Home//Total Film/April 2016/In This Issue
Total Film|April 2016dialogueTripping the light fantasticHorrible weather, bleak news, diets gone awry... the start of the year is a bummer. Which is why TF wants to escape down a rabbit hole to the joys of massive costumes, OTT tales and epic vistas in our celebration of all things fantasy. We hiked on-set of The Huntsman: Winter’s War and discussed vagin*s with Charlize (yep, really), revisited Wonderland, gassed with Luke Evans and Wonder Woman and checked out Fantastic Beasts, Warcraft Orcs and King Kong’s latest stompfest. Plenty of delightful diversions from the discussion over who’ll stack the dishwasher.Enjoy the issue.Drop us a line: totalfilm@futurenet.comThe ups and downs of making this issue…STAR LETTER⋆ What’s with the issue 241 cover, folks? Really. My colleagues and I had a bet on which exciting upcoming flick would…7 min
Total Film|April 2016Oh brotherIf there was a moment in Grimsby where Mark Strong realised what a perfectionist his co-star was, it was when Sacha Baron Cohen gave him a wedgie.The story of two brothers reunited, the scene saw Baron Cohen’s footie lout, Nobby, affectionately yank on super-spy Sebastian’s undies. “As he went to do it, he noticed I had my own underpants on – Calvin Kleins,” reports Strong. “He said to me, ‘Oh I don’t know if a super-spy will be wearing those!’”While he’s played spooks in Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy and Kingsman: The Secret Service, the Brit actor has never done comedy like Baron Cohen, the creator of Borat and Ali G, who is famous for going deep into character. “He wanted us to call him Nobby,” remembers Strong, who was also…2 min
Total Film|April 2016Score blimey“People always forget I’ve done a lot of comedies,” Hans Zimmer tells Buzz, chatting in London’s Air Studios, where he’s overseeing recording of the score for Kung Fu Panda 3. “Like, ‘The guy who wrote Inception also wrote Driving Miss Daisy.’ I actually like writing the funny bits...”MOVING ONZimmer has experience composing for sequels, having previously scored Chris Nolan’s Batman movies. “There’s so much stuff you’ve already said before, and now you need to up the ante,” he says. “You just have to treat it as an autonomous movie. Even though it uses themes from the previous movies, I managed to make them more interesting.”PO FACEDWith Po (Jack Black) continuing his journey as a kung fu master, his evolution had unexpected repercussions for his musical theme. “There comes a moment…1 min
Total Film|April 2016Wild LifeIt’s been 30 years since Disney’s last fully anthropomorphic theatrical release, The Great Mouse Detective. Now, in the wake of its Oscarwinning hits Frozen and Big Hero 6, the studio presents the tale of a cop out to prove she’s no dumb bunny while partnered with a conniving fox. Welcome to the world of Zootropolis…RABBIT FIREDirector Rich Moore, who also helmed 2012’s Wreck-It Ralph, describes Zootropolis’ chief protagonist, Judy Hopps: “So much of Judy comes from the personality of [voice actress] Ginnifer Goodwin. Judy is this optimistic dreamer who has this kind of drive to be a police officer. Because of what we knew about Judy, the casting of Ginnifer happened pretty early. There was a point where Judy’s character became a little more sarcastic... With Ginnifer working with the…3 min
Total Film|April 2016PAYING TRIBUTE“What I remember most in this moment of painful leave-taking is his humour, intelligence, wisdom and kindness. His capacity to fell you with a look or lift you with a word.”EMMA THOMPSON“Behind his starry insouciance and careless elegance, behind that mournful face, which was just as beautiful when wracked with mirth, there was a super-active spirit, questing and achieving, a super-hero, unassuming but deadly effective.”IAN MCKELLEN“Working with him at such a formative age was incredibly important and I will carry the lessons he taught me for the rest of my life and career.”DANIEL RADCLIFFE“He was utterly distinctive, with a voice that could suggest honey or a hidden stiletto blade, and the profile of a Roman emperor.”HELEN MIRREN“He was just an amazing person and an amazing actor. We had these dinner…1 min
Total Film|April 2016Double DareHe may be known as The Man Without Fear, but Matt Murdock has plenty to be afraid of in the second season of Daredevil.Set approximately six months after Wilson Fisk’s incarceration at the hands of the horned hero of Hell’s Kitchen, Matt and his beloved Manhattan neighbourhood are in a good place, with crime rates down and business on the up.This relative serenity – if you can count brutalising petty criminals as remotely peaceful – is shattered by the sudden arrival of Jon Bernthal’s murderous vigilante Frank Castle, aka The Punisher. The phenomenally popular comic-book anti-hero had three attempts at big screen super stardom while the Marvel Cinematic Universe was a twinkle in Kevin Feige’s eye, but The Punisher’s addition to the Netflix-verse has already proved so popular with fans…4 min
Total Film|April 2016FLASHBACKCOVER STORYMarvel’s mutants made their Last Stand with Brett Ratner at the helm in the X-movie so bad Days Of Future Past found a way to time-travel it out of existence. Not that the cast and crew weren’t talking a good game. “The fans] can grumble all they like,” Hugh Jackman told us. “But the proof will be in the pudding.” While Jackman was chowing down on a healthy portion of humble pie, Halle Berry’s aerial stunt work was sending her food in the opposite direction. “It was hard for me because I have a weak stomach,” she told us. “I tend to projectile vomit if I’m not careful!”THE INSIDE SCOOPElsewhere we talked Sundance smash Brick with promising up-andcomers Rian Johnson and Joseph Gordon-Levitt. “I’ve been offered a few studio…2 min
Total Film|April 2016Bloody valentineThe SpotlightFew debut features have impressed in the last year like Nina Forever. ‘A f*cked Up Fairy Tale’ reads the tagline, but the fantastical elements, which are, indeed, every bit as messed up as the tagline promises, are carefully grafted onto a very real, recognisable world. Imagine Ken Loach remaking Hellraiser and you’re kinda, sorta, in the ballpark.Nina Forever introduces us to Rob (Cian Barry), a supermarket employee who’s grieving for the loss of his girlfriend, Nina (Fiona O’Shaughnessy), in a car accident. Slowly, tentatively, he begins to move on and even starts to date co-worker Holly (Abigail Hardingham) – a sticky situation made all the stickier by a blood-soaked Nina resurrecting herself in the bed each time Rob and Holly have sex.“Years ago, I was working in an off-licence,…2 min
Total Film|April 2016Best Of The FestFestival Round-upSOUTHSIDE WITH YOUTo sum it up simply, this is Before Sunrise with the Obamas. Richard Tanne’s debut plausibly imagines the first date between Barack and Michelle (then Robinson) over the course of a summer day in 1989. The walkingand-talking romance takes in an art gallery, community meeting and a screening of Do The Right Thing, as Michelle (Tika Sumpter) gradually warms to the smooth-talking future POTUS (Parker Sawyers). The leads ace it: Sumpter (who also produces) is smart and tenacious, and Sawyers makes good on his striking resemblance to the real Obama with charisma and authority.MANCHESTER BY THE SEAThe much-anticipated third film from writer/director Kenneth Lonergan (You Can Count On Me, Margaret), Manchester By The Sea features a gripping central performance from Casey Affleck as a withdrawn handyman with…2 min
Total Film|April 2016Baby bluesThe SpotlightThe great fear of becoming a parent is that it will utterly destroy your life. But that’s the reality in The Ones Below, a British psychological thriller in which new parents Justin and Kate, played by Stephen Campbell Moore and Clémence Poésy, discover just how terrifying a baby can be.“In a big city like London, there’s a kind of loneliness that’s papered over,” says writer/director David Farr, “but it’s only when you have a child where all of a sudden the dinner parties and nights out become more difficult. And older, deeper connections of communities and family no longer exist. Modern life places enormous anxiety on having a child.”That anxiety isn’t helped by their new neighbours, wealthy banker Jon (David Morrissey) and Scandinavian wife Teresa (Laura Birn), an older…2 min
Total Film|April 2016Cruella IntentionsEmma Stone has long cultivated a loveable on-screen persona, but the Birdman star is set to explore her dark side as fur fanatic Cruella de Vil in a new live action 101 Dalmatians. Glenn Close memorably played the dog-napper in the 1996 Disney remake and its 2000 sequel, but the new Dalmatians is pitched as a Maleficent-style origin story. Saving Mr Banks’ Kelly Marcel is writing the film, which could go in front of cameras later this year. Let’s hope they don’t make a dog’s dinner of it…ETA | TBC 101 Dalmatians is currently in pre-production.…1 min
Total Film|April 2016DeadpoolSEE THIS IF YOU LIKED...ZOMBIELAND 2009Deadpool’s writers warm up with this comedy-horror, gratuitous cameo and all.X-MEN ORIGINS: WOLVERINE 2009Reynolds’ first Deadpool turn, albeit with mouth sewn shut. WTF?KICK-ASS 2010The only superhero movie to come close to matching Deadpool for swears and violence.For full reviews of these films visit totalfilm.com/reviewsEVER SEEN THE good guy take a bullet up the bum? What about teabag a villain? Or sing ‘Careless Whisper’? Have a Liam Neeson nightmare? Wear a Hugh Jackman mask? All these treats – and more – come courtesy of Deadpool, the latest rubber-suited superhero to make it to the big screen. Actually, back up: “I may be super, but I’m no hero,” he tells us, amid a blur of irreverent, foul-mouthed fourth-wall-breaking.Even the opening credits rip the piss. No names –…4 min
