GM FORECASTS RADICAL CHANGE - The Founder

16 MEDIA Monday 29 January 2007 thefounder
Media
thefounder
dan@thefounder.co.uk
michael@thefounder.co.uk
Editor’s Note
This week the silver screen sees the
return of one its most famous icons,
Rocky. For some, there may be the
feeling that Rocky overstayed his
welcome long ago, but it seems that
the sixth film in the series is not
only the story of a fictional former
champ’s climb back to the top, but
also of a filmmaker’s. Love or hate
‘Rocky Balboa’, it is an undeniable
personal triumph for its director, the
now sixty Sylvester Stallone, who
manages to capture just enough of
his original ‘Rocky’ films gritty urban
spirit to pull things off. Also in
cinema is the highly disappointing
‘Smokin’ Aces’. After the impressive
‘Narc’ in 2002, Joe Carnahan creates
a film that gets lost in its own obsession
with ‘MTV’ editing and never
hits the right notes it should.
This coming week seems much
more promising. Edward Zwick follows
2003’s ‘The Last Samurai’ with
‘Blood Diamond’, a tale of the effects
the corrupt diamond trade in Sierra
Leone and the effect it has on its
protagonists. Although Zwick will
most definitely use his trademark
typically rousing cheese to affect
his audience, expect good performances
throughout from Leonardo
Di Caprio, Jennifer Connelly and
Djimon Hounsoun in a film that
has already been nominated for
five Oscars. Also this week Darren
‘Requiem For a Dream’ Aronofsky’s
fantasy fable ‘The Fountain’, starring
Movie News
In the world of movie news this
week George ‘Mad Max’ Miller the
director of Happy Feat announced
that although he would be interested
in directing a sequel to his
comic dancing penguin animation,
it will not happen before he has
got around to directing the fourth
film in his dystopian series. Miller
was quoted as saying “There’s three
or four films I want to do before I
would ever embark on Happy Feet
2, including Mad Max 4, sooner or
later”. A fourth Mad Max Film has
been on the cards for quite some
time now and despite the fact that
the fifty year old Mel Gibson is apparently
not signed up to reprise his
role as the road warrior things are
looking more promising than they
have for some time in regards towards
the production.
With the Oscar Nominations finally
released for this year Martin Scorsese
is apparently the favourite to go
home with the best director award
being 1-3 favourite for his film ‘The
Departed’. This is not the first time
Hugh Jackman and Rachel Weisz
makes its long overdue release on
UK screens. Although being booed
at the Venice Film Festival it has
since received a fair amount of
critical appraisal and looks set to
become an unexpected classic.
In the world of DVD releases this
week we have reviews on ‘severance’,
a brilliantly gore ridden, tension
filled, darkly comic film, proving
that British cinema seems to have
well and truly found a new niche in
horror comedies. Also, ‘Talladega
Nights: The Ballad of Ricky Bobby’
starring Will Ferrell comes to DVD
this week and while never managing
to beat the off the wall madness
of ‘Anchorman’ certainly succeeds
in providing enough laugh on its
own to justify a viewing. If you are
interested in any our films reviewed
on DVD remember they are all
available at discount prices through
The Founders own link www.cdwow.com/thefounder.
I hope that the media section of
The Founder proves useful, and remember
if you would like to submit
a review of a current film or DVD
release or have a comment on what
you have read in the media section
email myself or Dan Nicholls at michael@thefounder.co.uk
or dan@
thefounder.co.uk.
Thanks,
Michael Dean
michael@thefounder.co.uk
Scorsese has been tipped for this
award though. Through out a career
of creating such classics as Mean
Streets, Taxi Driver, and Goodfellas
he has often been predicted to
win this prestigious accolade but it
has as of yet eluded him. Will 2007
be Scorsese’s year? We will have to
wait and see.
Paul Greengrass the director of
‘United 93’ has been signed up to
bring the third Jason Bourne movie
to screen titled the ‘The Bourne
Ultimatum’. But despite this foray
into main stream action it seems
that the surrey born director hasn’t
strayed to far from his political
roots as he has announced that he
intends to direct a piece based on
the book by Rajiv Chandrasekaran
called ‘Imperial Life In The Emerald
City: Life in Iraq’s Green Zone’
which focuses on the aftermath of
the second Gulf War in Iraq. The
project is due to start filming later
this year and will undoubtedly be
yet another thought provoking
piece from the multitalented director.
All for One
and therefore to make him more heroic.
