fatblog

The Critic's Conundrum

2012-01-24T14:29:00.000+13:00

Local film critic Dominic Corry has written a pretty good piece on something that's been on my mind - and no doubt others in the same occupational shoes - for some time now: should we treat NZ films any different to films produced elsewhere? The answer is obviously no, and has been for me ever since I started reviewing films in a professional capacity. But the fact is we're such a small country, and these words don't have to travel very far before someone in the industry takes it personally and starts crying/moaning about it. And as such, it's left me with a complete lack of desire to review anything locally made (plus the fact there's so little that's being made that I actually want to watch *oooh buurrrn*). I shouldn't be affected by it but I'm only human and it's a reality I've often come to wrestle with. It's the same deal with any creative field - whether it's music or art - if your friend's band sucks hard, what are you going to say? "Sorry, you guys are crap"? (tip: "It's not really my thing", or "You guys are tight" seem to work okay to deflect the bad taste they might leave in your mouth).

Anywho just go read Dom's article, it sheds much-needed light on the NZ film critic-vs-NZ films issue and the role of the film critic. For the record I have not seen Sione's Wedding 1 or 2.

"Payback's a nag, ain't it?"

2012-01-24T13:29:00.000+13:00

If you've ever wanted to make your TV viewing more family-friendly and clean up all the potty-mouthed language that goes on in today's home entertainment, TV Guardian is here for you! Check out this demo video (the substitute words are ridiculous, thus absolutely - unintentionally - hilarious):Visit Badassdigest for more on the contraption.

End-of-Week News Round-up

2012-01-20T14:38:00.000+13:00

Howdy, it's been kinda hectic being back at work, hence the lack of blogging action lately, so I think it's time for another End-of-Week News Round-up post... some interesting film-related bits and pieces from the past week in case you missed 'em.

GENERAL NEWS

In a recent interview with Men's Journal, Mark Wahlberg said he could've stopped 9/11: "If I was on that plane with my kids, it wouldn’t have went down like it did." The actor has since apologised for his "irresponsible" comments.
The upcoming The Expendables sequel will be rated PG-13 because that's the way Chuck Norris wants it. I didn't care for the first film (which was rated R18 for graphic violence here) but still, really lame.
Quentin Tarantino's revealed his best and worst films of 2011. As usual there are some pretty weird, crappy, WTF choices (The Three Musketeers? Green Hornet??) along with the year's favourites (Rise of the Planet of the Apes, Midnight in Paris).
A massive (and hilarious) technical flub ruined a screening of Scorsese's Hugo, forcing patrons to watch the movie with ads playing on top of the film... more here.

CLIPS

Trailer: Side by Side - documentary produced by Keanu Reeves investigating "the history, process and workflow of both digital and photochemical film creation." Looking forward to hear filmmakers like James Cameron, Steven Soderbergh and Christopher Nolan discussing the medium and where it's heading.
Mash-up: "Hello" - Lionel Ritchie's hit ballad sung like you've never heard before.

DVD RELEASES

A few Universal titles that were meant to come in Feb have now been delayed until March: Midnight in Paris, The Art of Getting By, Another Earth. I'm hoping Midnight will get a Blu-ray release, the initial order form showed no sign of this.
Two of David Lynch's best films are coming to Blu-ray from Madman: Lost Highway, Twin Peaks: Fire Walk With Me.
TV watchers take note: acclaimed HBO series Game of Thrones and mini-series Mildred Pierce - just watch them and thank me later!

Random Stuff #26

2012-01-16T14:48:00.000+13:00

While everyone's currently busy live-blogging the Golden Globes, I've only got time at the moment to marvel at these two things: (1) a VHS toaster and (2) a clip from the live-action Filipino version of He-Man: Masters of the Universe...

Trailer Mash-Up: The Lion King Rises

2012-01-09T10:56:00.003+13:00

Audio from The Dark Knight Rises trailer + The Lion King = primo mash-up.

Random Stuff #25

2012-01-06T11:09:00.002+13:00

Happy New Year From Us All At Fatso...

2011-12-30T12:51:00.003+13:00

...and also from Zooey Deschanel & Joseph Gordon-Levitt.

Trailers: The Dark Knight Rises, The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey

2011-12-22T10:59:00.001+13:00

In case you missed them, trailers for two of 2012's biggest and most anticipated releases have hit the web. I'm not too fussed about The Hobbit, I was never too attached to the world of Lord of the Rings - though I'm interested to see how much WETA's CG has advanced since Fellowship of the Ring, which just had its 10th birthday the other day. The Dark Knight Rises, on the other hand, already has my money for that one "Holy shit!" shot you'll see in the trailer (the 8-minute prologue that was shown before Mission: Impossible - Ghost Protocol looked damn promising too).

Before They Were Stars: Michelle Williams

2011-12-19T08:48:00.000+13:00

Fantastic bit of adolescent awkwardness. Hoff steals the moment with his reactions to his boy Hobie getting invited to the party.

Trailer: The Raid

2011-12-16T14:45:00.001+13:00

Wildly hyped for this one. Welsh-born director Gareth Evans' follow-up to his 2009 martial arts flick Merantau has been getting some high praise on the fest circuit, the general consensus being that it's one of the best action films to come out in a long, long time. Good news is that it will be coming to theatres and DVD early next year. Here's the Indonesian trailer in all its bloody, bad-ass, bone-snappin', groin-punchin' glory:

2011: The Cinescape

2011-12-14T16:11:00.000+13:00

End of the year, feeling burnt out and can't remember what cinema in 2011 was like? Watch this thoughtful, beautifully edited compilation of clips from some key films that defined the year. Lots of big-hitters like Tree of Life, Harry Potter 7.2, Submarine and Transformers 3, but see if you can spot all those barely-there split-second clips of less high-profile films (Ip Man 2!).

Trailer: Battleship

2011-12-13T09:32:00.001+13:00

Peter Berg's films have gotten progressively bigger and more blockbuster-y over the years, particularly with the effects-heavy, Will Smith-starring Hancock. But that doesn't quite prepare you for the event-sized magnitude of Battleship, his adaptation of Hasbro's board game. Two words that spring to mind when watching this trailer: MICHAEL BAY. With its military-focused action, slick CGI robot transformations and large-scale scenes of devastation, Battleship is nothing if not Transformers all over again. According to this interview however, the film will be "unique" 'cos Berg is "bringing a level of realism and Naval cooperation" to it. A-hem. Anyway, here's the trailer, enjoy the explosions and get excited and whatnot...

Confessions of a Teenage Movie Geek

2011-12-12T15:21:00.001+13:00

Okay, time for a personal, self-indulgent post - one that'll probably portray me as a kid who didn't have much of a childhood other than watching movies 24-7. But surely some of you out there did this too, right? RIGHT??

I was clearing out my closet last night and stumbled onto my old film log book which I kept when I was 15-16. I'd been looking for it for a long time now, and I thought I threw it out years ago so was pretty stoked to have found it. It's utterly embarrassing and cringey stuff of course but an indispensable find for the nostalgist in me. I get a weird thrill from knowing that on Saturday November 26 1995 1:35pm I went to see The Specialist. And in the same year I snuck into see the very-R18 Color of Night in which you get see Bruce Willis' willy!!

I'm amused by the fact that I was obsessive/anal enough - at that age - to denote the format I watched the film on, whether it was on VHS, Laser Disc or SKY (!), and more bizarrely, religiously wrote down the Top 10 Films of the week after watching Box Office America. Who knows what I was thinking really. Anyway here are a few pages from the scrapbook for the world to gawk at. I know, I know, shut up.

‘‘I picked Captain Bligh because I liked his hat."

2011-12-08T13:07:00.005+13:00

For those of you out there that enjoy good art direction and something a little left of centre, here is a great gallery of short vignettes from The New York Times starring some of the hottest Oscar contenders playing some of the most iconic villainous archetypes the screen has seen. Simple, powerful and vibrant.

Plus a few insights from the actors on where they're coming from and/or what they're channeling: here.

The Sixth Annual Xmas Exploitation Screening

2011-12-08T08:58:00.001+13:00

If you're looking for an unorthodox way of celebrating Christmas, make your way down to the Academy Cinemas in Auckland tomorrow night for a special double feature screening of the gory Xmas slasher Saint and the indescribable chunk of cine-insanity known as Raw Force (in rare 35mm!). Tickets are only $12. Here's a sneak peek of what to expect:

Future of Cinema Projection in a Picture

2011-12-06T15:08:00.001+13:00

"On your left, the past: A person and a film. On your right, the future: A black box." - David Bordwell, "Pandora's digital box: In the multiplex". The piece leans towards the geekier/technical end of things but it provides a lot of insight and context into the forces that have influenced the current industry-wide switch to digital projection in cinemas.

Martin Scorsese: Genre-Hopper

2011-11-30T15:37:00.001+13:00

I've never really thought of Martin Scorsese as a genre-hopper before, even though it's pretty clear he's had a fairly varied career, working in different genres. Here's a neat infographic from Fast Company that visually summarises his body of work by genre and gives credence to the notion that he's often attempted other things beyond the crime/gangster movies that he's more well-known for:

Also be sure to check out the full interview with Scorsese - it's an excellent read which goes into his relationship with Hollywood and how he's manage to stay afloat in the "system" after all these years. His new 3D kids film Hugo, out here on Jan 12, is currently garnering really good press, probably some of his best in recent years.

RIP Ken Russell

2011-11-29T12:22:00.001+13:00

Ken Russell, one of Britain's most provocative and controversial directors, has died at age 84. The breadth of Russell's career is too great and wide-ranging that I could not possibly do any justice to it (having only seen a small percentage), but I can say this: the guy made one of my favourite films of all time: The Devils, an incendiary masterpiece that somehow continues to disturb Warner Brothers so much that they apparently still refuse to release it on DVD or give it any respectable home video treatment it definitely deserves (though the British Film Institute are rectifying this next year; one can only hope for a NZ release).

Sad to say we only have a miniscule portion of Ken Russell's work in our library but what there is is worth delving into if you're the least bit curious about him - certainly films like Tommy, Women in Love and Mahler are among his best and most acclaimed.

Round-up of obits: BBC News, The Guardian, Entertainment Weekly, New York Times.

