THE 10 MOST ANTICIPATED FILMS OF 2015

Just how crowded is the film marketplace in 2015? In compiling this feature, Meet the Filmmakers had to cull the latest from James Bond; new films from Michael Mann, Guillermo del Toro, Robert Zemeckis and Quentin Tarantino; Pixar’s first theatrical title in two years; the final instalment of The Hunger Games franchise; and, Ah-nold’s return as The Terminator. As 2014 winds up, here are the 2015 films (with US release dates included) that are piquing our interest…

10. ANT-MAN (July 17)
News of Marvel’s latest was all the Internet could handle when director Edgar Wright (Hot Fuzz; Shaun of the Dead) announced his new film would be the comic giant’s niche cult-hero, Ant-Man (pictured, above). But when ‘creative differences’ led to his departure well into pre-production, fans braced themselves. The replacement – Hollywood journeyman Peyton Reed, best known for the cheerleader romp Bring It On; the star – Paul Rudd, a solid if safe choice who’ll be playing darker than his on-screen persona has ever allowed; ace in the hole – Michael Douglas, who stuck with the project despite the departure of Wright.
HIT/MISS – Guardians of the Galaxy gave Marvel Films the creative shot-in-the-arm it needed and if Ant-Man finds its own, fresh voice, expect big things. If it proves to be a ‘boardroom’ film, pandering to shareholders needs and playing safe, fans may revolt given the missed opportunity Edgar Wright’s departure represents.

9. PEANUTS (November 6)
The estate of the late Charles Shultz must be licking their lips now that the cartoonist’s iconic group of friends is getting the Hollywood 3D animation makeover. Charged with making 1950’s suburban kids relevant today is Steve Martino (the colourful, if a bit one-note, Horton Hears a Hoo!; the uninspiring Ice Age: Continental Drift). The comic strip ended a 50-year run in 2000, so the key under-10 demo will have to rely on Mum and Dad to upsell the backstory. The animation (as seen in the teaser trailer) finds an intriguing balance between old and new, but is it too cutesy in the Pixar era?
HIT/MISS – The potential for merchandising profits is too huge for 20^th Century Fox to drop the ball here. They will make sure it connects.

8. TOMORROWLAND (May 22)
In the can for over a year (it was originally slated as a summer 2014 release), Tomorrowland is Brad Bird’s latest, a filmmaker who has yet to put a directorial foot wrong (The Iron Giant; The Incredibles; Ratatouille; Mission: Impossible – Ghost Protocol). Despite its extended post-production period and high-profile leading man, George Clooney, the fact is very little is known about its plot; two teens create a device that can propel them through time and space in an instant, bringing them to the Utopian society of the title. Or something like that.
HIT/MISS – It’s Bird’s long-in-gestation passion project, and his instincts have been spot-on so far. Despite the difficulty Hollywood execs have selling a fresh idea and with the charming Clooney to woo the talk show circuit, it’s a hit.

7. MAD MAX: FURY ROAD (May 15)
Dr George Miller’s reboot of his own iconic creation, the ‘Road Warrior’ lone cop Max Rockatansky, has travelled its own long, bumpy highway to its May 2015 release. Originally aiming for a 2014 slot, industry buzz suggested that the post-production period was going to be immense. Seems Miller (pictured, right; on location with star Tom Hardy) shot logistically daunting and wildly spectacular stunt sequences yet neglected that other crucial element – a plot. Allegedly, the mantra during the shoot was “We’ll fix it in post.” On-set tension was also cited; reports hinted at bitterness between stars Tom Hardy and Charlize Theron.
HIT/MISS - Which will all mean nothing when Mad Max Fury Road opens to huge figures. It is yet another reboot, sure, but Max is an iconic film figure that crosses generational demographics. He will rule the early US summer landscape.

