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11 Mutants the MCU Should Introduce

Guest — Fri, 18 Nov 2022 02:34:28 +0000

They’re finally here. After much speculation and anticipation, we have our first true mutant in the Marvel Cinematic Universe. We’ve seen alternate universes with the likes Charles Xavier, and the reveal that Kamala Kahn holds mutant DNA, but Ryan Coogler’s latest instalment in Marvel’s mega franchise – Black Panther: Wakanda Forever – introduces us to Namor.

Tenoch Huerta’s Namor is the antagonist of the 2nd Black Panther movie, threatening war with Wakanda. Over the course of the film we learn that he is a mutant. Ever since Disney’s acquisition of X-Men rights holders 20th Century Fox, it has seemed inevitable that mutants would arrive into the MCU at some point. With a proposed mutant-centric film in the works, along with Deadpool 3 starring Ryan Reynolds as X-Men franchisee Deadpool and Hugh Jackman as Wolverine, within the MCU continuity, there’s going to be even more speculation on who will also join the universe.

It is almost inevitable that the clawed badass Wolverine will be present in the MCU moving forward even if Hugh Jackman doesn’t stay on in the role. It’s also a given that Professor Charles Xavier and Magneto will come into the fold. As such, we won’t be speculating on them. Instead, in this Movie List from The Film Magazine, we will be offering up some different mutants to see in the MCU moving forward, some familiar and some new to movie audiences, for this: the 11 Mutants the MCU Should Introduce.

1. Kitty Pryde | Shadowcat

Despite being an enduringly popular comic book staple since “X-Men” legend Chris Claremont created her, Katherine “Kitty” Pryde has yet to get her due on screen.

Despite two appearances in the original Fox film franchise, with Elliot Page filling the role, she was always relegated to a secondary character, adept at running through walls and sending Wolverine back in time.

The reality is, her ability to phase through matter is visually striking and opens up fun action, and her history as a Jewish-American offers ample opportunity to explore persecution and prejudice, something that has been key to the X-Men from the start.

She also has an inter-dimensional pet dragon called Lockheed, and has at times joined the Guardians of the Galaxy, so her potential to become a key member of the universe is all there to be used. It helps (given that Marvel has been taking steps to offer better representation) that Kitty is a bisexual character.

2. Akihiro | Daken

Daken is the mutant son of Wolverine and a certified badass in his own right. He has all the same abilities as his old man, only with added pheromone manipulation.

Like most of the MCU, he has a history of daddy issues which makes him ripe for exploration. Daken blames Wolverine for the death of his mother, Itsu, and how his not being present in young Daken’s life meant it was filled with hardship. This sort of tasty drama could make him the natural successor to Loki’s conflicted baddie role.

Given the popularity of Logan, and the slim chances of Hugh Jackman doing another long-term stint as Wolverine post-Deadpool 3, it might be worth Daken and X-23 going head to head over their father’s mantle.

Daken has also taken a more heroic role over time, offering a long term story arc of redemption for whomever takes on the role, something the MCU has also proven fond of.

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10 Sexiest Movie Vampires

Margaret Roarty — Thu, 20 Oct 2022 02:30:12 +0000

The Vampire has been a part of our collective consciousness for centuries. The mythology of vampires has evolved over time, but our continued obsession with mortality and our desire to explore the darkest parts of the human psyche have kept it alive and thriving in popular culture. We can’t help being drawn to them, attracted to their darkness and their power. Willingly, we invite them in. We go out into the dark in search of them, daring them to have a taste.

In film, the modern vampire is the embodiment of these desires. We thirst after them, flirting with danger and death. They represent our guilt and shame – our repressed sexuality. In this Movie List from The Film Magazine, we’ll journey from Victorian Era London to 1980s California to bring you the vampires that tempt us, turn us on, and frighten us to our core. These are the 10 Sexiest Movie Vampires.

10. Mimi – Kiss of the Damned (2013)

Directed by Xan Cassavetes, Kiss of the Damned is a gothic thriller that pays homage to the Hammer Horror films of the 1960s and 70s. The film tells the story of Djuna (Joséphine de La Baume), a reclusive vampire who falls in love with Paolo (Milo Ventimiglia), an American screenwriter and human – until Djuna turns him into one of her own.

Their fairy tale is short-lived. Enter: Mimi (Roxane Mesquida), Djuna’s little sister. They’re polar opposites, constantly at odds with each other, both unable to accept the other’s lifestyle. Mimi is impulsive and selfish, draining the lives of humans like an addict, unable to control her appetite. But she’s cool and stylish, first appearing Matrix-style in a shiny leather jacket and black sunglasses, although it’s clearly the middle of the night. In contrast to Djuna, Mimi is unashamed in both body and mind. While Djuna hides her body in suffocating lace, Mimi’s outfits are short, tight and revealing. Mimi represents Djuna’s repressed self, uninhibited by her desire and hunger.

