Flickering Myth

Kirsty Capes reviews the first episode of Downton Abbey season 3...

Downton is back in the States with a third series and a special two hour episode to get things underway. After the climactic end to the second series, fans have been itching to see what comes next for the Crawleys and company since the Christmas Special. Finally, after having been shown in the UK months ago, Downton Abbey season three has now started airing in the States, much to the chagrin of many a husband and boyfriend across the country.

Things are getting switched up this series with the introduction of a few new characters. First up is Alfred, Mrs O'Brien's nephew and the new footman. Tom's already got a grudge against him because he basically got the job from Mrs O'Brien sucking up to Cora, while Tom has been slaving away for years to try and get the same position. Daisy has already taken a shine to Alfred, but being so unlucky in love that she is, Alfred obviously has his sights set on someone else.

Episode one also sees the first brief appearance of Cora's mother, Martha, who has travelled from the US for Mary and Matthew's impending nuptials. Of course, played by Shirley MacLaine, Martha is a larger-than-life eccentric character, modern compared to the aristocratic English family who are set in their ways.

As always, each Downton episode manages to cover around a month's worth of action over about an hour. Upstairs, we see the preparation for Mary's wedding in full swing. Of course, like any show, you can't have a wedding without a bit of drama. This comes in the form of Robert discovering he has lost the majority of Cora's money in a bad investment. He risks losing Downton, and doesn't want to tell the others. This means tension rises for Robert as Mary spends more and more on her extravagant wedding and Cora hires servants here there and everywhere, until finally Robert has to tell them about the money situation. This shows the beginnings of a tension between Robert and Cora that lasts for the rest of the series, culminating in the loss of a beloved character and the near-destruction of the family. Mary tries to help by enlisting Martha's help and inviting her to a dinner party where she hopes to coax some money from the rich countess. The dinner party is an absolute disaster, not helped by newbie Alfred who demonstrates exactly how little experience he actually has as a footman; but Martha saves the day with an indoor picnic-style buffet (good golly! But that's not how the English do it!) but refuses to help the family save Downton.

Matthew discovers that his ex-fiancée Lavinia's father has died, possibly leaving a large sum of money to Matthew. Mary is delighted - this means that Downton is saved. But Matthew struggles with the morality of taking his late fiancée's money to bail out his new fiancée and her family. The argument culminates at the altar where Matthew wonders if Mary will even turn up - but she does and finally after two series of flirting and romantic tension we see these two lovebirds married off and happy. About time, too. Another happier moment is the return of Sybil and new hubby Branson to the fold, although the family have to learn to understand Branson's behaviour and decorum as a working-class Irishman. More than one member of the family struggle with accepting him into the Upstairs community.

Meanwhile, downstairs Mrs Hughes might have cancer. In typical Mrs Hughes fashion, she only tells Mrs Patmore and doesn't want any fuss, meaning while she's flagging at her duties Carson has no idea what's going on and is getting frustrated with her. Anna visits Mr Bates in prison, still finding different pieces of evidence that might lead to his eventual release. This time, she's found Vera's diary, and hopes that contacting some of the names and acquaintances from it might get her closer to finding concrete evidence for Bates' innocence.

The roaring twenties are in full swing and the huge gap between the American and English lifestyle is evident in this episode as the American characters are introduced. It is very clear that time is almost running out for Downton as the world around it begins to change and modernise. It's up to the family to find a solution to keep their home, which I'm sure is going to be a central theme this season.

Kirsty Capes

Django Unchained, 2012.

Written and Directed by Quentin Tarantino.
Starring Jamie Foxx, Christoph Waltz, Leonardo DiCaprio, Kerry Washington, Samuel L. Jackson, Walton Goggins, Dennis Christopher, James Remar, Michael Parks, Don Johnson and Jonah Hill.

SYNOPSIS:

With the help of his mentor, a slave-turned-bounty hunter sets out to rescue his wife from a brutal Mississippi plantation owner.

Jamie Foxx and Leonardo DiCaprio in Django Unchained

Warning, spoilers ahead...

Since Pulp Fiction took the world by storm in 1994 and changed the face of filmmaking forever, Quentin Tarantino has reached movie star-like fame and has become one of the few directors who can open a film with the gravitas of their name alone and has carte blanche to include whatever he wants. Django Unchained is pure Quentin Tarantino and this is both to its great success and also its ultimate failings.

Post-Pulp Fiction, the first 90 minutes of Django Unchained’s 165 minute running time is the best cinema Tarantino has written and directed; it’s a near-perfect modernist Western. Tarantino (as we know) loves cinema and his own style marries beautifully with the 1970s takes on the genre (McCabe and Mrs Miller and Pat Garrett and Billy the Kid came to mind, two of my personal favourites) with zooms, snow covered landscapes, and a modern soundtrack. The relationship between the slave Django (Jamie Foxx) and the man who buys his freedom, Dr King Schultz (Christoph Waltz), is beautifully written and crafted both page and screen and is possibly the most realistic on-screen partnership seen in 2012; the loquacious dialogue which Tarantino gives to Schultz is delivered by Waltz as if it were written specifically for the actor (and perhaps it was) and he deserves his Oscar nomination for you cannot think of another actor delivering those lines the way he does.

The inciting incident which ignites the film and the driving force behind the first half of the film could have been a film unto itself and, arguably, this is the most interesting story told. Django and Shultz hunt down and kill three slave-owner brothers for a bounty and what follows is a fantastic ridicule of the KKK as they attempt to get revenge. Just like the Nazis are mocked in Inglourious Basterds, these equally loathsome people are lampooned by the mastery of Tarantino’s writing when we watch them fall out like school children over the quality of the white hoods and the visibility they allow. It’s funnier than any so-called comedy of the year.

After this, Django and Schultz agree to go into business together and, as the audience, we hope for another search and destroy mission on par with what we’ve just seen. However the introduction of salve owner Calvin Candie (Leonardo DiCaprio) changes the tone of the film completely. Candie, it is claimed, owns Django’s wife and Django wants her back, but what follows feels like a whole other screenplay, cut and condensed and stuck onto the end. The film certainly has enough history to explore and the characters, which are at times underdeveloped, deserve a two-part release as it ends up feeling like a five hour film trimmed down but still long enough to be bloated.

The 75 minutes which follows is somewhat a structural mess, undoing all the brilliance of what went before it. The typical lengthy Tarantino dialogue slows the film right down but without adding the tension and edgy drama which similar scenes have so successful delivered in his previous films. Candie is the epitome of the ‘evil white man’ but unlike the similar Hans Landa in Inglourious Basterds his extended dialogue becomes a bore as Tarantino drives home the point that he is the evil and sadistic, yet underplays the film’s real threat, Stephen. Stephen is a black man who has turned against his own people and his back story would have been very intriguing to have seen and have explained, yet he is never explored and is a missed opportunity when so much other time is devoted to talk that could easily have been cut without affecting the story.

Moreover, the plot to buy a slave fighter for $12,000 as a rouse to actually buy Django’s wife is needlessly complex and when the payoff finally happens, there is no threat to the wife and she is bought like any other slave. This may well be the point, but it is not worth all the time invested in it.

