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DVD Review - For Those In Peril (2013)

Genre:
Drama
Distributor:
Soda Pictures
Rating: 18
DVD Release Date:
3rd March 2014 (UK)
Director:
Paul Wright
Cast:
George McKay, Nichola Burley, Katie Dickie, Michael Smiley
Buy: For Those In Peril [DVD]
British cinema has long since been known for its realist aesthetic with directors such as Ken Loach (Kes, Raining Stones, and Ladybird, Ladybird) and Mike Leigh (Life Is Sweet, Naked, and Secrets & Lies) working at the forefront of our national cinema within a social realist idiom. In more recent years, with Lynne Ramsay’s Ratcatcher and Andrea Arnold’s more recent Fish Tank springing to mind, the traditional realist mode as changed context and become more poetic in its form. And now we have Paul Wright, whose debut feature For Those in Peril uses local folklore to transcend the boundaries of realist cinema and imbue his story with a sense of magic.

The film concerns itself with the guilt and need for redemption that take their toll on Aaron (George Mackay), the lone survivor of a fishing accident that claimed the lives of several young men including his own brother. With the local townsfolk of the remote Scottish fishing community in which he resides either blaming him or resenting him for being the only one to return, and with his only solace coming from his mother (played by the excellent Kate Dickie) and his dead brother’s girlfriend Jane (Nichola Burley), Aaron retreats into his own world. With the conviction that his brother is still alive and after taking literally the fable his mother used to tell him as a child, he sets out to rescue his brother from the belly of the monster at the bottom of the sea.

My initial reaction when I watched the film was that the use of folklore to lift the film into the realms of magical realism was, as other critics have been eager to point out, a major misjudgement that diverts our attention away from the films compassionate and intense psychological core. But upon reflection the real problem isn’t anything to do with the films magical elements but more to do with the 18 certificate given to the film, because this film does work as a children’s fable, albeit a dark one, that should be made available for a younger audience. For while the film still has its problems, namely the credibility of the townsfolk’s resentment of Aaron, the film is an ambitious debut that deserves to sit alongside Lynne Ramsay’s Ratcatcher, Andrea Arnold’s Fish Tank, Clio Barnard’s The Selfish Giant, and Ken Loach’s Sweet Sixteen as a children’s film that has fallen foul of the BBFC’s rating system.

★★★☆☆

Shane James

Jim Jarmusch's Only Lovers Left Alive UK Trailer Gives You Something To Bite Into

Win Kelly + Victor On DVD

The surprise critical British independent film Kelly + Victor will be released this Monday, 13th January on DVD and Bluray. We have teamed up with Verve Pictures and have 3 copies of the film on DVD up for grabs.

Kelly+Victor is a haunting, candid depiction of a young couple embarking on a passionate and transgressive love affair, from the acclaimed novel by Niall Griffiths. The film is set against the backdrop of a highly cinematic Liverpool, to a searing soundtrack featuring music by a host of acclaimed artists including the Mercury Music Prize-nominated artists King Creosote & Jon Hopkins and Wild Beasts as well as the gifted guitar work of Bill Ryder-Jones (ex-The Coral).
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When Kelly (Antonia Campbell-Hughes) meets Victor (Julian Morris) on the dance floor of a Liverpool nightclub, the attraction is instant. After wandering through the night they find themselves at her flat, making love with a passion and urgency that neither had experienced before. Both Kelly and Victor are struggling to get by as best they can, while the people around them are choosing illegal lifestyles; she is escaping a brutish former lover, while he is being dragged into a world of drugs. It’s when they make love that their darker instincts take over.

Directed by Kieran Evans, Kelly+Victor is a devastating story of obsessive love anchored by two complex but tender performances.To win Kelly + Victor please answer the following question...

Q.What BAFTA was Kelly + Victor nominated for Along with Shell Earlier this week for ?

Deadline is 2nd February 2014 (23:59pm),If you haven’t done already Like us and stay with us at our Facebook page (if you are already liking us just share this post on twitter and facebook). Must be 18 or older to enter.

