Paramount have released this new commercial / trailer for Sacha Baron Cohen’s new movie, The Dictator which is set to hit the UK 18th May. It has an amazing cast which included Sacha Baron Cohen, Ben Kingsley, Jason Mantzoukas, Anna Faris, Fred Melamed, Rock Kohli, Megan Fox and John C. Reilly but after watching the previous trailer and this new TV spot, it seems to have one of the most risque scripts that we’ve seen from Cohen. The man is used to being sued and causing controversy however so I guess he’s not too worried.

This new clip comes courtesy of The Sun who have debuted the ad ahead of the Super Bowl this Sunday night.

We got the brilliant first trailer for Sacha Baron Cohen’s The Dictator yesterday, which immediately set up the controversy by opening the trailer with footage of a speech from Obama, and promised that fans of his earlier films can sleep safe in the assurance that this is going to be a lot of fun too.

Following on from that, we’ve now got the film’s first poster to share with you, via IMP Awards, in which Baron Cohen has posed for his immortalising portrait, whilst still wearing his green sunglasses. Brilliant.

The film reunites the leading man with Larry Charles, the director of Borat and Brüno, with a script coming from Baron Cohen and former Seinfeld writers Alec Berg, David Mandel, and Jeff Schaffer, all of whom have since been writing Curb Your Enthusiasm, for which Charles is executive producer and frequent director.

Alongside Baron Cohen will be Sir Ben Kingsley, Anna Faris, Megan Fox, John C. Reilly, and J.B. Smoove. Fox and Reilly both looked brilliant in the first trailer, and I think it was such a good move to keep Faris, the film’s female lead, out of our first look at the film yesterday.

I think a lot of trailers spoil the movie in some ways by putting in all the best bits, so when you go into a movie, you’ve seen most of what’s good about it already. With this, though, Faris being entirely absent from the trailer means we’ve still got a lot to look forward to that we’ve not yet seen anything of, and that is awesome in my books.

The Dictator is coming to our screens on 18^th May next year, which is a date I’m looking forward to even more now that we’ve seen the trailer. Couple it up with this new poster, and I think Baron Cohen and Charles have another success on their hands. As usual, click to enlarge.

Here we have our first look at Sacha Baron Cohen’s latest The Dictator and it’s not a subtle affair.

Following on from the wild and untamed successes of Borat and Bruno, not to mention a couple of supporting roles for Tim Burton and Martin Scorsese in the meanwhile,  this film reunites the actor with director Larry Charles and looks like a return to the character-fuelled outrage we’ve come to expect.

Lining up in support are his Hugo co-star Sir Ben Kingsley, Megan Fox, Anna Faris and John C. Reilly.

The trailer has Fox selling herself, a throwaway reference to a Kardashian and the usual conversative-baiting. It feels like more of the same, but it’ll be interesting to see Sacha Baron Cohen parading his latest creation alongside the assembled supporting cast, who may tame the bearded beast.

Moviefone have debuted the trailer, check out the man and his beard below,

It’s been a long time since we threw our collective voices into the podcasting arena but the Mouth Off Podcast is back with a revised format, some very special guests and an excellent film to get us back on track as we talk about Martin Scorsese’s forthcoming 3D extravanganza Hugo.

We are joined by Cassam Looch from Movie Vortex, Simon Thompson from 5USA’s Inside Hollywood and Matthew Turner from View London  to discuss the merits of Scorsese’s foray into the third dimension and if the film, billed as a family friendly adventure, is as enchanting as we had hoped.

You can read my review of the film here and if you do then you’ll see where I’m coming from but there’s a good amount of discussion on the film’s successes and failures to be had; such a divisive film deserves to be delved into and delve we do.

We hope to do as many of these as possible in the future so if you listen and you like do let us know and we’ll tame this podcasting beast once and for all.

Listen below or subscribe in iTunes here.

 HeyUGuys Mouth Off Drop-In: Hugo by heyuguysblog

Hugo is an intriguing premise for a film, with Martin Scorsese’s love for the showmen and pioneers of early cinema aligning perfectly with one of the integral elements of Brian Selznick’s book The Invention of Hugo Cabret. Add to this the fact that this is a Martin Scorsese film ostensibly aimed at children and his first film shot in 3D and we have a project which we’ve had our eye on for some time and one which arrives with high expectations.

It arrives in cinemas on the 2nd of December and there are thrilling elements to this often charming adventure story, with a fine cast and a wonderfully evocative visual design, but there’s more beneath this impressive surface to bring to light.

There are spoilers here, but scroll down to the final paragraph for my final word which won’t spoil the plot details for you.

Asa Butterfield is Hugo Cabret, an orphan whose life lies within the walls of a Parisian train station as he hurries himself through the building winding the clocks and trying desperately to scavenge enough spare mechanical parts to complete the building of an automaton he was renovating with his father before his tragic death. Hugo’s belief is that when completed the mechanical man will go through the motions dictated by his clockwork mechanics and convey a message from beyond the grave. Struggling to survive without his father and determined to find some escape from this existence Hugo watches the station come to life every day and spies a toy shop, whose workshop may yield the essential parts his needs to complete his project and conjure the spirit of his father one last time.

Ben Kingsley is a triumphant presence as the cantankerous Toy shop owner Papa Georges whose identity is revealed to be the legendary, and now forgotten, cinematic master Georges Méliès and Kingsley teases out every nuance of the anger and sadness of the loss of his former life, his reason to be. Scorsese clearly revels in the chance to show his two young stars pouring over the newly discovered works of Méliès and there’s a real, and unexpected, treat for fans of the director towards the end of the film. For this is his story, and Hugo’s discovery which forms this initial part of the film fades quickly into the background and never engages us again, though there is some incredibly overt metaphors brought to life in his disturbed dreams and some jarring and unsubtle moments of dialogue which betray any trust for the audience to make connections and feel the narrative and emotional echoes on a visceral level.

Chloe Moretz continues to impress and she is given the best lines early on in the film, with a literate and precocious quality to her which means that she, thanks to her unwavering ability to breathe a fresh and charming air into her characters, is the one who draws us in to Hugo’s mystery as well as revealing the true identity of her Godfather, Papa Georges. Sacha Baron Cohen’s Station Inspector is a wildly uneven character only made bearable by the actor’s talent for grounding the more cartoonish and slapstick moments with a trace of pathos and he works very well as Hugo’s nemesis, the man who snatches vagrant children and sends them off to the orphanage. Note must be made here of Kevin Eldon’s far too brief cameo which was pitch perfect and far more effective than some of the other, more prominent members of the supporting cast who circle the film without ever being given the chance to engage the audience.