The violence which explodes towards the end of the film is as explicit as Kill Bill but nowhere near as interestingly staged, and the choice of music (like when 2Pac plays for 30 seconds) draws attention to itself and appears like it was contractually obligated for it serves no other purpose. The lack of interest the character Django brings to the story in this final part of the film is made apparent by the death of Candie and Schultz. Once they die, we’re left with just bloodbath which is both fun to watch yet not a satisfactory conclusion either as Django has to repeat the whole thing over again; if this were any other writer than Tarantino would it be forgiven? He creates the world he wants to show us but this world is not without criticism just because he is who he is.

If Tarantino could get back to his earlier form where every scene was important and the dialogue wasn’t so obviously self-indulgent, he’d be the perfect modern filmmaker. He needs someone to answer to because he is becoming an increasingly better director and an increasingly weaker writer. The balance needs to be addressed before anything like the brilliance of Pulp Fiction will be seen from him again.

Flickering Myth Rating - Film: ★ ★ ★ / Movie: ★ ★ ★

Rohan Morbey - follow me on Twitter.

Last week we got our first look at Halle Berry (Monster's Ball) in the upcoming thriller The Call thanks to an image of the Academy Award-winning actress, well, answering a call, and now comes the first trailer for the film, which you can check out below.

Previously entitled The Hive, the film is directed by Brad Anderson (Session 9, The Machinist) and sees Berry leading the cast as a 911 operator who takes a call from a teenage girl (Abigail Breslin; Little Miss Sunshine, Zombieland) who has been abducted, leading to the realisation that she must confront a killer from her own past in order to save the girl's life.

Berry and Breslin are joined in the cast of The Call by Michael Imperioli (The Sopranos), Morris Chestnut (American Horror Story), Roma Maffia (Nip/Tuck), Ella Rae Peck (Gossip Girl), José Zúñiga (Twilight) and WWE superstar David Otunga.

The Call is set for release on March 15th in North America, with a UK date yet to be announced.

More than ten years after Steven Spielberg (Lincoln) announced that development was underway on a fourth instalment in the blockbuster franchise, Universal Pictures has finally given the go-ahead to Jurassic Park IV, with Deadline revealing that the long-awaited sequel will arrive in cinemas on June 13th, 2014.

Spielberg is confirmed as producing the fourth movie, although there's no word yet as to whether he'll handle directing duties, or whether Joe Johnston (Captain America: The First Avenger) will remain at the helm following 2001's Jurassic Park III. The latest draft of the script for Jurassic Park IV has been written by Rick Jaffa & Amanda Silver (Rise of the Planet of the Apes, Dawn of the Planet of the Apes), having previously passed through the hands of William Monahan (The Departed, Sin City: A Dame to Kill For) and Mark Protosevich (Thor, Oldboy).

Before the fourth movie hits screens, we'll be able to return to Jurassic Park on the big screen this year as Universal celebrates the 20th anniversary of the dino-franchise with a special 3D re-release of the groundbreaking 1993 original, which is due to open in North America on April 5th.

Directed by Chris Stokes (You Got Served) and starring a hot young cast including Christopher Jones (Big Momma’s House 2), JoJo Wright (Bring It On: All or Nothing), Black Thomas (Step Up 2: The Streets), Rachel Sterling (Fun Size) and rising star Dallas Lovato, horror film The Helpers is released on DVD on January 21st, and to celebrate we have two copies to give away to our readers courtesy of Koch Media.

Read on for a synopsis and details of how to enter the competition...

"Based on true events, The Helpers is a bloody, brutal horror film about seven friends from Sacramento, California, who head out on a documented road trip to Las Vegas. Their trip takes a very unexpected turn for the worse when their back tires mysteriously blow out. Leaving the women behind, the men then go off in pursuit of help and find a local rest stop with some very friendly owners. As the group is reunited, they decide to spend the night in their motel - but wake in their rooms to a new kind of gruesome and bloody terror. "

To be in with a chance of winning, firstly make sure you like us on Facebook (or follow us on Twitter)...

...Then complete your details below, using the subject heading "HELPERS". The competition closes at midnight on Saturday, January 26th. UK entrants only please.

By entering this competition you agree to our terms and conditions, which you can read here.

Les Misérables, 2012.

Directed by Tom Hooper.
Starring Hugh Jackman, Russell Crowe, Anne Hathaway, Amanda Seyfried, Eddie Redmayne, Helena Bonham Carter, Sacha Baron Cohen and Samantha Barks.

SYNOPSIS:

After breaking parole, ex-prisoner Jean Valjean is ruthlessly hunted for decades by the ruthless policeman Javert. When Valjean agrees to care for factory worker Fantine’s young daughter, Cosette, their lives change forever.

This is a film review. It is a review of a film released in cinemas, meant to be watched in cinemas. It is reviewing the medium of film. And as a film, Tom Hooper’s Les Misérables is categorically abysmal.

I can openly admit that my review is not based on previous knowledge of the subject matter. I have not seen the musical nor have I read the book, but this is a review of the film; you should not need to know one single solitary thing about a non-sequel film before watching it to understand or enjoy what you’re watching. Nor was my viewing hampered by a dislike of musicals; I could watch Singin’ in the Rain, High Society, or West Side Story every day without thinking them anything less than perfect cinema and perfect examples of the genre.

The film is atrocious because it is not cinematic and it never comes close to looking or feeling cinematic throughout its 160-minute devastatingly dull running time. This is down to two reasons.

Firstly, the film, as it is, should never ever have been made because its foundations are not cinematic. What may work on the musical stage (and evidently does works due to the worldwide popularity) simply does not translate to the cinema screen and should never have been attempted. Anyone with an iota of foresight would have worked out that a script where every single line of narrative is sung and an entire film built around 100% narrative exposition with not a single scene devoted to visual story telling will be a travesty of the medium. Time and time again, we see films where we’re spoon-fed the information and plot and given no chance to work out anything for ourselves. These films are rightly criticised for weak storytelling, but Les Misérables is far more guilty of this than any film I’ve ever seen.

The second reason is the directorial choices made by Tom Hooper. Despite the script not allowing any pause for a film audience to engage with the story or think for themselves, they can appreciate the songs and vocals, but what they cannot do is pair that enjoyment with visuals of equal merit. Hooper shoots very nearly every scene in extreme close up, where the screen is filled by the actor’s head from forehead to chin. Over and over and over again for the dramatic songs to the point where each song blends into another, for we can no longer tell the difference between scenes or how the story has progressed in between. Imagine all the wonder and spectacle that a Hollywood musical can produce when a song is sung and Hooper delivers the exact opposite. The songs here may not be enthralling or upbeat, but Hooper doesn’t even try to show any attempt at making a cinematic event from the material.

The ‘comedic relief’ songs performed by Sacha Baron Cohen and Helena Bonham Carter are slightly better staged but soon outstay their welcome as we wonder why they sound like they’re out of Oliver! and completely different to the rest of the cast. Hooper’s direction and angle and lens choices go against every logical decision a director could make. When he’s not filling the screen with just a face, he’s using handheld cameras and quick edits which are just as jarring. It looks like the technique of a man who had lost control of the film long before it was completed and looks so bad up on the screen it’s arguably the most boringly directed film I have ever seen, and I’ve seen a lot of films.

As a closing comment, the inability to create any emotion from the story reminds me of the increasing number of live operas and stage dramas being screened in cinemas these days. These live performances are surely a distant second from watching the performance live, but at least they are live. Les Misérables cost $60 million to produce and several months to film and the actors got many takes to perfect their live singing, but it never comes close to being anything other than an expensive version of these live screenings.

