Category Archives: Features

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The greatest film heroes

Luke Skywalker in the swamps of Dagobah, with Yoda.

The hero. Or heroine. The one person who goes above and beyond, faces insurmountable difficulties, but still comes out on top and saves the day. Some are made, shaped by the situations they find themselves in. But some are born. This is our top 5 most awesome, coolest and most heroic in film to date.

5. Ellen Ripley

Ellen Ripley, played by Sigourney Weaver.

Image via: http://images5.fanpop.com

Like I said, some heroes are born, and some are forged in the fires of action. Sigourney Weaver’s Weyland-Yutani frieghter officer certainly has a good rep sheet for these experiences – surviving and battling xenomorphs in Alien turns her into a completely awesome warrior. Eventually, she even turns into a superhuman half-alien clone. Her best moment must be jumping into an exo-suit cargo loader to beat the snot out of the Alien Queen.

4. Indiana Jones

Indiana Jones cracking his whip.

Image via: alphacoders.com

This one is special. During term-time, he’s a mild mannered professor of archaeology. But when school is done, watch out. He’s secretly a Nazi-stomping, whip-cracking, badass adventurer. Most iconic hero moment? Shooting the fearless swordsman in Raiders of the Lost Ark. I wish I was that effortlessly cool.

3. Jason Bourne

Jason Bourne pointing a handgun.

Image via: coen-eng.com

Once, he was David Webb. Then Operation Treadstone happened and he turned into a super-cool amnesiac rogue agent. Who can drive like a pro. And shoot. And he can literally fight anyone. In fact, in his best moment in The Bourne Ultimatum he leaps off a balcony and beats a guy down with a book. Actually using knowledge to incapacitate someone. So cool.

2. James Bond

Sean Connery as James Bond, sitting in a chair drinking an alcoholic drink.

Image via: blacklapel.com

He needs no introduction. The finest that MI6 has to offer. 50 years later he’s still the suave-est hero around, and you can always rely on him to protect Queen and Country. His coolest moment definitely has to be keeping his cool when his Crown Jewels were in trouble in the iconic laser scene of Goldfinger.

1. Luke Skywalker

Luke Skywalker sitting in a room.

Image via: http://thestarwarstrilogy.com/

And here we have it, the number one hero. At one time, every young boy wanted to be Luke Skywalker. The hero in a perfect tale of good vs. evil, Luke learns the ways of the Force and the lightsaber and sums up what it means to be a hero. Most deservedly, Luke Skywalker wins the top spot. Best moment? “You will take me to Jabba now”. How did he get so cool?

Got any more ideas of who should be on this list? Comment below with your top film heroes!

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Weapons of choice

Pictured is an M60 light machine gun, made famous by the Rambo films.

Think of any action movie character and you’ll more than likely think of their favourite weapon of choice. The guns featured in film are more often than not more iconic than the character itself. Below we list just some of the many iconic film guns and their associated character.

pictured is the Spas-12 12 gauge shotgun, made famous by Robert Muldoon in the film Jurassic Park.

Image via: imgur.com

Franchi SPAS-12
Made famous by: Robert Muldoon in Jurassic Park. (1993)

This shotgun is quite the ‘clever girl’. Most notably featured in Steven Spielberg’s Jurassic Park film, this pump action, 12 gauge shotgun was pretty handy at taking out Velociraptors. First introduced in 1982 by Franchi S.p.A, this shotgun was initially developed to fire low pressure ammunition such as tear gas. The shotgun is still in use by military forces in Australia, Pakistan and Italy.

Pictured is the Desert Eagle semi automatic pistol, made famous by Agent Smith in the Matrix films.

Image via: imgur.com

Desert Eagle Mark XIX
Made Famous by: Agent Smith in the Matrix trilogy. (1999-2003)

There’s no doubt why the main antagonist in the Matrix films chose this as his weapon of choice. Dubbed by many as a ‘hand cannon’, the most recent model of the Desert Eagle semi-automatic pistol fires a .50 AE round, something much bigger in comparison to other pistol rounds.

Pictured is an M60 light machine gun, made famous by the Rambo films.