1.The competition is not opened to employees, family, friends of The Peoples Movies, Cinehouse, Verve Pictures  employees who have the right to alter, change or offer alternative prize without any notice.2.All The Peoples Movies entries must be done via contact form. deadline Sunday(23:59pm) 12 years or older to enter 3.Failure to include any information required to enter could result in your entry been void.  4.automated entries are not allowed and will be disqualified, which could result you been banned, DO NOT INCLUDE telephone numbers as for security reason your entry will be deleted.5.If you are friend or like us at facebook for every competition you enter you get double entry, but you must stay friend/like us all the time,or future entries maybe considered one entry if you are liking us share the post on facebook and re-tweet the post.6.The Peoples Movies, Cinehouse takes no responsibility for delayed, lost, stolen prizes 7.Prizes may take from days to a few months for delivery which is out of our control so please do not complain 8.The winning entries will be picked at random and contacted by email for postal details and will be announced via facebook, sometimes we are unable to confirm winners. Uk & Irish entries only.

UK Competitions and Prize Draws at UKwins
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DVD Review - Upstream Colour

Genre:
Sci-fi, Drama, Arthouse
Distributor:
Metrodome Distribution
Rating:
15
BD/DVD Release Date:
30th December 2013 (UK)
Director:
Shane Carruth
Cast:
Amy Seimetz, Frank Mosley, Shane Carruth
Buy Upstream Colour:
[DVD] or [Blu-ray] [Amazon]

Upstream Color is without a doubt the strangest film of 2013 and there have been some strange films this year. It’s the 2nd film by Shane Carruth who made a splash in the indie world 9 years ago with the incredibly overrated Primer which was made for $7,000 but it was unnecessarily complex for it’s own good. Carruth worked on a highly ambitious science fiction epic for the years in-between films but it eventually gave up due to lack of funding.

The film starts with a woman being tasered and kidnapped by a man called “The Thief” in the credits. She is under his mind control and forfeits her money to him and she is only allowed to small portions of water. The Thief performs surgery on her which involves putting a live roundworm in her which has blue tinged orchid leaves dust in it which infects her system.

She awakes and the roundworm is attracted by infrasound waves and she goes to a pig farmer/field recorder’s farm in trance. The farmer performs a transfer of the worm into one of his pig’s. She awakes and has no memory of what happened in her SUV. The woman finally realizes that all her money has been stolen and her employer fires her.

The film picks up a year later and she meets a man on a train (played by the director) and they bond and fall in love. They may have more in common than they initially thought. It then becomes increasingly stranger and stranger.

Carruth literally served as director, writer, producer, actor, cinematographer, editor, composer, casting director, production designer and sound designer… take that Orson Welles! His cinematography is reminiscent of the recent Terrence Malick films at times. The sound design is outstanding which he won a special jury award at Sundance for his sound design. Carruth is being a very talented director and he has the makings of a real auteur but give it a couple more films before calling him one.

It’s a very admirable film even though it’s extremely pretentious at times and utterly baffling. Despite some of the film’s problems it’s a breath of fresh air in a time of endless sequels and comic book films than somebody makes a film this out there. I don’t full understand what the film is about and it’s quite possibly Carruth himself doesn’t. It’s a pretty unforgettable film with plenty of ideas and an endlessly fascinating story that surprisingly wraps itself up in the end. There are still many unanswered questions and people will debate them for years to come.

★★★★☆

Ian Schultz

Lars Von Trier Wishes You A Merry Christmas With New Clip For Nymphomaniac

We do hope your enjoyed festive pig out turkey dinner with all the trimmings with enough to feed a 100. Now that your chill-relaxing wearing that knitted jumper your aunt Mary has knitted for you, Lars Von Trier has a last minute gift for cinephiles with a new clip from Nymphomaniac.

Well are you ready to listen? As Charlotte Gainsbourg is about to tell you a few stories and us blokes are all well equipped with a 'truth detector' but what is she talking about? Well gents sit down, unbuckle storytime is is about to begin!.

What this clip is all about your guess will be as good as our's, it's entitled 'The Gun' the film's final chapter (8) and today The Danes along with the Norwegians will get the first look at Von Trier's sexual adventure. Here's a brief synopsis on the final chapter...

Sometimes things hide, because we're familiar with them. But if you change your point of view, they can suddenly take on a whole new meaning.Joe enters a shady business, and she quickly finds out that her life has taught her some valuable skills.