The fact that Les Misérables has been nominated for Best Picture at this year’s Oscars is the greatest single travesty in the award ceremony’s history. It deserves no recognition as a film at all.

Flickering Myth Rating - Film: ★ / Movie: ★

Rohan Morbey - follow me on Twitter.

Commenting on the Critics with Simon Columb...

Mark Hughes writes for Forbes, speculating about the director of the upcoming Jurassic Park IV film:

"I’ll start the speculation rolling by suggesting J.J. Abrams might be high on Spielberg’s list of choices to helm the film. Abrams has obviously more than proven himself capable of handling a big effects-and-action driven franchise, and he has a working relationship with Spielberg. Abrams’ style also reflects influences from Spielberg, of course, so that would lend the film some added sense of continuity with some previous entries in the series as well."

Read the full article here.

I am a conflicted person. In one respect, Jurassic Park remains my favourite film. My criteria consists of how often I have watched a film and remained a fan. Jurassic Park was viewed weekly for at least a year, and my brother and I never complained. Sometimes we would forward the first hour and watch the film from the T-Rex attack, but in general we would watch the entire film - quoting and laughing time and time again. Having said that, Jurassic Park III I did not even view at the cinema. Even at the age of 16, I knew from the outset that it would be weaker than the previous two. Its early days yet, but it could go either way for Jurassic Park IV.

With regards to Mark Hughe's article, J.J. Abrams I can imagine taking the reins. Over the multiple coffees Spielberg and Abrams shared on the Super 8 production, I would hypothesize they discussed the future of the series. In the first respect, at least it is categorically named Jurassic Park IV, rather than Jurassic Park: A New Beginning or simply The Jurassic Park - hinting at a clear reboot. Other directors who could handle the film include Gore Verbinski (he can tackle action and adventure in lush, green landscapes), Rupert Wyatt (Hughes notes his success in directing Rise of the Planet of the Apes), Gareth Edwards (his Monsters bears more than hint of influence of Jurassic Park) and, obviously, Joe Johnston and Steven Spielberg himself are always in the running - though it is unlikely Spielberg himself will return.

A major problem lies in the return of characters. Ian Malcolm (Jeff Goldblum) and Alan Grant (Sam Neill), though they have both impossibly revisited the dinosaurs, it is almost part-and-parcel of the series that the characters leave the islands clarifying how they will "never visit the island again". This means it is necessary for some convoluted reason to ensure the characters return - and I do believe that no characters returning would be a tragic loss to the series.

It is also worth noting how long ago the previous film was (and yes, it does make you feel old) - it was 2001. Over 12 years ago! I can imagine that, rather than a plot that 'continues' the story, it is going to become more of a fun 'revisit' to the island; almost a tongue-in-cheek adventure movie rather than anything continuing the series. More like Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines and American Reunion. In this time of 'vintage' and 'retro' products, films like nothing more than glorifying a film as soon as possible - and you can see it now, characters quoting lines in different manners, almost identical to the first film - even the whole 'science' argument becoming 'revamped' with a snarky social-media comment from a brain-box in some vain attempt to modernise the story. They could also imagine a world whereby, 12 years since Jurassic Park III, things have changed. Maybe a montage of small parks opening up all over the world - and the film shows, on the mainland, "nature finding a way". Or perhaps an opening montage showing parks opening up across America, and then falling down and unleashing the dinosaurs upon the world - and the film is set in a world whereby humans are already the prey and we follow a small band of characters as they try and survive in a post-apocalyptic world. There is real scope to play with the "12 years since..." dynamic.

In all fairness, we are in a time where, for better of worse, Hollywood generally seem to understand how to make good sequels - they understand what audiences expect to see from a sequel. In 2001, they were still a little unsure ("Lets get a dinosaur bigger and better than the T-Rex!" - eugh), but now with the continuity of comic book films, they know we want to see characters - and actors - returning, at the very least for a cameo. We want to see a respect for the series - and crucially the first film. Part of the problem of The Lost World: Jurassic Park was the completely different location - I wanted to see the torn up visitors centre and those green-and-yellow cars twisted and destroyed. Indeed, in Jurassic Park IV they truly could do this.

I'll be keeping an eye on the films development - but rest-assured, if it starts to go south, I think we can all sleep easy and just place the film alongside Jurassic Park III and the 'dino-human' plot that was thrown on the scrap heap. Jurassic Park remains an important film - and a fourth one won't take anything away from that.

How do you think Spielberg and Universal will continue the Jurassic Park series? Let us know your thoughts...

Simon Columb

The Impossible, 2012.

Directed by Juan Antonio Bayona.
Starring Naomi Watts, Ewan McGregor and Tom Holland.

SYNOPSIS:

A dramatisation of the events of the 2004 Tsunami, following the Bennett family as they struggle for survival.

Creating a film of the 2004 Tsunami was always going to divide audiences on the subject of taste, but no one can argue that Juan Bayona’s The Impossible is quite simply an emotionally rich, gut wrenching film from start to finish.

The challenge Bayona faced was in trying to decide who to focus on. The natural disaster killed approximately 200,000 people so obviously Bayona couldn’t focus on everyone. Luckily he managed to avoid the pitfalls of so many disaster movies (take The Day After Tomorrow, Deep Impact and so on) by choosing to focus on one family’s real experience. The Impossible is clearly a Westernised film, but when you have Naomi Watts providing one of the best performances of her career, you can try to forget the white nature of the film. The Anglo Saxon-esque nature of The Impossible is the only flaw I can find in what is quite simply a superb film.

The success of The Impossible is down to phenomenal directing by Bayona in his first English language film. Bayona proved with the fantastic horror The Orphanage that he was one to watch, and with this film he recreates the horrifying tsunami to great effect. The film opens with the Bennett family arriving in Thailand. The casting of the family is key to the success of The Impossible, Naomi Watts stands out as the strong Mother Maria, Ewan McGregor delivers one of his finest performances in years as determined father Henry, whilst newcomer Tom Holland is phenomenal as the coming of age son Lucas. The two smaller children – Thomas and Simon are good but it’s Watts, McGregor and Holland that carry this film.

When I heard about this film I was worried that the tsunami would be all CGI and wouldn’t demonstrate the horror of what happened on Boxing Day 2004. Bayona has risen to the challenge and produced one of the most horrifying scenes of all time. Focusing on Maria (Watts) and Lucas (Holland), the combination of CGI and strenuous scenes in a water tank has recreated the terrifying tsunami. The first wave in itself is hard to watch, but it’s the second that pulls at the heartstrings. It’s a testament to Bayona that he’s managed to create such a strong emotional pull within a scene that could have just focussed on mass destruction. At its heart The Impossible is a story about people.

One of the most surprising elements of The Impossible is the amount of gore they were able to include within a 12A film. Maria is horrifically injured and I am yet to meet someone who hasn’t flinched when we see the effect the tsunami has had on her body. The Impossible doesn’t shy away from the effects of the tsunami. As Maria and Lucas navigate the destruction there are numerous bodies of all ages. One of the most harrowing moments is when young Lucas sees a car go past and there is the quiet sound of a baby crying inside. Although The Impossible focuses on one family, the extent of the destruction if shown throughout, often making it uncomfortable to watch.

