Tom Shankland the director of 'Waz' Directed this movie. It shows that he likes working on horror thriller based movies that does not cost a lot. Also he worked for Vertigo films again for this project. Wednesday 21 April 2010
The Children.
Tom Shankland the director of 'Waz' Directed this movie. It shows that he likes working on horror thriller based movies that does not cost a lot. Also he worked for Vertigo films again for this project. 
Wednesday 24 March 2010
Wednesday 10 March 2010
USA's impact of Films
The use of the movie's new cameras means more 3D - Films are going to be made like Alice in Wonderland the new Tim Burton movie that has just come out means it will also be using the digital cameras that James Cameron did.
The movie cost an $237,000,000 (estimated). At the opening weekend it got $77,025,481 (USA) (20 December 2009) (3,452 Screens) and in the UK
£8,509,050 (20 December 2009) (503 Screens). The gross For the whole of the USA was $706,560,068 (USA) (28 February 2010) and for the UK it was £86,799,652 (UK) (28 February 2010). Awards - Won 3 Oscars. Another 25 wins & 56 nominations.
This shows the difference between American movies and British movies because they can offord to make these big blockbuster movies like Avatar also Titanic another James Cameron huge blockbuster movie.
They only used a few well known Actors in Avatar so they can have more money for the CGI and 3D. Sigourney Weaver, Stephen Lang and Giovanni Ribisi are some of the main actress and actors.
Here is the Trailer for Avatar
Wednesday 3 March 2010
WAZ from Pearl and Dean
| | price: C- | |
| | estimated box office: £1,500,000 | |
| | genre(s): Horror, Crime | |
| | director(s): Tom Shankland | |
| | film cast: Stellan Skarsgård, Melissa George, Selma Blair, Ashley Walters | |
| | certificate: 18 | |
| | distributor: Vertigo Films | |
| Story | ||
| | A calculating killer coerces a detective to pay for his previous mistakes. | |
Exchange
Reviews from different magazines, newspapers and websites:
Channel 4 another british film company done a review of WAZ and this is what they said:
They gave it 4 Stars. Rated 18/ Crime/ 2007
Review:
"There are shades of fuckin' grey." So declares grizzled detective Eddie Argo (Skarsgård) in Waz, and he is right.
For while it might be lazily dismissed as yet another piece of Seven-style psycho noir, or as just more dilemma-based torture porn à la Saw (whose title it knowingly inverts), in the end this moody feature debut from British director Tom Shankland stakes out several new shades of dark - and then uses them as the dramatic testing ground for a genre-busting love story, as well as for a Darwinist theory (concerning the non-existence of altruism) so horrific in its implications that it drove its real-life discoverer George Price to suicide when he was unable to disprove its truth.
When the corpses of a gangbanger and his pregnant girlfriend surface - he brutally mutilated, she electrocuted - few bat an eyelid. After all, on the mean streets of this neglected New York port borough it is strictly survival of the fittest, and the hardened local police regard the death of just another vicious dealer or crack whore merely as cause to celebrate. Still, it remains a mystery why 'WAZ' was carved into the girl's belly after her death - and when a second pair of bodies is found, one of them marked with the same cryptic letters, the hunt for a serial killer begins.
For while it might be lazily dismissed as yet another piece of Seven-style psycho noir, or as just more dilemma-based torture porn à la Saw (whose title it knowingly inverts), in the end this moody feature debut from British director Tom Shankland stakes out several new shades of dark - and then uses them as the dramatic testing ground for a genre-busting love story, as well as for a Darwinist theory (concerning the non-existence of altruism) so horrific in its implications that it drove its real-life discoverer George Price to suicide when he was unable to disprove its truth.
When the corpses of a gangbanger and his pregnant girlfriend surface - he brutally mutilated, she electrocuted - few bat an eyelid. After all, on the mean streets of this neglected New York port borough it is strictly survival of the fittest, and the hardened local police regard the death of just another vicious dealer or crack whore merely as cause to celebrate. Still, it remains a mystery why 'WAZ' was carved into the girl's belly after her death - and when a second pair of bodies is found, one of them marked with the same cryptic letters, the hunt for a serial killer begins.
