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Sorry. It took so long to write this obituary. The legendary Oscar-winning actor Christopher Plummer passed away on February 25th, 2021, after complications from a fall. He was 91 years old. With his elegant voice, Plummer was best known for his role as Captain von Trapp in "The Sound of Music." His career has spanned over 70 years.
The Canadian-born actor began his career on Broadway in the 1950s and was well-versed and trained in Shakespeare. He appeared in several stage and screen productions before landing a role in the 1965 musical opposite Julie Andrews, a role that would catapult him to fame. In his memoirs, he admitted he had mixed feelings about the success of "The Sound of Music."
His other memorable roles include newsman Mike Wallace in "The Insider,"a Klingon general in "Star Trek: VI: The Undiscovered Country," and the evil explorer Charles Muntz in "Up." He also portrayed Rudyard Kipling in "The Man Who Would Be King" opposite Sean Connery and Michael Caine. He also portrayed Sherlock Holmes in "Murder by Decree."
In 2009, Plummer received an Academy Award nomination for Best Supporting Actor in the movie "The Last Station." In that film, heplayed Leo Tolstoy in his final year, just before his death. In 2010, he portrayed a now openly gay museum director in "Beginners," which would win him an Oscar. In 2017, Plummer took over the role of J. Paul Getty from Kevin Spacey in director Ridley Scott'sfilm "All the Money in the World." Six weeks of filming took place before the movie came out in theatres. It earned him his third Oscar nomination, making him the oldest actor to receive that honour. One of his last films was opposite Ana de Armas, Daniel Craig, and Chris Evans in Rian Johnson's ensemble mystery movie "Knives Out."
He was married three times, twice divorced, and had a daughter, actress Amanda Plummer, from his first marriage.
After being repeatedly delayed during COVID-19, WONDER WOMAN 1984 (WW84) finally made its theatrical release near the end of 2020, alongside its debut on the streaming service HBO Max (available only in the US). However, the film proved divisive for fans and was almost as good as the original. The movie started well, although it became inconsistent in some aspects, likely due to overindulgence or a clichéd, elementary plot. The characters are undeveloped, there isn't enough action, and the tone is cheesy. While the plot point of bringing back Steve Trevor seemed like a good idea on paper, poor execution and writing hampered it. Then again, that's one of the crucial faults within the storyline.
Perhaps the director, Patty Jenkins, became too overconfident, or the studio wanted the movie to take a new direction. I love the 80s aesthetic, which is fitting, given that the film takes place in that era. I'm very disappointed that there is not much 80s music in the movie (except for a few, like the one from Frankie Goes to Hollywood).
While Gal Gadot and Chris Pine have returned to their roles, Pedro Pascal and Kristen Wiig perform best as the main villains, Maxwell Lord and Cheetah. Pascal relishes the opportunity to shine as the bad guy, a bit eerily similar to Donald Trump, but has less honourable intentions. Kristen Wiig's role is identical to Michelle Pfeiffer's Catwoman in Batman Returns, in which both characters were once good females but turned evil. Hans Zimmer returned to the DCEU to compose the musical score he had written for WW84 and did a spectacular job.
WW84 offers plenty of escapism for audiences, but more is needed to compensate for a lack of originality. Had WW84 been better than the original, itwouldn't have lost its impact on DC fans or comic book readers.
Release Date: 15th November 2019 - Australia (Netflix)
Production Companies
The SPA Studios
Aniventure
Atresmedia Cine
Netflix Animation
Distribution
Netflix (Worldwide)
Genre: Animation/Family/
Comedy
Rating: G
Runtime: 97 minutes
Budget: $40,000,000
Plot Summary
A story tells the origins of Christmas. Jesper, a disgraced student of the Postal Academy, gets sent to a desolate, frozen island where no one sends any letters.He is stuck in a hostile environment, but finds redemption upon meeting a lonely carpenter named Klaus,
who gives Jesper a sense
of purpose and delivers
toys to those around him.
