Lynch. Herzog. Together at last.

Story here.

Sometimes news doesn't need any commentary, and I think the fact that Werner Herzog and David Lynch are getting together to make a 'horror-tinged thriller' called My Son, My Son is a story that speaks for itself. I for one can only hope that the first collaboration between the man who once ate a shoe in front of a theatre audience (for a bet, of course), and the fellow who used a cow as part of an Oscar campaign will be the masterpiece it damn well has to be.

Ridiculously excited is understating it, and early contender for the most idiosyncratic film of all time.

Hellboy II & Dark Knight posters

It has to be said, I am absolutely loving these posters. Heath Ledger's joker just looks terrific, and that seriously has to be the best Hellboy poster yet. I'm seriously looking forward to both films with great anticipation.

The Mummy 3: Tomb of the Dragon Emperor Trailer

The original Mummy film remains one of my favourite Summer blockbusters of all time and the sequel wasn't bad either. Throw in the spin off film The Scorpion King and you have a franchise that has continuously delivered chills, spills, adventure and gallons of humour. The announcement last year of an additional two sequels, The Mummy 3: Tomb of the Dragon Emperor and The Scorpion King: Rise of the Akkadian was greeted with some indifference given that franchise creator Stephen Summers would be neither directing nor writing.

After watching the trailer I have to admit that I'm excited. It really does look like good old fashioned fun and given the rather lasckstruck Indiana Jones reviews thus far, The Mummy has the potential to be the boys own adventure of the Summer.

Happy-Go-Lucky

If ever a film was wonderfully summarised in a title, it is Happy-Go-Lucky. Those five syllables perfect describe the light and breezy tone of this film, and quite possibly how you will feel as you leave the cinema. This is a movie that admirably celebrates optimism, which I for one found a nice relief in an age where even Hollywood blockbusters strive to be as dark and cynical as the PG-13 rating will allow them to.

At first, I didn’t really think I was going to enjoy Happy-Go-Lucky. The opening few minutes have a couple of attempts at humour that fall rather flat: not really a positive sign in a comedy-drama. And then there is a sequence illustrating a stereotypical, painful night out: the drunken ramblings of a coven of irritating witches prove to be an instant turn-off that creates little sympathy towards Poppy, our chirpy protagonist.

But luckily Happy-Go-Lucky reveals itself to be a slow burner: it just takes a little while to adjust to Poppy’s world. It is Poppy (or Pauline) herself that will likely begin to conjure up some goodwill. Her cheery, often illogical optimism is a difficult trait to pull off, but Sally Hawkins gives a truly exceptional performance. Poppy is an oddity in London: a woman who has decided to be endlessly upbeat in a city of dreariness and unfriendliness. Her primary coloured clothes are in sharp contrast to the grey, apathetic streets and people around her, while her constant attempts at light humour and banter are often dismissed by those she tries to cheer up. Admittedly, she does often come across as annoying and excessive, but this simply strengthens her character: she is a solid mix of likable quirks and annoying habits. Her good-will even in the most difficult of situations (one sequence where she attempts to talk to a homeless drunkard sticks out) becomes endearing, and you may well find yourself cheering her on sooner than expected. She is a multi-layered character: her motivations admirable, her outlook likable. Most importantly she is a very strong, independent person who is entirely happy with her life, and the character is more than capable of holding the film together. Hawkins’ portrayal works brilliantly, and her performance is one of the most charming and memorable in quite some time.

