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Twilight Super Fan Goes Crazy Over “Eclipse” Trailer [Viral Video to Avoid]
If you’re one of those folks who responded to news of the Eclipse trailer today with a disgusted, “No thanks,” you really won’t want to watch this. Super Twilight fan and YouTube star NuttyMadam3575 recorded her reaction to the Eclipse trailer , unloading it to the Internet to the joy of many a video site. She did the same thing with the New Moon trailer , apparently, and garnered half a million hits. If you have an extra six minutes or so (and some high-quality ear plugs), you could take a peek at her new video… or not. But now you totally are, because I told you not to. #reversepsychology Tags: eclipse , Film , twilight , twilight: eclipse , viral video
Rabbits in Berlin’s death zone
An Oscar-nominated documentary uses the Berlin Wall rabbit population as a metaphor for the city’s shellshocked people, writes Geoffrey Macnab The cold war has been examined from many different perspectives. Only now, though, are we getting the rabbit’s point of view on the division of Europe in the postwar years. Bartek Konopka’s Oscar-nominated documentary Rabbit à la Berlin tells the largely ignored story of the thousands of wild rabbits who thrived in the so-called death zone of the Berlin Wall – the strip of no man’s land on the eastern side of the wall. The dismantling of the Berlin Wall in 1989/90 may have been a source of great joy for some, but Konopka’s film shows its catastrophic effect on the bunny population. “For the rabbits, it was like an exodus. It was very dramatic and terrifying for those animals,” the 37-year-old Polish director says. “In the fate of those rabbits, there was some kind of prediction: a bad weather forecast for people.” The rabbits, Konopka says, were “fragile and sensitive” creatures. When they found Berliners trampling all over no man’s land, they tried to run away – but weren’t always up to it. “For them, it was such a stress. They’d go through one street, look for the nearest bush and stay there. But they were so frightened that they stayed there for many days and died from hunger. It was such a stress that they wouldn’t think about what to eat. They’d just stand in one position and die.” Rabbit à la Berlin isn’t exactly a natural history documentary. It is intended more as an allegorical study of a totalitarian system. The rabbits are used as a device to burrow into recent east European social history. Just as the rabbits were expelled from their makeshift Eden when the Berlin wall came down, many in the Soviet bloc had to adjust to the strange new post-communist world. “For people living for 40 or 50 years in the communist system, they had a kind of security. Then they lost it and had to start a new life – our aim was not to judge those people,” Konopka says. Celebrated Polish auteur Andrzej Wajda wrote a letter of recommendation for the film-makers when they were raising finance, and also came to an early screening of the completed project. “After the screening, he said something very interesting. He liked the
The Kreutzer Sonata
Danny Huston stars in another intelligent film transposing Tolstoy to LA. By Peter Bradshaw British-born director Bernard Rose, known as a horror specialist for his 1992 shocker Candyman, is showing some stunning form with his modern adaptations of Tolstoy. After a conventional account of Anna Karenina, Rose brought off a brilliant version of The Death Of Ivan Ilych in 2000; set in modern Hollywood, and entitled Ivansxtc, it starred Danny Huston as Ivan, the agent and Tinseltown power-player, confronting the awful truth about his approaching death. Now Rose has adapted Tolstoy’s novella The Kreutzer Sonata, again starring Huston, again set in contemporary Los Angeles. The result is bold, brilliant and exhilarating: an intimately horrible, sexually explicit and black-comic portrait of a toxic marriage that is closer to the spirit of the original than any number of costume dramas. It is not merely a study of jealousy and obsession, but a profoundly pessimistic and nihilistic rejection of romantic love and sex itself – which, in a world without God, is the ultimate blasphemy. Huston plays Edgar, a very rich man in early middle age, whose worldly charm and sensuality attract a woman he meets at a party: this is Abby (Elizabeth Röhm), a beautiful and talented classical pianist, who is already in a relationship. Their passionate, clandestine affair leads years later to marriage, but Abby is discontented, having now given up music for children. To appease her, Edgar induces his private charitable foundation to host a benefit concert, so his wife will play Beethoven’s Kreutzer Sonata to a moneyed private audience, but she must therefore practise long hours with a handsome violinist: Aiden (Matthew Yang King). Instantly, Edgar conceives a fanatical jealousy – after all, did Abby not once cheat on that former boyfriend to be with him? Yet he is neurotically compelled to let Abby be alone with the handsome newcomer, to prove to himself that he