Howard Shore’s rich and jaunty score is given prominence in the first ten minutes of the film which introduces us to Hugo, the station and the clockwork labyrinth which constitutes his world in the walls of the Parisian station and yet there’s very little held back; it, like the emotional message of the entire film, is writ large and loud. What does work is the production design which renders Paris and the central station beautifully though a little anonymously but there are a few breathtaking sweeps across the snow covered cityscapes – though I could easily do without the crossfade of the mechanics of a watch overlaid onto the streets of Paris (which is a great image and works perfectly as just that – there was no need for the metaphor to be explained). Much of the film was made at Pinewood and something of the legendary studio’s history plays in well with the themes of the film and it has a sumptuous quality without ever looking ostentatious or like ‘Tourist Paris’.

The film has been hailed many, many times as Scorsese’s love letter to cinema, and there’s no doubt his genuine affection for the evolution of the artform and the feelings the most potent directors can conjure but Hugo lacks the vital component which inspires us. Despite a glorious opening scene the narrative runs wayward in the vital first half an hour and the story of Hugo’s discovery of the automaton’s purpose is drained of the emotional impact it needs to engage us in the ongoing adventure of the story and when the story finds its feet (or slots nicely into the rails to use an appropriate image) it’s a bumpy road rather than a smooth voyage of discovery.

The 3D worked very well in most parts, and was among the most impressive I’ve seen for a long time. Seeing the city of Paris miles below from the vantage we are given through the clock tower windows induced the requisite vertigo and awe in equal measure and there were moments, particularly during the scenes in Hugo’s ‘lair’ behind the walls which made great use of 3D to convey the space very well indeed. Rather surprisingly the 3D was among the more subtle of the elements in play here.

Thanks to a number of sledgehammered metaphors and emotions so aggressively conveyed it was as if a director’s commentary was used instead of a script and there was very little discovery to be had here. I remember discovering Méliès as a kid watching documentaries on Star Wars and the evolution of special effects and then later on from Terry Gilliam’s own long forgotten TV series The Last Machine and I was enthralled by the invention and the wit of the early masters. I would have liked to have seen that illumination and discovery present in Hugo and I believe that was the original spark of the project from both Brian Selznick and then Scorsese himself.

It’s a handsome film with Chloe Moretz’s charming performance standing out along with Ben Kingsley’s savage and vulnerable man recapturing the spirit of his life but ultimately the heart of the film is more mechanical than magical.

**½~~ (2.5/5)

Martin Scorsese seems unlikely as the next director to try his hand at 3D. He has given us plenty of visual spectacle in his films, but 3D always seemed like the sort of gimmick that would go against his artistic sensibilities. Well, like it or not, a director with credentials as impeccable as Scorsese’s has now gone over to the dark side and we will see the fruit of his labours before too long.

With the release date fast approaching, Howard Shore, composing for Scorsese for the umpteenth time (they collaborated on The Aviator, Gangs of New York and The Departed most recently) sat down with Variety to discuss how this score came together. The opening 10 minutes of the film is apparently virtually dialogue free, leaving Shore’s score very much front and centre:-

“The score uses a lot of themes and motifs and variations,” says Shore, “It’s written in an older style. In the first reel of the film, the first 10 minutes, you hear seven main themes of the film. It’s a very through-composed piece. … The score is about an hour and 45 minutes — a really extensive score for one of Marty’s films.”

Shore adds that he was greatly assisted by the copiously illustrated 2007 issue of the source book, “The Invention of Hugo Cabret” and sought to work with instruments that would have featured in the time period – turn of the (20th) century France:-

“Not only is the writing very good, but the illustrations and the design of the book are wonderful. So it brought me into the story very early, in a very vivid way. The Ondes Martenot (an early electronic keyboard from the late ’20s) was used. Other solo instruments included guitars and percussion from the late ’20s/early ’30s. Piano was also used very specifically for a sound from the late ’20s … (I also used) musette, a French accordion. Symphony orchestra was the primary instrument used, and then there’s a sextet, a small group, that was really part of the orchestra, and they became the soloists that you hear through the film.”

With his work on Hugo now done, Shore has returned to Peter Jackson, with whom he successfully worked on the Lord of the Rings films, to score the two-part adaptation of The Hobbit.

Source: Variety.

Martin Scorsese’s next film, Hugo, is just a couple of weeks away from its highly anticipated release now, and if you’ve missed out on our coverage of the film so far, you can catch up on it all right here.

Based on the novel, The Invention of Hugo Cabret, by Brian Selznick, the film has been penned by the brilliant John Logan, with whom Scorsese has previously worked on The Aviator, earning both its writer and director an Academy Award nomination.

We’ve now got a new clip to share with you, courtesy of Yahoo Movies, entitled, ‘Big Machine’, as well as five great new international character posters from the film, via IMP Awards.

“Synopsis: Adapted from the Caldecott-winning Brian Selznick​ novel “The Invention of Hugo Cabret​,” Hugo is the story of a resourceful boy who lives in a train station and teams up with a spirited young girl to solve a mystery that is based in his past and affects both of their futures.”

The film stars Asa Butterfield as the eponymous Hugo, with a terrific supporting cast that includes Chloë Grace Moretz, Sir Ben Kingsley, Jude Law, Sacha Baron Cohen, Christopher Lee, Emily Mortimer, Ray Winstone, and Helen McCrory.

Hugo will be with us in just under two weeks, coming out on 2^nd December, and it’s expected to do fantastically. Early reviews have been singing its praises, so I’m naturally more than a little excited that it’s only a short time until it hits the big screen. Without further ado, here’s the new clip from the film, followed by the five character posters. As usual with the latter, click to enlarge.

And if you’re reading this before midday on Wednesday 23rd November, then you can click here to enter our competition to win a pair of tickets to the Royal Film Performance of Hugo in London on 28th November. Good luck!

A new clip and over 50 images of Martin Scorsese’s first 3D film, Hugo, have been released this week.

The images consist mainly of stills from leads Chloe Grace Moretz and Hugo himself, Asa Butterfield, but also some of the characters we are yet to see from the trailers, including Sacha Baron Cohen, Richard Griffiths, and Emily Mortimer as well. There is also an image of Scorsese directing and one of him on-camera in a cameo. These pictures bring a whole new understanding to the film, highlight the magical ‘30s Paris, some wonderful costumes, and a general care to details that Scorsese puts into his films.

Based on Brian Selznick‘s award-winning best-seller, The Invention of Hugo Cabret, Hugo is a young orphan boy, living a secret life in the walls of a Paris train station in the 1930s. The story follows him on a magical adventure involving his late father and an automaton to unlock a secret that will transform his life and reveal a place he can call home.

The film also stars Ben Kingsley, Jude Law, Ray Winstone, Christopher Lee, and Michael Stuhlbarg, and is set to be released in UK cinemas on 2nd December and next week (23rd November) in the US.

