In my day to day life, mainly at work in the office, people often ask me for my opinion on various films that they’ve seen, and what I thought of them (if I’ve seen them too). To most film critics, bloggers and cinema lovers, especially the “serious” type, this will be a common occurrence. There will always be a person in your social group, be it at work, through friends or family, that is the go-to guy or girl for all your general information about films. When a film was made, who directed it, and how many Oscars it got; all relevant information a serious film fan, heck, even just a casual one, would and should know. Quiz nights become a must-attend event, because all your friends know that if somebody asks who directed the little known black & white doco about extinct forest-dwelling pygmies who ate their own poo, it’s gonna be you that provides the answer. You stupid schmuck.

It’s as if, by some fluke of cosmic alignment, you (and by that I mean myself and anybody else who writes film reviews or articles) have become the de facto Leonard Maltin of your friends. Because you watch a lot of films, and probably have a keen interest in film and all its sub-groups, people assume you’re knowledge and appreciation of the medium is of a heightened standard than the rest of the mere mortals who steal your oxygen. Which begs the question: what makes me think I know about films? Does my predisposition to enjoy a good action film, as well as the latest offering from David Fincher or a classic David Lean piece, make me in any way an authority on the subject? And why do I expect that my appreciation (or lack thereof) of various film genre’s gives me some sort of heightened ability to grant a film a score, of any kind? Consider the following a manifesto of sorts, a small indication of just where my thoughts on all this actually lie.

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I was recently trawling through my DVD collection, in particular the Disney product, looking for something to watch on a lazy, rainy Sunday afternoon, when it suddenly struck me that given my position as a film critic and appreciator, I’ve yet to give you my opinion on one of Disney’s more controversial problems: whether or not to release the 1946 film Song Of The South.

Before we get into the nitty gritty of why I believe the film should be released, let’s do a quick background check on the problems associated with it in the first place.

Find out why we think this film should be released! Click Here!!!

Regular commenter and fellow blogger Al K Hall, who tends the glasses over at The Bar None, was among the first people I called upon to participate in our Worst Film Week event, and like most functioning alcoholics, found time to leave it all to the last minute to contribute. Okay, I’m in jest there, but Al did send me across a little diatribe on one of Hollywood’s fallen stars, Nic Cage. I present it to you here, for Worst Film Week. For those interested in reading more from Al, and visiting the Bar None (where, I am told, each new visitor receives one complimentary shot of tequila to get them started) then you can follow the links scattered around the site, in particular in our Friends section in the sidebar to the right. I know Al would appreciate you visiting him! Take it away my man!

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You know how you get drunk and sleep with Nicolas Cage? Me neither, but I have this image of Nicolas Cage waking up nude in a cold sweat, clutching his sheet tight against his trembling lips as his eyes dart frantically too and fro looking for some sign that his secret is out: he is so completely void of talent that he can’t act out, up, or even his age. Well, I’m here today to rip that sheet away and expose him.

Read Al’s bitter indictment of Nic Cage’s acting ability by clicking here!!!

Since I asked just about every intelligent film lover (or other intellectual) I knew to contribute to our Worst Film Week, I had this response from long-time Fernby Films friend Emma Muhlack. Emma is a self-proclaimed intellectual, a thinking woman’s woman, and somebody I thought could write upon the vagaries of being a female in a male dominated industry such as film. Most films are either funded by men, made by men, and otherwise aimed at men. Of course, the counter to that is the advent of “romantic comedies”, films made specifically to tap into the female market. But the main push of films these days appears to be increasingly male-oriented. So I asked Em to come up with her own suggestions as to the films she didn’t like; and she did. I don’t agree with all her choices, but since they’re her choices, and I did ask, I must publish them with the accorded level of thanks and appreciation. To read more of Em’s work, check out her fabulously contradictory website Actual Results May Vary.

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Apparently, everyone has a film they hate. It’s a fact of life, much like birds, bees, and the shaded bit behind the bike locker. I can’t think of a single film that I’ve watched that I’ve hated, though. Lots that I’ve been perplexed by, more than I care to count that I’ve fallen asleep in, plenty that are in the “so-bad-they’re-awesome” category, and quite a few in the “I’m ashamed to like this” category. Let’s start with my track record in being disappointed by film. Hell, it’s as good a place as any to start in finding a film I can love to hate.

