A satisfying reinvigoration of Tove Jansson’s children’s classic has John Patterson reminiscing about his childhood, and an early classroom crush
Tove Jansson’s Finn Family Moomintroll was the first book that made me want to read on my own. In 1971, I was seven and my form teacher at All Saints Primary School, Miss Jones, would read it to the class at the end of each school day. I was enraptured by it all: Moomin Valley, Moomintroll and Sniff, Snufkin and his pipe and mouth organ, the cantankerous botanist called the Hemulen, the Hobgoblin’s magical hat, and what happened when the Muskrat absent-mindedly dropped his false teeth into it.
I loved Miss Jones. She was youngish with big henna’d hair, wore black zip-up knee boots and a flashy leather raincoat, and zipped around in a little convertible Mg looking like Tara King, the forgotten Avengers girl between Mrs Peel and Purdey.
Tove Jansson’s Finn Family Moomintroll was the first book that made me want to read on my own. In 1971, I was seven and my form teacher at All Saints Primary School, Miss Jones, would read it to the class at the end of each school day. I was enraptured by it all: Moomin Valley, Moomintroll and Sniff, Snufkin and his pipe and mouth organ, the cantankerous botanist called the Hemulen, the Hobgoblin’s magical hat, and what happened when the Muskrat absent-mindedly dropped his false teeth into it.
I loved Miss Jones. She was youngish with big henna’d hair, wore black zip-up knee boots and a flashy leather raincoat, and zipped around in a little convertible Mg looking like Tara King, the forgotten Avengers girl between Mrs Peel and Purdey.
- 1/12/2015
- by John Patterson
- The Guardian - Film News
Books and films have been joined at the hip ever since the earliest days of cinema, and adaptations of novels have regularly provided audiences with the classier end of the film spectrum. Here, the Guardian and Observer's critics pick the 10 best
• Top 10 family movies
• Top 10 war movies
• Top 10 teen movies
• Top 10 superhero movies
• Top 10 westerns
• Top 10 documentaries
• More Guardian and Observer critics' top 10s
10. Planet of the Apes
Although the source novel, La Planète des Singes, was written by Frenchman Pierre Boule and originally reached its futureshock climax in Paris, this enduring sci-fi fantasy is profoundly American, putting Charlton Heston's steel-jawed patriotism to incredible use. It also holds up surprisingly well as a jarring allegory for the population's fears over escalating cold war tensions.
Beginning with a spaceship crash-landing on an unknown planet after years of cryogenic sleep, Franklin J Schaffner's film soon gets into gear as Heston's upstanding...
• Top 10 family movies
• Top 10 war movies
• Top 10 teen movies
• Top 10 superhero movies
• Top 10 westerns
• Top 10 documentaries
• More Guardian and Observer critics' top 10s
10. Planet of the Apes
Although the source novel, La Planète des Singes, was written by Frenchman Pierre Boule and originally reached its futureshock climax in Paris, this enduring sci-fi fantasy is profoundly American, putting Charlton Heston's steel-jawed patriotism to incredible use. It also holds up surprisingly well as a jarring allegory for the population's fears over escalating cold war tensions.
Beginning with a spaceship crash-landing on an unknown planet after years of cryogenic sleep, Franklin J Schaffner's film soon gets into gear as Heston's upstanding...
- 11/15/2013
- The Guardian - Film News
Directors Guild of America overlooks trio for directorial achievement prize, traditionally regarded as Oscars bellwether
The 2013 Oscar hopes of film-makers such as Quentin Tarantino, David O Russell and Paul Thomas Anderson have suffered a setback after they were snubbed by the influential Directors Guild of America awards.
Announcing its nominations for directorial achievement in film-making over the past year, the guild named Steven Spielberg (Lincoln), Kathryn Bigelow (Zero Dark Thirty), Tom Hooper (Les Miserables), Ben Affleck (Argo) and Ang Lee (Life of Pi) as its nominees for 2013. The organisation's annual rundown is seen as one of the most reliable indicators of Oscar success because many of its members also vote for the best director prize at the Academy awards. In both 2011 and 2012, four out of the guild's five nominees subsequently found themselves in the frame for the equivalent Oscar.