In terms of plot, The Impossible follows a standard formula of family broken family reunited. What makes is the heart wrenching acting from the leads and the rest of the cast. Many of the extras are actual tsunami survivors, and there is a moment when Ewan McGregor is surrounded by survivors and they each tell their own true stories. McGregor isn’t in the film as much as he should be, but he provides a heart breaking performance. The telephone call he makes home feels genuine and is so emotional that only those with hearts of stone won’t be moved. McGregor has provided some great performances in his career, but at times he does wobble –The Impossible reminds us just what a fine actor he is.

The Impossible isn’t the kind of film that you watch again and again, but it is one that everyone should see. Although Watts has been Oscar nominated for her phenomenal performance, The Impossible has been largely overlooked by the Academy – especially in the special effects department. It is a film that dramatizes a horrific event, but does it in such a way that you’ll be crying buckets by the end of it.

Flickering Myth Rating - Film: ★ ★ ★★ ★ / Movie: ★ ★ ★ ★

Helen Murdoch

Channing Tatum and Jenna Dewan in Step Up

You know how all those Step Up movies were great films that showcased the art of dance? Me either. Nonetheless, it looks like we will be getting at least one more in the near future.

It has been announced by Summit Entertainment that John Swetnam, writer of the upcoming Black Sky, will pen the script for Step Up 5. Step Up: Revolution director Scott Speer is set to direct once again while Jennifer Gibgot and Adam Shankman (Rock of Ages) will also return as producers. The plan is to have characters from the previous movies show up in cameos but there is no word on anyone specific returning just yet.

While the Step Up franchise has been altogether panned by critics, they have managed to do pretty good business at the box office. Having seen all of these, and only marginally liking the third entry, I can safely say that this is a franchise that needs to be put to rest.

Fans of the Heroes in a Half-Shell breathed a collective sigh of relief back last June when Paramount Pictures shut down production on producer Michael Bay (Pain & Gain) and director Jonathan Liebesman's (Wrath of the Titans) much-maligned Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles reboot. However, it looks like that 'indefinite hold' period is now coming to an end, with Production Weekly reporting that principle photography on Ninja Turtles is scheduled to begin this April in New York City (how apt).

In theory the big screen return of the TMNT should be something to be celebrated. However, the new live-action reboot didn't get off to the best of starts with fans of the franchise when Bay announced that the new version would reimagine the Turtles as aliens. As such, both 'Teenage' and 'Mutant' were subsequently dropped from the title, while the leaked script drew heavy criticism online, forcing Bay to issue a response claiming the screenplay was an earlier draft written before he came on board (despite it being dated January 2012).

Assuming there are no further delays, Ninja Turtles will hit cinemas on May 16th 2014, so expect casting to start coming together soon.

The Academy Award nominations were announced this week and there was no greater benefactor than the expansion of Zero Dark Thirty, the new thriller from director Kathryn Bigelow. The procedural drama about the hunt for Osama bin Laden brought in an impressive $24 million in its opening weekend. Unlike Bigelow's previous war themed effort, The Hurt Locker, this one isn't going to have a problem making its money back.

Other award hopefuls saw box office bumps too, with Lincoln, Les Miserables, Silver Linings Playbookand Django Unchained all seeing marginal week over week increases or strong holds as the award season kicks into full swing.

There was a lot of chatter regarding the marketability of Zero Dark Thirty, especially as conversations about the depiction of torture made its way through the twenty four hour news cycle. Much like the discussions surrounding the graphic violence in Django Unchained, the topic didn't keep people from buying tickets. Controversy isn't always a bad thing. Though I don't think it's going to do much for Zero Dark Thirty's Best Picture prospects.

I may be eating crow on that prediction in a month.

Speaking of atrocities, the major surprise this week was the number two debut of the horror spoof A Haunted House starring Marlon Wayans. The low budget satire brought in $18 million against a $2.5 million budget. It's a big win for all involved a frankly something of a surprise. No one saw this coming.

Gangster Squad landed in third place with $16 million in spite of a cold critical reception. With a lot of competition in the marketplace, I expect a quick demise for the gangland drama.

Next week brings a trio of new films vying for your hard earned dollars. Arnold Schwarzenegger returns to cinemas in the high octane action film The Last Stand, Mark Wahlberg and Russell Crowe play cat and mouse in the crime thriller Broken City and Guillermo del Toro presents another weird little horror film, Mama. Expect Arnold to mow down the competition.

Here's your top films for North America...

1. Zero Dark Thirty
Weekend Estimate: $24 million; $31 million total

2. A Haunted House
Weekend Estimate: $18 million

3. Gangster Squad
Weekend Estimate: $16 million

4. Django Unchained
Weekend Estimate: $12 million; $125 million total

5. Les Miserables
Weekend Estimate: $9.5 million; $118 million total

Anghus Houvouras

Flickering Myth's writing team count down to the UK release of Django Unchained by selecting their favourite Quentin Tarantino movies; first up is Luke Owen with 1992's Reservoir Dogs...

While it’s amazing for some to think now, but there was a time in cinema history when Quentin Tarantino wasn’t a self-indulgent filmmaker and he just made good films.

After selling the script for True Romance for $50,000 and a hefty investment from Harvey Keitel, Tarantino and producer Lawrence Bender were able to make their little movie that only a few weeks beforehand was going to be made for nothing (well, $30,000) with themselves as the stars. The movie has since become one of the icons of crime and heist cinema, a cult favourite and launched the career of Mr. Tarantino as a writer and director.

The reasons for this are many, but the main two that instantly spring to mind is that the film is incredibly well written and masterfully directed. Not many first-time filmmakers can achieve the level of brilliance Tarantino did on his first go - so amateur was Tarantino and Bender that they often joked on set that they were the least experienced people there. He crafts shots beautifully from a distance when we’re eavesdropping in on conversations and then keeping it tight when the tension starts to build. While this may seem very simple, a lot of first-time directors miss these tricks and just go for the money shots. Never is Tarantino’s directional master class seen more clearly that the infamous “ear cutting scene” – clever shot choices, perfect music selection and the simple-yet-effective idea to cut away from the gore rather than show it in full glory. Some may put this down to budgetary restraints, but I’ve seen the film with the ear shot included and it doesn’t have the same effect.

Reservoir Dogs centres around six strangers (although the promotional posters claimed five) who are brought together by Joe Cabot and his son Nice Guy Eddie to pull off a diamond heist. But despite some careful planning, it doesn’t go according to plan as the team was set up by a rat. With the young Mr. Orange now shot and bleeding to death, the rest of the team try to work out who set them up in the warehouse they were supposed to be celebrating in.

The above paragraph is another example of why Reservoir Dogs works so well – the fact that it’s so simple. Even though a large portion of the movie takes place in one location, the story and characters are incredibly gripping and engaging, which carries the simple story to a heart-pounding conclusion. The movie opens with them all sitting round a table talking about mundane topics of conversation like Madonna’s Like a Virgin and tipping McDonalds staff and yet we sit as an audience hanging onto their every word. This is in part due to the marvellous performances from all cast members (in particular Steve Buscemi), but mostly down to Tarantino’s well realised and excellent script.

This for me is something that Tarantino has lost sight of in the following 20 years. Instead of making films that are engaging and entertaining, he has resulted in making homage-laden movies that are there purely for his own entertainment. Reservoir Dogs is a movie that borrows heavily from other movies such as The Killing, Kansas City Confidential and The Big Combo, but it never throws it in the audience’s faces the way Kill Bill and Death Proof did. At the end of the day, Reservoir Dogs is not Tarantino sitting proudly on his self-made throne of arrogance while shouting “look how much I know about movies”, it’s a movie that is made for entertainment.