Voice Cast
Jason Schwartzman - Jesper
J.K. Simmons - Klaus
Rashida Jones - Alva
Joan Cusack - Mrs. Krum
Will Sasso - Mr. Elingboe
Norm MacDonald - Mogens
Neda Margrethe Labba - Márgu
Sergio Pablos - Pumpkin/Olaf
Crew
Original Story/Screenplay/
Producer/Director - Sergio Pablos
Co-Director - Carlos Martinez López
Screenplay - Zach Lewis and Jim Mahoney
Executive Producer - Warren Franklin
Producers - Gustavo Ferrada,
Mercedes Gamero, Jinko Gotoh,
Mikel Lejarza, Marisa Roman
and Matthew Teevan
Creative Consultant/Story
Artist - Olivier Clert
Creative Consultants - Steven
Pierre Gordon and Alex Orrelle
Production Designers - Szymon Biernacki and Marcin Jakubowski
Lead Character Designer -
Torsten Schrank
Additional Character Design - Marta Andreeva, Jorge A. Capote, Daniel Fernandez Casas and Fernando Moro
Ellingboes" - Charlie Bonifacio
Animation Supervisor: "Klaus" - Victor Ens
Animation Supervisor: "Alva" -
Sergio Martins
Animation Supervisor: "Margu" -
Slaven Reese
Animation Supervisor:
"Jesper" - Yoshimichi Tamura
Animation Supervisor:
"Mogens" - Matt Williames
3D Animation Supervisor - David Lamas
CG Supervisors - Fernando Jareigo and
Gabriel G. Roy
Film Editor - Pablo Garcia Revert
Supervising Sound Editor/Re-Recording
Mixer/Sound Designer - Gabriel Gutiérrez
Re-Recording Mixer - Nicolas de Poulpiquet
Music - Alfonso G. Aguilar
Awards
2020 Academy Awards
Best Animated Feature - Sergio Pablos,
Jinko Gotoh and Marisa Roman (Nominated)
Review
Ho, ho, ho, Merry Christmas, everyone! You probably didn't watch KLAUS, as the movie was released earlier in 2019, before the holidays and is only available on Netflix. The film recaptures the glory days of 2D animation, honouring the likes of Disney. The minimalist animation format (as opposed to excessive CGI) has not graced the silver screen since the era of computer-animated movies. KLAUS is genuinely hilarious and heartfelt, and there's no denying this movie is becoming a holiday classic.
It marks the directorial debut of animator Sergio Pablos, who formerly worked at Disney and is one of the creative minds behind the Despicable Me series. Pablos and his studio create a movie that breathes new life into a timeless myth by giving it a distinguished look. The animation is well-drawn and beautiful, using lighting and texture to create a sense of depth, making it look like a proper 3D-animated feature. It's similar to how Sony made Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse, which did the opposite.
Jason Schwartzman was convincing as the selfish postman who helps bring joy in a hostile environment in the North. J.K. Simmons is notable for playing gruff, detestable characters, yet he goes against that type when he voices a lonely woodcutter who would come to be known as Santa Claus. Rashida Jones was terrific as the schoolteacher. Norm MacDonald plays the ferryman Mogens, a witty and sarcastic character.
KLAUS is reminiscent of past Christmas movies and is a magical holiday movie that anyone will never forget. I hope more animated films follow KLAUS's same pattern to bring back the same old-fashioned animation style.
Peter is upset that his parents have forced him to give up his bedroom to his grandfather. Thus, an all-out war between the two has just begun. But will
the two realise there is more
to it than taking back one's property?
