Frozen 2 Confirmed by Disney

In news that surprises nobody Disney has finally given  official confirmation to the inevitable sequel to their billion dollar animated hit Frozen. The 2013 original is already the highest grossing animated film of all time, having hauled in $1.274 billion (£857 million) worldwide. It also picked up two Oscars in 2014 for best animated feature and best original song.

Before the much anticipated sequel Anna, Elsa, Sven, Kristoff and Olaf  will return in a 7 minute short Frozen Fever that will screen before Disney’s live action remake of Cinderella. Giving fans a much appreciated taster of the magic to come.

Insurgent Review

The Plot:

In a post-apocalyptic society strictly divided into casts by personality types, Tris Prior and her fellow ‘Divergent’ renegades that defy classification, must find a way to fight back against the sinister forces determined to take control of what’s left of human civilization. As Tris battles her inner demons, the shifting loyalties of her friends, family and even enemies test her like never before.

The Good:

Picking up mere days after the events of the first film, Insurgent promises fans answers to some of the questions and emotional issues left unresolved during the frantic climax of Divergent. The film makes the most of a clearly improved budget to explore the ruined remains of Chicago and the even more fantastical world of the virtual reality tests Tris must overcome.

Theo James is still appropriately rugged as Tris’s handsome love interest Four and Shailene Woodley remains a welcome alternative to the typical damsel in distress cliché that so often ruins action blockbusters. The mere presence of talents like Miles Teller, Ansel Elgort and Kate Winslet also immediately improve the attention span of audiences. It gives at least the impression of substance behind even admittedly threadbare and predictable material.

Those that found the deadly virtual reality games that tested Tris in the first film interesting, will be pleased to see that concept taken to even more elaborate places. It gives the film an excuse to escape an otherwise generic and dreary dystopia and at least insert some CGI heavy fantasy action sequences.

The Bad:

Fans of the book series and first film will welcome the continuation of the Divergent saga, but for the uninitiated this will prove a confusing and disappointing experience. Though the film makes a cursory effort to explain the situation with a quick opening monologue, in truth if you haven’t seen the first film you’ll be left entirely lost.

Sadly like all the other recent ‘young adult’ franchises the Divergent series struggles to maintain the relative promise of its first big screen outing. The first film offered a moderately intriguing tale of a dystopian future and misguided social engineering. The sequel continues that adventure with an obviously bigger budget, a lot more angst but far less novelty.

Shailene Woodley is a talented young actress but her character is simply far too preoccupied with self-doubt and recriminations. It’s so unnecessary and unhelpful it often threatens to make Tris more irritating than inspiring. In one scene our hero literally ‘squeaks’ with discomfort whilst confessing her feelings of guilt over past deeds. Perhaps all the tears, self-loathing and melodrama will be less distracting and annoying for a target audience of teenagers, but grown-ups may find it far harder to empathise.

Though Insurgent boasts a cast that includes Miles Teller, Ansel Elgot and Kate Winselt the sad truth is that none of them ever have the slightest chance to demonstrate their undoubted talents. Somehow Insurgent manages to make every character feel like they’re being given insufficient screen time and lacks emotional depth or complexity. Even when characters make supposedly dramatic decisions or betrayals, it feels irrelevant because there’s so little emotional investment in proceedings.

Only fans of the actual books will be able to tell whether something has been lost in translation to screen, or if characters motives really were always so poorly defined and explored in the original story.

Though the film spends a big chunk of time and its bloated budget putting Tris back into elaborate virtual realities, it’s just a transparent excuse for expensive superhero style action sequences. Again it’s impossible to really care about what happens as both the characters and audiences are fully aware that it’s never real. It doesn’t matter if people die or entire cities crumble, because nothing is actually happening.

Overall Insurgent’s biggest failing is that despite all its troubled nightmares, dramatic haircuts and angst ridden dialogue its almost entirely lacking in actual emotional substance. It simply lumbers through predictable story arcs merely out of an unfortunate obligation to perpetuate a valuable ‘franchise’.

The Ugly Truth:

Unless you’re already a devoted fan of the Divergent series, it’s probably best to avoid getting involved at this stage. Insurgent is a typical blockbuster sequel that feels mostly superfluous and redundant. Occasional bursts of CGI action and the mere presence of a talented cast can’t disguise that fact that the entire film feels at best like a set up for a hopefully more interesting third chapter.