Total Film|April 2016Dad’s ArmyA MOVIE VERSION OF BELOVED wartime sitcom Dad’s Army? Talk about stomping on sacrilegious ground. But fair play to director Oliver Parker and screenwriter Hamish McColl, they make a go of it, with a brilliantly appointed cast led from the front by Toby Jones as Captain Mainwaring, the pompous bank manager and leader of the Walmington-on-Sea Home Guard.Alongside him, Bill Nighy is perfect as suave Oxbridge bumbler Sgt. Wilson. Ditto Michael Gambon as sweet old codger Godfrey, Sir Tom Courtenay as Corporal Jones, The Inbetweeners’ Blake Harrison as “stupid boy” Pike and Daniel Mays as spivvy Wilson. Joining them is Catherine Zeta-Jones as a journalist for The Lady magazine, penning an article on our heroes.It’s 1944 and the men are losing morale. But when it’s revealed there’s a German spy…2 min
Total Film|April 2016NOBLETHE STORY OF CHRISTINA NOBLE – an Irish woman who overcame all kinds of difficulties to travel to Vietnam and establish a foundation for homeless children – is one certainly worth telling. Shame, then, that Stephen Bradley’s earnest drama never gets to grips with its remarkable heroine, played by a wry Deirdre O’Kane as an adult, and by standout Sarah Greene as a young woman. It moves from one traumatic event to another with the swiftness of a biopic that’s trying to squeeze in all the major events of its subject’s life – so much so that none carry the weight they ought to.› Certificate 15 Running time 99 mins…1 min
Total Film|April 2016Point BreakSEE THIS IF YOU LIKED...POINT BREAK 1991The birth of Keanu Reeves: Action Star. Bigelow’s muscular direction still thrills.THE FAST AND THE FURIOUS SERIES 2001-Unapologetic bombast and nonsensical plots don’t detract from unstoppable popcorn kicks.XXX 2002Euro-set extreme sports-riffing spectacle that consolidated Vin Diesel’s growly action cred.For full reviews of these films visit totalfilm.com/reviewsNEWS THAT WARNER WAS rebooting Kathryn Bigelow’s seminal 1991 surf actioner was never going to be greeted with enthusiasm. Then it looked worse when Gerard Butler might be chewing his way through the role made famous by Patrick Swayze. But Butler jumped, Édgar Ramírez stepped in and it looked a slightly cooler proposition. But even then, does the still-stellar Point Break need a retune? And can it possibly improve on the Reeves/Swayze bromance?Well, no. But it doesn’t totally crash…2 min
Total Film|April 2016THE SMUGGLERAUSSIE DIRECTOR ANGUS SAMPSON just doesn’t give a sh*t. Which is basically half the fun of his self-starring scatological comedy – the gross tale of a sad-sack TV repairman who gets bullied into smuggling a kilo of Bangkok heroin in his bowels only to be arrested by police and sweated out over a toilet bowl for the seven excruciating days they’re allowed to detain him. It’s a cheek-clenchingly tense waiting game that Sampson plays perfectly, with bent cop Hugo Weaving and thug Leigh Whannell trying everything they can to force a fart for different reasons. Don’t watch on a full stomach...› Certificate 15 Running time 98 mins…1 min
Total Film|April 201613 Hours: The Secret Soldiers Of BenghaziON 11 SEPTEMBER 2012, TWO US diplomatic compounds were attacked in Benghazi, leading to the death of four Americans. The senseless tragedy was seized by the right wing in the US and used as a political wedge, casting long shadows of blame on the Obama administration and, more pointedly, then-secretary of state Hillary Clinton. Although no wrong-doing on the part of the administration was ever revealed, it became a hot-button topic in American politics, and to many, it still is. So who better to direct a docudrama of these unfortunate events than Michael Bay, the destruction-crazed popcorn auteur behind the Transformers franchise?The film mainly concerns a group of security officers hired to protect CIA operatives. They’re ex-military, taking on the dangerous assignment for various reasons: for example, ripped super-soldier Jack…2 min
Total Film|April 2016MAVIS!UNLIKE MORE SCANDAL-STREWN, conflict-spiced rock docs, first-timer Jessica Edwards’ Mavis Staples bio-doc is a loving thing: a feelgood film buzzing with the “positive vibrations” its subject aims to share. Splicing live footage, archive material and interviews, Edwards tells the story of a trailblazer who married gospel to blues, soul to civil rights. Contributions from Bob Dylan, Chuck D, Wilco’s Jeff Tweedy and others uphold her decadesspanning impact. Struggle and sadness emerge but what booms out is Mavis’ desire to keep singing and her gratitude for every opportunity: exclamation mark required.› Certificate TBC Running time 81 mins…1 min
Total Film|April 2016ODDBALL AND THE PENGUINSMIDDLE ISLAND, OFF THE COAST of Warrnambool in South Western Australia, is home to a colony of “Fairy Penguins” – the smallest, cutest breed in the world. When gangs of foxes started wading across the water to gobble them up, the townsfolk hit upon the clever idea of posting (equally cute) sheepdogs on the island to guard the flock. An even cleverer idea was hatched by director Stuart McDonald when he decided to turn this real life Fairy-tale into a sweet little family film with Sarah Snook, Alan Tudyk and Aussie actor Shane Jacobson playing second fiddle to the first dog to take the job. Lovely stuff.› Certificate U Running time 96 mins…1 min
Total Film|April 2016Dark PlacesIF IT FEELS LIKE WE’VE BEEN waiting a while for this adap of Gillian Flynn’s second crime thriller, that’s because we have: its filming pre-dates production on David Fincher’s adap of Flynn’s Gone Girl, to which this is inferior.Charlize Theron plays Libby Day who, aged eight, survived a family massacre for which her brother is currently incarcerated – sent down on the strength of his little sister’s testimony. Now in her late 30s Libby’s alone, angry and skint; anonymous donations from sympathetic strangers that have kept her in booze and baseball caps are finally drying up. Coaxed with cash by Lyle (Nicholas Hoult) and his amateur detectives club, Libby’s persuaded to explore her brother’s possible innocence, an endeavour intercut with flashbacks to the real events.Dark Places is well placed to…2 min
Total Film|April 2016DRAGON BLADEIF DANIEL LEE’S PERIOD ACTION EPIC proves anything, it’s that even a film with a shock-haired Adrien Brody outhamming Eddie Redmayne in Jupiter Ascending can drag. Botched promise abounds, starting with the wasted potential of John Cusack’s Roman and Jackie Chan’s Chinese guard uniting against Brody’s evil Tiberius. Cusack’s twitchy energies are suppressed into stolidity; Chan’s action/comic talents are underused. If you want crotch-stabbing violence and gratuitous spectacle, you’ve got it. But the haul along the Silk Road is long, and often comically self-serious.› Certificate 15 Running time 99 mins…1 min
Total Film|April 2016JEM AND THE HOLOGRAMSBASED ON A SERIOUSLY HALF-BAKED ’80s cartoon about a rock band that runs an orphanage and goes on superhero-y adventures coordinated by a prescient synthesizer, Jem And The Holograms attempts to ground its source material in a by-the-book rags-to-riches tale told mostly through the lens of YouTube videos. Aubrey Peeples is the title heroine, a bedroom folk-singer who becomes an overnight sensation when a low-key performance video goes viral, dragging her and her band-slash-sisters into the high-stakes world of corporate pop. Hobbled by inept storytelling and drab visuals, it’ll leave ’toon fans wishing they’d stuck with their hazy childhood memories.› Certificate TBC Running time 118 mins…1 min
Total Film|April 2016EXPOSEDWHEN THIS CARRIED ITS ORIGINAL TITLE (Daughter Of God) it was a surreal, Pan’s Labyrinth-style story about a Latina woman (Ana de Armas) and her sudden influx of visions. Now, though, it’s a Keanu Reeves cop thriller, his small role having been elevated in the edit. It wasn’t worth it. Director Gee Malik Linton removed his name from this mess of a film (it’s now credited to one ‘Declan Dale’), a story which makes little to no sense, with huge sub-plots (all involving black or Latino characters) either abandoned or stitched awkwardly together. A shame, because there are interesting ideas here – buried beneath the scar tissue .› Certificate 15 Running time 100 mins…1 min
Total Film|April 2016THE FORESTWHEN HER SISTER JESS (NATALIE Dormer) goes missing in Aokigahara – AKA Japan’s Suicide Forest – Sara (also Natalie Dormer) ventures deep into the forbidden woods, aided by a handsome stranger (Taylor Kinney) who may or may not be a psychopath. Though it’s set in one of the scariest places on Earth, this gore-free spooker wastes a creepy premise on an endless hike that leads to a cheap, cop-out ending. Debut director Jason Zada takes a stab at claustrophobic, surreal horror and there are some fog-choked trees and ominous ice caves that nearly chill the blood, but rest assured your last camping trip packed more thrills.› Certificate 15 Running time 93 mins…1 min
Total Film|April 2016UZUMASA LIMELIGHTJAPANESE ACTOR SEIZO f*ckUMOTO is said to have enacted 50,000 screen deaths in his long career as a ‘kirareyaku’, a minor character whose role is to die extravagantly in a sword fight. In Ken Ochiai’s elegiac and meta film he is promoted to a rare starring role, playing a version of himself as a wizened-faced, nearly wordless old man whose career as an extra in samurai flicks is nearing its end. The film struggles to flesh out its running time, but such is its sincerity in honouring f*ckumoto’s profession that witnessing him perform his samurai sword skills is genuinely touching.› Certificate 15 Running time 104 mins…1 min