As in Nymphomaniac been released in UK&Ireland officially the film is been released in 2 parts officially on 7th March with part 2 a week later. However we're hearing conflicting stories that the release date is now 21st February,whatever date we'll keep you posted.



source: Nymphomaniac website

Fellini's Landmark Roma Getting Master Of Cinema Blu-Ray Release This February

Eureka! Entertainment have announced the home video release of Roma, one of the most famous international hits by Federico Fellini, the most popular Italian director of all time (the director La strada, 8-1/2, Satyricon, and much more). Roma is a landmark film in the history of '70s art-film, and one of Fellini's best known-films to this day. Released on Blu-ray as part of Eureka! Entertainment's award-winning The Masters of Cinema Series on 17 February 2014.

One of the maestro Federico Fellini's greatest '70s works (between Satyricon and The Clowns and Amarcord), Roma [Rome] erupts volcanically as a state-of-the-world pronouncement on what was not only happening within Rome at the tide of the hippies' organic birth and the post-Boom-set that made up his characters of the 1960s films, but also where, and how, his city would move feverishly forward into one of potential futures.

As Fellini himself travels with his crew to document the ring-road circling Rome, with all the natural diversions that might inherently divert a traditional film shoot, we move into episodes that chart the wartime difficulties of Roman life across those fleeting times that chronicle love and life within the modern-day Rome-time, themselves pitted against the archaelogical vestiges of the great city, — and the Catholic church rears its dominance, and we come into a midpoint that positions itself, indeed, between the memory-cinema of Satyricon and Amarcord.

One of the great and bountiful colour-spectacles of Fellini's cinema, almost leapt off toward from the moment of Giulietta of the Spirits, Fellini's Roma remains a passionate testament both to the city that finally claimed him as its son after he left small Rimini, and to the final stage of cinema that he himself would work till the day he died. The Masters of Cinema Series is proud to present Fellini's Roma in a Blu-ray edition for the first time in the UK.



SPECIAL FEATURES

• Gorgeous restored 1080p HD transfer of the film
• Outtakes from the film
• More to be announced closer to the release date
• 36-PAGE BOOKLET featuring the words of Fellini, and more!

We will be reviewing Fellini's Roma nearer the time and time will be 17th Febraury 2014.

Film Review - Jeune Et Jolie (Young & Beautiful)

Genre:
Drama
Distributor:
Lionsgate Fims UK
Rating:
18
Release Date:
22nd November 2013 (UK)
Director:
François Ozon
Cast:
Marine Vacth, Géraldine Pailhas, Frédéric Pierrot,Charlotte Rampling

François Ozon’s examination of teenage sexual awakening is a quiet, puzzling affair. As a treatise on childhood, rebellion or sexuality it seems to offer up very little in the way of answers, but repeatedly alludes to a crucial and troubling question of motivation.

Seventeen year-old Isabelle’s (Marine Vacth) disappointing holiday dalliance with a German lad prompts the striking young girl to seek out an existence as a prostitute, the reasons for which are never truly explained. She frequents high-end Parisian hotel rooms servicing a number of gents, ultimately developing something approaching a relationship with a kind, elderly client.

The arrangement takes its toll on her family life, with the inevitable revelation damaging her already detached relationship with her parents. She is trotted off to see a psychologist to reflect upon the fallout her emotionally difficult, yet financially rewarding career path has caused to her and those around her.

Isabelle is frequently quizzed on the reasons behind her new calling as a prostitute, but it’s a question which is never reasonably answered. Indeed watching Vacth’s puzzlingly vacant expression as she lounges across the bed sheets, you’re never quite sure if she or the director had any clue themselves.

Perhaps the only reasonable explanation is just that she enjoys it, which might possibly be justification enough. It’s a coolly intriguing thought to dwell upon, but it leaves you with distinctly underwhelming and disappointing sense of a missed opportunity.

A mysterious sign-off with a briefly visible Charlotte Rampling provides little closure and only serves to intensify the slight sense of dissatisfaction which lingers throughout the whole thing.

