Tag: Hugh Jackman

THE YEAR THAT WAS 2017 ON LLOYD MARKEN WORDPRESS

Posted on by Lloyd Marken

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Following on from last year I’m doing a quick recap of stats for 2017 which I always find a little interesting. This year the site has seen a few changes, a lot of posts now refer to reviews I’ve had published elsewhere and don’t include screenshots or gifs from movies which may attract views. I don’t know. My stats have gone through the roof due to the large interest shown to a post I did on the movie The Founder which I think got placed on a site by WordPress that increased traffic to the post. At the same time I haven’t engaged with my fellow bloggers or sought to grow my blogging community and so you’ll see number of likes has decreased as a result. All I can say is I enjoy my current blogging community and the size of it and am grateful for their continued interest and I want to remain able to keep up with them semi-regularly and so don’t worry a lot about getting new followers. Always nice to grow though. I have some plans for 2018 but I had some plans for 2017 and not all of them came to fruition so we’ll just see what happens.

The United States retains the crown for most views this year, the United Kingdom comes second place after barely coming in third last year with Autralia now in third place. Congratulations to Canada who remains in fourth and has cracked over 1,000 views for the year. It was hard fought but Germany cracks the Top 5 this year. Spain, Brazil and France all fall out of the Top 10 this year. A post I wrote about a good man I knew who passed away saw an uptick in views from his homeland of Malaysia and one of his favourite countries in the world Japan. Goodbye Kelly Chen, you will are so obviously missed by so many far and wide. I’m particularly touched to see my post has resonated with those who knew him best. Any mention of Taika Watitti sees an uptick in New Zealand view. Congratulations to Indonesia and India who cracked the Top 10 this year, hope you’re enjoying the blog.

 

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Top 10 Most Views by Country

  1. The United States of America                                                                               9,126 Views
  2. The United Kingdom                                                                                              2,339 Views
  3. Australia                                                                                                                   1,848 Views
  4. Canada                                                                                                                      1,057 Views
  5. Germany                                                                                                                      166 Views
  6. Japan                                                                                                                            163 Views
  7. Indonesia                                                                                                                     120 Views
  8. New Zealand                                                                                                               113 Views
  9. India                                                                                                                             100 Views
  10. Malaysia                                                                                                                         92 Views

 

stats 2017

 

Out of 105 posts published for the year the following 25 got the most views. In 2015 the blog started to grow with 1,609 views, 333 visitors, 23 Likes and 30 comments. In 2016 the blog received 5,673 views, 3,206 visitors, 546 Likes and 751 comments. In 2017 this grew to 16,767 views (more than a third of which were for The Founder Review), 11,891 visitors, 1,240 Likes and 1,707 comments. This was helped in no small part thanks to the support and interest from my fellow bloggers.

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Top 25 Most Viewed Posts 2017

  1. Ray Kroc…What An Asshole                                                                                5,992 Views
  2. Goodbye Kelly Chen and Thank You                                                                    303 Views
  3. Minor Roles That Had A Major Impact – Lucy From Going In Style               187 Views
  4. Extras Who Add A Little Something – Kathy Larson and Missy Wolff           141 Views
  5. The Appropriately Titled Jack Reacher: Never Go Back                                    131 Viewstime jack nothing reacher
  6. Review of Young Australian Filmmaker Shorts Available on Scenestr         127 Views
  7. Extras Who Add A Little Something – John B. Destry                                         112 Views
  8. Minor Roles That Had A Major Impact – Dr Lamar from Gattaca                     89 ViewsRelated image
  9. Minor Roles That Had A Major Impact – Stephanie from The Naked Gun      89 Views
  10. Star Character Actors: Stephen Tobolowsky                                                         85 Views
  11. Best Dressed Award Season 2017 Part I                                                                 85 Views
  12. The Mystery Blogger Award Nomination                                                               84 Views
  13. The Seven Ages of Clint Eastwood                                                                           80 ViewsImage result for honkytonk man clint eastwood
  14. The Long Overdue Film About Jadotville                                                               76 Views
  15. Hugh Jackman as The Wolverine                                                                             72 Views
  16. You Can’t Keep A Good Kong Down Even If You Should                                     72 Views
  17. Star Character Actors – J.T. Walsh                                                                            71 ViewsImage result for j.t. walsh young
  18. Over 1,000 Views for The Founder Review                                                            70 Views
  19. Major General John Cantwell – Hero, Veteran, Human Being                            69 ViewsImage result for major general john cantwell
  20. La La Land: A Modern Musical                                                                                 68 Views
  21. The Seven Ages of Harrison Ford                                                                             67 ViewsImage result for harrison ford WITNESS
  22. Spider-Man: Homecoming and Atomic Blonde Reviews Available at Buzz    66 Views
  23. My Favourite Films of 2016                                                                                       65 Views
  24. Minor Roles That Had A Major Impact – Jaguar Owner from Speed                 64 Views
  25. The Perspective of the Girl on The Train                                                                64 Views