Total Film|April 2016PATIENCE, PATIENCE, YOU’LL GO TO PARADISE!A GROUP OF MIDDLE-AGED BELGIAN Muslim women of north African descent form a friendship attending a French writing class in this gently heartwarming doc. Director Hadja Lahbib’s understated, fly-on-the-wall approach candidly captures the women bonding, laughing and occasionally broaching bigger political topics. Despite a lack of dramatic incident, it’s uplifting to see the women defying the restrictive idiom of the film’s title and embarking on an adventure that takes them as far as the bright lights of New York.› Certificate TBC Running time 85 mins…1 min
Total Film|April 2016Coming soon...Dustin Hoffman and Meryl Streep’s marital woes aside, the ‘Vs’ movie has a chequered history, as any Alien or Predator will tell you. But we may be on to a winner with Batman V Superman: Dawn Of Justice (25 March), aka Comic-Con: The Movie. Who will win? Duh, justice! But who’ll cop the fattest lip? Will Lois Lane have more to do than stand ready with the TCP? Another superhero takes flight, then falls to earth, in Eddie The Eagle (1 April), a true underdog story previewed in full on p108. Meanwhile, there’s a quadruple threat of sequels – and we do mean threat in certain cases – comprising Kung Fu Panda 3 (11 March), The Divergent Series: Allegiant (11 March), Rings (1 April) and My Big Fat Greek Wedding…1 min
Total Film|April 2016Busting outYou need a male receptionist for your all-female Ghostbusters reboot. Who you gonna call? If you’re Paul Feig, then Chris Hemsworth, it seems. While comedy had been a big gap on the actor’s CV, his hosting of Saturday Night Live in March last year spurred the Bridesmaids director to get straight on the blower. “Paul called me up,” reports Hemsworth, “and said, ‘That was great! I didn’t know you could do that! Do you have a bigger interest in doing more?’” The Thor star confessed he’d always wanted to make ’em laugh – though he probably would’ve wished for a slightly less pant-wetting experience than lining up alongside experienced comediennes Melissa McCarthy, Kristen Wiig, Leslie Jones and Kate McKinnon. “The night before we started shooting, I called Paul and said,…1 min
Total Film|April 2016Kids’ stuffTHE BFGDIRECTOR Steven SpielbergSTARRING Ruby Barnhill, Mark Rylance, Penelope Wilton, Rebecca HallETA 22 JulyTwo storytelling titans collide as Steven Spielberg adapts Roald Dahl’s beloved children’s tome for the big screen. Newcomer Ruby Barnhill plays orphan Sophie, who’s whisked off on an adventure of dream catching and snozzcumbers by the 24ft Big Friendly Giant (mo-capped by Rylance). This is going to be magical.PETE’S DRAGONDIRECTOR David LowerySTARRING Oakes Fegley, Oona Laurence, Robert Redford, Bryce Dallas Howard, Wes Bentley, Karl UrbanETA 12 AugustTechnology’s come on a bit since the 1977 Disney original, which paired animated dragon Elliot with orphan Pete, so this reboot will feature an all-CGI fire-breather. Unlike the original, it’s not a musical, and with David Lowery (Ain’t Them Bodies Saints) directing, we’re expecting a gritty retelling.FROZEN 2DIRECTORS Chris Buck, Jennifer…1 min
Total Film|April 2016Evans aboveBeing late to the party isn’t always a bad thing. Just ask Luke Evans. Rising through the ranks at a time when tween heartthrobs dominated and 23-year-old Oscar winners were de rigueur, Evans might be considered a late bloomer for making his big screen debut at the ripe old age of 30. But in the six years since playing golden god Apollo in Clash Of The Titans, the Welsh actor has more than made up for lost time. “When I first started I felt I was on the back foot, having to really pick up my game and catch up with my contemporaries,” Evans tells Total Film, the personable star striking a contemplative tone, and not for the first time during our discussion. “I knew that I needed experience with…9 min
Total Film|April 2016Ten-Shun!ADAM DRIVER: US MARINESKylo Ren signed up to the Marines in the wake of 9/11 and was assigned to the weapons platoon with the First Battalion. He was medically discharged after shattering his sternum in a mountain-biking accident.MORGAN FREEMAN: US AIR FORCEFreeman turned down a scholarship to Jackson State University to join the Air Force because he wanted to be a pilot so much and stayed nearly four years. “I took to it immediately,” he recalls.STEVE MCQUEEN: US MARINESThe king of cool joined the Marines in 1947 because he “felt bored with hanging around”. Like his Great Escape character he was sent to the brig for turning a weekend pass into a fortnight.CHUCK NORRIS: US AIR FORCENorris joined up in 1958 as a police airman and served in South Korea…2 min
Total Film|April 2016TOTALFILMONLINEgamesradar.com/totalfilmTOTALFILM ONLINEON OUR WEBSITE…FIVE STAR WARS CARTOONS THAT WILL RUIN YOUR DAYhttp://www.gamesradar.com/sad-starwars-cartoons/Traumatising ’toon takes on the space saga, mostly involving Kylo Ren. Rife with spoilers and packing a punch akin to being shot in the heart by the Death Star.THE ULTIMATE CHARACTER GUIDE TO THE NETFLIX-MARVEL UNIVERSEhttp://www.gamesradar.com/netflixmarvel-character-guide-daredevil-jessicajones/Netflix’s take on the Marvel universe is gritty, grimy and a bit knotty – so here’s your essential guide to the main players.THE EIGHT BEST CRIME DOCUMENTARIEShttp://www.gamesradar.com/best-crimedocumentaries/The problem: what to do now that Making A Murderer is over. The solution: seek out other great crime docs. Maybe not all at once, they’re pretty disturbing.@TOTALFILMBATMAN V SUPERMAN: WHO GETS YOUR VOTE?https://twitter.com/totalfilm/status/691761726803558400“Wonder Woman” (@hawtwyre); “Condor Man” (@Twosips316); “I’m waiting until I hear their approaches to fiscal responsibility and who their running mates will be” (@DjskinnyLATTE)SOLAR SYSTEM…1 min
Total Film|April 2016Listen up HOLLYWOODANISEEDAdonis Johnson wins the world title over the opening credits then concentrates on erecting a business empire, controlling all imports of Anise from the eastern Mediterranean and Southwest Asia. Jelly beans, aniseed balls, liquorice, ouzo… Johnson, aka Creed, owns it all, and even exploits the plant’s carminative effect to aid his mentor Rocky. Yes, it sticks a plug in the Italian Stallion’s trumpeting arse.(T)WEEDA parallel-plotted prequel set in the Outer Hebrides of the 18th century and LA of the late ’60s, this charts the rise of everyone’s favourite coarse cloth and the prevalence of ganja in counter-cultural times. Directed by fashionista filmmaker Guy Ritchie (who chucks in some bare-knuckle fights to keep franchise fans happy), and Cheech and Chong.SQUEEGEEThis sequel sees Adonis cleaning windows to make ends meet while he…1 min
Total Film|April 2016Team DeanScreenwriter Dean Devlin is about to rekindle his partnership with filmmaker Roland Emmerich following a 15-year hiatus. First up: a full-on return to past glories with this summer’s Independence Day sequel...THEY’RE BACKTwenty years have passed since the original, and sequel Independence Day: Resurgence will be both a throwback and a passing of the torch. “We wanted it to really feel like an organic sequel,” reveals Devlin, who’s a producer. “There’s a lot of fun to be had with the old characters and there’s a new group [ready] to take the reins.”WHERE THERE’S NO WILL...Will Smith was very much a part of Devlin’s initial script for Resurgence, but when said star bailed this inadvertently became a blessing. “As much as [that] broke my heart he’s such a giant star now that…1 min
Total Film|April 2016ANIMAL LOGICCLASSIC KITSCH“Producer] John Lasseter loves tiki/spy stuff from the ’50s,” says director Byron Howard. “That kind of kitschy stuff. You can see a lot of that in the city. That’s where that grew out of. A lot of the city has a mid-century vibe to it.”SERVING JUSTICE“Art director Matthias Lechner did a sketch of the police station,” explains Howard. “He was thinking of the crown of the Statue of Liberty. It has a crown shape in the front, rendered in rock that looks like it’s out of the Grand Canyon. Because it should be the centre of goodness and justice for this huge city.”MELTING POTComprised of artificial habitat neighborhoods, Zootropolis is a city of many cultures that rivals London or New York – and multiple movies... “If you look at…1 min
Total Film|April 2016Funny peopleName: Marlon WayansJob: Actor, writer, producerFilms/TV: Requiem For A Dream (actor), Scary Movie (actor, writer), White Chicks (actor, writer, producer)Upcoming: Fifty Shades Of BlackMY COMEDY PRESENTFIFTY SHADES OF BLACK was actually inspired by the [E.L. James] book. I’d seen girls curled up reading the book and, as a guy, you go, ‘What are they all excited about?’ So I started reading the book and I didn’t get it. This guy seems pretty basic. Christian Grey is kinda creepy. My guy, Christian Black, is more of a stalker! He takes creepy to the next level.THE COMEDY I’D LIKE TO REMAKEGROUNDHOG DAY. It’s one of my favourite movies. That’s just a classic. Yeah, you’d have to have balls to do it, but Adam Sandler did Fifty First Dates and I think there’s…2 min
