Disney

With the release of their 53^rd animated feature film Frozen recently I am taking a look back at the mouse house itself from its inception to its present and recommending some of its finest films for your viewing pleasure.

The Walt Disney Company is one of the most successful conglomerate businesses in the world; now owning Marvel, Pixar, ABC television network and Lucas Films which it bought last year for a staggering $4.5 billion. It has one of the most recognised symbols in the world and Disneyland is a dream holiday for families. So how did one man create one mouse and turn that into one of the most thriving and beloved companies in history in the process?

Walt Disney was born in 1901 in Chicago; he started his company in 1923 with his brother Roy as the Disney Brothers Cartoon Studio (it took on its current name in 1986). They worked in the animation industry, finally making it big with the creation and introduction of Mickey Mouse in 1928 with Disney’s first sound film Steamboat Willie. It was the success of his Mickey Mouse series that lead to the advancement to feature length films.

In 1934 Walt Disney started planning and producing his first feature length film, it took 3 years to complete. Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs was released in 1937 and became the highest grossing film of the time (up until 1939). Disney delivered further high quality films into the early 1940’s many of which are still family favourites today, including Pinocchio (1940) about a wooden puppet that is given life by a fairy. Fantasia (1940) a miss hit for Disney but a charming film; featuring cartoons put to classical music. Dumbo (1941) the baby elephant who can fly due to his enormous ears and Bambi (1942) about a baby deer and his life growing up in the forest. This last entry is a must see if only to see many grown men choke up (I’m sure you know which moment I’m talking about) as World War 2 began many of Disney’s animation team were drafted and it was a quiet time for the studio.

It took until the release of Cinderella (1950); about the young girl mistreated by her step-family but ending up marrying a prince for Disney to get back on track. They also released Alice in Wonderland (1951) and Peter Pan (1953) based on the classic children’s stories, both of which had been in production before the war. In 1950 Walt Disney also launched into live action feature films with the classic Treasure Island. In 1953 Disney created their own distribution department Buena Vista. They also branched out further still in 1950 with a television programme on the NBC network; in 1954 they created Disneyland which became one of the longest running programmes in history.

The Disney Company became more and more successful in every area it pursued, Lady and the Tramp (1955), Sleeping Beauty (1959) and One Hundred and One Dalmatians (1961) (clue to the plots are in the titles) became classic favourites. The live action attempts such as Pollyanna (1960) and The Parent Trap (1961) were big successes for Disney. But even more so was the masterpiece that was Mary Poppins (1964) based on P. L. Travers books about the flying nanny; which won Julie Andrews an Academy Award for Best Actress is still fondly viewed today by new generations of children and families. In 1964 Walt Disney had scouted and found the location for his second Disneyland (to be called Disney World) in Orlando Florida, things were going incredibly well for the Company.

On December 15^th 1966 Walt Disney died from complications involving lung cancer and Roy Disney became the CEO of the company. The last film that was supervised by Walt before his death was released in 1967; The Jungle Book tells the tale of a young boy who grows up in the jungle among the animals and due to the return of a fearsome tiger must return to the local village where he can be safe among his kind. With magical songs and a fantastic story The Jungle Book has become one of the highest regarded of the Disney canon.

The 70’s brought a post-Walt Disney future and the first film released was The Aristocats (1970) which did good business. Followed closely by the live action mixed with animation classic Bedknobs and Broomsticks (1971) starring Angela Lansbury; so far so good for the Disney team. But another blow in the form of the death of Roy Disney in 1971 left the company in the hands of others.

The 1970’s was a time of change for the Disney company, trying to create great films and also keep to the image Walt Disney had created for his company was a tricky path to follow; there were many good examples such as Robin Hood (1973), the animated film portraying the famous do-gooder as a fox. Freaky Friday (1976); the live action comedy starring a young Jodie Foster who swaps bodies with her mother and the mouse team whose job it is to help children in need; The Rescuers (1977). However none of these have had quite the impact that a film such as Snow White or Mary Poppins had on audiences. This troublesome time continued for Disney, even became worse in the 1980’s with efforts like The Black Cauldron (1985) failing to spark interest with audiences, this is not to say that the company was not doing well; on the contrary Disneyland was booming and it’s Television division had some great programmes on schedule but it wasn’t until 1989 with The Little Mermaid that the last golden age of Disney feature films really began.