The news means that Tarantino may not receive an Oscar nod...
The 2013 Oscar hopes of film-makers such as Quentin Tarantino, David O Russell and Paul Thomas Anderson have suffered a setback after they were snubbed by the influential Directors Guild of America awards.
Announcing its nominations for directorial achievement in film-making over the past year, the guild named Steven Spielberg (Lincoln), Kathryn Bigelow (Zero Dark Thirty), Tom Hooper (Les Miserables), Ben Affleck (Argo) and Ang Lee (Life of Pi) as its nominees for 2013. The organisation's annual rundown is seen as one of the most reliable indicators of Oscar success because many of its members also vote for the best director prize at the Academy awards. In both 2011 and 2012, four out of the guild's five nominees subsequently found themselves in the frame for the equivalent Oscar.
The news means that Tarantino may not receive an Oscar nod...
- 1/9/2013
- by Ben Child
- The Guardian - Film News
Catch up with the last seven days in the world of film
The big story
Yes, we know Hulk was last week's biggie, but you just can't keep Avengers Assemble, or whatever it's called, out of the news. For a few days last month, everyone was fixated on The Hunger Games' box office – but now Avengers has exposed it for the shrimp it is by recording the largest ever opening weekend in the Us.
Bizarrely, initial reports even underestimated its pulling power: the studio estimate was for $200.3m (becoming the first film to break $200m for its bow), but when the final figures came in it totalled $207.4m, flattening Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2's previous high water mark in the process.
In all honesty, Avengers Assemble was everywhere this week. Before, as fans got ready for the big lift off. During, when Sam Jackson (Nick Fury...
The big story
Yes, we know Hulk was last week's biggie, but you just can't keep Avengers Assemble, or whatever it's called, out of the news. For a few days last month, everyone was fixated on The Hunger Games' box office – but now Avengers has exposed it for the shrimp it is by recording the largest ever opening weekend in the Us.
Bizarrely, initial reports even underestimated its pulling power: the studio estimate was for $200.3m (becoming the first film to break $200m for its bow), but when the final figures came in it totalled $207.4m, flattening Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2's previous high water mark in the process.
In all honesty, Avengers Assemble was everywhere this week. Before, as fans got ready for the big lift off. During, when Sam Jackson (Nick Fury...
- 5/10/2012
- The Guardian - Film News
John Flynn's Rolling Thunder is finally out on DVD. He may not have made enough films, says John Patterson, but when he did, the script came first
John Flynn's Rolling Thunder (1977), available this week for the first time on DVD, takes you back to a time when Hollywood still made grown-up medium-budget thrillers like Charley Varrick, Mr Majestyk or Jackson County Jail. Flynn died in 2007 and never made enough movies; this one reminds us how good he was.
Rolling Thunder was written by Paul Schrader and – like Sydney Pollack's The Yakuza, written by Schrader and his brother Leonard – it signposts themes and imagery that would obsess Schrader in his own movies: Vietnam veterans, samurai ethics, and orgasmic explosions of cathartically violent revenge. Oh, and horribly mutilated hands. POWs Rane (William Devane) and Voden (Tommy Lee Jones) return to Texas after years of torture in a Hanoi prison.
John Flynn's Rolling Thunder (1977), available this week for the first time on DVD, takes you back to a time when Hollywood still made grown-up medium-budget thrillers like Charley Varrick, Mr Majestyk or Jackson County Jail. Flynn died in 2007 and never made enough movies; this one reminds us how good he was.
Rolling Thunder was written by Paul Schrader and – like Sydney Pollack's The Yakuza, written by Schrader and his brother Leonard – it signposts themes and imagery that would obsess Schrader in his own movies: Vietnam veterans, samurai ethics, and orgasmic explosions of cathartically violent revenge. Oh, and horribly mutilated hands. POWs Rane (William Devane) and Voden (Tommy Lee Jones) return to Texas after years of torture in a Hanoi prison.