Here’s the new clip, courtesy of CinemaBlend:

And here are some of the images, and you cansee the entire gallery here:

To celebrate the release of Martin Scorsese’s HUGO, in cinemas December 2nd we have a pair of tickets to the Royal Film Performance™ to give away. The event is black tie and will be  taking place on Monday 28th November in Central London.

We’re truly excited about Martin Scorsese’s first foray into the third dimension and the trailers we’ve seen so far have looked spectacular.

Here’s a little more about the film and look below for your chance to win.

Throughout his extraordinary career, Academy Award-wining director Martin Scorsese has brought his unique vision and dazzling gifts to life in a series of unforgettable films. The legendary storyteller invites you to join him on a thrilling journey to a magical world with his first-ever 3D film, based on the award-winning New York Times best-seller, “The Invention of Hugo Cabret.”

HUGO is the astonishing adventure of a wily and resourceful orphan boy whose quest to unlock a secret left to him by his father will transform Hugo and all those around him.

The film’s amazing all-star cast includes Ben Kingsley, Sacha Baron Cohen, Asa Butterfield, Chloe Grace Moretz, Ray Winstone, Emily Mortimer with Jude Law.

All you need to do is answer the following simple question in the form below,

Who wrote the book, The Invention of Hugo Cabret, on which the film is based?

COMPETITION NOW CLOSED

Competition specific T&Cs follow:

•    Closing date is Wednesday 23rd November at midday.
•    This competition is not open to employees of, or writers for HeyUGuys, Entertainment Film Distributors, their agents or anyone else associated with this promotion.
•    The competition is open to UK residents.  If the winner is under 18 years of age they must take a parent or guardian as their guest.
•    Normal film certificate restrictions apply.
•    The first prize is 2 tickets (1 pair) to the Royal Film Performance™ on the evening of Monday 28th November 2011 in central London.
•    The event is black tie.
•    Travel and any accommodation is the responsibility of the winner.
•    The first prize winner will be notified by phone on Wednesday 23rd November to check their availability and if they cannot attend or be reached within 24 hours another name will be drawn. We will make all reasonable efforts to notify the winner. If the winner cannot be contacted within this time we reserve the right to draw an alternative winner.
•    The promoter reserves the right to substitute the prize for one of greater or equal value. The decision of the promoter in all matters is final and binding.
•    The judge’s decision is final and no correspondence shall be entered into. Entertainment Film Distributors (EFD) cannot be held responsible if the event is cancelled or details changed due to unforeseen circumstances which are beyond their control. In this event the winner will receive tickets to another EFD premiere happening in 2011/12 which will be specified by EFD.
•    Tickets are non-transferable.
•    All prizes are subject to availability.
•    Details are accurate at time of publication.

www.entertainmentfilms.co.uk

MOTION PICTURE © 2011 GK FILMS, LLC. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED

Spielberg’s been out of the director’s chair for a little while (since Kingdom of the Crystal Skulls) but is making up for lost time by putting out action-adventure spectacle (Tintin) and serious drama (War Horse) in short succession. It’s like 1993 all over again.

In honour of Spielberg returning to action, here are six of his best.

They are in no particular order and other opinions are available (please share yours in the comments section):-

1. Jaws

As with each film on this list, there is an insurmountable challenge in trying to find something new to say and so it eventually comes down to simply restating what anyone with half a mind already knows to be true, namely that Jaws is one of the finest films of this or any decade, genre or director.

A masterclass in atmosphere-building, working with limited resources and almost debilitating technical problems, Spielberg crafted a film of almost peerless tension, thrills and technical virtuosity. It is difficult to distil its high-points to a manageable few, but the appearance of the shark (nick-named Bruce after Spielberg’s lawyer, a name echoed in Nemo years later) as Roy Scheider chums the waters (“you’re gonna need a bigger boat”), the body popping out of the boat as Richard Dreyfus dives down to a wreck, John Williams’ matchless score as we witness the first strike on a skinny-dipper, the focus pull / dolly zoom on Scheider as he sits on the beach and sees the kid disappear in a plume of crimson and Quint’s fingernails on the blackboard all resonate to this day.

It’s been years since I last watched it, but it never ceases to feel fresh on each repeat viewing. Despite unimaginable leaps and bounds in special effects, Bruce remains an effective and affecting antagonist, even with the afore-mentioned technical difficulties. Although in many ways it is as impersonal and relentless as the truck driver in Duel (the film in Spielberg’s cannon to which this bears closest resemblance), it doesn’t feel as mechanical as a villain without a human face might be expected to be. My 11 year-old son, raised on a steady diet of far superior special-effects and model work has seen Jaws a few times now and he loves it too.

Consider it whole-heartedly recommended by both of us.

2. Raiders of the Lost Ark

Everyone knows the back-story, indeed the Indy series has already been the subject of a Video Vault special on this very site. Spielberg and Lucas, blah-blah, TV serials and cliff-hangers, blah-blah, James Bond, blah-blah. Enough. This is, quite simply, the finest action adventure film ever made.

Others tried to follow in its footsteps with such varied results as Romancing the Stone, King Solomon’s Mines and The Goonies, but nothing comes close. It is impossible to fault the film at any turn. The script is laced with witty one-liners, deft and light exposition and expert myth-building. The set pieces (snakes in the Well of Souls, the truck chase, the South American booby-trap prologue, the face-melting finale) are energetic and thrilling but threaded effortlessly into the narrative, avoiding so much of the stop-start and narrative/geographic incoherence that besets and bests so many modern action films. Harrison Ford has arguably never been better, even as Han Solo and certainly the rest of the cast have never come close to matching these exalted heights.

More fun than any film about Nazis and dusty archeological relics has any right to be, depending on which of Spielberg’s films you have seen most recently, this is likely to be one of your favourites. Simply brilliant.

3. Jurassic Park

Quite how Spielberg managed to avoid getting bogged down, making this and Schindler’s List in parallel, is astounding. In all the ways that Schindler’s List is, quite rightly (and commendably), heavy, serious and deliberate, Jurassic Park is light, lively and entertaining. As ILM had developed the CGI work from Terminator 2 to the point where dinosaurs could be believably rendered and as Stan Winston knew he could deliver believable and dexterous large and small animatronic models, so Spielberg welded his usual technical ability to a story that was both thrilling and intellectually engaging. Although Jeff Goldblum’s considered warnings about the dangers of playing God are quite fleeting in their time on-screen, they nonetheless provide an invaluable over-arching ethical context for the ensuing adventure ride.

The successive sequels (evidence of the law of diminishing returns, if ever it was needed) laid on more dinosaurs and more special effects, but it is this original that remains the most exciting, the most deftly directed, the most narratively propulsive. Holding off with the T-Rex until well into the welcomely brisk running time and giving the raptors their moment too, Spielberg brings all of the elements together perfectly and just compare the CGI-rendering of the dinosaurs to (say) Weta’s work on King Kong. The extent to which the seamless work of ILM has stood the test of time bears testimony to just how far ahead of the curve it was in 1993.