Image via; imgur.com

M60
Made famous by: John Rambo in First Blood. (1982)

This Light Machine Gun weighs a hefty 10.5 kg and fires a 7.62x51mm NATO round. The M60 is belt fed, and can fire around 500 rounds per minute. The weapon first saw its introduction in the Vietnam war and has since been staple for the U.S army in combat since.

Pictured is the M9 Beretta semi automatic pistol, made famous by John McClane in the Die Hard films

Image via: imgur.com

Beretta 92FS
Made famous by: John McClane in Die Hard. (1988)

This semi-automatic pistol was most notably used by John McClane, the main protagonist in the first Die Hard film. Chambering a typical 9mm round commonly found in semi-automatic pistols, the 92FS was manufactured by Fabbrica d’Armi Pietro. The Beretta 92FS is arguably the most commonly used pistol by military forces worldwide.

Image shows actor Arnold Schwarzenegger flexing his muscles.

Image via: themancave-rayc.blogspot.co.uk/

Arnold Schwarzenegger’s guns
Made famous by: Every film with Arnold Schwarzenegger.

 

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Festive favourites: three Christmas must see’s

A middle aged man, Will Ferrell, lies across two tiny beds dressed as an elf in a red jumpsuit.
A middle aged man, Will Ferrell, lies across two tiny beds dressed as an elf in a red jumpsuit.

Image via www.focusfeatures.com

It’s just over two weeks until Christmas day so it’s about time that you snuggled down with a glass of mulled wine, a mince pie and some of the best festive films. Here are a few of our choices blended with a bit of trivia that you probably didn’t know about these festive favourites.

It wouldn’t be Christmas without at least one showing of Love Actually, especially as it is ten years old this year. Essentially a holiday rom-com, Love Actually is filled with heart-warming tales alongside a star studded cast; from Martin Freeman to Keira Knightley. If you haven’t seen it (it’s on TV every Christmas, there’s no excuse) the film follows the interlinking lives of eight couples and their curious relationships, a month before Christmas in London.

Kris Marshall, (who you may recognise as the father from the BT adverts) plays Collin Frissel, actually refused his pay cheque for the scene in Love actually where three American girls undress him due to the fact that he reportedly had so much fun filming the 21 takes; he was willing to work for free.

Another cheering fact is that the lovely airport compilation of loved ones reuniting is real. A team of camera men filmed for the entirety of a week in Heathrow Airport, asking for permission from people when they captured a perfect moment.

Released in the same year, Elf is a Christmas classic. It’s an uplifting tale of a man raised as one of Santa’s elves, searching for his identity in the real world to hilarious consequence. You’d have to be a scrooge not to enjoy watching six foot three Will Ferrell prancing around in an elf suit. It was certainly distracting to drivers when Ferrell walked through Lincoln tunnel in his costume, so much so that it caused minor traffic accidents.

When Santa shows Michael his nice list, all of the names are people who worked on the movie, from Victoria Down, a key make-up artist, to Jimmy Miller the executive producer.

Finally, a timeless film, The Muppet Christmas Carol, released in 1992. We all know that this ageless picture follows the tale of a Christmas Carol but retold by the lovable Muppets cast. What you probably didn’t know is that there is a shop in the film named ‘Micklewhite’ after Michael Caine, who plays the part of Scrooge, as his real name is Maurice Micklewhite.

The film is also dedicated to the memory of Jim Henson and Richard Hunt. Jim Henson was the creator of the Muppets and the voice of Kermit and Richard Hunt was a puppeteer.

There you have it, three Christmas classics that you should definitely watch before the big day. Even if you’ve seen them many times before, they are guaranteed to get you in the Christmas spirit, and if you haven’t seen them then what are you waiting for? Go get your festive onesie on and get comfy with a spiced hot chocolate.

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Surprising improvisation in film

A man in a hospital gown wearing smudged clown make up walks away from a hospital explostion
A man in a hospital gown wearing smudged clown make up walks away from a hospital explostion

Image via forum.blu-ray.com

Not all of our favourite moments in film were planned. In fact, many magic movie moments were
not in the script at all. Inside Film has been looking into just a few moments in film that you
probably didn’t know were improvised.

