Tag: Cillian Murphy

(The voice-over on the trailer is Arthur C. Clarke from a BBC Horizon program, September 21, 1964.)

“28 Days Later: The Bone Temple” is directed by Nia DeCosta, who was the first Black woman (and also the youngest) to direct a Marvel Studios film. Also known for this year’s “Hedda,” 2021’s “Candyman,” and 2018’s “Little Woods,” DaCosta is in hot demand. She was the recipient of a Black Perspective Achievement Award at the 61^st Chicago International Film Festival (October19, 2025).

DaCosta said, “My big pitch when I was talking to the producers, including Danny and screenwriter Alex Garland, before I came on was, ‘I’m going to make this my own. I’m not going to try to make a Danny Boyle movie. That’s impossible to make. He’s so special. And it didn’t really interest me.'” Apparently DaCosta’s vision means blood and lots of it. Be warned.

The film was originally announced as part of a planned trilogy, with Alex Garland (“Civil War”) serving as screenwriter for all three. In January 2025, Danny Boyle confirmed that he would direct the final film in the trilogy. Cillian Murphy, from the original film, makes an uncredited appearance in a tacked-on ending that is obviously a Trump era warning, utilizing references to the Weimar Republic.

A quote is used in a scene between Jim (Cillian Murphy) and his daughter Sam, whom he is instructing in history. The quote “Those who do not remember the past are doomed to repeat it” is attributed to Winston Churchill in 1948. Investigation makes it unclear whether it is really original to Churchill or, instead, to George Santayana and/or Edmund Burke. Maybe that’s what happens when you are forced to teach history to your daughter (Sam) in a country over-run by infected humans. (Home schooling does better with more resources—like the Internet.)

CAST & PLOT

The story of humans infected by a virus that turns them into bloodthirsty zombies with superior physical powers first came out in 2002, directed by Danny Boyle (“Trainspotting,” “Shallow Grave”). It was entitled “28 Days Later.” Its plot was described this way: “Four weeks after a mysterious incurable virus spreads throughout the United Kingdom, a handful of survivors try to find sanctuary.”

In 2005 in “28 Years Later” the story introduced us to Spike and his family, well-played by young Alfie Williams. Alfie is a sweet boy and a brave one. At the end of that film, which was shot back-to-back with this new film, Spike is orphaned and falls into the clutches of Sir Lord Jimmy Crystal (Jack O’Connell), who lost his vicar father to the infection at age 8 and now rules as the totally evil son of Satan. Or so he tells his apostles, the Fingers, claiming to be the son of Old Nick, his term for Satan.

“28 Years Later: The Bone Temple” is a return to the screen of the character Dr. Ian Kelson (Ralph Fiennes), a doctor who has survived for 28 years alone in the wilderness of Northumbria and Newcastle, creating what he dubs a memento mori, a memorial to the dead, made of the bones of victims of this viral plague. Ralph Fiennes holds the film together. He is always reliably good. The scenes with Jimmy Crystal in conversation with Dr. Kelson are excellent.

Chi Lewis-Parry does an impressive job as Samson and makes Jason Momoa look like he needs to hit the gym.

Jimmy Crystal (Jack O’Connell) isn’t just evil; he seems to be totally without human compassion. In appearance, he is modeled on Jimmy Savile (1926-2011), a British pedophile who was Emcee of the “Top of the Pops” music show on the BBC, a program I remember from my days as a UK People-to-People exchange student. Savile, late in his career, was found to have molested more young people than perhaps any other pedophile in British history.

Shortly after being rescued by the Fingers gang, Spike is initiated into the group by being forced to fight to the death against one of the Jimmies, Jimmy Shite (Connor Newall). The opening scene is brutal, bloody and absolutely horrifying. Spike wins, but you know from this opening scene that this is going to be a stomach-churning horror film.

Sir Jimmy renames Spike “Jimmy,” in keeping with his practice of giving all Fingers variations of that name. There is Jimmy Ink, well-played by Erin Kellyman, who shows a tiny bit of compassion to the young Spike. In addition, there are Jimmy Jones (Maura Bird), Jimmy Snake (Ghazi Al Ruffai), Jimmy Jimmy (Robert Rhodes), Jimmy Fox (Sam Locke) and the sadistic Jimmima (Emma Laird.)

As the plot progresses, Dr. Kelson has success in befriending Samson and develops a theory about a cure that seems promising. Dr. Kelson’s ability to befriend Samson is a result of morphine, among other drugs of choice. The plot developments that follow Ralph Fiennes’ dance as the devil provide a unique “surprise” ending and plot twist.

SETS

The sets for the bone temple are incredibly intricate. Production designers Carson McColl and Gareth Pugh used 5,500 skulls and 100,000 bones to construct 1,000 upright columns. Bravo! There is an aerial shot that shows the bone temple amidst the forested lands. It is but one of many breathtakingly beautiful bits of cinematography from Sean Bobbitt. There is also the intricate underground lair where Dr. Kelson retreats to be safe. Wonderful attention to detail is shown in designing both spaces and the forests and sunsets of the area are breathtakingly beautiful, but to be afoot in the area is to risk one’s life. One character (Jonno, played by Gordon Alexander) finds this out the hard way.

MUSIC

When Jimmy and the Fingers stumble upon Dr. Kelson, who is red from the iodine he uses to protect against the infection, Jimmy talks Dr. Kelson into impersonating the devil. That gives us a truly great scene with Fiennes performing to Iron Maiden’s “The Number of the Beast.” The music, throughout, is unique, with Hildur Gudnadottir (“Joker,” “Sicario: Day of the Soldado”) composing and features a song over the credits entitled “In the House in a Heartbeat.” The song was originally written for “28 Days Later.”

DIFFERENCE OF OPINION

The critic for Roger Ebert, Robert Daniels, did not like Alex Garland’s script very much and said, “The hardest part to stomach about “28 Years: The Bone Temple” is its meaninglessness.” That review also said the film was “The second part of a planned trilogy, or I guess the fourth film of a quintet.” [Not helpful.]

I disagree with the ‘hardest part to stomach” remark.

The hardest part to stomach is the unremittingly bloody gore.

It’s well-done, well-acted, with good cinematography and music (although using adjusted camera angles to give the infected humans erratic motion I could have lived without.) For me, the script was fine. The plot made its point, although the gore moved into overkill. But the music, cinematography, acting, production design and overall impact have yielded $15 million at the box office since the film’s release on January 16th. It will be interesting to see if the extreme gore attracts viewers or repels them. (“Different strokes for different folks.”)

Christopher Nolan’s “Oppenheimer:” Instant Classic

By Connie Wilson

On July 30, 2023

In Uncategorized

Oppenheimer, c. 1944

Roughly one-half of the movie “Oppenheimer” focuses on the unjust way Robert J. Oppenheimer, the father of the atomic bomb, was persecuted after he performed so spectacularly in heading up Los Alamos and giving the United States the atomic bomb to end World War II in Japan. Oppenheimer was denied a security clearance during kangaroo court hearings in 1954, which basically meant he could no longer work in his field. He continued to lecture, but he was ruined.

Director Christopher Nolan has made one of the—if not THE—most important film in a very important career. This $100 million depiction of how the United States came to create the atomic bomb at Los Alamos is a dense subject. The movie was based on the 2006 Pulitzer Prize winning book “American Prometheus: The Triumph and Tragedy of J. Robert Oppenheimer” by Kai Bird and Martin J. Sherwin (2005). Prometheus, of course, was the god who gave fire to mankind. For his crime he was chained to a rock and a vulture ate his liver each day, which grew back each night.

There are so many characters in the book and it appears that Nolan has attempted to wrap his creative mind around all of them and present every character onscreen. I applaud him for taking the dense text and transforming it into this three-hour epic film. The “L.A. Times” critic said: “Arguably Nolan’s most impressive work yet in the way it combines his acknowledged visual mastery with one of the deepest character dives in recent American cinema.”

At three hours, it’s a long film.

It’s deep, all right.

I felt fairly dense myself after trying to follow all of the twists and turns in the plot. I was especially ill-prepared when it comes to quantum physics, having dropped out of Physics in high school after two days. (That act was almost a replay of “Peggy Sue Got Married” where Kathleen Turner gets up from an algebra test and announces that she happens to know that she will never need this stuff in the future.)

VISUALLY

The movie, shot on 70 mm film, has stunning imagery, especially in the early parts. (Later sections that deal with the security clearance hearings in offices are more black-and-white). I was immediately reminded of the sweeping panoramas of filmmakers like Terrence Malick (“Days of Heaven,” “Tree of Life”), or David Lean (“Dr. Zhivago”), or Stanley Kubrick (“2001: A Space Odyssey”). No less a movie maven than author David Morrell commented on the different color palettes employed throughout the film.

The movie does not show the actual dropping of the atomic bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki, which killed 220,000 people, but, instead, gives us the test explosion in New Mexico, called Trinity. Cinematographer Hoyte Van Hoytema deserves Oscar nominations for his work. I disagree with the critic who said you didn’t need to see this one on the IMAX big screen. If ever there was an argument for IMAX, a film like this is it. (Last one I shelled out for IMAX treatment was the remake of “West Side Story.”)

If I may wander from the actual film’s words for a moment, supposedly Oppenheimer’s brother, Frank, also a nuclear physicist (who was also hounded from the field) said that his brother’s words after the test were, “I guess it works.” That is not in the film. But the lines that do appear, with Matt Damon and others articulating them, describe the after-effects of the Trinity test blast. Says a witness to the Trinity blast, “I hope you learned something.” To which Matt Damon’s character responds, “We learned we’re going to need to be lots further away!”

That’s about as close to humor as this film will get.

CAST

Cillian Murphy, who visually resembles Oppenheimer (and was actually up for the lead role in a previous Oppenheimer treatment), has worked with Nolan on 6 films. He uses his preternaturally large blue eyes to good advantage in portraying this tortured genius. Murphy supposedly subsisted on a diet of fruits, nuts and figs and very little else to keep the elfin stature of the real man intact throughout filming. In real life, Oppenheimer was said to often forget to eat, so that seems apropos.

The number of Oscar-winning or nominated actors in the film is a tribute to the director’s stature. I will probably accidentally omit someone, but Robert Downey, Jr., is bound to be an Oscar nominee for his pivotal role as Lewis Strauss, the two-faced politician who set Oppenheimer up for ruin because of personal animus and Cillian Murphy comes into his own as a leading man.

Others in the cast include Josh Hartnett in a welcome return to form, Gary Oldman, Kenneth Branagh, Tom Conti (who plays Einstein), Matthew Modine, Alden Ehrenreich, Casey Affleck, Rami Malek, Emily Blunt, Florence Pugh, Tony Goldwyn, James D’Arcy, Jason Clarke and Matt Damon. I’m sure I’ve forgotten some of the bigger “name” actors or actresses, but the wealth of talent is very deep when you’re casting an Oscar winner like Malek in a small part. All of the actors complimented Nolan, the mastermind. Some critics have mentioned the relatively meager parts for women, as opposed to the meatier male roles. This “it’s a man’s world” depiction is true to the period, however.

Personally, I related to the four-times married Kitty (Emily Blunt), shown at her wit’s end with two squalling toddlers and stuck in the quickly thrown-together town built for the Manhattan Project scientists in Los Alamos. She mentions that there is “no kitchen” upon being shown the house for the first time.

Oppenheimer had his hands full with prima donna scientists who constantly quit or are in conflict, but Kitty was stuck in the house with two extremely colicky kids. Baby Peter is even taken to a friend’s house by his father when his constant crying becomes too much for the couple. Younger daughter Katherine (“Toni”), who was born at Los Alamos in November of 1944 is only seen as an infant in the film. She grew up and studied to be a United Nations interpreter but was denied a security clearance because of her father’s fifties security clearance hearings. This was 10 years after Oppenheimer’s 1967 death from throat cancer. In 1977, after that denial, Toni—who had inherited the St. Thomas cottage where her parents lived in later life, hanged herself. She left the family cottage and grounds to St. Thomas for the use of the public.

PERSONAL LIVES

Oppenheimer was a World Class womanizer. Matt Damon has an exchange with Oppenheimer where he says, “You’re a dilettante, you’re a womanizer, unstable, theatrical, neurotic!” Oppenheimer’s affair with Florence Pugh (virtually unrecognizable with dark hair) portraying paramour Jean Tatlock causes much conflict in the film. The couple see each other shortly after Oppenheimer’s second child is born.

A troubled soul who ultimately committed suicide, Jean Tatlock WAS a Communist. This bit of personal information on Oppenheimer’s affair was brought out during the 1954 kangaroo court hearings with Oppenheimer’s wife Kitty (Emily Blunt) sitting there to hear it, as Oppenheimer is interrogated by Jason Clarke (“Pet Semetary”). Still, Kitty and J. Robert stayed together.

Lewis Strauss (Robert Downey, Jr.) pretended, to Oppenheimer’s face, to be a friend. He was as two-faced as they come and set Oppenheimer up for his fall, out of vindictive animus. Strauss (who was angling to become the Secretary of Commerce) felt he had been held up to ridicule during testimony that Oppenheimer gave. One dispute was over the exporting of radioactive isotopes to Sweden. The testimony used in the screenplay showed Oppenheimer saying that radioactive isotopes were “less important than electronic devices, but more important than, let us say, vitamins.” In the screenplay the comparison became “a bottle of beer.”

Another change from reported wording seemed to be in what President Truman (portrayed by Gary Oldman) actually said after meeting with Oppenheimer in the Oval Office. In the movie, Oppenheimer tells Truman that he feels he has “blood on his hands.” This is because of how conflicted Oppenheimer is regarding the death of 220,000 Japanese civilians when the bomb was dropped. Oppenheimer is urging (somewhat naively) international cooperation on the use of nuclear weapons, with an entity like the United Nations in charge. The generals and the Army and the politicians do not see it his way.

Truman, during a visit with Oppenheimer in the Oval Office, hands him a handkerchief after his comment about regulating nuclear weapons internationally and then, when Oppenheimer walks out of the Oval Office, tells his Undersecretary of State, Dean Acheson, “I don’t want to see that son-of-a-bitch in this office ever again.” In the movie, the script has Truman saying, “Don’t let that crybaby back in here.” The profanity is probably more accurate, because Truman was known for his salty language. (They didn’t call him “give-’em- hell-Harry” for nothing.)

MORAL VACILLATION

Oppenheimer vacillated over his feelings of guilt over the deaths in Hiroshima and Nagasaki from the dropping of the bomb he created.

After the successful drop. The screenplay has him telling a jubilant room full of Los Alamos employees, “It’s too soon to determine the results of the bombing, but I’ll bet the Japanese didn’t like it. I just wish we had had it to use against the Germans.”

At another point in the plot, this line appears, “Nobody knows what you believe. Do you?”

Repeated throughout the piece, however, is this refrain: “Just because we’re building it doesn’t mean that we get to decide how it is used.”

Matt Damon’s character, General Leslie Groves, tells Oppenheimer, “We’ve given them an Ace. It’s for them to play the hands.” Another repetition of this thought: “The fact that we built this bomb does not give us the right or responsibility to determine how it is used.” All of these lines seemed to be justifications. After all, Oppenheimer was the American Prometheus, “the man who gave the Americans the ability to destroy themselves.” As Nolan says at another point in the screenplay which he wrote, “The day will come when people will curse the name Los Alamos.”

MUSIC

Leslie Goranssen’s music has been singled out as one of the best scores of the year (Oscar?.) Terms like “masterful” and “mercurial” were used. I kept noticing how many of the scenes that had subtle background music would be totally unremarkable without his musical contribution. The use of stamping feet was unique and original.

OVERALL

For tension, structure, sense of scale, startling sound design (very impressive when viewed in IMAX) and remarkable visuals—not to mention the superb cast of actors—this one is going to be hard to beat. Yes, it is overlong and dense and made me feel woefully inadequate to understand the quantum physics discussed, but phrases like “Power exists in the shadows” were universal and I had to agree with the remark attributed to Wernher von Braun, who said, of Oppenheimer’s poor treatment by Lewis Strauss and the bureaucracy, “In England, Oppenheimer would have been knighted.”

On a personal level, since Wehrner Von Braun of Hitler’s rocket program ultimately ended up in Iowa City, Iowa (my alma mater) for the remainder of his life after fleeing Nazi Germany, I thoroughly agree.

I have personally met and spoken with at least five of the actors/actresses onscreen in “Oppenheimer” at various film festivals, those being Gary Oldman (in Chicago for “Soldier, Sailor, Tinker, Spy” in 2011), Kenneth Branagh (in Chicago with “Belfast” in 2021), Casey Affleck (in Chicago with “Gone, Baby, Gone” in 2007), Emily Blunt, in Austin at SXSW for “A Quiet Place” (2018), and Jason Clarke at SXSW for the remake of “Pet Sematary” (2019).

It seems fitting to end the review of this extraordinary film with the quotation from the Bhagavad Gita that Oppenheimer repeats, “Now I am become Death, the destroyer of worlds.”

“A Quiet Place II” Is Terrific Sequel to the 2018 Original Film

By Connie Wilson

On May 29, 2021

In Movies, Of Local (Quad Cities') Interest, Pop Culture, Reviews

Director John Krasinski said, on an appearance on Seth Meyer recently to promote “A Quiet Place 2,” “If you’re a fan of the movie, I wanted to bookend the pandemic for you.” He was talking about the delayed release of one of the season’s most anticipated sequels, “A Quiet Place 2.” It actually premiered in New York City on March 8, 2020, and we all know what happened after that.

I remember the premiere of the original film at the Paramount Theater in Austin, Texas, as opening night of SXSW 2018 and how amazed the audience and I were at the film we had just seen. It was great! Original. Fresh. Scary. Thrilling. Well-acted. The audience gave it a well-deserved standing ovation.

All those adjectives can be used for the sequel, and, thanks to jump scares and a terrific Marco Beltrami score coupled with great special effects and convincing acting, you’re in for a wonderful time scaring yourself silly viewing “A Quiet Place 2.”

The boys from Bettendorf, Iowa, who thought up the fresh idea (which languished on the Black List of great movie scripts for 10 years or more before Krasinski became involved as a vehicle for his wife, Emily Blunt) now get an opening credit as the creators of the original characters, but Krasinski has taken over with expert help from his cast, Marco Beltrami’s heart-pounding score, and the special effects genies of Industrial Light & Magic and Lucasfilm.

There is a brief flashback involving John Krasinski as Lee Abbott, who died at the end of “A Quiet Place, #1.” His real-life wife, Emily Blunt, reprises her original role as Evelyn Abbott and the surviving children, Millicent Simmonds as Regan and Noah Jupe as Marcus, plus her new-born baby are all back. Co-stars, this time out, are Cillian Murphy as neighbor Emmett and Djimon Hounsou as a man on Long Island (who is given too small a part).

The film opens in the very same pharmacy/general store that we know from the first film, and Lee (John Krasinski) is quickly picking up some water and some snacks to take to a baseball game that is ongoing. (I noticed that he must have a running tab at the store; at no point did he pay for the goodies.)

While the baseball game is underway some sort of strange aerial event takes place, which, even now, I cannot explain properly. Is it the arrival of aliens? Is it a bombing? Not sure, but the baseball game is quickly abandoned. It must have been an invasion, because the spectators in the small town are suddenly being picked off on Main Street by the creatures we know from the first film. Chaos ensues.