Cast
Robert De Niro - Ed
Oakes Fegler - Peter
Uma Thurman - Sally
Rob Riggle - Arthur
Laura Marano - Mia
Poppy Gagnon - Jennifer
Cheech Marin - Danny
Christopher Walken - Jerry
Jane Seymour - Diane
Juliocesar Chavez - Billy
Isaac Kragten - Steve
T.J. McGibbon - Emma
Lydia Styslinger - Lisa
Joe Gelchion - Chuck
Colin Ford - Russell
Faizon Love - Store Manager
Rutanya Alda - Lynn Marino
Veronica Alicino - Nurse Alice
James Martin Kelly - Carl
Crew
Director - Tim Hill
Based on the Book "The War with Grandpa" - Robert Kimmel Smith
Screenplay - Tom J. Astle and Matt Ember
Executive Producers - Craig Chapman, Elizabeth Cree, Randall Emmett, Ted Fox, George Furla, Joe Gelchion,
Wayne Marc Godfrey, Robert Jones,
David Lubotta, Myles Nestel,
Christina Papagjika, Tre Peart,
Jane Rosenthal, Matthew Salloway,
Sonny Schwartz, Jimmy Sommers
and Berry Welsh
Co-Executive Producers - John Kennedy
Fitzgerald and Bryant Pike
Producers - Marvin & Rosa Morris Peart
and Phillip Glasser
Co-Producers - Tom Prince and
Mandy Spencer-Phillips
Co-Producer/Second Assistant Director -
Alan Steinman
Production Designer - John Collins
Art Director - Justin O'Neal Miller
Set Decorator - Lynne Mitchell
Costume Designer - Christopher Hargadon
Director of Photography - Greg Gardiner
Stunt Coordinator - Rudolf Weber
Special Effects Coordinator - John S. Baker
Visual Effects Supervisor: Crafty Apes -
Mark Ledoux
Set Supervisor: Crafty Apes - Nicholas Johnson
Editors - Peter S. Elliot and Craig Herring
Supervising Sound Editor - Michael J. Benavente
Co-Supervising Sound Editor - Paul Carden
Sound Design - Luke Gibleon
Re-Recording Mixers - Marc Fishman
and Gabriel J. Serrano
Music - Christopher Lennertz
Music Supervisor - Laurie Marie Mikus
Review
Hello, this is Rad Dingo. It is the anniversary of my blog, FilmGuruLad, which turned ten at the end of this year. I celebrated it by writing a review of a recent movie. THE WAR WITH GRANDPA is not a sequel to Dirty Grandpa, despite having the same actor, Robert De Niro, and is a family-oriented comedy. However, given my low expectations of Dirty Grandpa, it's a miracle that this movie isn't related to the latter. The former is deemed unsuitable for young children under 18. After watching the trailer, I decided to see THE WAR WITH GRANDPA, but trust me... this film is a bit better than Dirty Grandpa. The movie is hilarious and endearing, but its message teaches you to respect your elders, even your grandparents! While disrespectful, it showcases several comical scenes that would leave all moviegoers in stitches!
Considering his age, Robert De Niro had an easy time with this role. It's not like what he's been through in his career, portraying characters in films that were hard-nosed, crazed, and psychotic killers and gangsters. It's not the first time he's played a grandfatherly figure, unless you count Dirty Grandpa. His fellow geriatrics, like Christopher Walken, Jane Seymour, and Cheech Marin, are the supporting players. The same goes for Uma Thurman and Rob Riggle, who played the onscreen parents.
THE WAR WITH GRANDPA is a delightful and semi-decent comedy. It's recommended for all ages and is worth my expectations. You'll have to wait until this movie comes out on Blu-ray, DVD, or your favourite streaming service, and you'll be able to give a cheer.
Dearest moviegoers and fans, we've lost another pivotal actor from the Star Wars series. Jeremy Bulloch, the British actor who portrayed Boba Fett in the original trilogy,passed away on December 17, 2020, at the age of 75. Due to complications with Parkinson's. His death came weeks after the character reappeared in the Disney+ series "The Mandalorian." Which, in recent years, was played by New Zealand actor Temuera Morrison. Boba Fett's role in the movies was relatively minor. He has remained one of the franchise's most fan-favourite characters. He is known to everyone in the Star Wars community, and we will sorely miss him.
He was born in Leicestershire in the English Midlands on February 16, 1945. Jeremy began his acting career in commercials during the late 1950s. At age 17, he starred in the movie "Summer Holiday," opposite Cliff Richard. He appeared in the original Star Wars films, "The Empire Strikes Back" and "Return of the Jedi," becoming the first actor physically to portray the Mandalorian bounty hunter.