As you can see the posts about extras and characters actors were very popular so I hope to bring them back in a way in 2018. Also I really liked the idea of doing the Seven Ages posts but unfortunately the time needed and the titles that have to be seen makes that challenging. Going through all the posts and figuring out what got most likes will simply take too long but please continue to like my posts if you like them because it is always a thrill for me when I see those little icons below the post. A lot of my posts were about reviews published elsewhere this year which seem to attract attention mostly from my long time core readers. Thank you very much for supporting me in these new ventures, it has meant a lot and I think also shows my editors that I do have an audience that I bring along with me. It really is appreciated.

For Your Consideration

Now it’s time for some shameless self-promotion where I point out reviews I’m very proud of from that year that you might want to check out. In going over the 105 posts for the year there were many I’m pleased with and glad found an audience but citing them seemed redundant. They are a time and place and people either read them then or will discover them later. Some of the posts I do on here now have become more personal whether it is me remembering BIFF or describing a recent holiday to Newcastle. 20171001_110615There are some reviews I’m proud of and some reviews I’m not. Yet again they either found an audience or they didn’t, people seemed to like the Tom Hanks Top 5 over at Heavy and had lots to say about my review of Dunkirk. My review for Queensland Ballet’s Raw and Hidden Figures at Scenestr will always have personal significance for me and I worked really hard for them to be good. I felt energised when writing about The Go-Betweens: Right Here than I was when writing about Kingsman: The Golden Circle. I enjoyed my list of Best Films for 2016 Image result for eye in the skyand look forward to doing one for 2017 once the bulk of Oscar releases arrive here in Australia. Come on Ladybird! I should take this opportunity to mention that 20th Century Women and Nocturnal Animals would have easily made the 2016 list if I had seen those movies at the time. I’m humbled to see the review of The Siege at Jadotville was met with approval from someone who’s father had served at Jadotville. If from my small corner of the internet someone has learnt a bit more about the Irish at Jadotville or the strength of Major General John Cantwell then that makes me very proud. In the end though I just want to say cite two pieces. The first is a review I did of the movie Fences, I just like my review which mentions something about one of my grandfathers. Image result for fences movieThe second… Many years ago I worked with a young man on the set of a film being shot on the Gold Coast named Vigilante. He passed away earlier this year and while I didn’t know him very well I was struck by thoughts of how he had lived his life. Not just personal career achievements but the measure of the man was in how he had treated others and enriched their lives. This is a legacy to aspire to and I tried to put into words my memories of him in a post. I would urge people to take a look if they haven’t. His name was Kelly Chen.

Well that’s another bunch of stats for another year. I would like to take this moment to thank you all for your continued support Pete, Cindy, GP, Don, Vinnie, Jay, Sean, Paul, Allen, John K, Michael, Jet, Eddie, Alex, Paol, Jordon, John R, SJS, DB, Emma, The Film Blog guy, Jersey Dreaming, Robin, Eric and anybody else who takes the time to read these posts. It would be helluva lot less fun without you all.

-Lloyd Marken

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HUGH JACKMAN AS THE WOLVERINE

Posted on by Lloyd Marken

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When I was a kid there was one superhero and his name was Superman and as played by Christopher Reeve he was a giant. There was something noble and good to admire about the man but there was nothing square about his decency. It was something to aspire to and there was a knowing eyebrow raised at times. Looking back it is a startling performance of little gestures, he sold Clark Kent being unrecognisable with body language more than the glasses he hid behind and there was anger and humour there in the character too. Michael Keaton, Christian Bale, Tobey Maguire, Thomas Jane, Robert Downey Jr., Chris Evans, and certainly not David Hasselhoff have ever measured up to that performance and that hero. Hugh Jackman is no different but perhaps that is a time and a place. I’m no longer a kid and maybe if you were a kid who grew up on these films Logan opening this month will have some poignancy for you. Because never has an actor performed over 17 years in 9 film appearances the same superhero. An achievement in itself, for my money Hugh Jackman was always a great actor in the role in films that sometimes didn’t deserve that greatness. With that in mind let’s take a look back at these films, performances and overall sex appeal throughout the years. With these shirtless shots I should buy untold credit to post girls in lingerie for several reviews. ;-P