- 2/4/2012
- by John Patterson
- The Guardian - Film News
Maybe the season of goodwill has done something to John Patterson but he's full of fond memories of 2011. Just don't mention Your Highness ...
I live in Los Angeles, I have a nice, powerful, old muscle car and I love driving too fast on the beautiful freeways that are supposed to be the bane of our city. Surprise, surprise then, Drive was one of my favourite movies this year (though only after a reluctant second viewing turned me around). Like John Boorman in Point Blank, the Dane Nicolas Winding Refn eats up the city with his outsider's eyes – and kills a lot of people very nastily, as is his habit. Refn earns his place in any revised version of Thom Anderson's Los Angeles Plays Itself. The city hasn't looked this good, or bad, since Michael Mann's Collateral.
Another Scandinavian exile, Sweden's Tomas Alfredson, tackled the bygone mores of 1970s British...
I live in Los Angeles, I have a nice, powerful, old muscle car and I love driving too fast on the beautiful freeways that are supposed to be the bane of our city. Surprise, surprise then, Drive was one of my favourite movies this year (though only after a reluctant second viewing turned me around). Like John Boorman in Point Blank, the Dane Nicolas Winding Refn eats up the city with his outsider's eyes – and kills a lot of people very nastily, as is his habit. Refn earns his place in any revised version of Thom Anderson's Los Angeles Plays Itself. The city hasn't looked this good, or bad, since Michael Mann's Collateral.
Another Scandinavian exile, Sweden's Tomas Alfredson, tackled the bygone mores of 1970s British...
- 12/24/2011
- by John Patterson
- The Guardian - Film News
This was the week that Eddie Murphy baled out of the Oscars, leaving the way clear for the some fabric puppets
The big story
Once upon a time the Oscar ceremony was a comforting drone punctuated only by the odd song-and-dance routine and the banshee wailing of overwhelmed best actress award winners. Not any more. Someone, somewhere, decided it had to get "edgy". Last time, they had cool young persons in the shape of James Franco and Anne Hathaway introducing it - and look how that worked out.
The big idea for 2012 was to hire a bona fide Hollywood hotshot, so naturally the word went out for Brett Ratner. Yes, well... he made Rush Hour 2, you know. No sooner had Ratner persuaded his mucker Eddie Murphy to act as the show's host (an inspired choice, we give him that) then he was promptly ejected from his co-producer role after...
The big story
Once upon a time the Oscar ceremony was a comforting drone punctuated only by the odd song-and-dance routine and the banshee wailing of overwhelmed best actress award winners. Not any more. Someone, somewhere, decided it had to get "edgy". Last time, they had cool young persons in the shape of James Franco and Anne Hathaway introducing it - and look how that worked out.
The big idea for 2012 was to hire a bona fide Hollywood hotshot, so naturally the word went out for Brett Ratner. Yes, well... he made Rush Hour 2, you know. No sooner had Ratner persuaded his mucker Eddie Murphy to act as the show's host (an inspired choice, we give him that) then he was promptly ejected from his co-producer role after...
- 11/11/2011
- The Guardian - Film News
That was the week in which Roland Emmerich applied his delicate style to the Bard and our writers fessed up to their favourite films
The big story
Roland Emmerich likes to destroy things. We in the film world know this: we've watched him blow the planet up for years. Let's face it, it's why we love him. But the theatre world is less familiar with his style, and this week they have been traumatised by the unleashing of his new film Anonymous, with which, in characteristic fashion, Emmerich attempts to completely obliterate the reputation of William Shakespeare.
Arguably the most inspired response to the German director's waste-laying ways came from the Shakespeare Birthplace Trust, who this week took to graffitting road signs to make their point. A very sophisticated one, we should point out - if Shakespeare was "anonymous", see, then he doesn't exist. Emmerich is no doubt pulling together...
The big story
Roland Emmerich likes to destroy things. We in the film world know this: we've watched him blow the planet up for years. Let's face it, it's why we love him. But the theatre world is less familiar with his style, and this week they have been traumatised by the unleashing of his new film Anonymous, with which, in characteristic fashion, Emmerich attempts to completely obliterate the reputation of William Shakespeare.
