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Trailer Park: Upstream Color
Super abstract promo for the new one from Shane Carruths, the director of chimp-fave Primer
5th Dec 2012 - Add Comment - Tweet
Contagion
Exciting, ambitious, ensemble medical thriller from Soderbergh - hampered by a dodgy turn from Jude Law.
4th Dec 2012
Read more 3.5 star reviewsSearch
Trailer Park: A Glimpse Inside The Mind Of Charles Swan III
Roman Coppola's new comedy looking very much in the Wes Anderson school of goofy cool
3rd Dec 2012 - Add Comment - Tweet
Weekend
Stylish, accomplished feature about a burgeoning romance ...that gets a bit drawn out.
30th Nov 2012
Read more 3 star reviewsA Glimpse Inside The Mind Of Charles Swan III
Some posters for Roman Coppola's latest oddball comedy; more details and a clip in Italian over at Collider
28th Nov 2012 - Add Comment - Tweet
Tiny Furniture
Clinical 90s indie throwback, with lots of middle-class art students talking about themselves.
25th Nov 2012
Read more 3 star reviews
The Final Countdown
Underdeveloped time-travel flick that pits an 80s aircraft carrier against the 40s Japanese.
Halliwell says: Quite an enjoyable bit of schoolboy science fiction, but containing no more body than an episode of Twilight Zone. The ending, as so often, is impenetrable.*
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21st Nov 2012
Read more 2.5 star reviews
Trailer Park: Beautiful Noise
Kickstarter for a doc about the influence of Cocteau Twins, My Bloody Valentine, Jesus And Mary Chain, featuring loads more shoegazey types - Ride, Curve, Slowdive, Swervedriver, Chapterhouse, Pale Saints, Lush, AR Kane - and interviews with Kevin Shields, Jim Reid, Robin Guthrie, Bobby Gillespie, Douglas Hart, Colm O’Ciosoig, Debbie Googe, Simon Raymonde, Alan Moulder, Ivo Watts-Russell, Alan McGee, Sonic Boom, Robert Smith, Trent Reznor, Wayne Coyne etc
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19th Nov 2012 - Add Comment - Tweet
50 / 50
Ambitious cancer movie, with an original take and many powerful moments.
18th Nov 2012
Read more 3.5 star reviews
Alien Nation
Dated, but not unsuccessful, attempt to mash up buddy-cop and sci-fi tropes.
Halliwell says: What begins as an interestingly oblique look at the problem of racism soon turns into a lacklustre action movie.
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16th Nov 2012
Read more 2.5 star reviews
In Time
Clunky, clumsy, convoluted sci-fi from Andrew Niccol. Re-treading his usual themes.
16th Nov 2012
Read more 2 star reviews
21 Jump St
Effective comedy reboot with @ChanningTatum making a good case to take over @Mark_Wahlberg's comedy crown.
15th Nov 2012
Read more 3 star reviews
Lincoln
Daniel Day-Lewis is Oscar-bait in Spielberg's history lesson, a West Wing 1860 full of wit & political drama.
13th Nov 2012
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Act of Valor
Exciting first-person action can't trump a crass plot, appalling script and diabolical non-actor leads.
11th Nov 2012
Read more 2 star reviews
War Horse
Plodding, formless WWII drama with Spielberg in full schmaltz mode. Blackadder IV meets Black Beauty.
10th Nov 2012
Read more 2.5 star reviews
Trailer Park: Warm Bodies
It's all zombies, zombies, zombies at the moment. Next: a teen romzom with Nicholas "Skins" Hoult as a zombie who falls for a human (Teresa Palmer - good in Wish You Were Here) and then starts to come back to life... 50/50 director Jonathan Levine is behind it, might be alright. Alternatively, here's the NMA version...
9th Nov 2012 - Add Comment - Tweet
Trailer Park: World War Z
Brad Pitt's turn to take on a zombie horde. He's got Mireille "The Killing" Enos to help out.
9th Nov 2012 - Add Comment - Tweet
Win Win
Engaging, low-key, small-town wrestling comedy-drama ...with Paul Giametti and Gyp Rosetti.
6th Nov 2012
Read more 3 star reviews
Roger Deakins on Skyfall
Interesting interview with the cinematographer talking about digital, Skyfall's pre-production and working with Sam Mendes
6th Nov 2012 - Add Comment - Tweet
Haywire
Note to self - never cast a stunt actor as the lead in an ensemble feature film. Steven Soderbergh disaster.
5th Nov 2012
Read more 1 star reviewsTrailer Park: Jimmy's End
First look at Alan Moore's neo-noir film, plus a pro-Occupy single The Decline Of English Murder.
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5th Nov 2012 - Add Comment - Tweet
Haywire
Soderbergh tries action with a bare bones freelance spy thriller. Big name cast bit lost in global plot twists.
5th Nov 2012
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Crazy, Stupid, Love
Above average rom-com, with all the usual ingredients assembled in a fresh, touching way.
