A few thoughts

For a project that spiked my interest from the start of production, it has taken me an strangely lengthy time to in fact get around to watching Kill Your Darlings. I can trace my fascination with the Beat Generation very specifically, to the point that I suppose I have to thank the casting director of Chronicle for bringing the literary movement into my life, by casting Dane DeHaan as Andrew Detmer.* Let me elaborate...

In February 2012 Chronicle was released and Dane DeHaan impressed me to the point that I knew I would follow him as an actor because, wherever his career took him, it was sure to be interesting. So to IMDb I went and saw that Dane was set to be starring in a movie called Kill Your Darlings alongside Daniel Radcliffe. In order to add some detail to a blog post I was composing on the upcoming film, I engaged in some preliminary and very rudimentary research into just which real life people the various actors were supposed to be depicting. At this point I had never heard of the Beat Generation, let alone any of the authors or works.

But I did like the thought that in the early 1940's there was a gang of young intellectuals running around New York and Columbia University reading classic literature, creating a New Vision, dabbling in banned substances and consuming plenty of liquor.

Kerouac and Burroughs

In the past three years since then, I have been reading within this literary movement and can't imagine a time when I didn't know about all it has brought to me. Ginsberg's poetry. On The Road, Big Sur, The Sea is My Brother, Maggie Cassidy by Kerouac. And Burroughs' Junky, Naked Lunch and The Western Lands. I read all about Neal Cassady and watched any number of films on those men.

Ginsberg and Kerouac

Kill Your Darlings is a film that I have been looking forward to since its inception. Not just because it is a film about all those cherished favourites of mine. But because it was my research into KYD that made them become said cherished favourites.

Burroughs, Ginsberg and Carr. I love this photograph.

Not sure why I felt the need to share this with you prior to my review, but I thought it would set the scene. I can't imagine coming at this film blind with no prior knowledge, but I wonder if I would have enjoyed it so thoroughly if I didn't know what happened during the film and hadn't known the literary figures that they would one day become... A review will follow shortly.

Lou and Ginsy

*I have done some research, and Ronna Kress, I thank you for your inspired casting of Dane DeHaan as it has indirectly set me off on a great literary adventure.

Kill Your Darlings - Teaser Trailer

FINALLY! 

If you have been following this blog for a while you may or may not have noticed how much of a raging Beat freak I am. Anything Ginsberg, Kerouac or Burroughs related and I am invested. Specifically I have been buzzing about Kill Your Darlings from pretty much its inception because as well as the story it had a stunning cast of Dane DeHaan, Daniel Radcliffe and Elizabeth Olsen. 

The teaser trailer is precisely that and seems to come to an abrupt end at thirty seconds however we do get some exciting shots. Dane DeHaan looks incredible as a cocky, young Lucien Carr who is shown getting up on a table in a library much to the shock of other students. Daniel Radcliffe's take on Ginsberg's voice sounds pretty fair to me and it's nice to see him back in round glasses! Michael C. Hall is briefly shown in his role as David Kammerer but little is alluded to his seedy role in the plot (based on Burroughs and Kerouac's novel And The Hippos Were Boiled In Their Tanks.) Columbia University looks spectacular and the wardrobe of the period feels en pointe. 

No word yet on the UK release date, but be sure that if and when the news breaks I will be all over it! Here are a few links to other posts on the topic of Kill Your Darlings from the past year or so. Given the fact I have waited an age for this teaser trailer I am not disappointed. Excuse me whilst I go and watch it another 10 times...

Kill Your Darlings Update

On The Road, Kill Your Darlings, Howl

Kill Your Darlings New Set Pictures

Daniel Radcliffe as Allen Ginsberg

Lucien Carr 

Dane DeHaan as Lucien Carr

The Palace Beyond The Pines - Review

THE PLACE BEYOND THE PINES

2011

15

Starring Bradley Cooper, Ryan Gosling and Eva Mendes

Directed by Derek Cianfrance 

The Place Beyond The Pines is a story about the lives of two men that intertwine surrounding one moment of panic. Ryan Gosling plays motorcycle stunt rider Luke who decides to use his special skills to rob banks in order to support  his newly found family. The middle of the movie surrounds Bradley Cooper who plays a police hero who encounters corruption within the force and deals with his own family life. Eventually 15 years progress and the children of these two men (Emory Cohen and Dane DeHaan) collide with one and other in an explosive fashion.  

