Harry Potter pushed back to 2009…

Twilight: Potter's latest nemesis? In the movie business anyway...

…for absolutely no reason it would seem. Distraught Harry Potter fans can only speculate and then bombard Warner Bros. with online petitions. Christopher Campbell of Spout Blog listed his 10 reasons as to why the sixth Potter instalment has been postponed. One of the most convincing has to be the fact that Twilight, the latest page to screen adaptation, is to be released around three weeks after the original Potter date. Twilight, the fantasy story of a young girl who falls in love with a vampire (*cough Buffy *cough) is the first of three books, written by Stephanie Meyer, and has gained quite a following. In the absence of HP, Meyer’s dark and slightly adult tales quickly became the new hot topic and the latest must-have on everybody’s bookshelf. Whatever, the reasoning, we will all have to wait at least seven months longer for ‘The Half Blood Prince’ *sigh.

Auditions for Feature Film ‘Eclipse’ in Cork.

Filming will begin in September on the feature film, ‘Eclipse‘ which is written, and is to be directed also, by Conor Mc Pherson. Filming will take place in Cobh with the setting of the movie being a writers festival in Cobh.

If you are interested in a role as an extra, there are two calls for extras next week: firstly at The Commodore Hotel in Cobh itself between 4pm and 7pm on Wednesday August 20th and the next day, Thursday August 21st at The Firkin Crane, Shandon Street, Cork between 4pm and 7pm again.

All ages over 18 are welcome. Your photo will be taken and you will be asked to fill in a form with some personal details, and your availability will also be checked. Those in charge of auditions are particularly interested in meeting people with a love of literature, song and the spoken word. Many extras will be playing attendees at a Writers Festival.

The X Files: I Want to Believe.

Mulder and Scully’s return only serves to remind us that the best is long over.

Directed by: Chris Carter

Starring: David Duchovny, Gillian Anderson, Amanda Peet, Billy Connolly, Xzibit

What’s it About: Mulder and Scully, no longer working for the FBI, are roped back into a case when an FBI agent goes missing and one time priest, Father Joe (Connolly) claims to have had psychic revelations about the case.

Mulder looked on in terror as a hoard of angry X Files fans came towards them.

I had always imagined that the second X Files movie would deal with the ‘truth’ which was revealed in the very last episode of the TV series: that the aliens were coming in 2012 and that, most likely, we were all doomed. Instead we are presented with a story which could be easily matched by anything you would catch on TV today, a crime thriller that has some gruesome, nail-biting moments but nothing that you wouldn’t forget ten minutes after leaving the cinema. It’s not that all movies should have the spectacles of say, The Dark Knight, but this slow boiled detective drama lacks anything that would set it aside from a far fetched CSI episode. One wonders why the X Files team would bother to make a movie at all if they do not wish to take advantage of the longer running time or the scope that a film offers the writers, who, up until now, mostly had one hour segments with which to play.

TV Review: Little White Lie

Elaine Cassidy, seen here as Lucy Honeychurch in A Room with a View, appeared on Irish TV this week as Annie in 'Little White Lie'.

The plot of Little White Lie was hardly original: boy does what he can to impress girl, even if it means glossing over the truth about his career and girl falls for boy with complicated consequences. More interesting was the fact that this little drama starred Elaine Cassidy, who was prominent in the early noughties for her roles in ‘Disco Pigs’ with Cillian Murphy and ‘The Others’ with Nicole Kidman. Then, suddenly, she seemed to disappear although an IMBD search would confirm her part in ‘The Lost World’ TV series and a leading role as Lucy Honeychurch in the 2007 TV version of ‘A Room with a View’. Cassidy’s ever youthful and somewhat innocent appearance may, perhaps, lessen her chances of leading lady roles but here, as children’s TV presenter, Annie, she is well cast. Andrew Bennet as her admirer John is a good match for her also and the main protagonists’ romantic relationship is saved from a descent into schmaltz by the comic turns of the other couple Cliona (Mary Murray) and Malcolm (David Pearse). Little White Lie sets out to prove that magical romance can exist even in modern day Dublin and some moments, such as John and Annie’s climb up a crane, are quirky enough to have been pulled from an indie movie (remember Garden State’s three youths standing on construction equipment in the pouring rain). While these moments of escapism do not quite redeem the predictable plotline, they nonetheless prove that Little White Lie has a good heart and the obvious happy ending would leave viewers satisfied..and possibly a little warm and fuzzy!

Production finishes on Cork short Penny.

Poster for Penny

Patrick O’ Shea, of Southernman Films, who recently made horror short ‘The Sign’, has finished work on his latest film ‘Penny’. The story of a girl who discovers she is pregnant on the morning of her first Leaving Cert exam stars Mary Louise Mc Carthy ( of the TG4 series Aifric) as well as Pascal Scott (Killinaskully), Victor Burke (8.5 Hours) Ciara O’ Callaghan (from Insatiable) and Martina Carroll. The film was shot in May and finished just in time for festival deadlines. A previous post on ‘The Sign’ can be found here.

Harry Potter and The Half Blood Prince Trailer.

Don't trust that smile...Jim Broadbent as Horace Slughorn.

