November 2007 - Flick Wit

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Flick Wit - November 2007

Very Merry Movies

November 30th 2007 00:26

As a kid, I loved it when the TV stations would start to screen Christmas movies. It meant Santa was on his way, and I would soon receive a jumping castle, a flying fox and/or a Mexican walking fish. Of course, Santa never did deliver, but I still continued to delight in the movies, year in, year out. Even the bad ones. As long as they were about Christmas, I was full of cheer!

Santa failed to deliver - Image courtesy of bullz-eye.com

And not much has changed. Here are my thoughts on a few:

Ernest Saves Christmas
I reckoned this was the bee’s knees as a kid. Giggled like mad. Jim Varney was just too funny for words as Ernest (not to mention the two other characters he poses as); a slightly insane man with a strong code of ethics, a truck full of snakes and Santa’s magic sack.

Die hard
Ernest may have saved Christmas, but Bruce Willis saved the day from gun-wielding German robbers. As John McClane, he took high-rise heroics through the roof – and sometimes off it, all to the sound of carols and C4.

Miracle on 34th Street (1947 and 1994)
Faith and benevolence overcome cynicism and greed in this classic movie and its most well known remake.

The Grinch
The Ron Howard film based on the Dr Seuss book very appropriately stars rubber-faced Jim Carrey in the title role. The story is portrayed well enough, but it’s the costume and makeup work that steals the show.

Jim Carrey plays a strange green creature well - Image courtesy of answers.com

The Santa Clause
Tim Allen, as an obnoxious almost-absent father, ends up turning into a jolly fat man after Santa falls off the roof. A feel-good kids’ flick with a few trademark Allen gags.

It’s a Wonderful Life
One of Frank Capra’s best, an inspirational story of hope in the face of adversity. Despite initially being seen as a financial failure, the movie has since gone on to be listed by the American Film Institute as one of the best ever made.

Bad Santa
Not your traditional Christmas tale. Billy Bob Thornton is as seedy and slow-talking as ever in this demented comedy produced by the Coen and Weinstein brothers. With his drunken ravings and unsociable manner, Willy (that’s Billy) is the worst person to play Santa, and the best person to make this holiday flick hilarious.

Billy Bob in all his festive glory - Image courtesy of dvdinmypants.com

The Muppet Christmas Carol
Michael Caine is marvellous as Scrooge, and The Muppets are the perfect accompaniment. Made less than two years after the death of Jim Henson, it was produced and directed by his more than capable son, Brian.

White Christmas
For Bing Crosby and for the song.

So what is your favourite festive flick?

Michaelie Clark

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Posh To Be Sexy Spice?

November 26th 2007 18:33

Victoria Beckham has been given a guest role, hamming it up as herself, in the soon-to-be Sex and the City movie. Posh was poised to pick up the part, but had to pass – for the present – since her Spice Girls schedule superseded Sex. But the big bosses are doing their bit to get the Brit back on track. They are frantically fitting filming around her, fishing for free time in February.

Posh Spice - Image courtesy of westsidetale.com

Why so worried about the thick, yet wafer-thin, waif? Why do they want her? She wasn’t so wonderful elsewhere. Halliwell was hell as well. Save us from a second stupid Spice scene.

Ginger Spice in her Sex and the City moment - Image courtesy of mokkelboulevard.nl

Spice is for samosas, not Sex and the City.

Michaelie Clark

Link – SATC Cameo

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Remembering Roald Dahl

November 23rd 2007 08:11

As if we could ever forget him, when his legendary legacy lives on through every generation. Nevertheless, as today marks seventeen years since this amazing man’s extraordinary life came to an end, it’s a good time to look back at his trials and triumphs, and give tribute to those ever-so-wonderful stories of his.

Roald Dahl - Image courtesy of bbc.news.co.uk

Roald Dahl was born in Norway, and grew up in Wales and England with his mother after his sister died of appendicitis and his father of pneumonia when Roald was just three. He attended a number of schools, and was punished often for mischievous pranks, including putting a dead mouse in a jar of lollies in the store of a shopkeeper he thought “mean and loathsome”.

During his later days of school, Dahl became a keen photographer, and at almost two metres tall, pursued an interest in a number of sports. He also discovered a passion for chocolate, and would often daydream about inventing a chocolate bar fit to impress the likes of the Cadbury brothers.

