Things we know about werewolves: they go to the gym a lot, they take their shirts off when it starts raining, they transform when girls don’t fancy them, they’re Native Americans, they’re made of pixels, they’re really, really bad at acting.
Let’s start again. Back in 1941, back before New Moon and Taylor Lauter, The Wolf Man
Popularity: 7% [?]
1. Fish Tank
Powerful, punishing, funny, beautifully observed… Way too easy to lob adjectives at Brit writer/director Andrea Arnold’s superb second movie. The film you probably missed this year is the film you can’t afford to.
Watch the trailer or find out more… Read the rest of this entry »
Popularity: 13% [?]
Black and white! Bleak as winter! Starring no one you’ve ever heard of! Subtitled! Nearly three hours long! Sort of about the war but doesn’t actually have any war in it! Few films this year will be as head-smackingly uncommercial as the latest from Austrian arthouse giant Michael Haneke. Why head-smacking? Because few will be better. Read the rest of this entry »
Popularity: 13% [?]
Just after he finished making True Lies, James Cameron picked up the phone and called Stanley Kubrick. They spend a day together watching Cameron’s film in the basement of the house in the English countryside where Kubrick was now a virtual hermit. Kubrick was fascinated by Cameron’s effects shots, wanted to know exactly how he’d hung a man on the missile of a harrier jump-jet and fired him through a skyscraper. Cameron must have been thrilled. He’d finally returned the favour. Read the rest of this entry »
Popularity: 13% [?]
1. The Cable Guy
“The Cable Guy is still one of my favourite films that I’ve worked on and it never ceases to make me laugh. I must say, however, the rough critical reaction made me doubt my instincts and sense of humour. If you email me, I will send you a list of every good review that movie got. Almost 20 percent of the reviews were good, not that I’m counting. I didn’t make another movie for eight years. Read the rest of this entry »
Popularity: 5% [?]
1. Piranha Part Two: The Spawning (1981)
“I was hired by a very unscrupulous producer. He put me with an Italian crew who spoke no English, then fired me a couple of weeks into the shoot and took over directing. Turns out, he’d done that on his two previous films. He wouldn’t show me a foot of film that I’d shot, so I went in and ran the film for myself. I made a few changes – I don’t know if the editor ever noticed – and it was fine. So I thought, ‘I actually can do this. I just fell in with a pack of thieves and whackos.’ Read the rest of this entry »
Popularity: 12% [?]
Remembering an actor with all the right moves…
They bullied Patrick Wayne Swayze at school. While other young Texas dudes were shotgunning beers and swapping punches, he was perfecting his brisé and chassé. “I had to fight my way up from the days I was little,” remembers Swayze, who was shoved face-first into ballet by his mother, a dance tutor who would choreograph Urban Cowboy
Popularity: 12% [?]
First you’re viciously beaten for 13 seconds. Then you’re given a hug by the same tattooed brutes who’ve been battering you. Then they give you a gun. “To complete your initiation, you have to kill a rival gang member,” says film-school grad and first-time director Cary Joji Fukunaga. “Children as young as 10 years old join the Mexican gangs in this way…” Read the rest of this entry »
Popularity: 7% [?]
1. Statham has action in his blood
His father was a boxer and a gymnast (and taught his son both). His brother loved martial arts (and used little Jason as his personal punch-bag). Growing up, Statham also learned the family business, working as a fast-talking London street trader.
2. Statham has a talent
When he was a kid, Statham’s parents took him on holiday to Miami. Wowed by a diver on the high board, he began diving aged 13. Inside a year, Statham was on the British team. He competed for 12 years, placed third in Olympic trials on three occasions and ranked 12th in the world on the springboard. Read the rest of this entry »
Popularity: 60% [?]
“I walked out of The Matrix
Popularity: 55% [?]
Jonathan Crocker is a freelance journalist based in London. Having previously been a commissioning editor at Total Film, Men’s Health and Time Out, Jonathan also contributes to publications including i-D magazine, ShortList, Little White Lies, TheLondonPaper and Wired. He is available for commissions: contact here!
