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Total Film|August 2024Welcome to TOTAL FILMThe interstellar terror of Alien is something that has haunted film fans for decades now. If, like me, you weren't even alive when it first debuted, you still keenly felt its threat. VHS box art, those whispered playground rumours about something bursting out of someone's chest, snatched glimpses of telly reruns and that all-timer tagline. Has any line more ominously set out its film's stall than 'In space no one can hear you scream'? Well, 'This time it's war' arguably comes close, with James Cameron's sequel beefing up the action.So we're immensely excited for Alien: Romulus, director Fede Alvarez's new attempt to bring the franchise back to its dread-soaked roots. His new instalment is set between Alien and Aliens, and features a new cast and fresh dangers as well as…1 Min
Total Film|August 2024HOT RIGHT NOWWhile Rian Johnson's star-studded Wake Up Dead Man: A Knives Out Mystery has hogged much of the casting news these last few months, it's now the turn of a new murder-mystery movie, The Wives, to be the talk of Hollywood, with Oscar-winner Jennifer Lawrence signing on the dotted.A co-production between Apple Original Films and A24, The Wives has been scribbled by the sharp quills of Michael Breslin and Patrick Foley (Ratatouille: The TikTok Musical) and is reportedly inspired by reality TV franchise The Real Housewives, which follows the eventful lives of fabulously wealthy women across America. No news yet if Lawrence will be playing the detective intent on solving murder most foul, or one of the glamorous social butterflies who so often sting like wasps. What is certain is that…2 Min
Total Film|August 2024BLOOD COUNTNOSFERATU OPENS IN CINEMAS ON 3 JANUARY 2025.…1 Min
Total Film|August 2024A WING AND A PRAYERThere's a lot that's changed since the 1989 publication of James O'Barr's The Crow, particularly when it comes to portrayals of women. The director of the latest adaptation, Rupert Sanders, tells Teasers that he wanted to focus on the tragic love story at the source material's core. 'I stood away from hollow revenge. Like, “You killed my flashback; I kill a thousand people.” FKA twigs [who plays Shelly] is incredible and I really wanted her to have that time on screen to make us fall in love with her so that we would go along with Eric on his journey.'The director of Snow White and the Huntsman and 2017's Ghost in the Shell is quick to point out this is 'a scrappy, independent, R-rated production.' The film languished for years…3 Min
Total Film|August 2024BELFAST AND FURIOUSTeasers is in Belfast for a sit-down with Kneecap, a trio of rappers whose name, like the tricolour balaclava sported by one of its members, harks back to Northern Ireland's infamous Troubles. A bullet in the kneecap used to be a non-lethal way for paramilitaries to reprimand miscreants. Now it doubles as the title of the band's semi-autobiographical debut feature - an anarchic blend of hip-hop, social commentary and drug-fuelled farce that arrives in cinemas eight months on from taking Sundance by storm.When journalist turned filmmaker Rich Peppiatt first encountered Kneecap in 2019, he was immediately taken by their energy and authenticity. 'I had not seen an audience so engaged since [90s rockers] Rage Against the Machine,' says the English helmer, who approached the group with the idea of a…2 Min
Total Film|August 2024GOING APE1 IT STARTS WITH A SEVERED ARM'It's based on a Carl Hiaasen book, so I can't take credit for that!' producer Bill Lawrence (Ted Lasso, Shrinking) says of Bad Monkey's opening. The loose limb, dredged up in Florida - 'the floating-body-parts capital of the word,' as Lawrence calls it - kicks off the story of Andrew Yancy (Vince Vaughn), 'a kind of down-and-out former police officer in the Keys. His chief wants him to take the severed arm to Miami.'2 IT'S THE SORT OF SHOW PEOPLE DON'T MAKE ANY MORELawrence has a lot of praise for Hiaasen's books. 'They remind me of those fun movies that people don't make any more,' he explains, citing 48 Hrs. as an example. 'There's a caper, or a case, but really you're just into…2 Min
Total Film|August 2024COURT IN THE ACTI was not on the list,' jokes François Ozon, the prolific French director behind everything from Swimming Pool and Under the Sand to By the Grace of God. The 'list', allegedly set to be circulated during the recent Cannes Film Festival, consists of 10 male French actors and directors who have allegedly sexually abused female colleagues. While this exposé didn't quite unfold in the way the rumours predicted, it was clear that France – finally – is having its #MeToo moment.'France is very much preoccupied with it now, and it's becoming positive, but it took its time,' says Ozon, whose latest work The Crime Is Mine must also be considered in light of the #MeToo movement that began after producer Harvey Weinstein was exposed for serial abuses in 2017. 'The…2 Min
Total Film|August 2024UNSAFE PLACEFede Alvarez has a question for Total Film: 'What do you prefer, Alien or Aliens?' But before TF can respond with a wellrehearsed speech ('Objectively? They're both unimpeachable masterworks. Subjectively? Aliens all day, baby!'), Alvarez reveals this is a hypothetical with a point. 'I think that's a perverse question,' the straight-talking Uruguayan filmmaker says over Zoom in late April. 'You should never be put through that choice.'Alien: Romulus is his answer to that 'perverse question' of apples and oranges. Describing the film as 'an amalgamation of Alien and Aliens on many levels', everything from the environmental design to the pacing and the way the returning bestiary of Giger-accurate creatures is utilised in Romulus exists on a spectrum from the shadowy, slow-burn chills of Alien to the muscular, adrenalised thrills of…18 Min
Total Film|August 2024DARKNESS BINDS THEMIn the land of Mordor where the shadows lie, evil has risen. Sauron, formerly Halbrand, walks upon the ashen mountains of Middle-earth having recently unveiled himself to Galadriel, while Adar, the father of orcs, regroups with his children. Yet darkness has spread far beyond Mordor's dreaded borders: in Khazad-dûm, the caves are crumbling; across the sea, Númenor faces civil war; and in Lindon, the light of the elves dims. This is where the first season of The Rings of Power – the prequel to The Lord of the Rings, bringing the Second Age of J.R.R. Tolkien's mythos to life – ended, but not where the follow-up begins.'Do you want to hear the opening?' an excited Patrick McKay, co-showrunner with J.D. Payne, asks Total Film. It's a cold morning in April…11 Min
Total Film|August 2024DOMESTIC DISTURBANCEStuck in the Middle with You by Stealers Wheel never sounded quite the same after Quentin Tarantino used it to accompany Michael Madsen's ear-slicing torture of a tied-up policeman in Reservoir Dogs. Anybody who saw the David Fincher version of The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, meanwhile, may feel Enya's Orinoco Flow was equally tainted when Stellan Skarsgård's Martin Vanger used it to soundtrack his shackling and suffocating of Daniel Craig's Mikael Blomkvist.Thanks to James Watkins' latest, we can now add another track to the list of innocuous earworms mischievously used to score moments of menace and violence: The Bangles' 1989 chart-topper Eternal Flame. To reveal exactly how Susanna Hoffs' dulcet tones feature in the Eden Lake director's nail-biting remake of 2022 Danish thriller Gæsterne would be a spoiler too…8 Min
