Visiting the Highlander New York Library at The National Liberal Club London - FILM LOCATION
I am a huge fan of Russell Mulcahy’s body of work with a particular focus on his visual styling exemplified in his second feature the genre-bending 1986 sword & sorcery film Highlander. Like many of my favourite films, Highlander feels fresh and original whilst seeming intuitively familiar.
Regrettably, I have not posted nearly enough about the stuff I enjoy and with Studiocanal’s forthcoming 4K UHD remaster release of Highlander it seems a good time to pick up the mantle and continue.
Tom Cruise discusses how the Top Gun sequel TOP GUN: MAVERICK came about
36 years ago Tony Scott came in hot and took our breath away as he swept us on a ride into the Danger Zone with his high octane action film - Top Gun and the world was never the same again.
We all felt the need, the need for speed, heavy metal in the shape of motorbikes, jets and large ships, just anything powerful, fast and metal really became a thing, the formula for releasing blockbusters internationally was created, American soft rock was finally accepted world-wide as a genre of music ("Take My Breath Away" won an Oscar for Giorgio Moroder & Tom Whitlock and Harold Faltermeyer & Steve Stevens won a Grammy for the "Top Gun Anthem"), the rules of cool, love, friendship, rivalry, relationships, flying in a tight formation to confuse the enemies radar and redemption were defined for a generation, bar staff everywhere had to smile politely as they heard renditions of The Righteous Brothers' songs replace "what's a nice girl like you doing in a place like this?", ultra confidence & a smile was enough to get you by any situation - if not invert, Tom Cruise became a household name & megastar and the skies were forever colourfully tinged with graduated Neutral Density Filters all more than enough to get me to visit the cinema multiple times to take the thrill ride.
Since then the world has moved on, seemingly Captain Pete "Maverick" Mitchell hasn't and finally - if the astounding trailers are anything to go by, we are going to experience what looks like another breathtaking thrill ride as Maverick flies into a new adventure having to navigate the new world as well as new threats. I have to say that there is nothing about the trailer that I don't love and I have been eargerly, albeit quietly anticipating Top Gun: Maverick. Hopefully, it won't be the final chapter in the Top Gun saga.
Yesterday the Global Premiere for Top Gun: Maverick took place in San Diego with the talent from Top Gun: Maverick attending that included: Tom Cruise, Miles Teller, Jennifer Connelly, Jon Hamm, Glen Powell, Lewis Pullman, Bashir Salahuddin, Monica Barbaro, Jay Ellis, Greg Tarzan Davis, Jack Schumacher, Jake Picking, Manny Jacinto, Lyliana Way, Jerry Bruckheimer, Christopher McQuarrie and Joseph Kosinski.
In the video below Producer and Lead Tom Cruise arrived by helicopter before chatting with the press on the USS Midway and discussed what finally made the time right for the return of Maverick on the big screen.
Top Gun: Maverick will be exclusively in cinemas, 4DX and IMAX from May 25, 2022
Over the lockdown, I became a big Downton Abbey fan. I was swept away by the good-natured charm of the characters and it really was a delight to watch each episode and continually be surprised by people just doing good things for one another despite some tough turns. So after six seasons and a 2019 big-screen film I was eagerly awaiting a return to Downton for the continuing escapades of the Crawley's and their familiars.
Last night (date night) we went along to a screening of Downton Abbey: A New Era and were not disappointed quite the contrary. What a corker of an evening.
We visit the No Time To Die James Bond Villa Location in Port Antonio, Jamaica
The first law for a secret agent is to get his geography right...
– Ian Fleming - The Man with the Golden Gun, 1965
This week marks the 60th anniversary of the start of Principal shooting on Dr No at Palisades Airport in Kingston, Jamaica, on 16 January 1962.
After my plans for an epic 2020 European related Bond adventure were delayed, I was stoked that some of my late 2021 plans were able to go ahead and I shot into Jamaica, the spiritual home of James Bond and more pointedly the home-away-from-home for Bond creator Ian Fleming. Jamaica is after all where Fleming wrote all of his published James Bond thrillers as well as presumably his originally unpublished Bond TV series treatments; some of which were reworked into his For Your Eyes Only collection of short stories, another 2 have subsequently made their way into Anthony Horowitz's Bond novels and apparently another 3 exist.