Doco Short: The Umbrella Man

2011-11-25T11:30:00.001+13:00

Fans of detective fiction, conspiracy theories and oddball phenomena in general should watch this cool short documentary clip by Errol Morris (Standard Operating Procedure) about the "Umbrella Man", a seemingly enigmatic figure spotted in the Zapruder footage that filmed JFK's 1963 assassination. It's a segment from a six-hour interview he conducted with Josiah Thompson, the author of the book "Six Seconds in Dallas" which looks extensively at the Zapruder film.

Even though the man is utterly fascinating and chilling the first time we see him (it's a sunny day, open black umbrella, what the hell??), the "mystery" is not so much what's interesting about this doco, but how it illuminates the notion of macro/micro levels of historical research which Thompson talks about, and what Morris describes as "the nature of investigation and evidence" in his statement. I look forward to seeing more.

(This actually kind of reminds of that silly Cellphone Time Traveler case from last year...)

Trailer: The Walken Dead

2011-11-23T11:24:00.001+13:00

I love a good Christopher Walken impression, here's a video full of them, and they're zombies to boot... a smart little spoof of AMC's The Walking Dead, which is coming to DVD and Blu-ray on December 5th!

Fight for 35mm

2011-11-22T08:43:00.001+13:00

Here's another boring post/moan about the death of celluloid which everyone should sit up and take notice of, of course. Especially when you have high profile film critics like Roger Ebert writing heartfelt eulogies to 35mm, and Julia Marchese of New Beverly Cinema, a revival theatre in L.A. which Tarantino saved not too long ago, starting a petition to fight for the film's survival. The end is truly nigh. So if you still love seeing living, breathing, beautiful film projected in theatres, as opposed to the ALL-DIGITAL ROUTE things are eventually heading in, read this, and then go sign Marchese's petition to show you care (see also: Death of the Film Camera).

The Outer Limits: A Post-24 Hour Movie Marathon Wrap-Up

2011-11-21T14:37:00.001+13:00

One of the oddest things about the 24 Hour Movie Marathon each year is the feeling that it doesn't seem that long since that last one. I only ever venture out to Avondale once a year, for the marathon, and whenever I'm on the way there, taking the motorway exit, driving pass the Avondale shops, I get struck with a de ja vu-like sensation that it was just the other week I was here. This may be in part due to the fact that the marathon is such an indelible experience that it actually stays with you throughout the year, whether you're conscious of it or not. Or least that's how I'm trying to justify the feeling.

Not to sound like my judgement has been coloured by Fatso's involvement as sponsor or anything, but this year's marathon has to go down as one of the best, an opinion I think - I hope anyway - will be shared by many marathon-goers. The line-up of films was as delirious and varied and unpredictable as ever, ranging from pulpy '70s crime dramas to dime-store period horrors to super-obscure spaced-out student films to surreal regional oddities.

For those wondering what the effect of watching around 12 movies in a row in a theatre is like... first off, there WILL be some nodding off at some point. Unless you're wildly hopped up on V, or caffeine or some similar sleep-deprivation substance, there's a high chance you won't be fully awake at 3 in the morning trying to comprehend the non-existent plot of a glacially paced sexploitation flick that features an ailurophobic gangster. Everything starts to blur before breakfast time. You'll be confusing the line-up of films ("did Film X come first or Film Y or..?"), or forgetting something even played. It is a sort of druggy state of mind, something enhanced especially when the program fearlessly plunges into depths of cinema so unconventional, so extremely removed from norms of taste and technique that you feel zapped into another dimension. Which is to stay, whilst the marathon will provide you with many hours of laughter and entertainment, it is also a COMPLETE SENSORY EXPERIENCE. You won't be the same person you were earlier during the day when you sat down and eagerly awaited the first film out of the gate while the innocuous old-timey sounds of a live wurlitzer opened the event.

Kudos to Ant and the Incredibly Strange team, the Hollywood Cinema crew, and the appreciative, douche-bag-free audience for a fantastic 24 hours.

Stray thoughts:

The dinner/breakfast catering seemed to work really well.
If most people knew the rarity of some of the prints shown... mind-blown.
It seems to be warmer upstairs than downstairs. I usually sit down stairs at the back. There's a lot of legroom.
Few projection issues this year, i.e. nothing broke (Correction: there was a break at the end of Don't Be Afraid of the Dark according to marathon attendee Doug Dillaman - I must have slept through it)
Ant mentioned that this would be the last year that the marathon will be mostly 35mm (sob).
The superette next door has expanded!

Trailer: Safe and Safe House

2011-11-18T15:25:00.001+13:00

A couple of action-packed trailers for upcoming films with the word Safe in their titles and starring two actors who I'll almost always watch simply because they look cool beating the crap out of people. Both films seem to be on par quality-wise, though I might give the edge to Safe House because of Denzel's acting muscle.

ABCs of Death Winner Announced: T is For Toilet

2011-11-16T16:03:00.001+13:00

Check out the winning entry for the ABCs of Death competition, a terrifically gory piece of claymation from UK-based Lee Hardcastle. His short will be joining works by the likes of Ti West (House of the Devil), Jason Eisener (Hobo with a Shotgun) and Nacho Vigalondo (Timecrimes) in this hotly anticipated horror anthology film produced by Ant Timpson and Tim League.

Fatso 24 Hour Movie Marathon: The PSAs

2011-11-14T10:03:00.001+13:00

The PSA entries for the Fatso 24 Hour Movie Marathon competition are in. Check them out, tell us what you think! Thanks to all who entered - great effort! (warning: contains offensive language, nudity and bad taste)

The Dangers of Sitting: DVT & YOU from Hand-Out Collaborative on Vimeo.

Movie Marathon PSA: A Moviegoer's Story from Andrew Todd on Vimeo.

Spike Cellphone Helmet from Nick Withers on Vimeo.

Loopy for Looper

2011-11-11T13:43:00.001+13:00

SlashFilm has just posted some early buzz on Rian Johnson's next film, the time-travel thriller Looper and I couldn't resist echoing my anticipation for it. Although his sophomore effort The Brothers Bloom was a bit wobbly, I'm expecting - at least hoping - Looper will demonstrate the creativity and conviction of his debut Brick, albeit on a larger scale. Johnson's been documenting the production on tumblr, which is filled with beautiful images from the set, and if it's any indication of how the film will turn out, then it's going to be a real stunner. Unfortunately we'll have to wait until September 2012 to see it...

Make My Movie Finalists Announced

2011-11-10T15:29:00.000+13:00

The 12 finalists for the Make My Movie competition have been revealed. They were culled from 730 entries (!), no easy task I imagine - but from seeing the sheer number of head-slapping, WTF pitches I'd say it also wasn't too hard to pinpoint the contenders. For what it's worth, here's my loosey-goosey rundown of the finalists:

NEVER FORGET
Poster: Fantasy, adult-fairy-tale graphic novel by a 16-year-old girl? I dunno.
Idea: My initial thought was it was some kind of non-PC Harold and Kumar deal (incompetent slackers...), but the synopsis ends up reading darker ("brutal kidnapping"). The one-location setting and real-time approach are ambitious, budget-conscious decisions, but it's going to need some solid perfs and smart, convincing writing to pull its premise off.
Verdict: Nope.

THE BACH
Poster: Eye-catching perspective/image, wide open spaces = sense of mystery, possibility.
Idea: Limited location/characters works for the budget. Sergeant Dave sounds like a great meaty role. Interesting shifting dynamics between characters could fuel some tense moments, but will need to be super persuasive and not turn into a turgid chamber drama.
Verdict: Maybe.

THIS PAPIER MACHE BOULDER IS ACTUALLY REALLY HEAVY
Poster: That typeface has got to go.
Idea: Fun fantasy concept, if not entirely original. Could see this as a winning, charming lo-fi comedy if done right. Want to see what they do with the costumes and sets on a shoe-string. Getting a Bill & Ted/Galaxy Quest meets Michel Gondry/Special Problems feel.
Verdict: Potential.

BLUE VEIN
Poster: Off-putting. What is that? Ecoli?
Idea: Maybe it's the poster, which doesn't even begin to give you an idea of the story's tone or anything, or maybe it's the thought of blue cheese and porn in the same picture... but this smells like misfire to me.
Verdict: Nope.

HOW TO MEET GIRLS FROM A DISTANCE
Poster: I get it, but needs work.
Idea: Has there been a creepy stalking rom-com before? I can't think of one off the top of my head. This could be a goer. Mass crowd appeal because we're all stalkers at heart.
Verdict: Potential.

KILL BY MOUTH
Poster: First thoughts: The Invisible Man/The Tenant/Timecrimes.
Idea: This kind of hallucinatory brain-melt plot is usually up my alley but hard to gauge if this is tongue-in-cheek or not ("drinking endless pina coladas"). Intriguing to say the least, and there aren't enough movies with hypnotists around. Not really fond of that title aye.
Verdict: Maybe.

NUMBER 8 WIRE
Poster: Torturrrre porrrnn.
Idea: Like The Bach, title is unmistakably NZ. Do we really need a Kiwi Deliverance or Rituals? It'll need to bring some fresh to the table. Dig the MacGyer quote, hope they can come up with some cool make-shift contraptions.
Verdict: Maybe.

THE HELMET
Poster: Nice, clean.
Idea: Source Code-y high concept that sounds like a tired Twilight Zone gimmick, but if it can produce some serious laughs and nifty twists, then I'd like to see them.
Verdict: Maybe.

DOWNHILL
Poster: Looks like a sports flick with a phantom angry face seeping through the paper.
Idea: I can go with 4 girls on mountain bikes, but the rest of it sounds a bit rote. Broken leg, no cell phone reception, etc. Actually if you had the 4 girls on mountain bikes vs the Number 8. wire dude that would be the ideal pic.
Verdict: Nah.

TAXI TAPES
Poster: Oh dear.
Idea: A haunted taxi cab.
Verdict: Do not want.

SEX PRIEST
Poster: I actually would love to see a poster with the words "SEX PRIEST" in the lobby of Event Cinemas.
Idea: Bad Santa but with a priest? Taboo-busting, irreverent comedy could be quite something if they can make it work (I can't imagine how at this stage) - but sounds like it has a sweet twist to it as well.
Verdict: Maybe.

FOLEY
Poster: Slick. Minimal. Striking.
Idea: A profession rarely seen on film so immediately fascinating. Thinking Rod Serling's Blow Out or The Conversation or something. Trick is whether writers can sustain the plot's central tease for an entire feature.
Verdict: Sure.

