Oz The Great and Powerful

I wonder how that wizard ever ended up in Oz. Said no one ever. None the less, Sam Raimi decided it was something to look into so here we have Oz the Great and Powerful; a decent if somewhat unnecessary prequel to the 1939 classic.

We begin in black and white 4:3 ratio Kansas with the titular wizard (played by the ever present James Franco) doing his thing on the fairground circuit. Oz dreams of greatness but his silver tongue and his wild ambitions seem to only be getting him into hot water. An air ballooned getaway from one such incident sends Oz into the path of an oncoming tornado which transports him to the Land of Oz and blows the film into lush wide-screen colour. From here he encounters two witches (played by Mila Kunis and Rachel Weiss) who inform him of his prophesised arrival. The tale goes that a great Wizard will fall from the sky and slay the evil witch so Oz enlists a monkey sidekick (head-meltingly voiced by Zach Braff) and an exquisitely animated porcelain girl (Joey King) and heads out to do just that.

It’s tough to shake that whiff of insignificance but some of Oz still works. Aside from a rather tame Wicked Witch there are still glimpses of Raimi’s horror chops- Bruce Campbell even pops up for a brief cameo- but perhaps the best part is Franco’s dozy performance which provides a nice reminder of how affable he can be when he isn't trying so bloody hard.

Oslo, August 31st 

Having taken leave of rehabilitation for a job interview, Anders (Anders Danielson Lie) embarks on a 24 hour odyssey of old friends, parties, rejection and regret through the streets of the Norwegian capitol, gradually observing the extent with which the city has left him behind. Shot in the crisp Scandinavian autumn light and anchored by Danielson’s wonderfully reserved and sombre performance, Oslo triumphs as a young man’s efforts to confront the affliction his friends and family seem so hopeless to acknowledge.

G.I. JOE: Retaliation

While on a mission to confiscate some nukes from the usual bunch of pesky Arabs, an elite group of U.S. commandos called The JOEs are forced to go rogue when a man disguised as their president (Jonathon Pryce) turns the U.S. military against them and obliterates most of their team. It seems even bigger things are afoot too as the Cobra commander- the JOE’s arch nemesis- escapes from his underground prison and begins to hatch his evil plans. The JOEs must regroup and reload before the Cobra has the chance to unleash the mysterious Project Zeus and rule the world etc.

Expectations were never going to be too high for this one. The Rock stars as someone called Roadblock and there’s a serious amount of “AMERICA, FUCK YEAH” going around… and yet… it’s not so bad. Director Jon M. Chu, the man apparently behind the Step Up sequels, whips up some solid high-stakes action sequences; The RZA shows up briefly to do his quaint Shao Lin thing and Jonathon Pryce gives a seductively slimy turn as a villainous U.S. prez who even squeezes in a decent Bono gag.

All that said, we shouldn’t be getting too far ahead of ourselves- after all, it’s still the sequel to a film based on some fairly unremarkable toys - but maybe don’t go running for the hills just yet. 

Sehsüchte Festival

Now in its 42^nd year, the biggest film festival for the students- and by the students- in Europe returns to Potsdam’s Konrad Wolf University for its annual festivities, screening hundreds of films from around the globe on both the University campus and the grounds of Potsdam’s world famous Babelsberg studios. In Berlin film Captain Oscar, two friends make a deal to share a bed but then must cope with their ever increasing affections. Also screening will be Through the lens of inkedKenny in which A Montreal photographer seeks to capture the city’s gay bear community. Outside of the festival’s sizeable core program there will be plenty of room for copious networking as well as some tasty sounding retrospectives. The Retro/Futuro section will be examining the evolution of narrative forms and technical innovations in the past and present including a special screening of the silent expressionist classic The Cabinet Of Dr. Caligari with live accompaniment from electronica band ALP. The Schreibsüchte contest to find the best script will see participants pitching their story to a live audience and jury of experts as well as having their dialogue read out by a group of voice actors. While the Current and Controversial section will be focusing on defining excess, both social and financial, in the cinematic world.

Spring Breakers

Harmony Korine’s rampant return to feature films is a loud and garish look at the Britney loving youths of Beach Party MTV and while seemingly bright, thrilling and drenched in EDM tack, with Korine pulling the strings it’s clear that something more sinister is at work.

Teen stars Selena Gomez, Venessa Hudgens and Ashley Benson join Korine’s wife Rachel to play four tempestuous college students who, following a slick one-shot diner hold up, set off on a spring break trip of partying and debauchery. A police bust leaves the girls in prison where they turn to Alien, a RIFF RAFF –channelling Pied Piper played by James Franco, to bail them out. A whirlwind of escalating madness and depravity ensues causing shifts in the group’s eerie dynamic as Alien succumbs to his newfound Sirens.