6. UNTITLED STEVEN SPIELBERG PROJECT (October 16)
Never underestimate Spielberg, the most commercially successful filmmaker of all time. His most recent film was 2011 Lincoln, a 2½ hour historical drama that would take an extraordinary US$182million domestically. Prior to that, he broke new technological ground with The Adventures of Tintin and survived the worst reviews of his career to turn Indiana Jones and The Kingdom of The Crystal Skull into a blockbuster; even the noble failure War Horse took US$180million globally. In 2015, he reteams with Tom Hanks, with whom he has crafted some of his best late-career work (Saving Private Ryan, Catch Me If You Can and, yes, even the unfairly-derided The Terminal) for a Cold War thriller that recalls arguably his best film of the last decade, Munich (pictured, left; the star and director on-set).
HIT/MISS – Hit, of course, but skewing older and dependent upon critical raves to breakout. With Joel and Ethan Coen supplying the screenplay and Hanks’ resurgence in full swing after Captain Phillips and Saving Mr Banks, the October release date pins it as an Oscar contender. 

5. JURASSIC WORLD (June 12)
Spielberg again, but wearing his producer’s hat for this fourth trip to an island of the coast of Costa Rica. Is it a sequel? Is it a reboot? Whatever; that kind pre-release analysis will count for nought when this drops June 12 and becomes one of the biggest films of the year. The unknown factor is director Colin Trevorrow, who showed great skill with character chemistry and gentle fantasy in Safety Not Guaranteed, but has no runs on the board in the blockbuster, effects-heavy, summer tentpole stakes. Trump card – Chris Pratt, in his first action hero role since Guardians of the Galaxy. And new-look dinosaurs. And Spielberg.
HIT/MISS – Come on, really?

4. FIFTY SHADES OF GREY (February 13)
EL James’ literary phenomenon made the complexities of a BDSM relationship palatable and smoothly stylish to the masses. Converting that to the bigscreen will be a tricky task; no one is pretending these airport novels were Pulitzer-worthy, but they envisioned a world of intricate intimacies that built a big, passionate following. That could easily unravel when translated to a commercial film template (pictured, right; stars Jamie Dornan and Dakota Johnson). Perhaps fittingly, everything we’ve seen about the film to date – the young, pretty stars; the trailer; Beyonce’s contribution to the soundtrack – reeks of style over substance. Slotting the World Premiere for the prestige Berlinale suggests a high level of confidence in critic’s reaction, but that could backfire if the knives come out.
HIT/MISS – Will open huge, but word-of-mouth will be crucial. At best, it will set pulses racing and upscale audiences talking, ala 9½ Weeks or Fatal Attraction; at worst, it is this years Showgirls. Reports that multiplex audiences were giggling at the trailer is not a good sign; European filmgoers will probably wonder what all the fuss is about. Bret Easton Ellis (American Psycho; The Canyons) pitched hard for the gig, but studio types found his take too raw (read; commercially risky).

3. THE MARTIAN (November 25)
His output has grown erratic, but news of a ‘Ridley Scott sci-fi adventure’ still quickens the pulse (pictured, left). This adaptation of Andy Weir’s cult novel posits Matt Damon alone and trying to survive all Mars can throw at him until his rescue craft arrive. Big plusses are co-stars Jessica Chastain and Kate Mara (in for quite a year, with her Fantastic Four reboot also pending). Next up for Scott will be the Blade Runner sequel, so here’s hoping The Martian will be a return to form.
HIT/MISS – Dunno. Scott is having a rough trot, with Prometheus, The Councillor and Exodus Gods and Kings all earning blah notices and mid-range box office; the last movie that took us to the red planet was the infamous John Carter; big, ambitious sci-fi films like Interstellar and Gravity divide opinion (though, admittedly, rake in the bucks).

