivered as Coppola makes ‘The Godfather’ (which becomes the highest grossing film of all time), Scorsese makes ‘Taxi Driver’, Spielberg makes ‘Jaws’ (which takes over from ‘The Godfather’ as the highest grossing film of all time)and Lucas… he starts rambling about some sort of space concept.

But studios trust him, and he starts writing, using Akira as inspiration. He takes samurai armour and turns it into Darth Vader and his Stormtroopers, models his Jedi masters after aged Samurai mentors, the Cantina scene in ‘A New Hope’ is based on a scene from another Kurosawa classic ‘Yojimbo’. Then take a look at one of the Imperial officers in ‘A New Hope’ he states that the Rebels are in some kind of HIDDEN FORTRESS, before he is choked by Vader. The two bickering peasants from ‘Hidden Fortress’ are turned into bickering droids C3-P0 and R2-D2 and even the classic ‘Star Wars’ scene transition style is from Kurosawa. When ‘Star wars is released, guess what? It takes over from ‘Jaws’ to become the highest grossing film of all time.

This is not a criticism of Lucas, homage has been a part of art since the beginning of time. The point of this is that this massive post is set to describe just ONE influence from the several listed in Part 6, this only scrapes the surface of the inexplicable artistic pileup that is ‘Star Wars’.

Those are more ramblings on ‘Star Wars’, leave some of yours in the comment section below, please recommend this blog on google with the icon at the top, find me on Twitter with @JoshuaPrice97. Thanks and bye.    

Journal of Whills: Part 8 - Nature and Technology

We all love the Ewoks right? Okay maybe not everyone but all the same at least every Star Wars fan accepts their existence without going into a small rant on how they were mainly created just to sell toys and make the film more appealing to children as opposed to the darker nature of ‘Empire Strikes Back’ right? Again the answer is no. But when you think about it their presence rings true to a theme that occurs repeatedly throughout the Star wars saga. That theme is the triumph of nature and tradition over technology and advancements.

One Jedi ideology is that of simplicity and harmony with nature. Though they are not adverse to technology they do not rely on it, relying on their own connection with the force to navigate their various dangers. The most prominent and obvious example of this was the destruction of the first Death Star, as Luke is guided by the force to hit the exhaust port with the proton torpedo, rather than relying on the target computer that failed for Red Leader when he fired his shot.

The lack of technology in Jedi traditions is drawn into stark contrast by the Sith’s reliance on technology. Where the Jedi rely on their senses and intuition to gain influence the Sith construct a giant, technological, planet destroying weapon. Then you look at Darth Vader, how was it that Obi Wan described his fallen friend? ‘He’s more machine now than man.’ Then of course there’s the big boss, the Emperor, Darth Sideous. His deformed body is almost against life as a concept entirely. His twisted and demented being resides in a primarily technological environment, a planet destroying weapon as it happens. Even on a soulful level technology is morally wrong for Star Wars. Darth Vader’s final request is for Luke to remove his mask, the symbol of his artificial casing.

Even in the little scenes there’s a sense that technology just can’t compete with the natural intuitions of the characters. A repeated joke throughout ‘Empire Strikes Back’ is C3-P0 and R2-D2 constantly giving calculations on their scenario. The odds against Luke still being alive in the wasteland of Hoth are low by their calculations, but Han Solo goes after him anyway. The same thing happens again when, under pursuit from the Empire, Han flies the Millennium Falcon into an asteroid field only to be told by C3-P0 that the odds are ridiculously against them surviving. Han replies with ‘Never tell me the odds’. Okay it sounds better when Harrison Ford says it.

Technology acts as a corrupting force sometimes as well. Though there are many metaphors and symbols behind Luke’s severed hand and its artificial replacement, one of them that is very relevant to this theme is the idea that after the injury Luke finds himself tempted by the dark side of the force. Then later it is this timely reminder of his mechanical limb that stops him from killing Darth Vader in ‘Return of the Jedi’. A scene from ‘Return of the Jedi’ brings us neatly back to the Ewoks. For all their technology and advancements the Stormtroopers are defeated by the Ewoks on Endor.