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X-MEN (2000) ***

The Performance: Jackman had done a few indie hits here in Australia and was performing Oklahoma on the West End when he got wrangled to replace Dougray Scott (his filming for Mission Impossible 2 had ran over schedule) at the last minute and thus a star and let’s not forget a sex symbol was born. Wolverine was always the cool anti-hero Han Soloesque figure of the X-Men and while never plumbing the depths of Wolverine’s painful past here Jackman delivered the vibe of the character well. His chemistry and protectiveness of Anna Paquin as Rogue was the heart of the film and foreshadows in part his relationship with Laura (Dafne Keen) in Logan.

The Film Itself: Not long after the Batman series of films had stalled, The Usual Suspects director Bryan Singer kicked off the next era of comic book films which have become the most dominant form of blockbusters in the past decade as Harry Potter and Lord of the Rings have faded away. The 90s had seen two great cartoon series based off old comic book storylines in the form of the X-Men and Spider-Man. Two years later Tobey Maguire put on the spandex and we were off to the races. If you ask me the first great comic book film of that decade was Spider-Man 2 but it all starts here and it is a solid fun film brimming with potential for the sequels.

Shirtless Rating: Jackman getting hired late in the game supposedly meant he didn’t quite achieve the look he wanted for this film. In recent interviews he’s even pointed to photos and remarked how he’s quite not cut enough. Image result for hugh jackman wolverineYeah very disappointing Mr Jackman.

X-MEN 2 (2003) ***1/2

The Performance: Jackman was pushing to show off more of that berserker rage and when the X-Mansion is attacked and he’s the lone adult defending it you see a bit of that. Brian Cox’s performance as a pseudo father figure Colonel Stryker is brilliant and we start to see more of Logan’s aimlessness caused by not knowing his own origins. Jackman was still in a happy blockbuster but there is a heart to the performance and him clearly taking more of a centre stage role as the star. Special note to his stunt work where he did jump off that stair case onto some waiting mattresses below. To have his arms outstretched like that takes some discipline.Related image

The Film Itself: Easily the best of the first trilogy and arguably the best X-Men film full stop. More a chase film with characters racing to the next predicament, there’s not too much character development but Xavier has a nice turn as a captor, everybody else is on fine form and the action is first rate. At the time, the opening setpiece in the White House was a game changer. I saw this film 5 times at the cinemas with different groups of friends, I’ve only done that for one other film.

Image result for x men 2 wolverineShirtless Rating: 34 year old Jackman was on fine form here even nudeing up for the ladies and fellas that way inclined. Think of all the chicken cutlets he had to endure for your entertainment.

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X-MEN 3: THE LAST STAND (2006) ***

The Performance: Hugh Jackman, Ian McKellen’s Halle Berry’s stocks were pretty high at this point and so they feature pretty well in this film but Berry never got a fair shake at the part and I never got over wanting them to have cast Angela Bassett as Storm. Famke Janssen came to the fore and whatever the film lacks, Jackman and her played well the pain of loving someone but knowing they were dangerous. That ending is truly operatic in emotion and scale.

The Film Itself: We’ll never know what could’ve been if Bryan Singer has gotten to complete the trilogy but I think Brett Ratner did fine. Some things are cheesy or appear low rent but he got the finale right and he let his actors play the roles they had established. Who doesn’t feel something when that house comes toppling down. This was made back in the day when studios did trilogies not shared universes and there’s some emotional weight and a sense of finality here. In some ways  the series has been always struggling to want to go back and nail the Phoenix story so we’ll see what happens but I myself yearn for the day when doing trilogies meant you wrapped up characters stories.Image result for x-men last stand finale

Shirtless Rating: Jackman brings the rain again but that haircut ain’t quite right. This would be the last time Jackman played Wolverine where I didn’t have Karen in my life. I wonder what she made of these first three films?