But I digress. For me, Reservoir Dogs was when Tarantino was at his best - working with a miniscule budget (by most standards) with a limited time schedule and resources. He had to make the best of a bad situation and he ended up making the best movie of his career. While I do think Pulp Fiction was a worthy follow-up to Reservoir Dogs, the film is flawed. The same goes for Jackie Brown before his films took a swift nose dive (in this critic’s opinion). But Reservoir Dogs is simple, well-written, incredibly well performed and paced perfectly. It is my favourite Tarantino movie.

What's your favourite Tarantino movie? Let us know in the comments below...

Luke Owen is a freelance copywriter working for Europe’s biggest golf holiday provider as their web content executive.

Kirsty Capes reviews the second episode of Downton Abbey season 3...

It's episode two and time for Edith's wedding to Sir Anthony Strallan. Two weddings in two episodes, well aren't we spoilt? Obviously Upstairs are getting geared up for the wedding whilst Downstairs is in chaos. And on top of all of this, we have Robert still fretting about what to do over the money situation and Mary still hounding Matthew to hand over his inheritance from Lavinia Swire's father.

The big things that happen in this one, character-wise, is the return of Ethel. She's the lady's maid from series two who had a bit of fun with one of the soldiers who had stayed at Downton after the war, who promptly died and left her with a baby. Isobel finds her working as a prostitute in the city and invites her to come to one of the centres Isobel works at, for rehabilitated street workers. Although none of the women besides Isobel seem to take the place seriously. Ethel visits but promptly leaves, indicating she's got a big fat secret for Isobel to uncover. Elsewhere, Mary and Matthew return from their honeymoon in the South of France, and Mary is still hounding Matthew about the money he may or may not inherit. Matthew does slightly milk the morality angle, just as Mary whinges about having to downsize. The whole family visit a smaller estate in the north that Robert is considering for a new home. Mary's still moaning that she won't inherit the big house and won't be a Countess. Even Robert agrees that it's up to Matthew where the money goes, causing major unrest between he three of them.

Mary continues to hound American grandmother Martha, who basically says the she's not bailing Lord Grantham out again, and Branson seems to strike up a friendship with Matthew, despite struggling to fit into an aristocratic lifestyle he has spent his whole life resenting.

Meanwhile, downstairs Mrs Hughes is worried about her test results and Carson tricks Mrs Patmore into telling him what's going on. Within about five minutes the whole house knows, only to find out to all-round relief that Mrs Hughes is all-clear. As Cora says, "However will we manage without her?" Charming. Elsewhere, Thomas is still bitter about Alfred getting the job of the head footman, so he goes out of his way to make Alfred's life a living hell. Mrs O'Brien bites back and an almighty prank war ensues: resulting in missing shirts, burnt coat tails and Mrs O'Brien making a fake resignation. Keep up! We also see Anna visiting a friend of Mr Bates' late wife in a hope to get some information out of her about Vera's death. She not very forthcoming and, to make matters worse, Bates has made an enemy out of his new cellmate and some of the prison guards - so now he has to be on his guard in case someone tries to frame him.

And finally - after lots of umming and ah-ing, and a whole load of will-they-won't-they speculation, Edith and Sir Anthony finally make it official, plan and have the wedding - all in one episode! (told you they cover a lot of ground in an hours' show). Edith is delighted at the mere fact that for once all the attention is on her rather than her two sisters. Except the poor thing gets jilted at the altar. Sir Anthony decides at the last minute that he's too old for Edith and she'd be better off without him. What a pillock. And poor Edith is left to wallow in pity at another failed romance. Someone give this poor girl a break! Since the first series Edith has gone from being my least favourite character to one of my favourites. She really is the most unlucky in love character in the whole show. Although a little bird tells me that once she's over her rejection from Sir Anthony (who, let's be honest, wasn't that much of a catch anyway), there will be a new romantic interest on the horizon for her. Only time will tell!

Kirsty Capes

The British crime thriller I Against I is released on DVD in the UK on Monday January 21st, and to celebrate we have three copies to give away to our readers courtesy of the lovely people at Kaleidoscope Home Entertainment.

Read on for a synopsis and details of how to enter the competition...

Set in the nocturnal London underworld, the head of a criminal family is viciously murdered. Distraught and intent on revenge, his son wants answers. Two men, Ian (KENNY DOUGHTY – CITY RATS, THE CREW) and Isaac (INGVAR SIGURDSSON – K-19: THE WIDOWMAKER, BEOWULF AND GRENDEL) are both caught on CCTV leaving his office separately but both deny they are the assassin. Sent on a mission, they are given 12 hours to unwittingly hunt the other down. The plot takes a mysterious twist when a sinister third party steps in, resulting in an explosive, edge of the seat finale where surely there can be only one survivor…"

To be in with a chance of winning, firstly make sure you like us on Facebook (or follow us on Twitter)...

...Then complete your details below, using the subject heading "I AGAINST I". The competition closes at midnight on Saturday, January 26th. UK entrants only please.

By entering this competition you agree to our terms and conditions, which you can read here.

Shadow Dancer, 2012.

Directed by James Marsh.
Starring Clive Owen, Andrea Riseborough, Gillian Anderson, Aidan Gillen, Domhnall Gleeson, Brid Brennan, David Wilmot, Stuart Graham and Martin McCann.

SYNOPSIS:

Single mother Collette McVeigh is a Republican living in Belfast with her mother and hardliner IRA brothers. When she is arrested for her part in an aborted IRA bomb plot in London, an MI5 officer (Mac) offers her a choice: lose everything and go to prison for 25 years or return to Belfast to spy on her own family.

Clive Owen and Andrea Riseborough in Shadow Dancer

One of 2012’s better films, sorely overlooked due to its small distribution, comes to DVD and is an absolute must see.

Set in Northern Ireland in 1993, Shadow Dancer is a tightly wound little thriller which pays more time devoted to its characters and their divided loyalties and emotions than a typical film about working undercover might usually allow. The tension is built around the intentions of its lead character, Colette McVeigh, an active member of the IRA who must choose between her cause and her family.

The film is directed by James Marsh who won an Oscar for his outstanding documentary Man on Wire and anyone who saw that knows just how well Marsh can create tension and tell a story. Marsh shoots Shadow Dancer in a controlled handheld style, with dull brown tones evoking a real feel for the depressing feel which weighs down all characters in the film. This is not a happy film but feels very real thanks to Marsh’s direction and the film gives us a story which is believable but not necessarily the ending we expect, or even want, but the ending the story deserves.

Shadow Dancer has all the hallmarks of Marsh becoming a highly accomplished filmmaker and his next effort should be high on everyone’s to-see list, whatever it may be.

Flickering Myth Rating - Film: ★ ★ ★ ★ / Movie: ★ ★ ★ ★

Rohan Morbey - follow me on Twitter.

A rundown of all the winners from the 70th annual Golden Globe Awards...

The stars of film and television gathered at the Beverly Hilton Hotel last night as Hollywood took a major step on the road to the Oscars with the 70th annual Golden Globe Awards.