Our chat with Ansel Elgot about the Divergent Sequel and Shailene Woodley below:

Run All Night Review

The Plot:

Mobster and hit man Jimmy Conlon has one night to figure out where his loyalties lie: with his estranged son, Mike, whose life is in danger, or his longtime best friend, mob boss Shawn Maguire, who wants Mike to pay for the death of his own son.

The Good:

Since the astonishing and unexpected success of Taken, Liam Neeson has successfully transformed himself from a respected dramatic actor to one of the world most popular and bankable action stars. His towering physique and world weary yet likably gruff voice makes the 62 year old actor an implausibly credible killing machine.

Neeson’s innate charisma is almost all the film needs to carry off a fairly straightforward tale of underworld misdeeds and retribution. He even has enough on screen presence to spare that he can carry Joel Kinnaman as his son/obligatory sidekick.

The film is at its best and most watchable whenever Neeson is angry and busy efficiently dispatching bad guys for our viewing pleasure. Luckily the film doesn’t dwell on its family melodramas for too long without at least punctuating things with regular gunfire and action.

Though the film follows a simple and familiar action formula, it remains watchable and maintains a somewhat urgent momentum throughout.

The Bad:

Taken. Taken 2. The Grey. Unknown. Non-Stop. A Walk Among The Tombstones. Taken 3. This is a list of the number of times you’ve watched Liam Neeson ruthlessly kill bad guys in a vaguely justified manner in recent years. Now add Run All Night to that list of mostly diminishing returns. The novelty of watching Neeson reluctantly dispatching bad guys while dispensing gravel voiced action clichés is perhaps starting to wear just a little thin.

Once again Neeson plays a character haunted by past deeds, reluctantly pulled into a violent game of cat and mouse, which inevitably reveals his surprisingly violent skill set. However this time, instead of his usual backstory as a retired cop or government agent, Neeson is playing a former gangster hitman. His bitter self-loathing is a little less fun to watch and makes it slightly harder to see him as a typically heroic figure.

Neeson’s past action exploits have unfortunately become so familiar they’re now decidedly predictable. Run All night once again runs through his well-established formula. Sadly this includes genre clichés such as unlikely coincidences and an unnecessary sidekick. Much like Taken 2, Run All Night makes the mistake of teaming Neeson’s efficient one man army with his own actively unhelpful offspring.

As Conlan’s son Kinnaman contributes little to the film other than belligerently reminding Neeson and audiences that the unapologetic hitman was also a lousy father. Though his son is central to the plot device that pits Neeson’s hitman against his best friend and former mob boss, the screen time devoted to their broken relationship is always less entertaining than watching Neeson at work.

Ed Harris still has stage presence as gangster Shawn McGuire, but sadly he’s a little too old and two dimensional to make a truly menacing villain. Likewise Common plays a rival assassin who’s simply too consistently inept to feel like a real theat.

Overall Run All Night lacks the sense of fun that made Taken a fan favourite and satisfying guilty pleasure. Though it offers audiences plenty of cathartic guilt it takes itself a little too seriously at times. It also attempts to hide a very simple plot behind elaborate flourishes of fancy CGI aided camera moves. An obvious trick that’s never in any danger of succeeding.

The Ugly Truth:

Fans of the fast growing genre of ‘Liam Neeson kills things with guns and his bare hands’ will no doubt be pleased to welcome yet another title into their growing collection. Unfortunately others may begin to share Neeson’s trademark weariness. Run All Night is watchable and delivers some satisfying moments, but exclusively with thanks to Neeson’s action skills.

Into Film Awards Nominations Announced

Into Film, a leading education charity dedicated to putting film at the heart of children and young people’s learning, has announced today that it will host its inaugural Awards on Tuesday 24th March 2015, at London’s iconic Empire Leicester Square. The charity, who are supported by the BFI through Lottery funding and Cinema First, will pay tribute to outstanding 5-19 year olds that have demonstrated exceptional achievements in filmmaking or film reviewing.

Hosted by TV and Radio personality, Matt Edmondson, nominees being recognised at the awards include: Emmie & Lilly Thompson, self-taught sisters and creators of animated short MITCHELL GOLDFIELD; Into Film’s youngest animated filmmaker, 7 year old Toby Little; and highly promising director Hope Kemp, whose multiple short films have been screened at the likes of Portobello International Film Festival, Pinewood Studios Cinema, BFI Southbank and The Royal Festival Hall.