Total Film|April 2016Q/A CHARLIE COXWhat is season two about?If season one is the evolution of Matt Murdock into Daredevil I think season two poses the question: what makes a hero? One of the things that’s been difficult for Matt his entire life is very few people have known who he truly is. Bizarrely, he has a secret identity, but really his secret identity is Matt Murdock. That’s more the lie than Daredevil. He’s at the stage of his life where he’s really begun to explore this alter ego, and he’s engaging with it on a daily basis.How did you find the new costume?Practically speaking, it’s erm… slightly more constricting! What they did really well last year was explain the need for a costume. As the priest says to Matt, “You need a symbol to…1 min
Total Film|April 2016OLD NEWSEd Norton western Down In The Valley was saved from a dusty shelf in a Hollywood warehouse by Buzz and Mel Gibson after the man they call Max read about the film’s struggle to get a distribution deal on our pages.Snakes On A Plane went back in front of the camera for R-rated reshoots to include the immortal line “I have had it with these motherf*ckin’ snakes on this motherf*ckin’ plane!” after fan outrage about its omission from the original script.Martin Scorsese and P.T. Anderson were set to executive produce Desperadoes for cult Two-Lane Blacktop director Monte Hellman. Sadly the film about 19th-Century train robbers The Dalton Gang never made it out of the station.Matrix producer Joel Silver enlisted The Dirty Dozen for remake duties. The update would have been…1 min
Total Film|April 2016The scaleON FIREBen MendelsohnThe acclaimed Aussie actor is breaking into the big leagues with roles in Rogue One and as shady suit Nolan Sorrento in Steven Spielberg’s Ready Player One.Priyanka ChopraBollywood star Chopra is already big news on American TV with a starring role in hit terrorism thriller Quantico, but next year she’ll butt heads with Dwayne Johnson in Baywatch.Juan Antonio BayonaOrphanage director Bayona has dropped out of World War Z 2, with speculation he may jump to Jurassic World 2. Look out for Bayona’s A Monster Calls later this year.Christian BaleThe former Batdude’s drastic physical transformations are starting to take their toll, with Bale forced to drop out of Michael Mann’s Enzo Ferrari biopic due to health concerns.Uwe BollDespite a failed crowdfunding campaign the notorious videogame movie hack has cobbled…1 min
Total Film|April 2016ANYA TALOR-JOYThe Talent“If you pitch ‘puritanical horror film’, you don’t get that many people going, ‘f*ck yeah, everyone will love it!’” laughs Anya Taylor-Joy – yet her movie debut The Witch was acclaimed at Sundance in 2015, and she’s filmed roles in M. Night Shyamalan’s Split and Kate Mara sci-fi Morgan. “I haven’t been home in a year,” she says. “It’s been epic...”What’s the story of The Witch?It’s about a family of Puritans. The father has a disagreement with the plantation they’re living on and decides to move his family out into the middle of the woods, which sounds like a great idea! The youngest child gets stolen, which creates a lot of tension and the family begins to disintegrate.Was shooting as uncomfortable as it looks?We really did shoot in the…2 min
Total Film|April 2016SING STREETChampioning the phrase “happy sad” and then delivering something precisely as bittersweet, this ’80s-set musical from Once director John Carney has heart in spades and close to a dozen hummable showstoppers. Earning a standing ovation at its Sundance premiere, the story of shy schoolboy Cosmo (Ferdia Walsh-Peelo), who starts a band to impress model Raphina (the brilliant Lucy Boynton), mixes Billy Elliot’s coming-of-age drama with the kind of rocking tunes that lit up The Commitments. With Jack Reynor providing stellar support as Cosmo’s stoner bro, Sing Street is big on heart and humour. An Irish classic in the making.…1 min
Total Film|April 2016David MorrisseyTell us about Jon.I really like him! He’s quite an odd guy. He’s detached. There’s something under the surface which is quite violent and controlling, but his overall desire is for a child. He’s a man of a certain age. We often hear about women having their biological clock ticking on them, but I think he is a man who needs a child to fulfil his dream, his destiny.That ‘need’ for a child is something the film explores, isn’t it?Yeah, I think that idea of fulfilling your dream as a parent is what drives it. One couple is quite ambiguous about being pregnant. They have complex issues around it because of their own family histories, where they are in their careers – things like that. Whereas, for Jon and Teresa,…1 min
Total Film|April 2016Robert ZemeckisThe HeroInitially renowned for adventures like Romancing The Stone, Who Framed Roger Rabbit? and the Back To The Future trilogy, Zemeckis won an Oscar for Forrest Gump and gravitated to more sombre fare like Contact, Cast Away and Flight. The Walk, based on Philippe Petit’s high-wire dance between the Twin Towers, is a return to his playful, spectacular roots…Was the primary objective to put viewers out on that wire?Exactly. Movies give you an immersive experience better than anything else, and 3D just makes it more spectacular. We worked hard to enhance the sense of height and vertigo – which lenses to use, the best way to move the camera, how to layer atmosphere in.You’ve always pushed tech boundaries, but the story comes first, yes?I never run around and say, “Ooh,…3 min
Total Film|April 2016Hail, Caesar!SEE THIS IF YOU LIKED...SULLIVAN’S TRAVELS 1941Preston Sturges’ Hollywood-on-Hollywood masterpiece influenced O Brother, Where Art Thou? and its DNA is present in Hail, Caesar!THE TEN COMMANDMENTS 1956Little wonder one character in the Coens’ latest is called Cecil. DeMille’s Biblical epic casts a long shadow here.BARTON FINK 1991John Turturro’s talented playwright goes to Hollywood and winds up penning a wrestling picture.For full reviews of these films visit totalfilm.com/reviewsACOENS PICTURE IS always a Coens picture but some are more Coens than others. While brothers Joel and Ethan have never set out to make a mainstream hit that cleaves to formula (let’s not forget that The Hudsucker Proxy, a fairytale-flavoured ode to the Hula Hoop-cum-stylised satire of big business, was their attempt at a studio movie), they do make films with crossover potential.…4 min
Total Film|April 2016TAKING STOCK“BOLLOCKS!” CRIES KELLY BROOK’S freshly dumped singleton after discovering there’s no gas to fuel the oven she has suicidally stuck her head in. It’s a sentiment you’ll no doubt share after enduring Maeve Murphy’s witless heist comedy, in which Brook’s aspiring actress plots with her workmates to rob the design shop that’s about to make them redundant. Clad in a Bonnie Parker beret and vertiginous pair of heels, the lad-mag favourite at least looks the part. Sadly, the part in question is a numpty whose crush on boss Scot Williams is as suspect as everything else in this amateurish Brit-flick.› Certificate 15 Running time 75 mins…1 min
Total Film|April 2016FREEHELDTHERE’S MUCH TO ADMIRE IN THIS real-life tale, not least Julianne Moore’s touching portrayal of a cop with terminal cancer fighting to leave her pension benefits to her younger partner (Ellen Page). If only Peter Sollett’s film weren’t so leadenly didactic in its handling of adversity and intolerance. Offsetting the worthiness is Steve Carell, flamboyant (if sometimes distracting) as a gay activist who rallies to Moore’s cause. Meanwhile, Michael Shannon aces it as Moore’s conflicted detective partner. But this is ultimately a by-thenumbers issue pic – stubbornly televisual in style and scope.› Certificate 12A Running time 101 mins…1 min
Total Film|April 2016A Bigger SplashA rock ’n’ Ralph creation…HAVING PROVED HIS BROODING actorly worth from Heathcliff to Voldemort, Ralph Fiennes seems set on having some fun now. So far, we’ve had action Ralph in Skyfall/SPECTRE and comic Ralph in The Grand Budapest Hotel – both a far cry from The English Patient. Yet his latest twist pips the lot to the pleasure post: all-shagging, all-boozing rock’n’roll Ralph in Luca Guadagnino’s twisty, frisky and highly enjoyable semicomic melodrama of desire and danger.Guadagnino’s semi-remake of a 1969 French psycho-drama is a welcome reunion with his I Am Love star Tilda Swinton, suitably ageless and charismatic as Marianne, a Bowie-ish rock star living in Sicilian seclusion with butch toy-boyf Paul (Matthias Schoenaerts) after a throat op. They seem content but bored in this fame-bought bubble. But the…2 min
Total Film|April 2016HITCHco*ck/TRUFFAUTWRITER/DIRECTOR KENT JONES’ illuminating doc revisits the week-long interviews conducted in 1962 by French New Wave critic-turned-director Francois Truffaut with Alfred Hitchco*ck, then at the height of his powers: the result was Truffaut’s groundbreaking ‘Hitchbook’, a detailed, film-by-film analysis of the Englishman’s body of work. Drawing on the original Hitch/Truff recordings, clips from the movies and interviews with various big names (including Martin Scorsese, David Fincher and Richard Linklater), who pay tribute to Hitchco*ck’s conception of “pure cinema”, this is a genuine treat for cinephiles.› Certificate TBC Running time 79 mins…1 min
Total Film|April 2016ATTACKING THE DEVILSUBTITLED ‘HAROLD EVANS AND THE Last Nazi War Crime’, McCullin duo Jacqui and David Morris’ doc is a fiercely gripping portrait of investigative journalism at its crusading best. Focusing on the Thalidomide scandal, the Morrises document Sunday Times editor Evans’ campaign to gain compensation from Distillers, the company that marketed the sedative that damaged thousands of babies. It’s heart-in-mouth viewing: the suffering, injustice and corporate dodges beggar belief. The Morrises’ clear-sighted thrust upholds the power, punch and potential of an honourable, determined press.› Certificate 12A Running time 102 mins…1 min
