NZFF: The Cove

The first weekend of NZFF's just been and all in all it was a solid, albeit exhausting, start to the fest. I used to be able to sit through 50+ films in two weeks, now seeing 8 in the space of two-three days has become a bit of a slog (chalk it up to age? burnout? This kind of thing is bound to happen when you're in the business of watching movies 24-7, 365 days a year). The snooze factor sunk in during Bright Star and Double Take, but I stayed very much awake through the likes of Troll 2 (funnest screening yet), Still Walking, Red Cliff, Ponyo, Drag Me To Hell, and especially The Cove - which I want to plug a little here.

If you love animals - heck, LIFE - and are free tomorrow at 6:15pm, I urge you to go catch The Cove at the Civic Theatre. I saw this doco on Saturday morning - with a disappointingly small crowd - and it packed a tremendous wallop. Directed by top National Geographic photographer Louie Psihoyos, this riveting work of activism exposes the heart-breaking, though little-known atrocity of dolphin killing in the small seaside village of Taiji, Japan. Ok, so you might be thinking "I'm squeamish, I don't want to see dolphins being killed on film" - and rightly so: when the massacre unfolds, it's as upsetting and disturbing as anything you'll see in a theatre this year. But why The Cove is so effective is that it's not just about that; it's not only about Man's inhumanity to Nature, it's also about Man's inhumanity to Man (dolphin meat made toxic by mercury knowingly being sold to school children for lunch - how wrong can you get?).



And despite the heavy-duty subject matter, Psihoyos has also made a film that's thoroughly accessible and ultimately hopeful. It works as a spry Mission: Impossible-style thriller - the stuff with the crew gearing up to infiltrate the cove is riveting - and the concluding message instills optimism in the viewer, suggesting individuals have the power to bring about change. So go see it, and spread the word! Follow The Cove on twitter here and check out their website here.

Wall-E in the Flesh!

Spotted this over at SciFiSquad - a real-life Wall-E!! Or at least something close enough. It's called a DustCart, and is part of a research program to clean up the streets of Italy. Click here to check out more photos. Pretty cool.

Festival Anticipation

The New Zealand International Film Festival is beginning as I type this, with the New Zealand Premiere of Jane Campion's new romantic period drama Bright Star. Opening night is always a high-class affair, and it's always great to get the red carpet out for the first screening of a picture by one of our leading cinematic lights.

The blogging team are all warmed up and ready for two-and-a-half weeks of the best new cinema from around the globe. We'll report back here with mini-reviews and reports of mental states & retina damage we sustain in the line of duty.

The Top Five Films We're Looking Forward To This Year Are*:
5. Moon
4. Winnebago Man
3. Best Worst Movie
2. Troll 2

And the film we're most anticipating at this year's Film Festival is:


(*decided by "democratic process")

MJ and Brett Ratner Kicking It

Since we're at the height of MJ fever - memorial day and all - here's another MJ clip (also makes a change from all the Nazi stuff below). Someone's unearthed this video of hack director Brett Ratner (Rush Hour) and Jackson bobbin' their heads to an R. Kelly song in a car. I didn't realise they were best buddies, but I guess the neat thing about this clip is showing super-celebs in a very relaxed, human light, away from all the media attention (in what appears to be a traffic jam?), even though Ratner still comes across like a douche as he always does.

Hitler Finds Out...

I think this Hitler clip from Downfall is too played out by now to be really effective, but here are the latest spoofs, one where he learns of MJ's death and the other of Sarah Palin's resignation. (WARNING: contains offensive language)





The best still remains this Blu-ray vs HD-DVD one:



PS: The subject matter link to the Dead Snow Nazi zombies below is purely unintentional...

Funny Incredibly Strange Film Festival Press Release

Head Incredibly Strange Film Festival programmer Ant Timpson issued a hilarious press release today, bestowing the films in his section with tongue-in-cheek awards categories. "I already know these films are very special," he says. "I don't need a jury to tell me what I already know. I'm giving these films awards in advance because 99% of the public don't care what films win awards AFTER they've screened, they want to know BEFORE they screen. Call me a ground-breaking loose canon if you must but maybe, just maybe, the public would prefer to know what films win awards before a festival has finished!" (Click on the film titles to watch the trailer)

BEST FILM ABOUT VIRAL PHENOMENA & WHY SUSAN BOYLE WAS AN ACCIDENT WAITING TO HAPPEN
And the Winner is Winnebago Man.

BEST FILM TO REMIND PEOPLE THAT YOU CAN NEVER HIDE FROM YOUR PAST
And the Winner is Best Worst Movie.

BEST FILM TO PUT YOUR PARTNER OFF EVER WANTING CHILDREN
And the Winner is Grace.

BEST FILM FOR PAIRING TWO WORDS THAT SHOULD BE PAIRED MORE OFTEN : NAZIS & ZOMBIES
And the Winner is Dead Snow.

BEST FILM FOR SAM RAIMI FANS WHO WANTED HIM TO RETURN TO HORROR
And the Winner is Drag Me To Hell.

BEST FILM TO SHOW THOSE ANNOYING FRIENDS WHO SAY THEY'VE SEEN IT ALL
And the Winner is Embodiment of Evil.

BEST FILM TO SHOW FILMMAKERS THAT LOW-BUDGET DOESN'T MEAN TWENTY SOMETHINGS SITTING IN CAFES TALKING ABOUT THEIR BORING RELATIONSHIPS
And the Winner is The Horseman.

BEST FILM TO REVEAL THAT SEX, BLOOD & RELIGION WILL ALWAYS MAKE GREAT ART
And the Winner is Thirst.

BEST FILM THAT PROVES THAT THE BEST WORST MOVIES ARE BETTER THAN THE WORST BEST MOVIES.
And the Winner is Troll 2.

BEST FILM TO PROVE THAT FOUR HOURS FLIES BY WHEN SAID FILM CONTAINS MASS MURDER AND UPSKIRT PHOTOGRAPHY
And the Winner is Love Exposure.

You can also check out an interview with Timpson here on the 3News website.

The New Zealand International Film Festival opens this Thursday in Auckland!

Trailer: Inglourious Basterds

The new international trailer for Quentin Tarantino's defiantly mispelled WWII flick Inglourious Basterds has hit the web, and it looks fab, though it may be a misleading representation of the film itself. This trailer reveals much more varied footage than previously seen - including some neat cinema scenes (which apparently play a huge part) - and makes it look like a rollicking good ol' men-on-a-mish adventure in the vein of The Dirty Dozen. But online chatter since its lukewarm Cannes debut indicates the film's actually more dialogue than action (not that surprising really, since dialogue's always been QT's thing). Anne Thompson of Variety noted on her blog that Basterds is "an art film, not a calculatedly mainstream entertainment", while the Guardian's Peter Bradshaw said in his one-star review that "everything is just so boring". My love affair with Tarantino ended a while back, but I must admit that this trailer got me a little excited: