The PURSUIT OF EXCELENCE

When chatting to Keanu Reeves and Alex Winter, it’s sometimes

THERE WILL BE BUDS

MEET-CUTE Who knows? But these gals are, literally, each other’s

JOEL 1939 - 2020 SCHUMACHER

In the late summer of 1997, Joel Schumacher was in

TIME TO DIE

Off-duty New York cop John McClane (played by Bruce Willis)

THE DARK NIGHT

"It’s pretty interesting how, 20 years later, you look at

WELCOME TO TOTAL FILM THE SMARTER MOVIE MAGAZINE

If I could use a time-travelling phone booth I’d go

Dialogue

EMAIL totalfilm@futurenet.com WRITE Total Film, 1-10 Praed Mews, London

RON PERLMAN

Should I start the video?” says Ron Perlman, his sonorous

OPEN WIDEB

I really didn’t want to do the second one at

MICHAEL KEATON

It’s amazing that people are still sticking by me. When

DEEPER IMPACT

It’s August 2019 and Teasers is dripping on Gerard Butler

Super Natural

Project Power directors Henry Joost and Ariel Schulman have a

Knife Out

Director David Gordon Green knows a thing or two about

SOUND BYTES

“Films which focus on black women are absolutely the hardest

MILLA’S CROSSING

Inormally can pick people quite quickly. And Milla was driving

BRYAN CRANSTON

What’s the first thing you do when you get on

SOCIALLY DISTANCED FILMMAKING?

All workers who cannot work from home should travel to

Parental guidance

All stories are close to me if I’ve written them,”

CHEMISTRY LESSONS

Four years ago, writer/director Richard Tanne made a huge impression

It Shouldn’t Happen To A Film Journalist

Last month I had a Zoom interview with Kelly O’Sullivan,

SHORT CUTS

A reboot of beloved disaster movie Twister is in the

RAT TRAP

For a lot of Mafioso, The Godfather is their holy

HEAD SPACE

For me, this is an origin story,” begins actor-turned-director Craig

MIKE HODGES

After working in radio, TV and theatre, Mike Hodges exploded

IS IT BOLLOCKS?

Q Matt Damon’s stranded astronaut needs an extra boost to

ALTERNATIVE BOX OFFICE

REEL SPOTS BEHIND THE CAMERA

WHAT? Simon Pegg’s wedding bolter and unlikely marathon runner decides

MOVIE MUSIC VIDEOS

Spectacularly spoilery clips from The Bodyguard mixed with Whitney conjuring

BACKGROUND ARTISTRY

SPECIAL SKILLS John Anderton (Tom Cruise) boards a subway as

HINDSIGHT CORNER!

“The show is, in a certain way, divisive: ‘Whose side

PLAIN TALKING

A group within the art department responsible for last-minute large

CUTTHROAT ISLAND

After his success with Cliffhanger, Renny Harlin aimed to revitalise

OR IS INDIANA JONES A JERK?

Turning up like a bad penny wherever there are ancient

FLASH GORDON

It’s one of the biggest ‘what ifs?’ in cinema history

IAN HOLM

Born in Essex to medic parents, Ian Holm Cuthburt was

SIDNEY POITIER

Born in Miami and raised in the Bahamas, Poitier learned

GET OUT’S ‘THE SUNKEN PLACE’

Jordan Peele’s game-changing Oscar-winner explores what it’s really like to

SEA MOVIES

1. What’s the nominal connection between 2012’s Life Of

60 Second Screenplay

TF SAVES YOU THE COST OF A MOVIE EVERY MONTH

rocket woman

Christopher Nolan’s heart-tugging, brain-boggling epic of space travel and parental

STAGE MOTHER TBC

Genial but cheesy, this lacklustre comedy about a timid Texas

GREYHOUND TBC

Tom Hanks scripts and stars in a solid if unexceptional

PERFECT 10 TBC

Writer/director Eva Riley’s sensitive debut nimbly captures the lonely, risk-hungry