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X-MEN ORIGINS: WOLVERINE (2009) *1/2

The Performance: Jackman is every bit the movie star here in his first solo effort, getting into rip roaring shape, assembling younger beefcake all around him like a group of back-up dancers and playing a range of emotions. It’s just…well you don’t really feel it. Fatigue had set in, this gave us all the answers we ever wanted about the character and his past but very little reasonated and while I love Jackman I’m putting some of that at his feet as the star.

The Film Itself: Easily the worst of the bunch but there are some good things here. We see Logan had a painful childhood, the war montage is good and Ryan Reynolds was funny in his first scene and I like the line “I come with you, I’m coming for blood. No law, no code of conduct. You point me in the right direction, you get the hell out of my way. ”

Shirtless Rating: Jackman seemed to step up the routine even more as he got older looking more and more ripped. Here he re-created scenes from X-Men 2 around about the time he turned 40. During his nuddy run I looked over at Karen practically inhaling popcorn as she watched transfixed at the images onscreen. I didn’t have the heart to tell her in the moment CGI seemed to be being used. Shame really.Image result for x-men origins wolverineRelated image

X-MEN: FIRST CLASS (2011) ***

The Performance: Hugh is essentially in this in a very celebrated cameo. PG-13 films in the U.S. are allowed one F word and Wolverine got it for his 25 second appearance. Long term readers may note, inspired by this I tend to put one swear word in every review. It’s not a rule I strictly enforce but I like the idea of it being an ongoing gag. Anyway the cameo was the epitome of fan service without ruining the film. Loved it.

The Film Itself: Sir Ian McKellen was brilliant as Magneto and at one point there were plans to do an Origins film of him. Instead they recycled some of the plot for that film into this. The best bits are Michael Fassbender as Magneto going around the 1960s like a young James Bond. Fassbender and McAvoy got the relationship right between Charles and Erik. There was also a great subplot with Beast (Nicholas Hoult) and  Mystique (Jennifer Lawrence). Too bad they just played variations on this in subsequent sequels.

Shirtless Rating: Sadly in the half minute of screentime Jackman doesn’t get his kit off but Karen has helpfully suggested I get the bath scene from Australia in here somewhere so why not here. hugh jackman GIF

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THE WOLVERINE (2013) ***

The Performance: Every time a new X-Men film came out Jackman would promise he was finally releasing the berserker rage in this one. I’d argue that didn’t really happen until Logan but after his first solo run tanked Jackman put in the hard yards in this sequel. Following his loss at the end of The Last Stand, Jackman perfectly conveys Logan’s grief and need for redemption.

The Film Itself: Directed by James Mangold maybe the finale falls a bit flat, maybe some of the dialogue ain’t great but he’s got a cool sidekick in Yukio (Rila Fukushima), some great lines (once again getting the sole F-bomb of the film at the perfect moment) and the story taking us to Japan. The train sequence looked terrible in the trailers but was fantastic in the film.

Image result for hugh jackman wolverineShirtless Rating: Now 45 Jackman got into even more rip roaring shape. At this point I think Karen was more self conscious when Jackman got shirtless so there was no popcorn devouring this time. Must have been me knowingly turning to her in this scenes with a great big grin on my face and an elbow in her ribs that took her out of the moment. Can’t say for sure.

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X-MEN: DAYS OF FUTURE PAST (2014) ***

The Performance: After a couple of solo efforts, Logan was back in an ensemble X-Men film for the last time really. Him and Jennifer Lawrence’s prominence on the poster tells you that even after all these years Jackman was enduring as a star like few. He’s charming and cool here as he’s ever been and generous with his co-stars with Bryan Singer returning to the helm.

The Film Itself: Fox’s answer to The Avengers and regarded by many as the best of the series. It’s tougher for men because there are not pays offs here I would have liked but it rights the series, has the famous setpiece with Quicksilver and for all the wonderful spectacle the finale is essentially old friends ironing out their differences. That takes courage, I rate X-Men 2 higher maybe even The Wolverine but this was a good return to form.

Image result for x-men days of future past wolverineShirtless Rating: The man is a machine. This was him in training for the film, if the bar ain’t bending you’re just pretending. Image result for hugh jackman trainingAt one point he bench pressed 136 kilograms. Judging by his nude butt scene he also did a few squats because that 46 year old arse was tight yo!