is not threatened, and so creates the scab he’s picking at. Abby is entirely innocent, but exasperated and sexually disaffected with Edgar, and also insists on maintaining her affectionate friendship with Aiden, just to prove to herself that she is a free agent. And so this neurotic, poisoned situation metastises in Edgar’s mind. In his novella, Tolstoy has a line about the supposed joys of the honeymoon and conjugal bliss being like a fairground con-trick whose victims are too ashamed to admit they’ve been duped and so too ashamed to warn others – and thus the scam continues for eternity. In Rose’s movie, it is monogamous intimacy itself that is vilified through Edgar’s crazed worldview. His wife’s essential unknowability – in fact, the unknowability and uncontrollability of everything outside his head – drives
Film Weekly: Noomi Rapace
This week’s podcast meets The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo AKA Swedish actor Noomi Rapace, talks LA and Tolstoy with Danny Huston, and reviews Martin Scorsese’s Shutter Island and Paul Greengrass’s Green Zone. The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo, Swedish author Stieg Larsson’s literary sensation about a crack computer hacker who teams up with a disgraced journalist to solve a 40-year-old murder, has sold over 1m books in the UK alone. Now the film is set to make a star of Noomi Rapace, who plays its sultry, charismatic title character. The actor tells Jason Solomons about transforming herself physically for the role (Thai boxing came in handy) and discusses the new wave of Swedish films breaking out in the wake of Let the Right One In. Xan Brooks then joins in to run the rule over the week’s big releases: the pacy-despite-its-length Girl With the Dragon Tattoo; Scorsese’s overheated Hitchcockian pastiche Shutter Island ; and Paul Greengrass’s Green Zone , which stars Matt Damon on the hunt for WMDs in the aftermath of the Iraq war. And finally, actor Danny Huston is on the line from Los Angeles to talk about The Kreutzer Sonata , his latest low-budget film with Ivansxtc director Bernard Rose and based on a novella by Tolstoy. The actor, son of John and brother of Anjelica Huston, shares why the novella works so well transposed to modern-day LA and how his legendary father would have really enjoyed low-budget digital film-making. Jason Solomons Iain Chambers Observer
Lille v Liverpool
Click the auto-refresh button or batter F5 for the latest news. Email your thoughts to rob.smyth@guardian.co.uk . And click here for all the latest scores in the Europa League 38 min Babel is limping off after a (fair) challenge from Obraniak. It looks like a hip injury, and I’m not sure he’ll be back. 37 min Lille are still attacking with an endearing and entirely misplaced enthusiasm, unaware that Liverpool have a complete grip on this game defensively and are going to squeeze every bit of joy out of all our lives for the next 50 minutes. When you see defensive performances as unyielding and accomplished as this, you wonder how Liverpool how made such a Horlicks of their season. 36 min “Give me some excitement, please” says Mike Down, mistaking me for a pimp. 35 min “Alex McGillivray isn’t far off, but Episode 7 is way creepier,” says Paul Whaley. “And of course to get there, you have to watch all the creepy episodes inbetween . I saw all that four years ago and haven’t slept since.” 34 min Gerrard shoots over from 30 yards after a nice turn. 33 min Lille’s first half-decent attack for a while. Cabael muscles past Lucas and then passes it down the right to Hazard; he plays a low cross towards the near post, where Frau, under pressure from Agger, spanks it high and wide. 31 min A summary of the highlights so far: 30 min “I lost faith in Neighbours when shouty Max left and his previously unknown brother nicked all his lines,” says Charlie Bird. “As for weird YouTube … 28 min It’s gone extremely quiet around the stadium, and Liverpool will be well pleased with how this is going, particularly after such a lively first five minutes. 26 min Babel almost scores a fabulous goal. He and Torres sliced right through the centre of the Lille defence with a nice one-two. That put Babel through on goal, 15 yards out and slightly to the right of centre, but his shot across goal was saved by the legs of Landreau. That was delicious football. 25 min “Although I should point out that I’m not a Liverpool fan, I do live in Italy and know what pushed the deal through,” says Jonny Mills. “Roma needed loads of money to stay in business. They couldn’t sell any of their good players though. But Aquilani wasn’t one of them, and Benitez doesn’t have a clue what he’s doing. There.” 24 min “Re: the Aquilani signing,” says John T. “It’s simple, really. If Rafa didn’t buy him for £20m, then he wouldn’t be able to Keane him back to Roma this summer for £15m and subsequently complain that he didn’t have £20m to buy a proper player.” 