So you bring a gadget to the market, start a kickstarter campaign hoping for the best, and end up with BAFTA inviting you to become an official gift partner for the EE British Academy Film Awards in 2014. Not bad eh?
Proving that you’ve got to be in it to win it, Stage One Technology have managed to do just that with its new bluetooth music receiver which will bring music to the ears of Hollywood’s finest come next years awards season.
From what we’ve seen so far, its not hard to see why BAFTA and others have jumped at the chance to partner up with this technology. With the brand new Igbloo there is no more need to ‘dock’ your music devices, as it plays your favourite tunes all through blue tooth. So no more “tinny tunes” just connect your phone, ipod, laptop or pc to your existing hi-fi system with NO WIRES and NO EFFORT! Ba-da-bing!
Want to find out more?
For more information on this creative and entrepreneurial project visit www.igbloo.com or check out their Kickstarter page.
Come on music lovers become part of the next generation!
So the news is out. E.L. James has found her eagerly anticipated leads in the film adaptation of the most talked about book of last year Fifty Shades of Grey. But who has the coveted role and who lost out?
The Winners!
Introducing Charlie Hunnam as the man of all female fantasies 2012. Is he what you imagined? Who is this man and where did he come from? Well, if any of you saw Pacific Rim this summer, the opening scene will show the Christian Grey potential as Hunnam jumps out of his bunk bed with his rippling six pack on show! If you’re fans of the TV show Sons of Anarchy you will have seen him on there, and if you cast your minds back to British TV he was the young naïve Nathan in Queer as Folk and even further back he started his career in Byker Grove. Now funnily enough we here at Snoochie Boochies HQ were discussing last month how its about time that Charlie Hunnam broke the US movie scene and that Pacific Rim was a good step forward for him, so maybe, just maybe playing this iconic character could seal his status as Hollywood A-List?
Anastasia Steele was always more up for debate… there were some big front runners in this game (see below) but the coveted role has gone to none other than Dakota Johnson (who?!). Confirming our theory that no Hollywood heavyweights wanted to touch the role with a barge pole for fear that it would ruin their reputation, producers probably needed to search for a nobody (ahem, sorry, we mean an “up and coming” actress.) Johnson is the daughter of actors Don Johnson and Melanie Griffiths and has had a few miniscule bit parts in The Social Network (seriously blink and you’ll miss her). But as of yesterday afternoons announcement her name has quickly become the most spoken about name on the Twittersphere.
The Losers
For the past year there have been tweets, Facebook groups, YouTube montages all dedicated by the fans to who they think would be the perfect people for the parts. It bordered on the obsessive but the front runners for Christian Grey were without a doubt: Alexander Skarsgard and Ian Sommerholder.
In terms of Miss Steele, Alexis Bledel was really one of the top names thrown into the hat, but also British born Felicity Jones and Imogen Poots – so really anyone with brown hair and blue eyes!
The Book
So what is all the fuss about? Well, like Twilight and The Hunger Games, this film will be driven by its fans first and foremost. Instead of seeing caged tweens at the UK premiere for the film, we may see a total shift in audience to the more “mummyporn” category hanging off the railings. Mothers in their mid to late thirties who found escapism in the book may be booking their tickets as of now to see how their wildest fantasies portray on film. And seeing as its not the best written book in the world, lets hope the film is just as readable and with slightly less references to ones ‘inner goddess.’
So what happens when you grow up as a normal teenager and suddenly one night you start drawing symbols all over the wall? Well you get pretty freaked out… and who do you turn to? Your mum of course, but she’s keeping secrets from you and suddenly disappears. Things really aren’t going to well are they? Its tough being a teenager, its even tougher being a Shadowhunter teenager as Clary Fray (Lily Collins) finds out…
Based on Cassandra Clare’s bestselling novel, The Mortal Instruments: City of Bones looks like the successor to all the Twilight and Hunger Games books that have started to send screaming fans into a frenzy. This big budget Hollywood film has a predominately British led which is refreshing, and although it opened here yesterday with the help of the cast and director stepping through a major global promotional tour, its currently slightly underperforming over in the US.
However we shouldn’t take that too literally because despite the doom and gloom that some are saying about this film, its really rather enjoyable. You have a strong female protagonist (quite like what audiences related to with Bella Swan in Twilight) and there are lots of laughs and one liners – some more forced towards the end – plus there are demons, ghouls and a whole underworld that is living right under Brooklyn… what’s not to love?!
The film keeps you guessing and is a classic case of a first film in a series where characters are being established and so there are only three main parts, Clary, Jace (Jamie Campbell Bower) and Simon (Rober Sheehan). The rest come and go and one assumes we will see more in the second installment. There is so much going on in this film that you can’t really help but be swept up in it all and despite it feeling ever so slightly over long in form, its not unwatchable, quite the opposite.