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X-Men: Apocalypse (2016) **1/2

The Performance: Essentially re-doing his alkaline lake scenes again but this time better than X-Men Origins. This is the closest you could get to Logan at his most savage without an R Rating and I for one didn’t mind the extended cameo.

The Film Itself: Reviewed on this blog previously, the film fails to draw you in with plots that have already been done before and a villain that mostly fails to engage. Bryan Singer has delivered better in the past and I don’t know where the series goes from here but there are possibilities. In a way the series started off as a film adaptation of a cartoon series that it has mostly now done the plots of. It might be time to head off in new directions but if they bring back some of the cast here I would like to tie up some storylines like Beast and Mystique.

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Shirtless Rating: Still looking good Wolvie and who doesn’t like a man with his shirt off and his helmet on.

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Logan (2017) ***1/2

The Performance: Hugh Jackman finally delivered everything he promised, he got to the guts of the character’s pain, had a deep meaningful relationship with Xavier (Patrick Stewart), showed Logan’s inherent goodness and nailed the berserker rage. This has always been an old broken down man and here we finally experience that with all its despair and resilience. Since his wonderful turn in Les Miserables I’ve been saying Jackman plays middle aged really well and I can’t wait to see what he’s done next.

The Film Itself: Some kids will tell you they don’t see a point in comic book films that aren’t comic book films. I shake my head. This is a story, a good one because it involves you and it makes you feel. Blockbusters can do that as much as kitchen sink dramas can bore the shit out of you with terrible dialogue and performances. This is easily my favourite alongside X-Men 2 and a very different film from the former.

Shirtless Rating: Well now that Logan is old and ravaged Jackman of course he won’t look as appealing as he did in previous entries.

Related imageOh for fuck’s sake! Well I wonder if Karen liked the extra grizzle on Mr Grizzly. I’ll go out on a limb and say yeah.

In closing thank you Hugh Jackman for all the hard work over the years and the passion you put into getting the role right. It’s been a bumpy road but in the end you’ve stayed true to the word and given us one last great performance in the role to send the character off in style. As I once said of Christopher Reeve as Superman, I’m sure a few kids say now Hugh Jackman was, is and always will be Logan – The Wolverine.

-Lloyd Marken

 

LOGAN REVIEW AVAILABLE ON SCENESTR

Posted on by Lloyd Marken

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I have had another film review published online at Scenestr and as a result can’t post it on WordPress. I did not plan on this happening again so soon but am really pleased that it has so if you would like to read my thoughts on the film please click on the following link http://scenestr.com.au/news/movies-and-tv/logan-review-20170309

Produced by Eyeball Media Enterprises Scenestr. is an online national magazine with local offices around Australia. With over twenty years of publishing history they’ve excelled at moving into the digital realm but they remain at heart from the streets. They also publish Scene magazine in print every month focussed mostly on music gigs, festivals, stand-up comics, fashion and interviews with local and international bands. If you’re into music they’re a great read but they do cover all of the arts and fortunately for me they also feature the occasional film review online too.

-Lloyd Marken

HOW THEY DID THE OSCARS 2017

Posted on by Lloyd Marken

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About half an hour out from the end of the 89th Academy Awards I reflected to myself that this had may be one of the better broadcasts of the past decade. Jimmy Kimmel joins Ellen DeGeneres and Chris Tucker from last year as some of the better hosts in recent times the credit for such an achievement should go towards the producers to some extent who have a big role to play in how the show is structured. Jon Stewart for example had good monologues but his second attempt was poorly paced. Hugh Jackman excelled in an opening musical number a few years back but the rest of his show was in search of such an entertaining moment. Kimmel’s show ran like clockwork (wait for it, I’ll get to that later)and made good choices throughout. Food falling from the ceilings owes its sensibility to Ellen DeGeneres ingeniously getting pizza in for starved actresses in glamourous gowns but it worked, it was funny, showed off the scope of the theatre and gave the show a boisterous atmosphere. Having a tour bus of “regular” people stop by and engage with the stars before being shuffled to the exits took courage and despite some taking it all in their stride and shamelessly requesting selfies worked well. Perhaps because. I would like to note that a week ago I urged the Academy to recall moments from the past and reinvigorate a sense of community and coincidentally that is exactly what they did. Montages of previous speeches for acting awards came up before those awards were presented, there call backs to The Apartment, Bonnie and Clyde. The Bridges of Madison County and Back to the Future were fun. The pay off with a parody of it with Kimmel assessing We Bought a Zoo was worth it too. Jackie Chan also showed up but not to present a long overdue stunt category but to revel in his Honourary Oscar given at the previously held Governor’s Ball. Was all of this a coincidence coming after my blog post in a little corner of the internet? You be the judge.