Her three-way with an unsuspecting couple is both titillating and unnerving, given the gruesome way we know their encounter will end, but Mimi’s seductive power over others doesn’t end with weak and vulnerable humans. She tempts Xenia (Anna Mouglalis) into drinking the blood of a virgin and eventually seduces Paolo in a steamy and erotic shower scene. Mimi is a vampire you’d love to spend the night with – although you might not make it ‘til morning.

9. Dracula – Dracula (1931)

It’s hard to overstate the impact of Bela Lugosi’s generation-defining turn as Dracula in Universal’s 1931 adaptation of the Hamilton Deane and John L. Balderston stage play of the same name. Today, it’s easy to characterize Lugosi’s Dracula as campy and maybe even a little silly, but the character was received far differently at the time.

The sexual themes in Dracula are subtle, but they are there simmering beneath the surface. Quoting from “The Vampire Book: The Encyclopedia of the Undead”, scholar J. Gordon Milton writes, “In the original stage and screen presentations of Dracula, the vampire’s bite substituted for the sexual activity that could not be more directly portrayed.”

In terms of the performance itself, Bela Lugosi’s Dracula is elegant and foreign. He’s often shown in shadow, his wide and piercing eyes highlighted. Dracula is no doubt the villain in this film, but he’s also entrancing. He is a mysterious stranger who awakens the sexual desires of a repressed Victorian society.

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10 Best Lindsay Lohan Performances

Jacob Davis — Thu, 22 Sep 2022 01:35:24 +0000

It’s hard to believe that Lindsay Lohan is only 36 (as of 2022). The prime of her film career was not long at all, and is now overshadowed by the actions that resulted from the trauma she endured in childhood. While Lohan is moving more into the public eye, starring on her own MTV reality show ‘Lindsay Lohan’s Beach Club’ and the upcoming Falling for Christmas (2022) and Irish Wish (2023), it’s hard to imagine anything supplanting her image as a child and teen icon in the early noughts.

The goal of this Movie List is to celebrate a figure who has been maligned by society, to replace Perez Hiltonian discourse that aimed to degrade a child actor who didn’t have much choice in her own rise to fame. Lindsay Lohan deserves to be appreciated for the excellent work she did in what was surely a difficult environment. For her fans and supporters, these are the definitive and iconic Lindsay Lohan film performances for 90s/00s kids: the 10 Best Lindsay Lohan Performances.

10. Labor Pains (2009)

This one must be prefaced with the “not-a-good-movie” disclaimer. It’s like Fifty Shades without the sex…

Lindsay Lohan’s character Thea works at a book publisher, and she finds herself achieving some career mobility when she pretends she’s pregnant. There’s a lot of unfunny comedy throughout the film, and a surplus of superfluous characters, but no one is watching Labor Pains for any reason other than Lindsay Lohan.

Her performance becomes quite charming whenever she begins to buy into the film’s premise. She’s constantly having to act as if she’s pregnant, and eventually the fake pregnancy becomes her reality. Working with a pregnant author gives her perspective and an understanding of motherhood, womanhood, and humanity, and Lohan is able to communicate the struggle in an entertaining way.

Without Lindsay Lohan, this film would be just another lame comedy from the late 2000s with hardly anything worth remarking upon.

9. Just My Luck (2006)

Just My Luck is another mediocre comedy film that has its moments.

Lindsay Lohan stars opposite Chris Pine (Star Trek, Wonder Woman), and after a fiery meeting at a masquerade ball, the two swap luck – think Freaky Friday but with tarot and kissing instead of racial stereotypes.

Lohan’s performance is nothing spectacular, but she’s doing her schtick here: she’s the all-American girl making her way through a ridiculous comedy premise. The chemistry is there with Pine, and they each sell blunderous physical comedy scenes.

If you like Lindsay Lohan Lindsay Lohaning, Just My Luck is an enjoyable film.

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10 Unsung Women Filmmakers of the Silent Era

Guest — Fri, 16 Sep 2022 00:41:04 +0000

Since the silent era, women have played important roles in the development of film. It’s generally a well-kept secret that women were writing, editing, directing, and producing movies as early as the late 19th century. In fact, some were major players in developing filmmaking techniques that are standard today. If the names of these women aren’t familiar to the average film lover, it’s only because, thanks to sexism and racism, their contributions fell into obscurity. The work of some are still being questioned by film scholars, with the majority of their contributions attributed to their male partners. Regardless, these women need to be emblazoned in film canon and given their proper dues. This Movie List from The Film Magazine hopes to repair the damage and rescue them from underserved obscurity. These are 10 Unsung Women Filmmakers of the Silent Era.

10. Eloyce Patrick King Gist

Eloyce Patrick King Gist has the distinction of being the first black woman filmmaker. Like her contemporary Oscar Michaux, Gist produced films for the largely underserved Black community. However, she made movies for spiritual uplift rather than for entertainment.