Everything has weight, texture, even personality and it is this that makes the set-pieces work as well as they do – the T-Rex chasing the protagonists through the trees, the raptors in the kitchen, the attack on the hapless Wayne Knight, the lawyer on the toilet. It is thrilling and compelling in every way from beginning to end and after the relatively below-par Spielberg efforts of Always and Hook, an utterly welcome return to form.

4. Schindler’s List

Schindler’s List was famously the project that Spielberg had known about for years but did not feel ready to make until the early 90′s. He had tried to get Roman Polanski to make it, but it felt to close to the nerve for him (though he would eventually channel his own experiences through The Pianist) and so it waited until Spielberg was ready.

Clearly it was worth the wait. Although it is easy to simply batch together a number of Spielberg’s efforts into his “serious” films as opposed to his popcorn entertainment (Amistad, Saving Private Ryan, Empire of the Sun and Munich would accompany Schindler on such a List), Schindler’s List stands head and shoulders above even such exalted company.

On its release on video, one bus stop advert simply quoted a review from the time, “quite simply one of the greatest films ever made”. It is as true now as it was then. Yes, Spielberg could be accused of lapsing into sentimentality for Schindler’s final collapse against his car as the Allies approach, but that is churlish in the extreme. There are sequences of Schindler’s List that are so unflinchingly, unforgivingly and harrowingly shot that it is all you can do to not sob uncontrollably for much of the running time. Liam Neeson was perfectly cast as the conflicted and undoubtedly opportunistic Schindler, but all the plaudits were rightly taken by Ralph Fiennes as Amon Goeth, a monster of a man, capricious, cruel and likely psychopathic, shooting Jews with a sniper rifle from his balcony as if he were merely on a morning stroll.

The first sight of a little girl, hiding from the Warsaw extermination, her red coat deliberately sticking out against the monochrome stock of the rest of the film at first seems like an almost unpardonable gesture of optimism and sentimentality, until we catch sight of that same coat on a conveyor belt, body after body being carried to an incinerator after having been exhumed. What looks for all the world like a beautiful winter snow-storm turns out to be a blanket of ash, blown from the fires of extermination camps. We breathe a sigh of relief as Schindler’s Jews are rescued from Auschwitz and herded back onto their train, only for the camera to pan over to another queue of Jews, headed down into a basement below a chimney that it blowing endless clouds of smoke and ash into the cold night sky. We see industrious children finding hiding places, only to have the wind knocked out of us as those hiding places are revealed to be faeces-filled pit latrines. We tense up as we watch Ben Kingsley’s Itzhak Stern walk across a compound while Goeth takes pot-shots and the camera follows Stern as in the background we see the prostrate forms of those not so fortunate. Blood pumps from skulls, lives and bodies shattered by bullets shot at point-blank range.

What is perhaps most incredible is that amidst such harrowing incidents and details, Spielberg is able to avoid getting bogged down in the bleakness of it all. Yes, of course, a film about the Holocaust was never going to be a laugh riot, but the subject matter is so disturbing, so traumatic, that the occasional moments of levity are an essential respite and it is to Spielberg’s eternal credit that the finished film does not feel tonally inconsistent or abrupt. A quip from Schindler (“if this factory ever produces a shell that can actually be fired, I’ll be very unhappy”), the cathartic release of a seeming gas chamber turning out to be a shower, these interludes, however brief, mercifully leaven an otherwise unmanageable meal. But we must take it and this is why Spielberg had to make the film real but accessible. It is an unenviable task and a seemingly insurmountable one, but he succeeds and we are all the richer for it. An incredible story, imperiously and impeccably told and unchallenged by anything else Spielberg has made before or since.

5. Minority Report

Spielberg came to Minority Report off the back of a relatively “serious” patch, comprising Amistad, Saving Private Ryan and the austere and cold AI:Artificial Intelligence. Tom Cruise was in the middle of an incomparably successful period, having notched up Jerry Maguire, two Missions Impossible, Vanilla Sky and Magnolia in the previous years, before moving on to The Last Samurai, Collateral, War of the Worlds and more Impossible Missioning. It was really one of those seemingly obvious and inevitable joint ventures of stratospheric star and peerless director that made you wonder, “how come this hasn’t happened already?” The end product is a fascinating melding of chase movie, crime drama, sci-fi thriller and philosophical treatise that is arguably as close as Spielberg had come to perfection since his 1993 double whammy almost a decade earlier.

Although Spielberg resolutely refuses to hem in or pin down interpretations of his films through DVD commentaries, the making-of content on Minority Report is thoroughly considered and thought-provoking stuff, with the metaphysical elements (prosecuting someone for something they are destined to do, but have not yet done) having remained at the front of Spielberg’s mind throughout and finding their way front and centre in the final screenplay. Set-pieces such as the scrap with federal agents at the Lexus factory (has Colin Farrell come close to being this good since?), the alleyway run-in with jet-pack wearing Pre-Crime agents, the opening finding and arresting of a murder “suspect” and the escape from the shopping mall with the help of Agatha’s foresight are breathless, with special effects used in the advancing of the story rather than showing off and the silvery-blue cinematography proving evocative rather than distracting.

Were it not for the now inevitable (but nonetheless infuriating) Spielbergian sentimental coda, this could have given Raiders, Jurassic Park and Jaws a literal run for their money in the “which is Spielberg’s best action film” stakes. As it is, his insistence on wrapping it all up with a bow rather takes the shine off what might have otherwise been a sensational film rather than a merely excellent one.

6. Munich

At last, Spielberg seemed to have found a way of telling a serious and compelling story without spiralling into sentimentality at the last. Whether War Horse or Lincoln will be able to show that Spielberg can pull it off more than once remains to be seen. Munich is unlike anything else in Spielberg’s oeuvre.

All of the polish is gone and what we are left with is something gritty, bleak and savage. Consider two stand-out moments. Firstly, Eric Bana’s Avner reuniting with his wife and their desperate, frantic love-making. Avner is clearly somewhere else entirely and the scene plays out as one of a man in utter turmoil, having become someone, something else entirely. Secondly, there is the almost unwatchably personal and frank assassination (murder?) of a female target, shot repeatedly with makeshift weapons in necessarily close-up detail. Spielberg’s point is clear – these are not meaningless Arnie killings, dozens of faceless “baddies” mowed down by machine gun fire. These are people, on both sides, and the killings carry grave and enduring consequences for everyone, as personal vengeance becomes mingled in with the overall mission.