After school, he worked for the Shell Petroleum Company for several years in Tanzania, in a position that offered many perks including a luxury house and personal servants, before becoming an officer in the King’s African Rifles just before the beginning of World War II. A month later, Dahl joined the Royal Air Force. He began training with a group of twenty men – only three of whom would survive the War – and flew solo for the first time after less than eight hours experience. Almost a year later, after being made Pilot Officer, Dahl was sent on an assignment in the wrong direction over the desert. He ran out of fuel, and was forced to attempt a landing. The landing was of the ‘crash’ variety, resulting in Dahl fracturing his skull, breaking his nose, and being rendered blind.

A younger Roald Dahl - Image courtesy of kevincmurphy.com

In hospital, recovering from his injuries, Dahl professed himself in love with a nurse tending him, so enamoured was he by the sound of her voice. Soon after, he regained his sight and realised he wasn’t in love with her at all. He returned to duty, playing a key role in several important battles and trying his hand at espionage, before ending the War as a Wing Commander.

Seven years after World War II ended, Dahl married Academy Award winning actress, Patricia Neal, and together they had five children, one of whom died of measles at seven years old. Another of the children was hit by a taxi while in his pram. He was severely injured, and suffered intracranial pressure due to fluid on the brain, which caused Dahl to become involved in the development of the Wade-Dahl-Till (WDT), an apparatus used to assuage the condition. While Neal was pregnant with their fifth child, she suffered three burst cerebral aneurisms, and had to undertake extensive rehabilitation in order to learn to walk and talk again. Eighteen years later, Neal and Dahl divorced, and Dahl eventually married his ex-wife’s ex-best-friend, Felicity d’Abreu Crosland, whom he remained with until he died of a rare blood disease in 1990, at the age of 74.

Actress Patricia Neal - Image courtesy of nndb.com

It already sounds like he had quite a remarkable life, doesn’t it? Yet the most remarkable thing of all was Roald Dahl’s incredible contribution to children’s literature. He also wrote a collection of non-fiction and fiction for adults, a play, many television scripts for Alfred Hitchcock Presents (one of which was later adapted by Quentin Tarantino) and several screenplays, but it was his poetry and fiction for children for which he will always be remembered.

Much of Dahl’s inspiration for his children’s stories can be traced to experiences in his own life. He began with The Gremlins in 1943, a tale of impish creatures who set out to destroy English planes, but who are eventually convinced to join forces with the Allies. Next came James and the Giant Peach, which tells of a young boy’s abuse at the hands of evil aunts. Evil adults versus kind adults, with the story told from a child's point of view, is a common theme in many of Dahl’s books, which can probably be attributed to his misery at boarding school and longing for his mother at home and the father he never really knew.

Three years after James and the Giant Peach, Dahl wrote what is possibly his most famous story, Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, conjured from his own childhood chocolate obsessions. In the following thirty-five years, he wrote The Magic Finger, Fantastic Mr Fox, Danny: The Champion of the World, The Enormous Crocodile, The Twits, The BFG (the idea for this was based on Norwegian folk tales told by his mother, and the central character based on his granddaughter, model Sophie Dahl), The Witches, Revolting Rhymes, Matilda and more. Seven of Dahl’s children’s stories have been made into films:

Charlie and the Chocolate Factory – film of the same name by Tim Burton, starring Johnny Depp and Freddie Highmore, plus the original Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory by Mel Stuart, starring Gene Wilder.

Gene Wilder as Willy Wonka - Image courtesy of art.com

Danny: Champion of the World – film of the same name, directed by Gavin Millar and starring Jeremy Irons, Robbie Coltrane and Cyril Cusack.

The BFG – film of the same name, an animated production directed by Brian Cosgrove.

The Witches – film of the same name, directed by Nicolas Roeg and starring Anjelica Houston and Rowan Atkinson.

Anjelica Houston as The Grand High Witch - Image courtesy of britmovie.com.uk

James and the Giant Peach – film of the same name, directed by Henry Selick and starring Paul Terry, Simon Callow, Richard Dreyfus, Susan Sarandon, Jane Leeves, Miriam Margoyles, David Thewlis and Johanna Lumley.

Matilda – film of the same name, directed by Danny Devito, and starring Mara Wilson, Pam Ferris and Danny Devito.