The Dark Knight: Hospital Explosion
During the filming of the second instalment of Christopher Nolan’s Batman trilogy, a scene
involving blowing up a hospital should have been a failure, had it not been for the late Heath
Ledger thinking quickly on his feet.
Originally, Ledger was supposed to walk out of the Hospital only for it to explode immediately
behind him. However, the detonations were delayed and only one small explosion went off.
The building used for the scene had already been planned to be demolished and Nolan only had one chance to film the shot. Superbly, Ledger stayed fully in character, frantically poking and prodding at his detonator as the bombs exploded in random sequence behind him, allowing the scene which should have been a disaster to become one of the most iconic moments in modern film.

The Shining: “Here’s Johnny”
Considered one of director Stanley Kubrick’s best productions and one of the greatest horror/thriller movies of all time, The Shining boasts one of the most recognised moments in modern movie history.The line occurs during a scene where lead character Jack Torrance, now completely insane, is trying to murder his wife, who has locked herself in a bathroom for safety.
Originally, Kubrick, considered by some as quite the perfectionist, only wanted Jack Nicholson to break through a door with an axe, but what followed was to become most one the famous lines in film. As Nicholson breaks a hole in the door, he pokes his head through and says “Here’s Johnny”, in typical, maniac fashion. The line was taking from the late night TV show “The Tonight Show with Johnny Carson” and was an imitation of Announcer Ed McMahon’s introduction. Based in England at the time, Kubrick later admitted he had never heard the line before but decided to use it anyway.

Taxi Driver: “You talkin’ to me?”
The script read “Travis speaks to himself in the mirror”, but what Robert De Niro said would be
declared as the tenth greatest movie quote of all time (the winner was “Frankly, my dear, I don’t
give a damn” and become the most memorable moment in Martin Scorsese’s classic Taxi Driver.

A young De Niro, about to showcase his talent, turns to the mirror and says “You talkin’ to me?”
What followed would be carved into Pop Culture history forever. Originally, the idea was thought to be an imitation of Marlon Brando. However, actor /musician Clarence Clemons, who played for Bruce Springsteen and had a role in Scorsese’s 1977 musical “New York, New York”, revealed that De Niro got his inspiration for the scene from The Boss himself.

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The best uses of music in modern film

Christian Bale's character Patrick Bateman stood next to a tape player, wearing a rain coat.

Every now and then a piece of music fits with a film so perfectly that it’s hard to imagine the scene without it, and you can’t hear the song without thinking of that perfect moment.

In no order, here are our top 5 perfect music-film combos:

1. American Psycho – Hip to be Square (Huey Lewis and the News)

The combination of the fantastically upbeat song and the absolutely bag-of-cats mad scene equals a winning combination. Bonus points for the lyrics matching Patrick Bateman’s ideals perfectly – he conforms to the stereotype but hates it, hence the bloodthirst. A sick kind of comedy, but it works.

2. Shaun of the Dead – Don’t Stop Me Now (Queen)

This scene reflects the idea of the film perfectly – a zombie comedy. The hectic sound of the track gives the already crazy scene even more energy, and it just makes the scene so much funnier.

3. Trainspotting – Perfect Day (Lou Reed)

Like Tarantino, Danny Boyle does a fantastic job of matching music to the perfect moments in his films. There is no better example of this than the use of this tune as the soundtrack to Renton’s overdose. At the same time it’s calming and disturbing, familiar and terrifying.

4. Fight Club – Where is my Mind (Pixies)

You could say this was the obvious choice to end this bonkers film with, but there’s no denying it – it just works. Kudos to Mr Fincher for this fantastic choice.

5. Closer – The Blower’s Daughter (Damien Rice)

This really is the ultimate song for this emotional rollercoaster. A beautiful song for a beautiful film, this Damien Rice classic completely sums the film up. “And so it is, just like you said it would be”. At the beginning you think it’s setting you up for a lovey-dovey romance, but it’s so much more. Hold on while I have a little cry.

So what do you guys think? If you’ve got any more ideas for us, stick them in the comments below!