Jennifer's Body
In 2008, an ex-stripper won the Oscar for Best Original Screenplay. She probably wasn’t the first ex-stripper to win an Oscar… but it was a bit of a change for the sometimes conservative Academy to award one if its prestigious gongs to a woman who wasn’t afraid to be provocative and whose name means Devil in Spanish.
Dorian Gray
Out: September 9, 2009
Okay, so I love Oscar Wilde. I love his put-downs, his witticisms, his lurid sex life and his writing. This, of course, includes his one and only novel, The Picture of Dorian Gray, published in 1890 to great notoriety and criticism. If the Victorians were shocked by the debauched acts of the novel’s eponymous anti-hero, a modern-day readership is probably just as shocked that it’s not nearly shocking enough.
But forget reading, we’re here to talk about films, and a new adaptation of Dorian Gray (they’ve dropped the prefixing three words) is hitting the big screen.
Starring Ben Barnes as the beautiful Dorian, the story – in a nutshell – follows young Dorian after he moves to London to inherit his late uncle’s house. Entering onto the social scene, he encounters two gentlemen who become his friends and initially exert the biggest influence over him: artist Basil Hallward (Ben Chaplin) and aristo Lord Henry Wotton (Colin Firth). Both enamoured with the gorgeous young man, they devote their time taking him under their wing. Basil decides to paint his portrait and once Dorian sees it, realising his incredible beauty for the first time, he makes a pact that instead of himself growing old and decrepit, the picture will ensnare his soul and suffer instead – he will remain forever young. Lots of debauchery and crime ensues, with Dorian not ageing a day, whereas the picture becomes uglier and uglier with every sin committed (sprouting maggots at one point – lovely). … Continue Reading
Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince
It’s the day before the release of Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince, but do we care? Apparently so. We have a film section y’know! Here’s some thoughts from our filmxpert, Maria…
Released: July 15, 2009
Dir. David Yates
Starring: Daniel Radcliffe, Rupert Grint, Emma Watson, Michael Gambon
Confession: I’m not a big Harry Potter fan. I’m not even a small HP fan – to the chagrin of many of my friends, I’ve only read the third book and the last ever chapter (but that’s enough right?).
However, I’ve still seen all of the film adaptations and get a tingle of excitement every time I hear the familiar, magical few notes of John Williams‘ score that introduces each new film. As hard as I resist, it draws me back in…
And now we’ve come to the sixth installment. Harry and friends are 16-years-old, maturity and hormones a-raging. Literally. There’s action of the romantic kind in this action adventure film – but more on that later.
The Half-Blood Prince is probably most famous in being the ‘one where *somebody* dies’. Oh and being darker than everything that’s come before, which it certainly is. The first couple of scenes are of a grim-skied London being terrorised by Death Eaters, destroying the Millennium Bridge while they’re at it. (Tut.) This early onslaught sets the tone for a HP film that seems to be getting to the core of the evil that Harry must ultimately face. … Continue Reading
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