After a fleeting teaser trailer that was hardly worth our attention and empty promises about an official trailer accompanying The Dark Knight, Warner Brothers have finally released the official trailer for Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince which is due out on November 21st (UK date). This one should definitely capture the attention, focusing on the young Tom Riddle (aka Voldemort) rather than on Harry. After the hype surrounding the final HP book last year, the public have possibly tired of the young wizard, but this trailer, which is short and snappy, should recapture interest in the franchise. Plus there’s the introduction of Jim Broadbent as Horace Slughorn (an ex professor lured back to teach by Dumbledore) and of course the return of Helena Bonham Carter as Bellatrix Lestrange. Natually I don’t expect you to leave my site and go to youtube to watch it so the trailer can be found on your left, Enjoy!

Freak and Freakier: The Dark Knight

Batman battles his better half in Nolan’s latest.

Why SO SERIOUS??!

By Fiona, a contributor to The Stub.

In the closing minutes of Batman Begins we left our hero gazing at the business card of the man they call The Joker. According to Lt. Jim Gordon, The Joker was a man with a “taste for the theatrical” like Batman himself. We too stared at the card, a bad card by any standards. In a game where winning is everything, no one wants to be left juggling the joker. But by God did we want to see Batman try. With The Dark Knight, director Christopher Nolan gives us our chance.

For everyone longing for the flashy entrance, take heed and remember Nolan is a man of explanation, of small scale beginnings. Batman Begins opened by showing our hero start a brawl which was not unlike those ones you’d see outside McDonalds at 2am on a Saturday night. After all it’s been three years since we saw Batman chase the Scarecrow out of Gotham. Nolan wants to show us how he’s been faring since. He wants to show us Batman is still a real man, fighting thugs on a real level. However, the fast-paced, choppy scene involving Batman wannabes and set in a multi-storey car-park was not the way to greet our hero after so long. Witnessing Batman in his wonderful bat suit (so glorified in Batman Begins), against the back-drop of a greying, and frankly boring car-park only makes his aspirations and costume seem cheap and unnecessary. Realism is one thing but introductions are everything.

Wall E

The Little Robot with a Big Heart.

*Possible Spoilers *

Directed by: Andrew Stanton

Starring: (the voices of) Ben Burtt, Elissa Knight, Jeff Garlin, John Ratzenberger, Sigourney Weaver.

What’s it about? It’s the year 2700, humans have evacuated planet Earth and poor Wall E (a robot designed to crush waste) is the only robot left; in fact he seems to be totally alone, with only a cockroach as a friend. Things change, however, with the arrival of Eve, a modern robot sent to Earth to check for signs of life. When the time comes for her to return to the space station with her findings, Wall E follows her and finds himself at the centre of many new experiences.

So lonely he considered trying out the Rubix Cube again...

Wall E is a good film for a lot of reasons but, arguably, the most appealing aspect here is the complete innocence which the little robot radiates. At the screening which I attended, the adults in the cinema responded as children might, laughing aloud and then falling silent when our principal character was injured or sad. It is a movie which, I believe, represents a return to innocence, not only as its theme, but also within the field of modern animated movies.

With Wall E, Disney Pixar have resurrected the, at times questionable, innocence of traditional Disney fare. Indeed, DreamWorks’ Kung Fu Panda recently demonstrated a certain break away from the cynicism and consistent references to modern culture which previous animated movies displayed, a trend which began to diminish with the lukewarm reception that Shrek 3 received. Kung Fu Panda, while sporting one or two swipes at traditional storytelling, followed the age old happy ending formula closely. So much so, in fact, that it actually lacked any surprises, thus resulting in a movie which is not very memorable.

Latest Cork short is high on action

Described as a “martial arts time travel fantasy’, ‘Elapse’ was created by Corkman Thomas O Meara who admits he has always held an interest in time travel and, indeed, in kung fu. The film also has a uniquely Irish feel to it as it also deals with Celtic mythology. Filming took place in several locations including the Currabinny Woods, and even Tom’s own garden, using an Everio hard disk drive camcorder. In typical low-budget (or possibly no budget) style, there were often times when the mini crew had to manage without a cameraman.

As the martial arts aspect of ‘Elapse’ was of high importance, each technique was performed anywhere between 5 and 30 times to achieve the desired effect. Altogether the fight scenes took about 30 hours to complete and resulted in plenty bruising…followed by another 30-ish hours of editing and sfx applications!

Thomas had help in the form of the following people: Kevin Cummins (the Celt called Dearg Lugh), Dave Heath (the templer called Jaque de le Mer), John the Book (the strange element being called Zenith), Aidin Lilly (the mysterious monk), and Tracey (the mad pan battering girlfriend of kevin cummins). Tom himself played the immortal Scot and the burglar.

So..if you want an idea of what people are creating in their gardens these days..here’s a mini trailer:

Ghost Boy and the Hanging Munchkins

Movie Urban Myths Explained!

Written by Keith, a contributor to The Stub.

Apart from the above title being a great name for an indie band, it relates to some of the most famous of film lore. There are dozens of urban legends surrounding popular films. Some of us have heard of them in half whispers growing up, scared ourselves with the ghost boy in Three Men and a Baby, wondered about the family of the stunt man who died in the chariot scene in Ben Hur or spent some time looking for a suicidal munchkin in The Wizard of Oz. If you haven’t heard about them or seen them, they are definitely worth a look as they are a unique form of urban legend mixed with conspiracy theory; proof of man’s ability to take something ordinary and blow it out of the realm of possibility. For those that have seen them I’ll attempt to shed some light on the truth and shatter your illusion. (Also there’s no Santa, the Easter Bunny is dead and your parents hate you).