This film was so nearly perfect and it started off perfect. Towards the end of the second act the movie fell away from perfection when it became slightly padded out and perhaps lost sight of the freshness that defined the opening hour. It's not that the film went bad by any means but it fell away from how good it had started. What's nice about the directorial skill is the fact that Cianfrance is unhurried in his approach and takes a long time to let the story unfold naturally and organically. There are a great many lovely moments that allow the characters to express elements of themselves through seemingly mundane and commonplace conversations. The sobering realism that starts off the film however becomes marginally lost towards the end of the second act when the story begins to relying too heavily on coincidence and potentially implausible twists of fate.

The action sequences of motorcycle getaways are thrilling and found myself literally on the edge of my seat. You get the impression from the beginning that these are real people, not superheroes, they are dispensable and fragile; so it was never clear who would survive to see the final credits. There are some truly skilful directorial aspects, the film opens with an incredible long take tracking shot of Ryan Gosling's back as he walks through the circus into the tent where he performs his stunts, as far as film openers go, it is the most memorable I have seen for a long time. The acting was sound and all participants were able to bring unexpected depth to the movie because even though a lot of our main characters were flawed you still found yourself caring and rooting for them as they were personable. 

Dane DeHaan is awesome as the son of Ryan Gosling. He's kind of similar to his Chronicle character Andrew Detmer but he's different in that Jason is nonchalant and not meek. Amateur Reviews have been following his films from the beginning and his performance in The Place Beyond The Pines confirms that his career will be nothing short of illustrious. 

Darker and more realistic there was no rose tinted perspective on things. The Place Beyond The Pines is a character study first and foremost - and then a thriller. It's study of our lives and how they can interlink and how one moment can affect the entire lives of many. Cianfrance did not disappoint.

Rating: 8

Jameson Empire Awards 2013

Today marks the preliminary round of voting for the 2013 Empire Film Awards. The best thing about these awards is that it’s all down to the real movie fans of this world, not in the hands of an Academy. Obviously there are going to be a great many more films that will be released before voting closes, so this is our opinion as it stands. It would be premature to list The Hobbit and Life of Pi already given the fact their worthiness still hangs in the balance! Similarly, the typically award-like films are being with held for later in the award season. Therefore, a lot could change between this vote now and the Jameson Empire Awards!

 

Follow this link to vote for the Awards!

 

 

BEST MALE NEWCOMER

Dane DeHaan

From his explosive debut in Chronicle to his supporting role in Lawless, this young actor is showing that he's far from being type-cast. This is going to be a tough category this year, we also considered Craig Roberts (Submarine, Red Lights, Jane Eyre) but Dane just pips him to the post!

 

BEST FEMALE NEWCOMER

Elizabeth Olsen

Feel free to disagree with our labelling as 'new'. Although Martha Marcy May Marlene was released last year, it seems like 2013 has really been Elizabeth's year. Despite having few films under her belt, it already felt like her character in Redlights (alongside Cillian Murphy) was too small for her!

 

BEST SCI/FANTASY

Chronicle

Would not like to be fighting it out in this category this year. With films like The Avengers, Prometheus and Looper it was very hard to pick - but Chronicle was a refreshing take on super powers because the kids become the opposite of super heroes.

 

BEST COMEDY

American Reunion

Perhaps you have to be a long time American Pie fan to appreciate the sheer nostalgia of this beauty, but it packs many a laugh no matter what. Fingers crossed for many more reunions for Stifler and the gang...

 

BEST HORROR

The Woman In Black

If anyone votes for the Devil Inside they will get a virtual tap on the wrist... The Woman In Black, however, was a classy remake of a classic play and novel. Plus who doesn't love Daniel Radcliffe?

 

BEST THRILLER

Contagion

As if the outstanding cast wasn't enough, Steven Soderbergh's disaster movie was laced with doom and anyone who didn't feel scared to touch a door handle after watching Contagion is a very brave person...

 

JAMESON BEST ACTOR

Tom Hardy

No surprises here then! Just look at Lawless, This Means War, The Dark Knight Rises... This man can act anything! Close contenders for the title were Michael Fassbender (Prometheus, Haywire) and Javier Bardem (Skyfall).