Total Film|April 2016STRANGERLANDFROM EYES WIDE SHUT TO HER on-stage turn in The Blue Room, Nicole Kidman has never been afraid to strip away the layers, both physically and mentally. Further proof arrives in Kim Farrant’s psychological drama, in which she and Joseph Fiennes play married out-of-towners whose lives unravel when their two troubled children (Maddison Brown, Nicholas Hamilton) disappear in the Outback. Drawing from the likes of Picnic At Hanging Rock and Jindabyne, Farrant’s slow-burner never quite hits fifth gear. But with Kidman going loco, à la The Others, it still conjures a spell.› Certificate TBC Running time 112 mins…1 min
Total Film|April 2016RIDE ALONG 2KEVIN HART’S MANIC APPRENTICE police officer and Ice Cube’s scowling detective return for another round of mismatched buddy-cop antics. Olivia Munn’s stoic Miami cop and a nerdy hacker (Ken Jeong) help them chase down the prerequisite sinister drug dealer (Benjamin Bratt). Everyone mostly stands around while Hart gets beaten up by children and wrestles chickens. Ride Along 2 may be the first mainstream comedy in years to feature a cast this diverse and for that it deserves some sort of accolade. But that’s it. Otherwise its the same eye-rolling numbskullery as the first.› Certificate 12A Running time 102 mins…1 min
Total Film|April 2016Bone TomahawkTHIS IS WHY FRONTIER LIFE is so difficult. Not because of the Indians or the elements, but because of the idiots!” cries damsel in distress Samantha at the climax of S. Craig Zahler’s off-kilter western. She has, it’s fair to say, a point. Stubborn hubby Arthur (Patrick Wilson) broke his leg falling off the roof. The residents of Bright Hope, the one-horse town they inhabit, bicker, drink and shoot each other. And most of the film’s running time concerns Arthur, Sheriff Hunt (Kurt Russell), deputy Chicory (Richard Jenkins) and wild-card Brooder (Matthew Fox) mounting a not-especially-promising rescue mission when Samantha’s stolen in the night by cave-dwelling natives.On paper, Zahler’s debut as writer/director may not sound especially promising either. As a western-comedy-horror it’s pretty much in a category of one (although…2 min
Total Film|April 2016THE SURVIVALISTPROVIDING A MINIMALIST ALTERNATIVE to the (mad) maximalism of some postapocalyptic dramas, writer/director Stephen Fingleton’s impressive feature debut strips back everything – dialogue, exposition, action – to the bare essentials, just as the unnamed lead (the intense Martin McCann) lives (well, survives) hand-to-mouth in a cabin in the woods. When a mother (Olwen Fouere) and her daughter (Mia Goth) appear offering sex for food, a brutal battle of wits begins. Too slow for the mainstream, perhaps, this presents a disgusted worldview that’s painstakingly plausible, however much we may wish differently.› Certificate 18 Running time 104 mins…1 min
Total Film|April 2016I’LL SEE YOU IN MY DREAMSPITCHED AT A GENTLER REGISTER than Dirty Grandpa, director Brett Haley’s beautifully acted, calmly measured second feature puts a sweet, wry and subtle spin on ageing and companionship. Even at home alone, Blythe Danner is elegantly magnetic as Carol, a widow seeking friendship after her dog dies. Martin Starr makes winning work of Carol’s younger booze bud; Sam Elliott twinkles roguishly in silver-fox mode. Over a series of little intimacies Haley’s steady hand balances the weight of life’s sorrows with generosity, wit and warmth: especially when the title’s meaning becomes tenderly clear.› Certificate 12A Running time 94 mins…1 min
Total Film|April 2016ALVIN AND THE CHIPMUNKS: THE ROAD CHIPTHE FUNKY FOSTERED RODENTS HAVE their trademark mix down pat, after four movies: sweet/nerdy/mouthy trio, slapstick set-pieces, plus perky musical numbers (this time, a massive street dance – to ‘Uptown Munk’, naturally). So there’s nothing new here, as the furry siblings dash cross-country to Miami to prevent ‘Dad’ Dave (the impermeably amiable Jason Lee) proposing to his girlfriend, fearful that they’ll be dumped. But paring down the charmless ‘Chipettes’ and adding knowing cameos for the adults (John Waters gets a Pink Flamingos gag) makes things tighter and brighter than previous outings. Another bonus: Tony Hale’s malicious, prat-falling marshal.› Certificate U Running time 92 mins…1 min
Total Film|April 2016CAPTURE THE FLAGA MISSION TO THE MOON BECOMES an exercise in family bonding in this hyperactive animation about three generations of wannabe astronauts who join forces to stop a nefarious billionaire exploiting our lunar neighbour. Whoever “Captures The Flag” planted by the Apollo 11 crew in 1969 will be viewed the victor of this particular space race – provided, of course, teen troublemaker Mike can engineer a reconciliation between his father and grandfather in the process. Kids unentranced by such touchy-feely moonshine at least have a playful gekko to tickle them. Adults, though, will be longing for a sea of tranquility.› Certificate PG Running time 94 mins…1 min
Total Film|April 2016IP MAN 3DONNIE YEN RETURNS FOR A THIRD (and reportedly final) time as Wing Chun grandmaster Ip Man, in an uneven mix of fancy fist-work and run-of-themill plotting. This time around, Master Ip springs into action against a gang of property crooks trying to take over his son’s school, overseen by the crassly stunt-cast Mike Tyson who, despite obvious workarounds, is a misstep in an otherwise excellently choreographed movie. Despite fast-paced fights living up to expectations, this concluding instalment needed to have the same impact as its hero’s one-inch punch, but falls frustratingly short.› Certificate 12A Running time 105 mins…1 min
Total Film|April 2016Box office charts 21.12.15 – 24.01.16THE REVENANTYou’d think the last thing people would want to see in Jan would be a man freezing his vitals off, but no. Shouldn’t one of its Oscar nods be Best Make-Up And Bear-styling, though?JOYThe mop movie hasn’t cleaned up like other J-Law/David O. Russell collabs, but has still made box office tills (w)ring. Look, when else are we going to get to make silly mop puns?STAR WARS: THE FORCE AWAKENSHas now set so many box-office records it has its own “List Of Box Office Records Set By” page on Wikipedia; James Cameron breaks out in a funny rash every time he hits refresh.DADDY’S HOMEThe financial success of this Will Ferrell/Mark Wahlberg comedy ($200m worldwide at press time) has given us high hopes for a sequel. Just as long as…1 min
Total Film|April 2016DANCING ON ICEMobile phone reception has long since disappeared as Total Film enters into Stockwood, in deepest Gloucestershire. A sign, close to our ultimate destination, points the way, inscribed with the words: ‘The Secret Forest’. Rather apt, you might think, given we’re on the trail for The Huntsman: Winter’s War – the fairytale sequel-of-sorts to 2012’s Snow White And The Huntsman. Magic, mischief and a little bit of mayhem are in the air.We’re just a couple of miles from the enchanting Puzzlewood in the Forest of Dean – which served as a setting for Star Wars: The Force Awakens, the scene where Kylo Ren first meets Rey. Perhaps more importantly, J.R.R. Tolkien was a frequent visitor – with Puzzlewood said to be a major inspiration on the Middleearth of The Hobbit and…16 min
Total Film|April 2016FANTASTIC BEASTS and how to make themI grew up with Disney’s The Jungle Book. It came out when I was a year old (1967), and there was no other contest for kids when I was little. The Jungle Book was one I remember meaning something to me. I connected with it – both with the music and the emotion. It made an impression, back when I was very impressionable.Doing a live-action The Jungle Book wasn’t something I was seeking out. I knew Disney was doing a lot of live-action films, and I was in business with them already through Marvel, but it wasn’t like I was pitching them this. But the first few things that I heard made it interesting. First and foremost was the passion of Alan Horn, who runs the studio. It was something…9 min
Total Film|April 2016Magic momentDIRECTOR David YatesSTARRING Eddie Redmayne, Katherine Waterston, Dan Fogler, Samantha MortonETA 18 NovemberYou don’t want to screw it up,” says Eddie Redmayne, clearly aware that he’s stepping into sizeable wizard shoes with Fantastic Beasts And Where To Find Them. As Ministry Of Magic employee Newt Scamander, he’s spearheading a new trilogy of films set in the Harry Potter universe, though you shouldn’t expect a certain lightning-scarred hero to make an appearance – this new story is set in 1926 New York, almost 60 years before Harry’s birth.There are familiar faces behind the camera, though. Potter alum David Yates is directing, having previously helmed the final four Potter films (“Even though there’s a scale to these films that could be intimidating, he has such a kindness that it feels very intimate,”…3 min
Total Film|April 2016Orc inspiringDIRECTOR Duncan JonesSTARRING Travis Fimmel, Toby Kebbell, Rob Kazinsky, Paula PattonETA 3 JuneDuncan Jones describes his pitch for Warcraft: The Beginning as “essentially a war story where the story is told from both sides, and both sides can be empathised with”. As magnificent as Peter Jackson’s Lord Of The Rings trilogy is, the orcs are never really more than a faceless army of sword-fodder to be dispatched by the humanoid heroes. In Warcraft, the fanged brutes will be striving for audiences’ sympathies as much as the humans.Set in the fantasy realm of Azeroth, Warcraft is the first of three planned movie adaptations (hence that The Beginning subtitle) of the online game with a fanbase of millions. While the mythology could seem offputting to anyone who hasn’t poured hours of ‘research’…3 min