Of course, it would be naïve to think that Lucas wanted to constantly say that technology is outright bad, after all if Luke didn’t get that mechanical hand he would be fairly useless to the Rebels after that, good luck defeating the Emperor with one hand. It would be simply odd for a film that relishes in technology to criticise it. As Han Solo says ‘Ancient weapons are no match for a good blaster’. Then of course you have to look at two of the series’ most beloved characters, C3-P0 and R2-D2, are machines. By their very nature they are completely products of technology. However Lucas gave them emotions and feelings that few machines in film have, C3-P0 is famous for worrying about everything, when does a machine ever worry? This points to Lucas’ main theme and message with all of these elements, it’s that the most important aspect in the world of Star Wars is to not be consumed by technology and become less of a human as a result. Vader does not succeed in this and is corrupted as a result, Luke does not.

So those are my ramblings on Star Wars, let me know a few of your own thoughts by leaving a comment below. You can find me on Twitter with @JoshuaPrice97 and don’t forget to recommend this blog on google by clicking the icon at the top of the page. Thanks and bye.   

Mission: Impossible - Rogue Nation

"The IMF is uniquely trained and highly motivated. Specialist without equal, immune to any countermeasures."

It’s taken me a while to get my head around writing a review for ‘Mission: Impossible – Rogue Nation’ (a subtitle within a subtitle, thank god for that hyphen or this would be the Impossible Rogue Nation instalment of the Mission series) mainly because I find myself struggling over the question, is this the best ‘Mission: Impossible’ movie yet?

Ethan Hunt (Tom Cruise) and his team are facing trouble from every angle, the government is seeking to shut down the IMF and as well as this they are facing a deadly terrorist organisation known as the syndicate. Now they must go it alone to put an end to a plot to initiate global chaos.

Can I just say right away that ‘Rogue Nation’ had an awesome trailer, like truly spectacular so check that out if you haven’t already. Going back to my earlier statement though, this pretty much answers the question ‘is it good?’ It is, very good in fact. Is it the best ‘Mission: Impossible’, i.e is it better than ‘Ghost Protocol’? Tough question.

When you realise that this is the fifth movie of this franchise it dawns on you that this is the best fifth franchise film by far (‘Empire Strikes Back’ does not count, that is the second Star Wars film, even if it’s full name is in fact Episode 5). But my point is that this franchise has virtually gone from strength to strength (with the exception of two) each film is better than the last. Each movie also feel slightly different, Brian De Palma, John Woo, JJ Abrams and Brad Bird all made very distinct and individual movies that also work as a set piece. Director Christopher Maguire also has a distinct style but you can’t quite put your finger on it as it seems to incorporate a bit of the styles of every other director of this franchise. The suspense of De Palma, flamboyance of Woo, pace of Abrams and cartoon sensibilities of Bird are all present and are used to great effect. In terms of directing they should have just called it ‘Mission: Impossible – Greatest Hits’. I suppose it leans slightly more towards the first one and ‘Ghost Protocol’.

When you think about it that’s a remarkable achievement as what that means is that the film manages to defy physics in an entertaining way but also maintains a certain amount of suspense and tension. I’m not sure how they do it, but against these plausible free stunts like Tom Cruise hanging on to the side of a plane or somehow driving a car minutes after being knocked severely unconscious, there’s a way to make it feel exciting and rather than take away from the spectacle, it only adds to it.   

There’s a certain amount of gravitas that continually seeps back into the events. The franchise feels like its aged a bit, but in a good way, as if they’re accepting that most people do not go through everything Ethan Hunt has been through. There’s a world weary nature to the cast, acknowledging that the events are not happening to them for the first time and that they must utilize their team skills to get through this.

The team element is essential to the success of this film as even though Tom Cruise is a megastar it’s more of an ensemble piece. Whatever crazy stunt he undertakes is only as amazing as it is because of Simon Pegg’s reaction to it, or Jeremy Renner having to pick up the pieces. This is exemplified in a scene where Cruise races through the streets of Casablanca, asking Pegg if his seatbelt is on, to which Pegg screams ‘You’re asking me that now?’ When the car crashes and ends on its roof, Renner pries the door open to be greeted with a casual duo in the seat. Rebecca Furguson is also a nice new addition to the team, a great and modern femme-fettle. Alec Baldwin also brings a lot to the pot and Ving Rhames is back with a bigger role in this instalment.