 

BEST ACTRESS

Jessica Chastain

Gracious and believable in the majority of her films, especially Lawless and Corialanus.

 

BEST DIRECTOR

Christopher Nolan

Making people choose between Sam Mendes and Christopher Nolan hardly seems far, but any man who managed to round off the Batman Trilogy after the dizzying expectations set by its predecessor deserves the award. Well done Mr Nolan.

 

BEST BRITISH FILM

Skyfall

How can it not be Skyfall?

 

BEST FILM

The Dark Knight Rises

With a plot twist to rival all Nolan plot twists and a stellar cast, it's hard not to be excited by this film. Absolute class.

 

THE ART OF 3D

Avengers Assemble

Outstanding use of 3D by director Joss Whedon, managed to avoid the issues which have plagued 3D in the past. Dark and lacking in detail are not phrases you would use to describe The Avengers


Follow this link to read the review of Skyfall

The Dark Knight Rises Review

Prometheus Review

Avengers Assemble Review

The Woman In Black Review

Chronicle Review

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

On The Road, Kill Your Darlings, Howl

It has been a while since the last Kill Your Darlings update and while there is still no specific release date for 2013 it does seem like filming has wrapped. It also seemed like an opportunity to update all you ‘beat freaks’ out there on everything Beat Generation in film at the moment!

James Franco’s wonderful portrayal as Allen Ginsberg in the 2010 film Howl aired on Sunday night for all us British people. The film illustrates Ginsberg’s revolutionary poem alongside extracts from the obscenity trail that ensued. Though by no means a conventional movie, this little film depicts the poem as a performance and truly does it justice. Here’s the link to where you can catch or rewatch Howl on BBC iPlayer.

 

 Watch Howl on BBC iPlayer

Similarly as you may well know, an adaptation of Jack Kerouac’s classic novel is also hitting cinemas. On The Road stars Sam Riley, Kristen Stewart and Garrett Hedlund and tells the story of a young writer’s journey across the country. Amateur Reviews will endeavour to review the movie at some point.

Now back to Kill Your Darlings, here are some of the latest images that have come to our attention and also a link to an interview of co-star Jack Huston.

 

Read an interview with Jack Huston

 

Cannes 2012 - The Red Carpet

Along with our previous post about some of the notable films from the Festival, we thought we'd also post on some of the notable stars who turned out on the Red Carpet! Now this is a long post but we didn't want to leave anyone out...



Camila Alves in Marchesa





Jessica Chastain in Armani




Berenice Bejo in Prada




The cast of Mud




Tom Hardy, looking dapper! Even with the beard...




Stars of Lawless




Full cast shot of Lawless




Dane DeHaan at the Lawless showing




Bruce Willis, Ed Norton and Bill Murray




Diane Kruger looking stunning in Nina Ricci




Slightly obsessed with Diane Kruger, loved her in this Versus number




Doutzen Kroes in Versace at the amfAR's Gala




Garrett Hedlund, a true movie star!




We did try to find one of her smiling... The Reem Acra gown is lovely though!




Kristen Stewart, sporting the nearest thing to a smile we could find...




Marion Cotillard looking chic in peach




Natasha Poly looking smoking in the Roberto Cavalli dress




We think the Ralph Lauren gown looks amazing on Nicole Kidman




Vigo Mortensen and Kristen Stewart who both star in On The Road



Favourite outfit of the festival, Diane in Vivienne Westwood



Jean DuJardin and Alexandra Lamy




Zac Efron

Props if you've managed to get through all the Hollywood dazzle and made it to the bottom of the post! Who were you most excited to see?



Out Now on DVD - Chronicle

Things got a bit exciting over at Amateur Reviews when Chronicle was released on DVD today! Josh Trank’s directorial debut starred Dane DeHaan amongst copious other young talent and was seriously amazing. The movie saw general release in February this year and we reviewed it right away, however Chronicle was definitely ear marked as the type of movie that belonged in a DVD collection!

Here’s the link to our review of the movie and scroll down for images, the theatrical trailer and links to purchase the film!

http://amateurreviews25.blogspot.co.uk/2012/02/chronicle.html If you never saw this beauty of a film in theatres, have a read of our review to get a feel of the plot and style.

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Chronicle-Extended-Edition-Blu-ray-Digital/dp/B005ZCH4VQ