Co-hosted by Tina Fey and Amy Poehler, the Globes saw the Hollywood Foreign Press Association honouring Argo as Best Motion Picture - Drama and Les Miserables as Best Motion Picture - Musical or Comedy, while Argo's Ben Affleck was named Best Director.

Daniel Day-Lewis (Lincoln) and Hugh Jackman (Les Miserables) took home the leading actor gongs, with Jessica Chastain (Zero Dark Thirty) and Jennifer Lawrence (Silver Linings Playbook) both successful in the leading actress categories. Meanwhile, Quentin Tarantino received the award for Best Screenplay for Django Unchained, which also saw Christoph Waltz named Best Supporting Actor.

Shifting to the small screen and Homeland was once again named Best TV Drama Series, with Damian Lewis and Clare Danes also collecting Best Actor and Best Actress in the drama categories. Also bagging three awards was the political drama Game Change, which received Best Miniseries or Motion Picture Made for TV, along with Best Actress (Julianne Moore) and Best Supporting Actor (Ed Harris).

Check out all the nominations from the Golden Globes, with the winners highlighted in red:

Film Awards...

Best Motion Picture - Drama
Argo
Django Unchained
Life of Pi
Lincoln
Zero Dark Thirty

Best Motion Picture - Musical or Comedy
Best Exotic Marigold Hotel
Les Miserables
Moonrise Kingdom
Salmon Fishing in the Yemen
Silver Linings Playbook

Best Director
Ben Affleck, Argo
Kathryn Bigelow, Zero Dark Thirty
Ang Lee, Life of Pi
Steven Spielberg, Lincoln
Quentin Tarantino, Django Unchained

Best Actor - Drama
Daniel Day-Lewis, Lincoln
Joaquin Phoenix, The Master
Richard Gere, Arbitrage
Denzel Washington, The Flight
John Hawkes, The Sessions

Best Actor - Musical or Comedy
Bradley Cooper, Silver Linings Playbook
Ewan McGregor, Salmon Fishing in the Yemen
Bill Murray, Hyde Park on the Hudson
Hugh Jackman, Les Miserables
Jack Black, Bernie

Best Actress - Drama
Jessica Chastain, Zero Dark Thirty
Marion Cotillard, Rust and Bone
Helen Mirren, Hitchcock
Naomi Watts, The Impossible
Rachel Weisz, The Deep Blue Sea

Best Actress - Musical or Comedy
Emily Blunt, Salmon Fishing in the Yemen
Judi Dench, Best Exotic Marigold Hotel
Jennifer Lawrence, Silver Linings Playbook
Maggie Smith, Quartet
Meryl Steep, Hope Springs

Best Supporting Actor
Alan Arkin, Argo
Leonardo Di Caprio, Django Unchained
Philip Seymour Hoffman, The Master
Tommy Lee Jones, Hope Springs
Christoph Waltz, Django Unchained

Best Supporting Actress
Amy Adams, The Master
Sally Field, Lincoln
Anne Hathaway, Les Miserables
Nicole Kidman, The Paperboy
Helen Hunt, The Sessions

Best Screenplay
Zero Dark Thirty
Django Unchained
Argo
Silver Linings Playbook
Lincoln

Best Original Score
Life of Pi
Anna Karenina
Argo
Cloud Atlas
Lincoln

Best Original Song
Safe and Sound, The Hunger Games,
Skyfall, Skyfall
Suddenly, Les Miserables
Not Running Anymore, Stand Up Guys
For You, Brave

Best Foreign Language Film
Amour
Rust and Bone,
The Untouchables
A Royal Affair
Kon-Tiki

Best Animated Feature
Brave
Frankenweenie
Rise of the Guardians
Wreck It Ralph
Hotel Transylvania

Cecil B DeMille Lifetime Achievement Award
Jodie Foster

Television Awards...

Best TV Series - Drama
Breaking Bad
Downton Abbey
The Newsroom
Homeland
Boardwalk Empire

Best TV Series - Comedy
The Big Bang Theory
Episodes
Girls
Modern Family
Smash

Best Miniseries or Motion Picture made for TV
Game Change
The Girl
The Hour
Hatfields & McCoys
Political Animals

Best Actor - Drama
Steve Buscemi, Boardwalk Empire
Bryan Cranston, Breaking Bad
Jeff Daniels, The Newsroom
Jon Hamm, Mad Men
Damian Lewis, Homeland

Best Actress - Drama
Connie Britton, Nashville
Glenn Close, Damages
Claire Danes, Homeland
Julianna Margulies, The Good Wife
Michelle Dockery, Downton Abbey

Best Actor - Comedy
Alec Baldwin, 30 Rock
Don Cheadle, House of Lies
Louis CK, Louie
Matt LeBlanc, Episodes
Jim Parsons, The Big Bang Theory

Best Actress - Comedy
Zoey Deschanel, New Girl
Tina Fey, 30 Rock
Amy Poehler, Parks and Recreation
Lena Dunham, Girls
Julia Louis-Dreyfus, Veep

Best Actor - Miniseries or Motion Picture made for TV
Kevin Costner, Hatfields & McCoys
Benedict Cumberbatch, Sherlock
Toby Jones, The Girl
Woody Harrelson, Game Change
Clive Owen, Hemingway & Gelhorn

Best Actress - Miniseries or Motion Picture made for TV
Nicole Kidman, Hemingway & Gelhorn
Sienna Miller, The Girl
Julianne Moore, Game Change
Jessica Lange, American Horror Story
Sigourney Weaver, Political Animals

Best Supporting Actor
Ed Harris, Game Change
Max Greenfield, New Girl
Danny Huston, Magic City
Mandy Patinkin, Homeland
Eric Stonestreet, Modern Family

Best Supporting Actress
Maggie Smith, Downton Abbey
Sofia Vergara, Modern Family
Sarah Paulson, Game Change
Archie Panjabi, The Good Wife
Hayden Panettiere, Nashville

With Arnold Schwarzenegger returning to the big screen in The Last Stand, the Flickering Myth writing team look back at their favourite Arnie movies. First up, Rohan Morbey with 1984's The Terminator...

Before he sold out with family films like Junior, Twins and Jingle All the Way, or sub-par action films such as The 6th Day or Collateral Damage, Arnold Schwarzenegger was the real deal in terms of Hollywood action. This was the film that started it all.

The role of The Terminator will forever be Schwarzenegger’s best because it plays to his non-existent acting skills but his undeniable screen presence, not to mention his physical presence which was unlike anyone else in Hollywood at the time. Even Sylvester Stallone, who was already a huge star by 1984, was puny in comparison. Although he only utters 58 words in the film, thanks to James Cameron’s vision and Brad Fiedel’s haunting score, Schwarzenegger is commanding in every scene. Unlike in later Terminator films, he doesn’t need to smile, deliver one-liners, or live up to audience expectations; in The Terminator he is at his most simplistic and his best.

Despite launching Schwarzenegger into mega stardom, the real credit goes to James Cameron, without whom the film would not exist. Back in 1984, it’s important to remember that James Cameron was a relative nobody in Hollywood, but he had this vision of the future which would forever change the way Hollywood thinks about sci-fi and time travel. The beauty of his story is in the back story and future implications which are paramount to believing the events of what we’re watching; without the audience fully buying into his idea of world where computers have wiped out humanity, the film doesn’t have the same impact. Cameron’s script is both complex and straightforward when it needs to be and is of a level that recent films like Looper could only dream of.