Total Film|August 2024BOUTIQUE 101ARROW VIDEO'We're well-regarded for the care and quality we bring to each of our releases,' says Arrow's James White. 'Arrow's primary focus has been horror, cult and genre, but we release a wide range of classic and foreign titles as well.'KEY RELEASESBruce Lee at Golden Harvest 4K UHD; RoboCop 4K UHD; Cinema Paradiso 4K UHDEUREKA ENTERTAINMENTEureka's collection is divided into two strands: the Masters of Cinema series showcases historically important, groundbreaking films spanning from silent cinema to contemporary works; Eureka Classics delves into cult and martial arts movies, from vintage Jackie Chan to 80s teen romance Valley Girl.KEY RELEASESMetropolis; Mothra; The Police Story Trilogy 4K UHDINDICATOR'We publish a diverse range of types, styles and genres of film,' says Sam Dunn of Indicator. 'From 30s Mexican horror to 70s French fantastique,…1 Min
Total Film|August 2024FLY ME TO THE MOON 12AOUT NOW CINEMASSEE THIS IF YOU LIKEDCAPRICORN ONE1978A faked Mars mission is at the centre of Peter Hyams' pacy, chase-crammed thriller.THE DISH2000A wobbly satellite dish threatens a global TV blackout during the moon landing in this charming Aussie comedy.HIDDEN FIGURES2016Real-life NASA maths whizzes battle racism, sexism and gravity in Theodore Melfi's Oscar-nommed drama.For more reviews visit gamesradar.com/totalfilmTwo of the biggest stars in cinema's firmament shoot for the moon in this jaunty if somewhat overstuffed space-race romcom. A sparky Scarlett Johansson plays rule-bending advertising maven Kelly Jones, who's hired to 'market the moon' to an uninterested America, putting her on a collision course with NASA's workaholic launch director Cole Davis (a straight-shooting Channing Tatum).Properly paired for the first time (they didn't overlap in 2016's Hail, Caesar!), Johansson and Tatum's sheer star…5 Min
Total Film|August 2024THE MINISTRY OF UNGENTLEMANLY WARFARE TBCOUT 25 JULY PRIME VIDEOAfter the sober-ish combat story of The Covenant, Guy Ritchie reassumes caper positions for this WW2 thriller. Far from playing to his strengths, the result is a blasé relapse for a director prone to glib stylings and posh-bloke mannerisms when on familiar turf. Lacking the irreverence that lifted his early work, Ministry isn't even throwaway fun: it's slickly diverting at best, DOA at worst.Loosely grounded in 'Operation Postmaster' reality, the story involves a ragtag gaggle of well-spoken renegades doing off-book missions for the Brits. Tasked to prevent supplies from reaching enemy U-boats, Henry Cavill's Gus March-Phillipps gathers his gang to biff the Germans; meanwhile, Eiza González's Marjorie keeps creepy Nazis distracted.Channelling Kingsman vibes via Inglourious Basterds, Ministry offers flashes of style but precious little substance or…3 Min
Total Film|August 2024THELMA 12AOUT 19 JULY CINEMASA pistol-packing first-time leading lady in her 90s, June Squibb (Nebraska, Inside Out 2) is the motor driving this wildly charming revenge-com. Her Thelma is a sweet but stubborn LA oldster scammed out of $10,000 by a fake caller requesting bail for her grandson Danny. Suddenly, she's on a runaway vengeance spree, with pensioner pal Ben (a deadpan Richard Roundtree in a worthy last role) reluctantly riding shotgun when she hijacks his two-seater disability scooter.First-time writer/director Josh Margolin sharpens the film into a smart senior thriller, giving us tense geriatric POVs of the challenges that ensue. Thus, a careering care-home scooter chase, a nail-biting furniture climb to swipe a weapon, and a thudding face-plant fall all have the feel of high-stakes Mission: Impossible action sequences (aided by…1 Min
Total Film|August 2024BLUR: TO THE END 15OUT 19 JULY CINEMASAyear on from their triumphant shows at Wembley Stadium comes Blur: To the End, a documentary capturing the band's 2023 reunion. Once it was all about Britpop, Parklife and the Oasis rivalry; now there's middle age and dodgy knees to contend with. And, as lead singer Damon Albarn puts it, the very real fear they are a band 'trying to relive their past'.Toby L.'s fly-on-the-wall documentary takes us from the recording of the band's mournful recent album The Ballad of Darren to a series of warm-up gigs (including a homecoming at Colchester Arts Centre) and then those two nights at Wembley, the biggest venue the band has ever played.Albarn, together with guitarist Graham Coxon, bassist Alex James and drummer Dave Rowntree, are genial subjects. They're frequently very…3 Min
Total Film|August 2024POINT BREAK 151991 OUT 5 AUGUST DVD, BD, 4K UHD, DIGITALEXTRASFeaturettes, Additional scenes, Stills gallery (4K/BD only)It just jumps off the screen. I live for that,' beams Patrick Swayze in Make or Break, a featurette that accounts for half of the 45 minutes' worth of bonus material that was filmed in 2006 and has been now ported onto this new UHD and Blu-ray release.Well, Patrick, we live for it, too – which makes it worthwhile seeing Point Break in 4K, even if the support package is so much flotsam and jetsam. Originally, Ridley Scott was set to direct, with Charlie Sheen readying his wetsuit to play greenhorn FBI agent Johnny Utah, who infiltrates a gang of Californian surf dudes knocking off banks. Today, it's impossible to imagine anyone other than Keanu Reeves…1 Min
Total Film|August 2024EXTRASVARIOUSMIDSOMMAR COLLECTIONOUT NOWJuly 2024 marks five years since the release of Ari Aster's cult-in-every-sense horror; celebrate not with an ill-advised rural getaway but by checking out A24's varied collection, which includes T-shirts, patches, an incense holder based on the film's Hårga temple and a 'Flo scream' pin. There's even a cute kids' tee (a thankfully more innocuous spin on Midsommar's own bear 'outfit'). Take paws at shop.a24films.com.COLLECTIBLEJOHN WICK TUBBZOUT NOWPeople keep asking if he's quack… But now yeah, we're thinking he's quack. Yep, it's bloodbath time with this cosplaying duck based on Keanu Reeves' un-retired hitman. Standing roughly 9cm tall when outside of his tub display stand (black, of course), Baba Ducka is splattered with detail: pistol, wedding ring, silk tie. Frankly, he's as mallard as they come. Shoot off…1 Min
Total Film|August 2024CLASSIC SOUNDTRACK GUARDIANS OF THE GALAXYTo say 2014's Guardians of the Galaxy has a heart of part plastic is no criticism. It's parked on Peter Quill's hip, and worth getting tasered for. More than background or mood music, soundtrack album Awesome Mix Vol. 1 is a narrative 'umbilical cord', says writer/director James Gunn – the connective tissue between Star-Lord and his late mum.True, the movie also features stirring scoring from Tyler Bates, whose Gunn previous stretches back to 2006's Slither. (Or the Gunn-scripted Dawn of the Dead, if you like.) With some cues composed pre-shooting to set the on-screen mood, Leone/Morricone-style, Bates' Guardian-ship ranks among the MCU's most on-point scores 10 years on. The main theme and The Ballad of the Nova Corps serve heroic fanfares, robust and bursting. Elsewhere, Bates aces action gusto, starry-eyed…2 Min