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Whatever your politics the zingers Kimmel came up with were neat “Remember last year when people complained the Oscars were too racist” and he took aim enough at Hollywood itself that it seemed fair. The running gag of a feud with Matt Damon served him well even if the Mean Tweets Oscar Edition lacked teeth due to a primetime audience and maybe even a fear to not piss off those seated in the theatre too much. It should be worth noting that the first Oscar recipient at the first Academy Awards of President Trump was a Muslim with Mahershali Ali justly rewarded for his great work as Best Supporting Actor in Moonlight. I’m just sayin. Justin Timberlake’s opening outside the auditorium before entering it singing Can’t Stop The Feeling followed by a steadicam and some very talented back up dancers was a great way to take something that has been done many times before but never at the Oscars and make the event seem eventful. Seeing all the A-list actresses get down and boogie, Jessica Biel shimmy proudly with her man having his moment helped me forget that I am not really a fan of the song or Timberlake. I’ll give credit where it’s due, Timberlake did a good job and immediately there was a sense of fun in the air. All of the song performances were on key including a nifty idea for John Legend to perform both Audition and City of Stars in one go. Stone and Gosling presenting the songs lacked their usual chemistry but it feels less like a missed opportunity as just two talented actors leaving the singing and dancing to the professionals. Speaking of professionals, Sting’s appropriately pared back performance of Empty Chair was on key and Auli’I Cravalho didn’t miss a beat as she was knocked by one of the blue parasails while singing How Far I’ll Go. The singer is 17 years old and an incredible talent. On a night of great musical performances the highlight was Sara Bareilles singing Both Sides Now during the In Memoriam section, truly breathtaking.

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The video was well timed to have key quotes spoken during musical interludes allowing Gene Wilder, Mary Tyler Moore and Carrie Fisher the last word. Bill Paxton was mentioned by a visibly moved Jennifer Aniston and no doubt will feature in the montage next year. As a child of the 80s and a genre fan Paxton was always going to have a special place in my heart having been killed by a xenomorph, the Terminator and a Predator. Like Carrie Fisher though he was more than a genre actor, he was an artist with wonderful insight into the nature of storytelling and filmmaking. In a perverse way the Memoriam section is always the most moving piece of the ceremony and the one I look forward to the most. This year was exceptionally well done although sadly the photo of very much alive The Piano producer Jan Chapman was part of the montage when The Piano‘s costume designer the late great Janet Patterson’s name came onscreen.Image result for costume designer janet patterson An excellent piece over at the wonderful film website Dark Horizons suggests that a google search was done to select the photo rather than making contact with her agency or loved ones for one to be put forward. Perhaps a reflection of cutting down on costs or cutting corners in this economy but a mistake that hopefully will remind all involved that if something is worth doing (and honouring your community’s lost artists would be one wouldn’t it?!) then it should be done well. Dwayne Johnson rocked up to represent incredibly popular movie stars of blockbusters that weren’t Oscar nominated (as well as being in Moana) with an abundance of charisma, muscles and good humour. The Hollywood crowd really got into the spirit of things standing up for the White Helmets, NASA hero Katherine Johnson, Meryl Streep, Shirley MacLaine, Michael J. Fox, and cheering loudly when 5 time nominee Amy Adams walked on to the stage. Ironically Kimmel the host got “a sitting ovation” as the audience found their seats after boogieing to Timberlake.

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Of all the winners I’m happy enough with the results, I didn’t have a favourite out of them and clichéd as it is I still believe being an Oscar nominee means something. That being said I was very pleased to see Kevin O’Connell win for Best Sound Mixing. I long suspected Hacksaw Ridge may grab a few tech awards and Arrival winning Best Sound Editing immediately before Best Sound Mixing threw me out of sorts. Suddenly I realised what a worthy nominee Arrival was and that it could win the next award. That is when Kevin O’Connell on the occasion of his 21st Oscar nomination snagged his first Oscar. The icing on the cake was his moving speech acknowledging his mother.