Cameron also used The Terminator as a platform for his subsequent career-long role as a pioneer for special effects. Working with Stan Winston, the pair created some of the most iconic effects and character creations in all of cinema, and all in-camera and practical effects. The scene where the endoskeleton rises from the burning rubble is still chill-inducing 30 years on and countless re-watches later.

Comparison with the 1991 sequel will always be made, but The Terminator is the perfect balance between originality and personality of two soon-to-be Hollywood heavyweights.

Rohan Morbey - follow me on Twitter.

360, 2011.

Directed by Fernando Meirelles.
Starring Rachel Weisz, Jude Law, Anthony Hopkins, Lucia Siposová, Ben Foster, Vladimir Vdovichenkov and Moritz Bleibtreu.

SYNOPSIS:

An international look at what happens when partners from different social backgrounds engage in physical relationships, that ultimately intersect and interact.

360 is a drama of ambitious scope, that skips through themes like heartbreak, desire and the importance of seizing the day during its globe-trotting runtime. It sets out with the grand intention of taking us on a tour of modern love and sex, aiming to unmask the universal reality of it all, by contrasting struggling prostitutes with high flying business types, and ultimately concluding that they all have their interacting problems of infidelity, lust and broken trust. The film comes in under the two-hour mark, this is not an overly lengthy essay, and yet it is perhaps extremely telling that I found my mind wandering vaguely towards, of all people, former Prime Minister Tony Blair at various points during this supposedly romantic international ensemble.

Why did Tony pop into my head? Well I think it was because, bizarre as it sounds, Tony Blair played a role in Peter Morgan's thinking, too, as he penned the script for 360. Morgan has of course made a career out of writing screenplays about real people, whether it's legendary football manager Brian Clough in The Damned United or Ugandan dictator Idi Amin in The Last King of Scotland. However, it's Blair who has really fascinated the writer. Morgan has written three scripts featuring Blair; The Deal, The Queen and The Special Relationship, and Michael Sheen has played the controversial political figure in each of those productions. So between them, Morgan and Sheen have certainly made money out of portraying Blair's toxic legacy. In 360 though, an original script with fictitious characters entirely of Morgan's own creation, the writer engages with some of the substance of Blair's ideas about the modern, interconnected world we now live in. In The Special Relationship, Morgan documented the key moments surrounding the Kosovo crisis that led to Blair arguing for a more proactive foreign policy; injustice in one part of the world, if left untouched, was likely to spread. In 360, Morgan argues that in today's world our romantic missteps now have international ripples and repercussions, too.

Of course, Morgan may not have thought a great deal about Tony Blair or grand theories of globalisation when writing 360. That's just my strained and convoluted theory, based on my own restless thoughts. But the fact is that 360 did not engage my total attention, because it comes across as having high and mighty goals. It groans under the weight of its own purpose and imagined significance. Morgan picks a canvas so vast that the intricate details of the story, the very things that might convince of his thesis, are neglected. This film is all about the messy symmetry of modern life and how things are prone to complicated entanglements now, more so than ever before. For it to work, it needed to convince at every single turn. Too often though, Morgan's characters feel like puppets rather than people, jerked into implausible positions in order to fit his overall picture.

360 tells ten different, overlapping stories. Several of these narrative strands could have been shortened or chopped altogether. Frustratingly, some strands show tremendous promise but are visited infrequently, at the expense of pointless, meandering speeches from Anthony Hopkins (Hannibal, Thor: The Dark World) or supposedly menacing encounters with a reforming sex offender. Again, 360 suffers from trying too hard to be international. Its more interesting stories are based in Europe and the moment, about halfway through the film, where the action switches to several characters in America, feels forced. The characters we find at Denver airport are all less interesting than the ones we have already been introduced to. Hopkins' character in particular, who is searching for the missing daughter who fled when she discovered his affair, has no narrative arc. He is simply a kind, weary old man, and it's frankly dull to watch his clichéd musings about only living once.

The best moments in 360 appear to occur independently of the script's grand vision. Director Fernando Meirelles, the man behind the acclaimed City of God, talks candidly in a short interview on the DVD extras about his methods. He says that he does not like to storyboard scenes and that he simply works with the locations and the actors on the day of the shoot. 360 looks fresh and alive, the cities it visits are all shot beautifully, so that at times you feel as though you are there on the streets. You can rarely fault the technical execution of the film. Meirelles also reveals that one of my favourite scenes in the movie, a love scene between Rachel Weisz (Oz: The Great and Powerful, The Bourne Legacy) and her Brazilian lover, was largely improvised. The fact that this scene was expanded from just a few short lines of dialogue in the script did not surprise me on reflection, as it feels so tonally different from the rest of the film. It is telling that Morgan saw this as a throwaway scene to advance the plot, but Meirelles and talented actors like Weisz saw its potential.

In the scene, Weisz's character arrives at the apartment of her lover, a Brazilian photographer. She is there with the intention of calling off their affair, as she is married to Jude Law's (Contagion, Side Effects) character (Law and Weisz play intriguing characters separately but their marriage is annoyingly never analysed in much depth). When faced with her young lover however, fresh out of the shower, she finds it much harder to hold her resolve and do the right thing in the flesh. On the page, this scene can sound cheesy and like any other love scene. The quality of the performances though means that we get an incredibly natural scene, light on dialogue but heavy on chemistry and convincing sexual tension.

Scenes like this, which feel like real moments and memories we can all relate to, are far more powerful and convincing about the messy reality of love than the entirety of the sprawling web Morgan's script weaves together. Sadly, these moments of genuine complexity are rare in the film. I am a huge fan of novels and films with multiple narrative strands, perhaps because I have a short attention span, or perhaps because I admire the skill it requires to quickly establish a character in just a few brush strokes. I'm also a fan of Peter Morgan's previous work, and Meirelles' abilities as a director. However, in 360 their ambitions do not translate into a coherent or satisfying final film.

360 opened the London Film Festival in 2011 and went on to receive a disappointing response from critics. It has been around for a long time and finally makes it onto DVD in 2013. Unfortunately, it is not really worth the wait. The most compelling reason to watch it is to be intrigued by its failure.

Flickering Myth Rating - Film: ★★ ★ / Movie: ★ ★

Liam Trim

Nowhere to Go, 1958.

Directed by Seth Holt.
Starring George Nader, Maggie Smith, Bernard Lee, Harry H. Corbett and Lionel Jeffries.

SYNOPSIS:

After breaking out of prison, a thief and conman attempts to flee the country only to end up on the run in the Welsh countryside.

Don’t expect to sympathise with a man like Paul Gregory (George Nader). He’s used up his friends, burned all his bridges and leeched off the goodwill of strangers long enough. Cool indifference and conversational sleight of hand are his professional trademark. He engineers friendships, cultivates sympathy and expects everyone to consider human relations in the same manner.

Paul Gregory is a con man. It’d be more honest to call him a high-functioning sociopath, as the actions that lead him from one disaster to the next all hinge on his inability to truly feel anything for anyone else. He says his friends call him ‘Greg’. What friends? Victor Sloane (Bernard Lee) The only man that even remotely resembles an acquaintance has no hesitation in savagely beating Greg for an extra three grand in his pocket. But then, Sloane knows what Greg really is.