Total Film|August 20242 MORETHE BOOK OF ELSEWHEREDeathless zen warriors, deer-pig cults, big words… This paired novel by Keanu Reeves and 'new weird' author China Miéville (Kraken) is a mutually on-brand haul of mixed intrigues. Immortal killer B could be Reeves' Wick/Neo combined; as B experiments on the 75,000-year-old babirusa to understand its secrets, Miéville's touch shows. Part gory, part cerebral, the results wobble between studiedly opaque, mildly 'whoa' and fitfully fun. Come for the teasing team-up, stay for the flights of fierce fancy and deadpan wit.KEVIN HARLEYA GUIDE TO MOVIE BASED VIDEO GAMES, 2001 ONWARDSFollowing up his book tackling 1982-2000, writer Christopher Carton sets his sights on the world of film tie-ins from the past two decades. From PS1 to current consoles, it's a snapshot of how gaming has evolved, as well as…1 Min
Total Film|August 2024ON LOCATIONWHAT? In true-story dramedy Fisherman's Friends, the feel-good folk singers led by Jim (James Purefoy) frequent an idyllic pub on the north Cornwall coast.WHERE? The Golden Lion, 10 Fore St, Port Isaac PL29 3RBGO? This is an actual pub that's still occasionally visited by real members of the Fisherman's Friends, according to its website. Serving food, drink and possibly the occasional singsong.Want us to investigate if a movie scenario is bollocks or snapped yourself at a film location? Contact us at totalfilm@futurenet.com…1 Min
Total Film|August 2024FLOP CULTUREWhy it was a good idea (on paper)The union between 28 Days Later's Danny Boyle (director) and Alex Garland (writer) looked set to go incendiary with this sci-fi intelli-thriller. Assembled presciently, a crack cast including Michelle Yeoh, Benedict Wong, Rose Byrne, Cliff Curtis, Chris Evans and – as a physicist named Robert – Cillian Murphy shone brightly.What went wrong?To bond his actors Method-style, Boyle had them share a dorm for two weeks pre-filming. On screen and off, Sunshine was more notable for a kind of dissonance. While the characters splinter on spiritual/rational divides, Boyle/Garland differed on how to tackle the film. Garland noted how his preference for 'reflection' and Boyle's stress on 'viscerality' produced a film of 'unresolved tensions'. Boyle used just one effects house to complete post-production, leading to…2 Min
Total Film|August 2024INTERMISSIONHow his life is measured in moviesWhen it comes to reflecting on any significant events in my life, they're all marked by movie release dates. If I'm trying to recall my age at a certain pivotal moment, I'll always work backwards to get the year by thinking about the films I was seeing at the cinema at that time. Forget Proust's madeleine – a cinema ticket stub from 1999 is my preferred form of time travel.I don't know exactly how this gift/affliction began. I recall seeing Beauty and the Beast – or, rather, not seeing it as we queued round the block and got turned away on our first attempt – as a seven-year-old in 1991. Similarly, my most vivid cinema memory is watching Jurassic Park when I'd just turned…4 Min
Total Film|August 2024DONALD SUTHERLANDWhen it was announced, in September 2017, that Donald Sutherland was to be awarded an honorary Oscar, he said, 'I don't deserve this. But I have arthritis and I don't deserve that either.'Sutherland, who died on 20 June, aged 88, most certainly did deserve his golden statue, and it was to the Academy's shame that he was never otherwise so much as nominated despite lighting up such classic films as M*A*S*H (1970), Klute (1971), Don't Look Now (1973), Ordinary People (1980) and JFK (1991). Instead he had to content himself with winning an Emmy for TV movie Citizen X (1995), concerning the hunt for Soviet serial killer Andrei Chikatilo, and two Golden Globes, again for Citizen X and for Lyndon B. Johnson-era political drama Path to War (2002).Born in New…2 Min
Total Film|August 2024CALL SHEETCurious what Fede Alvarez has been up to since his last film in 2018? For one thing, he built a 1:1 replica of Bilbo's Bag End house in his back garden for his kids, and TF has seen the pics.The Crow director Rupert Sanders and I lamented that when we were younger and saw things from the 70s and 80s, we thought they were really cool, while nowadays Gen Z seem to think our millennial stuff is lame.Interviewing Viggo Mortensen in person about The Dead Don't Hurt for the Total Film podcast was the highlight of my career so far. I was very restrained and asked no Lord of the Rings questions!During my Rings of Power S2 set visit, I accidentally bumped into Morfydd Clark in her Galadriel armour while…1 Min
Total Film|August 2024STRIKE TEAMGathering together a stellar cast, including A-listers like Halle Berry, Mark Wahlberg and J.K. Simmons, action thriller The Union takes all the familiar tropes of the spy movie and adds a new, unique aspect. Where typical cinematic secret agents don tuxedos and drink martinis, the agents of The Union are ordinary, working-class folk. 'It's championing the blue-collar,' director Julian Farino (The Oranges, Entourage) says of what drew him to the project. 'There's a J.K. Simmons line in it: “blue-collar not blue blood”. That appealed to me a lot. It's very much the opposite of superheroes – the greatness of ordinary people.'An ordinary person is certainly put to the test when construction worker Mike (Wahlberg) is approached by his old high-school girlfriend Roxanne (Berry), who has an important job for him.…2 Min
Total Film|August 2024GODS AND MONSTERSTWILIGHT OF THE GODSZack Snyder promises audiences an epic, brutal and sexy animated adventure in this upcoming Netflix show. The eight-part series brings the 300 director's grand vision of ancient Norse mythology to life – complete with some familiar gods, including Thor, Loki and Odin.'I feel that our Thor and Loki are much more in line with the spirit of the written mythology compared to the way they've been popularised in other movies and games,' Snyder exclusively tells Teasers. 'Loki really is the trickster in this.'Twilight of the Gods isn't the auteur's first foray into animation – or, seemingly, his last. Snyder directed the 2010 animated movie Legend of the Guardians: The Owls of Ga'Hoole and is considering future projects in the format. 'We've talked a lot about it,' he…2 Min
Total Film|August 2024NEXT BIG THINGShe may only be 16, but Ariana Greenblatt has already had the kind of career most veteran actors would envy. The go-to for younger versions of iconic characters (Ahsoka Tano, Avengers: Infinity War's young Gamora), Greenblatt also memorably schooled Barbie in Greta Gerwig's box-office titan. Next up: she'll appear as fan-favourite, bunny-eared, pre-teen munitions expert Tiny Tina in Borderlands.How does Tiny Tina fit into the Borderlands crew?She is the boss, and everyone is scared of her! Whatever Tina says, they get it done. But because she is so young and is dealing with all this stuff, a lot of the gang see her and want to protect her. And even though Tina hates that, she appreciates having that core family, which is really sweet.Margot Robbie's Harley Quinn was an inspiration…2 Min