Once again, the cinematography is perfect, a multitude of muddy shades and grainy stocks effortlessly evoking time and space. The tension of the build-up to the assorted hits is superbly crafted, ratcheting the pressure to almost unbearable levels, though Spielberg has the presence of mind (as he did with Schindler’s List) to sweeten the pill with a few welcome lighter moments, that we might be able to digest his more important, over-arching themes. Eric Bana has the most heavy lifting to do, acting-wise as he conveys the sense of a man honouring his sense of duty and national identity, but losing himself and his soul in the process. He presents us with a compelling portrayal of a man who has lost everything in his efforts to do that which he is assured is “right”. But right and wrong have become utterly and helplessly blurred, not by way of a cop-out from Spielberg, but simply because a hopelessly fraught and complicated historical situation has created a world where there is no black and white, only greys.

It is in the finale that perhaps the greatest and most important gut-punch is found. Avner speaks with Geoffrey Rush’s case officer in New York and in the background stand the twin towers of the World Trade Centre. Of course nothing is said regarding them and the inclusion of them is subtle, but the point is clear. Though the events portrayed are rooted in slightly more distant history, the themes and issues could not be more relevant, more resonant for us today. A formidable piece of work from a director who seems able to continue to stretch himself.

Here’s another new poster for Martin Scorsese’s new movie, Hugo. I do like this poster but it has to be said that it looks just like the Robert Zemeckis movies, The Polar Express and A Christmas Carol but it’s quite possible the same designer was responsible for all three.

I’ve just done a bit of research and it would actually that BLT & Associates were responsible for creating both the Christmas Carol and Hugo posters while The Cimarron Group were responsible for The Polar Express poster. I guess it’s the trademark of a company to create similar looking posters but when I look at this new Hugo poster, I really do just see the Christmas Carol marketing campaign. Check out all three posters below and see what you think.

Hugo stars Chloe Moretz​, Jude Law​, Richard Griffiths​, Ben Kingsley​, Christopher Lee​, Sacha Baron Cohen​, Emily Mortimer​, Helen McCrory, Ray Winstone​ and should be with us 2nd December this year.

Synopsis: Adapted from the Caldecott-winning Brian Selznick​ novel “The Invention of Hugo Cabret,” Hugo is the story of a resourceful boy who lives in a train station and teams up with a spirited young girl to solve a mystery that is based in his past and affects both of their futures.

Source: IMPA

Entertainment Films have sent us this new 90 second UK trailer for Martin Scorsese’s new movie, Hugo which is set for release 2nd December 2011. I’ve called it a trailer but it’s more of a featurette with Scorsese giving information on what the story is about throughout it but it’s a really nice way in which they’ve done it. Scroll down to have a watch and I’ll get the HD version up here as soon as I can get it uploaded.

The movie stars Chloe Moretz​, Jude Law​, Richard Griffiths​, Ben Kingsley​, Christopher Lee​, Sacha Baron Cohen​, Emily Mortimer​, Helen McCrory, Ray Winstone​ and should be with us 2nd December this year.

Synopsis: Throughout his extraordinary career, Academy Award-wining director Martin Scorsese has brought his unique vision and dazzling gifts to life in a series of unforgettable films. The legendary storyteller invites you to join him on a thrilling journey to a magical world with his first-ever 3-D film, based on Brian Selznick’s award-winning, imaginative New York Times best-seller, “The Invention of Hugo Cabret.”

HUGO is the astonishing adventure of a wily and resourceful orphan boy whose quest to unlock a secret left to him by his father will transform Hugo and all those around him.

You can catch the rest of our Hugo coverage here.

In the past couple of weeks, we’ve had a few great pictures and a featurette for Martin Scorsese’s highly anticipated next feature film, Hugo.

The film is set to be a slightly different affair to his last two films, The Departed and last year’s Shutter Island, with more of a family adventure film feel expected in Hugo.

A new international poster for the film has arisen over at FilmoFilia, giving us a look at Asa Butterfield (The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas) as the young lead, Hugo Cabret.

“Based on the best-selling children’s historical fiction book by author Brian Selznick, Hugo tells the story of an orphan boy Hugo Cabret (Asa Butterfield) living a secret life in the walls of a Paris train station. With the help of an eccentric girl, he searches for the answer to a mystery linking the father he recently lost, the ill-tempered toy shop owner living below him and a heart shaped lock, seemingly without a key.”

The film, written by the awesome John Logan (The Last Samurai, Gladiator), has an absolutely terrific cast alongside Butterfield, including Chloë Grace Mortez (Kick-Ass), Johnny Depp (Pirates of the Caribbean), Jude Law (Sherlock Holmes), Christopher Lee (The Lord of the Rings), Emily Mortimer (Shutter Island), Sacha Baron Cohen (Brüno), Sir Ben Kingsley (Shutter Island), and Ray Winstone (The Departed).

A rough translation of the French text on the poster, via Google Translate, reads, ‘Unravel the mystery on 14^th December,’ or (roughly) literally, ‘Discover the key to the mystery on 14^th December,’ which fits in with the imagery of the key we’ve seen on the first official poster that came out back in the summer alongside the trailer.

Luckily for us, we’ll be getting this a little earlier than France, with a UK release date scheduled for 2^nd December, just a month and a half away. Without further ado, here’s the brand new poster to enjoy with a beautiful shot of wintertime Paris behind the young Hugo Cabret. As usual, click to enlarge.

If you were one of the lucky ones who took a chance on the secret screening at this year’s New York Film Festival then you can feel pretty pleased with yourselves as it was revealed yesterday that a ‘work-in-progress’ print of Martin Scorsese’s 3D adaptation of Brian Selznick’s The Invention of Hugo Cabret, or Hugo to his mulitplex friends, would be that secret film.

To say I’m jealous would be a terrifying understateent, as I’ve followed the production with great enthusiasm since it was announced that Scorsese would be taking on the project,  a beautiful story wrapped up in a love of the magic of cinema, and everything I’ve seen so far has done nothing to dampen my spirits.

Today we see a new featurette from the film with Scorsese himself talking us through his take on the tale with some new footage spliced in there too. Also a couple of new pics have emerged which show off the wonderful production design.

A Thanksgiving release for a 3D kids film from Scorsese will be a new experience for director and audiences alike but if there’s as much magic in this film as in the lost world of silent cinema it celebrates then we’re in for something special.

Pics from Empire,

Video from The Playlist

I’m still a little miffed that it was decided to excise ‘The Invention of’ and then ‘Cabret’ from the title of Brian Selznick’s wonderful novel to leave us with the rather dull title of ‘Hugo’, yet I’m still very much looking forward to Martin Scorsese’s first dalliance with the third dimension as he tells the story of the titular orphan discovering the truth and legacy of the old toymaker whose shop sits in the Paris railway station in whose walls he lives.

There’s a cracking cast for this film with Asa Butterfield and Chloe Moretz leading  Jude Law, Richard Griffiths, Ben Kingsley, Christopher Lee, Sacha Baron Cohen, Emily Mortimer, Helen McCrory and Ray Winstone in this 3D extravaganza which takes in everything from automatons to the magic of the silent cinema.