Born in 1892 in Hitchcock, Texas, Gist met and married her husband James Gist, an evangelical Christian who produced silent films for local churches. Though a Baha’i by faith, she joined her husband’s endeavors by rewriting and re-editing his films Hell Bound Train (1929-1930) and Verdict Not Guilty (1930-1933). However, Gist may have also reshot some scenes in a second version of Hell Bound.

Unlike many of the race films that were shot during this period, their movies were unpolished (many scenes were shot out of focus), relied on nonprofessional actors, and used unconventional narrative structures. Regardless, Eloyce Patrick King Gist was one of the first black independent filmmakers during the silent era.

9. Margery Wilson

Sara Barker Strayer, who changed her name to Margery Wilson so she wouldn’t ruin her family’s reputation, began acting in Cincinnati along with her sister, appearing in one-woman shows and touring in acting companies around the country. After auditioning for her sister with D.W. Griffith, she got a part in his 1916 movie Intolerance. She acted in three dozen roles while under contract with Griffith.

After joining the New York Motion Picture Corp., she wrote, directed, and produced films between 1920 and 1923, including The Offenders (1922-1923), That Something (1920), Two of a Kind (1922), and Insinuation (1922). Her movies, however, are lost. Only photo stills exist.

Questions about whether she actually directed these films continue to keep film scholars up at night. Though Wilson credits herself in her autobiography for producing and directing The Offenders, The American Film Institute credits Fenwicke L. Holmes as director. However, both modern and contemporaneous accounts agree that she performed most of the behind the camera production for Insinuation. Regardless, Wilson is still indisputably a woman pioneer in early silent filmmaking.

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100 Unmissable BBC Films

Team — Thu, 01 Sep 2022 13:38:33 +0000

The British Broadcasting Corporation (the BBC) has been distributing, co-producing and co-financing films since 1990, and over the course of more than three decades has formed a bespoke catalogue of distinctly British cinema that is perhaps unmatched by any other business.

Playing its part in establishing the careers of megastars such as Kate Winslet, whilst also cementing the legacies of legends like Judi Dench and Billy Connolly, the BBC has made itself a go-to destination for both experienced and up-and-coming filmmakers alike, creating a home for British heritage films and popular star-driven movies alongside genre-busting pictures and art-house fare.

In this Movie List from The Film Magazine, each of the BBC’s myriad of film releases has been analysed, evaluated, compared and contrasted by three of our very best writers – Katie Doyle (KD), Sam Sewell-Peterson (SSP) and Joseph Wade (JW) – to establish in release order which BBC Film releases are must-watch, in this list of 100 Unmissable BBC Films.

1. Truly Madly Deeply (1990)

Director: Anthony Minghella
Starring: Alan Rickman, Juliet Stevenson, Bill Paterson, Jenny Howe

Anthony Minghella’s magical realist tale of love, grief and afterlife starring Juliet Stevenson and Alan Rickman is frequently heartbreaking but also extremely warm and funny, particularly in the scenes where Rickman’s departed Jamie brings his ghost friends to hang out in Nina’s flat.

The film won Mighella a BAFTA for Best Original Screenplay and Rickman and Stevenson won Best Actor and Actress respectively at both the Evening Standard British Film Awards and the London Film Critics’ Circle. (SSP)

2. Jude (1996)

Director: Michael Winterbottom
Starring: Kate Winslet, Christopher Eccleston, Rachel Griffiths, David Tennant, June Whitfield, James Nesbitt

Directed by Michael Winterbottom, the would-be director of classic football movie Goal! The Dream Begins and a slew of British comedies such as The Trip and Greed, 1996’s Jude has a stellar cast of young talent that would go on to dominate Hollywood.

Starring a 20-year-old Kate Winslet in a pre-Titanic lead performance that would hint at the powerhouse actress she would become, and one of British film’s most talented leading men Christopher Eccleston, this adaptation of Thomas Hardy’s “Jude the Obscure” is an anti-establishment albeit bleak depiction of classist Britain and the restrictions facing those born on the bottom rungs of the class ladder. (JW)

3. Small Faces (1996)

Director: Gillies MacKinnon
Starring: Joseph McFadden, Kevin McKidd, Iain Robertson, Laura Fraser, Steven Duffy

A tale of three brothers that looks back on the typical life of underprivileged teenage boys growing up in 1960s Glasgow and all of its harrowing realities, Gillies MacKinnon’s Small Faces follows mischievous thirteen-year-old Lex Maclean (Iain Robertson), who is pulled into a gang war after accidentally shooting the leader of his older brother’s rival gang with an air gun. Thus follows the frank depiction of the vicious circle of gang violence as the most innocent lives are warped by the most despicable acts.