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The night before the Oscars I called my best friend. I predicted like last year there maybe a split between Best Picture and Director, Jenkins would get Best Director and La La Land would get Best Picture. He told me he believed Damien Chazelle would get Best Director and Moonlight would win Best Picture. My friend’s prediction turned out to be wrong for about two minutes and then it became right for all eternity. It all feels silly to react so strongly to this mistake at the Oscars. As such an well oiled machine it seemed impossible that such a thing would occur but in the grand scheme of things you don’t even have to look further than the ceremony itself to see real issues to care about like the work of the White Helmets in the Middle East going into damaged buildings from war to rescue people out of the rubble. A bunch of wealthy movie producers thought they won the greatest award in the film industry and then had to realise that for now they are just Academy Award nominated professionals. Fuck try hiking a mile out of your village just to get clean water. Yet I was caught up in the watercooler moment as much as anyone. Again Dark Horizons has a great piece about most likely what happened. Older presenters sometimes get flustered and lose their spots at award ceremonies, young presenters do too. In hindsight we can all say that Warren Beatty could have easily taken the mike and said something is wrong here we need to check this but in the history of the Oscars how often has the wrong envelope been handed to anybody. In the moment when something goes wrong it is very difficult to react, to see all the angles and know what to do. Once things started happening Warren and Jimmy Kimmel recognised they had a responsibility to react and to speak. They did well. oscars-2017-front.jpgThere’s no doubt that in the confusion of the situation La La Land‘s producer Jordan Horowitz at a moment of great professional disappointment spoke clearly and pointedly about what was going on. Holding up the card to got across to everyone what was happening. If you look though back at the footage he is disrespectful a little to Beatty who was clearly going back to the mike to explain. I’ve heard a couple of good under the bus jokes about Warren handing the envelope to Faye and that’s fine but I would remind people that Faye Dunaway and Warren Beatty have done some of the best movies of the past century and respect should be shown at all times to them. Image result for oscars 2017Also the people in the control room of the telecast and working the cameras did magnificent work reacting in real time. Alas Sammy Davis Jr is no longer on hand to run with such moments. The million dollar question for me is who raised the alarm? Did Warren pull somebody over, did the accountants realise the wrong envelope had been given or do the producers of the show actually know the results ahead of time even it has been long reported that nobody knows until the envelopes are opened on the night? This was an unfortunate event, I understand heads will roll at PriceWaterhouseCoopers and AMPAS are unlikely to use them next year if they do use them in the future. There’s a part of me that just recognises that statistically shit happens and another part that recognises that when mistakes are made you have to learn from them. I feel bad for everybody involved even as I recognise there are more important things in the world to feel bad about.

I suspect the Academy will seek out a returning host next year, when something goes wrong you want to rebrand with something familiar (comforting) and respected (who drew good ratings for their telecast) and so therefore I believe Ellen DeGeneres better keep her dance card free this time of year in 2018. That being said I really enjoyed Jimmy Kimmel and I hope that we see him again soon as well as producers Michael De Luca and Jennifer Todd. For me this might have been the best overall Oscar telecast since 2005 and the legacy of it should be more than this one mistake.

-Lloyd Marken

EDDIE THE EAGLE SOARS ENOUGH TO QUALIFY

Posted on by Lloyd Marken

Most people sit in an office cubicle, on a work site, at a factory line for days on end, year after year. The commute might change, the company might be re-located, the pay may increase and the time straining your back may decrease but it’s all the same. Working for a pay cheque towards one holiday, one house, and one kid with a college degree and good teeth. Most enjoy their jobs to a point; very few would state it was their dream. Nobody gets exactly what they want out of life and that’s okay but it’s why we push our kids to pursue opportunity and it is why we watch Greats. Athletes, leaders and celebrities-we’re in love with them all. They tell us they were poor, they tell us they were knocked back and told they were no good and we think yeah maybe if one thing went my way I could have been just like them. How often is that really true? Eddie the Eagle implausibly showed up at the 1988 Winter Olympics as Britain’s sole Ski Jump competitor. His performance was so significantly behind the second last place getter that a new rule was instituted making it more difficult to place in the sport for the Olympics. There are those who to this day who were embarrassed that he was there and confounded by his popularity. That’s because they don’t know what it’s like on that factory floor or in that office cubicle. Eddie had dreamed the impossible dream and we like dreamers. We need them, when they achieve something they keep our dreams alive. They make anything possible, thank you Eddie.