Every Michael Bay Explosion Ever

2011-11-03T10:20:00.001+13:00

Don't think this needs any further explanation... what can I say, the guy loves it when things go BOOM.

The Craziest Film Set in the History of Film?

2011-11-02T15:51:00.002+13:00

Ok, now this is nuts. This jaw-dropping GQ article goes behind the scenes of Russian director Ilya Khrzhanovsky's insane magnum opus Dau, a film which has been shooting for 5 years with no clear intention of stopping. But that's only the start of it. You need to read the entire piece to fully appreciate the magnitude and craziness of this undertaking, which involves a self-contained community under totalitarian rule. If this is true, it would be the most bizarre film production ever, like a real-life Soviet version of Synecdoche, New York or something...

Depp vs Gervais

2011-10-27T14:55:00.001+13:00

Ricky Gervais (whose mouth seems to land him in trouble every now and then) has a new BBC sitcom coming out called Life's Too Short, starring dwarf actor Warwick Davis (Willow) as the head of a talent agency for actors under five feet tall. Here's an amusing preview clip featuring Johnny Depp taking Gervais to task for some stuff he said at the Golden Globes. I love watching actors be arseholes to each other.

Unofficial Credits Sequence: The Adventures of Tintin

2011-10-26T15:43:00.002+13:00

This "unofficial" opening credits sequence to Steven Spielberg's The Adventures of Tintin by James Curran (aka slimjimstudios) is one of the most charming bits of animation I've seen in a while. It also charmed the pants off Spielberg, so much so that he's invited Curran to the premiere and given him a job!
The Adventures of Tintin from James Curran on Vimeo.

In sort of sucky news, we're going to be among the last in the world to see this movie...

60 Years of Cinema (in 40 Seconds)

2011-10-26T14:35:00.003+13:00

A stunning little montage, with many iconic images. See how many films you can pick out...(via Wonders in the Dark)

Trailer: Premium Rush

2011-10-25T13:06:00.001+13:00

David Koepp's name is more widely associated with the scripts he's penned for some ginormous blockbusters (Spider-Man, Jurassic Park), but he's also directed a couple of interesting smaller movies in his career like The Trigger Effect and Stir of Echoes where he's showed some deftness in executing an economical thriller (let's not talk about Ghost Town). His next directorial effort, Premium Rush, looks to be in the same modest scale as those films (albeit on a bigger budget), relying on smart thriller writing rather than big expensive effects to sell itself. It stars Joseph Gordon-Levitt as a bike messenger who's carrying an envelope that bad cop Michael Shannon really wants to have. Trailer shows off some cool stunts, vibrant location shooting in New York and a brisk sense of pace that promises it'll be an adrenalin rush.

Trailer: The ABC's of Death

2011-10-21T13:57:00.000+13:00

Highly anticipated horror anthology The ABC's of Death now has a trailer for the competition they've been running to decide who will be the 26th director to make the cut. Click here to see all the entries so far and vote for your favourite. Lots of gore and nasty stuff to follow so consider this NSFW...

Seems like such a long time ago...

2011-10-19T12:49:00.002+13:00

This almost had me in tears. It's so over-the-top it's almost like a Tim and Eric spoof.

Death of the Film Camera

2011-10-19T10:32:00.002+13:00

Woke up to this distressing news. It was bound to happen sooner or later, but it doesn't make it any easier!! I'm trying to look on the positive side and imagine when Digital = Film as technology improves but right now it's hard to get excited about this development.

Just as a side point - this is not so much about film cameras as such but digital projection, and to illustrate the "unevenness" of all things digital (not saying 35mm is perfect but humour me for a sec). A quick run-down on three films I saw projected digitally recently and what they looked like:

Source Code (St. Lukes) - this was the best of the bunch. Crisp, fine-grain-look, great colour. But the image also felt like there was no life. The flicker is missing!
Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part II (Gold Class, Queen St) - it looked like Blu-ray projected on the big screen. Sharp, but sterile and lifeless image.
The Devil's Double (Rialto) - one of the worst I've ever seen. Smeary, blown-out, lacking detail. It was pretty much DVD on the big screen.

I guess what I'm saying is there is a "living" aesthetic to film that digital lacks at the moment. When I go to the movies, I want to watch something that moves. I can save sharp Blu-ray/HD-whatever for the home. I want a different experience at the movies.

Anyway, back to film cameras - a massive pet peeve I have is when you can detect the video-y look slipping into an otherwise good-looking digitally shot pic. Way to take you OUT of the goddamn movie. This occurred when I watched Fright Night recently. 80% of the film looked ok, but then in the last reel heaps of shots started to exhibit really awful video blur/motion that looked like they were last minute re-shoots (imagine a slick big budget film that suddenly looks like something you could've shot on your consumer-grade DV cam). I'm not the most technically minded person but I appreciate aesthetics and I see what I see, and if I see something crap... well, it's crap. If anyone can explain to me the nature of this "effect", I'd love to hear it.

Trailer: The Avengers

2011-10-18T16:07:00.001+13:00

There's this shot in modern action blockbusters that I'm becoming increasingly weary of: a crowded New York street, a massive explosion or three, cars being flung into the air and peeps making a dash for it. It's like a Roland Emmerich signature that seems to be poppin' up with frequency in superhero films too. And it's definitely in The Avengers. Okay so it's an attention-grabbing way of conveying destruction of an enormous size, but it's not surprising anymore guys. It looks too easy. It was quite a thing back when Twister air-lifted an oil tanker in 1996. But today it's just another multi-million dollar CGI set-piece you can gawk at with jaded indifference.

But I digress. Let's talk The Avengers. Casting aside my usual hang-ups with the genre (enough already!), this looks fun, if only for the geeky satisfaction of having characters from different franchises coming together for a men-on-a-mission-type deal. There's always a danger of character-overcrowding with this kind of project though, especially with a star cast that could be awkwardly vying for equal screen time. But I think fans can rest easy knowing that fellow fanboy Joss Whedon (Firefly) is at the helm, it looks like he knows what he's doing. The Avengers is scheduled for a May release next year.

R.I.P. Bill Barounis

2011-10-17T09:21:00.001+13:00

The name Bill Barounis may not mean much to a lot of people reading this, but for anyone who's into lost Turkish genre films - or weird world cinema in general - Bill was King. Sadly I just found out that Bill, who started the one-man-company Onar Films to make available some of the rarest Turkish movies ever, passed away over a week ago (yep, I'm falling way behind on my Google Reader updates...). From dipping in and out of discussion forums, I'd been aware that he was battling cancer for a couple of years now, and that he recently had a bad stroke. It didn't look good, but it still comes as a shock to find out that he's actually gone.

I first dealt with Bill some years ago when he was selling tapes on eBay under the name deathland. I bought a few things off him (still have J.P. Simon's Supersonic Man gathering dust somewhere), and he was a great guy to deal with, but I mostly liked to check back on his items-for-sale to see what kind of oddities he was selling - and the crazy prices they would go for. These were super-rare, original, often bootlegged Greek pre-records of horrors, gialli, superhero films that were highly sought after in the collectors' market.

Onar Films was a godsend to fans of these films. Because of the rarity of these films, and the lack of decent sources, these prints generally look less-than-stellar (HD snobs need not apply), but they were the best he could find and he packed the DVDs with many neat extra features. Plus they were all subtitled. Have a peek at the opening minutes of Casus Kiran (Spy Smasher) just to get an idea what they're like:

I tried to pick up almost everything he put out, and it's a real bummer that Onar will cease to exist now that he's no longer around. We're talking the preservation and distribution of movies that an industry had zero interest in archiving or caring for. There's no cushy vault somewhere housing a mint print of 3 Dev Adam. These aren't films that'll likely get released in New Zealand. One can only hope someone else will continue the legacy that Bill left behind, and do it with same kind of dedication that could only come from someone who did it solely for the love of these films.

For The Star Wars Fan With Everything #17

2011-10-14T09:32:00.003+13:00

Our Inventory Administrator, Joel, is a huge STAR WARS fan and a very talented bass player. This post is especially for him.

Liquid Television is Online!

2011-10-11T15:12:00.000+13:00

Not sure how many of you out there remember MTV's Liquid Television from the '90s, but it's one of my fondest adolescent TV memories and I've just discovered that a sizable collection of shorts from the show are now available to watch online! Featuring heaps of wild, seriously screwed-up cartoons (some like Beavis and Butthead and Aeon Flux would later achieve cult status), it's a one-of-a-kind programme that I'd religiously set the VCR to record weekly when it aired on TV3 late at night. I've never seen anything like it, with that kind of anarchic creative freedom, on TV again. Browse the archives here.

For the Star Wars Fan with Everything #16

2011-10-10T13:00:00.001+13:00

Poor pup, but oh so adorable...

(via Cute Overload)

End-of-Week News Round-up

2011-10-07T15:29:00.001+13:00

Sorry it's been a bit of a mad week so haven't had a chance to post anything! Here's a quick round-up of interesting/topical news and stuff from the past week split into easy-to-digest categories:

DEATHS

Steve Jobs, visionary former CEO of Apple, passed away at 56. While he gave us MacBooks, iPhones, etc and revolutionised personal computing, we should remember he was also a crucial player in jump-starting Pixar. See also: amazing, powerful tribute image from a 19-year-old graphic designer in Hong Kong, and a typically great Onion piece here.
Also RIP Charles Napier, a legend in his own right, a classic "Hey, it's that guy!" character actor who specialised in playing tough authority figures like cops and military dudes. You may not know his name, but you will have seen his face:

CASTING

Looks like Kurt Russell is stepping in to replace Kevin Costner in Quentin Tarantino's due-in-2012 spaghetti western Django Unchained. I would've loved to have seen Costner in the role but absolutely not complaining about Russell.
The weirdest, and most awesome casting news of the week has to be Werner Herzog playing a villain in Tom Cruise's next thriller One Shot, based on Lee Child's Jack Reacher novels.
I'm also excited to hear Steve Carrell will be tackling a non-comedic role in Foxcatcher, which, based on the subject matter, sounds like it could be a great true crime film.

Much-missed sitcom Arrested Development is returning for a fourth season after going off-air in 2006 and a movie will follow.