The only trailer we’ve seen was a lot of fun and given the period setting every new glimpse we get of the film is riddled with detail and essential for those looking forward to this one.

So, here are two images from the fine people at The Playlist which show off the toy shop of Uncle George (whose true identity cineastes will know) with Ben Kingsley looking appropriately severe and there’s also a look at Jude Law as Hugo’s Father building a robot which becomes very important to the whole shebang.

It’s a magical story, one which Scorsese has hopefully translated perfectly to the big screen. The 2nd of December is the date to mark in your diaries.

This film has me intrigued. Not only is it Martin Scorsese’s first foray into the world of 3D but it is primarily a film for children, as well as the fan of the magical era of silent cinema.

I enjoyed Brian Selznick’s book The Invention of Hugo Cabret immensely, quite why the film has followed Disney’s nonsensical title shortening of its John Carter of Mars movie to become, first Hugo Cabret, and finally Hugo, is beyond me but the enchanting tale of the titular orphan living in a Paris train station is a captivating love letter to the magicians of early cinema.

With the help if a young girl and her grandfather, who is inextricably linked to the young world of moving pictures, Hugo struggles to cope with the loss of his father and help a reclusive man step back into the public spotlight.

We’ve kept a close eye on this film since it was announced that Scorsese was taking charge as the promise of the recreation of some of the famous silent films was too good to ignore, and you can see some set videos and images here.

Sir Ben Kingsley appears alongside Chloe Moretz and Asa Butterfield who lead the cast of Jude Law, Sacha Baron Cohen, Helen McCrory, Emily Mortimer, Michael Stuhlbarg and Christopher Lee.

Apple have the trailer in HD.

The title for this movie has changed more times than I can remember but now a poster for the film which once was called The Invention of Hugo Cabret then Hugo Cabret and now simply Hugo, has been released! Thanks to an eagle eyed ComingSoon.net, we get to see the first promotional material for the movie directed by the legendary Martin Scorsese.

The movie stars Chloe Moretz, Jude Law, Richard Griffiths, Ben Kingsley, Christopher Lee, Sacha Baron Cohen, Emily Mortimer, Helen McCrory, Ray Winstone and should be with us 2nd December this year.

Synopsis: Adapted from the Caldecott-winning Brian Selznick novel “The Invention of Hugo Cabret,” Hugo is the story of a resourceful boy who lives in a train station and teams up with a spirited young girl to solve a mystery that is based in his past and affects both of their futures.

Megan Fox and John C. Reilly will both be taking cameo roles in Sacha Baron Cohen’s next venture, The Dictator, which is to star Baron Cohen, Anna Faris, and Sir Ben Kingsley, THR report.

The film is being directed by Larry Charles, who’s been working with Baron Cohen for the past few years, and also helmed 2006’s Borat and 2009’s Brüno with Baron Cohen of course playing the titular roles in both.

Fox and Reilly’s roles are being kept under wraps for the time being, but no doubt they’ll both be brilliant additions to what sounds like another hilarious and controversial Baron Cohen film. Following the success of his past two films, the actor decided to retire the characters because of their increased recognisability, and he’s now moved onto this project, which will tell,

“the heroic story of a dictator who risked his life to ensure that democracy would never come to the country he so lovingly oppressed.”

You can already feel the controversy. Add to that the fact that it’s a loose adaptation of the novel, Zabibah and the King, widely believed to have been written by Saddam Hussein, and it’s pretty much a sure thing that the film is going to be simultaneously criticised and hailed among critics and fans.

Reilly needs no introduction as an actor who can play both very serious and very funny roles, starring as Officer Jim Kurring in Paul Thomas Anderson’s Magnolia back in 1999, and starring opposite Will Ferrell in Step Brothers three years ago. He’ll also be playing the role of the father, Franklin, in the upcoming adaptation of bestselling novel, We Need To Talk About Kevin, due out on 21st October this year, and which is already being tipped as a contender for next year’s Academy Awards.

After leaving the role of Mikaela in the Transformers franchise, the projects Fox has most recently joined are both comedies, Friends With Kids and Judd Apatow’s next feature, This Is Forty. Both films are due out next year, along with The Dictator, so 2012 is set to be a year we see something a little different from Fox, being cast in funnier roles.

The Dictator has been scripted by Baron Cohen and former Seinfeld writers Alec Berg, David Mandel, and Jeff Schaffer, all of whom have been writing for the brilliant Curb Your Enthusiasm since then, and Schaffer was also part of the writing team for Brüno two years ago. With such excellent writers, a brilliant director, and an ingenious lead actor with excellent supports, and now great cameo roles confirmed, its release next year on 11^th May is shaping up to be something to look forward to.

Anna Faris and Sir Ben Kingsley are set to join Academy Award-nominee Sacha Baron Cohen to star in The Dictator, Deadline and Variety are reporting.

The film will see Cohen working again with the Borat and Brüno director, Larry Charles, who is of course also well known for his work on Seinfeld and, more recently, Curb Your Enthusiasm and Entourage.

Given the incredible success of the two earlier Baron Cohen films (Borat took $260m from an $18m. budget, Brüno took $138m. from $42m.), I think it’s a fair prediction to say that The Dictator will be another great outing for the Baron Cohen-Charles team.

The release date is set for 11th May next year, so we have just over a year to wait to see what will undoubtedly be both a shocking and enjoyable film on the big screen. The Dictator has been scripted by Baron Cohen and former Seinfeld writers Alec Berg, David Mandel, and Jeff Schaffer, all of whom have been working since on the ingenious Curb Your Enthusiasm  alongside Charles, with Schaffer also a part of the Brüno writing team. Knowing that the film has been written by people who clearly work together so well, it certainly sounds like something to look forward to this time next year.

The film will be,

“the heroic story of a dictator who risked his life to ensure that democracy would never come to the country he so lovingly oppressed.”

“Baron Cohen plays a ruthless dictator who heads to the U.S. for a meeting at the United Nations and finds that his number two has replaced him with an unsuspecting sheepherder lookalike. As the dictator wanders the city, he meets the owner of an organic food store. That’s the role Faris is negotiating. She turns around his dictatorial thinking, and there’s a little romance in it as well.”

The film is loosely adapted from the novel, Zabibah and the King, which is widely believed to have been written by Saddam Hussein and his ghost-writers, and was a best-seller in Iraq back in 2000.

Faris’ role is said to need a strong improvisational ability, and I think that she’s perfect for it. She was brilliant back in Scary Movie, all those years ago, and instantly made a name for herself. Her arc at the end of Friends a good few years ago was also excellent, along with the few episodes she was in in Entourage.

Kingsley of course is always capable of bringing something amazing to the table. He and Baron Cohen have been working together on Martin Scorsese’s Hugo Cabret, due out early December this year, so the pair will undoubtedly already have a great chemistry.