Nominees will have their films screened to a 600-strong audience, with the final winners being awarded a coveted gong, decided by a judging panel made up of industry players including: Sir Alan Parker (EVITA), David Yates (HARRY POTTER), Manjinder Virk (CALL THE MIDWIFE) and Peter Kosminsky (WOLF HALL).

Paul Reeve, Chief Executive of Into Film commented: “We are delighted to be hosting the first ever Into Film Awards, and believe their creation reflects the vibrant role film plays in the cultural, creative and educational lives of young people today. We have a diverse and highly talented group of young nominees and hope that this recognition will encourage them to further develop their skills and go on to become part of the next generation of British filmmakers and reviewers.”

Into Film is a charity that uses film as a tool in the contribution to young people’s educational, cultural, creative and personal development. It’s ‘film clubs’ are available free to all state funded schools and colleges and provide numerous opportunities for teaching and learning through film, including access to a diverse catalogue of over 4,000 films, dynamic curriculum linked and enrichment resources, guidance for filmmaking and film reviewing, one-to-one club support and training and CPD for teachers. Into Film, supported by the BFI through Lottery funding, together with funding from Cinema First and a number of other sources, incorporates the legacy and staff of two leading film education charities, FILMCLUB and First Light, building on their experience and success in delivering programmes of significant scale and reach to children and young people across the UK.

Full List of Nominees:

 

• Best Film by 13s and Over sponsored by London Film Museum
  • Stalker – Cinemagic Ltd, Belfast
  • Fall – Cornerhouse, Manchester
  • Rapture – Discovery Film School, Dundee

 

• Best Film by 12s and Under sponsored by Universal Pictures
  • Something in the Air – Cut Ltd
  • Blindside – Keith Allot, Pauline Quirke Academy
  • Disastrous Decorators – St. George’s Beneficial C of E Primary School

 

• Into Film Club of the Year: 12s and Under sponsored by 20th Century Fox Home Entertainment
  • Bessacarr Primary School
  • Cleddau Reach VC Primary School
  • Anson Primary School

 

• Into Film Club of the Year: 13s and Over sponsored by Sony Entertainment
  • Sawston School
  • John Paul Academy
  • Ashfield Girls School

 

• Best Documentary sponsored by The Special Treats Production Company
  • Boneyard Shuffle – Picturehouse
  • Paul’s Story – Diana Lomax
  • First Days – Film City Production Agency Ltd

 

• The Golden Morph Best Animation by 12s and Under in association with Aardman Animations
  • The Fire Bird and the Volcano – Winford Primary
  • Monkey & Wombat – Thurstonland School
  • Ug’s First Mammoth – Toby Little

 

• Best Animation by Over 13s
  • Mitchell Goldfield – Emmie and Lilly Thompson
  • Your Voice Sings Not So Soft – BFI Film Academy Students
  • The Boy Who Stayed In – Westfield Arts College

 

• Ones to Watch sponsored by Eon Productions
  • Hope Kemp
  • Ellesha Ballard
  • Kieran Howe
  • Luisa Hindman
  • Sam Hartshorn

 

• Most Inspirational Use of Film in the Classroom nominees
  • Matthew Cornet
  • Pauline Jenkins
  • Claire Dunsire

 

• Children’s Film of the Year (2014) in association with First News

o    Paddington

o    The Lego Movie

o    Guardians of the Galaxy

o    How to Train Your Dragon 2

o    Maleficent

o    Muppets Most Wanted

o    The Boxtrolls

o    Penguins of Madagascar

o    The Hobbit: Battle of the Five Armies

o    The Amazing Spider-Man 2

 

Tim Burton Making Live Action Dumbo

Tim Burton has reportedly been confirmed to direct a Live Action/CGI remake of Disney’s animated classic Dumbo. The project is said to be in the early stages of development so there’s no casting news yet. Burton has previously had mixed success with turning beloved childhood classics into colorful live action hybrids. Alice in Wonderland and Charlie and The Chocolate Factory both performed well at the box office but met with mixed reactions from fans and critics.

While Burton seems like a good fit for the  whimsical tale of the famously big eared flying elephant, it will be particularly  interesting to see how he handles the notorious ‘pink elephants on parade‘ drunken dream sequence or the racially stereotypical crows. It will also be interesting to see which CGI animal Johnny Depp plays…