Picturenose

Monster mess

‘I’m evil,’ said Lecter. ‘You can’t reduce me to mere behavioural abnormality.’

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Monster performance
How can the inhuman be humanized? It’s a difficult line to tread - a very successful attempt of recent times came with Oliver Hirschbiegel’s marvellous Der Untergang (2004), which chronicled the last, pathetic days of one Adolf Hitler (Bruno Ganz).

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Today’s news roundup brings you clips for your viewing pleasure. I say ‘clips’ because one of the many things I hate about the internet is the ‘teaser trailer’. What dick ever thought that one up? In fact, if I’d bothered to sit down and stitch together all the Dark Knight ‘teasers’ I’d seen, I’d have seen pretty much the whole movie by now. Hardly a tease when you can see it all, I say. Complaining over (for now). Being on the subject of The Dark Knight does segue quite neatly into the fact that yours truly will be at the press screening next week, so check back for a blow-by-blow report on Wednesday (9 July 2008). I don’t really need to point you to yet another clip from the film, as I guess that if you haven’t already seen one, you a) don’t like The Batman or b) don’t have a computer.

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Angst Lee
There’s always one, isn’t there? Well, this ever-so ‘umble critic is putting his reputation on the line - Brokeback Mountain really isn’t quite as good as everyone else seems to believe. There, I’ve said it. Accusations of hard-heartedness may follow, but that doesn’t change the fact that Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon (2000) director Ang Lee’s simplistic, overindulgent work is little more than a competently made ode to nature and male-bonding.

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All bets are on

Having recently watched and enjoyed 28 Weeks Later (2007) - which far outstripped 28 Days Later (2002) in my humble opinion - I got to wondering just why I like the sequel better than the original. I realized pretty soon that it was the mood of the film, alongside some pretty tight camera work. Looking at the credits, I saw the director was one Juan Carlos Fresnadillo, someone I have to admit I’d never heard of. This is not surprising as he’s only made something like four movies. I can’t vouch for the other two, but from what I’ve seen he certainly deserves a lot more work.

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The Maid

News reaches me that Sienna Miller is to star as Maid Marian in the upcoming re-jig of the Robin Hood story. Huh? A Robin Hood remake, surely not? Speaking to the BBC she gushed: “It’s happening. I just found out. It’s the most exciting news in the world.” She has obviously never won a Nobel Peace Prize. The new thing (also alleged to be starring Russell Crowe) will have the angle of sympathy for the Sheriff of Nottingham, facing a not-so-kind Hood. Well, I suppose they had to make it different somehow…

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Do you remember those halcyon days of the ‘video cassette’? You know, when you used to get a big, bulky package containing, well, a video cassette and, sometimes, if you were really lucky, a card inviting the studio to spam you unto death by snail mail?

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Picturenose welcomes Brussels-based journalist and film doyen Cillian Donnelly to the fold - agree with his choices? Do let us know, won’t you…

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Road to Hell

It would appear that the mud really does stick. Returning from the 2006 Berlinale Film Festival, at which The Road to Guantánamo won the Silver Bear award, two of the actors (Rizwan Ahmed and Farhad Harun) and two of the ex-detainees were temporarily detained and interrogated by UK police. According to BBC News, a Brit bobby asked Ahmed if he intended to make any more political films. The Thought Police are closing in…

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