Total Film|August 2024THE LL WORDGeneral elections are like buses. Sometimes they appear in rapid succession, other times, you wait so long for one you have to check the news to see if the whole system has collapsed. After nearly five years, Rishi Sunak, Keir Starmer, Ed Davey and Count Binface faced off and, while this magazine went to print the day before the polls closed, by the time you read this you'll know who will be in charge of the country. This is a film column, not a politics one, but whoever you voted for will also dictate the future of the British film industry in a very precarious time.When I talked to a producer pal a few weeks back, she spoke of just how dire things have become. Many American productions use British…3 Min
Total Film|August 2024SOUND BYTES'I THINK THE X-MEN FILM I'M IN IS THE GAYEST FILM THAT I'VE EVER DONE, AND THAT'S ME SAYING THAT!' ALAN CUMMING REFLECTS ON PLAYING NIGHTCRAWLER IN 2003'S X-MEN 2.'Different people are being ferried in. You have to give each one of them attention, focus and an articulate answer that you just gave to the person before. That's irritating.' LUPITA NYONG'O DESCRIBES PRESS JUNKETS AS A 'TORTURE TECHNIQUE'.2025 THE YEAR THAT HORROR MASTER JOHN CARPENTER IS FINALLY GETTING A STAR ON THE HOLLYWOOD WALK OF FAME.'I HOPE THIS DOESN'T EMBARRASS HIM TOO MUCH, BUT I'M SORRY, MAN, I GOTTA DO THIS. THE GOAT CAME TO SEE ME – THE ONE AND ONLY MARTIN SCORSESE.' JUSTIN TIMBERLAKE SALUTES A LEGEND WHILE PLAYING MADISON SQUARE GARDEN.GOOD THINGGAME CHANGERPRODUCTION COMPANY BLUMHOUSE HAS LAUNCHED…1 Min
Total Film|August 2024THIS WAY MADNESS LIESWhen Chinese director Wei Shujun (Striding into the Wind) read the crime novella Mistakes by the River by Yu Hua, he fell immediately for its atmosphere. 'If I had to describe it, I would say it's like sailing on a ship in the dark,' he notes, talking to Teasers during the London Film Festival. 'You can't actually see the breeze, the wind, the waves, but you can feel their presence.'Renamed as Only the River Flows, this 1990s-set tale follows Detective Inspector Ma Zhe (Zhu Yilong) as he investigates a serial killer who's been leaving victims by the riverbank near a small village in rural China. The methodical Ma, says the director, has 'always been a very rational person. He didn't believe in luck from the beginning. So he was trying…2 Min
Total Film|August 2024GREAT EGG-SPECTATIONS'Cameron loved Don't Breathe. I think Stephen Lang showed it to him while shooting Avatar. So Cameron invited me to the set of Avatar 2 just to show me all the technology. Four years later I was having a discussion with my co-writer Rodo [Sayagues] about what does Hudson mean by a “bug hunt” [in Aliens]? Does he mean that the Colonial Marines met some sort of alien life before? So I was like, “Well, I'll just ask the writer.” I sent Jim an email, and he was thrilled to know that I was doing Alien. He was like, “Let's talk all about it.”'We had a long chat. At first, he was telling me a lot of what I wanted to hear. I had a lot of questions about him…1 Min
Total Film|August 2024CHARLIE VICKERSHow different was playing Halbrand/Sauron this season?I had an absolute blast. It was me and Charlie [Edwards] working in a room, doing everything in sequence. But man, after a whole year of hiding secrets, and then a whole press tour of hiding secrets, I just enjoyed being Sauron and not having to hide stuff. This season, we get to be with Sauron; you're seeing him being Sauron. In Season 1, where Halbrand would have turned away and had some Sauron moments privately, now the camera stays with him.How was playing the elf Annatar compared to Halbrand?It's such a process, developing a whole new look, a new voice, a new way of moving. The most important thing was finding a throughline that connects the two characters because they're both Sauron. I…1 Min
Total Film|August 2024The Nature of EvilDaniel Kokotajlo isn't wearing his influences on his sleeve, but they are on the wall. When Total Film hops on a Zoom call with the director and writer of upcoming throwback chiller Starve Acre, framed posters sit over each shoulder – The Wicker Man's US one-sheet ('I prefer that over the UK one,' Kokotajlo muses) and a striking lino print of Blood on Satan's Claw by the artist Richard Wells, produced for a 2022 novelisation. 'I'm surrounded by folk-horror stuff,' the director says, looking to the left and right, as if still drawing dark power from the images. 'It's there for inspiration.'Though adapted from a 2019 novel by Andrew Michael Hurley, Starve Acre feels like a lost artefact of the 1970s – something the enterprising manager of a fleapit cinema…8 Min
Total Film|August 2024'I'M STILL VERY INSPIRED — MAYBE MORE SO THAN EVER' M. NIGHT SHYAMALANWhen Total Film sits down with M. Night Shyamalan in a London hotel in late May 2024, the 53-year-old writer/director is in a thoroughly reflective mood. Though he's here to talk to TF about Trap, his latest mystery-box experience about a serial killer (played by Josh Hartnett) being pursued by the authorities at a pop concert, across the corridor his middle daughter Ishana is speaking to press about her feature directorial debut The Watched, on which M. Night is a producer.It's a full-circle moment for Shyamalan who, like 20-something Ishana, started directing young. He turned 29, in fact, on the same day his third feature, The Sixth Sense, released in American cinemas on 6 August 1999. The film's extraordinary success – second only to The Phantom Menace at the worldwide…19 Min
Total Film|August 2024I SAW THE TV GLOW 15OUT 26 JULY CINEMASEvading easy categorisation, Jane Schoenbrun's vivid follow-up to We're All Going to the World's Fair can be read as a transgender allegory, one that compellingly explores the idea of being born into one existence, feeling you should be living a different one, but not knowing how to cross over to this other life where it seems you would be happier.In 1996, sheltered teen Owen (Ian Foreman) is intrigued by commercials for The Pink Opaque, a young-adult fantasy show that's on too late for him to watch. But with the help of the older Maddy (Brigette Lundy-Paine), Owen gets a taste of the show, which then becomes an obsession. Two years later, Owen (now Justice Smith) and Maddy have continued to bond over the series, but find themselves…1 Min
Total Film|August 2024HUNDREDS OF BEAVERS 12AOUT NOW CINEMASBuster Keaton, Tex Avery, Caddyshack, Evil Dead II, George Miller, arcade games, crazed TikTok videos with animal filters… blend all of those influences together and you might begin to explain the inspired absurdity of Hundreds of Beavers, a DIY, black-and-white slapstick comedy that outstrips Sasquatch Sunset to claim the title of 2024's most WTF movie.Presented as a silent-era photoplay, but utilising animation techniques and more than 1,500 effects shots, Mike Cheslik's relentlessly funny lo-fi offering tracks 19th-century applejack salesman Jean (Ryland Brickson Cole Tews, who co-wrote with Cheslik) as he battles the titular critters (humans in mascot costumes) and attempts to woo the daughter (Olivia Graves) of a protective, gun-toting furrier (Doug Mancheski).With the action taking place in wintry snowscapes, the non-stop gags range from such basic buffoonery…3 Min
