Martin Cuff Consulting

The Adjustment Bureau takes on some pretty big themes; fate, faith, chance, luck – good and bad – predestination, God. None of that matters though, because all you want is for the damaged Matt Damon to find love and happiness with the effervescent Emily Blount…. Stubby Matt (no favours done by that ill-fitting suit) plays [...]

Who is the mysterious Half Blood Prince? What is a Half Blood Prince? Why Half Blood? Oh, and what is Ron Weasley wearing on his head? Yes, Ms. Rose is back from her holidays, so it’s back to a diet of kids’ movies and constant questions for me. And Harry Potter is back too, so [...]

Eek. I think I just became a Sci-Fi geek. I just sat through the first two seasons of Battlestar Gallactica, back to back. Don’t say I don’t know how to have a good time….. Well written, dramatic, and often touching, BSG was of course filmed in Vancouver, Canada – which is pretty much kick-ass when [...]

Brand Managers get the marketing potential of movies in a way that Politicians often don’t. Here’s fascinating feedback from Brandchannel on the most successful and pervasive product placement campaigns. Mercedes stars in Sex and the City If it can work for Ford, Coke, Merc et al, just think what it can do for brand awareness of your [...]

Finally saw Atonement over the weekend. Hadn’t been until now, because I’m a noisy sobber, and I didn’t want to embarass myself with too much loud and protracted weeping. But: I’m glad I saw it. It’s a beautifully-made film, with a truly memorable score, great costumes and period locations that are recreated with vivid attention to detail. [...]

We have a pet hate in our family; the incessant and omnipresent Greek Tourism ad that tops and tails movie news on CNN. At 59 seconds, the (admittedly well-produced) spot seems longer than the snippet of film news it supports. Now in comparison, last night we caught Shirley Valentine on tv. It’s a great little movie [...]

For a Locations junkie, I took my own sweet time to get around to blogging about Jumper, the Hayden Christiansen / Samuel L Jackson sci fi pic about a young man who learns that he has the power of teleportation. Given his special skills, it’s unsurprising that the movie’s locations include Paris, China, Egypt, the [...]

Cape Town has had a decade-long reputation as a thriving film hub with a “can do” attitude. However, this season, the sector has been hit by a number of locations management issues that industry insiders are calling a “crisis”. Following an Industry Locations meeting called on 6th December 2007, the Cape Film Commission has responded swiftly and positively: [...]

I once attended Production East, a movie industry trade show in New York, where the troublesome subject of “runaway production” was repeatedly raised. (“runaway” being the quaintly xenophobic term used by certain people in America who believe they are entitled to sole ownership of the production processes of the worldwide film industry). New York at the time [...]

The second installment of Disney’s hugely successful National Treasure franchise entitled “The Book of Secrets”, starts when a missing page from the diary of Lincoln’s assassin implicates Ben’s ancestor in the crime. Determined to prove his ancestor’s innocence, Ben (Nicholas Cage) follows a chain of clues that takes him around some fantastic locations worldwide. Check [...]