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We  look at Hollywood’s fascination with the Man vs Machine story, and why these films are so successful…

It’s a strange paradox that’s evolved since the birth of the World Wide Web, where humans have become closer than ever before while gradually losing our ability to connect. Social networking has become the buzzword of the first decade of this new century, with major websites MySpace and Facebook leading the way, often to the detriment of actual human interpersonal relationships. The fact that we now have the ability to connect with anybody, anywhere in the world, at the click of a mouse button, has led to a dilution of social depth filled with Tweets and Status Updates no longer than a paragraph at best. Rather than a handful of real, actual friends with whom we have genuine bonds and interaction, we’re left with a gaggle of world wide networking “friends” that have no meaning in our lives save for bolstering our increasingly bloated “friend list”.

The fact that social networking on the web has led to a fracturing of actual relationships, rather than an improvement of them, is indicative of the apparent human desire to live our lives in a world of electronic bytes and disconnected “pokes”. We’d rather update our status than go out and meet people. Apparently.

The closer we get, the further apart we grow?

Using this kind of new age thinking, it’s appropriate that we dissect a current thematic trend in Hollywood over the last decade. Recently, I had the pleasure of perusing a couple of similarly themed films, Gamer and Surrogates, and it struck me that Hollywood has really embraced the concept of a humanity so isolated from itself that we resort to a kind of avatar lived lifestyle. The Matrix (1999) took us into an alternative world where humans lived in a state of induced hallucination. For many fans, the idea that we could live in a world where bullet time existed was almost too much: and the film asked the question of us… are we indeed living in a world run by our minds? Recent films such as Gamer, which had a psuedo-Crysis style theme of humans controlling others via a web-based mind link, and Surrogates, where humans lived in their houses and controlled robotic representations of themselves out in the world, have tapped into the theme of living our lives through some sort of fantasy. Even Avatar, James Cameron’s most recent blockbuster, swam with the theme of living a life outside your own body via a machine connected to a constructed body: so the themes of externalising our lives have really taken hold in recent years. Robin William’s role in Final Cut even went to the extreme of having our memories recorded and edited down upon our death for our loved one’s edification – admittedly no direct “machine” interaction occurred here, but the film portrayed our lives as being little more than a series of adventures recorded on a machine in our brains.

For the sake of argument, we’ll focus our arguments on a few films which capture the essence of the man-machine theme in film: The Matrix, Surrogates, Gamer and Avatar. No doubt there are others we’ve forgotten about, but these in particular stand out in the public conscious.

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Recent news out of Hollywood is somewhat disturbing: MGM Studios, the guys who have the rights to the James Bond franchise, and a 50% stake in the upcoming Hobbit films, have cancelled production on the next Bond film, which was to be the 23rd instalment. Due to MGM’s financial difficulty, they can’t afford to make another Bond movie right now. So what does this mean for The Hobbit movies? Are they, too, due to be consigned to the almost-ran scrapheap of unrealised movie dreams? Unlikely, although perhaps they may have to be put on hold for a while, until things are sorted out.

The nutshell version of the back-story is this: MGM are currently in administration (read: nearly bankrupt) and the administrators are trying like hell to sell the studio to pay off the debts. The main problem with all this is that they want more money than anybody is prepared to pay. Which leaves any and all projects currently funded, or co-funded, by MGM, up in the air. So, for both Bond and The Hobbit to move forward with any certainty, somebody rich is going to have to shell out some serious coin for the deal to take place. Fanboy consensus around the web indicates that perhaps the administrators are being a tad greedy in what they’re asking for, perhaps they should try selling the studio at a realistic price (hell, Time-Warner owns half of everything on planet Earth, so why not MGM?) and get this whole messy situation sorted out. Reading between the lines, I tend to think the snouts in the trough are keeping this from becoming easier, instead trying to play hard-ball and feather their own nests. Which isn’t against the law, but it is holding up production on The Hobbit.

UPDATE…

Word has surfaced that the internet new services (and by default, us) may have been a bit premature to write off the James Bond franchise (as above), as this report from First Showing states. The new Bond 23 film is “delayed”, rather than “cancelled”, with director Sam Mendes (yes, American Beauty‘s Sam Mendes) and star Daniel Craig stating that they would wait for the MGM troubles to be sorted out.

Look, this whole MGM thing is getting out of hand. Won’t somebody please make a decision and sort it out?

Peter Jackson in talks to direct The Hobbit?

We said it here: Peter Jackson will direct the upcoming Hobbit films. And it looks like we were right: Jackson is reportedly in talks to direct the two films for the MGM/New Line backed project, which has been plagued by troubles over the last twelve months, including losing original director Guillermo Del Toro due to scheduling problems.