Total Film|April 2016Blood and sandDIRECTOR Alex ProyasSTARRING Gerard Butler, Abbey Lea, Courtney Eaton, Nikolaj Coster-WaldauETA TBAJudging from the spectacularly silly trailer that dropped in November, this $140m fantasy epic is either going to be so bad it’s kind of magnificent, or just plain bad.Set in ancient Egypt, when gods walked among humans (the clue’s in the title), it sees deity of darkness Set (Gerard Butler) throw all into chaos when he takes over the empire. The only hope to restore balance is the unlikely tag-team of mortal hero Bek (Brenton Thwaites) and blind god Horus (Game Of Thrones’ Nikolaj Coster-Waldau), who was actually deprived of his peepers by Set and so has a score to settle. Bek must retrieve magic objects, pass tests of courage and beat the crap out of some fearsome CGI…3 min
Total Film|April 2016Kingdom come1 GOING SOLOGame Of Thrones is entering uncharted territory… Season six marks the first time that the onscreen adaptation of George R.R. Martin’s novels will overtake its source material. “For years my readers have been ahead of the viewers,” says Martin, who’s still yet to finish writing the final two books. “This year, for some things, the reverse will be true.” Non-readers shouldn’t get too smug, though: two major storylines overlooked so far in the show – namely, the siege of Riverrun (which deals with the immediate fallout of the Red Wedding) and the campaign of House Greyjoy (see below) – have been reinstated for the new series.2 HEAD STARTSeason five was criticised for being a bit of a slow burner, lacking the urgency of previous series. Luckily, it sounds…4 min
Total Film|April 2016PAN’S LABYRINTHSpring 2006. Guillermo del Toro is travelling from New York to Toronto to oversee a colour correction on his sixth movie, Pan’s Labyrinth, ready for its world premiere at the Cannes Film Festival in May. It’s been a hellish shoot, with del Toro’s quest to realise his most personal vision to date thwarted at every turn. The wretched luck that would contaminate each department during filming was foreshadowed in pre-production, when the director exited a London cab without his cherished diary containing the illustrations and annotations that would act as the building blocks of the film. But that was just the beginning. Pan’s Labyrinth would subsequently be cursed with a forest fire, freak weather, budgetary woes, political backbiting and a couple of production-design miscalculations worthy of Spinal Tap. But now,…12 min
Total Film|April 2016Strange fascinationAs someone once said, what doesn’t kill you simply makes you… stranger. Lately, chinks in Marvel’s geek-plated front have included Ant-Man’s undeservedly diminished box-office haul and faint grumbles about Age Of Ultron’s tight-squeezed plot. But worry not: after Civil War’s screen-packing ruck, a Doctor will be here to help.Building on sci-fi and Quantum Realm detours, Marvel will extend itself again with Doctor Strange, the mighty magician with the arrogance/ability to reshape the MCU. And the word is that the perfectly cast Benedict Cumberbatch will have plenty of multidimensional, universe-bending tricks (and sparklers, going by the profile pic) up those capacious cloak sleeves.Much ambiguity surrounds how this portrait of the Sorcerer Supreme (aka Stephen) will unfold, but this much we know. Strange is a surgeon who, having wrecked his hands in…2 min
Total Film|April 2016Between takes‘I’d do a Mad Men movie. We could wear prosthetic wrinkles’Dark Places is very heavy. Did it leave you in, ahem, a dark place?It did! I had three films in a row that summer that were tough. I did Lost River, God’s Pocket and this was the third one. I said, after I finished those, I had no tears left in my body! I just wanted to go home and laugh!Was Patty the character you were immediately drawn to when you read the script?I’d actually agreed to play another character – Krissi, the drug addict-stripper. And I thought, “That’s interesting. I’ve never done anything like that.” And then I got there and someone else dropped out of the film, and then they offered me this other role entirely. So no…2 min
Total Film|April 2016The Prize Is RightMOST UNCOMFORTABLE SEX SCENENOMINEESWIDOW SEDUCTION – DANIEL CRAIG/MONICA BELLUCCI (SPECTRE)SECRET NIGHTIE – EDDIE REDMAYNE/ALICIA VIKANDER (THE DANISH GIRL)EVERYTHING. THE WHOLE MOVIE. ALL OF IT – DAKOTA JOHNSON/JAMIE DORNAN (FIFTY SHADES OF GREY)AND THE WINNER IS... FIFTY SHADES OF GREY!It couldn’t really be anything else, could it? Bond would win any other year for his breathy make-out session with Bellucci... on the night of her husband’s funeral... whom he killed. And Redmayne’s bedroom reveal would surely make his wife think twice about letting him undress further. But Fifty Shades has the perfect formula for awkwardness: heavy-handed spanking alongside lines like “I don’t make love, I f*ck hard”, a business discussion about anal fisting and Dakota Johnson biting her lips more times than a hungry cannibal all make the sex uncomfortable in…5 min
Total Film|April 2016Final cutComing days after David Bowie’s death, the loss of Alan Rickman, also to cancer at the age of 69, felt too cruel to comprehend. The treacle-voiced actor, writer and director shot to fame after his best bad guy ever performance in Die Hard (remarkably Rickman’s first film) and won over a new generation of fans as Harry Potter’s shady Severus Snape. Restlessly creative till the end, Rickman directed last year’s A Little Chaos and has two films out this year: Eye In The Sky and Alice Through The Looking Glass. Here are his words of wisdom.ON STARTING OUT“You know there are going to be long periods out of work. And I wasn’t different than anybody else. I don’t remember it now, but I’m sure the difficult moments made me stronger,…2 min
Total Film|April 2016THE SHORT LIST1 RING (1998)Hideo Nakata’s skincrawling horror about a creepy girl and her haunted videotape is so scary it probably put the final nail in the VHS format’s coffin.2 THE BLAIR WITCH PROJECT (1999)The film that made found footage cool. A group of student filmmakers head out to the woods to make a documentary and never return. It’s been copied and parodied many times, but it’s still terrifying.3 AUDITION (1999)What initially seems like an odd drama about a sleazy businessman picking up a woman far too young for him eventually takes a sinister turn that’ll leave an indelible mark on your psyche.4 LOST HIGHWAY (1997)Lost Highway is part murder-mystery, part supernatural monster movie, all wrapped up in a Kafkaesque nightmare. The actors playing certain characters change midway through, along with any…1 min
Total Film|April 2016It shouldn’t happen to a film journalistToday I hooked up with a major movie star on a street corner in his neck of the London woods and ambled to his favourite coffee shop for cake and chat. There was neither publicist nor time limit to contend with, meaning that any and all topics I could possibly wish to broach were covered in luxurious detail, and more besides.Such experiences are increasingly rare. Access has concertinaed, with the time commitments that stars are willing to sign up for seeming to dwindle even as outlets have multiplied in the digital age. Nowadays, getting enough one-onone face-to-face access to establish a vestige of personal rapport is a boon, and frequently you find yourself squished around a table with various representatives of the press from other territories. All, naturally, are pursuing…3 min
Total Film|April 2016agendaThe One To WatchShe’s a little scary. She has no problem battling and killing,” says Olivia Munn, the 35-year-old journalist-turned-actress about to hit the comic-book movie big leagues as telepathic, telekinetic katanawielding mutant Psylocke in X-Men: Apocalypse. As one of the Four Horsem*n under Oscar Isaac’s sapphire-skinned world-ender, Psylocke is tasked with purging life from the planet, which should prove no problem for Munn – a certified black belt in karate since she was a teenager.Munn’s ascent may seem like an overnight success story, but it’s been hard-fought, with the Oklahomaborn actress serving her time on direct-to-video duffers before landing supporting roles in Magic Mike, Deliver Us From Evil and Mortdecai. The former Daily Show correspondent also has superhero history having appeared in Iron Man 2, where her whip-smart improv…1 min
Total Film|April 2016One-shot wonderThe SpotlightHalf-way through our interview with German director Sebastian Schipper, Agenda’s recording device runs out of juice. It is, frankly, a journo’s worst nightmare, though nothing compared to what would have happened had the director’s own equipment conked out while filming Victoria. A Berlin-based thriller about an ill-starred bank job and its bloodily chaotic consequences, witnessed and participated in by its titular heroine-cumgetaway driver (Spain’s Laia Costa), the film was shot, on 27 April 2014, in a single uninterrupted two hour-plus take. So tell us, Sebastian: just how galling would it have been if the hand-held camera so expertly wielded by DoP Sturla Branth Grovlen threw a wobbly?“I don’t want to think about it,” shudders Schipper, an actor-turned-filmmaker whose credits include a fleeting appearance in Run Lola Run. “If the…2 min