Poppy holds the story together, and it is a great relief that her character is so compelling, as the narrative relies on her completely. Indeed, the ‘story’ is almost non-existent, and is simply a few chapters in the day to day life of our protagonist. The film simply comprises of a number of vignettes in Poppy’s life. It documents her day-to-day encounters: dealing with a troubled boy in the class she teaches, her bizarre dancing lessons, her sojourns with an intense driving instructor. More than anything, these mini-tales try and portray the way in which Poppy tries to retain her optimism in the face of an often bleak reality. Perhaps the central story is the one focusing on her driving lessons with a racist, emotionally fragile instructor. These Saturday excursions are the best examples of the film’s thematic concerns: the difficulty of remaining optimistic in a pessimistic world. While Poppy’s refusal to drop her friendly mannerisms often put her at risk, ultimately her cheery attitude keeps her safe and wins over the many other characters she encounters. Director Mike Leigh seemingly urges the audience to try and be friendly in an increasingly unfriendly world through his sympathetic portrayal of Polly, which seems to me to be an entirely refreshing moral!

There are dark hints throughout the film: there are subtle references to child abuse, alcoholism, obsession and other bleak issues. But these are an integral part of the film that reinforce the general happy mood. The cinematography reinforces this – often quite subtle, it makes terrific use of colour to give Poppy a central presence. Her multi-coloured clothing and her flatmate’s yellow car make her stand out instantly. It is also quite a funny little movie when it wants to be: the humour is quirky and offbeat, but Leigh will likely succeed in making you laugh through his bizarre characters and situations. Driving instructor Scott’s repeated refrain of Enraha is a great running joke, while the sometimes ridiculous mannerisms of Poppy are often good for a chuckle.

There are one or two issues that should be raised. Some of the sequences seem a little redundant: in particular a final-act romance that seems somewhat surplus to requirements (although it is thankfully brief). The ancillary characters sometimes seem to lack depth: Poppy’s younger sister in particular. And the previously mentioned weak start is an obstacle that has to be overcome to reveal the real depth and subtlety the film has to offer.

Happy-Go-Lucky is a sprightly little film that is a truly uplifting experience. True a fantastically realised lead character, it has a lot to say about the increasing depersonalisation of cotemporary society. The messages are subtle and careful, despite the excessiveness of Poppy. The film is far deeper than appearances may suggest, and while it is a very enjoyable two hours, it also lends itself to more detail examination. Catch this in the right mood and Happy-Go-Lucky’s big heart (symbolised by Poppy’s necklace) may just win you over.

I Am Legend

Richard Matheson's original 1954 novella I Am Legend was nothing short of one of the greatest and most influential pieces of horror fiction ever written. Much to the frustration of anyone who's ever read the book, there's never been a decent adaptation. Both this and The Omega Man just seem to have missed the point so blatantly. As an adaptation, I Am Legend just fails miserably.

But, is it a good film? I'd say that yes, it is. The book has been a favourite of mine, but I resigned myself to the notion that the film wasn't going to resemble the source material long before seeing the film, so I had been prepared not to look at it as an adaptation. If anything, it's a remake of The Omega Man, because there are certainly some great similarities between both films that weren't in the book.

It's a deeply flawed feel no matter what light you're looking at. The CGI vampires (or 'Darkseekers' as they're called here) are tragically rubbish looking, which is extremely grating considering how menacing the build up is before we even set eyes on one of them, only to have something that resembles a cartoon character glaring at us. Normally I wouldn't gripe about CGI, but the characters on display here really look appalling.

The strongest point in the film is none other than Will Smith, he's absolutely terrific as Robert Neville, and breathes life into what would be an otherwise unremarkable film. Smith has proven himself an absolute powerhouse of an actor, and in presenting us with a character who's almost completely alone in the world, he's incredibly believable, entirely what you'd imagine someone might be without any human contact.

My biggest criticism of I Am Legend is that, aside from a deeply unsatisfying ending (and the alternate ending isn't much better either), is that it's all over too soon. It's an extremely intriguing vision of a post apocalyptic world, and I really wanted to see more of it. I wanted to see more of Robert Neville as well, he's a far more interesting character in this film than he was in Charlton Heston's version, and there's some very dark moments that we sadly only get a glimpse of. One such moment is in Neville's basement lab, where he's experimenting on a captured vampire, trying to find a cure for the disease, we see a wall covered in pictures of the subjects of his experimentation; bald, emancipated, dead faces that are reminiscent of holocaust victims.