  The casting really is a phenomenon. Franco provides a welcome break from his baffling descent into half-baked art projects with a great turn as Alien but the squeaky clean girls backing him up are the film’s defining coup. Art wickedly imitates life as Korine dangles the golden carrot of artistic integrity in front of his young starlets.

Korine was 17 years old when he wrote Larry Clark’s Kids and with Spring Breakers  it’s clear the great agent provocateur has lost none of his edge,  a bold, uncompromising director whose work feels as fresh today as it did almost two decades ago. 

Fantasy Filmfest Nights: Stoker

For a weekend in mid-March the ever popular Fantasy Filmfest will return for a springtime instalment and while smaller than its Autumnal counterpart the confident and compact programme should prove a welcome diversion from all those post Berlinale blues. As ever, Sci-Fi and Horror are on the cards with a few big hitters and some promising debutants providing the thrills.

Following the death of her father a gifted girl (Mia Wasikowska) enters a game of cat and mouse with her mysterious Uncle(Matthew Goode) in Park Chan Wook’s Stoker. Well received at Sundance, the Oldboy director’s first English language work is sure to be the weekend’s hottest ticket; Tanked on a new drug called “Soy Sauce”, Paul Giamatti and his friend John must defend the earth from a surreal invasion in the spoilerifically titled John Dies at the End, the latest offering from legendary cult director Don Coscarelli; Oscar winning director Barry Levinson takes a shot at the found footage genre with eco-terror piece The Bay; 26 directors (Including Ben Wheatley) contribute a short piece on death, each one based on a letter of the alphabet in The ABCs of Death; Also screening are debut works from Juan Carlos Medina (Painless), long time horror prosthetics artist Paul Hyett (The Seasoning House) and Irishman Ciarán Foy (Citadel). 

Safe Haven

A girl on the run finds sanctuary in the quaint town of Southport. Taking on a new identity, Katie (Julianne Hough) begins to set up a new life. Here she meets handsome widower Alex (Josh Duhamel) and the pair begin to go through the motions. They ride Kayaks and kiss in the rain- she even charms his kids- but, just as the mush levels hit critical, the skeletons in Katie’s closet show up to crash the party.

Spring Breakers sees Harmony Korine return with his tongue in cheek and his finger still firmly on the pulse in a compelling film that is loud and provocative with a tone somewhere between Beach Party MTV and early Criss Cuningham. A sun-soaked binge of a movie filled with booze, drugs and commercial dub-step.

Teen stars Selena Gomez, Venessa Hudgens and Ashley Benson join Korine’s wife Rachel to play four young and beautiful college students. After holding up a restaurant, the girls set off on a spring break trip of partying and debauchery. Following a police bust the spring breakers find themselves in prison and, refusing to call their parents, they’re at a loss. That’s until Alien (a very on form James Franco) decides to bail them out and take them under his wing, not realising what he’s dealing with until the girls begin to pull the strings.

Korine’s casting is quite a phenomenon. Franco may at times seem to be playing out his career like some half-baked project from a first year art student, appearing in General Hospital and jumping on any piece of beat generation fluff he can get his hands on, but when he wants to he can be terrific. Here we find him channelling Texas' resident wierdo Riff Raff to great effect. Following her exHigh School Musical co-star Zac Efron (who appeared in Bahrani’s decent if disappointing At Any Price at this very festival) Vanessa Hudgens makes her own punt at artistic integrity, joining the squeaky clean Benson and Gomez in what is a major casting coup for Korine. In interviews the girls have claimed it’s just a movie about partying and perhaps they’re right but there is a real sense of art imitating life, Korine luring them in to all this moral ambiguity in exchange for a shot at credibility. Korine himself must have been bighting his tongue with delight as the swarm of tween fans greeted them on the red carpet. How this film is marketed should make interesting viewing, it might even land him his first real dose of mainstream attention.

It was 1995 when a 19 year old Korine blew everyone away with his script for Kids. Around the same time Spike Jonze, with his video for Sabotage, was seen as the godfather of Music Television. The station is by all means a shadow of its former self but how strange that 17 years on it would be Korine who would have more to say about its current audience. He always seemed to be a cut above those west coast generation X-ers, refusing to deal in half measures with films like Julien Donkey Boy, Trash Humpers and the mighty Gummo. With Spring Breakers he could well claim himself to be among America’s greatest agent provocateurs. A fearless, uncompromising director whose work feels as fresh today as it felt almost two decades ago.