Short Circuit DVD Review

It can be a dangerous business, you know, re-visiting old films from your childhood. You go back after a couple of decades and realise the years have clouded your memory with a rosy fog which fails to protect your old favourites from even the most perfunctory scrutiny. After all this time it turns out that Mac and Me isn't the charming intergalactic romp that you remember, it's a cynical and deceitful ploy to get you to buy lots of sweets and fizzy pop, who'd have thought? And Prehysteria! is less an anarchic, Jurassic Park-style precursor to Small Soldiers, and more a crushingly dull waste of space, made all the more offensive by the heinous sight of Austin O' Brien's silly, floppy hair.

Believe me when I say I was not looking forward to sitting down and picking apart Short Circuit, an old favourite of mine which makes its Blu-ray debut next week. In the cold light of day, with the benefit of hindsight and the gift cynicism, obviously the preposterous hijinks of talkative automaton, Number Five fall to pieces like a cheaply made yo-yo, right?

Well you can thank your lucky stars that even with a newly acquired, Transformers- inspired hatred of all things even remotely robotic, I enjoyed it, it still holds together. Short Circuit is fine, it’s absolutely fine.
If you’re returning to this one after an absence of a couple of decades, you may struck by just how surprisingly thoughtful it is. Chances are, this will be the first time you noticed this mechanised interpretation of Pinocchio’s heart, it’s pro-nature, pro-environment message of peace, and it’s treatise on humanity and the importance of free-will.

You may have noticed those things, but what’s more important is that you noticed the comedy robot getting up to all sorts of mischief. Number Five, the state of the art military drone who gets struck by lightning and develops the gift of artificial intelligence, drives a car with surprising skill, he tries to cook breakfast, he hops about like a grasshopper, and he reads books really, really fast. And it’s all still pretty amusing.

Steve Guttenberg and Ally Sheedy’s slightly improbable, budding romance doesn’t add a great deal to the proceedings, and Fisher Stevens’ “amusing” Indian accents feels worryingly heavy-handed; but let’s face it, this is all window-dressing, a sideshow compared to the main attraction: Number Five, and It’s immensely hard not to be charmed by the antics of the precocious little scamp.

Twenty and thirty year olds looking to relive past glories, will find Number Five alive (no pun intended) and well, and still tickling the funny-bone. New viewers will discover an occasionally-smart comedy that extols the praises of a peaceful and harmonious planet via a goofy robot who does a tolerable John Wayne impression.

If you say the sight of a five foot high robot falling off a bridge and parachuting into the back of a moving van isn’t entertaining, then I say you are a liar.

Chris Banks (@Chris_in_2D)

★★★☆☆

Rating:PG
DVD/BD Re-Release Date:19th November 2012(UK)
Director:John Badham
Cast: Ally Sheedy, Steve Guttenberg , Fisher Stevens,
Buy:Short Circuit [DVD] / Blu-ray

The Man In The White Suit DVD Review (1951)

In celebration of the 100th anniversary of the birth of Ealing virtuoso Alexander Mackendrick, The Man in the White Suit finds itself on the receiving end of a restoration and re-release.

Mackendrick’s amusingly sardonic tale, based on his cousin Roger McDougall’s play, gives Alec Guinness a chance to shine as the stubborn genius, Sidney Stratton. Following a dismissal from his previous bout of employment, Sidney finds himself working in the research laboratory of a textile factory in a non-descript corner of the North. Stratton’s zealous obsession with bloody-minded progress leads to him inventing a revolutionary type of fabric that never gets dirty and is impossible to damage. Unfortunately for Stratton, his invention is met with hostility from both the factory owners and the unionised labour, who perceive the invention as a threat to repeat business and job security respectively.

As a resourceful and strident dissection of the state of (at the time) modern British institutions, The Man in the White Suit is ferocious. It’s a frequently angry film, and it has no qualms about taking a pretty fierce swipe at all its constituent factions; none of whom with which you can ever completely sympathise. The grasping mill owners are, aspiring but greedy, and singularly fail to see anything but the worst in the potential and brilliance of Stratton’s work, so concerned are they with filling their own coffers. While the militant factory workers also baulk at Stratton’s indestructible suit; they’ve fought hard enough for their tea break, they’ll be damned if they lose their jobs in the name of science.

Strangely enough, Stratton isn’t whiter than white himself. His pig-headed determination to see progress, almost for the sake of it, seems generous, but there’s an almost complete lack of consideration for the consequences. You’re left with the feeling that the film is perhaps looking to warn against the dangers accompanying modernisation post-war, but can’t quite work out at whom to lay the bulk of the blame. Perhaps we’re all as bad as each other.