Jamaica is referenced across Fleming’s Bond book series and five Bond stories had events taking place in Jamaica. The film versions of Dr No (1962) and Live and Let Die (1973) featured Bond in Jamaica as well as of course most recently Cary Fukunaga’s No Time To Die (2021).
He had arrived at Royale-les-Eaux in time for luncheon two days before. There had been no attempt to contact him and there had been no flicker of curiosity when he had signed the register 'James Bond, Port Maria, Jamaica'.
M had expressed no interest in his cover.
'Once you start to make a set at Le Chiffre at the tables, you'll have had it,' he said. 'But wear a cover that will stick with the general public.'
Bond knew Jamaica well, so he asked to be controlled from there and to pass as a Jamaican plantocrat whose father had made his pile in tobacco and sugar and whose son chose to play it away on the stock markets and in casinos.
– Ian Fleming Casino Royale, 1953
With this preamble and some time to kill, I managed to visit some Jamaican locations with connections to Ian Fleming and Bond. These places included the “secret” location of James Bond's retirement home as featured in No Time To Die sometimes referred to as – the James Bond Villa.
I have been quietly anticipating the release of Star Wars: The Force Awakens.
To that end I have been avoiding the marketing and hype as much as I can - a couple of evenings ago I saw a snippet of Daisy Ridley and
John Boyega chatting on the news and thought I would finish this piece on my visit to George
Lucas' Star Wars: Visions Exhibition in Tokyo.
Earlier this year I was fortunate to fulfil a lifelong dream and visit a land
far, far away. And I have to say - Japan, the land of the rising sun, far
exceeded my expectations on every level. I hasten to add that whilst
Japan might be famed for its rising sun, its sunsets are absolutely
spectacular. While I didn't manage to team up with a travelling troupe of Ninjas
and defend beleaguered farmers against an out of control warlord's hordes or
find a
Hattori Hanzō
sword (or even an ancient
Masamune Katana
folded 200 times) I did however manage to wander the land, meet people... get
into adventures and stuff.
When planning my Japan itinerary I was stoked to see that an exhibition
dedicated to Star Wars called Star Wars: Visions would take place
in Tokyo while I was there. This was fortuitous as a little while back I had
made tentative plans to visit the Star Wars: Identities Exhibition in
Paris, my plans fell through and the exhibition moved on to its next
international destination. London doesn't seem to be getting any
Star Wars Exhibition love of late, in comparison to
The London Film Museum's exceptional 2007
Star Wars: The Exhibition
at least, so Star Wars: Visions was something I was keen to visit.
However, my itinerary was fairly loose to say the least, as I intended to do a
lot of travelling around Japan and as much as I intended to “plan the dive then
dive the plan. I had no idea where I would end up from one day to the next or
how long I might be there. If I may digress? My experience is that when it comes
to travel you can plan for your expectations but if you can be flexible - some
of the best experiences are the unexpected ones and you never know what new
adventure or taste lies around the corner in wait. So there was a good chance I
might not see the exhibition but it was on my radar.
Star Wars: Visions Exhibition Roppongi Hills Tokyo City View
So a little while back a friend and I were discussing the music of James Bond over a Jameson at The Ham Yard Hotel. The week prior in anticipation of Bond 24's SPECTREexpected confirmed production kick-off I had dragged him along to see the West End musical Made in Dagenham with music by David Arnold and starring amongst others Ms Gemma Arterton. With the involvement of Bond alumni, the conversation naturally veered towards the music of Bond.
Firstly regarding Made in Dagenham I liked the bold brassy Britishness of it, the clever set design, my associate liked Mark Hadfield's incredibly hilarious and surreal turn as Harold Wilson and we both loved the dips into Monty Pythonesque political satire & the surprising powerfulness of Gemma Arterton's voice.
We are both from the Roger Moore Bond era and agree on most of the themes and music, but whilst my associate leans towards the Roger Moore female vocal era like; Carly Simon (Nobody Does It Better), Shirley Bassey (Moonraker), Sheena Easton (For Your Eyes Only), Rita Coolidge (All Time High) - whilst I have a strong leaning to the classic Bond sound where it felt they were forging the legend, Shirley Bassey, as well as the incidental music of James Bond.
