First NZIFF Films Announced!

As we head into winter, the New Zealand International Film Festival is warming up, starting today with the announcement of the first four -- all musically-themed -- films confirmed for this year's programme: Kiwi filmmaker Florian Habicht's peek into Britpop band Pulp; the experimental Nick Cave doco 20,000 Days on Earth; Jimi: All Is By My Side, the Jimi Hendrix biopic starring Outkast's André Benjamin; and the offbeat comedy Frank, which features Michael Fassbender in a giant paper mache head for what seems to be most of the film. Check out the trailer for the latter below, and visit the NZIFF website for more info.

Trailer: 12 Years a Slave

Was Quentin Tarantino's Django Unchained too cartoony and silly for you? Was Spielberg's Lincoln just too dry, talky and boring? Maybe Steve McQueen's 12 Years a Slave will meet you halfway. This period piece, which stars Chiwetel Ejiofor, Michael Fassbender and Brad Pitt, looks like McQueen's most accessible, biggest-budget film to date, but in saying that, it's unlikely that the director of such uncompromising works such as Hunger and Shame will turn in a film about a touchy, controversial topic like slavery that's remotely "easy" to watch. Click below to check out some sweet facial hair on the Pittster:

Random Stuff #24

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