DVD RELEASES

Magna Pacific have pulled They Call Her Cleopatra Wong and The One Armed Executioner from their October schedule, citing "high rating costs" (both titles were going to be R18). A real bummer, I was very much looking forward to having these in our library.
Horror fan-fave Hellraiser and its sequel are on the way from Vendetta next month. Strangely these have never been on DVD here, though we've had III and IV on our site for a while now.

THE REST

No stranger to making big bold statements (that often get him in trouble), Danish auteur Lars von Trier has now vowed never to give interviews ever again.
Before They Were Stars: Young Ryan Gosling belting it out on the Mickey Mouse Club (must-see!).
It's hard to excited about anything Tom Cruise-movie-related anymore but when it's Cruise in real life doing/say weird stuff, sure: TMZ have posted a clip of Cruise doing a dance battle at billionaire movie producer David Ellison's wedding.

Lee Unkrich Joins Tumblr

2011-09-29T14:00:00.002+13:00

Lee Unkrich, the director of Toy Story 3, has taken to Tumblr to document the making of his next, yet-untitled Pixar movie with one photo a day. Tumblr is a blogging platform that uses a similar "follower" concept to Twitter, and it's incredibly user-friendly ("blogging for lazy people"). The ease of adding text, photo, video and audio makes it an ideal way for a film director - or any artist - to quickly share their creative process with the public. Unkrich has only added two photos so far - a close-up of a keyboard, a sandwich with a side of broccoli - but these aren't really clues to the film: on his twitter, he said, "About my photo-a-day project: don't expect revealing clues. This is a personal project detailing my experience in an abstract way". Which is fine, since there's always the risk of revealing too much. It's an ingenious teaser anyway. We don't know anything about this movie at this stage but we'll be following closely.

Drive + Hype

2011-09-26T14:31:00.000+13:00

I finally had the chance to catch a screening of Nicolas Winding Refn's Drive (courtesy of our friends at Vendetta Films) last week after months of buzzy anticipation (blogged about it back in May), but this isn't going to be a formal review, just some stray non-spoilery (possibly incoherent) thoughts on the film:

Intial reaction: mostly positive. For a film that's on a narrative level, not particularly "interesting" nor ground-breaking, I'm finding it rather hard to pin down; I usually write my notes post-screening but I've left it until now - four days later - to do anything about it. Maybe to let the film sink in? Maybe it was so damn good, I couldn't bring myself to write about it? I'm still not sure.
Drive is all look and feel. The opening scenes oddly felt like Blade Runner to me or something. L.A. never felt so futuristic in the present. Yet it's a film that's blatantly '80s retro in its aesthetic (the pink script font of the opening credits, the lush Euro-tinged electro-pop on the soundtrack, etc). Either way, this might end up being one of the best-looking L.A. movies ever. I always love seeing the US through the eyes of a foreign filmmaker.
It's easy to see where Refn is cribbin' from: Jean Pierre-Melville, Sergio Leone, Walter Hill, etc. But it's not distracting - nor obnoxiously fanboy-ish, like Tarantino at his mix-master worst - since the whole thing's so marvelously synthesized and emerges with its own unique vibe.
This is NOT an action film. It's not Fast and Furious 5. It's more crime-noir. More dream cinema. More Taxi Driver. Almost anti-action. Though I did keep thinking of John Woo's The Killer, which itself of course is indebted to Melville etc.
Ryan Gosling - dude can do a wicked stare. He's as tightly wound and pared down as Refn's direction. No fat here.
My main fault with the film is the rather thankless treatment of a couple of characters - but my lips are sealed...

The film opens 3rd November in NZ and I hope it does alright, considering it's a "small film" that has proven a little difficult to market (it looks like a car movie, but it's not). It has the weight of HYPE on its shoulders too. I'm gonna call this the "Black Swan Effect". I recall the agonising wait for Black Swan to come out last year. Blogs all over the web were going nuts over it and when I finally got to see it, I dug it - but now, almost a year later, it's a film I have not much interest in seeing again. Ever. I blame it on hype. The expectations built by hype have ruined it for me. It's a bit of a strange thing I've noticed more and more recently: getting super-excited about upcoming films but when you finally come to see it, it never achieves the level of excitement that you initially had for it, even if it might be a perfectly okay movie. I really do hope Drive won't turn into another Black Swan; at this point in time, it seems like something I'd like to visit again soon.

Kid Casting

2011-09-26T10:58:00.000+13:00

Don't you love a well-cast kid actor who appears in a flashback of the adult character? Here's a tumblr full of them... very cool.

Random Stuff #24

2011-09-22T16:05:00.000+12:00

Just realised it's been in a while since the last batch of Random Stuff...

Teaser Trailer: The Grey

2011-09-22T14:41:00.002+12:00

I like how Liam Neeson is kinda shaping up to be a version of those gruff old school old-timer leading men that Hollywood used to have in abundance; think Lee Marvin, Burt Lancaster, Warren Oates, Charles Bronson etc. - men who look like they've been around the block but still have a little bit of fire in their engine to really kick some ass. Following Taken and Unknown, The Grey is the latest Neeson vehicle to give him some serious action chops and it looks frickin' great. Re-teaming him with The A-team director Joe Carnahan, it's a snowbound survivalist thriller pitting a plane-crash-surviving group of oil-rig workers against the Alaskan wilderness. I'm not crazy about Carnahan's Smokin' Aces nor The A-Team, but I like Narc a lot and hope perhaps The Grey will deliver something on the level of that bad cop flick. Teaser trailer here.. how cool is that makeshift Wolverine claw thing Neeson is sporting??

Attack the Block To Premiere at 24 Hour Movie Marathon

2011-09-20T10:03:00.000+12:00

British comedian Joe Cornish's urban sci-fi monster movie Attack the Block has been announced to screen at the 24 Hour Movie Marathon on November 19th. The film's been getting some hot press around the place and looks pretty dang fun... check out the trailer and buy yourself a ticket (or two) to this "Mount Everest of Movie Experiences" here (don't waste your time, it'll sell out!):

Making the Pitch

2011-09-16T09:57:00.000+12:00

Have you been sitting on an amazing story/idea for a film with no money to make it? Now here's the chance to catch your big break! In the tradition of Project Greenlight, 48Hour Filmmaking Competition founder Ant Timpson and nzherald.co.nz entertainment editor Hugh Sundae have come up with MAKE MY MOVIE, a low-budget filmmaking scheme/competition which will give $100K to a budding filmmaker with the best movie pitch. It's pretty much open to anyone who has an idea, and what's neat about this competition is the multi-platform approach, which includes social media interactivity (voting via Facebook, Google+) and a reality-TV component with "webisodes" that'll cover the entire process.

The submissions go up live on the website, and so far there have been some unintentionally hilarious WTF ideas, especially when coupled with the less-than-polished Photoshop artwork. It also makes it hard to tell what percentage of these might be piss-takes... I dunno. It'll be an entertaining ride I'm sure... now anyone up for Battle Scar?

Piecing Together the Action Sequence

2011-09-15T10:55:00.000+12:00

Jim Emerson, who runs the excellent blog Scanners at Chicago Sun-Times, has put together a great video essay taking apart a key action sequence from Christopher Nolan's The Dark Knight. It makes for a nice follow-up to Matthias Stork's Chaos Cinema essays, cogently scrutinising how certain editorial choices have affected the way this particular action sequence has turned out. It's not something that I noticed, nor probably most viewers out there; if you watch it uninterrupted without Emerson's commentary, it seems to hang together fairly well. And that's what's cool about this essay, is that it's examining the flaws of an action scene that isn't actually all that terrible or incoherent - Nolan's fight scenes are much worse - but the problems with "spatial integrity" are still there, as he persuasively points out:
In the Cut, Part I: Shots in the Dark (Knight) from Jim Emerson on Vimeo.

Emerson also looks at the the Angelina Jolie chase scene in Salt, which comparatively has a better sense of on-screen spatial relationships, even though it drops the ball where logic is concerned in one crucial bit:
In the Cut, Part II: A Dash of Salt from Jim Emerson on Vimeo.

Notes:

It's kinda interesting that he used Salt as an example. Noyce may have executed this sequence skillfully, but rest of the action in Salt is pretty forgettable and plagued with "Chaos Cinema"-style editing.
Stork's essay made me re-watch Ronin - for the first time since its theatrical release - and it was simply a breath of fresh air and much better than I remembered. Frankenheimer really knew how to direct good, clear action.
I'd like to see an essay from someone defending Paul Greengrass's Bourne films and how his use of shakey-cam can be argued as effective (or in the greater scheme of things, how this technique can be used well).
Check out the comments under Emerson's essay. If you're really into this stuff, you'll lose yourself in it. Great stuff.

Cult Classic Trailer: They Call Her Cleopatra Wong

2011-09-14T09:11:00.000+12:00

Holy shit. Maybe we should just call October "Filipino Action Comes to Fatso" Month! Not only is For Your Height Only/Impossible Kid and Machete Maidens Unleashed! coming from Vendetta Films, now we have Bobby A. Suarez's They Call Her Cleopatra Wong and The One-Armed Executioner due from Magna Pacific!! Both films were released last year as a double feature disc by Dark Sky Films in the US, but are coming out separately here, and what's interesting, and possible cause for excitement, is that Aussie retail site DVD Orchard lists Cleopatra Wong as being a "16x9 Enhanced Transfer"... the Dark Sky DVD used a full-screen master, and in all likelihood, the version we'll be getting will be the same one, but here's hoping someone's dug up a nice scope print for this and it's not just a data error on DVD Orchard's part. As for the film itself, I have a soft spot for it because (1) it sports one of the catchiest titles around, and (2) that poster art.... goddamn, it's one of the best ever. Plus there are nuns with shotguns in it, long before any of that post-modern nonsense like Machete and this.

Notes:

There seems to be THREE Cleopatra Wong-related films: The Bionic Boy, They Call Her Cleopatra Wong, and Dynamite Johnson (aka Return of the Bionic Boy). The latter is a favourite of mine, and if memory serves me correctly was the first VHS Vortex column I wrote for Real Groove a few years ago. Sadly, both Bionic Boy films are still unavailable on DVD (at least not officially anyway).
A little background on Cleopatra Wong herself, Marrie Lee.