There’s also something wonderful about a film that just knows where it stands. It’s a spectacle of a thriller so there’s no need for over complicated narrative structures, needless backstory or sarcasm. It goes without saying that the action scenes are great as well and the villain is far better than ‘Ghost Protocol’.

So is ‘Rogue Nation’ better than ‘Ghost Protocol’? I honestly don’t know, I think it just goes to show how good both of them are and why this series is suddenly the action franchise of a generation.

Result: 9/10

Ranking the Marvel Phase 2 Movies: Worst to Best

So ‘Ant-man officially brings phase 2 of the Marvel Cinematic Universe to an end, and just before we start to speculate and get excited for phase 3 (because obviously no one’s been doing that since Kevin Feige’s announcement), let’s take a moment to look at what was good and what was not quite as good about Phase 2. This Phase brought the MCU the title of highest grossing film franchise of all time (taking over from the Harry Potter Franchise) and it’s where they achieved a full and global recognition, they’re not just separated Avengers now, they’re heroes in their own right. So let’s rank them in order of worst to best.

6: The Dark World

To be fair to Marvel, when your worst film of the past 5 has been ‘Thor: The Dark World’ then you’re setting fairly high standards. The film sets good standards of action and further expands the Asgardian mythos to please both fans and audiences hoping for a sequel that expands the environment and characters. Hiddleston and Hemsworth are both on top form as well. Where ‘The Dark World’ fails is that it just doesn’t change the game enough, there are developments, but only concerning minor characters that are ultimately unlikely to have an impact on the MCU as a whole, hopefully Ragnorok will solve this though.

5: Iron Man 3

Another thing that works in Marvel’s credit is that they seem to learn from their mistakes, ‘Iron Man 2’ taught them that they have to make the film work on its own as well as hinting at the rest of the universe. ‘Iron Man 3’ taught them that they shouldn’t try too hard to appeal to mainstream audiences. It may have paid off in box office numbers, but fans reacted quite harshly to alterations that were clearly added to widen the films appeal to casual moviegoers such as the Extremis story changes and the Mandarin revelation. However it’s undoubtedly strong in terms of action, it actually has one of Marvel’s best music scores in my opinion, Robert Downey Jr is as witty as ever, and it still makes you go ‘I really want one of those suits’.

4: Ant-Man

As I’ve said multiple times, amid all of their high scale sequels and crossovers Marvel made a smart move by putting ‘Ant-Man’ at the end of this phase as it shows that they are still competent with origin stories (which bodes well for upcoming movies like ‘Doctor Strange’ and ‘Black Panther’) as well as demonstrating an impressive amount of humour, action and drama. Paul Rudd and Micahel Douglas increase the acting pedigree of Marvel and Scott Lang and Hank Pym act as great new character additions.

3: Age of Ultron

The best Marvel movie of 2015 ultimately comes down to personal preference. For all its faults I think it is simply criminal not to admire the scale and ability to balance so many sub-plots and set up so many future movies while concluding four films worth of additional material here, as well as making your own interesting story that has a distinct beginning middle and end AND throwing in some humour at the same time. In short, Joss Whedon is probably still asleep after that ordeal.

2: The Winter Soldier

In a similar vein to 2015, the best Marvel movie of 2014 also comes down to personal preference. You either prefer the high octane, gritty action of ‘The Winter Soldier’ with its gritty and realistic action sequences that are executed perfectly under the Russo Brother’s direction, urban level fighting and excellent characterisations and relationships from Cap and Falcon’s friendship formed on shard experiences to his and Nat’s playful flirtation or the menacing presence of its titular villain, that all ultimately harkens back to the political thrillers of the 1970s. Or you prefer…

1: Guardians of the Galaxy

If any film proves that Marvel is an genuinely amazing storyteller, it’s this film based on a comic book no one read, with the writer of the ‘Dawn of the Dead’ remake as director, the fat guy from ‘Parks and Recreation’ as its lead and cast its biggest stars of Bradley Cooper and Vin Diesel as a racoon and a talking tree that only says three words. But it was amazing, the script was fantastic, the style was electrifying and the imagination and innovation was unparalleled. It boasted a whole host of quirky and memorable characters. Chris Pratt’s role as Star Lord has rocketed him into stardom, it’s made Blue Swede popular again and could be the most spectacular space opera since ‘A New Hope’. Only one being can sum up just why this film is so great, and I’m quoting directly here. ‘I am Groot’.