Total Film|April 2016OTHER PEOPLESundance is full of films about twentysomethings struggling to make something of their lives, and Other People is no different, starring Jesse Plemmons (Black Mass) as wannabe comedy writer David. What sets this film apart, though, is its affecting portrayal of David’s relationship with his mother Joanne (Molly Shannon), who’s diagnosed with terminal cancer. Far from a maudlin exercise in grief, writer/director Chris Kelly seeks out the dark humour in his set-up (partly drawn from his own life), and Other People not only manages to be both moving and hilarious, but also sees Shannon charting some seriously heart-rending dramatic depths.…1 min
Total Film|April 2016Q/A THE SUNDANCE KIDOn the issue of diversity in filmmaking…Diversity comes out of the word independence. Basically that’s the principal word that we operate from. It’s a word that I’ve operated from personally most of my life... If you’re independent-minded you’re going to do things different from the common form, then you’re going to have more diverse products.On mainstream movies...I want to make it clear that I’m not against the mainstream, because I’ve been very happily a part of that. A lot of the films I’ve been involved with have been mainstream films. So this independent film idea that we came up with for Sundance was not meant to be against – like insurgents coming in from the mountains to attack – the mainstream. It was meant to broaden the category, that’s all.On…1 min
Total Film|April 2016Career injectionAs many Victor Frankensteins have found, reanimation is a delicate game. Stitch your bits together poorly and you could end up with something like the ghastly baby/sink combo assembled by the plumber in Chris Morris’ pitch-black satire Jam. Or a studio-scaring abomination like 2015’s Victor Frankenstein, or 2014’s I, Frankenstein.Critics reach for ready-made metaphors when reviewing Franken-stinkers: “A random hotch-potch of clumsily animated parts” tends to be the gist. But neither film deserved more effort from reviewers, especially if box-office hauls are any proof. Victor netted $34m, while I, Frankenstein could only draw $77m – and a lynching of 3% on Rotten Tomatoes.Mary Shelley’s complex creature deserves more love and understanding than gimmick-y treatments provide. Victor writer Max Landis tried to turn the story into a bromance akin to Guy…2 min
Total Film|April 2016Sound bites“That was another one of those situations, similar to Robin, where I didn’t feel ready to put on that suit yet.”Leonardo DiCaprio was nearly Spider-Man for Sam Raimi.“I can understand that someone might say, ‘Oh, it’s a complete rip-off!’” J.J. Abramsaddresses those Force Awakens naysayers.“I’m touching myself tonight.” Seems Deadpool (Ryan Reynolds) just saw his own movie.“We put grease in his hair, put a Band-Aid on his forehead and still David managed to look stylish!” Even John Landis couldn’t ugly David Bowie.“I feel like I’m over-paidattention-to. I’m not trying to be a GIF.” Jennifer Lawrence on life as a millennial celebrity.“What the f*ck does ‘sugar tit*’ even mean?” Mel Gibson bears the brunt of Ricky Gervais’ Golden Globes abuse.“I think the kids need to go to lightsaber fight school.” Samuel…1 min
Total Film|April 2016Pride + Prejudice + ZombiesSEE THIS IF YOU LIKED...PRIDE AND PREJUDICE 1995Two decades on, the ardour over Colin Firth’s shirt still hasn’t dried up.SHAUN OF THE DEAD 2004Still the zom-com by which all others must be measured.ABRAHAM LINCOLN: VAMPIRE HUNTER 2012Another Graham-Smith adap – albeit one P+P+Z would have for breakfast.IT IS A TRUTH UNIVERSALLY acknowledged that a zombie in possession of brains must be in want of more brains.” Whether or not you just winced will tell you how much you’re likely to enjoy Pride + Prejudice + Zombies. Burr Steers’ (17 Again) film takes Jane Austen’s classic 1813 novel – the turbulent love story of Mr. Darcy and Elizabeth Bennet – and sets it during an undead plague. Naturally, this means that Bennet, played by Cinderella’s Lily James, is now a master…2 min
Total Film|April 2016GREEN INFERNOLONG AFTER HOSTEL, ELI ROTH returns to dim Americans abroad in his riff on 1980’s Cannibal Holocaust. Shame it lacks bite, though gore, vomit and sh*t flow as student activists (Knock Knock’s Lorenza Izzo stands out) in the Amazon encounter a flesh-munching tribe; the well-fed Americans are soon slapped on the slab. The ravenous locals don’t speak volumes for Roth’s cultural sensitivity, but little here speaks much for his abilities. He lacks the guts for either full-bodied drama or full-bore satire: and there’s nothing more bloodless than geek-boy homage.› Certificate 18 Running time 98 mins…1 min
Total Film|April 2016Triple 9SEE THIS IF YOU LIKED...ANIMAL KINGDOM 2010Ah, those cheery Aussie directors… David Michôd’s crimer is grim and gritty as they come.RAMPART 2011Misogynist. Racist. Fascist… Harrelson is no stranger to corrupt cops.END OF WATCH 2012Jake Gyllenhaal and Michael Peña police the mean streets of LA in David Ayer’s dynamic docudrama.For full reviews of these films visit totalfilm.com/reviewsSPEND MY TIME tryin’ to make a difference,” says rookie Atlanta cop Chris Allen (Casey Affleck) when asked by his uncle, Sergeant Detective Jeffrey Allen (Woody Harrelson), how his job’s going. “Make a difference?” comes the snarled response. “You ain’t gonna make a f*ckin’ difference. Your job? Out-monster the monster, and get home at the end of the night.”Even reduced to such basics, it’s one hell of a task, with Chris finding himself up to…4 min
Total Film|April 2016THE PROPAGANDA GAMESPANISH DOC-MAKER ÁLVARO Longoria (Sons Of The Clouds) delivers a fascinating insight into “the hermit nation”, North Korea. Invited on an incredibly rare opportunity to tour the country, Longoria meets the people and policy-makers while contrasting his findings with western viewpoints. Smartly letting the audience decide who is to blame in this “propaganda war”, he addresses everything from the DPRK’s nuclear capabilities to the horrified reaction to The Interview, the Seth Rogen comedy about the assassination of beloved leader Kim Jong-un. Endlessly intriguing.› Certificate 15 Running time 94 mins…1 min
Total Film|April 2016TRUTHANY NEW RELEASE CENTRED ON journalism will invite comparison with Spotlight but, despite an excellent pedigree, debut director James Vanderbilt’s TV news drama looks pallid next to it. Cate Blanchett is solid as Mary Mapes, the producer of CBS’60 Minutes who gets suckered into a story about Bush’s military record that puts her career in jeopardy. Robert Redford is similarly well cast as beloved anchor Dan Rather; add in the likes of Topher Grace, Elisabeth Moss and Dennis Quaid and Truth should resonate. But cumbersomely scripted and scored, it’s about as subtle as a Sun headline.› Certificate 15 Running time 125 mins…1 min
Total Film|April 2016TIME OUT OF MINDTHAT ONE-TIME AMERICAN GIGOLO, Richard Gere, swaps Armani suits for pee-stained pants in this endlessly heartbreaking study of a homeless New Yorker in Oren Moverman’s latest. If not as immediately impactful as Moverman’s The Messenger or Rampart, the cumulative effect will catch you almost unawares as Gere’s George checks in to Bellevue Hospital, living hand-to-mouth and attempting to make amends with his estranged daughter (Jena Malone). Featuring cameos from Steve Buscemi and Kyra Sedgwick, it’s a tough watch, sluggishly paced, but you’ll be fighting off the tears by the end.› Certificate TBC Running time 120 mins…1 min
Total Film|April 2016THE 5TH WAVETHIS YA SCI-FIER SEES EARTH in the throes of an alien invasion that’s approaching its final, fatal phase. Our heroine is every-teen Cassie (Chloë Grace Moretz), in search of the baby bro (Zackary Arthur) who’s been shipped off to military compound to join other emo youngsters being trained to fight the E.T.s. Based on the first in Rick Yancey’s trilogy, this packs some decent twists, though it does feel Ender’s Game-lite. Moretz is typically good value, while director J. Blakeson (The Disappearance Of Alice Creed) does his best on a limited budget. Functional fun, it’ll scratch the YA itch until Allegiant arrives.› Certificate 15 Running time 112 mins…1 min
Total Film|April 2016ONLY THE DEADIN THE AFTERMATH OF THE SECOND Iraq war, Australian reporter Michael Ware had a ringside seat as the US-led occupation descended into a free-for-all of suicide bombers, insurgencies and terrorist outrages orchestrated by shadowy militant Abu Musab al-Zarqawi. This visceral, harrowing distillation of Ware’s seven years on the front line may not break any new ground. But it certainly brings that chaos to life, notably in scenes depicting the carnage of a car explosion or an ill-starred raid on a Fallujah stronghold. It’s debatable, though, whether the gruesome execution footage really needed to be shown.› Certificate TBC Running time 77 mins…1 min
Total Film|April 2016BACKTRACK“SOMETIMES I THINK I’M INVISIBLE!” says one of Adrien Brody’s patients in a derivative thriller about a tormented shrink whose clients, as that quote suggests, may merely be figments of his guilt-ridden imagination. He’s got good reason to feel that way, having had a hand not just in his daughter’s death but in a tragic train derailment in his youth. Michael Petroni’s film is not the train wreck that reveal invites, but it does spend an awfully long time idling in the sidings. That leaves plenty of room to count the Sixth Sense steals, and to query Brody’s misguided Australian accent.› Certificate 15 Running time 88 mins…1 min
Total Film|April 2016CHRONICMEXICAN DIRECTOR MICHEL FRANCO (After Lucia) makes his English-language debut with this dignified terminal-illness drama featuring a Tim Roth performance so good it obliterates the lingering stink of United Passions. Roth plays David, a late-stage caregiver who will do almost anything to make his patients comfortable in their final days. The frank depiction of an inconceivably arduous vocation makes for uncomfortable viewing, with Franco’s static camera refusing to shy away as David goes about his duties. A problematic ending leaves a sour taste, but Roth’s subtle and brilliant performance is not to be missed.› Certificate 15 Running time 93 mins…1 min