Ask anyone what their favourite Disney film is and there is a very high percentage it will come from the following list of spectacular films released in the 1990’s. Disney seemed to have found its magic again and created some truly amazing movies. Beauty and the Beast (1991) was the first animated feature nominated for an Oscar for Best Film, it was followed by Aladdin (1992) and my personal favourite The Lion King (1994). I think the reason these films did so well was a combination of things; great songs written by well-known artists of the day, famous actors with distinctive voices were drawn to the heart-warming stories being created; it is by bringing all these elements together that had spectacular results. By the late nineties into the noughties Disney was creating more live action than animation, for every 5 or 6 live action films there was a Hercules (1997) or Treasure Planet (2002). Disney has long been in collaboration with Pixar and many are unaware of the difference but in comparison it was clear that Pixar was producing gold the likes of Toy Story (1995), Finding Nemo (2003) and Wall E (2008) and Disney was trailing far behind with unmemorable and unimaginative offers.

Happily things have begun to look up for Disney, it has never struggled with its many other divisions; Television, the theme parks etc. It also now owns many separate businesses so that it controls more than anyone could probably imagine. But now the poor productions that have been coming from the film department seem to be behind them. With the release of Tangled (2010) and Brave (2012) the quality of all the elements required to make a successful movie appeared once again, it is clear in watching the movies that a lot of time has gone into the casting, the screenplay and the songs as well as the animation. Disney now has to live up to the likes of Pixar, DreamWorks and other companies who are vying for the top spot in their field. With the release of Frozen (2013) Disney have shown that they are not done yet and have a lot of fight left in them. With an impressive looking schedule for the next few years it’s clear that Disney are aiming to do Walt proud again and give us some more classics to gush over and force our children to watch in years to come just so we can watch them again. I for one can’t wait to see what they come up with.

Synecdoche, New York (2008)

Released: 2008
Running Time: 122 mins
Genre: Drama
Estimated Budget: $21,000,000
Estimated Gross: $3,081,925

Director: Charlie Kaufman
Stars: Philip Seymour Hoffman, Samantha Morton, Michelle Williams

Look up Synecdoche in a dictionary and the definition you will find is 'A figure of speech in which a part is used for the whole or the whole for a part, the special for the general or the general for the special, as in ten sail for ten ships  or a Croesus for a rich man.'

So basically if you understood that well done, you will probably understand more about the film than I did. As a tribute to the late Philip Seymour Hoffman who passed away this week I decided to get a little more acquainted with his work as I was sadly unfamiliar.
Synecdoche is a head-scratcher for sure, and thats no surprise seeing that it is directed by Charlie Kaufman, responsible for writing such films as Being John Malkovich (1999) and Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind, each fairly difficult films to follow themselves.

The film follows Caden Cotard (Hoffman) a theatre director who believes that he is dying due to many ailments and illnesses he is affected with. It is clear from the beginning that his marriage to artist Catherine Keener is a shambles. She disappears to Germany taking their 4 year old daughter Olive with her early on in the story. Caden is attracted to the woman who runs the theatre box office Hazel (Samantha Morton), she is a woman who frequently turns up during the film and it becomes clear that she is his ideal woman. Caden receives a grant with a large sum instructing him to use it for his artistic endeavours. Caden wants to create a play about life, real and honest, he buys an enormous warehouse and proceeds to re-create New York inside it.

Gathering an ensemble cast he begins to create his play, one of the actresses is Michelle Williams who admires Caden's artistic abilities greatly, they get married and have a daughter but she comes to realise that Caden is far from perfect and completely remote due to his obsession with the play. More and more people are cast, he even casts himself, his wife and Hazel who has come back into his life and becomes his assistant. So close do the two become that reality becomes blurred and one cannot tell what is occurring in Caden's real life and what is in the play, as the actor portraying Caden starts to act out his thoughts and desires instead of the scenes written for him. As the years begin to pass and the world of the play grows extensively, but never shown to the public more doppelgangers appear and the harder it is to follow Caden's thought process. Eventually  it becomes even too much for him and he allows an actress (Diane Wiest) who was playing Adele the cleaning lady to take over being Caden and run the play. Caden himself becomes Adele living out his remaining days in the relatively stress free environment that is Adele's day to day life, with an earpiece constantly giving him his stage direction.

Time is something that stood out to me in this film, you can never tell how much time has passed and neither for that matter does Caden. He is obsessed with finding and helping his little girl Olive, he reads the diary that she left behind and on the different occasions the narrative voice we hear reading the passages are an Olive ageing and experiencing life without her father. But Caden is unaware that the time is passing, he is a very self involved man, whether it is about his illnesses or his feelings or his play, life revolves around matters concerning him, anything else even the passing of time simply go unnoticed.