While Jeremy was inside Boba Fett's costume, the late Jason Wingreen voiced the character. Morrison would later dub over Wingreen's voice in the remastered versions to maintain the continuity within the prequels. Aside from playing Fett, Jeremy had a small role as the Imperial Officer Lt. Sheckil in "The Empire Strikes Back." Years later, he made a cameo as the Alderaan pilot Captain Jeremoch Culton in "Revenge of the Sith." Jeremy even proved his love for the franchise by appearing in the Save the Children fan films. In 2004, he even appeared in a cameo in Mark Hamill's "Comic Book: The Movie." It also featured fellow Star Wars cast members David Prowse and Peter Mayhew. Jeremy also appears in three of the Roger Moore-starred James Bond films, "The Spy Who Loved Me," "For Your Eyes Only," and "Octopussy," as well as several TV shows, including "Doctor Who," "The Bill," "Casualty," and "Robin of Sherwood."
Jeremy, wherever you are, you gave us the bounty hunter we all know and love.
To the millions of Star Wars fans, it is with sorrow that we report the passing of David Prowse, the man who embodied the iconic villain Darth Vader in the original Star Wars trilogy, on November 28, 2020, following a brief illness. He was 85 years old.
While James Earl Jones is known for providing the voice of Vader, Prowse's imposing six-foot-six-inch stature suits him well as the Sith Lord formerly known as Anakin Skywalker.
He began as a bodybuilder and competed at the 1962 Commonwealth Games in Great Britain, for which he won the British heavyweight weightlifting championship. After competing in weightlifting for several years, Prowse got his first screen role (albeit uncredited) in the 1967 James Bond spoof "Casino Royale," where he played Frankenstein's Monster. David later reprised the role in two Hammer films in the early 1970s, "Horror of Frankenstein" and "Frankenstein and the Monster from Hell."
Prowse was the centre of attention for an up-and-coming filmmaker, George Lucas, who had seen him in a small role as a bodyguard in Stanley Kubrick's "A Clockwork Orange." He asked David to audition for either Chewbacca or Darth Vader in his original 1977 sci-fi movie "Star Wars." However, Prowse opted for the latter, while the former went to Peter Mayhew, who did not know he would play a masked character. American actor James Earl Jones famously dubbed the voice of Vader, whose booming voice was deemed more suitable than Prowse's West Country accent.
He returns as Vader in "The Empire Strikes Back" and "Return of the Jedi." He eventually shared the suit with British Olympic fencer Bob Anderson, who performed much of the lightsaber duelling when Prowse failed to do so convincingly. When British actor Sebastian Shaw portrayed Anakin Skywalker at the end of "Return of the Jedi," Vader was unmasked. At one point in 1978, Prowse accidentally blurted out that Darth Vader was Luke's father, which the actor claimed was a lucky guess and had not yet become public knowledge until the release of "The Empire Strikes Back." It strained his relationship with George Lucas and his production company, Lucasfilm. Prowse was a regular at several fan conventions but faced official bans from many Star Wars conventions due to his earlier controversies, until ill health forced him to retire from them in 2016.
Prowse also starred inmovies such as "Vampire Circus" and "The People That Time Forgot," as well as TV shows including "The Saint," "Doctor Who," "Space 1999," and "The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy." He also appeared in two Star Wars-related documentaries, "Elstree 1976" and "I Am Your Father." The latter of which details his relationship with working on Star Wars.
All I can say is, Dave, wherever you are, you created one of the most iconic movie villains in history, and you are now one with the Force.
Regrettably, I must inform you of Sean Connery's passing. The Scottish-born actor, renowned for his iconic portrayal of James Bond, has passed away. He was 90 years old. He had long regarded himself as one of the best actors to have played the famous British secret agent in seven films, instantly skyrocketing him into fame as one of the franchise's enduringly popular international stars. His son, Jason, said he had been ill for some time. This illness led to his death during an overnight sleep in the Bahamas. There, he is surrounded by those he loves. The fans consider Sean to be the best Bond in the series.