2. AVENGERS: AGE OF ULTRON (May 21)
All the gang are back, this time to take on James Spader’s bad guy Ultron in writer/director Joss Whedon’s follow-up to his own 2012 box-office behemoth. Expect more of the same city-wrecking, hulk-smashing entertainment, as only Marvel can deliver (over and over again, it would seem). New cast members Elizabeth Olsen (as Scarlet Witch) and Aaron Taylor-Johnson (as Quicksilver) were hot when cast, but their blah chemistry as husband-and-wife in Godzilla may see them pushed into the background in all key art (Johnson is nowhere to be found in the latest trailer).
HIT/MISS – Early footage feels a little too much like those clunky, grinding Transformer films and the wheels will fall off this whole Marvel superhero tentpole trend eventually. But not in 2015 - this is a certifiable blockbuster.

1. STAR WARS: EPISODE VII - THE FORCE AWAKENS (December 18)
The teaser trailer broke the web, with 20million YouTube views on its day of release. Director JJ Abrams, a Star Wars devotee, further appeased fans by bringing in veteran scriptwriter Lawrence Kasdan, the man who penned The Empire Strikes Back. Casting news, whether new players (Daisy Ridley, Oscar nominee Oscar Isaacs, Adam Driver) or the return of old friends (Harrison Ford, Carrie Fisher, Mark Hamill), ran across all media, fan-based or not. Word is that the plot takes place 30 years after the events of Return of the Jedi, but no details have been forthcoming.
HIT/MISS – Invincible against any and all outside influences. Critical reaction, box office competition, the unpredictability of the weather – The Force Awakens is the four-quadrant event film of 2015.  

IN HINDSIGHT...: MY YEAR IN FILM

Reflecting upon the cinematic year, I recalled not so much the movies I saw (681 in total, with thanks to the awesome Letterboxd site) but the lively discussions, heated debates and vast opinions I enjoyed with those I am fortunate to call colleagues and friends. So below you won't find my Best/Worst of the Year opinions (if you're inclined, you can find that here), but more a revisiting of the issues and events that left an impression upon me...

“Another round, bartender…”
In 2014, ‘Hollywood Blockbusters’ mostly resembled drunks in a seedy bar early on a Wednesday afternoon. There was the refined gentleman acting above his fellow patrons yet, deep down, fully aware he was the just like them (Captain America: The Winter Soldier); the increasingly haggard old broad (The Hunger Games: Mockinjay Part 1) who dragged along her innocent daughter (Divergent) for her first sip; the hulking, brooding boozer who threatens to erupt but mostly just mumbles to himself (Godzilla); the fading 40-somethings who loudly reminisce about the good old days when they were relevant (X-Men Days of Future Past; The Amazing Spiderman 2; Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, top); the violent, obnoxious jerk who everyone hates (Transformers: Age of Extinction); the douche-bag hipster, covered in brand names, who gets less funny the longer he drinks (The LEGO Movie); and, the sad little nobody that no one talks to and most forget is even there (Jack Ryan: Shadow Recruit). But then there were the films who peeked into the bar, saw the worst that they could be and said “no”; blockbusters that instead developed vibrant, funny personalities (Guardians of the Galaxy; 22 Jump Street; Neighbors), serious smarts (Dawn of the Planet of the Apes; Edge of Tomorrow, above) and human, empathetic souls (The Fault in Our Stars).

Film Critics Can Make of Break Your Movie. Except if you’re The Babadook. Or These Final Hours. Or Tracks. Or Predestination.
Respected Australian critic Margaret Pomeranz had a lot to say in the wake of director/star Josh Lawson’s A Little Death (pictured, below) tanking domestically. Pomeranz, who called time in December on a 28 year career as the yin to David Stratton’s yang on the iconic At The Movies show (the pair; pictured right), penned an op-ed piece in which she took her peers to task for bagging the sex-themed rom-com (on which her son, Josh, was an EP). Toronto critics liked it (it had its US premiere there, so the festival mood was...festive), while Australian journos largely derided it. “(When) effort is made and talent is discernible, I think it ought to be acknowledged rather than have its undeniable flaws recklessly highlighted,” Pomeranz opined. It was an embarrassing outburst of self-serving personal opinion by Pomeranz; she has bagged innumerable films with one or two star reviews, most of them made with good intentions and plenty of talent attached, though few of them Australian (“I have become well-known for supporting Australian films, I've been accused of being too generous, of awarding half a star too many, whatever,” she deflects in her rant). It was one of the many bewildering contradictions in the piece. “What is it with Australian critics of Australian films? Are we setting the bar so high that no one can possibly jump over it?” she bleats. Well, Australian critics loved The Babadook, These Final Hours, Felony, Galore, Charlie’s Country, Tracks and Predestination; they mostly liked Healing, The Rover, The Infinite Man and The Turning. But shitty marketing and outmoded distribution strategies hurt them all. Pomeranz should have used her profile to force answers from decision-makers in the sector and worried less about the general opinion of a minor work in which she has personal investment.