Arguably the most inspired response to the German director's waste-laying ways came from the Shakespeare Birthplace Trust, who this week took to graffitting road signs to make their point. A very sophisticated one, we should point out - if Shakespeare was "anonymous", see, then he doesn't exist. Emmerich is no doubt pulling together...
- 10/27/2011
- The Guardian - Film News
The Dark Knight Rises shoot heads to New York later this month. Will Christopher Nolan use the anti-capitalist protests as a backdrop?
The big story
Whispers from the Dark Knight Rises set suggest that Christopher Nolan may shoot part of his third Batman film against the backdrop of the Occupy Wall Street protests. The production will rumble into New York on the 29th of October, bringing the caped crusader face to face with the thousands in Manhattan's Zuccotti Park now in their second month of protest against the capitalist system. You know - the one that gets movies like the Dark Knight Rises made.
Some would fear a clash of ideals. Director Christopher Nolan apparently sees an opportunity, with the Times suggesting that the demonstrations could be used as a setting for scenes from the film. Whether the arrival of the shoot will add another item to the protestors' list...
The big story
Whispers from the Dark Knight Rises set suggest that Christopher Nolan may shoot part of his third Batman film against the backdrop of the Occupy Wall Street protests. The production will rumble into New York on the 29th of October, bringing the caped crusader face to face with the thousands in Manhattan's Zuccotti Park now in their second month of protest against the capitalist system. You know - the one that gets movies like the Dark Knight Rises made.
Some would fear a clash of ideals. Director Christopher Nolan apparently sees an opportunity, with the Times suggesting that the demonstrations could be used as a setting for scenes from the film. Whether the arrival of the shoot will add another item to the protestors' list...
- 10/20/2011
- by Henry Barnes
- The Guardian - Film News
Sean Penn asked Hugo Chávez to push for the release of Us hikers Joshua Fattal and Shane Bauer. But was he even more involved than that? ...
The big story
The Iranian night rushed against Penn's skin as he landed the base jump on the roof of the prison. The first guard heard nothing. The second too was fair game - quickly collapsing under a blow from a hand that had held Academy Awards twice over. It was sweet and lowdown work. War made easy.
The hostages greeted him with amazement: "I loved you in Mystic Ri-" "Shhhhhh." Penn hissed. "Follow me or you're a dead man walking."
None of which happened of course. But when you read headlines like "Sean Penn aided release of Us hikers" (and watch a lot of action movies) it's easy to let your imagination run wild.
In fact, Penn was in the news this week...
The big story
The Iranian night rushed against Penn's skin as he landed the base jump on the roof of the prison. The first guard heard nothing. The second too was fair game - quickly collapsing under a blow from a hand that had held Academy Awards twice over. It was sweet and lowdown work. War made easy.
The hostages greeted him with amazement: "I loved you in Mystic Ri-" "Shhhhhh." Penn hissed. "Follow me or you're a dead man walking."
None of which happened of course. But when you read headlines like "Sean Penn aided release of Us hikers" (and watch a lot of action movies) it's easy to let your imagination run wild.
In fact, Penn was in the news this week...
- 9/29/2011
- by Henry Barnes
- The Guardian - Film News
It's all about the Venice film festival this week, and Xan Brooks is our man on the Lido, comparing notes with George Clooney and explaining one or two things to Madonna
The big story
Men want to be him, women want to be with him. That's how we like to think of dashing, debonair Xan Brooks who, like Roger Moore in The Spy Who Loved Me, has swanned off down to Venice for a spot of international jet-set action. In other words, the Venice film festival has got underway, and his opening video missive sees Xan lounging in typically suave manner on the steps of the Palazzo del Cinema. Later on, the Xanster got to run the rule over George Clooney, the man who has learned everything he knows about charm from our Mr Brooks. Clooney's latest directorial effort, The Ides of March, launched the festival, and you can read...