All in all, The Dictator is shaping up to be one to look forward to next year. With Baron Cohen playing both the dictator and presumably his lookalike too, we can look forward to seeing at least two sides of him in the film, and both should make for great entertainment. With such a great cast and director already confirmed, and a writing team that has already got a great track record, there’s lot of momentum behind the project and talent enough to make it work when it hits the screen.

The IMDb250. A list of the top 250 films as ranked by the users of the biggest Internet movie site on the web. It is based upon the ratings provided by the users of the Internet Movie Database, which number into the millions. As such, it’s a perfect representation of the opinions of the movie masses, and arguably the most comprehensive ranking system on the Internet.

It’s because of this that we at HeyUGuys (and in this case we is myself and Barry) have decided to set ourselves a project. To watch and review all 250 movies on the list. We’ve frozen the list as of January 1st of this year. It’s not as simple as it sounds, we are watching them all in one year, 125 each.

This is our 40th update, my next five films watched for the project. You can find all our previous week’s updates here.

No. 145 – Ran (1985) – Rating 8.1

Kurosawa has been one of the highlights of the project with consistently strong films throughout that have all been an incredible experience to watch. Ran is no different and it’s by far the most visually stunning film from his entries in the IMDb250 list.

Ran is Kurosawa’s re-imagining of Shakespeare’s King Lear set in sixteenth century Japan. Grand in scope, it’s Kurosawa’s final masterpiece from a glorious career and it’s a stunning examination of the madness of war and the collapse of a family due to betrayal, greed, and the thirst for power.

Overlord Hidetora Ichimonji is the King Lear figure who starts as a powerful and dominant character with everything and ends with nothing. Swapping the king’s three daughters from the Shakespeare version, Kurosawa has instead gone for three warlord sons who eventually destroy his legacy and bring down the family, it’s a stunning choice that works perfectly. The journey of Hidetora is remarkable, first he banishes one son for warning him that splitting the kingdom between his three sons after his retirement will not work and with the ensuing wars between the brothers ends up with them all dead and Hideatora wandering the land as a madman distraught by the events of his humiliation and betrayal of his family.

There is plenty that stands out from Ran, the visual feast is what hits you first with the beautiful colour filling the screen when, if like me, you’re accustomed to Kurosawa’s black & white classic films. It’s absolutely stunning to watch especially when each clan is symbolised with a different coloured flag, particularly during the immense battle scenes, there is no doubt it assists to the films unforgettable qualities. Matched to this is the before mentioned battle scenes, they are quite possibly some of the most incredibly crafted battle scenes in movie history, not just for their direction but for the sheer scope of them where literally thousands of extras/actors were used to create truly unforgettable action and drama in huge and dynamic locations.

The performances of everyone involved is also worth mentioning with Tatsuya Nakadai being the standout as the broken Hidetora Ichimonji. His change from warlord leader to madman is unforgettable and heartbreaking as his sons betray him and his family is brought to collapse and one of the main protagonists of the down fall is his daughter-in-law Lady Kaede (Mieko Harada) who encourages her husband to take sole control of the clan and creates a destructive rift between Hidetora and his son that starts the collapse of the family. Mieko Harada’s performance is as the evil daughter-in-law is stunning and as instrumental to the films story as any other character and easily one of the more enjoyable roles of the film, especially with her horrific demise. There are so many other characters to mention that all add so much to the film and there is no doubt without all of them the film could never tell the story it does, you just have to see it to fully appreciate the stunning effort gone into making this epic masterpiece.

No. 201 – Dial M for Murder (1954) – Rating 8.0

Another Hitchcock film and another director who has delivered nothing but brilliant entertainment for me in the project.

Dial M for Murder is another Hitchcock film based on a successful stage play. Almost entirely set in a London flat, it’s the home of Tony and Margot Wendice, Tony (Ray Milland) is a former tennis star now working for a living and is after his wife’s money  and plots to kill her. The reason for his need to off his wife is because Margot (Grace Kelly) has long since lost interest in Tony and has fallen in love with another man, Mark Halliday (Robert Cummings), who is an American writer of successful television crime shows. Tony finds out about the affair and that she is about to leave him leaving him to fend for himself financially and so concocts a plan, a plan involving MURDER (In 3D apparently, which I wished I could have seen).

Tony is too clever to do the deed himself so his plan to take out his wife involves blackmailing an old friend, a small time petty crook called Charles Swan (Anthony Dawson), to carry out the murder for him. Things almost work to perfection but she doesn’t end up dead, Charles Swan does, and so to cover his murderous plot Tony attempts to set up his wife as having an ulterior motive for killing Swan and still walk away with her money. Alas genius detective John Williams (a Hitchcock regular) is the classic Scotland Yard Chief Inspector looking into the case and starts to identify some irregularities and suspects that Margot isn’t the guilty party.

The film is classic Hitchcock and for me rates as one of his best but it’s still behind Psycho, North by Northwest, Vertigo, Rope, Shadow of a Doubt and especially Rear Window but it’s certainly a special movie on its own. The single setting works as wonderfully as it would have done on the stage and maintaining the audiences attention is key to the films success and Hitchcock pulls that off as only Hitchcock could probably do at the time. The plot is entirely engaging and the twist where the murderer is killed off and Tony’s game plan changes is unexpected and is executed to perfection. The small group of strong characters carry the plot from creation to payoff exceptionally, Ray Milland’s performance as a very pleasant villain is my favourite by far and there is never a moment where you cant enjoy watching Grace Kelly on screen is there? The ever enjoyable John Williams as the detective who pieces it all together is equally as entertaining to watch and plays off brilliantly against the calm intelligent Ray Milland in a glorious battle of wits. It’s Hitchcock, it’s genius and it’s timeless.

Check out some of the 3D version below, will need old red/green glasses to see.

No. 75 – Singing in the Rain (1952) – Rating 8.3

I never expected to like Singing in the Rain, I have nothing but bad memories of it when I last saw it many many years ago and I pretty much hate all musicals, but Singing in the Rain is a shining example of the genre as it just oozes magic from start to finish and that’s completely down to the brilliant cast and the perfect merge of music, comedy, dancing and a wonderful story.

The story is all about Hollywood and opens just before the dawn of talkies. Don Lockwood (Gene Kelly) is a dapper, smug and romantic silent film star and along with his glamorous blonde screen partner called Lina Lamont (Jean Hagen) they are expected by the studios to act as a couple to keep the fans coming despite Lockwood despising her. After the rise of talkies the pair are forced to change their latest silent romantic drama movie ‘The Duelling Cavalier’ and make their first sound picture, now renamed The Dancing Cavalier.