★★★☆☆

Chris Banks

Gia Coppola's Directorial Debut Palo Alto To Get Summer 2014 Tribeca U.S Release

Tribeca Film today announced it has acquired North American rights to Gia Coppola’s acclaimed directorial debut Palo Alto, starring Emma Roberts (“American Horror Story,” We’re the Millers), Jack Kilmer (in his acting debut), James Franco (Spring Breakers), Nat Wolff (“The Naked Brothers Band”), Zoe Levin (The Way, Way Back), and Val Kilmer. Written and directed by Coppola, and based on Franco's short story collection of the same name, the film features an original soundtrack by Devonté Hynes (Blood Orange) and Robert Schwartzman. Following a prestigious festival run at the Venice Film Festival, Telluride Film Festival, and Toronto International Film Festival, a Spring 2014 theatrical release is planned.

Palo Alto weaves together three stories of teenage lust, boredom, and self-destruction: shy, sensitive April (Emma Roberts), torn between an illicit flirtation with her soccer coach (James Franco) and an unrequited crush on sweet stoner Teddy (Jack Kilmer); Emily (Zoe Levin), who offers sexual favors to any boy to cross her path; and the increasingly dangerous exploits of Teddy and his best friend Fred (Nat Wolff), whose behavior may or may not be sociopathic. One of the strongest American directorial debuts of the past decade, Coppola's film has a palpable sense of time and place, but her characters — seeking cheap thrills and meaningful connections — could be teenagers from any generation.

“Gia Coppola’s auspicious filmmaking debut Palo Alto is an elegant depiction of generational angst and despair which resonates with realism and restraint. Fueled by a vibrant cast of young talent, Coppola’s artistic collaboration with James Franco results in a thoughtful and subtly intertwined coming of age story,” said Tribeca Film Chief Creative Officer Geoff Gilmore.

“I'm very excited that Tribeca film will distribute my debut feature film, Palo Alto. It's a company that has been a pleasure to partner with and share creative ideas in this ever evolving film industry. I can't think of a better home for my film,” said Gia Coppola.

The deal was negotiated for Tribeca Film by Nick Savva, and Barry Hirsch and George Hayum of Hirsch Wallerstein Hayum Matlof + Fishman on behalf of the filmmakers.

Palo Alto is a James Franco and Rabbit Bandini Productions presentation, produced by Sebastian Pardo, Adriana Rotaru, Miles Levy, and Vince Jolivette.

No word yet on who will release Palo Alto in UK if and when that date will be too.

Source: Tribeca Press Release

Felini's Il Bidone (1955) To Get Duel Format Masters Of Cinema Release

Genre:
Comedy,Drama, World Cinema, Arthouse
Distributor:
Eureka! Entertainment
Release Date:
30th December 2013 (UK)
Format:
Dual (DVD&Blu-Ray)
Rating:
12
Director:
Federico Felini
Cast:
franco fabrizi, richard basehart, broderick crawford, Giulietta Masina,


Eureka Entertainment have announced that they will be releasing IL BIDONE, one of the most acclaimed films of the 1950s by legendary filmmaker Federico Fellini (8-1/2, Nights of Cabiria, La Dolce Vita). The first Blu-ray release anywhere in the world of this classic drama, will be released in the UK in a Dual Format (Blu-ray &DVD) edition as part of the Masters of Cinema Series on 30 December 2013.

Federico Fellini followed up his iconic breakthrough La strada with this brilliant drama - an unsparing look at the dog-eat-dog values of post war Italian society that nonetheless manages to navigate expertly between the lightly comic and the emotionally stark to become one of his richest, most moving works.

Il bidone [The Swindle] follows three small-time conmen - the ageing Augusto (Broderick Crawford), "Picasso" (Richard Basehart), and Roberto (Franco Fabrizi) - as they prey upon the poor and gullible for modest gains. However, once Augusto is unexpectedly reunited with his daughter, now struggling with her studies, the moral and emotional demands of his lifestyle begin to take their toll sooner than he had anticipated.

With its masterful set pieces and host of superb performances (including the director's wife and muse Giuletta Masina), this forms the centrepiece of what has been termed Fellini's "Trilogy of Loneliness" (with bookending films La strada and Le notti di Cabiria), and may be the darkest examination of human nature he ever attempted. The Masters of Cinema Series is proud to present this long-undervalued classic in a new high-definition restoration.