No, television is not ‘The New Cinema’…
Television continued its highly touted ‘renaissance’ in 2014, which led many to declare that film would soon be dead in the water. Which is, of course, nonsense. Television is offering up some terrific entertainment, such as 2014 newbies Gracepoint, Broad City, Peaky Blinders and Olive Kettridge and holdovers The Walking Dead, Masters of Sex, The Americans and Orange is the New Black. But television, by its very nature, is bound by convention, from the 43 or 22 minute commercial framing to the very platform on which it is seen (no matter how big TVs get, they will always be ‘the small screen’). What has improved is the boldness of the writing; not the quality per se, just the themes and narratives being tackled by some of Hollywood’s best wordsmiths. But television can never mimic the scale and scope of cinema, the fully immersive sensorial experience, the all-consuming atmospherics. In his popular podcast, Bret Easton Ellis chatted with director James Gray (on-set of his 2014 film, The Immigrant; pictured, right) on the essential value of seeing films on the biggest screen possible. “The specialness of the event, of going to the theatre, with a lot of people, in a big room where you (eat) your warmed popcorn with the bad butter,” said an impassioned Gray, “well, that was amazing. I don’t think anything tops that. Certainly not watching it on my iPad."

The Booming Irrelevance of The Oscars…
Actually, that needs clarification. The Oscars circus is still crucial to the movie-making industrial complex. The award season madness, which culminates with the glitz and glamour of the Academy Awards ceremony, provides a point-of-difference for Hollywood’s marketeers, allowing them to cover their respective studios in the glow of socially redeeming, issue-based films, the kind that can make money without fast food tie-ins. The films need not be very challenging, very insightful or even very good; earlier this year, such earnest, average voters-bait as 12 Years A Slave and Dallas Buyers Club triumphed, while Her and American Hustle were elevated far beyond their worth to provide an element of ‘cool relevance’; in a few weeks, the vastly over-rated Boyhood, this year’s BIG issue-pic Selma and obligatory Brit contenders The Imitation Game and The Theory of Everything will dominate the 2015 line-up; we can only hope Birdman (pictured, left), Whiplash, The Grand Budapest Hotel and Nightcrawler brighten Oscars’ podium with their unique visions. Of course, I’ll clear my calendar to watch it live. 

Also, it just crossed my mind that...

Scarlett Johansson is in a very good place. From the fearless ferocity of Under the Skin, the lunacy of Lucy and the sexy, good-time physicality she exuded in Captain America: The Winter Soldier, the actress (pictured, right) had a great 2014.

Shailene Woodley will be America’s next great film actress. Two big hits in 2014 (the franchise-starter, Divergent; YA phenomenon The Fault in Our Stars), a hotly-anticipated indie (Gregg Araki’s White Bird in a Blizzard) about to roll-out, and the lead in the new Oliver Stone film locked in, Woodley is on track for super-stardom.

Indie Horror is where it’s at! Studios have bailed on horror fans (Annabelle? Ugh, puh-leeze; Eric Bana's Deliver Us From Evil was terrible) but the independent sector delivered the year’s most memorable midnight movie-going moments with nerve-rattlers like Honeymoon, Starry Eyes, The Sacrament, How to Save Us, Oculus and Inner Demon.