Assigned to the case with new partner Helen Westcott (George), Eddie (Skarsgård) begins to shake up the rival gangs, while also paying regular visits to his number one informant, young hoodlum Daniel Leone (Walters). Eddie is hardly a talker, but it is clear that he knows more than he is saying, and as Helen begins asking questions about a horrific past crime whose perpetrators evaded trial under suspicious circumstances, the identity of a murderer emerges who is every bit as tormented as the victims - leading Eddie to have his veneer of nihilistic cynicism put to the test as he faces some very painful home truths.
Shot almost entirely at night on handheld High Definition video by Morten Søborg (of the Pusher trilogy), Waz looks so dark, damp and gritty you will want to take a long shower the moment it is over - and its grim visual aesthetic is hardly lightened by themes of moral emptiness and scenes of increasingly graphic torture.
This is neither a laugh a minute, nor under any circumstances a date movie - but those who like their cinema bleak and uncompromising will be rewarded by Clive Bradley's intelligent screenplay, and by yet another astonishingly weighty central performance from Skarsgård.
From the instant we first see his silhouette sitting and smoking in a solitary parked car in the film's opening scene, Skarsgård projects worldweariness, loneliness and abandonment with the most minimal of gestures. All the film's painful conflicts can be traced on his haunted face long before any instrument of torture has appeared on screen, and his mere presence furnishes a quality that is unexpected in so arid a moral landscape, a quality that elevates WAZ above and beyond the confines of its genre. That quality is heart, and as Eddie puts it in his own gruff, mumbling words, "you've got to bleed to keep that heart beating." Yes, there will be blood - but only enough to ensure that these vampiric characters are returned to life
Shot almost entirely at night on handheld High Definition video by Morten Søborg (of the Pusher trilogy), Waz looks so dark, damp and gritty you will want to take a long shower the moment it is over - and its grim visual aesthetic is hardly lightened by themes of moral emptiness and scenes of increasingly graphic torture.
This is neither a laugh a minute, nor under any circumstances a date movie - but those who like their cinema bleak and uncompromising will be rewarded by Clive Bradley's intelligent screenplay, and by yet another astonishingly weighty central performance from Skarsgård.
From the instant we first see his silhouette sitting and smoking in a solitary parked car in the film's opening scene, Skarsgård projects worldweariness, loneliness and abandonment with the most minimal of gestures. All the film's painful conflicts can be traced on his haunted face long before any instrument of torture has appeared on screen, and his mere presence furnishes a quality that is unexpected in so arid a moral landscape, a quality that elevates WAZ above and beyond the confines of its genre. That quality is heart, and as Eddie puts it in his own gruff, mumbling words, "you've got to bleed to keep that heart beating." Yes, there will be blood - but only enough to ensure that these vampiric characters are returned to life
VERDICT
Out of the bloodiest horror, the darkest noir and the bleakest morality drama, Tom Shankland has crafted an unusual and highly affecting love story, with a central performance from Stellan Skarsgård to die for.
Someone's Personal review of WAZ from zimbio:
W Delta Z A Gritty Urban Crime Drama
New York City cop Eddie Argo teams up with rookie police officer Helen Westcott to solve the brutal deaths of Jamal and his girlfriend. Both the bodies are found near the piers and display "W Delta Z," on their bodies. The knife work is bloody. Circumstantial evidence points to Pierre Jackson a rival gangster, but through investigation evidence points to another suspect (Urban).
The body of Wesley and his brother also turn up from Pierre's gang and slowly the pieces fit together and point to a small time crook Jean Lerner. Lerner is constructing a deadly experiment, whereby a pair of victims is told to kill the other or face torture. The twist is that both victims have a connection either through blood or relation and this makes the decision to save oneself an experiment of empathy and altruism (Urban).
Release Date: August 12, 2008.
Restricted: Rated R for strong brutal violence including a rape, gruesome images and pervasive language.
Starring: Barbara Adair, Stellan Skarsgard, Selma Blair, Melissa George, and Tom Hardy.
Director: Tom Shankland.
Writer: Clive Bradley.
"W Delta Z," is a gritty crime drama that takes place in the back alleys and apartment projects of inner-city New York. Clive Bradley is the writer of the screenplay; brutality, criminal life, and corruption weave a tale that engrosses the viewer. Although, the sound mixing and recording of the film seem off at certain points this does not take away from the overall entertainment value of the film (Urban).
Stellan Skarsgard plays a street-wise cop with expertise while Melissa George adds a softer performance in the film. Skarsgard powers through many of his scenes with a gruff exterior that later reveals a kinder, gentler man inside. The ending might blow viewers away (Urban).
The urban sets, dark lighting, and suspenseful plot create a horror film that deals in the psychology of altruism (giving without any expectation of a return). Overal "W Delta Z," is a dark film with a grisly, revenge theme that does not shy away from exposing the viewer from the seedy underbelly of street life and the challenge of solving criminal cases (Urban).
"W Delta Z," is a must see for those favouring chilling tales that probe the psychology behind people's motivations. Morten Soborg's cinematography shows a versatility, as the film moves from night shoots to dark interiors without pause and the subtle twists make this film rewatchable on many levels (Urban).
Another Review showing that ordinary did like the movie putting there review on IMBD (This person collipal; there user name, gave it 9 out of 10):
Awards
It was nominated for best film at Sitges - Catalonian International Film Festival but it did not win it. But it shows it was good that it got nominated for a award, this also can get the movie out more because audiences who went to the Film Festival; who haven't seen it could go out and watch it.
Wednesday 27 January 2010
Technological Convergence
Technological Convergence - The growing use of digital technology in the media (Film industry) online in software and hardware. Convergence of media occurs when multiple products come together to form one product with the advantages of all of them. The use of digital technology in the film industry which enables people to do things that could not have done and seen just a few years earlier.
There is loads of uses for this new technology. Such as; the use of new software to add special effects in editing.
Wednesday 20 January 2010
Website
This is the official website for the movie:
http://www.wazthemovie.com/waz.html
When you click on the website it shows you a tag line of the film. And before you get the the actual website it shows you where you can buy the film this is marking. Showing how it is trying to get more people to buy the film. It attracts more people in by adding games, about the film, the casting and crew and where the cinema was show, by doing this it shows you a bit about the movie. It also has some reviews at the bottom of the website showing how it effected the media and movie critics.
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I was not very interested in watching WAZ, because the plot summary sounded as another poor rehash of Seven and Saw.However, I took a huge surprise with this film.WAZ ended up to be an excellent thriller, and it, although it shares a few elements with them, I think it is a big mistake to say it is a rehash of Seven and Saw.
The screenplay from WAZ is truly brilliant.Recent "torture-porn" films (like The Strangers, Saw V or Vacancy) bored me very much, because they do not endorse the torture scenes with a solid screenplay.Fortunately, WAZ endorses its brutal violence with interesting characters and a very intelligent story which reflects about some fascinating topics.And, because of that narrative complexity, the torture scenes have a much bigger emotional impact than almost all the others "torture-porn" thrillers.Besides, this movie has an ingenious twist at the end which does not leave any plot holes and closes the story perfectly.
Stellan Skarsgård and Melissa George bring great performances.They both show a good level of intensity, and they are very involved on their characters, so they result very credible.Pity these two perfect performances went completely unnoticed.
I really did not expect to like this movie so much.WAZ is an excellent (not to mention very underrated) thriller which deserves an enthusiastic recommendation, with the warning that the scenes of violence may result a bit too intense for some people.I took a huge surprise with this film.