There is no mistaking the film’s condemnation of gang culture, but MacKinnon’s work also illustrates the seductive powers of violence via brutal yet captivating action scenes including a spine-tingling showdown at a local ice-skating rink. Small Faces was awarded Best New British Film at the Edinburgh International Film Festival in 1995. (KD)

4. I Went Down (1997)

Director: Paddy Breathnach
Starring: Brendan Gleeson, Peter McDonald, Antoine Byrne, Peter Caffrey, David Wilmot, Tony Doyle

Conceived by Colin McPherson (whose writing credits now include the Disney production Artemis Fowl), I Went Down is a proud and charmingly refreshing entry into the almost consistently dour Irish filmography.

After upsetting a local gangster, ex-con Git Haynes (Peter McDonald) becomes obligated to go on a bounty hunt with a fellow, yet much older and more bombastic ex-con played by Brendan Gleeson. What starts out as simple debt collection becomes a convoluted affair as Git grows a conscience at the realisation of the nefarious fate that awaits their annoyingly chatty hostage, Frank Grogan (Peter Caffrey).

Immensely popular back in its home country, the film swept over the Irish Film and Television Awards, winning Best Screenplay and Best Craft Contribution, as well as receiving nominations for Best Feature Film and Best Actor in a Male Role for Brendan Gleeson, who was well on his way to international stardom. (KD)

5. Billy Elliot (2000)

Director: Stephen Daldry
Starring: Jamie Bell, Julie Walters, Gary Lewis, Jamie Draven, Stuart Wells, Jean Heywood

A young boy is caught in the crossfire of the violent 1984 clashes of the Miners’ Strike in County Durham in this unashamed kitchen sink drama which earned itself Best British Film at the 2001 BAFTA Film Awards. Directed by Stephen Daldry (The Reader, 2008), the film casts a scathing look at the Thatcher Years, readily depicting the brutal impacts of the Conservative government’s battle with the workers unions, which include the destruction of communities and livelihoods, and worst of all the crushing of the creativity and self-expression of a generation of children.

Jamie Bell’s powerful debut performance earned him a BAFTA for Actor in a Leading Role, while his co-star Julie Walters earned a BAFTA for Actress in a Supporting Role as Billy’s dance teacher. (KD)

Billy Elliot Review

6. Shadow of the Vampire (2000)

Director: E. Elias Merhige
Starring: Willem Dafoe, John Malkovich, Cary Elwes, Udo Kier, Eddie Izzard, Catherine McCormack

The making of FW Murnau’s Nosferatu, stories about the inception of which is already fascinating to cinephiles, is used as the jumping off point for this thoroughly entertaining silent film-riffing horror movie that presupposes Max Schrek (played here by an Oscar-nominated Willem Dafoe) really was a vampire who had Murnau (John Malkovich) under his spell.

Shadow of the Vampire might have missed out on major awards success but was recognised at the Saturn Awards and the Independent Spirit Awards. (SSP)

7. Wonder Boys (2000)

Director: Curtis Hanson
Starring: Tobey Maguire, Michael Douglas, Robert Downey Jr., Frances McDormand, Katie Holmes, Richard Knox, Michael Cavadias, Alan Tudyk, Rip Torn, Jane Adams

The cast of this turn of the century adaptation of Michael Chambon’s mid-90s novel of the same name have a combined 5 Oscar wins and a further 5 Oscar nominations to their name, with at-the-time rising star Tobey Maguire (the would-be Spider-Man) leading the cast alongside legend Michael Douglas.

Wonder Boys itself would be nominated for Best Screenplay at both the BAFTAs and Oscars, while Michael Douglas would receive a nomination at the BAFTAs for Actor in a Leading Role and Bob Dylan would win an Oscar for Original Song for “Things Have Changed”.

Dubbed by Roger Ebert as “the most accurate movie about campus life that I can remember”, this darkly tinted tale proved a funny and touching story that the stellar cast only enhanced at every opportunity. (JW)

8. Iris (2001)

Director: Richard Eyre
Starring: Jim Broadbent, Judi Dench, Kate Winslet, Hugh Bonneville, Penelope Wilton

A true actor’s movie, 2001 BBC Films release Iris is an exceptional example of some career-high work from talented, generational talent. Judi Dench (as the titular Iris) is at arguably her very best in this Oscar-nominated, BAFTA-winning lead role, while Jim Broadbent (as her husband John) transforms for his only Oscar-winning performance.

