Brad Pitt's smile?

I feel the most interesting aspect of the 84th Annual Academy Awards ceremony, taking place on Sunday, was Brad Pitt's weird smile.

Is it just me, or does he look different from usual? Where is the million dollar grin? Other than that I have nothing to contribute to the subject other than 'Oh, what a surprise! Well done The Artist. Well done'. 

FILM: Wrath of / Laugh @ the Titans?

Although I previously may have slated Warner Brothers’ remake of Clash of the Titans (Louis Leterrier, 2010), this was down to my high expectations of it.

Troy, Gladiator and of course 300 have set the mark for ancient mythological action film in recent years, and under this expectation I placed Clash.

Well, I was underwhelmed. In short, the script was weak, the acting wooden, and the characterisation so bleak that I didn’t care who was picked off by the gorgon, or run through by a giant scorpion. But all of this I could have lived with if it wasn’t for the lame excuse for mythological fiends: the gorgon, scorpions and – worst of all – abysmally short screen time of the Kraken, which to me harked back to the moment in Lake Placid when a second genetically enlarged crocodile is discovered only for it to be killed within (no word of a lie, my friend and I geekily timed it) thirty seconds, accompanied with the immortal line from Brendan Gleeson “back to one!”.

The Kraken: now you see me, now I'm dead.

In general I found Clash try-hard and empty, scarcely living up to the visceral and hyperbolic drama of 300, or the emotional intensity of Gladiator.

But the reasons I’m dragging this argument into the present is, as you may know, Clash’s sequel Wrath of the Titans is set for UK release on 30^th March. I was fortunate enough last year to visit the production design of this film, which included a clay two-headed beast, eight foot tall in reality but multiplied to giant proportions in the film, as you can examine here:

(the dude second from the right)

Of course the creature will majorly be tampered with in post production, which means the final product audiences will experience will be a CGI animation. This is a shame as I know how much time and effort was put into making a physical representation of the thing, and in my opinion product design has usurped digital animation in realism, but evidently – and perhaps swayed by the lower cost of CGI – Hollywood disagrees.

Anyway I’m warily excited for the next release in the Titans franchise, which promises more action, more beasts, and more of the hench Sam Worthington in its heroic leading role. And lets be honest, who can complain about that? 

FILM: The Woman In Black

I had no problem - unlike others who were disgruntled by the fact that the former Harry Potter actor didn’t burst into the ill-lit dingy rooms of the haunted house brandishing a wand and bellowing ‘EXPELLIARMUS’ - in adapting my perception of Daniel Radcliffe in this film. Although learning the script must have been a doddle due to the general lack of dialogue throughout, I felt his acting convincing enough to be involved in and convinced by the narrative.

Which brings me to admit that yes, I was petrified to the point of contorting up against my boyfriend like I had been struck by full-body cramp during the many tension filled points, and squeezing his hand to the extent that I afterwards had to apologise. It’s a typical ghost story, stuffed with many of the thrills and conventions that define that genre; but here they are expertly executed.

By the roll of the credits it felt like I’d had an encounter with a dementor.