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This week in history: 13th – 19th January

Image is a still from the movie Ace Ventura: Pet Detective. Jim Carrey is shown wearing a jazzy shirt with his hands out wide.
Image is a still from the movie Ace Ventura: Pet Detective. Jim Carrey is shown wearing a jazzy shirt with his hands out wide.

Image via: www.toutlecine.com.

The 17th of January 1962 saw the birth of the most manic and immature Hollywood comedian of all time, Jim Carrey. With notable roles in such films as Bruce Almighty, The Mask and Ace Ventura: Pet Detective, Jim Carrey is often seen having a great time on screen, pulling faces and making jokes.

Georges Melies, one of the first magicians to bring magic to the theatre died on January 19th 1932. Georges made over 500 short films and movies with A Trip to the Moon being the most notable. He died forgotten and in poverty.

 

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The game adaptation isn’t always as good as the movie

Image shows a screenshot of the video game, E.T The Extra Terrestrial.
Image shows a screenshot of the video game, E.T The Extra Terrestrial.

Image via: gratuitousscience.com

Do you ever find that a brilliant film leaves a gap behind and you’re left wanting more? Video game adaptations should fill that hole but unfortunately they aren’t always what you’re looking for. Often the video game following the movie doesn’t live up to its silver screen counterpart. After all, what is seen as the worst video game ever made was in fact, a movie tie in game.

E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial for the Atari 2600 was initially believed to become a very successful game, achieving high sales figures due to the connection with the film when it was released in December. But the E.T video game was a commercial failure with very few units sold. Why did it do so badly?

Initially planned to be an innovative companion to the movie, E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial tasked players with moving the titular protagonist from a top down perspective through a variety of levels in order to locate pieces of a phone. Funnily enough, the objective of the game is to phone home.

Set back by poor controls and sub par graphics of the time, E.T. just didn’t sell as expected. Many believe it was a contributing factor to the video game industry crash in 1983, where there was a surplus in video game cartridges and consoles, the market was saturated. The unsold copies of E.T. are rumoured to be buried in New Mexico, as Atari had nowhere to store the cartridges.

Edit: The copies of E.T. have been found in Alamogordo, New Mexico after a recent excavation according to video game website, Kotaku.

Clearly, this didn’t set the bar high for video games that are tied in with movie releases. Since then, many of the games that have centered on recently released movies and typically, haven’t done all that great. Catwoman on the PlayStation 2 for instance, was atrocious, marred with clunky animations and god awful game mechanics. In the game, the character model barely resembled the lovely Halle Berry.

Movie tie in games have a (often true) reputation that they are rushed in order to coincide with the release of the movie. The big wigs tend to see them as cash grabs, something they can make some quick, easy money from, regardless of the quality.

However, not all video games that are tied with movie releases are bad. There are a few that are generally fairly entertaining and worth a mention. Spiderman 2 for the PlayStation 2 and original Xbox coincided with the release of Sam Raimi’s Spiderman 2 movie. The game allowed players complete freedom of exploration of New York City, with really well-crafted web swinging mechanics. Spiderman 2 the video game showed us that it’s certainly possible that movie video games can be done right, if care and attention is applied.

Image shows a screenshot of the video game, Spiderman 2

Image via: idownloadblog.com

Whilst you’re more than welcome to pick up a movie tie in video game, I recommended to make sure that you don’t go head first into your purchase and do your research beforehand! Check reviews from video game websites and others who have played the game. You don’t want to be spending your hard earned money on another game like E.T.

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Events, offers and releases 13/1/14

the image features a still from the movie The Wolf of Wall Street. In the image, Leonardo DiCaprio is being pushed away by a beautiful woman.
the image features a still from the movie The Wolf of Wall Street. In the image, Leonardo DiCaprio is being pushed away by a beautiful woman.

Image via: chicagonow.com

This week there are two notable film releases, one’s set to scare you and the other will make you laugh.

The 16th January sees the release of Devil’s Due, a horror movie directed by Matt Bettinelli-Olpin. The film surrounds the events of the birth of a demonic baby, with plenty of frights and horrific moments ensuing.

For something a bit more light hearted, The Wolf of Wall Street hits cinemas on the 17th January and stars the ever popular, Leonardo DiCaprio. The Wolf of Wall Street is based on a true story of Jordan Belfort, an eccentric stockbroker who likes to do crazy things with his money.

In terms of offers, there’s currently a promotion going on over at tap4offers.com for two Cineworld tickets for just £11, so if you’re planning on going to the cinema this weekend, make sure to bring a friend and make best use of this offer.

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Celebrating niche awards

Pictured is Jennifer Westfeldt receiving an award.