If Jackson does sign on the dotted line to direct, we think it’s a perfect outcome for both fans, the films, and the studios. Everybody wants Jackson to direct The Hobbit, and now it looks like we might just get our way.

MGM Studios, which are currently having all kinds of financial difficulty, own 50% of the rights to The Hobbit films, with New Line making up the other half. With MGM unable to raise enough cash to fund the project at the minute, negotiations are under way to somehow salvage the studio. An auction earlier this year failed to raise enough interest from other film studios to buy the legendary lion outright. At the minute, with no funding, the Hobbit films may be headed for bankruptcy court alongside the MGM-co-owned James Bond franchise, which would spell the end of the project for the foreseeable future. Whichever way this plays out, here at fernbyfilms.com, we hope like heck that things turn out okay.

Go on, you know you want to....

Unsurprisingly non-committal, Peter Jackson has today hinted that were it required, he would step in and direct the planned two Hobbit films. Problem is, he currently has contracts with other studios to direct other films which may hinder this process. Yesterday’s news that Guillermo Del Toro was stepping down as director of the planned films has internet buzz and fan reaction going (as you’d expect) all kinds of bananas, but I think wise heads may prevail and eventually, everybody’s favourite Middle Earth Director will return to the world of Tolkien in a facet outside of mere “producer”. There’s too much money riding on this franchise for things not to work themselves out, problems with MGM aside. Check out this article on local NZ website for all the details.

Jackson and his team are currently in Hollywood chatting with the studio about who in the heck they can approach to take on this massive project, and word is expected sooner rather than later as to the result. We will, of course, keep you informed.

Guillermo Del Toro - Gone from The Hobbit... but not forgotten...

In a major bit of news today, word out of New Zealand is that Guillermo Del Toro, the acclaimed director the Hellboy franchise, Pan’s Labyrinth, The Devils Backbone and Mimic, is leaving The Hobbit project after a year or so of development. This is a major blow to Tolkien fans, and leaves the project in something resembling a debacle. With the story initially broken over at theonering.net, we felt it pertinent to add it here for you all to read as well… and we’ll update our Hobbit page accordingly, very soon. Below, we’ve reprinted the statement published on TORN this morning.

“In light of ongoing delays in the setting of a start date for filming “The Hobbit,” I am faced with the hardest decision of my life”, says Guillermo. “After nearly two years of living, breathing and designing a world as rich as Tolkien’s Middle Earth, I must, with great regret, take leave from helming these wonderful pictures. I remain grateful to Peter, Fran and Philippa Boyens, New Line and Warner Brothers and to all my crew in New Zealand. I’ve been privileged to work in one of the greatest countries on earth with some of the best people ever in our craft and my life will be forever changed. The blessings have been plenty, but the mounting pressures of conflicting schedules have overwhelmed the time slot originally allocated for the project. Both as a co-writer and as a director, I wlsh the production nothing but the very best of luck and I will be first in line to see the finished product. I remain an ally to it and its makers, present and future, and fully support a smooth transition to a new director”.

“We feel very sad to see Guillermo leave the Hobbit, but he has kept us fully in the loop and we understand how the protracted development time on these two films, due to reasons beyond anyone’s control – has compromised his commitment to other long term projects”, says Executive Producer Peter Jackson. “The bottom line is that Guillermo just didn’t feel he could commit six years to living in New Zealand, exclusively making these films, when his original commitment was for three years. Guillermo is one of the most remarkable creative spirits I’ve ever encountered and it has been a complete joy working with him. Guillermo’s strong vision is engrained into the scripts and designs of these two films, which are extremely fortunate to be blessed with his creative DNA”.

“Guillermo is co-writing the Hobbit screenplays with Philippa Boyens, Fran Walsh and myself, and happily our writing partnership will continue for several more months, until the scripts are fine tuned and polished” says Jackson. “New Line and Warner Bros will sit down with us this week, to ensure a smooth and uneventful transition, as we secure a new director for the Hobbit. We do not anticipate any delay or disruption to ongoing pre-production work”.

Consider me disappointed, as I’d love to have seen Del Toro’s work on The Hobbit come to fruition. Knowing he’ll remain on board until a new director is found, to continue the writing and pre-production process, is good to know, as it will ensure a small amount of continuity going forward. But it’s disappointing nonetheless. Now I guess we’ll just have to wait to find out who’s up for the job! If I was a betting man, I’d be hedging for Mr P Jackson to assume the reins to see this thing done properly.

Rest assured, we’ll keep you updated is more news comes to hand.

Late Edit: here’s a link to the EW article expanding a little more on the situation…