Fantastic Mr Fox - film of the same name, coming in 2009, directed by Wes Anderson and starring Cate Blanchett, George Clooney and Anjelica Houston.

The stories that Roald Dahl created were quirky and outrageous, and always a little bit naughty. They captured the minds and hearts of children the world over, inspiring them to read and promoting literacy – something Dahl had a lifelong commitment to. I would recommend each and every one of them, as they all contributed significantly to the joy of my childhood, and will no doubt continue to delight me until I’m as old as Grandpa Joe.

Michaelie Clark

Link – Roald Dahl Official Website
Link – Roald Dahl at IMDB

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Demands For 'Sex' - That Figures

November 21st 2007 17:24

It seems everyone’s been making demands on the set of Sex and the City: The Movie. We all know Kim Cattrall’s caper – she’s been very open about why she initially refused to be part of the production, and why she changed her mind several years on. She wanted more: more perks, and definitely more dosh. “It’s nice to step into Samantha’s skin again, but I’m only doing the film for the money,” the 51-year-old actress said.

Kim Catttrall needed the money - Image courtesy of eonline.com

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Great Flicks For Small Folk

November 19th 2007 18:18

No, I don’t mean movies with midgets – though, incidentally, I have included a few. I’m talking about kids’ films, suitable for adults of all ages. There was many a movie I marvelled at as a slightly wicked, yet adorable and charming child, and quite a few that still appeal to my inner imp now. Here are some of my favourites:

Mary Poppins, Bedknobs and Broomsticks, and Pete’s Dragon – All three originated in the 1960’s and 1970’s and combine live action with animation to glorious magical effect. The first two in particular are quite similar, with their magnificent adventures and discernible direction from Robert Stevenson

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Putting The Sex In 'Sex and the City'

November 13th 2007 09:58

The set of Sex and the City: The Movie is hotting up. New photos have emerged showing Carrie getting it on in a very Big way. Gossip about the film has been decidedly tame so far, and not so much in keeping with saucy sexploits of the past. Even though two of the Fab Four are married, and Carrie and Sam in serious relationships, it is by no means expected that they will settle down.

The sex is back - image courtesy of counterfeitchic.com

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Sensational New Snaps From The 'Sex' Set!

November 8th 2007 18:51

Over the last few weeks we have been given evidence aplenty of the continuing fashion-forward approach on the set of Sex and the City: The Movie. We have also gained more insight than is probably wise into the plot of the upcoming flick. But what’s a girl to do? When they keep putting it out there, how can we resist the urge to peek?

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RE: Sexiest Movie Moments

November 7th 2007 19:15

I like 20 to 01 on Channel Nine. I find it enjoyable. So when I saw Bewigged Bert was presenting a new episode entitled ‘Sexiest Movie Moments’, I thought it would be well worth watching. And it was – but it also annoyed this post out of me.

Old Moonface - Image courtesy of news.com.au

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NY Mayor To Star In 'Sex' Scene

November 7th 2007 11:56

The Honourable Michael Bloomberg, billionaire mayor of New York, is to appear in the upcoming movie version of Sex and the City. Bloomberg, who was listed by Forbes this year as being worth $11.5 billion, apparently agreed to the non-speaking cameo role after SATC producers requested his participation. The scene will be shot in Bryant Park, Manhattan.

Mayor is up for 'Sex' - Image courtesy of thenoseonyourface.com

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Rowland Not 'Sex' Material & SJP Gets Feather In Her Cap

November 5th 2007 19:19

Kelly Rowland, best known for her singing career with Destiny’s Child and her debut film role in Freddy vs. Jason, has revealed she auditioned for a part in Sex and the City: The Movie a couple of weeks ago – and was turned down at stage one. “I guess it wasn’t meant to be,” the singer told OK! magazine.

SATC just isn't Rowland's destiny - Image courtesy of aceshowbiz.com

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Movies With The Moves

November 4th 2007 00:49

A popular plot theme in the sphere of film is certainly the stance of dance.

It’s about kicks and twirls, boys and girls; rhythm and grace and groove; it’s about spinning around, pounding the ground, showcasing every move. Below is a list that shouldn’t be missed, of films on movement and dance; some are umbrageous, some are outrageous, and one involves dance without pants

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