The problems start as soon as Lina Lamont opens her mouth as she squeals out a high pitched voice that doesn’t suit her persona or the era of talkies. Lockwood’s best friend and old dance partner Cosmo Brown (Donald O’Connor) proposes to turn the certain failure film into a successful musical and suggests that Don enlists his new girlfriend and aspiring actress/dancer Kathy Selden (Debbie Reynolds) to dub in her singing voice for the monstrosity vocals of Lamont including going behind the scenes and lip-syncing Lina when appearing live. Conflicts and egos bloom and as Don and Cosmo plot to bring the real leading lady’s voice to the audiences we get the happy ending you know was coming, and it’s wonderful.

There really is something amazing watching an actor like Gene Kelly performing, whether it’s dancing incredibly complex routines, singing unforgettable tunes or laying on suave lines and wooing the ladies, there is no doubt he is a one in a million performer with the looks and the talent to be a true Hollywood Legend. Donald O’Connor also stands out despite being in the shadow of Kelly, his performance is one of huge character and personality  filled with so much humour and talent he at times steals the film away from Kelly with ease. The dancing is something that really stands out whilst you watch the film, O’Connor and Kelly team up in some spectacular routines together and alone and it’s when alone that two of the best moments of the film occur. The first one being Donald O’Connor’s rendition of “Make em Laugh” where he almost defies gravity in a one take dance routine that is as much funny as it is stunningly performed. The second routine is obviously Gene Kelly’s legendary “Singing in the Rain” dance, from the opening hum of the tune you get lifted to a happy feeling as Kelly dances and sings one of the most famous musical numbers ever performed (and the most famous spoof comedy take off too) which is the films highlight and it cements itself as a classic for all time.

Overall a magical feel good movie that has catapulted itself into my film collection with ease and fully deserves its place on the IMDb list.

No. 146 – It Happened One Night (1934) – Rating 8.1

I’ve never seen this film before and I doubt I will ever see it again, not because it’s rubbish or lacking anything to make it a classic but because it’s not really my cup of tea, but despite that ‘It Happened One Night’ is a very enjoyable brilliant romantic comedy and one that you know has been the blueprint for many films to follow.

Secretly married and spoiled Claudette Colbert (Ellie Andrews) is a runaway heiress trying to escape the clutches of her father after she is taken away from her new husband by her father to his yacht, she escapes and heads back to her love by boarding a bus headed for New York. Unemployed newshound Peter Warne (Clark Gable) smells a career-making scoop and follows her making her a deal to help her on her journey in exchange for a story and the promise not to blow the whistle on her location. The ensuing road trip the pair take is where their unexpected love starts to blossom and where some of the finest romantic comedy takes place and it all comes together nicely as the pair realise what real love they have found with each other before they make the mistake of losing it.

It Happened One Night was the first film to win all five major Academy Awards, Best Picture, Director, Actor, Actress, and Screenplay, which is a feat that wouldn’t be matched until One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest (1975). It fully deserves the accolades it received and there is no doubt why it’s held in such high regard and even today, almost 80 years later. Unfortunately it does remind you of the shocking lack of witty humour and romantic comedy that fills so many films released these days which probably contributes to why I find it hard to thoroughly enjoy these types of movies. Leap Year is a fine example of this with its very similar story yet it lacks anywhere near 1% of the quality of It Happened one Night and that’s all down to stunning Capra direction, Clark Gable and Ellie Andrews putting absolutely everything into the film and a story and script that doesn’t patronise in the slightest. Take note Hollywood!

Clark Gable again proves what a brilliant leading man he is with an infectious charm that just surrounds the man and I doubt the film would have worked as well without him as the leading man. The story is perfectly flowing and as a road movie it works nicely as the couple go from scene to scene building the bitter tension between the couple as well as their blossoming relationship with some excellent moments and situations. It’s nice, it’s charming and it is funny. Worthy of the IMDb best 250 list? of course. Would it go on my own personal list? Probably not.

No. 6 – Schindler’s List (1993 ) – Rating 8.8

Schindler’s List is a film sitting at No.6 in our list and there is no doubt it fully deserves its place in the top 10 and will no doubt hold its place in the top 10 for many years to come. It’s a truly remarkable, emotional and incredibly made film that will surely be Spielberg’s greatest achievement as director.

The true story of Oskar Schindler (Liam Neeson) who during second world war in Poland was a war profiteer, a Nazi party member and a man responsible for saving the lives of over 1000 Jews in the Holocaust. From the start of the film Schindler’s business fully exploits the Jewish community and it shows Schindler as an unlikely saviour but as the film progresses and the horror of war takes over the film turns. It’s when Schindler witnesses the brutal and bloody elimination of the Warsaw Ghetto that he begins to work subversively against the Germans to protect and save the Jewish people he had working for him.

Schindlers List has so many scenes that stick with you long afterwards, whether it’s the horrific invasion of Krakow ghetto which unfolds like a nightmare of brutality and foreboding or the horrible Amon Goeth (Ralph Fiennes) sniping Jews for fun from his mansion overlooking the camp, the removal of children from the Jewish camp, the women being lead into what appears to be a gas chamber and the most affecting scene where ash rains down around the city as the bodies of hundreds of Jews are burned, they all just hit you so hard on so many levels and for me there has never been a film so emotionally affecting. It’s filmed in haunting black & white apart from one visually emotive moment where just a hint of colour is used in a striking subtle way as Oskar watches a young girl in a red coat walking through the war torn town amongst the black and white visuals of soldiers executing anyone refusing to move and when Schindler sees the girl again later shes resting on top of a pile of bodies and its a defining moment for his characters motives, it’s incredibly powerful.

The entire cast are exceptional and utterly believable. Neeson is stunning as Schindler and adds so much to the character delivering a faultless performance that’s both touching and emotionally charged. Ben Kingsley also excels as Itzhak Stern, Schindler’s accountant for his business and helped write the list saving hundreds of Jews, he takes his character through an affecting pivotal journey, at times coming close to death in some heart stopping moments and is easily the most likable character in the film. However it’s Ralph Fiennes portrayal as the truly frightening SS Officer Amon Goeth that is the standout performance, never do you feel at ease when he’s on the screen and his unpredictable nature and callous murder just caused me a constant feeling of sickness and anxiety and that’s a rare emotion for me to have from watching a movie and how Tommy Lee Jones got best supporting actor for ‘The Fugitive’ over Fiennes will always be a mystery, who talks about his role in The Fugitive anymore?

A strange thing happened just before I started watching Schindler’s List, my sister had been researching our family tree and identified that my family has Jewish connections and it really made an emotional impact on me whilst watching the film, the horrific reality of the events will shock and it will always carry an incredibly powerful message. Stunning movie and it will hold it’s place in the top 10 for many many years.

You can find Barry’s next update next week, catch you in two.

Don’t forget, you can follow our progress on Twitter at  http://twitter.com/baz_mannand  http://twitter.com/Gary_Phillips