3rd Nov 2012
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Trailer Park: Star Wars Episode VII
(as imagineered by Next Media)
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2nd Nov 2012 - Add Comment - Tweet
3D in 2D: Supercut
Daft compilation of all those bits in 3D films where they chuck stuff at the camera.
1st Nov 2012 - Add Comment - Tweet
Trailer Park: Decay
What happens when you let physics students shoot a zombie film in the maintenance tunnels at CERN? Wired has more.
1st Nov 2012 - Add Comment - Tweet
Disney buys Lucasfilm for $4BN. Star Wars VII coming in 2015
I thought this was an April fool at first.
30th Oct 2012 - Add Comment - Tweet
Paranoid Park
Gus Van Sant's skateboard / whodunnit mash up meanders aimlessly, pretending 'Kids' never happened.
30th Oct 2012
Read more 2.5 star reviews
Wally Pfister On Camera Placement
Interesting piece looking at cinematographer Wally (Dark Knight, Inception) Pfister's arguments about camera placement and the idea of "cheating space" in rival blockbusters like Avengers.
"What's really important is storytelling. None of it matters if it doesn't support the story. I thought "The Avengers" was an appalling film. They'd shoot from some odd angle and I'd think, why is the camera there? Oh, I see, because they spent half a million on the set and they have to show it off. It took me completely out of the movie. I was driven bonkers by that illogical form of storytelling."
30th Oct 2012 - Add Comment - Tweet
Texas Killing Fields
Shambolic, badly directed thriller from Michael Mann's daughter - set in a rainy (?!) Texas.
29th Oct 2012
Read more 1 star reviews
Like Crazy
Successful low budget indie, building a touching portrait of firstlove and a long-distance relationship.
29th Oct 2012
Read more 3.5 star reviews
Skyfall
Solid, stylish, well-rounded Bond - that tips its hat while also serving as something of a reboot.
26th Oct 2012
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Trailer Park: Good Day To Die Hard
This time, he's brought his son along, so yes, it is personal. Thanks for asking.
26th Oct 2012 - Add Comment - Tweet
The Fourth Dimension
Full-length new compendium movie up on YouTube- first up, Harmony Korine directs Val Kilmer. On a BMX... Looks like a Vice/Grolsch team up.
via Indiewire:
Synopsis: The Fourth Dimension: where fawns are the miscreants of nature, time travel only applies to ants, and velvet is evil. Channeling the spirit of Tristan Tzara in his manifesto to deliver magic and other things, Eddy Moretti—aka the General of this cinematic synecdoche, and in other dimensions known as one of the masterminds behind Vice magazine—deploys a troika of strange and talented-as-hell directors to carry out his orders to form a more perfect union of space and time. The journey begins with Harmony Korine's new age brainchild "The Lotus Community Workshop," starring Val Kilmer as "Val Kilmer." Alexey Fedorchenko comes next with "Chronoeye," the story of a Russian time traveler whose expectations for seeing the past stifle his ability to live in the present. Fittingly, we end with the quasi-apocalyptic and ominously allegorical "Fawns," directed by Polish newcomer Jan Kwiecinski. All three directors transcend convention by challenging themselves and audiences to find something new in cinema. Together, the triptych of pieces crash but don't clash in a fashion that would make both Einstein and Eisenstein beam. [Synopsis courtesy of Tribeca Film Festival.]
26th Oct 2012 - Add Comment - Tweet
The 40 Yr Old Virgin
Prototype @JuddApatow movie without the LOLs of Knocked Up or the confidence of Funny People.
25th Oct 2012
Read more 2.5 star reviews
Spotted: All Of Hitchcock's Cameos
Fun compilation of all 37 of Alfred's cameos. via Open Culture
25th Oct 2012 - Add Comment - Tweet
Trailer Park: Bones Brigade - An Autobiography
trailer up for the new Stacy Peralta doc looking at the early days of skating
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25th Oct 2012 - Add Comment - Tweet
Argo
(dir. Ben Affleck)
Trenchcoats, crazy CIA plans, beards and a gripping true life hostage situation - there's a lot to enjoy in Ben Affleck's latest. Following The Town and Gone, Baby Gone, this is another assured directorial job from Affleck, here channeling the spirit of 70s classics like All The President's Men and Klute to craft an intelligent, grown-up thriller that doesn't have to resort to shoot-outs to ratchet up the tension. Bonus points for Van Halen and Led Zep on the soundtrack.
Tehran 1979: Ayatollah Khomeni's revolution is in full swing, the US embassy is stormed, 52 hostages taken - but six staff members manage to escape in the confusion and seek refuge in the Canadian embassy. Back in Washington, Carter-era spooks concoct "exfiltration" plans - with "the best bad idea" being a fake Hollywood production company scouting middle eastern locations for a Star Wars rip-off.