Keanu Reeves is back. Not just because he was in the year’s bloodiest, most exhilarating action film, John Wick (pictured, left), but also because he handled with grace the wave of ill-will about his actually-quite-awesome flop 47 Ronin, took on the new technological paradigm of digital filmmaking as frontman on the doco series Side by Side and directed the martial arts bone cruncher, The Man from Tai-Chi (yes, 2013, but saw it this year).

Subtitles rule. Iranian Nami Javidi made his directing debut with the unnerving, compelling drama, Melbourne. Other foreign sector must-sees were Cannes favourites Leviathan and Winter Sleep; the dialogue-free social document, Manakamana; the 5½ hour Filipino drama, From What is Before; and, Ida.

And, from the desk of Amy Pascal. Change all your passwords, now.

Thanks for all your support in 2014 and have a happy and safe New Year.
Simon Foster, Managing Editor

OBITUARY: VIRNA LISI

Virna Lisi, the Italian actress whose career was both enhanced and hindered by her photogenic assets, has passed away in Rome after a brief, determined battle against an unspecified cancer. She was 78.

Born Virna Pieralisi in the picturesque central Italian seaside city of Ancona, she made her debut at age 17 in Carlo Borghesio’s 1953 melodrama, La corda d’acciao (The Steel Rope), having been discovered in Paris by producers Antonio Ferrigno and Ettore Pesce. Audiences were immediately captivated and Lisi found steady work - as the luminous Maria in Armando Grottini’s musical E Napoli canta (Napoli Sings, 1953); opposite legendary funnyman Toto in the anthology comedy Questa e la vita (Of Life and Love, 1954); and Francesco Maselli’s La donna del giorno (The Woman of the Day, 1956), in which she excels as ambitious model Liliana, who conjures a rape story for publicity only to have the consequences spin out of control.

However, these early career highlights were tempered by works that merely exploited her rare beauty, such as Mario Mattoli’s Le diciottenni (Eighteen Year Olds, 1955), an uncredited turn in Antonio Pietrangelo’s Lo scapolo (The Bachelor, 1955) and Alex Joffe’s broad comedy Les hussards (Cavalrymen, 1955). She turned to the blossoming world of television to further establish her acting credentials, taking on the lead role in the landmark 1957 mini-series ‘Orgoglio e pregiudizio’. The format would serve her well over the course of her career, with roles in such hits as ‘Una tragedia american’ (1962), ‘Philo Vance’ (1974) and ‘Beauty Centre’ (2001) as well as dozens of TV movies helping her maintain a high public profile.

A support role in Sergio Corbucci’s blockbuster historical epic Romolo e Remo (Romulus and Remus, 1961) and her potent presence in Joseph Losey’s 1962 erotic-drama Eve brought Lisi to the attention of Hollywood producers at a time when studios were unveiling a Monroe-like starlet almost weekly. But Lisi’s talent and craft was already well-honed and she was sought to co-star with many of the international industry’s top male stars - Jack Lemmon (How to Murder Your Wife, her 1965 American debut); Marcello Mastroanni (Casanova ’70 and Kiss the Other Sheik, both 1965; The Voyeur, 1970); Alain Delon (The Black Tulip, 1965); Vittorio Gassman (A Maiden for The Prince, 1966); Frank Sinatra (Assault on a Queen, 1966); Tony Curtis (Not With My Wife, You Don’t!, 1966); Anthony Quinn (The 25^th Hour, 1967; The Secret of Santa Vittoria, 1969); Rod Steiger (The Girl and The General, 1967); George Segal (The Girl Who Couldn’t Say No, 1968); William Holden (The Christmas Tree); Charles Aznavour (The Heist, 1970; Love Me Strangely, 1971); David Niven (The Statue, 1971); and, Richard Burton (Bluebeard, 1971, alongside Raquel Welch).