23 min Frau is getting treatment; he’s leaking what really, really, really, really tough middle-class boys call “claret” from his right eye following an accidental clash of heads with Lucas. He’s back on now. 22 min Balmont has looked good for Lille. Balmont. With a name like that he should be a butler in a particularly farcical episode of Frasier. 20 min “Are you sure this match isn’t being played on my high school soccer field?” says Richard Whittall. “The colour resembles a slightly under-ripe banana.” 19 min Can someone wake me up when something happens please? 18 min “I once did a knick-knack on Harold Bishop’s door,” says Alan Belton, who I hope is talking about knock-door ginger. “My Australian wife was less than pleased with my immaturity at the time, but I think hindsight has given us both the appreciation that it needed to be done.” 17 min For all Lille’s possession, Reina has only had one rudimentary save to make so far. Liverpool are extremely good, away in Europe, at keeping their opponent at arms’ length. 15 min “Erinsborough isn’t an anagram of Neighbours – there’s a superfluous ‘O’,” says Alex McGillivray. “I have no life. Here’s the creepiest thing I found on YouTube .” 14 min Fantastic play from Torres, who moved smoothly past Chedjou in the centre of the pitch and then touched a pass behind Rami for Babel. He was just about to shoot first time from 15 yards when the stretching Rami got the slighest touch to divert the ball for a corner. 12 min “The problem here isn’t Kuyt or Gerrard,” says Adam Wood. “It is Rafa and Lucas. Gerrard and Mascherano should be playing centre mid, with Aquilani just behind Torres. Two defensive mids are unnecessary, especially when playing with wingers like Kuyt, who are defensive-minded. Kuyt shouldn’t even be starting, as Riera, Maxi, Yossi, and Babel are all more worthy than him.” This is understand (although I’m not sure I agree about Gerrard), but the more relevant point is surely that Benitez is always going to play two deep-lying midfielders, which makes you wonder why on earth he bought Aquilani. 10 min There’s a real confidence, almost a swagger, about Lille’s play. Hazard goes on a superb run down the right, past Insua and Agger before driving a beautiful ball right across the face of goal between keeper and defenders. It would have been an open goal had anybody been on the end of it. They weren’t. 9 min “It shames us as a society that we no longer make the gesture involving moving a partially opened fist back and forth from the forehead to signify that the recipient of this gesture was something that rhymes with a tickhead,” says Mike Gibbons. “It’s much quicker to say it and get on with your life having saved precious seconds – but that’s the broadband generation for you. Wayne Bridge would have aced the PR War had he done that to John Terry.” 8 min Gerrard stabs a pass into Mavuba’s chest, appeals for handball and gets it. Agger’s long free-kick is headed away easily. 7 min Liverpool haven’t started yet. “Rob,” says Tom Bason. “There are only six houses featured in the show (numbers 22, 24, 26, 28, 30, 32) but those numbers would suggest there are at least another 24 houses somewhere, who’s residents have no interaction with anyone else at all. Yours in pedantry.” If they’re not in Neighbours they are dead to me. 6 min The pitch is very poor by modern standards, bobbly and a bit sandy, but it hasn’t really impacted upon on Lille’s passing yet. As Graham Taylor says on Five, “they know how to play the pitch”. 5 min “Rafa refuses to take Kuyt of the pitch,” says Garry O’Connor. “Aquilani plays the same role as Gerrard. So until Gerrard moves to the wing and Kuyt comes of the pitch, Aquilani stays on the bench.” This I all understand. But it does invite the question: why buy him then? 4 min Lille have started much the better, dominating possession and moving the ball around with real menace. 3 min “Erinsborough is an anagram of Neighbours,” says Mike Gibbons. “Send me a catalogue of lives so I can pick one.” I’ll swap yer. 2 min A fast start from Lille, and Cabaye works Reina with a good strike from the edge of the box. Reina gets down to hold on pretty comfortably. 1 min Lille, in red, kick off from right to left. Liverpool are in white. A question for Liverpool fans Can anyone explain the Aquilani signing? Me no understand. I wish I had Tom Bason’s life department “The boy and girl in that scene were Zeke Kinski, and his new piece Mia, an animal rights activist. Zeke is Susan’s stepson (who divorced Karl, got married and widowed, picked up three step-children and is now back married to Karl. Karl fathered a baby himself during this period). Other characters still in it you might remember: Paul Robinson, Steph and Lynn Scully Erm, thats about it.” His new piece. Now that’s a phrase I haven’t heard for a while. I wish I went to Tom Hopkins’ pub quiz department “How many houses are there on Ramsay Street? This question came up at a recent pub quiz. I was sure I had got it right and when it turned out I hadn’t I was so incensed that I checked on the internet the minute I got home; this confirmed that I was in fact completely wrong. P.S. I am aware that there are at least three points there than individually or collectively may suggest that I am powerfully uncool.” The answer’s six, Tom. Also, did you know that Ramsay Street is a fictional cul-de-sac featured in the long-running Australian soap opera Neighbours, it is set in the equally fictitious suburb of Erinsborough. Pin Oak Court, in Vermont South, is the real cul-de-sac that doubles for Ramsay Street.