SPECIAL FEATURES

• Beautiful new high-definition master, with the film appearing in 1080p on the Blu-ray
• Optional English subtitles
• Original theatrical trailer
• 36-PAGE BOOKLET featuring the words of Federico Fellini, rare imagery, and more!
• More to be announced!

Pre-order or Buy - Il Bidone [Masters of Cinema] Dual Format [Blu-ray & DVD]

Blu-Ray Review - Heaven's Gate Restored Edition (1980)

Genre:
Western, Drama,
Distributor:
Second Sight
Rating:
15
BD/DVD Release Date:
25th November 2013 (UK)
Director:
Michael Cimino
Cast:
Kris Kristofferson, Christopher Walken, John Hurt, Isabelle Huppert, Sam Waterston
Buy Heaven's Gate 2 disc restored edition:
[Blu-ray] / [DVD]

Heaven’s Gate, in the last thirty years or so, has created a reputation for being one of the most notorious flops in the history of film. In the past thirty years since its initial lukewarm reception it has been considered a masterpiece by many critics, but it’s equally reviled as being one of the worst films ever made, albeit that viewpoint has increasingly dwindled in recent years.

The making of Heaven’s Gate is as infamous as the film itself; it went wildly over budget, there are confirmed stories that the director Michael Cimino would literally wait for exactly the right cloud in the sky, and there are unconfirmed reports that a sizeable amount of the budget went on cocaine for the cast and crew.There’s been a very famous book on the making of called Final Cut, which was later made into a TV documentary which is included on this disc. It has been cited as the single film that took the power from the director, which was very much a thing of the 70s to more studio-controlled films, which is still sadly the case.

The story of Heaven’s Gate is relatively simple it’s about Jim Averill (Kris Kristofferson) who is a marshal in Johnson County, Wyoming. Averill is from money but has rejected his classes’ rejected attitude to the poor immigrates of Johnson County. The immigrates sometimes steal the rich cattle barons’ stock for food and the cattle owners have decided to create a kill list and have hired men to do the job and have got political power from Washington to do so. The rest of film shows the people of Johnson County and the war they fight with the cattle barons.

The film’s initial reaction from New York Times critic Vincent Canby has went down in history as one of the most infamous bad reviews with the line “it fails so completely that you might suspect Mr. Cimino sold his soul to obtain the success of The Deer Hunter and the Devil has just come around to collect.” The truth of the matter is it’s actually a better film than the much-loved The Deer Hunter and a more interesting film; it doesn't have the tour de force of the legendary Russian roulette scenes. It’s a considerably slower film but Cimino’s intention was to transport you to experience the west, as it was not some romantic version, which is so often the case.

The cinematography of the film is some of the best ever committed to film so some initial reviews like saving “there are no redeeming features” is absurd. Vilmos Zsigmond who was the cinematographer of the 1970s shot it. The famous roller skating scene is spellbinding and there are shots in the film, which are literally just jaw dropping in their beauty.

The cast Cimino complied is simply outstanding including Kris Kristofferson in possibly his finest performance. Christopher Walken is great as usual as one of the hired killers. The film’s supporting cast is complied which like people as Jeff Bridges, John Hurt and a very young Mickey Rourke and if you watch carefully you can spot a young Willem Dafoe in the cockfighting scene. The one flaw in casting is Isabelle Huppert as madam of a whorehouse in Wyoming but even that works cause the film is almost dreamlike at times.

Heaven’s Gate seems to have become a modern classic for many and rightfully so, it’s a film that has became legendary for the both the right and wrong reasons. It deserves the 2nd chance it’s now receiving with the recent theatrical and Blu-ray reissues here and across the pond in the USA. It’s well worth the 3 hours and 40 minutes of your time.

★★★★★

Ian Schultz

This is a shared review with The People's Movies

Blu-Ray Review - Federico Fellini's 8½

Genre:
Arthouse, World Cinema, Drama, Classic
Release Date:
11th November 2013 (UK)
Distributor:
Argent Films
Rating:
15
Director:
Federico Fellini
Cast:
Marcello Mastroianni, Anouk Aimee, Sandra Milo, Barbara Steele
Buy 8 ½: [DVD] or [Blu-ray]

8 ½ is one of those films like Citizen Kane or 2001: A Space Odyssey that every film critic pretty much agrees is one of the films that changed film forever. It’s a film that influenced a wide range of films from Brazil to All That Jazz and Woody Allen’s unfairly maligned Stardust Memories. The great Italian maestro film director Federico Fellini was at the helm and it’s quite possibly the greatest film ever made about making a film. 8 ½ was later adapted/remade at the musical Nine but the less said about that the better.