That is the music in the less exposed moments of the films where the musicians can explore, experiment and bring their personal visions of the film to life - particularly David Arnold's work and Eric Serra's work on GoldenEye. Whilst researching this post I have to say I fell in love with the Roger Moore female vocal era all over again.
Not to stray too far but David Arnold and the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra will be bringing A Night at the Movies: David Arnold Live in Concert to London, specifically the Barbican tonight Thursday 18 June 2015. And will be playing a selection from his scores including music from; James Bond: Casino Royale, The World Is Not Enough, Tomorrow Never Dies, Die Another Day, Quantum of Solace, Sherlock, Made in Dagenham, Independence Day, Godzilla, Stargate, Last of the Dogmen, Paul, Music from the London 2012 Olympics and more. For more info on David Arnold's tour dates follow David Arnold on Twitter: @DavidGArnold
With the SPECTRE theme announcement imminent and sadly the Bond SPECTRE boats finally leaving their mooring at the Imperial Wharf Marina this week, presumably signalling the end of the Bond Westminster part of filming. I thought I would highlight some of the lesser-known alternative, demo or rejected James Bond theme songs that quite possibly many may have never heard of - but are occasionally discussed amongst Bond aficionados.
The list is ordered chronologically, starting with:
It has to be said that I have sadly seen too few trailers of late that differentiate themselves, elevate the game or mean anything. That doesn't necessarily mean that there aren't many good films on the way just that - I haven't seen many exciting trailers. But late last year I was bowled over by the trailer for Terrence Malick's Knight of Cups in fact the first five shots from the trailer had me absolutely stunned as his use of sound and visuals enthralled me.
First a little context as to how we got here may be in order Knight of Cups is the third in Malick's epical (in the true sense of the word) allegorical exploration - of modern man in the throes of existential angst as he comes to terms to modern life and moves down a path further from nature or Supernature and himself.
We have had Jessica Chastain, Brad Pitt and Sean Penn in The Tree of Life (2011) symbolically bridging the generational gap (from The Thin Red Line 1998) and heralding Malick's move into the modern era. Ben Affleck, Olga Kurylenko, Rachel McAdams and Javier Bardem in To the Wonder (2012), Cate Blanchett, Natalie Portman and Christian Bale in Knight of Cups set for release this year followed up by his currently untitled project Ryan Gosling, Michael Fassbender and Natalie Portman Texas Music film.
Terrence Malick's Knight of Cups Film Poster
SYNOPSIS
Knight of Cups
A screenwriter living in LA tries to make sense of the strange events occurring around him.
Director: Terrence Malick Writers: Terrence Malick Stars: Natalie Portman, Christian Bale, Imogen Poots
The former farmer turned M.I.T. philosophy professor, started in film as a writer for hire working on films like Don Siegel's Dirty Harry (rumour has it Malick's ideas became the plot for the sequel Magnum Force) and Jack Nicholson's Drive, He Said before writing the screenplays for the Paul Newman, Lee Marvin starrer Pocket Money and the Robert Duvall, Donald Sutherland - Lady Ice around this point Malick decided that he would only work on projects he felt he could bring something to.
Which led to Malick independently making his seminal feature Badlands in 1973 starring Sissy Spacek and Martin Sheen.
I am acutely aware that Malick has worked on 4 films in the last 5 years (not including his upcoming IMAX documentary - Voyage of Time), for a man that averaged a film every 5 years with a 20 year gap between his second film Days of Heaven and The Thin Red Line, whilst Malick was seemingly went missing, more likely wandering, living and writing.
There were even reports that he might be dead, depressed, or just holed up in some back corner of the world.
The point here being I suspect that this prolific run may end at any time and Malick may disappear to ponder his next film, so sooner rather than later would be an appropriate time for me to explore the poetic genius of Terrence Malick or least try take a look at the the first five attention grabbing shots from the trailer of Knight of Cups and let my stream of consciousness freestyle as it scrapes the surface of Malicks works. Terrence Malick's films always have my curiosity, but after the first five shots, Knight of Cups has my attention.
To accompany your reading of this post I have embedded a playlist of tracks inspired by Terrence Malick's the Knight of Cups soundtrack. It is comprised of some of the tracks from the Extended Soundtrack of Knight of Cups, available alternate versions of some of the tracks as well as periphery music. More information on the Knight of Cups extended soundtrack can be found in the playlists description on YouTube.
