DVD Reviews Sit back, veg out.
RISE OF THE PLANET OF THE APES
COWBOYS & ALIENS
Paramount Home Entertainment Released December 8
Fox Home Ent Released December 7 If Joe Letteri and his Weta Digital team don’t take Oscar honours for the visual effects here, it will be a travesty; their fusion of live action with CGI and performance capture technology makes possible the kind of film that the 12-year-old you could only dream of. But the reason this film is so good is because the effects just blend in; you’re never watching pixels, you’re getting to know each character. And what better story to apply that kind of technology to than this already legendary tale of man versus intelligent ape? But no matter what you think of modern audiences, people don’t pay to see golden turds – unless there are bonafide stars in them (and while 127 Hours showed he could act, James Franco is no Brad Pitt). People are interested in the Planet Of the Apes story – partly because it has cultural heritage already, and partly because of its ongoing relevance as a cautionary tale about the dark underbelly of ‘civilisation’ and ‘scientific advancement’. What this film adds on top is an irresistibly primal story that pushes all the right buttons for all the right reasons: a son who outgrows his parents and his home, and is forced to make his own way in the world; the loss of innocence that comes with experience. Both of these themes are repeated down the generations from Charles (John Lithgow) who has Alzheimers, to his son Will (Franco), who is a genetic biologist who will stop at nothing to find a cure, and finally to Caesar (Andy Serkis), whose realisation that he’ll never belong with humans or apes causes him, like many a great conqueror before him, to change history. Dee Jefferson
In terms of taste, I’m definitely outside the target demo for this one; but inasmuch as I grew up on Star Wars and the Indiana Jones series, I am all up for seeing Harrison Ford doing his grizzly-bear-with-a-warm-heart thing in an old school action film. I’m also a big fan of Jon Favreau’s Iron Man, and Daniel Craig’s Bond – so I’m already pre-disposed to like the cut of this Cowboys & Aliens jib. Everyone plays to character and there’s a snappy script that’s got enough laughs, but the kind of family laughs that Lucas and Spielberg (who executive produces, alongside Ron Howard) excelled at – this plays more like a tribute to the westerns and sci-fi flicks of old than the spoof you might expect (given its ridiculous, gimmicky central premise), or the genre subversion you might be hoping for. Shot in New Mexico, the film sees Craig and Ford face off as equally stubborn gunslingers – The Stranger, and the hardened Civil War veteran Colonel Dolarhyde – who have to team up to rescue loved ones from a band of marauding aliens. They’re joined by a ragtag bunch that ranges from an innocent young boy (Noah Ringer), a feisty female sidekick who refuses to be given the shake (Olivia Wilde), the faithful and longsuffering rancher (Adam Beach) who Dolarhyde treats more like a son than his own feckless teenaged bully (Paul Dano), and a cowardly doctor (Sam Rockwell). Favreau keeps the action at a cracking pace, and screenwriting team Roberto Orci and Alex Kurtzman (Star Trek) weave in a nice subplot of a developing relationship between Dolarhyde and the boy – which Ford naturally executes perfectly. So there’s no surprises – so what? This isn’t rocket science, it’s entertainment.
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Street Level With Dany Cooper ASE
T
he Australian Screen Editors’ Guild held its awards a couple of weeks ago, so we thought we’d celebrate the occasion by talking to an editor. But not just any editor – the best editor. Dany Cooper won Best Editing in a Feature for her work on Oranges and Sunshine, but her career runs the gamut from indie Australian (Hey Hey It’s Esther Blueburger) to blockbuster Hollywood (Queen Of the Damned), short films (including Waiting For The Turning Of the Earth, in competition at Flickerfest 2012) and TV (Battlestar Galactica). How hard was it for you to break into editing? It took me about eight years; I started in documentaries and moved to features. I then cut some long form documentaries and short films. My first feature was Angel Baby (1995). What was your career breakthrough moment? Well they all are, but the highlights would be winning an AFI for best editing on Angel Baby, and an Emmy nomination for the Battlestar Galactica miniseries, and winning the ASE award for my last three films (Candy, Beneath Hill 60 and Oranges and Sunshine). My new film The Sapphires (Dir. Warwick Thornton) has also been a lot of fun. It’s not about winning, it’s that every piece of work has a myriad of experiences attached, so it isn’t the end product but the journey to get there that amazes. Getting to know the directors of all my films has been a great pleasure. What do you see as the main misconceptions? We have a key creative role, but it’s also seen as a support role. I think people think of the editor as someone who collates and organises material but not as a creator – which we are – and a most important part of the film making process. We do the final draft. We help the director achieve the film they
want to make. Avid or Final Cut Pro? Generally Avid. DNX36 is a good HD medium due to clarity of image etc. As an editor, what are you most commonly irritated by when you watch films? I notice continuity, but if the emotional continuity of a cut is working then the physical continuity becomes irrelevant. What I don’t like is boring visual story telling. I'm not talking about fast cutting, but about development of the shot – the eye and the mind get bored if the filmmakers are lazy. As example of excellent editing, what would you recommend? Warrior, Shame, Fargo, No Country For Old Men, Goodfellas, The Seven Samurai, Crazy Heart, Sideways. And who are your editor heroes? Pietro di Scallia (Black Hawk Down), Dody Dorn (Memento), Mike McKusker (Walk the Line), Thelma Shoonmaker (Goodfellas), Jon Gregory (Donnie Brasco), Ann Coates (Lawrence Of Arabia), Walter Murch (Apocalypse Now), Kirk Baxter and Angus Wall (The Social Network) and Masahiro Hirakubo (Trainspotting).
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What do you love about being an editor? Creating a story. Making the characters breathe, collaborating with a team – small but deeply satisfying things. And what are the hard parts? Crazy politics, non-communication and no window. The strange hours are no issue, but give us light! What: Oranges and Sunshine on DVD now More: For more information about the Australian Screen Editors and their ongoing events, visit screeneditors.com
BRAG :: 443 :: 19:12:11 :: 41