Classic Trailer: Metropolis: Reconstructed & Restored

2011-09-08T08:45:00.003+12:00

Fritz Lang's monumental sci-fi classic Metropolis has finally been reconstructed and restored and DVD and Blu-ray is out today from Madman! This new release contains the original 150-minute director's cut and reinstates 25 minutes of footage that was thought to have been lost for 80 years. You can read more about the restored footage here, and if you've never this film, this is the best possible version available. Here's a glimpse of what to expect...

Old School Pixar

2011-09-06T09:16:00.002+12:00

From 1972, this really neat video shows one of the earliest CG 3D animations ever, made by Ed Catmull, the founder of Pixar. It eventually found its way into a sequence in the movie Futureworld. Read more about it here.

Cult Classic Trailer: For Y'ur Height Only

2011-08-31T13:58:00.001+12:00

If you had told me, 7 years go (when I started working here), that we'd be stocking For Y'ur Height Only in our library, I'd probably think you were punkin' me. This Filipino midget-spy-spoof insanity was one of the treasures from the days of Pete Tombs' Mondo Macabro (the DVD label released it in 2005) and I never thought I'd see the day when it'd be getting a local release. So props to Vendetta Films, whose October 19th release of this nutty gem (and its sequel The Impossible Kid) will be getting my award for Most Surprising Local DVD Release of the Year. Check out the trailer:

Also worth checking out is Machete Maidens Unleashed! a documentary about low-budget Filipino filmmaking in the '70s from the director of the superb Not Quite Hollywood. Long live Weng Weng!

Death Delivers: A Quick Spoiler-Free Word on Final Destination 5

2011-08-30T15:21:00.000+12:00

Caught a screening of Final Destination 5 last night, and to put it simply, it delivered. After the cruddy, lazy fourth one, this entry felt very much like a reinvigoration of the franchise, an attempt to put things right and round off the series in a way that would satisfy both fans and newcomers. Much credit must be given to director Steven Quale*, whose staging of the film's gruesome, Grand Guignol set-pieces - the series' raison d'etre - is spectacularly well-executed, especially the jaw-dropping opener, which is just as good if not better than FD2's. I tend to switch off if too much CGI is used in horror splatter and there's still a bit of that here, but the CGI is also subtly, almost invisibly applied in this opening sequence without losing the scale of the devastation. Of course, the 3D bits are gimmicky as usual, though strangely I didn't mind it as much as FD4, perhaps 'cos everything about this movie is just better overall. It's the funnest horror film I've seen in a theatre in a while - and I wouldn't even count myself a FD fan. Opens this Thursday, go see it!

(*Quale hasn't done much by way of feature directing, but he's served as second unit director for James Cameron on Titanic and Avatar, so it's not inconceivable that he's picked up some of Cameron's chops for staging spatially coherent spectacle. Keen to see what he does next.)


Roadshow's screening invite

Good Morning!

2011-08-26T09:02:00.000+12:00

Melbourne: Adventures in Film, Part 2: The Astor

2011-08-25T10:31:00.003+12:00

Auckland needs an Astor Theatre. Pronto. While we still have a few single screen theatres around such as the Lido, Civic, Academy and Hollywood Cinema, they fall short of being a complete film buff’s dream house. Lido’s elegant and done up nicely, but they tend to stick to showing lite “granny-vision” “arthouse” films - same/similar stuff you’d find playing at Rialto; Hollywood is perhaps closest to Astor in feel, and they show occasional retro but it’s mostly second-run mainstream, and usually only comes alive when it’s time for the annual 24 Hour Movie Marathon. Likewise the Civic’s a once-a-year visit, when the NZFF comes round. To put it simply, things can be so much better......

OK now imagine if you had a theatre to go every week where there are cult double features, 70mm print screenings and old classics playing alongside cool second run films - that’s the Astor Theatre. Visiting the Astor was perhaps the highlight of my trip. I love being able to rock up to a theatre and catch a 35mm print of John Frakenheimer’s The Train on a Sunday night, and then the following night, a 70mm of Pink Floyd - The Wall. When you walk into the lobby it feels like you’ve travelled back in time. The old, art deco look has been maintained beautifully and the ushers even wear vests and bow ties for that extra special touch. You’ll find spots in the theatre that look like this:

There’s also a cat named Marzipan who roams around and has been known to sit on the laps of patrons during screenings.

Anyway the films were great. The Train has been sitting on my rental queue for a long time now, but when you get an opportunity to catch a film like this on the big screen, you don’t pass it up! Such an incredible, thrilling, muscular movie made when Frankenheimer was at his artistic peak churning out masterpieces like The Manchurian Candidate and Seconds. And Burt Lancaster impressively does all his own stunts! It was my first time with The Wall as well, and it was quite a spectacular psych-out treat. The screening was way more packed than The Train, which was mostly attended by senior citizens who probably saw it when it first came out (or even fought in World War II). The 70mm print wasn’t the most colourful but was fairly clean and it sounded superb.

“Fine films and atmosphere” indeed! Man, there's a Two-Lane Blacktop/Zabriskie Point double coming up...

Breaking Bad as a Sitcom

2011-08-25T08:47:00.002+12:00

To quote one of the youtube comments, this turns "one of the most badass TV shows into an episode of Mr Bean". Or Full House... Worth it just for the opening credits, too funny. (Maybe slightly spoilerish for those who haven't seen this episode - "The Fly" - but it doesn't reveal major plot details in the grand scheme of things)

Chaos Cinema: The Decline and Fall of Action Filmmaking

2011-08-23T11:44:00.002+12:00

This terrific, well-presented video essay by film scholar Matthias Stork basically looks at how crappy action films have become today. Although there is a time and place for chaotic editing and visuals, this essay convincingly argues that most contemporary Hollywood action films are lazily shot, bludgeoning experiences that don't really care about the viewer.

Chaos Cinema Part 1 from Matthias Stork on Vimeo.

Chaos Cinema Part 2 from Matthias Stork on Vimeo.

(via Press Play)

Melbourne: Adventures in Film, Part 1

2011-08-23T09:04:00.005+12:00

The idea of travelling to another city to spend most of your time watching movies might seem crazy and a waste of time to a lot of people; after all why not take in the rich, foreign surroundings of a different country instead of engaging in such a passive indoor activity as sitting in a darkened theatre, which kinda looks the same in every part of the world? The simple fact of the matter is, if you’re a rabid film buff, it’s a lot of fun. It's also a lot more physically challenging that you might think.

My August trip over to the Melbourne International Film Festival was less intense than the last two times I went over for there specifically for the fest (circa ‘07-’08 I think) - I was only there for its last few days. But it was the same sort of experience: duckin’ in and out of theatres, going for a snack in-between movies, shopping (mostly window), catching up with friends/family, and much walking and tramming. Every little thing adds to the overall experience, particularly the unfamiliarity and novelty of a different locale (although frequent visits here have made it less special...).

Before I get onto the films, here are a few things to note for those thinking about flying across the Tasman for the MIFF in the future:

Their programme is much larger, and goes for 17 days! I also tend to find their programming a tad more adventurous than NZ’s.

Movie tickets here are expensive: AU$15-18, so convert that and do the math... and weep.

Tickets are easily bookable over their site, with the handy option to print them from the comfort of your own home.

They have barcode scanners upon entry - no ripping of tickets - so it’s pretty flash. But I sometimes wonder how fool proof it is. Ushers often ask if your ticket has been scanned, you could just say "yes" and waltz in with a fake ticket.

Seating is general admission. It's a good idea to arrive early because, there are queues, and the theatres aren’t massive like the Civic. Sessions sell out fast.

The theatres: Greater Union is kinda dingy, and needs a facelift, but has that stuck-in-time dampness that is not without charm; Forum is closest to the Civic in its oldey look and feel, but watch out for vertigo when you climb those very steep steps to get to your seat; ACMI looks the cleanest and newest and the seating is spacious (it's also worth looking around the building).

There are ads before the films (including MIFF’s own art-film spoofs), so it gets a bit annoying seeing the same ones if you’re seeing a lot of films.

Audiences here love to CLAP and WALK OUT.

Forum theatre, Flinders St.

Here’s what i caught (my picks reflect a conscious decision to avoid seeing films that were playing at NZFF, just so, y’know to make it all the more special):

DAY ONE (04.08.11)

Maybe it was post-journey exhaustion setting in or whatever but the first day didn’t get off to a shining start with a double feature of Stephane Lafleur’s Familiar Ground and Alexandr Mindadze’s Innocent Saturday, the latter being the film that I was most hyped about. I picked Familiar Ground (which translates to Familiar Grounds on-screen) on the basis of its time travel element, and Lafleur’s supposedly droll take on it, but it turns out that it plays such a small part that it almost barely warrants a mention. This is NOT a time travel or sci-fi film. It’s a fairly standard deadpan, deeply mundane family-dysfunction indie that’s nice to look at and occasionally dryly amusing, but overall kinda ho-hum.

Innocent Saturday jumped out at me for two reasons: (1) it’s shot by Oleg Mutu who shot the stunning 4 Months, 3 Months & 2 Days, and (2) its Chernobyl setting. In the film Chernobyl’s just happened, and we follow a Communist party member who’s learned of the explosion, but instead of quickly getting the hell out of town (he does try), he ends up getting drunk at a wedding party and playing drums for the wedding band while his girlfriend sings. This film had more walkouts than any other film I’ve seen this year, maybe ever. People were dropping like flies. It was almost exhilarating to experience. Blame it on Mutu’s non-stop vom-inducing hand-held cinematography, and the lack of anything that actually happened. It felt like the entire thing was one long, unforgettably boozy wedding night. Although undeniably electrifying in spots (the ominous opening, the centrepiece band performance), the film will definitely wear you down. I think I was expecting something more predictably apocalyptic, but I admire it for taking a less obvious approach.

DAY TWO (05.08.11)

Started the day early with The Ugly Duckling, a delightful, faithful Russian adaptation of Hans Christensen Andersen’s classic fairytale. 69-year-old stop-motion animator Garri Bardin spent six years making this - his feature debut - and it’s easy to tell from the wondrous results that it’s a project that’s been nurtured with a lot of heart and care. A beautifully executed, absolutely worthy version of an oft-told story. The theatre was half-filled with school kids, who were pretty well-behaved and seem to be engaged.