Left is a black and gold award with a square glass top containing a 3D styalised gold soundwave. Right are several CDFA awards, silver statuettes of a female figure. Left are the World Soundtrack Awards and Right are the statuettes given at the Costume Designers Guild Awards

Following on from Tis’ the season: A look at Film Awards, we’ve compiled a few lesser known awards, the Costume Designers Guild Awards, The World Soundtrack Awards and the Visual Effects Awards. Three entirely different yet equally interesting celebrations.

The Costume Designers Guild Awards have honoured costume designers in film since 1999.

The guild which was founded in 1953 represents costume designers, assistant costume designers and costume illustrators. Today the CDG includes around 750 costume designers, stylists and illustrators, many of which are based in LA.

The trophy for the CDG Awards is a sterling silver statuette created by costume designer, David Le Vay and manufactured by Italian jewellery designer Bvlgari. The beautiful and intricate design takes the form of an abstract female figure standing 37 centimetres tall and each one takes around 50 hours to make.

Until 2012, an annual ‘hall of fame’ award was presented, celebrating career achievement. One of the first winners in 1999 was Edith Head, the costume designer who sparked inspiration for Edna Mode the fictional eccentric fashion designer and superhero costume creator from The Incredibles.

The 16th Costume Designers Guild Awards will be held on February 22nd this year. Nominations include Suzy Benzinger for Blue Jasmine, Ann Maskrey, Richard Taylor and Bob Buck, for The Hobbit: Desolation of Smaug and Catherine Martin for The Great Gatsby.

The 12th annual Visual Effects Awards will be held this year. The ceremony honours outstanding visual effects from throughout the past year and the artists behind them.

With more than 2,800 members in over 32 countries, the Visual Effects Society represents a wide breadth of visual effects experts including artists, technologists and model makers. The VES Awards have been held since 2003 when they celebrated achievement in 2002. The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers won eight awards in the first ceremony, including Best Visual Effects in a Driven Motion Picture.

This year’s Visual Effects Awards will be held on February 12th at the Beverly Hilton Hotel. Nominations are yet to be announced but we predict that Gravity, The Hobbit: Desolation of Smaug and Star Trek into Darkness will do well.

Moving on to something quite different; the World Soundtrack Awards celebrate music in film. Partnered with the Film Festival Ghent, the awards have been celebrated alongside the festival since 2001.  The ceremony is held annually held each October in Belgium and awards include; Best Original Song Written for a Film, Best Original Soundtrack of the Year and the Lifetime Achievement Award.

The event often includes a performance from the Brussels Philharmonic Orchestra which has strong ties with the Film Fest Ghent, regularly partnering for recordings and concerts. Dirk Brossé, the conductor of the BPO, composed the Emmy nominated score for BBC drama Parade’s End.

The statuette for the World Soundtrack Awards is based on a sine wave – a sound wave represented on a computer screen. The wave is cut down to one single stylised undulation, and is then looped five times creating the shape of a crown. In the glass top of the statuette the wave floats ‘as it is not subject to gravity’ and the base is black referencing Bakelite, an early plastic commonly used for radios.

The 2013 World Soundtrack Awards have already taken place. Skyfall was awarded the accolade of Best Original Song, and Life of Pi won both Best Original Film Score of the Year and Film Composer of the Year. The 2014 Awards will take place in October this year.

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This week in history: 6th – 12th January

Will Hunting and Dr Sean Maguire
Will Hunting writing equations on a blackboard

Image via drafthouse.com

On the 9th of January, 1997 two friends from Cambridge, Massachusetts, became stars overnight with Good Will Hunting. This was Matt Damon and Ben Affleck’s breakthrough in acting and screenwriting and the movie that lifted them from character actor parts in films like Mystic Pizza and Glory Days to A-list roles. Not to mention winning both of them a Best Screenplay Academy Award.

Originally written as a thriller, Good Will Hunting developed into a character piece about a mathematical genius who works as a janitor at MIT and his relationship with his therapist (played by the fantastic Robin Williams). The modestly budgeted film that started on only $10 million went on to gross over $200 million worldwide. The student and mentor relationship story at the heart of the film had certainly been seen before, but Director Gus Van Sant brought a freshness to the storytelling, and locals Affleck and Damon felt like they had lived in the roles their whole lives.

On a less-than-light note, on the 9th of the same month back in 1943 a film named Hitler’s Children was released. This black and white film is known for its portrayal of the brutalities carried out by the Hitler Youth, in particular focusing on two young participants. A huge hit in America at the time, Hitler’s Children turned a $205, 000 budget into a $1.21 million profit.