[1] All of the houses featured in the show are real and the residents allow Neighbours to shoot external scenes in their front and back gardens.[2] Neighbours has been filmed in Pin Oak Court since the series began in 1985. Neighbours interior scenes are filmed at the Global Television studios in Nunawading, Forest Hill[3], and there are occasionally differences between the appearances of the inside and outside of the houses. Ramsay Street is named after the Ramsay family, who were a prominent family in the area historically when the show began. By 2001 all members of the family had left the show, but during 2009 three new members of the Ramsay family moved into the street.[4] Sample Neighbours dialogue Boy: “This has been the best day of my life” Girl: “Ever?” Boy: ” The clue’s in the word ‘life’ you brainless wench, I never want to see your stupid face again Ever” And then they kiss. And then it cuts to a scene involving Lou Carpenter and Toadie. No way can the game top this. One good thing about Liverpool being on Channel Five is that I’ve just accidentally stumbled across Neighbours on that channel while waiting for the game to start. All our yesterdays. I defy anyone to watch this video and not weep their heart out with joy at a youth well spent in Ramsay Street. You did cry, right? Right? A simple way to improve Liverpool’s form Tell each player that, if they produce a performance of, say 5/10 or less, they will be locked in a darkened room with only a loop of this film for company. Have you ever seen anything so jauntily sinister? David Lynch would kill to have seen this in a nightmare. Team news Glen Johnson starts for the first time this year and, with the possible exception of Martin Skrtel, this is probably what Rafael Benitez regards as his strongest team. Lille (4-3-3) Landreau; Beria, Chedjou, Rami, Emerson; Balmont, Mavuba, Cabaye; Obraniak, Frau, Hazard. Subs: Butelle, Vandam, Aubameyang, Toure, Dumont, Souare, Souquet. Liverpool (4-2-3-1) Reina; Johnson, Carragher, Agger, Insua; Mascherano, Lucas; Kuyt, Gerrard, Babel; Torres. Subs: Cavalieri, Aquilani, Riera, Kyrgiakos, Ngog, El Zhar, Kelly. Referee Alan Larsen (Denmark) Now , after Steven Gerrard’s noble attempt to bring back the V-sign – last unironically delivered by an adult in 1987 – I wonder what other retro classics footballers could reintroduce into society. Perhaps John Terry could assert his throbbing masculinity by wearing shorts so tight that it’s touch and go whether you’ll self-vasectomise by the end of the 90 minutes. Or perhaps that popular wordsmith Wayne Rooney could bring back words and phrases from the eighties, like crud or aces or did you see that TV show, Gaylords Say No ? I have no idea where I’m going with this, to be honest. Preamble Hello. It’s been easy to laugh at Liverpool this season, and we’ll come to that in due course, but they of all clubs know that what happens in March stays in March. When a season is appraised, all that really matters in what happens in May: the 1981-82 season, when Liverpool were 12th at the turn of the year only to end up as champions, shows that. So if Liverpool can win the two competitions they are left in, the Europa League and the race for fourth – and they are the most accomplished side left in each of those, even if their form might not suggest as much – they will have redeemed their 2009-10 season to a large extent. Conversely, if they finish fifth or worse and go out of the Europa League in the last 16, even Rafael Benitez might admit that it’s time to call the whole thing off. What happens depends on which Liverpool is most in evidence fof the rest of the season: the granite-willed scrappers who earned hugely deserved victories at home to Manchester United and Everton this season, and should have done the same in their vital Champions League match in Lyon; the irresistible force which produced a stunning 41 goals in the final 13 games of last season; or the demoralised shower that have already lost 14 games this season. They will get a good test from Lille, who are the top scorers in Ligue 1 (try pronouncing that during a particularly debilitating constipation) and who have one of Europe’s hottest teenagers in the brilliant Belgian Eden Hazard, the first foreigner ever to win France’s Young Player of the Year award. Uefa Europa League Liverpool Lille Rob Smyth Minute-by-minute report guardian.co.uk
Ralph Fiennes takes on Coriolanus