The plot concerns Guido Anselmi (Marcello Mastroianni) who is a director who is having “director’s block” while trying to finish a science fiction film. Guido is quite obviously based on Fellini and Mastroianni was always director’s alter ego on screen. Guido’s marriage is failing apart and has lost interest in finishing the film. The film is a classic mixture of fantasy, memories and reality and at times it’s never clear which is which.

8 ½ like many of the truly great films like Citizen Kane or Brazil it’s all really a great big magic trick. Fellini was first and foremost a dreamer like Orson Welles and Terry Gilliam, who cites Fellini as his biggest influence and 8 ½ as his favourite film. He tried to make cinematic dreams with his great films and he plays around with time and space but also the form of cinema itself. Its both a film that plays with avant-garde film techniques but simultaneously is also extremely watchable and relatively commercial and in turn it’s a pitch-perfect juggling act.

Fellini was also a cartoonist (like Gilliam) and his post-Neo-Realist films certainly have a cartoonish take on life. The characters at times especially the female characters have an also caricature quality to them in the best possible way. It’s all shot in truly beautiful black and white widescreen by Gianni Di Venanzo who was the Italian cinematographer of the early 60s but he died very young sadly.

8 ½ has rightfully earned its reputation at simply one of the greatest film ever made. It’s really THE Fellini film and you really must experience the film if you haven’t already. It’s film like Citizen Kane that was one of the building blocks of modern cinema.

★★★★★

Ian Schultz

Bite Into First Trailer For Jim Jarmusch's Vampire Film Only Lovers Left Alive

When Jim Jarmusch announced he was to make a counter vampire film to Twilight he was greeted great sarcasm now few years on that film Only Lovers Left Alive has it's first trailer and we have to say we love what we're seeing!

Love him or hate him when a filmmaker such as Jarmusch dips his fingers into a genre you wouldn't expect from his stature it can be quite exciting to see the end product. After receiving fairly positive response from Cannes, Toronto and New York fans of the director can breathe easily Only Lovers Left Alive has all the trademark weirdness, stylings you want to see.

Set against the romantic desolation of Detroit and Tangier, Adam (Tom Hiddleston) an underground musician, deeply depressed by the direction of human activities, reunites with his resilient and enigmatic lover Eve (Tilda Swinton). Their love story has already endured several centuries at least, but their debauched idyll is soon disrupted by her wild and uncontrollable younger sister. Can these wise but fragile outsiders continue to survive as the modern world collapses around them?



This isn't a vampire film that's  focusing on sterotypical cliches of the vampire mythos but has the mythology on parallel with drug addiction looks to work well as our lead characters ive a rock  'n' roll lifestyle. It looks minimal, stylish more engaging than other vampire flicks you'll probably see.

Ony Lovers Left Alive doesn't have a official UK or even U.S release date however the film's rights have just been picked up by Sony Picture Classic so expect a release date probably 2014. The film also stars Mia Wasikowska, John Hurt and Anton Yelchin.

The Bling Ring DVD Review

Rating:
15
Release:
28th October 2013 (UK)
Distributor:
Studiocanal UK
Director:
Sofia Coppola
Stars:
Emma Watson, Katie Chang ,Leslie Mann, Israel Broussard,
Buy The Bling Ring:[DVD] or [Blu-ray]
The Bling Ring is very sadly Sofia Coppola’s latest film. She seems to have got to the point her dad is in making absolutely dreadful films cause the money people want to make a film by a Coppola. Both generations of Coppola struck gold early on in their career but after a gold period of about a decade (longer in her father’s case) they stop making those great films.

The Bling Ring is based on a true series of crimes committed by celebrity-obsessed teenagers in L.A during 2008 and 2009. These vacuous spoiled little brats robbed other spoiled brats like Paris Hilton, Lindsay Lohan etc. They do this by stalking their every move on facebook. The clan of vermin end up stealing more than $3,000,000 worth of kit off these equally horrible human beings and come on who really cares?