Total Film|August 2024DIDI 15OUT 2 AUGUST CINEMASWhen incorporating social media in their stories, modern teen flicks tend to focus on the gossipy, going-viral aspects of influencer culture. But for lots of young people, some online spaces can be appealing meeting grounds for expressing your personality in theoretically low-stakes situations (which can still feel huge to introverts).These elements of the digital age were particularly well-rendered in Bo Burnham's Eighth Grade (2018). Writer/director Sean Wang's similarly tender and charged debut feature works as a period-piece companion to that film, albeit with a few key differences in milieu.Set in 2008, this semi-autobiographical comedy drama tracks a Taiwanese-American's awkward coming-of-age in Fremont, California, at a time when digital media is holding increasing sway over kids.Navigating cultural shame, eroding friendships and online chats with crushes, 14-year-old Chris (Izaac…3 Min
Total Film|August 2024BEVERLY HILLS COP: AXEL F 15Foley artistry…OUT NOW NETFLIXIt's been 30 years since we last saw Eddie Murphy's motormouthed Detroit cop Axel Foley tearing up LA in Beverly Hills Cop III. But now he's back, still silver of tongue as he brashly disobeys orders, but also following Mav's lead in Top Gun: Maverick by being a little less co*cky, a little more wise.'They love me in Beverly Hills,' grins Foley, this time drawn to the city to protect his estranged lawyer daughter, Jane (Taylour Paige), whose life is threatened when she defends a young man framed for murder. The real culprits, she believes, are LA cops operating under the jurisdiction of the Rolex-wearing Captain Grant (Kevin Bacon).Mark Malloy's feature debut is a pleasing return to the action thrillers of the 80s, favouring a run-and-gun investigation…3 Min
Total Film|August 2024THE LAST STARFIGHTER 121984 OUT NOW 4K UHD, BDEXTRASCommentaries, Featurettes, BookletInspired as much by T.H. White's Arthurian saga The Once and Future King as Star Wars, this sci-fi adventure centres on Alex Rogan (Lance Guest), a teenager whose sole escape from his workaday trailer-park life is trying to nab the high score on the Starfighter arcade machine. After doing just that, Alex is approached by the cabinet's creator, Centauri (Robert Preston), who reveals the game was designed to find pilots for a real-life interstellar conflict…One of the mini-boom of movies that saw Hollywood trying to cash in on the early days of the video-game craze, The Last Starfighter has somehow not felt the love of 80s nostalgists as much as the likes of Tron (1982) or WarGames (1983). Rather curious, that: not only…3 Min
Total Film|August 2024CLASSIC TV STAR TREK: THE NEXT GENERATION1987–1994 AVAILABLE ON DVD, BD, DIGITAL, NETFLIX, PARAMOUNT+Star Trek was dead, Jim. Cancelled in 1969 after three seasons due to declining viewing figures, the sci-fi series was boldly going nowhere. However, buoyed by Star Wars mania and a boom in television syndication, resurrection was inevitable. By 1986, the original crew of the Enterprise were on their fourth big-screen outing, and executives were clamouring for more.Series mastermind Gene Roddenberry and Paramount executive Rick Berman rebuilt tomorrow's Enterprise bigger and better – and now with a detachable saucer. Patrick Stewart was cast as Captain Jean-Luc Picard, despite reservations ('[Stewart] just didn't match [Roddenberry's] idea of what a captain should be,' Berman later recalled). Nonetheless, the English thesp was tasked with leading Trek's next generation. But first, bosses instructed, lose the wig.Picard's crew…2 Min
Total Film|August 2024FRESH SPINSINSIDE OUT 2Andrea Datzman (Dug Days) steps into long-time collaborator Michael Giacchino's shoes for the life of Riley. She's a fine fit, threading her predecessor's Riley themes through gusty guitars with teen vim. A new friendship theme twists malleably from joy to sorrow; a high-strung anxiety theme channels Bernard Herrmann smartly. And while Giacchino's wonkier abstractions are lost, the sense of maturing continuation on Every Messy, Beautiful Part of Her delivers a thoroughly winning trade off.THE BIKERIDERSJeff Nichols stacks up an on-point, Scorsese-grade jukebox mix for his biker drama. Most of the cuts channel the years between The Wild One/Easy Rider, with The Stooges barrelling raucously into the 70s. The rock'n'rollicking soul of Gary U.S. Bonds' I Wanna Holler (but the Town's Too Small) thrills, and Muddy Waters' bluesy Mannish…1 Min
Total Film|August 2024BOOKS TEENAGE MUTANT NINJA TURTLES: THE ULTIMATE VISUAL HISTORYANDREW FARAGO TITANFor a 'visual history', there's no shortage of text in this revised edition coinciding with the Turtles' 40th anniversary. From their 1984 indie-comic inception to the pop-culture phenomenon they quickly became, the Turtles have been proven unexpectedly resilient.This thorough tome contextualises every major iteration to date: comic crossovers, live-action movies, video games and a frankly bewildering amount of animated series. Seeing the simple iconography of mask-wearing, humanoid turtles repurposed for various eras is almost addictive especially for anyone who ever doodled the halfshell heroes in the margins of their school books. Whichever TMNT you grew up with, only the most ardent completists will struggle to find something unfamiliar here.But perhaps the most compelling aspect is the story of creators Kevin Eastman and Peter Laird: given the current appetite…1 Min
Total Film|August 2024KILLER MASKS1 FRIDAY THE 13TH: PART IIIIt wasn't until 1983's threequel that Jason Voorhees settled on his signature hockey mask. In the original, the killer was his mom. In Part II, he wore a sack on his bonce. Part VII introduced the boiler suit to complete the famous outfit.2 STAR WARS: EPISODE IV – A NEW HOPEDarth Vader's mask features tech to keep him breathing (heavily). But as Darth Sidious says in Star Wars: The Secrets of the Sith, 'Few realised its true function as they were too fearful to see beyond its grim visage.'3 BLACK SUNDAYMario Bava's gothic masterpiece is one of Tim Burton's favourite horror movies. It features witches, vampires and a horrific mask with spikes on the inside that's used as a gruesome implement of torture. This 1960…2 Min
Total Film|August 2024IS IT JUST ME OR IS TOM CRUISE AN UNDERRATED ACTOR?Few movie stars can match the career trajectory of Tom Cruise. Since establishing himself as box-office gold in the 80s, the actor hasn't stopped pumping out the hits. He successfully weathered a few PR blips in the early 00s, and became, according to Steven Spielberg, the man who 'saved Hollywood's ass' in the wake of the pandemic.These days, the sexagenerian makes headlines for his daring stunt work, multimillion-dollar studio deals and fondness for Birmingham curry houses. But less is written about his standing as a truly exceptional performer.Where early roles in Top Gun, The Color of Money (both 1986) and co*cktail (1988) proved Cruise's knack for playing young hotshots with charisma to burn, Barry Levinson's Rain Man (1988) saw the actor tasked, for the first time, with carrying the emotional…2 Min
Total Film|August 2024MILLA JOVOVICHMODEL BEHAVIOURBorn in Ukraine and raised in Los Angeles, Milica Bogdanovna Jovovich rose to fame as a model, taking on assignments from the age of 12. Her first major acting credit was as co-lead of Return to the Blue Lagoon (1991), a film notorious for its teenage nudity (and 0% Rotten Tomatoes rating). Disappointed at much of her work being cut from Richard Linklater's Dazed and Confused (1993), she took a hiatus from acting and moved to Europe.BESSON EFFORTSJovovich returned to acting with a star-making turn in Luc Besson's The Fifth Element (1997), earning a number of awards nominations (including, unjustly, a Razzie nod). She reunited with Besson (to whom she was briefly married) for biopic Joan of Arc (1999). As her action-hero credentials began to stack up, she showcased…2 Min
