May 2008 Archives

JUST back from a night at the Hippodrome watching High School Musical which I'll be reviewing in the Birmingham Mail tomorrow.

So sad to discover today that Sydney Pollack has died aged just 73.

And so soon after Anthony Minghella with whom he had worked on movies like The Talented Mr Ripley, Cold Mountain and Breaking and Entering as well as the TV feature The No 1 Ladies' Detective Agency.

What a double loss that is.

If Sydney had a fault it was that he was a star as well as a producer and director, but few of his contemporaries could match him in any discipline never mind all three.

The director of Tootsie, The Interpreter and the multi Oscar-winning Out of Africa (including best picture and director) he looked so ageless again in this year's Oscar candidate Michael Clayton that his death comes as a real shock.

He can also currently be seen in Made of Honor.

I've met him once and have to say he was extraordinarily charming and everything you'd expect from one of Hollywood's finest.

He was one of these people who made you wonder how he fitted so much into his life.

Meanwhile, Christopher Lee is celebrating is 86 today. What a star he is!

THERE'S LESS THAN 36 hours to go before I get ready to run the rule over the new Sex and the City movie in good time for Friday's edition of The Birmingham Mail.

Can I wait?

Well, yes I can actually.

Being faced with a running time of 145 minutes is a bit off-putting to be honest.

It sounds a bit like taking a lovely lady out for dinner... and then finding out she wants six courses.

Sometimes you can have too much of a good thing.

+ PS - Friday's paper is set to feature my interview with Liza Minnelli talking about her rituals on the day of a show. She's at Symphony Hall next week.

... YOU'LL BE in for a big surprise.

There's no sign of a teddy bear's picnic with Woody Allen's new movie Cassandra's Dream which has just opened.

You just won't believe how much of a dog's dinner of a film this is, complete with vague connections to a greyhound. And a boat. With a bit of meaningless Greek tragedy thrown in.

The cast includes Ewan McGregor, Colin Farrell and Tom Wilkinson all floundering like you've never seen 'em before.

They'll console themselves they weren't being flogged or having fingers chopped off in woodland horror thriller Timber Falls.

ONE other thing about Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of The Crystal Skull.

Well two, actually, while I'm on the subject.

First, the score is really tedious.

Poor old John Williams.

Now 76 and with an incredible five Oscars on his shelf and some 40 other nominations, I bet he couldn't believe he was being asked to rework the theme yet again.

How can you draw any inspiration from constantly going over old ground?

The end result is hardly comparable to U2's reworking of Mission: Impossible back in 1996 and I feel sorry for him that he's involved with Jurassic Park IV, too.

Keep it fresh, John!

Meanwhile, George Lucas has had his fingers in the Indiana Jones pie as well.

Not content with having delivered three naff Star Wars prequels, he's helped to make The Crystal Skull really stilted too.

Working in the background like he does, old George really has become The Phantom Menace.

FORMER Popstars' hopeful turned Girls Aloud star Sarah Harding has been at the New Street Odeon tonight.

The Ascot-born 26-year-old caused a mini-stir at the box office when she arrived ready to see Harrison Ford's new blockbuster, Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull upstairs in Screen Two.

One assumes Sarah felt like relaxing on the night before Girls Aloud play Birmingham's NIA on Friday, May 23 as part of the Tangled Up tour.

Chances are, by the time the film was due to finish she'd probably have been Bored with Ford... which just might make her want to put on more of a show at the NIA.

Check out my review of the new Indiana Yawns movie in tomorrow's Birmingham Mail when I've been surprisingly kind to the oldest adventurer in town... if not the film itself.

MOVIE titles and scripts sometimes make you wonder what possessed people to write them.

Remember that awful Danny DeVito movie, What's the Worst That Could Happen?

Now comes Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull, in which Indy says: "I've got a bad feeling about this?"

Is Harrison Ford hedging his bets regarding the reviews?

Find out in the Mail on Friday when I'll be explaining all.