Second film was a late-nighter, an 11:30pm screening of Lucky McKee’s The Woman (played NZFF but I missed it). It’s a horror flick that’s caused quite a ruckus around festivals (see this now infamous youtube video of a visibly perturbed audience member), but for the jaded, it’s not as extreme as some of the buzz have suggested. There’s some warped stuff in the there, but McKee’s essentially going over-the-top in satirical fashion - it’s not something that gets under your skin and stays there for days. The tone is all over the place, but it’s never boring, and the cast give thoroughly committed performances. Still not as good as May though. McKee and Pollyana McIntosh (The Woman) were in attendance for a Q&A (questions were a mix of the usual ‘what was your inspiration’ cringe and filmmaker ass-kissing, including a guy who shamelessly hogged the mic for what seemed like forever).

DAY THREE (06.08.11)

Most satisfying, wildly different double feature of the MIFF so far. Essential Killing is a top-notch survival thriller from Polish director Jerzy Skolimowski, whose 1970 coming-of-age flick Deep End is an all-time favourite of mine. In a wordless performance of pure, animal physicality, the substantially bearded Vincent Gallo very much looks the part of a Taliban fighter on the run from US soldiers. Starts off a bit bumpy - some of the peripheral characters feel a bit too broad - but when it settles down to Gallo solo, alone in the wild, on the move, eating bugs and hallucinating and stuff, it’s a strange, gritty little trip that doesn’t outstay its welcome.

The Hollywood Complex might be the most entertaining film I’ve seen all festival season long. Funny, heartbreaking, and more than a little disturbing, this doco looks at a group of child actors who make their way to Hollywood during “pilot season” in the hopes of becoming the next Miley or Dakoa Fanning. It’s both a cautionary tale about breaking your kids too early into the limelight and sacrificing their adolescence for career pursuits, and a testament to their radiant, uninhibited spirit.

DAY FOUR (07.08.11)

Festival time ended with a late morning “surprise screening” of Mike Cahill’s super-low-budget no-fi effort Another Earth, which I’m thankful for since it sold out earlier on and only played Wellington in NZ. It’s a familiar study of grief and redemption that’s freshened by its surreal central concept: the discovery of a twin Earth (doubling as a metaphor for second chances etc). Brit Marling gives a star-making performance as a cleaner beating herself up over killing two-thirds of a family in a car accident - and that’s creepy Ethan from LOST as the sole crash survivor whose life is in tatters. Not exactly polished work, but the film does offer a few striking images, and I dug its bluesy, sombre, ethereal feel. Cahill knows how to effectively make the most of his budgetary limitations. Would make a cool double feature with Lars von Trier’s Melancholia.

Next up... a trip to the Astor Theatre.

West Memphis 3 Free!

2011-08-20T15:53:00.015+12:00

Incredible news today that the West Memphis Three have been freed! If you've never heard of them, their story has been a truly heartbreaking one, brilliantly captured in two documentaries by Joe Berlinger and Bruce Sinofsky, Paradise Lost (1996) and Paradise Lost 2: Revelations (2000) - both which sadly, have yet to be released on DVD in our part of the world. It has also come to light that Peter Jackson and Fran Walsh had a hand in helping them, contributing everything from paying legal costs and hiring private eyes to look deeper into the case. A third doco is also on the way - with an ending that no doubt will need to be changed - here's a brief clip from it:

Silencio, old man!

2011-08-18T14:51:00.010+12:00

Admittedly all these fan "super-cuts" popping up these days can get rather tiresome/repetitive after a while, but they're usually worth a laugh or two, and this compilation boasts an impressive 172 films (under 4 minutes!) of characters saying SILENCE! Extra bonus points for including legendary crapfest Manos: Hands of Fate in there.

Thanks, Ebert.

Before They Were Stars: A Mega-Mix

2011-08-17T15:33:00.010+12:00

25 fresh-faced pre-celebs in some rather embarrassing, perhaps best-forgotten roles you might have missed...

Directors Be Hatin'

2011-08-16T14:54:00.010+12:00

Flavorwire's put together a pretty funny list of the Top 30 Harshest Filmmaker-on-Filmmaker Insults in History. Hard to pick my favourite, they're all gold, but I do love the succession of FOUR nasty Vincent Gallo insults, plus the Godard-hating by Welles, Bergman and Herzog ("Someone like Jean-Luc Godard is for me intellectual counterfeit money when compared to a good kung-fu film" is an all-timer).

PS: Apologies for the lack of posts recently, I've been on leave the last two weeks...

NZFF '11: Wrap-up

2011-08-02T09:01:00.051+12:00

The Auckland Film Fest has wrapped, and as usual, the saddest realisation for me is thinking "damn, that'll be the last time I'll be at the Civic for another year". But I'm pleased my last session there ended mind-blowingly well with Lars von Trier's Melancholia. It was one of those weird synergies where time (the festival's end), location (Civic's starry dome) and content (the film's apocalyptic themes) worked towards creating an utterly memorable cinema-going experience that probably can't be replicated. The film itself is a beautiful work by von Trier, maybe his most polished and 'friendly' in a while, but still unmistakably his (what would a LVT film be without a few walkouts?).

Other last films seen: Julia Leigh's much-ballyhooed Sleeping Beauty, a pretentious, sophomoric bore of a film - not aesthetically uninteresting, and Emily Browning is good, but just felt like an empty (s)exercise in arthouse provocation; Nuri Bilge Ceylan's Once Upon a Time in Anatolia, a Turkish police procedural which took its sweeeet time in getting anywhere (it lingers better in memory); Cave of Forgotten Dreams, Werner Herzog's doco of the Chauvet Caves where some 32,000-year-old (!) cave paintings are housed (not top Herz, but fascinating all the same; the 3D wasn't all that).

Best film? That award goes to Wild River, Elia Kazan's glorious 1960 Depression-era romance about the Tennesee Valley Authority's attempts to relocate rural folk to build dams around the flood-stricken region. Wonderful performances by Montgomery Clift, Lee Remick and Jo Van Fleet, a poignant, sensitively told story, and the Technicolor print looked ravishing and otherworldly. The sort of movie that reminds you why 35mm FILM still = BOSS.

NZFF '11: Week Two

2011-07-29T14:31:00.055+12:00

I haven't been too many films this week but the ones I saw were worthwhile:

Martha Marcy May Marlene - found this disturbing indie drama effectively grueling. If nothing else, it boasts an amazing performance from Elizabeth Olsen, the younger sis of the Olsen Twins, that'll definitely put her on the One-To-Watch-in-the-Future map. She plays a former member of a creepy cult who leaves the compound and tries to get her life back on track living with her older sister, but yeah, it's not easy, seeing as she's pretty pretty screwed up. The Blue Valentine-style flashback-vs-present day structure maybe a bit too studied at times for my liking, but director Sean Durkin has made an impressively assured debut feature that knows how to unsettle the viewer without being too in-your-face about it. Also, John Hawkes (Deadwood, Winter's Bone): skin-crawling.

Le Quattro Volte - The most relaxing film of the fest yet, this endearing, calming little pic looks at the cycle of life-and-death in various forms (human, animal, mineral) in a rural Italian village. Standout scene featuring a dog being a bit of a jerk is one of the most incredible things I've seen in cinema all year. Oh and the goats... SO MANY GOATS. And their trance-inducing ringing bells. Contemplative, beautiful.

The Turin Horse - Taking its inspiration from a moment in German philosopher Friedrich Nietzsche's life that apparently caused his mental breakdown, revered Hungarian filmmaker Bela Tarr's last film sent at least 12 people walking out of the theatre, and unsurprisingly so, as it's easily one of the more difficult works screening at NZFF this year (appropriately, in the "Go Slow" section). If you're not familiar with Tarr's works, it's torturous - the slowest, most depressing and desolate cinema you can imagine where nothing happens for 2.5 hours. But get into "the zone" - as you would with a Tarkovsky film or something - and the thing just works away at your soul and mind with its searing, bleak imagery and grinding, repetitive score, and when the lights come up and you sorta see everything in a different light... The awesomely minimalist trailer:

Stray stuff:

How about dem coughers? Out in full force as usual.
The focus during Le Quattro Volte at the Civic was particularly shonky. In fact there've reportedly been a lot of tech issues this year, which is a shame.
Check out the daily diary reviews by our very own Steve at 3 News Entertainment.
Still to see: Sleeping Beauty, Melancholia, Wild River, Cave of Forgotten Dreams.
Heading over to Melbourne next Wednesday so will catch a few festival films there too.

10 Pixar Themes Played by 1-Man Band

2011-07-28T14:34:00.003+12:00

A truly wonderful tribute to Pixar's music... played entirely by 1 person! File under: best thing you'll see all day.

Harry Potter as a Teen Comedy

2011-07-27T14:53:00.006+12:00

Brilliantly done!

(via Total Film)

Trailer: Drive

2011-07-27T10:47:00.010+12:00

Nicolas Winding Refn's Drive is probably my most anticipated film of the year thus far; it's a real bummer that it's not out until November here, and only playing at the Wellington Film Fest. I actually considered catching it in on the closing night of the Melbourne Film Fest when I'm there next week but tickets are a 100 smackeroos!! The film, an "existential heist movie" about a stunt driver who moonlights as a getaway driver for the mob, received great reviews since playing at Cannes, and Refn picked up Best Director prize too. Without further ado, here's the damn fine-looking red-band trailer... man, what a cast: Ryan Gosling, Carey Mulligan, Albert Brooks, Bryan Cranston, Christina Hendricks...

Secret LOST Video: "The Marbled Rye" (SPOILERS)

2011-07-26T08:46:00.025+12:00

This one's strictly for fans of LOST who've seen all 6 seasons of the show, i.e. it's very spoilery so stop here if you've haven't finished the series. A little background on the video: showrunners Damon Lindelof and Carlton Cuse appeared to be engaged in a verbal spat on twitter last week over evidence that the show had been planned all along, but it was just a little tease leading up to their presentation of this jokey clip at Comic Con 2011. Shot on Disney's back lot a few weeks ago by regular LOST director Jack Bender, it shows Jacob (Mark Pellgrino) and Man-in-Black (Titus Welliver) overwatching Jack (Matthew Fox) and Locke (Terry O'Quinn) having a deep moment in the first season finale "Exodus", then bursting into an amusing argument takes potshots at the show's mythology. More proof that it's really the show that'll never die; dang, I miss it.