The film keeps the potential for any "Hollywood - so CRAZY!!" stuff to a minimum - managing to contrast it with the intensity of 70s revolutionary Tehran without resorting to Get Shorty wackiness. Max graininess in the cinematography (shot with an Arri Alexa, fact fans, as well as "on film, cut in half, blown up 200%" according to IMDB trivia) combines with actual news footage to build convincing period atmosphere.
Affleck plays Tony Mendez, the CIA agent leading the plan, a role that plays to his strengths. The rest of the casting is spot on - Bryan "Breaking Bad" Cranston, Tate "Damages" Donovan, John Goodman as Hollywood make-up expert John Chambers (responsible for Planet Of The Apes' apes and Spock's ears), Alan Arkin, Victor Garber, Rory "Dazed And Confused" Cochrane, Titus (Lost's Man in Black) Welliver, Scoot (Monsters) McNairy and a cameo from Adrienne Barbeau in the goofy Argo cast's table read.
For more background, here's the Wired article on the actual CIA operation and the real-life fake movie. It's a great read, though obviously it's pretty much the entire plot. One nice detail that gets a little lost in the film - Captain America co-creator Jack Kirby did the original comic strip-style production drawings.
24th Oct 2012 - Add Comment - Tweet
Read more 4 star reviewsShort Attention Span Theatre: Plot Device
beware snap online purchasing decisions... Magic Bullet promo from Red Giant
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22nd Oct 2012 - Add Comment - Tweet
Short Attention Span Theatre: True Skin
Bangkok-set sci-fi short that's drawn big studio attention for director Stephan Zlotescu. Shot on Canon 5D Mark II, good use of on-location detail to make a convincing calling card. More details at Wired:
Six months after a trailer appeared on Vimeo, aspiring feature filmmaker Stephan Zlotescu‘s six-minute short achieved viral lift-off last week after the director’s manager spread the word about the work. “Industry response has been insane,” said manager Scott Glassgold in an e-mail to Wired, citing 230,000 views in five days for the True Skin video (embedded above). “Within hours of release, we were receiving calls from major studios and financiers.”
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19th Oct 2012 - Add Comment - Tweet
Trailer Park: The Fitzgerald Family Christmas
Another interesting-looking family drama from the prolific @Edward_Burns. Variety review here
17th Oct 2012 - Add Comment - Tweet
Jumper
Teleporter playboy Hayden Christensen zips from pyramids to Tokyo, chased by a blond Sam Jackson. Fun idea, flat.
15th Oct 2012
Read more 2 star reviews
Double Indemnity
Billy Wilder & Raymond Chandler steer this tightly plotted femme fatale insurance scam noir classic.
Halliwell says: Archetypal film noir of the forties, brilliantly capturing the decayed Los Angeles atmosphere of a Chandler novel but using a simpler story and more substantial characters. The hero/villain was almost a new concept.****
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15th Oct 2012
Read more 4.5 star reviews
Wish You Were Here
Compelling aussie drugs/holiday/infidelity mystery from @bluetonguefilms. Doesn't quite take off.
14th Oct 2012
Read more 3 star reviews
Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid
Beautifully handled, genre blending western with standout script, acting, direction.
Halliwell says: Humorous, cheerful, poetic, cinematic account of the two semi-legendary outlaws, winningly acted and directed. One of the decade's great commercial successes, not least because of the song 'Raindrops Keep Fallin' On My Head'.***
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14th Oct 2012
Read more 5 star reviews
Horrible Bosses
Generic retread of Strangers On A Train as 3 schlubs toy with murder to improve their work lives.
14th Oct 2012
Read more 2.5 star reviews
The Thing
Unadventurous, shapeless reboot of an over-rated gross-out b-movie. About as interesting as AVP.
14th Oct 2012
Read more 2.5 star reviews
Trailer Park: Les Maitres Du Temps
Stumbled across this Moebius-designed, Rene Laloux-directed French animation from 1982 about a metaphysical rescue operation. There's a Eureka edition out on DVD, more on the making of here at Twitch
12th Oct 2012 - Add Comment - Tweet
Trailer Park: Hitchcock
Anthony Hopkins fat-suits up for this biopic looking at the period when Hitchcock made Psycho. Helen Mirren plays his partner Alma Reville, Scarlett Johansson gets shower duties. Like a lot of those (entertaining and generally well done) BBC4 dramas based on classic TV shows, it's a bit hard to know exactly what we'll be getting out of this that a good documentary wouldn't show. Well-made tail-chasing?
10th Oct 2012 - Add Comment - Tweet
Happy!
After directing The Man With The Iron Fists, RZA is lining up to adapt Grant Morrison's graphic novel Happy! according to THR:
Happy! centers on Nick Sax, a scummy corrupt ex-cop and hit man. After a hit goes bad and Sax is left gravely injured, he is suddenly able to see Happy, a cheerful little blue horse who won’t give in to adversity, no matter what unpleasant obstacles are in the way. Days before Christmas, Sax teams up with the saccharine horse to save the life of a troubled kid and maybe find redemption amid the squalor of his city.
10th Oct 2012 - Add Comment - Tweet