Sofia clearly thinks she is making a satire on Celebrity culture but in falls flat in almost every instance. Some noted film critics quite liked and it has some about the 60% mark on rottentomatoes.com and who knows why. Every character is a unlikable Hollywood kid who spends too much time on facebook posting selfies who eventually decide stealing some coke snorting whores who pretend then can “act”’ stuff is a good idea. To be fair to Lindsay she was quite good in that Robert Altman film but that was what nearly a decade ago and she has done enough coke and botox to ruin her career.

Emma Watson plays like the ringleader of the coke fuelled teenage gang who does these robberies and is dreadful as is the rest of the cast. Her character is a home schooled (a wonderful American concept) by an equally air headed liberal new age mad women who should have had a forced a Tubal Ligation so her spawn wouldn’t inflict herself on the world. She is joined by her equally self absorbed gay friend who is just obnoxious from the get go who gets involved in coke and stealing shit like the rest of them.

The film is very sadly the last film shot by Harris Savides who shot one of the greatest films of the noughties Zodiac. He also worked with Fincher on The Game and Se7en, Gus Van Sant, Scorsese, Ridley Scott Woody Allen and Sofia Coppola before on Somewhere. He probably got the brain cancer he died from this due to the brain-dead nature of the film’s material. It’s a real shame cause he was a damn fine cinematographer.

It’s a massive failure by the golden girl of American cinema of the noughties, shame her career had to lead to this. Sofia please go to a cabinet and don’t come back till you something that isn’t this vapid on us. Everybody involved should repent, I want my money back and I got the dvd for free.

★☆☆☆☆

Ian Schultz

The White Dove (1960), Josef Kilián (1963) DVD Reviews

The White Dove (1960)
Rating:
PG
Director:
Frantisek Vlácil
Cast:
Katerina Irmanovová, Anna Pitasová, Karel Smyczek
Josef Kilián (1963)
Rating:
n/a
Director:
Pavel Jurácek, Jan Schmidt
Cast:
Pavel Bartl, Pavel Silhánek, Stanislav Michler
Buy The White Dove & Josef Kilián: DVD
Second Run has continued it’s love of 60s Czechoslovakian New Wave cinema with films by two of it’s key players. The people in question are František Vláčil and Pavel Jurácek. Vláčil would later direct what is often considered the greatest Czech film ever made Marketa Lazarová and Jurácek is more well known as a writer for his screenplays for Ikarie XB-1 and Daisies. All of these films are available from Second Run and all are highly recommended.

The first film is The White Dove. It’s a very simple story it’s about a boy who nurses a dove after he injures it so it can return back home. It contrasts his story and the girl Susanne waiting for it’s return to his home in the Baltics. There really is much more to that story than that, it’s only slightly over an hour. It exceeds its simplistic story which wonderful cinematic touches throughout. It’s compared to Kes in the press notes but it’s a very strange comparison cause it has tons of surrealistic touches, which is the complete opposite of Ken Loach’s great film. It’s photography is truly stunning and leaves indelible marks on the viewer’s memory, it won award for it’s cinematographer Jan Curík who would later shoot Valerie and Her Week of Wonders and The Joke.

Jan Curík also shot the other film on the disc Josef Kilián. It’s directed by Pavel Jurácek and Jan Schmidt and is only slightly over half an hour. It’s obviously inspired by Kafka and it’s no coincidence that the year the film came out 1963 was the same year that there was a large conference which including a cultural reappraisal of Kafka’s work. It was later “banned forever” after the 1968 Soviet invasion.

It’s a Kafkaesque nightmare of bureaucracy. A young man goes to a cat rental place to rent a cat for a day (best idea ever for non cat owners) but when he comes back to return the cat. He then enters into a world of bureaucracy to try to solve his issue. There is a truly stunning shot of him against a wall of filing cabinets, which is reminiscent of the famous un-filmed deleted scene of Brazil, which was used for the criterion cover. It has cats and has a labyrinth of surreal bureaucracy so ticks 2 important cinematic boxes for me.