Virna Lisi was aware of the dangers of being typecast in the ‘exotic beauty’ role. She famously turned down Roger Vadim’s Barbarella, the international sensation that would make Jane Fonda a star, and bought out her contract with the United Artists studio, convinced the were withholding strong parts from her in favour of skin-deep support turns. She went to great lengths to challenge herself in often non-commercial fare, such as an early starring role alongside Gastone Moschin and Nora Ricci in Pietro Germi’s Signore & Signori, which would earn the Grand Prix trophy at the Cannes Film Festival. As she matured, accolades were bestowed upon her for Liliana Cavani’s Al di la del bene e del mal (Beyond Good and Evil, 1977), Alberto Lattuada’s drama La cicala (The Cricket, 1980); Carlo Vanzina’s comedy Sapora di mare (Time for Loving, 1983); and, Luigi Comencini’s romp Buon Natale, Buon anno (Merry Christmas, Happy New Year, 1989). Her greatest triumph would come in 1994, when she was cast as ‘Catherine de Medicis’ opposite Isabelle Adjani’s titular monarch in Patrice Chereau’s La reine Margot (Queen Margot); the role would earn Lisi honours at Cannes (Best Actress) and France’s Cesar Awards (Best Supporting Actress). She has been honoured with eight career achievement awards, including acknowledgement from Venice, Lecce and Taormina festival bodies.

She has largely worked in television since completing Christina Comencini’s 2002 Italian ensemble dram, Il piu bel giorno della mia vita (The Best Day of My Life), her dominant matriarch winning acting honours at the Italian Film Journalists Awards and the Flaiano Film Festival. Her final film, Latin Lover, reteams the actress with Comencini and is due for realease in 2015.

Married to architect Franco Pesci for 53 years (he passed away in 2013), Virna Lisi is survived by her son, Corrado, and three grandchildren.

"YOU CAN'T TAKE IT, BILLY!": CRANKY COMICS AND CAUSTIC CRITICS

Life Itself, director Steve James' moving, insightful adaptation of the late Roger Ebert’s memoirs, takes its title from perhaps his most famous quote, “The only thing I love more than movies is life itself.” But falling afoul of his generosity was never pretty; the critic that cherishes the artistry of cinema is quick to deride those that fail to honour his lofty ideals. Just ask Rob Schneider…

Rob Schneider found fame as a cast member of Saturday Night Live before a stop/start bigscreen career that included Judge Dredd, Down Periscope, The Animal and a regular support bit in a lot of Adam Sandler films as the guy who yells out ‘You can do it!’ Despite a fratboy fanbase that made minor hits out of The Hot Chick and The Benchwarmers, his leading man cred ground to a halt after 2007’s dismal Big Stan.

Schneider’s biggest hits were the Deuce Bigalow films, in which he played a worthless schmo who finds himself an in-demand male whore. Critics tore them to shreds, of course, none more so than Patrick Goldstein of the Los Angeles Times, who stated that the 2005 sequel, Deuce Bigalow: European Gigolo (pictured, right), was overlooked at the 2005 Oscars “because apparently nobody had the foresight to invent a category for Best Running Penis Joke Delivered by a Third Rate Comic.”

The admittedly nasty review was the final straw for Schnieder, who took out full-page ads in the daily trade papers blasting Goldstein’s own lack of award silverware. The comic pointed out that the critic did not have a Pulitzer Prize because they didn’t have a category for “Best Third-Rate, Unfunny, Pompous Reporter, Who’s Never Been Acknowledged by His Peers”.

What has all this to do with the late, great Mr Ebert? Well, as the critic himself often pointed out, Roger Ebert does have a Pulitzer Prize, for Criticism, which he won in 1975; he was the first film critic to be so honoured. Deciding to weigh in on the very public slanging match, Roger Ebert penned one of his most deliciously caustic commentaries, elegantly stating, “As chance would have it, I have won the Pulitzer Prize,” before concluding his review of the film with, “Speaking in my official capacity as a Pulitzer Prize winner, Mr Schneider, your movie sucks.”*