While Heston's Neville had a very clear cut Jesus allegory, Smith's could be somewhere between Jesus and Josef Mengele. It's something extremely morally ambiguous, but it's never really explored at all, which is a serious pity because they had a chance to do something extraordinarily bold and powerful with the film, and it would've given an incredible counter-point to the religious aspects in the story. But this a big budget Hollywood film, so having given us a brief look at this remarkably dark idea is probably a lot more than you could expect.

Overall though, it's a fairly decent popcorn movie with an incredible central performance that drives it, yet leaves you with a sense that it could've been so much better.

Polish X-Files 2 poster

Thanks to X-Files News, we have a rather cool poster for the upcoming movie, The X-Files: I Want to Believe. Although, the consensus is that Duchovny's head looks terrible, hopefully it's just the result of a bad scan.

Frankly, I love how secretive the marketing on this has been, everything is shrouded in mystery, as it rightfully should be. There are spoilers out there, but I'm keeping away from them. So far, I've really no clue what it's about, except that Mulder & Scully are back, and it's out this July. Chris Carter seems to be keeping very tight reigns on this project, with rumours abounding of false info being leaked to throw the fans off, I think this is going to be something special indeed.

Forgetting Sarah Marshall

In recent years the comedy genre has gone through a number of upheavals. The gross out fare which so appealed has evolved into a more sickly sweetly variant. Films such as the 40 Year Old Virgin and Knocked Up while containing a high quota of gross out material also contained some truly sweet moments and heart. The other major evolution in the genre has been the resurgence of the spoof movie, which I'm not even going to discuss. The latest comedy to hit our shores is the entertaining Forgetting Sarah Marshall.

The first thing that struck me and no it wasn't the full frontal male nudity, was how being a producer these days makes any film you work on your very own. The ad campaigns and critics have all been labeling the film as a Judd Apatow effort when in fact if anything it's a Jason Segel film given that he not only wrote it but also features as the leading man.

Segel is Peter Bretter a 30ish musician who makes a living creating atmosphere for a cop drama which stars his now ex-girlfriend Sarah Marshall and the genuinely brilliant Billy Baldwin. Fol owing their breakup, Peter heads to Hawaii to try and get over her only to discover that Sarah is also in Hawaii, staying at the same resort.

The characters are an assortment of lovable oddballs, the humour never relies on gross out and the performances are all spot on, even Russel Brand is absolutely brilliant playing what appears to be himself. #

The supporting cast is made up of Apatow favourites, including the ever brilliant Paul Rudd who features as the films most genuinely funny character. He manages to steal every scene he's in and you sorely wish that he had been given more screen time.The similarities between Apatow's modern classic Knocked Up and Forgetting Sarah Marshall extend beyond the cast. Both take a situation which by all accounts should not be funny yet manage to wring some genuine humour from the situation.

At times a lot of the humour feels borrowed, in fact one of the main comedic scenes is almost identical to a joke from How I Met Your Mother which incidentally enough also involved Jason Segel's character. There's a refreshing familiarity to most of the gags, we've seen it all before but the superior script compensates for this, and any film which features a Muppet musical about Dracula is worth a viewing in my book.

The main problem with the film is that the peripheral characters are responsible for the films biggest laughs while the main thrust of the story involving the two new romances are all a bit meh. This being most evident in a dinner scene where both new couples share a meal with only Brand impressing. Segel lacks the everyman charm of Seth Rogan, but Mila Kunis is an absolute joy to watch. She manages to strike the perfect cord between humour and pathos without ever crossing into melodrama.

Over all Forgetting Sarah Marshall is a fine addition to the "Apatow" cannon and well deserving of it's place alongside Knocked Up and Superbad. The final musical performance involving Muppets bodes well for Segel and director Nicholas Stoller's proposed Muppet Movie.