What fans of the book may feel is that this film has tried to be so true to the original content that it maybe fits a little bit too much in it, in order to be truthful, and that unfortunately provides more of a clumsy outcome in parts. Others may feel that the casting isn’t quite what they imagined, and in the press conference Jamie Campbell Bower was particularly vocal with his thoughts on the matter saying that some rather nasty social media reactions to his casting “were based on image and image looks alone and that was two and a half years ago, and I think as an actor and as a performer I’m very much aware of the fact that my job is to change both physically and emotionally and that was what hurt the most, that people were judging me based on nothing.”
Although there are clear issues with this film and it won’t please everyone, there are lots of great elements to it, the CGI is out there but not too over the top and the characters are believable, watchable and sympathetic. Mortal Instruments: City of Bones is certainly for the younger audiences out there, but even if you don’t believe in magic or demons, there’s still a rollercoaster ride for you to watch…just remember to not walk out of the cinema when the unforgivable comment about the musician Bach is made, just take a deep breath and carry on. When you watch the film, you’ll know what we mean.
If you missed it on Friday, our resident Film Critic Rebecca Perfect (@rebecca_perfect) kicked off the weekend by appearing on 5 News Talk Live to discuss this issue and see if, following this summer supposed ‘film flops,’ we’re headed for a disaster movie of our own…
So why don’t you let us know what you think…
Are there too many big blockbuster films out there at the moment? Is there too much choice? Is it style over substance? What would you want Hollywood to do to improve the films you’ve been disappointed with?
On the flip side, is there something you’ve really enjoyed watching? Are we over exaggerating about there being a ‘crisis?’ What have your favourite films of the year been so far?
You almost feel a little bit naughty for liking this film. It has every cliché in the book… the patriotic drum rolls when an image of the white house is shown in full glory, the American flag falling solemnly to the ground when the take over is complete, and the words “God Bless America” that are used perhaps more times than a skeptical British audience cares to hear. However, Olympus has Fallen is a very enjoyable film. Even though its made by the director of Training Day, Antoine Fuqua, it is no Training Day (there is no Denzel for starters…) but rom-com hero come face stabber Gerard Butler steps up to the plate as disgraced Presidential Guard Mike Banning pretty well.
The story follows the former Head of Security, eighteen months after he fails to save President Asher’s (Aaron Eckhart) wife from falling to her death following a freak snow accident en route back from Camp David. He is now working a desk job at the State Treasury so to not remind the President of that fateful night. There is unrest in Korea and the South Korean President comes to the White House to find a solution. This is when the take down begins. A full blown storm on the White House occurs and it seems that the FBI, Navy Seals and Homeland security have are facing more danger than they ever could have imagined, so its down to one man to get the President and his son out of the White House alive.
Butler has been known in the last few years to take the easy money route with his career, rom-coms like Playing for Keeps and P.S. I Love You have been a strategic way of keeping the actor both funded and in the forefront of Hollywood’s minds (on screen at least). We can be forgiven for momentarily forgetting that he actually played King Leonidis in the brutal graphic novel 300, but its good to see him back on form here. Apart from a few dodgy accent slips, it’s easy to see him as a high profile security guard who has a charismatic relationship with both the President and his son. He brings an everyman quality to this performance which makes him more accepting in this role, clearly knowing his place as to when to be friend and when to serve. Its easy to follow Butler as the central character here, his action moves are not unexpected, you feel he knows when he’s delivering a cheesy line and you even on occasion get a little glimmer appear in his eyes which tells the audience that although he shouldn’t, he’s definitely laughing at this line with you.
Accompanying him in supporting roles are Angela Bassett (Secret Service Director Lynn Jacobs) and Morgan Freeman (Speaker Trumbull). Having these two in this film I feel balances up the ridiculousness of some of the scenes and forces a sense of credibility into what we’re watching. Although understated, these two actors become an audience within the film, watching action themselves from the Pentagon, and making a few big decisions as and when necessary.
As the villain of the piece, Kang, Rick Yune is perfectly cast. Amidst all the chaos of the epic take over scene, the criminal mastermind is cool, calm and calculated. It’s almost sinister how relaxed he is, and you automatically think back to his Bond villain Zao in Die Another Day. You find yourself intrigued as to what happen will happen next with him, and a key highlight for me was his un-emotive reaction to Butlers proposed game of “Fuck Off.” As an actor, Yune really does play the ‘less is more’ card very well.
Overall, the film is a combination of cheese, violence (in parts verging on ultra-violence) and an almost worrying example of the most protected building in the world being overtaken by terrorists. Despite its terrible title and slight lack of gravitas to make it a classic action flick, its really worth a watch, the fight scenes are exciting, you almost fear for your own safety a little when the take over begins, and apart from a few dodgy lines Olympus has fallen makes for an engaging and solid watch – definitely one for the boys though.
Snoochie Boochies 