‘Your Movie Sucks’ would become the title of his follow-up book to ‘I Hated, Hated, Hated This Movie’ (its title taken from Ebert’s lees-than-favourable take on Rob Reiner’s North), both bestselling collections of his most scathing reviews. As Life Itself continues to play to warm audience reception and critical acclaim, we are reminded of his witty but blistering rhetoric in these excerpts from the pages of his 2007 compendium…

Half Past Dead (2002; with Steven Seagal and Morris Chestnut; directed by Don Michael Paul).
Plot: A criminal mastermind sets in motion a plan to infiltrate a high tech prison to unearth a hidden $200million in gold, with an undercover FBI agent the only hope to stop the scheme before it is too late.
Said Ebert:  “Half Past Dead is like an alarm that goes off while nobody is in the room. It does its job and stops, and nobody cares.”; “Seagal’s great contribution to the movie is to look serious, even menacing, in close-ups carefully framed to hide his double-chin. I do not object to the fact that he’s put on weight. Look who’s talking. I object to the fact that he thinks he can conceal it from us with knee-length coats and tricky camera angles. I would rather see a movie about a pudgy karate fighter than a movie about a guy you never get a good look at.”

Fantastic Four (2005; with Ioan Gruffud, Jessica Alba and Chris Evans; directed by Tim Story).
Plot: A group of astronauts gain superpowers after a cosmic radiation exposure and must use their new powers to fight the rise of their enemy, Dr Doom.
Said Ebert: “Are these people complete idiots? The entire nature of their existence has radically changed, and they’re about as excited as if they got a makeover on Oprah.”; “(The) really good superhero movies, like Superman, Spiderman II, and Batman Begins, leave Fantastic Four so far behind that the movie should almost be ashamed to show itself in some of the same theatres.”

Be Cool (2005; with John Travolta and Uma Thurman; directed by F Gary Gray)
Plot: Disenchanted with the movie industry, Chilli Palmer re-invents himself in the music biz and woos the widow of a big-deal record executive.
Said Ebert: “Be Cool becomes a classic species of bore; a self-referential movie with no self to refer to. One character after another, one scene after another, one cute line of dialogue after another, refers to another movie, a similar character, a contrasting image or whatever. The movie is like a bureaucrat who keeps sending you to another office.”

Resident Evil: Apocalypse (2004; with Milla Jovovich; directed by Alexander Witt)
Plot: Our heroine awakes to find her surrounds infested with monsters and zombies and must escape before all is destroyed by a nuclear missile.
Said Ebert: “Parents: If you encounter teenagers who say they liked this movie, do not let them date your children.”

The Hills Have Eyes (2006; with Ted Levine an Kathleen Quinlan, directed by Alexandre Aja)
Plot: An all-American suburban family detour into a deserted desert landscape where mutants hunt them for their flesh.
Said Ebert: “It always begins with the Wrong Gas Station. In real life, as I pointed out in a previous Wrong Gas Station movie, most gas stations are clean, well-lighted places.”; “Nobody in this movie has ever seen a Dead Teenager Movie, and so they don’t know 1) you never go off alone, 2) you especially never go off alone at night, and 3) you never follow your dog when it races off barking insanely, because you have more sense than the dog. It is also possibly not a good idea to walk back to the Wrong Gas Station to get help from the degenerate who sent you on the detour in the first place.”

*The long feud that ensued between Schneider and Ebert was laid to rest in some thoughtful correspondence that the comedia shared with Roger Ebert's widow, Chaz, which she reproduced in full on her blog page at rogerebert.com in October 2013.

REMEMBERING PAUL MAZURSKY

Paul Mazursky carved a unique niche in the contemporary Hollywood landscape. The writer/director, who passed away on June 30 in Los Angeles at the age of 84, was born into a Ukrainian Jewish home in working-class New York, his mother a musician, who gave recitals for dance classes; his father, a hardened labourer. That ‘art/work’ dichotomy infused his cinematic view of his world, from his beginnings as an acting student of Lee Strasberg to stints in stand-up comedy and finally a place amongst Hollywood’s A-list for over two decades.