Trailer: The Grandmasters

2011-07-22T14:06:00.016+12:00

It could be argued that we don't exactly need another a movie about Bruce Lee's mentor, Ip Man, what with no less than 3 Ip Man-related films released in the space of the last few years: Wilson Yip's Ip Man and Ip Man 2, and Herman Yau's Ip Man: The Legend is Born. But I'm still hanging out for The Grandmasters, Wong Kar-wai's take on the kung fu master. Wong's undeniable, distinctly stylish stamp could bring something fresh to the plate, if not narrative-wise, then at least visually and texturally. And things look damn promising in this clip featuring black-clad Tony Leung Chiu Wai dishing out some good ol' whoopass in the rain in gorgeous slow-mo...

NZFF '11 So Far....

2011-07-21T12:57:00.078+12:00

The NZFF kicked off about a week ago - here's a quick report of what I've seen:

Submarine - I can't fully review this Quirky Coming-of-Age Indie since it's been embargoed so I'm just gonna say it didn't really do it for me and was a bit of deflating way to start off the festival. It does have its ardent fans though.

The Tree of Life - it's been a looong wait for this, and while I can't say regretted seeing this at the Civic, Terrence Malick's latest opus failed to connect with me on most levels. It's as beautiful to look at as they come, and I'm generally a fan of his previous films, but something about The Tree of Life felt off to me, like the work of a director who's too close to his material to see it for what it is: a gigantic mess that only he can make sense of. I had a good nap...

The Last Circus - this nutty, completely over-the-top black comedy from Alex de la Iglesia is nothing like Sam Fuller's The Big Red One as described in the write-up (sorry Ant), though it does share some of the carny wildness of Jodorowsky's Santa Sangre. But Iglesia isn't so much an "artiste" in the sense that Jodorowsky is, he's looser and aesthetically rougher around the edges and more interested in going for our jugular. The last act falls apart - you start caring less and less about the characters - but until then, it's demented pulpy fun.

Take Shelter - if you've seen Bug, you know Michael Shannon really knows how BUG THE HELL OUT. He's the best in the biz at this kinda thing, and in Jeff Nichols' unnerving psychological drama, he's utterly riveting to watch. Performance of the year, maybe. Felt like a horror film to me in the same way Todd Haynes' Safe or Lodge Kerrigan's Clean, Shaven and Keane are: uncompromising, bone-chilling portraits of human anxieties and madness. Loved how restrained Nichols handles all the weird stuff.

Meek's Cutoff - Kelly Reichardt's western is very much in same minimalist, meandering vein as her other films like Old Joy and Wendy and Lucy. Very, very little happens, but the grueling passage of these 19th century settlers sticks with ya as it goes along (and long after too). Beautifully shot in Academy ratio, it's the vibe-out movie I've been waiting for all year. Reichardt sure loves her campfire scenes.

Stray observations/thoughts/complaints about things:

There was a big reel change fail at Meek's Cutoff where we could pretty much see the film soundtrack strip slipping out of the gate. Also at the screening: a lady who said "You go, girl!" or "good girl!" when Michelle Williams pulled out a rifle (cringe), and the guy who sat in the very centre front row (the theatre was fairly empty)... what the hell dude. Are you really enjoying the view?
What's up with who people who bring books into the theatre to read before the film starts? Is the book so good you can't put it down until after the film? The light's so dim in there you're going to ruin your eyes.
I was told off by an usher for walking too loudly down the steps of the Civic in the Stalls area. "Shhh, they can hear you inside", she snapped. Seriously...

Teaser Trailer: The Dark Knight Rises

2011-07-19T12:58:00.017+12:00

Ok, this one's a REAL teaser, so don't get your hopes up for any amazing footage. It shows next to nothing, starting off with bits cobbled from Batman Begins and The Dark Knight, before giving us a small look at Commissioner Gordon (Gary Oldman) on a hospital bed looking rather worse for wear talking to Bane (Tom Hardy), the new big baddie Batman has to contend with. The most striking footage is the one that's already been revealed in the teaser poster image above. Visit the facebook page to check out the trailer. The film's not out until 2012!!

Notable Festival Titles from Madman in August

2011-07-18T14:32:00.017+12:00

Since it's film fest season, I thought it'd be apt spotlight three terrific titles from last year's NZFF that are coming to DVD from Madman next month. Check out the trailers and click on the titles to add to your queue:

Carlos the Jackal (Mini-series; Shorter Theatrical cut) - Édgar Ramírez stars as Ilich Ramírez Sánchez -- aka Carlos the Jackal -- an elusive Venezuelan terrorist who executed scores of assassination plots, abductions and bombings across Europe and the Middle East. This Golden Globe-winning biopic follows Sanchez from 1973 to 1994 as he and his cohorts wreak havoc on the Left Bank in Paris, storm OPEC headquarters in Vienna and carry out other devastating acts of politically motivated violence.

Certified Copy - Renowned Iranian director Abbas Kiarostami serves up an elegant rumination about art and love in this story about British writer James Miller (William Shimell), who meets an art dealer named Elle (Juliette Binoche) in Tuscany and begins -- or possibly continues -- a romance with her. As James and Elle wander through a small town, their playful conversations reveal an intimacy that leads locals to suspect that they are actually longtime spouses.

The Housemaid - A wealthy family's new maid, Eun-yi (Do-yeon Jeon), attracts the attention of Hoon (Jung-Jae Lee), the man of the house, and a fiery affair develops between them. But although Hoon signs Eun-yi's checks, he's not the one controlling the relationship. One secret leads to another, until Eun-yi threatens to destroy the entire family. This update of the 1960 chiller was an Official Selection of the 2010 Cannes Film Festival.

For the Star Wars Fan with Everything #15

2011-07-14T15:14:00.006+12:00

Star Wars as a silent film with intertitles:

This cute pint-sized Vader Volkswagen ad has over 40 million views but it's the first time I've seen it, so just in case you're in the same boat:

George C. Scott Watches Jack and Jill Trailer

2011-07-12T11:22:00.013+12:00

The trailer for Adam Sandler's upcoming comedy Jack and Jill is so astoundingly dreadful it almost looks like it can't be real. If you found yourself slapping your head or cringing in horror, then you'll probably relate to this witty little mash-up that has George C. Scott in a clip from Paul Schrader's Hardcore reacting to it:

Before They Were Stars: Henry Thomas

2011-07-11T10:26:00.001+12:00

The kid's totally in the zone. Awesome.

Trailers: Mission Impossible: Ghost Protocol; Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy

2011-07-06T08:47:00.025+12:00

A couple of highly anticipated spy flicks for ya this morning... First up, Tom Cruise's long-awaited return to the Mission: Impossible franchise (it's been 5 years since the last one) and it's probably going to be a sure-fire blockbuster hit for him - at least he would hope so, considering the dude seems to have faded into the background somewhat in the last few years, with industry watchers questioning whether he's still a viable box-office draw. A few things to be excited for: The Incredibles director Brad Bird making his live action feature debut, The Hurt Locker's Jeremy Renner being groomed to take over the franchise from Cruise, and the Burj Khalifa stunts filmed with IMAX cameras.

Secondly, a less escapist, more "adult" take on the genre: Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy, an adaptation of John le Carré's Cold War novel, which was previously made into a BBC mini-series in 1979. This one's armed with a rock-solid Brit cast that almost makes it a can't-miss: Gary Oldman, Colin Firth, Mark Strong, Tom Hardy, Ciarán Hinds and Benedict Cumberbatch (Sherlock). Directed by Thomas Alfredson (Let the Right One In), the film has a paranoid '70s conspiracy thriller/The Ipcress File-feel all over it and I'm not complaining.

Transformers 3: Compendium Post

2011-07-04T10:33:00.000+12:00

I was meant to blog something about Transformers: Dark of the Moon post-screening last week but busyness got the better of me, and also 'cos the film was so X-TREME that it temporarily disabled my ability to construct critical thought in a timely manner. So here's a bumper post of all things Transformers 3 from the past week (hopefully that'll cover this film, and Michael Bay, for the next while).

Firstly, some loose, potentially spoilery observations about the film:

There was a valid, but cautious reason to be pumped: Michael Bay had taken criticisms of no. 2 to heart and vowed to make a better film. He said the "dorky comedy" would be toned down. When the trailer first appeared, it looked like a darker film with no comic relief Transformer in sight. While there might be less comedy than the previous film, it's still there - in abundance - and very bloody annoying and only funny for how unfunny it is. See any scene with John Malkovich, Ken Jeong (WTF dude), Alan Tudyk, Shia's parents, and those two smaller "sidekick" robots. All of this comedy-driven exposition swallows up nearly half the entire running time.
The 3D was promising in the opening scenes on the moon, and generally better than any post-converted 3D film (a given). But as the film wears on, like most 3D films, you'll mostly forget about the 3D (and remember that it's not a pleasant experience).
Interestingly, shooting in 3D does reign Bay in. Shots are held longer, but not consistently so. You definitely won't forget that it's a Michael Bay film.
Stupid but irresistibly "wow" moments: Shia being flung from Bumble Bee in slow-mo then thrown back inside as it transforms into a car again; those mad base-jumping stunts; Shockwave snapping the high rise in two.
Rosie Huntington-Whiteley: a shapely vacuum. Her intro into the film is already the stuff of legend (as is a scene that might suggest Bay is a closet tentacle-porn fan).
The film is 157 minutes long. What does Bay think he's making? JFK? Combined with one hour of non-stop destruction, the running time is so punishing the only reaction to feel after it's all over is SWEET RELIEF.
Twitter gets 2 mentions, Facebook only 1.
Those crappy generic radio-friendly rock songs on the soundtrack...

It might sound that I'm incredibly harsh on the film (yes, it's awful), but the fact of the matter is Transformers: Dark of the Moon is a fascinating film in many ways, inspiring both immediate repulsion and deeper-level discourse. It's been torn apart with acerbic wit by critics (Roger Ebert, Walter Chaw - a must-read!), but I find myself digging those fence-sitters, those writers trying to evaluate Bay in a mixed light and coming up with interesting points of discussion (Nick Schager, Jaime N. Christley). I also love Vern's "software upgrade" description of the film.

Now here's bunch of related stuff that don't require much reading:

Michael Bay reusing scenes from The Island for Transformers 3:

Optimus Prime or Darth Vader?

And if you're wondering what's next on the cards for Bay, he'll be making a "small little movie".