Total Film|August 2024GOLDEN GRAHAMSTHIS MONTH Phase IVWhat do The Man with the Golden Arm, Vertigo, North by Northwest, Psycho, Spartacus, West Side Story, Broadcast News, Big, Goodfellas and Casino all have in common? Their title sequences are the work of graphic designer Saul Bass, whose legendary career in movies ran from 1954 to 1996.But Bass only ever directed one feature, Phase IV (1974). A failure at the box office that was largely dismissed by critics ('interminable,' sniffed Variety), it's a strange hybrid of two genres that were prevalent as the time: intelligent, ideas-driven science-fiction (The Andromeda Strain, Silent Running, Soylent Green), the like of which held sway before Star Wars insisted on spectacle; and the revenge-of-nature B-movies (Frogs, Night of the Lepus, Killer Bees) that tapped into growing ecological fears. Also in the…3 Min
Total Film|August 2024SPIDER-MOVIESEASY1 Which is the highest-grossing Spider-Man movie to date? 2 What new, simian nickname does Ned give Spidey in Far from Home? 3 Which actor filmed scenes as Mary Jane Watson that ended up being cut from The Amazing Spider-Man 2? 4 At the end of Spider-Man: Homecoming, Cap gives a lecture on what theme? 5 Which was the first Spider-flick to make more than $1b at the box office?MEDIUM1 The Amazing Spider-Man 2's end credits feature a teaser clip from which non-Spider movie? 2 In which Spider-movie does Stan Lee play a librarian? 3 What is the full name of Zendaya's character in the Homecoming trilogy? 4 Sandman gains his powers by falling into what type of machine? 5 The Amazing Spider-Man 2 introduced Felicia Hardy… What is the…1 Min
Total Film|August 2024Dialogue Mail, rants, theories etc.HAVE YOUR SAYTOTALFILM.COM VIDEOS • REVIEWS • TRAILERS • NEWStotalfilm.comtwitter.com/totalfilmfacebook.com/totalfilmtotalfilm@futurenet.comSTAR LETTERI just rewatched the original Jurassic Park for the first time in two decades. I was blown away by how much tension I felt, due to the characters being so well-drawn, which made me care about them. On the other hand, watching the recent Jurassic World films, I felt none of that. There's not an ounce of bloat in the entire first Park. I believe it needed to be a one-and-done production. I feel the same about The Matrix, Joker and Squid Game. Any others that you guys think should also stand proudly alone?MICHAEL DEMETRIOU, CRAWLEYAnother Spielberg movie starting with J springs to mind: 1975's Jaws. Mind you, Jaws: The Revenge must've done something 'right', having put filmmakers off going…5 Min
Total Film|August 2024TEASERSNUMBER'S UPWinning $3.6 billion on the lottery is most people's idea of a dream come true. But what about a lottery where people can legally kill you to steal your prize money? That's the premise of breathless new action-comedy Jackpot from director Paul Feig.'I got about 40 pages into reading this and I was like “I have to make this movie!”' Feig remembers of Rob Yescombe's script, which was initially titled Grand Death Lotto. 'I kept putting off reading it initially,' he laughs, saying he thought it sounded 'dumb' and 'really silly'. Yet once he read it properly, he couldn't put it down. 'It was exactly what I'd always wanted to do.'Like Feig's other fan-favourite, Spy, starring Melissa McCarthy, at the heart of Jackpot are human characters who chime with audiences,…5 Min
Total Film|August 2024WITCHE'S BROUHAHA'Agatha sets off on a quest to regain her power' JAC SCHAEFFERThe task: create a spin-off from one of the most inventive and popular of all of the Marvel Disney+ series. Exactly how do you up the ante after WandaVision? 'Right out of the gate with the question that haunts me at night. Good job,' Agatha All Along creator Jac Schaeffer sighs, appropriately teasingly, over Zoom with Teasers. 'That was the question for me for a long time.'Schaeffer reminded herself that Kathryn Hahn's tricksy witch Agatha is meant to be at the centre. 'This is Agatha's story. So my focus eventually shifted from how do we top WandaVision to how do we service this character? She's so extraordinary, multifaceted, complex, dazzling, campy and enormous. I found that if I just…3 Min
Total Film|August 2024FINDING FAITHJason Schwartzman's Ben Gottlieb is in a low place when we first meet him in Between the Temples. A cantor questioning his faith, he's also grieving his late wife, living with his mother (Caroline Aaron) and her meddling partner (Dolly De Leon), and feeling pretty hopeless. That is, until his grade-school music teacher Carla (Carol Kane) unexpectedly re-enters his life seeking a late Bat Mitzvah.'The role of Ben was written for Jason,' director and co-writer Nathan Silver (Thirst Street, The Great Pretender) explains, adding that he and co-writer C. Mason Wells immediately had him in mind. 'We were just thinking that he hadn't had a lead role in a while. We wanted to see him on screen more.' Not that it was easy to find time in his schedule, being…2 Min
Total Film|August 2024REWRITING HISTORYReimagining Terry Gilliam's anarchic 1981 time-travelling comedy Time Bandits for television, Taika Waititi and Jemaine Clement (along with co-creator Iain Morris) have assembled their own motley gang of thieves for an adventure through time and space – led by discontented oddball Penelope (Lisa Kudrow) and young history buff Kevin Haddock (Kal-El Tuck).Why is the time right for a remake of Time Bandits?Taika Waititi: I feel like I got tricked into doing it. I went to a meeting and I didn't know what it was for. It was 15 minutes until I heard someone say Time Bandits. As I left, my manager said: 'Congratulations, you seemed so disinterested that they panicked and want to make a deal.'How did you go about reinventing the Bandits for a modern audience?TW: A lot was…2 Min
Total Film|August 2024SHELL YEAHThe Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles were revitalised for a new generation in Mutant Mayhem, the movie reboot produced by Seth Rogen that truly put the emphasis on the teenage as the reptilian bipeds battled outsider status and longed to fit in at high school. As the half-shelled quartet's adventures continue in Paramount+ series Tales of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, executive producers Chris Yost and Alan Wan tell Teasers what to expect from the animated spin-off…GAME OF TONESBeginning work on the show a couple of years ago, before Mutant Mayhem was in cinemas, Yost met with that film's director, Jeff Rowe, and producers Seth Rogen and Evan Goldberg, 'and just started coming up with ideas for what the show could be… They were supercool and super-supportive. At the end of…4 Min