FRIEDKIN UNCUT TBC

Hitler and Jesus are the two greatest characters,” says an

HAMILTON PG

The original 2015 cast recording of Lin-Manuel Miranda’s now-classic musical

LYNN + LUCY TBC

Lifelong BFFs Lynn and Lucy, struggling on an Essex estate,

THE BIG UGLY 15

Vinnie Jones fans will enjoy this bourbon-soaked, by-thenumbers revenge tale

BOYZ IN THE WOOD TBC

Ninian Doff’s stoner comedy-thriller puts the ‘high’ in Highlands, as

BAD EDUCATION TBC

Based on a true public-school scandal, this is a Long

CZECHMATE: IN SEARCH OF JIRÍ MENZEL E

Come for the portrait of Closely Observed Trains (1966) director

SPACESHIP EARTH 12

It was Biblical, like filling Noah’s Ark,” says one of

MAKE UP TBC

Tortured by suspicions that her boyfriend (Joseph Quinn) is being

IRRESISTIBLE 15

Comedian Jon Stewart takes aim at America’s satire-proof political divide

BUÑUEL IN THE LABYRINTH OF THE TURTLES TBC

An opening debate about art’s ability to enact social and

THE OLD GUARD TBC

A fter 6 Underground and Extraction, Netflix could really use

THE TRAITOR TBC

Dramatisation of two turbulent decades in the life of Tommaso

ENDINGS, BEGINNINGS TBC

Similar to his 2011 breakout Like Crazy, Drake Doremus’ latest

LAST AND FIRST MEN TBC

Late composer Jóhann Jóhannsson’s (Sicario, Arrival) posthumous debut as director

ABOVE SUSPICION 15

Based on the true story of an FBI agent (Jack

THE GARDEN LEFT BEHIND TBC

Recommended viewing for anyone galvanised by Netflix’s Disclosure doc, The

SCORSESE SHORTS 15

There’s an undeniable frisson that comes with exploring a celebrated

CRISS CROSS PG

Flashbacks, a femme fatale… We’re deep into film noir territory

BRITANNIA HOSPITAL 15

The critics hated it and the public didn’t understand it,”

THE BEAST MUST DIE 15

1974 OUT NOW BD EXTRAS Commentary, Intro, Featurettes, Super 8

THROW DOWN 15

A Salute to Akira Kurosawa, the Greatest Filmmaker’ reads the

THE CHINA SYNDROME PG

Hitting cinemas just days before the Three Mile Island disaster,

MR. VAMPIRE 15

With its hopping corpses, lassoing braids and ripe ‘vampiric’ acting

FLASH GORDON 12

1980 OUT 10 AUGUST DVD, BD, 4K UHD, DIGITAL HD

PITCH BLACK

FILM Rated 4 out of 5 stars EXTRAS Rated 5

SPRING NIGHT SUMMER NIGHT

FILM Rated 4 out of 5 stars EXTRAS Rated 3

FORCE 10 FROM NAVARONE 15

FILM Rated 3 out of 5 stars EXTRAS Rated 3

CISCO PIKE

FILM Rated 3 out of 5 stars EXTRAS Rated 4

THE GAME 15

The Game is easily overlooked, sandwiched between Se7en and Fight

DANCE, GIRL, DANCE PG

Feminist-film trailblazer Dorothy Arzner directs a tale of two chorines

THE NEW KIDS 18

FILM Rated 3 out of 5 starsEXTRAS Rated 3 out

THE CAMERAMAN PG

FILM Rated 4 out of 5 stars EXTRAS Rated 5

FEMALE TROUBLE 18

FILM Rated 4 out of 5 stars EXTRAS Rated 4

THREE OUTLAW SAMURAI 15

The film industry is struck by an exciting new vision,”

current fun

Ever since the curtain rose on The Muppet Show in

family history

People with powers work together to prevent a devastating event

tree of strife

Adapted by Elwood Reid (writer of the US version of

STATELESS TBC

All roads lead to the desert - and an Australian

NORTHERN EXPOSURE S1-6 15

Quirky, playful, gently surreal, this much-loved, Emmy/Globe-hoovering fish-out-of-water dramedy brushes

THE OUTSIDER TBC

Stephen King adaptations have always been a hit-and-miss affair, but

CURSED TBC

After 800 years of knightly tales, it’s about time a

OBITUARY

“Everyone asks me to make westerns, but I tend not

the magnificent seven

When Steve McQueen and Yul Brynner initiated a duel of

SMALL SCREEN

Dalziel and Pascoe. Ant and Dec. The Krankies. Can’t say

miles ahead

After a cameo in Insomniac’s brilliant 2018 adventure, Nadji Jeter

two more

Set after the TV show and before the movie, James

CHASING THE LIGHT

The adjective “storm-tossed” occurs more than once in the opening

BEHIND THE HORROR

The gruesome deeds of Ed Gein, Ted Bundy and other

BE MORE KEANU

Is Keanu Reeves ‘the one’? Writer James King gorges on

THE HOLLOW ONES

The Strain’s co-authors kick off a new horror-suspense series, centred