It was this scene, with Emily Blunt trying to flee in her vehicle, that Krasinski talked about shooting early in the film. It took six weeks of planning and 3 weeks with stunt people to make sure that Blunt would be able to do the action-packed scene without injury. A pod was built on top of the vehicle she is shown to be driving, and it was operated by an expert stunt driver who, according to husband John, reassured her, “Don’t worry, Miss Emily. I’m the best.” They did the scene one time. It is truly terrifying and is completely thrilling. Krasinski described it as “definitely the hardest scene” to film.

As the film proceeds, the surviving Abbott family (post Film #1) must abandon their home, which is both flooded and on fire. They begin walking, barefoot, to one of the neighboring homes where signal fires have been burning at night.

The neighboring residence turns out to be occupied by Emmett, played by Cillian Murphy (“Inception,” “Dunkirk,” “The Dark Knight Rises”), whose own children died the day of the invasion and whose wife is also dead. He has holed up in what appears to be some sort of abandoned steel furnace that has a soundproof interior. It has a secure door and one must climb down to enter it, so it is relatively safe from the creatures.

Shooting inside the steel furnace set as a bunker for the Abbott family proved difficult because of its small size. Production designer Jess Gonchor built three different sizes, with removable front and back and sections that pulled out.

“Often we were on a jib arm with small remote heads on the end of it,” added Morgan, “and we would literally push in and out through the tube with the characters as they entered and exited. It was like a scene out of ‘Alien.’”

Emmett is not thrilled that he has been joined by a woman with three children in tow.

Emily Blunt and Noah Jupe in A Quiet Place Part II. Photo: Paramount Pictures

At first, despite Marcus’ injury in a bear trap as they approach, Emmett insists that they must leave in the morning, but that soon gives way to an actual rescue that Emmett attempts, when the deaf older child, Regan (Millicent Simmonds), deciphers the message of non-stop playing of “Beyond the Sea” by a radio station as a message. They must go to the sea, she reasons. She sets out to do this over the objections of younger brother Marcus (Noah Jupe of “Ford v. Ferrari”and “Honeyboy.”) and without her mother’s knowledge or permission.

The map that we catch a brief glimpse of clearly says the island is Long Island. Thanks go out at film’s end to Buffalo, Akron, Dover and Pawling as some of the sites used in filming AQP2.

The film ends in a way that screams: SEQUEL. Krasinski said, initially, that he did not know whether a third Quiet Place would happen, but he made plans just in case. “I set up a couple of tiny little Easter eggs in [Part II] that not only explain more about [the original], but would allow for more mythology,” Krasinski shared last year.

“I haven’t heard from the studio that they want a third one,” says Writer/Director John Krasinski, “But the good news is that the studio and I are on the same page in that this isn’t one of those franchises where we keep pumping them out if they make money. I think we’ve proven that this is an original idea that is really beloved by people in a way that… I don’t want to break that promise to people.”

Later, it was revealed that “A Quiet Place 3” is officially a go. Paramount Pictures has announced that the franchise is set to continue with a third movie, which is to be written and directed by Jeff Nichols (Mud, Midnight Special).

Krasinski got able help on #2 from a new (female) cinematographer, Polly Morgan, and the editor, Michael Schaever, had his work cut out for him as there are multiple quick cuts between action going on in the steel furnace, with action going on at the dock or on the island. Long shots with real film were the name of the game, an homage to the films of Steven Spielberg and to such influences on Krasinski as “There Will Be Blood,” westerns of yesteryear, and Steven Spielberg’s films, which, said Krasinski, kept the focus on the protagonist in peril.

In this film, it is the teen-agers who must cope with the monsters and with their loss of their father in the first film. Millicent Simmonds plays a much bigger role than in the first film and does a great job.

All-in-all, it’s one heck of a great film. I look forward to seeing #3, when the survivors back at the steel furnace have to be transported to safety on the island, (as well as any other adventures the creative minds of the Paramount team come up with).

It’s great to have a “new Spielberg” coming out with novel, crowd-pleasing material, and I only hope he can keep up the level of cinematography, music, writing, acting and directing in the inevitable follow-up(s).