There are many motifs and hidden meanings in this film all suggesting a bigger picture, what we can take from this is a look at ourselves and the way that we view the world and ourselves and the relationships we engage in. Like Caden in his relationships with the women in his life Synecdoche pushes the limits.

I found this film to be very strange, I struggled to follow it and I have to admit because of this I did not truly invest in the characters or story. But that is not to say that I did not appreciate the complexity and immense achievement that is Synecdoche, New York. You cannot watch this and fail to notice it is a great film whether you understand the plot or not. Similarly you cannot see Synecdoche without admiring the amazing performance given by Philip Seymour Hoffman, there is an incredible amount of dedication and depth gone into creating Caden Cotard and I believe that it was probably one of the greatest performances he delivered and is a fitting tribute to the legacy of amazing work he has left behind for us to enjoy.

Check out this film if not just to see an incredible performance from Hoffman then to see if you can understand a clearly thought provoking and deep movie from Charlie Kaufman. If you get it contact me and let me know.

Halloween (1978)

Halloween has become one of the most famous and beloved horror films of all time. But how did a small independent picture with hardly any budget grow into one of the most popular films in its genre?

Early in 1978 the young, little known director John Carpenter was hired to make a small independent movie about babysitters. Carpenter took the premise and created a film that has scared the world over.He created a script with Deborah Hill and together they came up with Halloween and both produced the movie. They were given a $320,000 budget and Carpenter received almost free reign to create his movie; this in itself a rarity in Hollywood.

Carpenter hired many character actors most not well known, and knew he needed something special for his lead character Laurie Strode. He settled on newbie Jamie Lee Curtis, daughter of movie stars Tony Curtis and more importantly Alfred Hitcock’s scream queen in Psycho (1960); Janet Leigh. This was Curtis’ first movie and this fact brought an unmistakeable innocence to the role of Laurie.With most of his players cast, he needed one more thing, a well-known actor to take the part of Dr Sam Loomis who coincidently is named after a character from Psycho. This came in the form of Donald Pleasence who had been in such classics as The Great Escape (1963) and the James Bond film You Only Live Twice (1967). Pleasence added seriousness to a film that could have been considered comical, and it was this aspect that has given Halloween its staying power.

Halloween opens in 1963 with what is now considered a famous technical shot; the continuous tracking shot through the house to reveal the first of the movies many murders. Then with the first big twist of the film, we discover that the killer was 6 year old Michael Myers. We then travel to present day Haddonfield where the murder took place 15 years earlier and the house is now an empty derelict building which kids dare each other to approach. We are introduced to teenager Laurie Strode who we discover is an innocent virginal character trying to fit in with her friends who are  meeting boys and smoking, while she looks on with a certain amount of envy. Meanwhile we learn that the institutionalized Michael Myers has escaped and Dr Loomis suspects he will return to Haddonfield and commit further atrocities.

Myers does indeed return and begins a massacre on the teenage friends of Laurie all the while she is unaware across the street babysitting the neighbours children. Halloween has been famously featured in Scream as being the film that created the modern day rules of the horror film; characters that engage in sex, smoking and drinking will surely be a victim of the killer. Innocent virginal and mostly naïve characters will find in themselves an inner strength and though tormented to the brink by the villain, they are able to overcome and fight back against the evil onslaught. During these struggles we discover another most important rule of the horror genre; the killer never goes away and is catlike with more lives than you can count. Whenever you think they have finally had it, there they go again, in the case of Halloween rising up to attack Laurie in a final struggle before she is saved by Dr Loomis.

What makes Halloween a fantastic movie is not just the story, the characters, the locations, you need all those things to create a successful film but there is one element that unlike other genres can make or break a film; the music. The score for Halloween was astonishingly created in very little time by John Carpenter himself and in making this he cemented his film in the list of scariest ever made. His short theme is so memorable it is instantly recognisable and still raises hairs on the back of necks. His music makes Michael become more than just a man in a mask, but an evil presence, always watching.

And you can’t keep a good killer down; Halloween was released and through the pure magic of word of mouth made millions out of its tiny in comparison budget. So Michael returned to haunt Haddonfield on seven more occasions. With Jamie Lee Curtis returning for three of these, and making them better films due to her appearance. The film and its sequel were also remade in 2007 and 2009 by Rob Zombie to mediocre success, but nothing beats an original. John Carpenter though he wrote the sequel moved on, he had achieved what he wanted with Halloween; creating a film that has lasted, he went on to make other successful films like Escape From New York (1981) and Big Trouble in Little China (1986). He also maintained his image as a classic horror director with The Fog (1980) again with Curtis and the classic The Thing (1982) thought by many as one of the best horrors of all time.