Total Film|August 2024CAN WE TALK ABOUT?In June, London's Prince Charles Cinema advertised a private showing of a new film called, ominously, The Last Screenwriter. The kicker? It was written entirely by AI.'Created' by Swiss director Peter Luisi, The Last Screenwriter concerns a scriptwriter (played by Nicholas Pople) who quickly finds his efforts surpassed by an AI system. Apparently the filmmakers 'wanted to find out if artificial intelligence is able to write an entire feature film and how good this film would be if produced by a professional team'. A statement that, in itself, might have been written by ChatGPT.Faced with an online backlash, the Prince Charles Cinema (PCC) cancelled its planned screening of the film, citing 'the strong concern held by many of our audience on the use of AI in place of a writer'.…2 Min
Total Film|August 2024THE HEROThe Outsiders and Rumble Fish made Matt Dillon one of the most sought-after stars of the 1980s. Unlike some of his peers, though, he went on to enjoy an eclectic career that will soon see him playing Marlon Brando – in French – in biopic Being Maria. 'I love challenges,' he admitted when Teasers chatted to him at the 20th Marrakech International Film Festival.The cast of The Outsiders now reads like a who's who of 1980s celebrity. Do you still keep in touch with any of your former co-stars?I am always happy to see Ralph Macchio, Tom Cruise or Tommy [C. Thomas] Howell; I felt I developed a bond with the actors who came on that journey with me. I remember there were high jinks in the hotel we were…3 Min
Total Film|August 2024ALIEN EVOLUTIONPROMETHEUS (2012)Other than a puzzling appearance on a mural, the traditional xeno doesn't appear in Ridley Scott's first prequel. Instead, we get the Aethon/Deacon, born from the union of a tentacled Trilobite and an Engineer. Key features include a fully organic appearance, a goblin shark-style protrusible jaw and the fact it bursts out, almost fully grown, using the back of its pointed head.ALIEN: COVENANT (2017)As well as the backbursting, throat-erupting Neomorph – a translucent-skinned, more humanoid beast with fangs but no second jaw – Covenant introduces the Praetomorph, a creature engineered by David. Missing most biomechanical features, and born in miniature (adorable), it's otherwise a close cousin of the xeno we know and, er, love.ALIEN (1979)'Kane's son', as Ash puts it (Daddy must be so proud…), is Swiss artist H.R.…2 Min
Total Film|August 2024paradise COSTZoë Kravitz's directorial debut, Blink Twice, revolves around a billionaire jetting off with friends and a group of young women (and a man) to the lush environs of his privately owned paradise. When events take a turn, one island-goer, Frida (Naomi Ackie), starts to question her reality.Kravitz also co-wrote the screenplay (with E.T. Feigenbaum) – originally titled puss* Island – starting in 2017 and did not draw on any real-life events on the subject of billionaires and private islands. It was, however, the year of #MeToo, and things were coming to a head.'It was really more about power dynamics,' explains Kravitz. 'And trying to create a situation where the characters were isolated. That, in my mind, is the scariest situation you could be in – whether you're trapped in the…9 Min
Total Film|August 2024DISC WORLDEvery so often, one extract from the show Hot Ones goes viral on social media. In the clip, host Sean Evans asks Matt Damon about the macro conditions behind the oft-repeated sentiment of: 'They're not making movies for me any more.'The star's description of disc-based media as obsolete is extreme. DVDs and their high-definition successor, Blu-rays, are still produced and sold in 2024, and we now also have 4K Ultra HD discs for those with the highest-quality home-media setups. But Damon speaks accurately on the ways that the film industry can so radically change, within just a few years, when consumer habits are shifted by changing technologies, such as the rise of subscription-based streaming media.The music industry faced similar disruption. Digital music sales in the 2000s were taking increasingly bigger…11 Min
Total Film|August 2024FIVE STAR TURNSTHE SIXTH SENSE 1999Shyamalan's wunderkind status was confirmed with this astonishing ghost story that gave us an against-type Bruce Willis, an all-timer child performance, and one of the most talked-about twists ever.UNBREAKABLE 2000Arguably Shyamalan's best film, Unbreakable is a stealth superhero movie in which Bruce Willis' injury-impervious security guard slowly realises his true calling. Ironically, Shyamalan says that at the time the studio were worried 'that no one would come to see a movie about comics'.SIGNS 2002Shyamalan's next hit saw Mel Gibson noticing crop circles in his cornfields ahead of a UFO invasion. 'I think my tendency to see global events from a family's perspective is an interesting one, because we kind of all experienced that [with the pandemic],' he says.SPLIT 2016A stealth sequel to a stealth superhero movie, Split…1 Min
Total Film|August 2024LONGLEGS 15OUT NOW CINEMASA little Nicolas Cage goes a terrifyingly long way in Osgood Perkins' movie, a serial-killer-procedural-slash-occult-delving creepfest that confidently echoes The Silence of the Lambs and Zodiac before spinning off wildly on its own diabolical axis.Maika Monroe assumes the Jodie Foster role as Lee Harker, an introverted FBI newbie whose near-psychic intuition could be the key to ending a barbaric string of whole-family slaughters in 90s Oregon. Cage, meanwhile, is the film's titular Lecter: an unctuous predator with a frizzy mop, sing-song cadence and prosthetics that make him weirdly resemble Celia Weston in Shyamalan's The Village.Kicking off in the same rounded-square ratio used in David Lowery's A Ghost Story, Longlegs unnerves from the get-go by having a little girl face a wintry encounter with a wheedling, half-viewed Cage. It…3 Min
Total Film|August 2024MAXXXINE 18OUT NOW CINEMASThe past ain't finished with you, Maxine,' yells Kevin Bacon's odious private dick in writer/director Ti West's trilogy-closing slasher tale. Following prequel Pearl, this sees Mia Goth reprising her wannabe p*rn-star character from franchise starter X. Now a success in adult entertainment circa 1985, Maxine is chasing a legit LA acting career.West's fictional story rubs shoulders with 80s history: real-life serial killer Richard Ramirez, aka the Night Stalker, is on the loose. Sex workers that Maxine knows become victims; detectives Williams (Michelle Monaghan) and Torres (Bobby Cannavale) aim to take down the killer. Things take a twist when Bacon's sleazy PI tracks her down for his wealthy client, who has an unusual interest in Maxine. Who is he? Well, that's one of the questions hanging over the film…1 Min
Total Film|August 2024SKYWALKERS: A LOVE STORY 18OUT NOW CINEMAS 19 JULY NETFLIXAhead for heights is a strict requirement for this pulsepounding documentary, in which two Moscovian daredevils set out to scale the world's second-tallest skyscraper without ending up in handcuffs or falling to their deaths.'We are not vandals,' insists Angela Nikolau, a circus performer's daughter whose sky-high acrobatics lend a gymnastic grace to the illegal pastime of rooftopping. 'But we are technically criminals,' admits her partner Ivan Beerkus. The latter's plan to mount Kuala Lumpur's Merdeka 118 edifice and perform a Dirty Dancing-like lift on its cloud-grazing spire propels this giddily captivating nerve-shredder. It's a mission that proves as gripping as Philippe Petit's quest to tightrope-walk between the Twin Towers in the stylistically analogous Man on Wire (2008).Culled from over 200 hours of material, shot in…3 Min