The reality was despite always running low on funds and living rough, Eddie was a gifted and experienced athlete. A quick look at Wikipedia reveals he was the world number nine in amateur speed skiing at one point, narrowly missed the Great Britain team in 1984 for his original sport downhill skiing and had already competed at the 1987 World Championships in Ski Jumping placing 55th in the world when he arrived in Calgary. How many people can say they were 55th in the world at anything?

Eddie the Eagle the movie does not relate a lot of these facts. It makes you believe he jumped the 90m ski jump for the first time at Calgary for example which is not true. I suppose it’s hypocritical to not blanch at Creed which depicts a boxer with limited experience having a bout against the current world champion and then fear this movie is criminally unrealistic when Eddie continues to fling himself down mountains at high speeds with little training but that was my reaction. Maybe I’m getting old but when his father urges him to be a plasterer and stay in England I couldn’t help but see his point.

The film is criminally put together with Hollywood tropes and artificial drama. The film begins with Eddie narrowly missing the team in 1984 for downhill skiing and sets off overseas to train in ski jumping. Early scenes with his father Terry (Keith Allen) are more effective than latter ones. Terry fears his son is throwing away good money and time on an amateur sport which will yield no true results for him. As Eddie waits at a bus stop to leave he drives by and tells him “I’m not made of stone.” And his son replies “Goodbye Dad.” With clear determination to chase his dreams. We like dreamers. We admire both men in this scene for who they are and what they believe. Later the film miscalculates as his father sits down and is surprised his wife is going to watch their son at Calgary. Dad at that point becomes nothing but a caricature that will inevitably make a late minute turn around in his support of his son.

Eddie arrives in Garmisch-Partenkirchen, Germany (he actually went to Lake Placid in real life) with no support and low on funds where he comes across fictional coach Bronson Peary. Peary played by Hugh Jackman conveniently has every cliché you need for a film like this, he’s a former naturally talented skier who never lived up to his potential and now drinks while working the snow plough at the training facility trying to forget how disappointed he made Christopher Walken. tv christopher walken weapon of choiceOh. Eddie offers him the kind of redemption his character so desperately needs. Watching Hugh Jackman be ignored by pretty girls and lose fights is a little refreshing but I’m not buying it, he was far more authentic and mature as Jean Valjean. Only one sequence truly implies what is at stake when something goes wrong in this sport which truly requires courage. At Calgary it was perpetuated that Eddie was afraid of heights to which he has said “They said I was afraid of heights. But I was doing sixty jumps a day then, which is hardly something someone who was afraid of heights, would do.” The film does not give the impression Eddie Edwards had done 60 jumps before he arrived at Calgary.

As you may have guessed by now, the film is predictable and full of clichés. But! It’s about a dreamer and we like dreamers. Taron Egerton (a ridiculously good looking kid) convinces as Edwards with a strained jaw and polite manner. It’s a delight to see his steely resolve come out from beneath his unassuming demeanour every time people write him off. Hugh Jackman meanwhile might be too nice to effectively be a grumpy coach but he has an easy chemistry with Egerton and he plays a scene teaching Eddie how to control the body in the run down the slope just right. Others would’ve played it louder and it would have been too much. See the film and you’ll know what I mean.

80s power ballads blare suiting the period and theme of the film and there’s some great location shooting and doubles instead of CGI appear to have been used where they can. The action could have been staged better maybe but we get a sense of the sport and the risks involved. It wouldn’t be argued this is a great film but you follow Eddie in his plight no matter how crazy at times it may seem. Whatever the film makes up, it charms and hooks you in with the true appeal of Eddie the man who is a nice guy and a dreamer…          We like dreamers.

In real life Eddie Edwards attempted to qualify for 1992, 1994 and 1998 Winter Olympics. He’s done a variety of things since including co-hosting radio shows and appearing on reality competition television programmes. In 2013 he competed in a celebrity diving TV program called Splash on ITV. He trained hard and did an inward 1.5 somersault pike from 10m in the semi-final. He won by public vote after a synchronised dive in the final. An athlete at heart still, a Champion in spirit, A True Olympian.

-Lloyd Marken

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6FWAiXll_jw

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