Sean was born in the Fountainbridge area of Edinburgh on August 25th, 1930. He is the son of a Catholic factory worker and a Protestant home cleaner. After leaving school in poverty at age 13, Connery took several odd jobs, including a coffin polisher, milkman, and lifeguard, before enlisting in the Royal Navy. Three years later, his stomach ulcers got him removed from service. After his time in the Navy, he earned a reputation for being a "hard man" when he defended himself from six gang members, who followed him after they tried to steal from his coat. Sean took up bodybuilding and enjoyed football. At one point, he was offered a contract at Manchester United for £25 a week, but he changed his goal to becoming an actor.
In 1953, Connery competed in the Mr Universe competition in London. He started his stage career as a chorus member in the musical "South Pacific." A year later, Connery first appeared as an extra in the film "Lilacs in the Spring" and had some minor television roles. In 1957, Sean landed his first leading role in the BBC's television adaptation of "Blood Money," followed by his first lead role in a B-movie crime drama, "No Road Back." The following year, he would star opposite Lana Turner in "Another Time, Another Place."
He continued to act and perfect his skill. Sean became the focus of attention when producers Albert R. Broccoli and Harry Saltzman approached him. They had acquired the rights to Ian Fleming's James Bond novels and began searching for an actor to play 007. Sean got the part without an audition, and the rest is history. Upon its release, "Dr. No" was an instant success. It propelled him to international stardom. He continued to play the agent in four consecutive films in the series, such as "From Russia with Love," "Goldfinger," "Thunderball," and "You Only Live Twice." In 1967, when "You Only Live Twice" was finished, Connery was tired of Bond and afraid of being typecast. He refused to return in "On Her Majesty's Secret Service," with the role later given to Australian actor George Lazenby. In 1971, he returned to play the character in "Diamonds Are Forever" after being offered a record $1.25 million by Broccoli and Saltzman. Though a great deal of money would later tempt him to portray the character in 1983's "Never Say Never Again."
Outside of portraying 007, Connery had a long and distinguished film career, beginning in the mid-1960s and continuing into the early 1970s, with roles in "Marnie," "The Hill," "A Fine Madness," "Shalako," and "The Molly Maguires." In 1974, he appeared in the post-apocalyptic sci-fi fantasy movie "Zardoz," which was a huge misstep. Sean was to earn a supporting role in a film adaptation of Agatha Christie's mystery novel "Murder on the Orient Express." His career continued to flourish in 1975 with films such as "The Wind and the Lion" and "The Man Who Would Be King," in which he starred alongside his friend Michael Caine. In 1976, he starred opposite Audrey Hepburn as the aging Robin Hood in the film "Robin and Marian." But while the movie was not an instant success, it solidified his reputation as a versatile and serious screen actor. In the late 1970s, Sean experienced a series of setbacks, including "A Bridge Too Far," "Cuba," and "Meteor," but he did earn another hit with Terry Gilliam's "Time Bandits." His box-office reputation would improve in films such as "Highlander" (except in the U.S.), "Name of the Rose," and "The Untouchables." The latter of which earned him an Oscar for Best Supporting Actor.
In 1989, Connery was paired with Harrison Ford when director Steven Spielberg cast him as Indiana Jones's father (despite being 12 years older) in "The Last Crusade." Sean went on to star in notable successes like "The Hunt for Red October," "The Russia House," "Dragonheart," "The Rock," "Entrapment," and "Finding Forrester," as well as failures like "First Knight," "The Avengers," and his very last film, "The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen."
Connery retired from live acting in 2005. However, he has also done voice work, including as Bond in the video game adaptation of "From Russia with Love." He even voiced the title character in the animated short "Sir Billi the Vet" and later reprised the role in 2010 for "Sir Billi," which he also executive-produced. Queen Elizabeth II knighted Sean in 2000. His first marriage was to Australian actress Diane Cilento in 1962, culminating in the birth of his only son, Jason Connery, and they divorced in 1973.
We'll miss you, Sean, and wherever you are, you will always be my favourite James Bond!