Telling of the less-than-frequent experiences of old age, and in this case the often devastating battles people have with Alzheimer’s, this tale of love, grief and life long respect and passion is among the BBC’s most timeless and unmissable films; a deserving six-time BAFTA nominee and three-time Oscar nominee. (JW)

9. I Capture the Castle (2003)

Director: Tim Fywell
Starring: Ramola Garai, Henry Cavill, Rose Byrne, Bill Nighy, Henry Thomas, Tara Fitzgerald, Sinéad Moira Cusack

One of the BBC’s many examples of film releases filled to the brim with ensembles of rising stars, this 1930s-set romance about a young girl (Ramola Garai) navigating her eccentric castle-dwelling family, as well as love and flirtation with a young Henry Cavill, is the kind of empowering movie a teenage girl would attach themselves to in opposition to the Hollywood machine’s less-than-stellar stereotypes, a well-written if a little dreamy feature. (JW)

10. The Mother (2003)

Director: Roger Michell
Starring: Anne Reid, Daniel Craig, Anna Wilson-Jones, Peter Vaughan, Steven Mackintosh, Cathryn Bradshaw

From My Beautiful Laundrette writer Hanif Kureishi and Notting Hill director Roger Michell, The Mother is an alluring and provocative drama about a widow’s sexual affair with a man half her age; one that explores issues of womanhood, motherhood, empowerment, and learning the difference between living and being alive.

Starring television veteran Anne Reid in one of her most powerful performances, and would-be James Bond Daniel Craig, this drama unfolds in at times shocking fashion, yet its wholehearted Britishness never ceases. (JW)

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10 Best Thor Ragnarok Moments

Sam Sewell-Peterson — Tue, 12 Jul 2022 02:00:35 +0000

Following production troubles on Thor: The Dark World and a crowded call sheet on 2 Avengers movies, in 2017 Taika Waititi brought Chris Hemsworth’s God of Thunder back with a bang in Thor: Ragnarok, a fresh, funny and colourful take on a sci-fi superhero epic.

We followed Thor as he returned to Asgard to find his long-lost warmongering sister Hela (Cate Blanchett) making a bid for the throne, the prophesied Viking apocalypse Ragnarok on the horizon. De-powered and enslaved to fight aliens for sport on the planet Sakaar, Thor was tasked with winning his freedom and gathering allies (both willing and reluctant) to take back his home realm.

Primarily known as a director of comedies, Waititi imbued his distinctive sense of humour into his Marvel Cinematic Universe debut in a lot of the oddball dialogue exchanges, but Ragnarok was also pretty boldly iconoclastic: it fully embraced Jack Kirby’s wild comic book designs, and even snuck a fair number of big emotional beats and some weighty subtext into the film as well.

In this Movie List from The Film Magazine, we are counting down the very best moments from Taika Waititi’s first foray into superhero movies. These are the 10 Best Moments from Thor: Ragnarok.

10. Strange House Call

While searching for their missing father Odin (Anthony Hopkins), who Loki (Tom Hiddleston) had hypnotised and dumped in a now demolished retirement home on Earth, Thor and his trickster brother get called to the Sanctum Sanctorum at 177A Bleeker Street for an audience with Doctor Strange (Benedict Cumberbatch).

Midgard’s mightiest magician proceeds to flummox and bewilder his demigod visitors by shifting reality around the brothers, teleporting the bothersome Loki into a bottomless pit and serving Thor a bottomless beer as they talk. He eventually offers them the information they are seeking and conjures a portal to take them to Norway, but not before Loki tries to stick a dagger through him out of indignation as he had “been falling for 30 minutes!”.

9. RIP Mjolnir

Almost immediately after Odin Allfather says goodbye to his sons and passes on to Valhalla, his hitherto unknown first-born Hela (the Goddess of Death) escapes her prison, faces off with the other offspring of Odin (to Thor: “You don’t look like him” / to Loki: “You sound like him”) and puts her plot to reclaim her birth right into motion.

Her first act is to completely emasculate the overconfident Thor and essentially send him right back to his unworthy starting position by catching and crushing one-handed his unstoppable magic hammer Mjolnir (he takes this badly). Then, while they flee her in the Bifrost to Asgard, Hela easily dispatches both brothers in two hits and sends them hurtling off to the junk planet of Sakaar.

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10 Best Sam Raimi Movie Moments

Sam Sewell-Peterson — Sun, 05 Jun 2022 04:25:46 +0000

Sam Raimi is practically a god among geeks. He is a master genre filmmaker who, much like his New Zealand contemporary Peter Jackson, has carved a completely unforeseen path from doing handmade horror movies with his friends (including regular collaborator Bruce Campbell) to marshalling an army of technicians into crafting the biggest of genre-based blockbusters for the likes of Sony and Disney.

In a career spanning more than forty years, Sam Raimi has inspired a passionate fanbase of gore hounds and like-minded lovers of goofy comedy served up simultaneously with scares and shocks. He is also arguably more responsible than any other film director for kicking off the current cycle of superhero cinema that dominates mega budget filmmaking to this day – Blade was arguably the test case for whether Marvel movies would truly work, but Spider-Man demonstrated what was possible if you treated comic book stories seriously and never forgot to be heartfelt.

With such a stylistically distinct and varied filmography and so many creative innovations sprinkling the course of his career, how do we even begin to rank Sam Raimi’s impressive oeuvre?