But it is Halloween that he will always be remembered for, and itself Halloween will always be remembered, it will continue to appear on lists of the best horror films, the scariest scenes and most chilling music. It had that magical experience when all the elements come together to make a masterpiece of cinema. Which is why I would recommend it not only to die hard horror fans, who let’s face it have probably already seen it anyway, but also to all those who appreciate the art of a well-made film, and naturally like a good scare.

Sleeping With the Enemy (1991)

Released: 1991
Running Time: 95 mins
Genre: Thriller
Estimated Budget: $19,000,000
Estimated Gross: $101,580,000

Director: Joseph Ruben
Stars: Julia Roberts, Patrick Bergin, Kevin Anderson

Tagline: She is a stranger in a small town. She changed her name. Her looks. Her life. All to escape the most dangerous man she's ever met. Her husband.

This film was released the year I was born but it was another 16 years before my mum introduced it to me. Sleeping with the Enemy was on TV the other night and like always, when it is on I have to sit and watch it.

This is a very underrated Julia Roberts film, she plays Laura Burney a terrorized young woman in a hellish marriage. Her husband Martin is an abusive imposing figure, he is controlling to an obsessive degree and his temper can switch within seconds leaving Laura permanently on edge. Laura constructs an elaborate plan, years in the making, she fakes her own death to escape from the threat that is her husband. She moves to a quaint friendly town, changes her name and tries to move on with her life, with the help of her new neighbour.

Not the kind of film many would have expected coming off the success that was Pretty Woman, but this is a simple but extremely effective thriller. There is always an underlying sense of danger, Bergin's is a dominating performance on-screen and his presence can be felt throughout the movie. The use of Hector Berlioz Symphonie Fantastique is a haunting but brilliant way to signify not only how menacing Martin is, but also to inform the audience when he is there. This has the desired effect on both Laura's character and the audience as when they hear the music they feel a chill, they expect the worst.

Roberts performance in this film is incredibly authentic rather than the usual outgoing confidence she exuded in roles of this period, in this film she is reserved, on edge and closed off. Her husbands treatment of her over 3 miserable years has affected her terribly and the most impressive part of her performance is when Laura moves to her new home and begins to learn how to be happy and enjoy life again. Laura meets Ben a teacher who lives next door who pursues her with nothing but kindness, seeing Laura try to allow somebody in after her traumatic ordeal is very moving.

But as can only be expected from a thriller, the elaborate plan wasn't entirely successful and it is not long until Martin is on her trail. With a nail-biting finale this is an exciting and enjoyable film, you cannot fail to get involved with a thriller. The genre alone connects with an audience unlike many others, thrillers are not popcorn movies where you leave you brain at the door before you watch, thrillers keep you stimulated and have you guessing until the end.

Check this film out, it is such a simple story but done so well and Julia Roberts is brilliant, 8/10

Philip Seymour Hoffman RIP

It is with devastation and true sadness that we have been brought the news today that actor Philip Seymour Hoffman has died in his New York apartment. He was 46 years old.

Philip was born in 1967 in New York City, he attended New York university's Tisch School of the Arts and graduated with a B.F.A degree in Drama in 1989.

My strongest memories of Hoffman are of seeing him in two of my favourite films; Twister (1996) and Patch Adams (1998) neither of which are true classics no, but he stands out in both. It is impossible not to notice when he is on the screen, even when playing questionable characters you are still drawn to him due to his undeniable energy and raw talent.

Hoffman was really noticed when he was cast in Boogie Nights (1997) and his career has only rose to bigger and better things since then. With roles in such memorable films as The Big Lebowski (1998), Magnolia (1999), The Talented Mr Ripley (1999), State and Main (2000), Almost Famous (2000) and Cold Mountain (2003). 

In 2006 Hoffman beat the likes of Heath Ledger for Brokeback Mountain (2005) and Joaquin Phoenix for Walk the Line (2005) to the Academy Award for Best Performance by an Actor in a Leading Role for his role as Truman Capote in the film Capote (2005). He followed this great achievement with performances in films such as Charlie Wilson's War (2007), Synecdoche New York (2008), and a truly amazing performance opposite Meryl Streep in Doubt (2008).

Today the world was shocked by the death of this great man. We have lost a shining star, a family have lost a loved one, and my heart goes out to them today. The thing that we will take away from today most of all is that on February 2nd 2014 the film industry lost one of its undeniably talented actors. He was a great man and an immense talent and we have been cheated of his contribution to the Arts as they will be sorely missed.

RIP Philip Seymour Hoffman