Not so the musketeers. While
D’artagnan is clearly the hero, none
of these men could be described as a
sidekick. Indeed, in the later books
it is spelled out - while they are all
formidable individuals, together
they are practically invincible. No
matter what, each will always be
ready to answer the call of the others,
even after twenty years apart.
There is a charm to this loyalty, the
more so because it is set against a
backdrop of corruption and intrigue.
In an every man for himself
world, their motto is “All for one
and one for all”.
The characters themselves are
By Martin Marshall
The College Bookshop
(Specialist in out of print, hard to
find, and obscure books)
When he wrote “The Three Musketeers”,
one wonders whether Alexandre
Dumas knew that this was
it. This was the work beyond all his
other stories and plays, beyond even
“The Count of Monte Cristo”, that
he would be remembered for. Dumas
had seen the success of Sir Walter
Scott, and believed that a market
existed for a French brand of the
same type of historical fiction. In
his own day Dumas was vindicated
in this view, writing and collaborating
on a string of successful
historical works, first plays,
and later serialised novels.
It was as a serial that “The
Three Musketeers” was first
published, appearing in the
magazine Le Siecle in the
summer of 1844. Immensely
popular at the time, it
has endured ever since.
Dumas wrote, or rather,
collaborated with historian
Auguste Maquet, on two
sequels, and also adapted
the novel to the stage. Dumas
may also have written
a third sequel, “The Son of
Porthos”, but the authorship
of this book is disputed, and
has yet to be proved. Since
Dumas, other writers have
produced sequels, prequels
and spin-offs of their own,
while we have seen countless
screen adaptations,
from the original 1921 silent
movies all the way up to the
incomparable “Dogtanian and the
Three Muskahounds”.
So what is the secret of this lasting
success? A great part of it, of course,
is simply the fact that this is a very
exciting adventure story. Forbidden
love affairs, intrigue at the royal palace,
kidnapping, duels to the death,
a great deal of humour, and some almost
insane displays of bravado, this
book really has it all. Yet one thing,
above all others, makes it stand out
in the action genre - friendship. One
of the notable things about the action
hero, as a fictional archetype,
is his singularity, particularly in
the movies. More often than not,
one man stands alone, so as to accentuate
the risks he is taking and
the magnitude of the task he faces,
tremendously appealing and enjoyable
as well. We have the noble
drunk with the dark secret, Athos.
Then there is the charming and
spiritual, yet devious and cunning
Aramis, never so much a priest as
when he was a soldier, and never
so much a soldier as when he was
a priest. There is Porthos, the gentle
giant, simple, loyal, with a punch
that could fell an ox and a gift for
surprisingly profound comments.
And, of course, D’Artagnan, the
bravest, most resourceful and cleverest
of all. The characters themselves
are so captivating that it does
not seem to matter that the various
adaptations rarely stick at all closely
to the plot of the books - we are
willing to watch these men do anything.
All of them are based, rather
loosely, on real historical figures, as
are most of their adversaries and
accomplices, who themselves are a
fascinating bunch. The Cardinals,
Richelieu and Mazarin, Anne of
Austria, the Comte de Rochefort,
the Duke of Buckingham, and most
of all, the mysterious Milady, all
provide a tremendous supporting
cast, as do many more besides.
In the servants of the heroes,
Dumas created not only four more
interesting characters, but also an
interesting literary device. Read
through all of the cycle, “The Three
Musketeers”, “Twenty Years After”
and “The Vicomte de Bragelonne”
(usually published in three parts including
“Louise de la Valliere” and
“The Man in the Iron Mask”),
and note the way the servants
develop and evolve. From
this, the reader can predict
the later evolution of the heroes
themselves. Indeed, the
tragedy of the adaptations is
generally that, not only do
they miss out the servants
altogether, but that they seldom
get more more than
halfway through “The Three
Musketeers”. The Musketeer
cycle unfolds like a great epic.
So fast does it move that little
mistakes of continuity, like
which month it’s supposed to
be, or how long it takes to get
from one country to another,
pass by almost unnoticed. The
tone throughout is upbeat
and enjoyable, masking the
fact that, in many ways, this
is rather a tragic tale. Imagine
yourself in a world before
TV or films and read through
them in installments. If you only
know the musketeers through the
movies the story will surprise you
more and more as you get through
it. And it will reward you with a
tale of adventure that is almost unmatched
in scope and ambition.
Job Vacancy
The College Bookshop is now
looking for a new full-time member
of staff to start in February. If
you’d like to know more about
the vacancy then pop into the
shop and have a word with one
of our staff, and bring a CV if you’d
like to apply. I should emphasise,
however, that there are, at present,
no part-time vacancies. This
is strictly a full-time post.