The Dark Knight Mark Two

This summer has only really got one film which will define it, one film which when people look back at 2008 will instantly spring to mind. That film my friends is The Dark Knight and this morning after months of anticipation we finally get the second trailer. After watching it a dozen times so far, there really isn't much I can say that will convey just how awe-inspiringly amazing it appears to be.

July 18th can't get here fast enough, though cryogenic freezing may be an option.

The Lives Of Others

Subtle and gripping are the two words that come to mind when I would try to describe The Lives Of Others. It's a frightening look into the communist government of East Germany, the lengths they went to in order to keep tabs on the population, characters driven by suspicion, and what happens when people in positions of power abuse that position.

It's a remarkably vast story that brings you into a place and a time with the focus on one person, who seems as though they're caught into the middle of a storm. We're taken through the expansive narrative by the secret police agent Gerd Weisler (Ulrich Muhe) who kicks off events by musing to his superior that a playwright may not be as clean as he seems, and he's charged to surveil the writer and his lover.

From there, Weisler becomes increasingly engrossed and sympathetic towards this couple, while his superiors are clamoring for him to find something on them. It's nothing short of a breathtaking performance on the part of Muhe, and while the rest of the cast are fantastic, such as Sebastian Koch in the part playwright Georg Dreyman, or Martina Gedeck as his lover and leading actress, this film really belongs to Ulrich Muhe. His cold, quiet exterior hides a simmering range of emotion and inner struggle, it's as subtle and as powerful a performance as you could imagine.

The film is incredibly well written and directed by Florian Henckel von Donnersmarck, it captures an atmosphere onscreen that is potent and ever present, it's hard to think of another film where I felt sorry and fearful for just about every minor character. There's one scene in an elevator where a child questions Weisler, and my heart sank with dread at what could happen. The Lives Of Others is such a powerful experience that it made me feel extremely uncomfortable throughout, and that's quite rare.

The cinematography is extremely good, while not flashy, it adds to the claustrophobic atmosphere of the film in subtle ways. When we follow Weisler to his home, we observe him through a fisheye lens that makes it feel as though we're the ones surveiling him now, getting the insight into his private life that he and his government get from others.

It's a remarkably well written piece. Weisler doesn't really talk that much, so much of his motivation is left to our imaginations and interpretations. If this were an American film, the character would probably speak his thoughts aloud, spelling things out for the audiences, but von Donnersmarck seems to have a much greater respect for us, and it comes off a far better film because of it.

Honestly, just see this film. It's powerful, tragic, and often times frightening, I can't think of anything that has been this spellbinding, that has left me feeling emotionally flogged, and has been so utterly brilliant. See it.

Let The Right One In

Quite honestly, I don't think there's been a year like 2008 for the sheer volume of films I'm looking forward to, and while I'm definitely gagging for a shocking number of blockbusters, there's plenty of smaller films that have me equally excited, one of them being the Swedish horror Let The Right One In, which is being praised by all who've seen it, and has won the top prize at the Tribeca Film Festival.

Based on the book by John Ajvide Lindqvist and directed by Tomas Alfredson, it tells the story of a young boy called Oskar who falls in love with a girl who moves in next door, and also happens to be a vampire.

Everything I've heard about this would indicate that it's wildly different to other vampire films, and considering the advanced acclaim it's receiving, it really promises to be something very special indeed. Knowing local cinemas, I probably won't get to see it until it's released on DVD, but I'm holding out hope that it'll get a once off screening.

Of course, with Let The Right One In being a foreign horror, you have to expect that the remake is inevitable, but this time (According to bloodydisgusting.com) it's the newly revamped English company Hammer Films who are behind the planned remake, although it was said that JJ Abrams' company Bad Robot had been interested in making a version for US audiences.

Anyway, I'll leave you with the trailer, which is sadly without subtitles, but still looks like it'll be a very creepy film indeed. I can't wait!