In this Movie List, we at The Film Magazine have picked just 10 of the most memorable moments from Sam Raimi’s eventful and memorable movies in order to try and sum up what kinds of things he does so much better than other filmmakers. Groovy? Groovy. These are the 10 Best Sam Raimi Movie Moments.

10. Annie’s First Vision (The Gift)

In a town in rural Georgia, widow Annie Wilson (Cate Blanchett) puts food on the table for her three sons by doing readings for the locals as a fortune-teller using her family’s gift of foresight. When local socialite Jessica King (Katie Holmes) disappears in suspicious circumstances, likely involving a violent neighbour, Annie is beset by terrifying visions.

The first significant vision sees her wandering down an empty road, then through the mist-shrouded Georgia woodland, before stumbling across a disturbing revelation. It’s the balance between the creepy and the surreal that makes this sequence so memorable. Annie sleepwalks through the woods, wildflowers wither at her touch, and she bumps into a satanic fiddler (a cameo from regular collaborator Danny Elfman) playing horror movie music, before seemingly waking to see Jessica’s grisly fate: her drowned body chained and transposed above her in a tree canopy.

This scene demonstrates how little control Annie has over her blessing/curse, how she could never use her power to warn others of the manner of their end before it’s too late even if she wanted to.

9. The Windmill (Army of Darkness)

After coming agonisingly close to defeating the Deadites once and for all in the present, Ash Williams (Bruce Campbell) is sent tumbling into a portal that throws him six hundred years into the past. Following a brief imprisonment in the local lord’s castle, Ash is sent on a world-saving quest to find the book of the dead, the Necronomicon Ex-Mortis, with the promise that it contains not only a spell to banish evil but also the power to send him back to his own time. En route to his goal, Ash hides from an unstoppable evil presence pursuing him in an old windmill, where he ends up fighting many tiny mischievous versions of himself.

First Ash accidentally breaks a mirror, then his reflected images in the shards littered across the floor come to life and dozens of miniature Ashes attack with anything they can carry between them. After a ramshackle fight featuring plenty of ‘Tom and Jerry’ violence, one of the little Ashes enters him (by diving into his mouth) and eventually splits off to become a life-size evil doppelgänger for the original Ash to dispatch.

Sam Raimi had done a similar gag in Evil Dead II where Ash had to battle his own possessed hand both while it was still attached to him and after he’d amputated it, but this scene in the final film of his Evil Dead trilogy is more like a body horror “Gulliver’s Travels” and really makes the most of Bruce Campbell’s unrivalled skill at silly slapstick.

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10 Best Moments from Sam Raimi’s Spider-Man Trilogy

Katie Doyle — Wed, 18 May 2022 14:18:55 +0000

It is almost impossible for any piece of film journalism focusing on the superhero/comic book genre to not acknowledge the elephant in the room that is the Marvel Cinematic Universe and its domination of that niche. Disney bought Marvel Entertainment in 2009 after the massive success of Iron Man in 2008, and has since taken this Golden Egg of a creative property and used it to monopolise the international box office. Love these films or hate them, you can’t deny their success and popularity: they are fun, family-friendly movies boasting incredible visual effects and top acting talent in the parts of intensely likeable characters. It is. however, curious that much of the hype surrounding recent MCU movies has come courtesy of the inclusion of characters from a franchise that has so far eluded the complete tyrannical hold of Disney: Sony and Sam Raimi’s Spider-Man. Yes, Disney’s MCU is the accepted Gold Standard of the comic book adaptation, but it cannot be denied that its current supremacy has been earned by standing on the shoulders of giants.

Back in 2002, Spider-Man earned the reputation of a “living comic book”, unmatched by its comic book rivals at the time. Whilst Sam Raimi did lean towards campiness and exaggeration in his trilogy, the film was made with such a deftness of touch that it avoided guilty-pleasure status and instead earned plenty of critical praise and box office dollars, becoming a cultural touchstone in the process.

In examining the career of Sam Raimi you can see how much his background helped this trilogy to succeed. Starting literally from the bottom, making Super 8 home-movies with friends from high school and then being thrust into prominence when his feature-length directorial debut The Evil Dead (1981) became a sleeper hit, Raimi has progressed from independent to blockbuster over the course of his career. His beloved horror output echoes the appeal and traits seen in his Spider-Man trilogy, illustrating his flair for melding comedy and drama, the use of light-hearted beats to underline moments of terror and suspense, and his use of insane moments of extravagance to make his movies truly unforgettable.

In this Movie List from The Film Magazine we are looking back at Sam Raimi’s influential work on the original live-action Spider-Man trilogy to celebrate the unforgettable quality these films offered, choosing ten moments that best represent why this trilogy has reached immortal status. These are the 10 Best Moments from Sam Raimi’s Spider-Man Trilogy, chosen in terms of artistry, their significance to the trilogy, and their influence on the superhero genre as a whole.