JAMES Stewart died in 1997, but his many fans will be remembering the star today on this, the centenary of his birth in Indiana on May 20, 1908.

With his CV including everything from Vertigo (1958) and Rear Window (1954) to It's A Wonderful Life (1946) and Mr Smith Goes To Washington (1939) there'll be many actors in Hollywood who wish they could but do half as well.

Though nominated five times for best actor at the Oscars between 1940-60, he only one once - in 1941 for The Philadelphia Story (1940).

And yet, on top of all that success, this shy star also rose to have the highest military rank of any working actor in history.

What a star. What a man.

What a birthday it would have been...

ADVANCE word from Cannes regarding the new Indiana Jones movie is mixed.

It seems that if you go along expecting a bit of an adventure you'll get one - just don't expect a great movie to go with it.

But we really need to make up our own minds about whether Steven Spielberg was right to bring the character back after 19 years.

The first chance punters will get to see the 12A-rated film in Brum is on Wednesday night just after midnight when both Cineworld Broad Street and AMC Broadway Plaza will be up and running after the chimes.

But, before you get too carried away, remember that The Kingdom of the Crystal Skull has been certified at 122 minutes by the BBFC so you might need some all-night matchsticks for your mince pies.

Add on the fact that the actual movie is unlikely to start before 12.30am if Paramount's instructions re ads and trailers are followed to the letter, then you may well find you are not able to return to your car until around 2.45am.

Important message here... remember to cover your car parking fee.

You don't want to go to all that effort only to be 'rewarded' with a ticket splat from a man with a hat.

Happy viewing wherever and whenever you catch up again with Mr Jones. And you know that you want to.

HAS there ever been a case of a movie star falling so far so quickly after reaching the heights that life has to offer?

The Australian star Heath Ledger and Michelle Williams, the mother of his daughter Matilda, were both Oscar nominated for Brokeback Mountain in 2006 having originally met on the set of the film.

Yet, just two years later, he was to die in January of this year from an overdose of drugs.

Brokeback Mountain is being premiered at 9pm on Channel 4 tonight, followed by Candy (2006), the tempestuous relationship between two young heroin addicts played by Ledger and Abbie Cornish - last seen in Elizabeth: The Golden Age and opposite Ryan Phyllippe in Stop-Loss.

If you haven't seen Brokeback don't miss it. Young Heath could have been one of the world's top ten stars for decades.

Perhaps we should show Brokeback again on the silver screen when our Birmingham Mail Film Club screenings resume at the end of August.

In the meantime, all club members can see any film at Cineworld Broad Street for just £4 compared with the usual full admission price of £5.80. Now that has to be good news in these economically-challenged times.

Check our main www.birminghammail.net website home page for the link.

On second thoughts, why wait even that long to save yourself £££££££££££s on all of those summer blockbusters you can't wait to see.

Here is the link:

http://www.birminghammail.net/what-is-on-in-birmingham/birmingham-mail-film-club/

APART from Saturday, May 10 it seems as if we've had a couple of months' worth of pretty poor Saturdays weatherwise.

None more so than today when you wouldn't have wanted to be getting married at 2pm.

And on FA Cup day as well.

But, if every cloud has a silver lining, then cinemas really ought to have been cashing in.

When the weather is this bad in mid May, where better to be than in a darkened theatre joining the world of pure escapism?

Happy birthday today to Blue Velvet and Easy Rider star Dennis Hopper - still looking good at the age of 72 and with more than half a dozen projects currently on the go after a career spanning everything from Rebel Without a Cause to Apocalypse Now, Speed and Waterworld.

Shame he hasn't been more high profile though for so long.

Did you know... Dennis Hopper once came to the old Triangle Cinema at Aston University and the Mail has a picture of him there?

Photosales could probably sell you a copy if you asked to be put through via our switchboard - 0121 236 3366.

Now, of course, this cinema is just a car park... demolished like too many other useful buildings in Brum but that's another story (like my piece about Hall Green's Highfield House in today's Mail).