Total Film|April 2016KING JACKYOU COULD PROBABLY WRITE OFF Felix Thompson’s feature debut as yet another festival-friendly coming-ofa*ger with an ambient indie soundtrack and a few liberally-applied sunlight filters. But there’s just enough reality tucked behind all the whimsy to give it clout. Most of the credit goes to 16-year-old rising star Charlie Plummer, easily carrying the whole film on his scrawny shoulders as the delinquent teen who wastes a weekend with his kid cousin in Nowheresville: spraypainting doors, dodging bullies and mooning over the girl he hasn’t got the nerve to talk to. It’s slight stuff, sure, but King Jack is a film that’s executed with smarts and sensitivity.› Certificate TBC Running time 80 mins…1 min
Total Film|April 2016MISS HOKUSAIMAGICAL AND MELANCHOLY, TENDER and robust: rippling reserves of theme and style compensate for wobbly pacing in Keiichi Hara’s adaptation of Hinako Sugiura’s manga Sarusuberi. On one level it’s a coming-of-ager about Edo-period painter Katsushika Hokusai’s (voiced by Yutaka Matsushige) artist daughter O-Ei (Anne Watanabe). Yet there are other levels at play here. Weaving between sweet snowball fights, dragons and 10-hankie subplots about O-Ei’s sister, Hara teases a film of quiet poignancy and power from undulating experience: the plot is messy but the pendulum swing of emotions rings true.› Certificate 12A Running time 90 mins…1 min
Total Film|April 2016ConcussionBEFORE WILL SMITH BUSTS blocks as Suicide Squad’s Deadshot, his gaze finds another target: a true-life issues movie about the crusading doctor who exposed the reasons behind high cases of suicide and early-onset dementia among American footie players.If that sounds like a typical dual-threat formula – popcorn and prestige – for Smith, it’s nothing compared to the film’s adherence to awards-bait bromides. True, the sturdy cast and hot-topical material bode well. But as a torn-from-headlines exposé of suppressed truth, writer/director Peter Landesman’s low-powered drama lags behind Michael Mann’s ‘big tobacco’ takedown, The Insider, and bashes you on the head with Big Themes so often you’ll know what concussion means.Smith is more smartly reserved as the Nigerian-born Dr Bennet Omalu, a sensitive, soulful and self-assured autopsy conductor/corpse whisperer who smells rats…2 min
Total Film|April 2016WELCOME TO LEITHA FEW HUNDRED MILES FROM FARGO, deep in the heartland of North Dakota, lies Leith, a town with just 14 inhabitants. That number rose to 15 in 2012 when ageing neo-Nazi Craig Cobb arrived, buying up plots of land to try to turn the town into a white supremacist stronghold. Thankfully, the townsfolk were having none of it – and the resulting battle of attrition caught the attention of filmmakers Michael Beach Nichols and Christopher K. Walker. Almost funny if it weren’t all so terrifying, the film cleaned up at festivals last year with good reason: this is true-storytelling par excellence.› Certificate TBC Running time 85 mins…1 min
Total Film|April 2016Still out, still good…ROOM“A prize-winning page-turner becomes a harrowing, redemptive drama about the ties that bind a mother to her child. Brie Larson is terrific, but it’s the adorable Jacob Tremblay who emerges as the film’s trump card.”SPOTLIGHT“A rigorously detailed telling of an important story that never loses sight of the human devastation. This ode to old-fashioned journalism deserves mention in the same breath as All The President’s Men.”GOOSEBUMPS“Jack Black is the ringmaster in a circus of family horror that stays faithful to everything that made R.L. Stine’s junior pulp fiction such a ’90s sensation. With Amblin-esque heart and B-movie thrills, it’s a lot of dumb fun.”…1 min
Total Film|April 2016Ice Ice BabyMR. FREEZE –BATMAN AND ROBIN“The Ice Man Cometh!” “Allow me to break the ice!” Arnold Schwarzenegger’s cold-hearted villain, AKA Dr. Victor Fries, froze George Clooney’s nipples, spouting more icy puns than Gotham City could cope with. Robbing diamonds to fund research to cure his ailing wife, he should’ve been called ‘Mr. Cheese’ICEMAN –X-MEN SERIESLast seen freezing sentinels in Days Of Future Past, Marvel’s teeny mutant Bobby Drake – or Iceman, if you prefer – has blasted his chilly powers across the X-Men series. Attracted to Rogue and antagonistic towards Pyro, the Shawn Ashmore character was also good at serving his mother with an iced latte in X2.JACK FROST –JACK FROSTNo, not the lame Michael Keaton movie but the 1997 schlock horror in which Scott MacDonald plays a serial killer who…1 min
Total Film|April 2016Ride on timeDIRECTOR James BobinSTARRING Mia Wasikowska, Johnny Depp, Helena Bonham Carter, Anne Hathaway, Sacha Baron CohenETA 27 MayA lice does Terminator’ might have been the pitch for this sequel, as our titular heroine (Mia Wasikowska) steps through a mirror to make her return to Wonderland and – if that’s not wacky enough – finds herself having to turn back time to rescue the Mad Hatter (Johnny Depp).“I think that you can pretty much safely say it’s not the book!” says director James Bobin (The Muppets, Muppets Most Wanted), who’s taken over megaphone duties from Tim Burton. “I mean, Lewis Carroll was a mean mathematician and he wrote Alice Through The Looking Glass as an analogy of a chess match, whereby Alice becomes a queen after eight moves – so eight chapters.…4 min
Total Film|April 2016A MONSTER CALLSDIRECTOR J.A. BayonaSTARRING Lewis MacDougall, Felicity Jones, Liam Neeson, Sigourney WeaverETA 21 OctoberIt takes the idea of a fairytale and, well, you feel safe in a fairytale, and then it makes it less safe. But also hopefully truer.” That’s how author Patrick Ness describes the concept of his book, A Monster Calls, published to great acclaim in 2011. Now, it’s being adapted for the screen by director J.A. Bayona, and centres on 13-year-old Conor (newcomer Lewis MacDougall), whose mother (Felicity Jones) is dying of cancer when he’s visited by a monster (mo-capped by Liam Neeson) who tells him three fairytales.“It’s trying to get to the truth of what it would actually be like for a 13-year-old, rather than an easy-to-swallow TV movie version,” Ness explains to Total Film. “I wanted…2 min
Total Film|April 2016GAL GADOTWonder Woman, AKA Diana Prince, was originally conceived by William Moulton Marston in 1942 as “psychological propaganda for the new type of woman who should, I believe, rule the world”. He would surely approve of the woman charged with bringing his creation to the big screen for the first time (aside from that Lego Movie appearance) in nearly 75 years. Thirty-yearold Gal Gadot can more than measure up to her male counterparts – she could probably kill them. The Israeli has two years under her belt with the hardcore Israel Defence Forces and as a result is an expert in the army’s preferred martial art, Krav Maga. And she’s made a point of gunning for roles that are more than mere love interest.“I’ve always wanted to play stronger female roles…7 min
Total Film|April 2016KONG: SKULL ISLANDDIRECTOR Jordan Vogt- RobertsSTARRING Tom Hiddleston, Brie Larson, Samuel L. Jackson, John Goodman, Toby KebbellETA 10 March 2017Not much is yet known about this enticing King Kong reboot beyond what the title promises – a trip to Skull Island to meet Kong. But hey, isn’t that enough? Filming in Hawaii, Australia and Vietnam, a hugely impressive cast is headed up by actress du jour Brie Larson and Blighty’s very own Tom Hiddleston, who plays, in his own words, “an adventurer… An explorer”. Hiddleston has also gone on record saying “There’s something very heroic about my character”, and whispers have it that he’s a military man who sets off to Skull Island to quest for his brother, who’s gone missing while searching for a mythical serum that will cure all disease.…1 min
Total Film|April 2016ONCE UPON A TIME IN WESTEROSBEAN THERE, DONE THATSean Bean relaxes between takes during the first season of Game Of Thrones. As Eddard Stark (Ned to his mates), Lord of Winterfell and Warden of the North, the actor brought some A-list gravitas to the fledgling fantasy saga. And while Bean is infamously no stranger to meeting his maker on screen, Ned’s untimely beheading was Thrones’ first real gut punch – even for the readers of George R.R. Martin’s novels who knew it was coming. “What if the hero dies?” was the original one-line pitch that piqued HBO’s interest, according to showrunners David Benioff and D.B. Weiss, setting up the show’s penchant for shock exits and its ‘nobody’s safe’ maxim. “Sean Bean was number one on the call sheet – and he got his head chopped…7 min
Total Film|April 2016Close upGDT: The Pale Man was originally a man made of wood. He had a little door instead of a mouth. I was not completely happy with it. I thought, all of a sudden, ‘Wouldn’t it be great to have a banquet?’ Because one of the constants in fairy stories is a sumptuous banquet in which the hero is warned not to eat anything. And then I thought it would be great to represent the perversity of this creature, which eats only children, by having him sitting in front of this huge banquet and to be made of hanging flesh. It was a fat guy that lost all the weight. [Effects house] DDT had sculpted that creature, and they sent in a photo of the face. I wrote them back with…2 min