10. Emo Peter Parker

There is a lot of hate heaped onto the front doorstep of the third movie of the Raimi Spider-Man Trilogy. And, as fans will attest, it is largely unwarranted. Even though many of Spider-Man 3′s flaws were mostly due to interference from Sony as opposed to Raimi’s actual vision, some fans still attempt to illustrate everything wrong with this film through pointing directly at the “Emo Peter” sequence. But that’s missing the point…

The sight of venom-corrupted Peter Parker strutting down the street shooting finger guns and rolling his hips is one of the most memorable scenes in the whole trilogy. The impact of Sam Raimi and Tobey Maguire on the Spider-Man mythos (and even Marvel itself) is forever immortalised by “Bully Maguire” memes, for better or for worse.

Not only is there a hidden depth and nuance to this unfairly scorned scene – it working to illustrate the inherent quality of Peter’s goodness (as an emo haircut and a “Travolta, Saturday Night Fever” walk is his idea of a “bad boy persona”) – it’s a showcase of Raimi’s inventiveness and sense of humour, which has garnered him the adoration of fans over the years. Let’s be honest, many of the haters are those who first watched this scene as a self-conscious teenager whose enormous second hand embarrassment was a projection of their own insecurities. Relevant advice to such individuals is: grow up, sit back and have a laugh. A bit of cringe never hurt anyone.

9. Peter Fights Flash

The original Spider-Man Trilogy’s continuing moreish quality is in large part due to Tobey Maguire’s depiction of Peter Parker: he seemingly held no fear in depicting Peter as a hapless and nerdy loser, and this hasn’t quite been matched in successive adaptations.

Peter’s character is largely shaped by the relentless bullying he has undoubtedly suffered all through High School; acts that have destroyed his confidence and halted him from expressing himself. Combined with his natural goodness and teenage angst, Peter is cinema’s most sympathetic superhero, making the journey of the discovery of his powers all that more satisfying.

Peter’s fight with Flash is a near masterclass in comedy timing with Peter’s out of control web slinging throwing school dinner all over nasty school bully Flash Thompson (Joe Manganiello). Peter dodging Flash’s slow motion punches with huge bewilderment pasted all over his face is an iconic moment of superhero pop culture. And yet it’s a moment that provides more than simple laughs, it also offers awe and spectacle the likes of which we have since come to expect from the superhero genre.

Peter backflips over six feet into the air and promptly horse kicks Flash across the corridor. Raimi’s choice to use comedy as to a tool to distract and therefore maximise the impact of Peter’s powers is masterful, plus it’s really satisfying to see meek and mild Peter Parker knock out the obnoxious school bully as the first step on his journey to herodom.

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The post 10 Best Moments from Sam Raimi’s Spider-Man Trilogy first appeared on The Film Magazine.

10 Most Important Comic Book Movies Ever

Joseph Wade — Mon, 16 May 2022 15:30:17 +0000

Comic book film adaptations have become the gold standard of fantasy escapism on the big screen and the subject of devotion for masses of people. Like the westerns and musicals that came before them, superhero movies have represented a peak in genre popularity that has held lasting appeal. Having made tens of billions of dollars so far, these adaptations have become studio tentpole event movies for an entire generation, their reach being one that can cross divides such as age differences, class differences, political allegiances, nationalities, and even languages.

Batman, Spider-Man, The Avengers and more have become the new Hollywood A-List, and the movies of Marvel, DC and so on, have proven to be greatly influential when it comes to the direction of Hollywood itself. Their importance is unquestioned, their power and dominance unrivalled; but what are the films that brought us here? Which comic book movies have been the most important in establishing the genre, shaping it, moulding it?

In this Movie List from The Film Magazine, we offer the 10 Most Important Comic Book Movies Ever. These films have been judged with regard to their importance to the landscape in which they were released, their lasting influence, and their roles in bringing about change and revolution to both the comic book genre and, further, cinema itself.

1. Superman (1978)

There were superhero films released before Superman in 1978, but besides the TV movie Batman (1966) there was little by way of memorable fare or major productions. Richard Donner’s big budget studio-driven offering changed all that.

By 1978 Superman was already a cornerstone of American culture, a poster boy for the best of the best and the values we should all strive to uphold. He was America’s unproblematic hero in a time of great division, heightened paranoia, and conspiracy come to life. Warner Bros put an astonishing $55million behind bringing him to the big screen, which in relation to modern day $200-300million movies may not seem like a lot but in context to releases of the time was an astronomical amount: just a few years earlier The Godfather had been made for $6million, Jaws for $9million, and Star Wars for $11million; even 80s hits like E.T., Indiana Jones and Back to the Future were made for under $20million. But Superman embodied society’s need for escapism and, as such, the budget seemed well spent. Superman birthed the modern superhero’s position at the top of the box office, crowning its run with close to $300million in box office receipts at a time of great financial destitution, but perhaps most importantly it reminded the world that Hollywood could still offer the best form of fantastical escapism, the burgeoning television market left in the dust.

