In movies, there is difference between an adherence to reality and the need to present a narrative that is merely consistent within itself. In terms of pure entertainment, the latter is usually preferable; the former is striving for something that is all too often impossible. One must strike a line somewhere, and follow it. Regardless – back in the recent filmscape, this throws up some questions.
1) The Descent, Neil Marshall’s accomplished subterranean female horror flick, has a sequel. Fine. It brings back Shauna Macdonald’s character from the first as an avenging angel – not so fine. Why? Well, the British ending clearly implies that she dies in the caves, while the US ending has her beating a not so merry escape. Will the sequel feature two different beginnings, too? Money makes most things bendable (Marshall is only producing the second film), but wasn’t there a better way to do this?
2) Journey To The Center Of The Earth, the recent 3D adventure starring Brendan Fraser. The Americans say ‘center’ while the British, being closer to France, say ‘centre’. What would Jules Verne have thought? He probably wouldn’t have cared, but in the French it was: Voyage au centre de la Terre. An obvious pedant’s point – but what causes much headscratching in the News Hour offices is the report that Fraser’s character actually brandishes a copy of the book within the film (in 3D? insult to injury). Which spelling does that favour? It’s an existential nightmare (will anyone who has seen it please help).
The boundaries blur in other ways, too. While filming The Edge Of Love with Keira Knightley and Sienna Miller, John Maybury had to contend with much paparazzi attention. In a surreal twist, scenes he shot one day would be on YouTube the next. It’s a metatheatrical nightmare.
News hour, with Jerry Caesar 