In a career that spanned 19 films, he boldly tackled modern reworkings of Fellini (Alex in Wonderland, 1970), Truffaut (Willie and Phil, 1980), Shakespeare (Tempest, 1982) and Bergman (Scenes from a Mall, 1991). He has delivered one deeply personal work (1976s desperately undervalued Next Stop, Greenwich Village) and was not without his misguided follies (Columbia Pictures deemed his 1993 film industry satire, The Pickle, “unreleasable”). But more often than not, Mazursky’s words and images captured the zeitgeist, leading to some of the most caustic social satires and compassionate dramatic comedies in American cinema history… 

Bob & Carol & Ted & Alice (1969)
Mazursky had directed the short Last Year at Malibu and penned the script (with co-writer Larry Tucker) for the Peter Sellers 1968 hit, I Love You, Alice B Toklas (Tucker and Mazursky had teamed on TV writing gigs, notably the pilot episode of The Monkees). For his feature directorial debut, he drew upon his experiences at a new-age communal retreat he had visited with his wife. The film, Bob & Carol & Ted & Alice, captured the tune-in/drop-out, free-love ethos of a rebellious America; it became a blockbuster hit (its US$30million gross equates to US$188million today), wowed critics (the esteemed Pauline Kael called it, “…the liveliest American comedy so far this year…”) and earned 4 Oscar nominations.

Blume in Love (1973) and Harry & Tonto (1974)
The enormous success of his debut gave Mazursky creative freedom, which he frittered away with the bizarre 1970 oddity, Alex in Wonderland (“…self-indulgent emptiness,” said critic Vincent Canby). After a sabbatical in Europe, he returned with two small-scale but insightful works that would re-establish his reputation. Blume in Love, starring George Segal, put a human face on the scourge of Me Generation America, the divorce lawyer, earning Mazursky a WGA nomination; and, Harry and Tonto, the touching story of a displaced old man (Oscar-winner Art Carney), his cat, Tonto and the road-trip they undertake to discover a country that casts aside its elderly in the name of progress.

An Unmarried Woman (1978)
Hitting cinemas with its themes of gender role redefinition and personal freedom at a time when American women were most vocal in the loud, proud fight for equality and independence, Mazursky had his biggest commercial hit ever with An Unmarried Woman. Starring Jill Clayburgh in an iconic, Oscar-nominated performance, the story of Erica and the reclamation of her spirit after her well-to-do Upper East Side marriage crumbles, became a social phenomenon.  Roger Ebert called it, “…one of the funniest, truest, sometimes most heartbreaking movies I've ever seen.”

Moscow on the Hudson (1984) and Down and Out in Beverly Hills (1986)
His ambition went unrewarded when follow-up projects Willie & Phil (1980) and Tempest (1982) tanked, but the country was reshaping itself. Gone was the ‘personal improvement’ mantra of the 1970s, replaced by the Reagan-era ‘red, white and blue’ patriotism that frowned on foreign influence and celebrated gaudy monuments to wealth. Mazursky refocussed his satirical eye accordingly - Moscow on the Hudson (1984) gave Robin Williams his best role in years, as the Russian musician finding the new America not the land of opportunity he was promised; and Down and Out in Beverly Hills (1986), the smash-hit satire about life amongst LA’s vacuous elite, which rejuvenated the careers of Nick Nolte, Bette Midler and Richard Dreyfuss.

Enemies: A Love Story (1989)
Mazursky’s last truly memorable work was his sweet, ‘romantic love triangle’ comedy drama Enemies: A Love Story, adapted from Isaac Bashevis Singer’s novel by the director and journeyman writer Roger L Simon (The Big Fix, 1978; Bustin’ Loose, 1981). The film failed to click with audiences, but the aging auteur’s love letter to the New York of his boyhood was one of his most critically acclaimed films (Rolling Stone’s Peter Travers said, “This is a stunning film, richly detailed and brilliantly acted”), earning Oscar nominations for the adapted screenplay and leading ladies Lena Olin and Anjelica Huston.