The big story
Men want to be him, women want to be with him. That's how we like to think of dashing, debonair Xan Brooks who, like Roger Moore in The Spy Who Loved Me, has swanned off down to Venice for a spot of international jet-set action. In other words, the Venice film festival has got underway, and his opening video missive sees Xan lounging in typically suave manner on the steps of the Palazzo del Cinema. Later on, the Xanster got to run the rule over George Clooney, the man who has learned everything he knows about charm from our Mr Brooks. Clooney's latest directorial effort, The Ides of March, launched the festival, and you can read...
- 9/1/2011
- by Andrew Pulver
- The Guardian - Film News
Ten years after his breakthrough, Don Cheadle has changed gears. He tells John Patterson about pranks, poker and that infamous 'London' accent
This is not the first time I've met Don Cheadle. That was 10 years ago, and I remind him of this when we meet again at his office in a fancy part of Santa Monica, about five blocks from the ocean. He told me back then to meet him in a public park in Santa Monica at 8am (thanks a bunch, Don) where I duly fetched up 10 minutes early. After about 20 minutes' wait, I noticed a young man lying spreadeagled under a tree 50ft away, looking hungover or derelict. After another 10 minutes, I started getting paranoid, as I remembered that Cheadle had spent time recently with master-prankster George Clooney on Ocean's Eleven. The more my thoughts ran this way, the more the man under the tree began vaguely to resemble the lean,...
This is not the first time I've met Don Cheadle. That was 10 years ago, and I remind him of this when we meet again at his office in a fancy part of Santa Monica, about five blocks from the ocean. He told me back then to meet him in a public park in Santa Monica at 8am (thanks a bunch, Don) where I duly fetched up 10 minutes early. After about 20 minutes' wait, I noticed a young man lying spreadeagled under a tree 50ft away, looking hungover or derelict. After another 10 minutes, I started getting paranoid, as I remembered that Cheadle had spent time recently with master-prankster George Clooney on Ocean's Eleven. The more my thoughts ran this way, the more the man under the tree began vaguely to resemble the lean,...
- 8/12/2011
- by John Patterson
- The Guardian - Film News
Michael Moore has nominated Matt Damon as a candidate for the Us presidency
The big story
My fellow cine-fans: The 45th president of the United States of America. The Commander in Chief of the Us air force, army and navy. The new, new hope. Matt Damon.
At least, if Michael Moore had his way. The rambunctious documentary director tipped the Bourne franchise star for the 2012 Democratic ticket earlier this week, describing Damon's stance against Barack Obama's administration as "courageous".
"If you wanna win, the Republicans have certainly shown the way: that when you run someone who is popular, you win," Moore told firedoglake.com. "Sometimes even when you run an actor, you win. I only throw his name out there because I'd like us to start thinking that way ..."
Moore has Matty in mind because Damon, who campaigned for the Democrats in the run-up to the 2008 election, has become...
The big story
My fellow cine-fans: The 45th president of the United States of America. The Commander in Chief of the Us air force, army and navy. The new, new hope. Matt Damon.
At least, if Michael Moore had his way. The rambunctious documentary director tipped the Bourne franchise star for the 2012 Democratic ticket earlier this week, describing Damon's stance against Barack Obama's administration as "courageous".
"If you wanna win, the Republicans have certainly shown the way: that when you run someone who is popular, you win," Moore told firedoglake.com. "Sometimes even when you run an actor, you win. I only throw his name out there because I'd like us to start thinking that way ..."
Moore has Matty in mind because Damon, who campaigned for the Democrats in the run-up to the 2008 election, has become...
- 8/11/2011
- by Henry Barnes
- The Guardian - Film News
After last year's men-only affair, the Cannes film festival decided to give women a shot at the big prize
The big story
You wait two years for a female director at Cannes and then four come along at once. The French film festival has corrected last year's gender imbalance, which saw not one single female director selected for the main competition list, by lining up a quartet of women contenders. British director, Lynne Ramsay made the cut with We Need to Talk About Kevin, alongside Japan's Naomi Kawase, France's Maiwenn Le Besco and the Australian Julia Leigh. Whether any of them can match Jane Campion and become only the second female winner of the Palme D'Or remains to be seen, but if they do walk off with the booty they'll need to beware pirates.