The actor is making his film directorial debut with the Shakespeare tragedy about a brilliant Roman general, with himself in the lead role opposite Vanessa Redgrave and Gerard Butler Ralph Fiennes is poised to make his directing debut with a contemporary retelling of Coriolanus, the Shakespeare tragedy about a disputatious Roman general who leads a rebellion against the empire. Production starts next week in Belgrade. Not content with calling the shots from behind the camera, Fiennes will also star in the title role. Vanessa Redgrave plays his ambitious mother Volumnia, while Gerard Butler co-stars as Tullus Aufidius, the commander of an enemy army whom Coriolanus coaxes into an uneasy alliance. Brian Cox rounds out the cast as the Roman senator Menenius. John Logan, the screenwriter behind The Aviator and Gladiator, wrote the script. The production was first announced at last year’s Cannes film festival, where Fiennes was keen to present it as racy, exciting action thriller. “People who’ve read the script think it’s a page-turner,” he told Screen International. “I want it to be an edge-of-seat film.” Fiennes, 47, will next be seen in the Ricky Gervais comedy Cemetery Junction. Later this year he makes his final bow as Voldemort in the two-part Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows. Ralph Fiennes Period and historical William Shakespeare Xan Brooks guardian.co.uk
Alvin and the Chipmunks in 3D
It was, of course, inevitable. But it’s also dangerous. What might happen when singing rodents go stereoscopic? Because Alvin and the Chipmunks and Alvin and the Chipmunks: The Squeakquel left so many questions unanswered – questions like “Why won’t they make it stop?” and “Oh God, why won’t they make it stop?’ – a third Alvin & The Chipmunks film has just been announced for next year. And this time it’s going to be in 3D. But of course it is. Thanks to the success of Avatar, Alice in Wonderland and, to a lesser extent, The Final Destination, most upcoming films will be released in 3D. The final Harry Potter films will be in 3D. The next Toy Story will be in 3D. There’s talk of producing a 3D sequel to The Last Station – provisionally entitled The Laster Station: Tolstoy’s Comin’ Atcha! – just so that people can experience Christopher Plummer’s magnificent beard as if it was right there in front of them. So let’s not kid ourselves – Alvin and the Chipmunks 3D was always going to happen. But what’s it going to be like? That’s harder to say. Obviously all the classic moments from the last two films will have to be given a 3D makeover – like the poo-eating skit from the first film, the confusingly erotic performance of Beyonce’s Single Ladies (Put A Ring On It) by the three lady-chipmunks from The Squeakquel and the increasing look of desperation on David Cross’s face as he slowly sails away from his little island of credibility from both films – but what else? Well, there should at least be a nod to the Dramatic Chipmunk YouTube video . Imagine how amazing that would be – Alvin jolting his head around in three dimensions, threatening to take out the first seven rows of the cinema with his little furry snout. Or, failing that, some sort of horrible, needlessly graphic, three-dimensional extended orgy sequence between the chipmunks and the Chipettes. The technology’s there, so it’d be a shame to waste it. One thing that the Alvin and the Chipmunks producers should be wary of, however, is the manner in which they employ the 3D technology. The sensible thing to do would be to follow the example of Up and keep the effects as subtle as possible. You wouldn’t want, say, Theodore to pop right out of the screen during one of the film’s endless gratingly high-pitch song and dance numbers, for instance. Not only would it scare most of the children in the audience, but the parents – who by that point would be driven into a profound state of irritation by the film’s constant shrill inanity – would begin to involuntarily lash out at it. Then they’d end up punching the person in front of them in the back of the head, and the next thing you know the cinema would have a riot on its hands. Three-dimensional discretion would save the producers a lot of bother, trust me. And then there’s the title to think of. You can’t simply get away with calling it Alvin and the Chipmunks 3 or Alvin and the Chipmunks 3D, because the bar has already been set heroically high with The Squeakquel. Unless producers can invent a pun which can simultaneously convey that the film is a) about some chipmunks, b) the third part of a trilogy and c) being presented in 3D, then what’s the point of even making it? It’s tricky, too – try it. The best I could come up with after a full hour of head-scratching was Alvin and the Chipmunks Squee: Squee-Squee (Alvin and the Chipmunks 3: 3D), but that’s clearly not very good. Can anyone do better than that? Can you? 3D Animation Stuart Heritage guardian.co.uk
Changes in the Animated Film Industry
Technology and star power have contributed to the animation phenomenon, and animation—a genre that has its roots in children’s entertainment—is now more widespread and widely respected than ever before.
Animated films have been a part of our culture for just over 100 years. In 1906, a newspaper cartoonist named J. Stuart Blackton released the first fully [...]
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