So overall another great release from Second Run and hopefully more hidden Czech gems will come in the near future. According to the booklet Karel Zeman’s A Jester’s Tale will be come out soon which Pavel Jurácek also wrote and hopefully The Joke comes out so I can see it.

★★★★☆

Ian Schultz

Before Midnight DVD Review

Rating:
15
Release Date:
28th October 2013 (UK)
Distributor:
Sony Picture Classics (UK)
Director:
Richard Linklater
Cast:
Ethan Hawke, Julie Delpy, Seamus Davey-Fitzpatrick
Buy Before Midnight:DVD [Amazon]
Before Midnight is the 3rd film in the most unlikely film franchise ever made. It started with the tiny budget Before Sunrise and followed 9 years later with Before Sunset. Neither film were smash hits but were critically acclaimed universally. Before Sunset even got an Oscar nomination for screenplay. It’s credited as directed by Richard Linklater but it’s more of collaboration between the director and it’s leads Ethan Hawke and Julie Delpy, who are credited as screenwriters on the 2 sequels.

It all started with Before Sunrise, which came out in 1995 that concerns a brief encounter between Jesse (Ethan Hawke) and Céline (Julie Delpy) in Vienne in their early 20s. They have a night together after meeting on a train and they wander aimlessly in Vienne and fall in love. They realise they will probably never see each other again and decide not to swap contact details.

The saga continued in Before Sunset, Jesse has written a book about their night together and it’s a bestseller. He Is on European book signing/reading tour and is in Paris and Céline pops by to say hi to an old friend. Jesse has a kid and is married but his love with Céline is rekindled and he famously misses his plane in the last scene.

Before Midnight is set 9 years after the events of the last film. Jesse and Céline have married and parented twin girls. Jesse’s son from his previous relationship is staying with them for summer in Greece but he has to fly home to Chicago to stay with his mother. Jesse has continued writing to great success but Céline is at a crossroads about her career and is debating to work for the French Government. The two of them go to dinner with some writer friends and they buy them a hotel for a night so they can have a night together. Jesse and Céline arrive at the hotel but tensions mount between the two and breaks into an argument.

The Before trilogy is one of the very few honest depictions of a romantic relationships on films. They are so often sentimental and unrealistic. The 1st 2 films are so hopelessly romantic so in the 3rd film they decide to see how is it to really live with the personal you are madly in love with. It’s perfectly acted by the two leads you buy into these characters, you care for about them and it’s works it’s strange magic over you.

Linklater has worked in all genres from teen comedies, scif-fi, dark comedy, more experimental works, crime etc. The one thing that is really his forte is the films within one day, which he has done 8 times now. Almost all of these films are his best films. It’s just a time frame that suits his aesthetic of films about people wandering and talking aimlessly about art, philosophy, films etc.

Overall Before Midnight is by the far the best cinematic romance you will see all year and the most real. It helps that Linkatler, Hawke and Delpy are such good friends for it not seemed forced which it could so much. I hope there will a 4th film in the series cause the ending definitely leaves that possibility. It’s about 100 minutes and you will hard pressed to find a more enjoyable 100 minutes of cinema this year.

★★★★★

Ian Schultz

Time To Check In And Watch Wes Anderson's The Grand Budapest Hotel Trailer!

Say what you like about Wes Anderson personally he is one of the many reasons why I love Arthouse/Independent film. Colourful, vibrant, off-kilter, witty most off all charming and tonight we finally get our first look at his next chapter of his visual journey into film The Grand Budapest Hotel!

The Grand Budapest Hotel recounts the adventures of Gustave H (Ralph Fiennes), a legendary concierge at a famous European hotel between the wars, and Zero Moustafa, the lobby boy who becomes his most trusted friend.

All the trademark Wes Anderson traits are here as expected, same with many of the regular cast as well as many new faces, but most of all its essential Anderson and that's all cinephiles need to know!



No official UK release date has been confirmed however US date is set for Easter 2014 so expect the same or late Spring.

The Grand Budapest Hotel also stars Jude Law, Bill Murray, Jason Schwartzman, Saoirse Ronan, F. Murray Abraham, Jeff Goldblum, Willem Dafoe, Adrien Brody, Owen Wilson, Edward Norton, Harvey Keitel, Léa Seydoux, and Mathieu Amalric.