In other news
• Sidney Lumet dies aged 86
• Sony joins James Bond rescue
• Catherine Zeta-Jones checks into...
The big story
You wait two years for a female director at Cannes and then four come along at once. The French film festival has corrected last year's gender imbalance, which saw not one single female director selected for the main competition list, by lining up a quartet of women contenders. British director, Lynne Ramsay made the cut with We Need to Talk About Kevin, alongside Japan's Naomi Kawase, France's Maiwenn Le Besco and the Australian Julia Leigh. Whether any of them can match Jane Campion and become only the second female winner of the Palme D'Or remains to be seen, but if they do walk off with the booty they'll need to beware pirates.
In other news
• Sidney Lumet dies aged 86
• Sony joins James Bond rescue
• Catherine Zeta-Jones checks into...
- 4/14/2011
- The Guardian - Film News
The case: courtroom movies are a crime against cinema. The accused? Matthew McConaughey's latest. Judge John Patterson will see you now
The arrival of handsome-super-lawyer flick The Lincoln Lawyer reminds me of an old bugbear: we need to crack down on courtroom movies and legal thrillers, and especially courtroom-showdown climaxes in otherwise non-legal movies. Getting the law involved just kills a movie stone dead every time.
In that last category alone there are dozens of movies that simply throw in the storytelling towel in the last act and allow their narratives to become enmeshed in the courtroom Sargasso of legal back-and-forth, declamatory utterances by the attorneys and whatever character-acting old geezer is today manning the bench. Films as diverse as Eureka, They Drive By Night and White Squall were all roaring along nicely until they screeched to a halt in courtrooms 20 minutes before their actual running-times expired.
Now, there...
The arrival of handsome-super-lawyer flick The Lincoln Lawyer reminds me of an old bugbear: we need to crack down on courtroom movies and legal thrillers, and especially courtroom-showdown climaxes in otherwise non-legal movies. Getting the law involved just kills a movie stone dead every time.
In that last category alone there are dozens of movies that simply throw in the storytelling towel in the last act and allow their narratives to become enmeshed in the courtroom Sargasso of legal back-and-forth, declamatory utterances by the attorneys and whatever character-acting old geezer is today manning the bench. Films as diverse as Eureka, They Drive By Night and White Squall were all roaring along nicely until they screeched to a halt in courtrooms 20 minutes before their actual running-times expired.
Now, there...
- 3/12/2011
- by John Patterson
- The Guardian - Film News
… either way, she needs to get round to making some better films than The Tourist, says John Patterson
I can't decide: is Angelina Jolie trying to be Audrey Hepburn or Elizabeth Taylor? There are some odd parallels between Jolie – beyond her adopted English accent in The Tourist – and both of her precursors in the heady world of paparazzi flashbulbs, ceaseless scrutiny, and the labours involved in being the most famous beautiful movie star on the planet.
Like Taylor, she's married to the superstar male beau of his generation, though the Brangelina coupling offers little of the alcohol- and poetry-fuelled devilry of Burton-Taylor. Like Hepburn, she is the estranged daughter of a rightwing nutcase, Audrey's Hitler-fancying pater having dived headlong into the British Union of Fascists in the 30s, while Jolie's dad Jon Voight has long since sailed off the rightward edge of the Earth.
Jolie has made almost as...
I can't decide: is Angelina Jolie trying to be Audrey Hepburn or Elizabeth Taylor? There are some odd parallels between Jolie – beyond her adopted English accent in The Tourist – and both of her precursors in the heady world of paparazzi flashbulbs, ceaseless scrutiny, and the labours involved in being the most famous beautiful movie star on the planet.
Like Taylor, she's married to the superstar male beau of his generation, though the Brangelina coupling offers little of the alcohol- and poetry-fuelled devilry of Burton-Taylor. Like Hepburn, she is the estranged daughter of a rightwing nutcase, Audrey's Hitler-fancying pater having dived headlong into the British Union of Fascists in the 30s, while Jolie's dad Jon Voight has long since sailed off the rightward edge of the Earth.
Jolie has made almost as...
- 12/4/2010
- by John Patterson
- The Guardian - Film News
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