Clean cut, better-than-good heroes have rarely been so exceptional, and the superhero genre would not be what it is without Donner and star Christopher Reeve in particular. The themes, tropes and expectations founded in their work have since proven to be the backbone of every film on this list.

2. Blade (1998)

A studio actioner led by an African American was important even before the mainstream conversation caught up, and Blade was probably the first non-Batman comic book adaptation to look and feel like the superhero juggernauts to come.

Without Blade we would not have got the next film on this list, nor many of the comic book films released in the 2000s. Wesley Snipes’ vampire hunter was brought to life in a sub-par era headlined by Steel and Judge Dredd, and yet it burst through the narrow expectations set by other films in the genre to become something altogether more memorable. It was, in the midst of the late 90s’ boom of youth culture, embraced as the antithesis of the campy, family-orientated, (mostly) cheap movies that had made up the comic book adaptations of the decade, its R rating (18 in the UK) giving it an edge that the rebellious teens of Generation X ate up as readily as their hardcore wrestling and Nu metal. Blade all-but saved superhero cinema after its brief Batman bubble was brutally burst by Joel Schumacher and Warner Bros in Batman Forever and Batman & Robin, and set a new template for what comic book adaptations could be. The rest is history.

The proof of Blade’s importance as an early comic book film comes via this one simple fact: before Blade, Marvel had only ever allowed one of their properties to be adapted for film and released in cinemas, the box office dud Howard the Duck – after Blade, they partnered with studios on eighteen different releases in the next ten years, two Blade sequels included. This 1998 film was revolutionary for comic book IP licensing and thus the future of the blockbuster landscape, and Wesley Snipes’ on-screen presence helped to legitimise the comic book film adaptation as a concept whilst reinforcing the importance of representation on screen.

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The post 10 Most Important Comic Book Movies Ever first appeared on The Film Magazine.

10 Things You Might Have Missed in ‘Encanto’

Sophia Patfield — Tue, 08 Mar 2022 02:15:31 +0000

Disney’s 60th animated feature film Encanto was released in November 2021 and became an instant success.

From directors Jared Bush and Byron Howard, and with voice acting from Stephanie Beatriz, John Leguizamo and Disney’s very own good luck charm Alan Tudyk, Encanto follows the story of Mirabel who is attempting to save the miracle that gives her whole family magical powers… except her.

Featuring catchy original songs from Lin-Manuel Miranda, it’s easy to see why Encanto has been nominated for Best Original Score, Best Original Song, and Best Animated Feature at the 2022 Oscars.

Disney has developed a reputation for hidden details in their animations and Encanto is definitely no exception. From the small details that make every frame so interesting, to the monumental secrets that change entire meanings or reference so Disney’s wider catalogue of animated releases, these are the 10 Things You Might Have Missed in Encanto. Spoiler alert!

10. Bruno in the Background of “We Don’t Talk About Bruno”

Even if you haven’t seen Encanto yet, the song “We Don’t Talk About Bruno” has been almost unavoidable as it has made it to number 1 in the charts in both the UK and the US.

In the film itself, the song is the first time we get a really good look at Bruno.

Most obviously, he is seen in the flashback of Pepa and Felix’s wedding and when Camillo changes into his likeness, but many have missed the real, present-day Bruno!

During Dolores’ rap verse, Bruno can be seen walking along the upper level of Casita. And Dolores, who can hear him, stops Mirabel from seeing him by pulling her away from his direction. Right at the end of this verse, you can see Bruno bobbing his head along to the song whilst stood behind Dolores.

9. The Family’s Clothes Correspond to Their Gifts

The clothing animation in Encanto not only sticks to traditional Colombian design, but there are patterns on the family’s clothes that reflect their gifts: the hem of Abuela’s dress shows the mountains around the Encanto, Bruno’s ruana features hourglasses, Pepa’s dress has suns on the neckline, Julietta wears an apron that also has a pestle and mortar on the chest, Dolores’ dress has patterns that resemble soundwaves, Camillo’s ruana is patterned with chameleons, Antonio’s waistcoat features multiple animals (although he only wears this in promotional posters), the hem of Luisa’s dress includes dumbbells, and Isabela’s dress is covered with orchids, which is Colombia’s national flower.

Even those who married into the family have hidden messages in their clothing, with the triangle pattern on Felix’s guayabera mirroring Pepa’s sun design and Augustin wearing a flower for Isabela, one sock which features weights for Luisa and the other sock that replicates Mirabel’s dress.

Mirabel’s outfit is arguably the most interesting as it’s fully embroidered with references to her whole family, including the candle for Abuela, Camillo’s chameleon, Isabela’s flowers, Antonio’s animals, Luisa’s fist holding a weight, music notes for Dolores, a rain cloud with a sun behind it for Pepa and a breadbasket for Julietta.

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The post 10 Things You Might Have Missed in ‘Encanto’ first appeared on The Film Magazine.