It’s a simple enough con to start off with; Greg manufactures a ‘chance’ encounter between himself a middle-aged Canadian widow who just happens to be in England to sell her extremely valuable antique coin collection. Greg knows he’s an attractive man, and he teases Mrs Harriet P. Jefferson with it, flirting and charming his way through a masterfully edited sequence that functions almost like a call-and-answer jazz duet.

Like so much in this film, it’s swift, cool, classy, and to the point. This has a lot to do Dizzy Reece’s gloriously unconventional jazz bop score, and even more to do with director Seth Holt’s obvious expertise as an editor. As a first-time director he does extraordinarily well, creating his own bold, fluid visual style that flatters and progresses the story rather than distracting from it. A case in point is the masterpiece of cinematic suspense that is the first 10 minutes of this film, as Sloane helps Greg break out of prison in the dead of night. It gets so that you daren’t so much as breathe loudly in case the guards hear you from the other side of the TV screen.

Nowhere To Go boasts all the hallmarks of film noir with none of its tired clichés. Gunplay and gangsters make brief, high-impact appearances. Nobody talks like they’re in a film, spouting quotable sentiment or colourful threats. To butcher a popular saying, acting speaks louder than dialogue; and George Nader acts the downward spiral of Paul Gregory with all the subtlety and finesse of a professional con.

Nader might not be a household name, but the incredible supporting cast around him certainly are now. Even in her very first film appearance, the actress who would go on to become everybody’s favourite Dowager Countess was nominated for a ‘Best Newcomer’ BAFTA on the strength of this performance.

It’s strange and tantalising to see Maggie Smith aged 24, still in the full flush of youth, with her tender soft voice and her seductive glances working all too well on an audience who grew up seeing her play matronly housekeepers and stern schoolmasters. The hallmarks of the fine actress we all know and love today are all too plain to see in the way she catches the eye whenever she’s on screen. Those keen, piercing eyes express in one telling look what it took her contemporaries half a dozen heaving bosoms to get across.

Bond fans will instantly recognise Bernard Lee and Geoffrey Keen as M and the Defence Minister, the men who so often sent him off into danger with a cutting remark and a reproachful look. Lee’s paternal role in those films makes his cold-blooded brutality all the more disturbing. A supremely effective shot shows us the power of perspective, as we look up from the floor where Greg lies in agony at Lee’s sly, underlit smile, taking quiet triumph in wiping the smug grin off his partner’s face.

Only Alexander MacKendrick (The Ladykillers) before him had so radically altered the public perception of Ealing Studio’s output. It was quite a leap from the cosy comedies and quiet domestic dramas to this starkly sly manhunt film, with its brassy, jazz-like rhythm and final wake-up to harsh reality.

It’s easy to detach yourself from the colourful violence when it’s happening on the dark boulevards of Los Angeles or rainy New York backstreets. Indeed, Touch of Evil was just as brutal and noirish in that same year of 1958, but it took until 1971 and Michael Caine’s career-best performance in Get Carter before we saw another British film that truly matched Nowhere To Go for sheer impact of familiarity. Greg’s final moments are every bit as harrowing, every bit as grimly poetic as Carter’s death on that wind-torn Newcastle beach.

Nowhere To Go is everything you were hoping to get from twenty re-viewings of The Third Man or Brighton Rock. This is a forgotten classic; a jazz tragedy finally restored to public memory. This is the first time it’s been seen on DVD, and the first time the original 100 minute version has been seen outside the cutting room. There isn’t nearly enough room to tell you everything I love about this film. You’ll just have to watch it and make your own list. See to it.

Flickering Myth Rating - Film: ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ / Movie: ★ ★ ★ ★

Simon Moore is a budding screenwriter, passionate about films both current and classic. He has a strong comedy leaning with an inexplicable affection for 80s montages and movies that you can’t quite work out on the first viewing.

Luke Owen reviews the latest issue of Godzilla...

“Boxer is cornered by the government and Godzilla is a giant sized X-factor, wrecking everyone’s plans. Sides are switched, lives are lost… and then the unthinkable happens. The devastating third act of this Godzilla epic begins now!”

I’ve been incredibly harsh on this series for some time now. The last good issue of this was way back in Godzilla #5 when Godzilla had a brief battle against Mechagodzilla. Since then the series has been meandering its way through with average issue leading into average issue. We had some good teases in Godzilla #6 about upcoming battles but nothing was ever followed upon, until now that is.

Well sort of. A lot of what was teased in Godzilla #6 is more or less teased here again but at least we’re shown who Godzilla will be taking down in Godzilla #9. With Urv now dead and the team in an inescapable situation, Boxer has to make a choice whether to save his son Harrison or his lover Clare. After making his choice, the realisation suddenly dawns on him (as per Clare’s visions in Godzilla #6) that Godzilla and Mothra were there to protect the earth rather than destroy it. Because some creatures are raining down from space and they are not happy creatures.

Ignoring why the included Hedorah in this collective (he is, like Godzilla, a man-made creature and not from space), the introduction of these characters was nothing short of anti-climactic. If you look at James Stokoe’s Godzilla: The Half Century War #4 and how he introduced Spacegodzilla and then compare it to Swiercynski and Gane have here, it’s worlds apart (no pun intended). It may just be poor timing as the comics have come out about a week apart from each other, but Stokoe did something that no one has ever been able to do: make Spacegodzilla cool. In fairness to Swiercynski, I did like how they described him as space’s “gruesome mockery of our own defender”.

I do sound like I’m being hard on Godzilla #8 and I don’t mean to keep comparing it to the infinitely better Half Century War, but there is a lot wrong with this series.

That’s not to say that this issue didn’t do some good things. The story was paced nicely and some of the artwork from Simon Gane was really good. The final few pages where Hedorah, Gigan, Spacegodzilla and Monster X (or Kaiser Ghidorah if you prefer) attack the cities are absolutely awesome. I love the choice of using Monster X rather than jumping into King Ghidorah as they can replicate his reveal à la Godzilla: Final Wars in the next issue.

But again I have to resign to the fact that Godzilla #8 has the same teases we had in Godzilla #6 which highlights what a waste of time the last issue was (and more or less what this one was). Godzilla #8 has been a huge improvement and I am looking forward to next month’s third act, but this series has been missing a certain spark and I’m not sure if one great issue can claw back my investment into the series.

Luke Owen is a freelance copywriter working for Europe’s biggest golf holiday provider as their web content executive.

Downton Abbey Season 3 - Episode 1 Review

Movie Review - Django Unchained (2012)

First trailer for The Call starring Halle Berry and Abigail Breslin

Jurassic Park 4 gets a June 2014 release date

Giveaway - Win The Helpers on DVD

Second Opinion - Les Misérables (2012)

Can Jurassic Park bite back?

Second Opinion - The Impossible (2012)

Step Up 5 announced by Summit Entertainment

Michael Bay's Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles reboot to start shooting in April

Zero Dark Thirty leads a slew of award hopefuls at the North American box office

My Favourite Tarantino Movie - Reservoir Dogs (1992)

Downton Abbey Season 3 - Episode 2 Review

Giveaway - Win I Against I on DVD

DVD Review - Shadow Dancer (2012)

Argo and Les Miserables claim top honours at the 70th Golden Globe Awards

My Favourite Arnie Movie - The Terminator (1984)

DVD Review - 360 (2011)

DVD Review - Nowhere to Go (1958)

Comic Book Review - Godzilla #8