Total Film|August 2024MALCOLM X 151992 OUT 29 JULY BD, 4K UHD, DIGITALEXTRASPoster/Art cards (4K only), Deleted scenesOften faint-praised as his most 'conventional' film, Spike Lee's Malcolm X biopic is bolder – and more contentious – than its rep suggests. From initial conception, the muchdebated script took 25 years to reach screens. When Lee became director, he tussled with the studio to craft an epic and intimately detailed portrait of a conflicted leader, galvanised by a dynamic lead.With Denzel Washington upfront, Lee anatomises Malcolm's growth across four miniseries-friendly periods. We meet him as a petty thief and hustler, then a prisoner converted to the Nation of Islam. Malcolm's time as an orator follows, before a break from the NoI leads to tragedy.Lee and DoP Ernest Dickerson used David Lean's grandiose classics as reference points, and…1 Min
Total Film|August 2024ELECTION 151999OUT 29 JULY 4K UHDEXTRASCommentary, FeaturettesA history teacher on the ropes, a divisive student, an eyeball problem, a lie, a resignation… On the surface, Alexander Payne's second feature pre-empts his recent The Holdovers. But you'd need to add vats of acid to properly characterise Election, a film whose brittle satire of high-school politics and flawed masculinity still stings, 25 years on.In pitch-perfect casting, Reese Witherspoon plays laser-targeted school-presidential hopeful Tracy Flick opposite Matthew Broderick as flagging teacher Mr. McAllister. While he preaches (then forgets…) history's morals, she sets her claim on the future. But will McAllister's misogyny, marital infidelity and electoral tampering prove his undoing?Bolstered by on-point support from Chris Klein and Jessica Campbell as competing candidates, Election is often seen as a 90s-centric political allegory. For Flick, read Hillary…1 Min
Total Film|August 2024A VERY SPECIAL EPISODETHE MEASURE OF A MAN S2, 1989 The show's watershed moment involves a heady test of the main characters' mettle. Deeming android Data to be Starfleet property, Picard's bosses decide they need to take the tin man apart to see what makes him tick. And so The Next Generation becomes a courtroom drama, with Picard arguing for Data's autonomy, while a reluctant Riker is forced to speak against his friend's sentience. The ethically complex story, submitted on spec by Melinda M. Snodgrass at the encouragement of pal George R.R Martin, is peak Trek.…1 Min
Total Film|August 2024GAMES PREVIEWLEGO HORIZON ADVENTURESOUT TBC 2024 PC, PS5, SWITCHSummer Game Fest organiser and compere Geoff Keighley downplayed expectations before the show – which presumably didn't please the publishers who'd spent hundreds of thousands of dollars to appear. The game in the opening slot said plenty enough: this light-hearted spin-off from Sony's post-apocalyptic sci-fi series Horizon wasn't quite the glossy blockbuster start we've seen in previous SGFs, while the announcement that it would be coming to PC and Switch was another reminder that the era of the format exclusive may soon be over… Yet this playful co-operative quest looks like bright, family-friendly fun, with self-serious lead Aloy on unusually breezy, wisecracking form.PROJECT COUT TBC PC, CONSOLESAmong modern cinema's most prolific production houses, Blumhouse was never going to make a low-key entrance into…4 Min
Total Film|August 2024IS IT BOLLOCKS?THIS MONTH UNDER PARIS ' SHARK SCENARIOQ In Netflix's Under Paris, a shark gets into the River Seine and reproduces via parthenogenesis. Jumping the shark?A Daniel Abel, Professor of Marine Science, Coastal Carolina University, and author of several books including the forthcoming Shark: The Illustrated Biography .'Thought you were safe from sharks when swimming in your favourite river? Bull*****! That is, bull shark! However, only four of the 550 or so kinds of sharks, including the bull shark, are known to inhabit freshwater ecosystems and none lives there full-time. (The harmless spiny dogfish reported in the River Thames occupied a section of the river that was brackish.) Most sharks, especially the amped-up shortfin mako of Under Paris, simply cannot function in freshwater and will avoid it.'A healthy shortfin mako, an…2 Min
Total Film|August 2024REEL ESTATEFOR SALE This remote Alpine chalet near Grenoble would be ideally suited to a professional writer who spends long periods working from home. Close to hiking trails, this duplex has been undergoing renovations that are not yet complete, but there's plenty of living space for a couple, one child and a dog. Adapted from an old Mauritian farmhouse, the property boasts splendid snowy views from its 1,400m elevation. Be aware, the attic is not completely soundproof, so is not the ideal spot from which to blast out steel-drum renditions of controversial rap songs. The attic window also requires some safety proofing: a fall from that height would be unambiguously fatal.…1 Min
Total Film|August 2024DEEP BLUE SEATOTAL FILM RETROSPECTIVEBeing a real ocean enthusiast and shark conservationist, I didn't want to do an exploitation movie about sharks being bad,' remembers prolific Finnish filmmaker Renny Harlin. To combat this moral quandary, his first move was to reject a project similar to future Jason Statham adventure The Meg, yet something was in the Hollywood water and Harlin seemingly couldn't escape these aquatic apex predators.Fortunately for him, the Deep Blue Sea script, finalised by couple Donna and Wayne Powers, genetically enhanced the villains of the piece and thus provided its director with 'peace of mind' – the characters would be the architects of their own downfall. Bolstered by a game cast of Thomas Jane, Saffron Burrows, Jacqueline McKenzie, Samuel L. Jackson, LL Cool J, Michael Rapaport and Stellan Skarsgård, 1999's…4 Min
Total Film|August 2024KEY MOVIESTHE FIFTH ELEMENT 1997Speaking a made-up language, Jovovich thoroughly convinces as Leeloo, and later described the runaway alien as her favourite role.JOAN OF ARC 1999Besson's uneven biopic is elevated by a suitably intense Jovovich as the iron-clad, bowl-cut-sporting Maid of Orleans.RESIDENT EVIL 2002-16Six entries in the zombie-fighting series may have been overkill, but Jovovich's grit and charisma kept audiences invested.STONE 2010Jovovich gives her dramatic skills a rigorous workout in this psychological crime thriller led by Robert De Niro and Edward Norton.20TH CENTURY STUDIOS, ALAMY, DISNEY, LIONSGATE, REAL GONE MUSIC, SIGNATURE, SONY, SPIRIT ENTERTAINMENT, STUDIOCANAL…1 Min
Total Film|August 202460 SECOND SCREENPLAYSPOILER ALERT!FADE IN:EXT. FORESTMany generations after CAESAR's death in the last film, apes are still the dominant species on the planet thanks to their superior intellect. And yet, NOA is part of a clan that collects eggs.NOAFather, Master of Birds, we have collected our eggs for the ritual, but we saw a human!NOA'S FATHERWe must tell the Elders right away for some reason!NOA discovers the human hiding on site. She accidentally crushes the eggs. Suddenly, a group of apes led by a gorilla named SYLVA attacks everyone.SYLVAI don't really understand this whole bird-egg thing, so I'm just going to burn the whole place to the ground.NOA'S FATHERNo! I must save the birds! And probably some of my people. Maybe even my family.NOA finds his father dead and his clan captured.…3 Min