"Hello I'm Michael Bay, Director of Transformers"

2011-06-28T11:42:00.000+12:00

Say what you will about Michael Bay's films, but you gotta give the man some credit for going the extra mile to make sure the 3D presentation of Transformers: Dark of the Moon is primo. This letter written by Bay to projectionists was posted on American Cinematographer's facebook page and details his wishes for how his film should be presented (I wonder if the letter will be posted for tonight's IMAX screening?). It's an interesting insight to a process that's rarely acknowledged or done these days. Click here to see some more letters to projectionists from visionary directors such as Terrence Malick, Stanley Kubrick and David Lynch.

PS. I'll report back on the movie tomorrow (not a fan of the films, but I'm strangely hyped for this one; will I ever learn?). Until then, here's a glowing review by Harry Knowles.

R.I.P. Peter Falk

2011-06-27T11:17:00.011+12:00

Two-time Academy Award nominee Peter Falk has passed away. RIP Columbo. I highly recommend William Friedkin's underrated heist comedy The Brink's Job if you haven't seen it.

Cars 2: A Pixar Wreck

2011-06-24T09:46:00.021+12:00

I guess it had to happen sooner or later, and it's perhaps not surprising that Pixar's golden track record has been tarnished by Cars 2, an unnecessary sequel to one of their lesser films, its existence made only possible by the franchise's apparently lucrative merchandising. It's currently sitting in the mixed yellow zone at Metacritic, and I tend to agree with the comments at the negative end of the spectrum. As you can expect from Pixar, the film is stuffed with dazzling action sequences, faultless animation, etc. Unfortunately there's little that's emotionally engaging about any of it here: not the waffly, cliched Bond-riffin' spy plot, not buck-toothed tow-truck lead Mater (Larry the Cable Guy) whom you want to clobber constantly, and as already proven by the first film, not its distancing human-less, all-vehicle world. Cars 2 feels like an aberration from Pixar, a hollow, exhausting, shrill, blatantly studio-ey product. It's also the first Pixar film that's ever given me a headache. Boo.

Site Tip: How To Avoid Renting Subtitled Movies

2011-06-23T10:51:00.013+12:00

So it appears there are many of you out there who do not like reading subtitles when watching a movie; here's a quick tip on how to avoid renting subtitled movies if it ain't your buzz:

First off, do not go to the Foreign section. Check the genre on the movie description. If it says "Foreign" in there, run away, far far away.

Secondly, check the audio and subtitles info. If the only language option available is not English, then it's most likely that it's English subtitled and in a foreign language.

(If you think we've made a mistake in the data, e.g. you rent a foreign movie though we say that it's in English, let us know and we'll fix it up)

This is of course, not to discourage you if you are a bit curious about world cinema - in fact, we encourage you dig into our foreign film section, there's so much amazing stuff out there - but if you just can't stand reading subtitles, this is how you can avoid renting movies with them.

Classic Trailer: Diva

2011-06-22T09:36:00.015+12:00

Jean-Jacques Beineix's wild, influential, super-stylish "New New Wave" thriller Diva is getting a long overdue re-release by Vendetta Films today. Essential viewing if you're a fan of '80s cinema. Check out the trailer here:

Also new to DVD from Beineix: Locked-In Syndrome, Roselyn and the Lions, Moon in the Gutter. Betty Blue has come out on Blu-ray, but alas it's the shorter version.

NZ Film Fest Announcements

2011-06-21T09:37:00.000+12:00

Not long now before the New Zealand Film Festival unleash their full programme for 2011; they've just announced on facebook that the online version will be available from 6 tonight, and the printed programme out tomorrow. Currently their website has a smattering of tasty announcements, including the gonzo Rutger Hauer grindhouse flick Hobo with a Shotgun, Kelly Reichardt's highly regarded revisionist western Meek's Cutoff and the brutal Aussie crime thriller Snowtown.

Trailer Mash-up: Cars 2: Fast Five

2011-06-08T09:30:00.000+12:00

Nicely done!

We need this playing in ALL our theatres pronto!

2011-06-07T09:11:00.020+12:00

For those of you who can't stand people who use their cellphones in theatres - and I hope that's all of you! - check out this hilarious pre-show PSA from Austin, Texas' super-cool Alamo Drafthouse featuring an angry patron who left a voicemail after being kicked out for texting. So good...

(via Ant Timpson)

Trailer: The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo

2011-06-02T11:26:00.008+12:00

The first trailer for David Fincher's remake for The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo has arrived. It's just a green-band trailer, so no sexy and violent stuff. Not sure how I feel about this one: I'll probably check it out because of Fincher's involvement, but it looks almost exactly like the original film, maybe with added Fincher-esque visual sleekness. Funny how it's being sold here as "The Feel Bad Movie of Christmas" - will this really put bums on seats? Anyway, everyone knows the books now and the remake will be welcome for those subtitle-averse viewers.

The Lion King Roars Back to Theatres and Home Video - in 3D!

2011-05-31T14:18:00.012+12:00

Great news for those of you lamenting the unavailability of this much-loved 1994 Disney classic on DVD. I just received a press release from a Disney publicist stating that it will be released from the vaults on October 12 this year, to coincide with the release of the film in theatres in "breathtaking 3D". Okay, so stick these dates in your diary:

September 29, 2011 - 3D version hits theatres for the first time ever (only for 2 weeks)

October 12, 2011 - available on Blu-ray™ Hi-Def, Blu-ray 3D™ and DVD (again for a limited time!)

Random Stuff #23

2011-05-31T09:11:00.005+12:00

Trailer: Curb Your Enthusiasm - Season 8

2011-05-24T09:19:00.003+12:00

Everyone's favourite "social assassin" is back. Who knows when this will reach our shores, but a little bit of Larry to start this fog-shrouded morning off is a pretty pretty good thing.

The Tree of Life Wins Palme D'Or

2011-05-23T08:24:00.025+12:00

Terrence Malick's long-gestating The Tree of Life has won the prestigious Palme D'Or at Cannes. By all accounts a mind-blowingly cosmic, if expectedly divisive work, the film combines dinosaurs, planets and period family drama into something that definitely should probably be experienced on the biggest screen possible. It hasn't been confirmed yet for the NZFF, but I can't see how it won't play - it has to!! An excellent round-up of critical reactions can be found here, and feast your eyes on the trailer:

Yet with all the anticipation and hype around The Tree of Life, I'm finding myself more excited about Nicolas Winding Refn's actioner Drive, starring Ryan Gosling as a getaway driver for the mob. Check out Mike D'Angelo's rave report ("pure genre bliss"), and this sneak peek:

Sort of Like Netflix, But with VHS Tapes

2011-05-20T14:26:00.000+12:00

Now here's a gloriously nutty idea! Some guy in the States has fully embraced the primitive charms of the VHS and is offering a somewhat legally questionable service where he'll send you a copy of any movie you want on VHS for FREE! And he'll include a drawing on the label too. The FAQ assures us it's not some "sick joke", though a sticky on the homepage says that he's recently been bombarded by requests and may not be able to meet demand. Ha! Though I'm not convinced this novelty will around for too long, I like the idea that nearly a whole generation of movies have not been released on VHS and that people out there would want to watch them on that format.

Lars von Trier: "I understand Hitler"

2011-05-20T09:23:00.007+12:00

Oh Lars, what have you done now. Dunst's reaction - priceless.

Story here, and trailer here.

Round-up: Recent Exciting Film Announcements

2011-05-19T15:23:00.024+12:00

In case you missed them, three very cool announcements in the last week or so:

The ABCs of Death - incredibly genius idea for horror anthology. 26 directors, 26 different short stories about death. Local filmhead Ant Timpson is one of the producers.

Re-stored Taxi Driver at NZFF - Scorsese's '70s classic back on the big screen. Don't miss it.

Jodorowky's Dune - the story behind Alejandro Jodorowsky's legendary adaptation of Frank Herbert's Dune that was never made. Check out the promo video here - sounds like Jodorowsky was really looking to blow minds, which is saying something, coming from the guy who gave us The Holy Mountain.

First Look: The Adventures of Tintin Poster

2011-05-17T10:02:00.006+12:00

Paramount's just released the first poster for The Adventures of Tintin, and I have to say it looks pretty nice. I'm not really a motion capture animation fan, but I do love the comics and find myself a little hyped for this due to Spielberg's involvement. It's set for release in New Zealand on Boxing Day this year. Peter Jackson is scheduled to direct the second film.

Home Alone House Hits the Market

2011-05-10T16:02:00.001+12:00

And you can buy it for just US$2.4 million! Cheesy real estate clip will tell you more:

PS. if you haven't seen Home Alone for some reason or another, yes do have it :)

Trailer: Colombiana

2011-05-09T16:01:00.028+12:00

In the hopes of repeating the success of his surprise hit Taken a few years ago, Luc Besson's back with Colombiana, an action thriller starring Avatar's Zoe Saldana as a stealthy killer looking for her parent's murderers. Featuring an international cast, including our own Cliff Curtis, and directed by Transporter 3's Oliver "not Megatron" Megaton, the film looks to be very much in the same vein as Besson's female assassin-type flicks Leon and La Femme Nikita, and fits well with the recent trend of grrrl-power action films such as Sucker Punch, Salt, Kick-Ass and the forthcoming Hanna. Saldana looks feisty in the trailer, demonstrating maybe more range than she might have under thick Na'vi make-up. Ange Jolie step back...

Tarantino's Next Film Confirmed

2011-05-02T13:23:00.029+12:00

A few details of Quentin Tarantino's next film have emerged: he's set to direct a full-blown Western called Django Unchained and it's said to be inspired by Franco Nero's 1966 spaghetti western classic Django as well as Takashi Miike's Sukiyaki Western Django (which QT had a bit part in). This is pretty exciting (what new Tarantino film announcement isn't??) since he's talked about doing a western for so long now. Many of his films - notably Reservoir Dogs, Kill Bill, Inglourious Basterds - have flirted with spaghetti western conventions in one way or another, so it'll be interesting to see his take on the genre. Online reports yesterday mentioned that Basterds star Christoph Waltz was attached to the project, but this MTV piece says that may not be the case yet. Here's hoping though...

Trailers for Django and Sukiyaki Western Django:

Interview with 5-Year Old Screenwriter of Fast & Furious 5

2011-04-28T14:17:00.008+12:00

Another winner from The Onion:

Today Now! Interviews The 5-Year-Old Screenwriter Of "Fast Five"