It’s tempered by a playful, ironic sense of humour that sees Stratton’s early experiments going explosively wrong, to the bouncy accompanying noise of his tubes and pipes bubbling and whistling away. The desperate finale sees Stratton tearing through the dimly lit alleys of industrial Britain, clad in his infernal invention, like a man possessed.
Mackendrick’s peculiarly engrossing comedy feels like a bit of a mismatch at times, but it’s a combination of frustration, fear and wit which is neatly glued together by the gravitas of Guinness’s naively endearing man in his white suit.

Chris Banks (@Chris_in_2D)

★★★★☆

Rating: PG
Directed By:Alexander Mackendrick
Cast: Alec Guinness, Joan Greenwood , Cecil Parker
Buy The Man In The White Suit:DVD/ Blu-ray

Watch The Haunting Sci-Fi Short In The Pines

Who says Science Fiction has to be UFO's and Aliens? Zeek Earl and Chris Caldwell's short film In The Pines is a fine example of that theory, maybe even a debate to weather it should be called a sci-fi. What this film is atmospheric in the minimalistic way, compelling and very haunting visually I do get a Martha Marcy, May Marlene feel to it, minus the religious cult part.

Check it out for yourself below...

A young woman, convinced she has experienced an encounter with the extraterrestrial, becomes fixated on re-establishing contact in this striking study of the paranormal and the human psyche

source:Vimeo

New Trailer & Clip For Takashi Miike's Shield Of Straw

Takashi Miike is a big favorite at Cinehouse HQ so when his Ace Attorney recently played in Glasgow at Scotland Loves Anime we where a bit annoyed we couldn't see it. Next spring his next film Shield Of Straw (Wara No Tate)will be released in Japan and our friends at Twitch have gotten their hands on the film's latest teaser trailer and clip.

Starring Fujiwara Tatsuya who may not be familiar by name but recognizable from the cult film Battle Royale, Deathnote and Toyoda Toshiaki's I'm Flash where he played a cult leader. For his latest film he will be becoming a cold hearted confessed child killer. Based on a Kuichi Kazuhiro novel Shield of Straw when a child killer (Fujiwara) is captured he must be escorted across country by 2 cops (Osawa Takao and Matsushima Nanako)to face trail. What may sound a simple task but the grandfather of the young victim is a very wealthy man not happy that things will be sorted out the conventional way offers 12 million to anyone who can kill his grandchild's killer on route to court.

This film looks like it'll challenge the morality and power of money and the control it has over people. What people will do to get their hands on the amount of money on offer is crazy, will there a psychological thriller mix thrown in too? All will be revealed when the film is release 26 April 2013 in Japan.

Ninagawa is a powerful man in Japanese politics and with top economic connections.His granddaughter is then murdered. The suspect is Kunihide Kiyomaru (Tatsuya Fujiwara). Kunihide Kiyomaru has a prior conviction for assaulting and killing a girl 8 years ago. The police could never apprehend the suspect in the prior killing.
Three months after the murder of his granddaughter, Ninagawa places a whole page ad in the 3 big Japanese newspapers. The ad states "Please kill this man Kunihide Kiyomaru and I will pay you 1,000,000,000 yen as a reward." Meanwhile, Kunihide Kiyomaru sees the ad and begins to fear for his life. Kunihide Kiyomaru then turns himself in at the Fukuoka Police Station. Five detectives from the security section (SP) of the Tokyo Metropolitan Police Department travel to Fukuoka to escort Kunihide Kiyomaru back to the Tokyo Metropolitan Police Department. The distance between Fukuoka and Tokyo is apprixmately 1,200 km. During their fateful trip, a significant portion of the Japanese population plot to kill Kunihide Kiyomaru. Many of those people, actually pursue Kunihide Kiyomaru while he goes back to Tokyo to get the 1 billion yen reward. The lonely fight of the five detectives to protect this man begins ...

source:Twitch

Learn The Alphabet With Boobs And The Insane ABC's Of Death

We love anthologies especially ones of the horror variety but sometimes the short films that make up the film can be diverse in themes and even quality. We're looking forward to the UK January release of V/H/S and now we can add another anthology film ABCs Of Death and today we have the film's insane red band trailer.

Whilst V/H/S is anthology of 5 or 6 filmmaker ABC's Of Death is 26 directors delivering 26 ways to die in short films keeping the theme death. The directors where given Minuit budget but unlimited creative freedom making sure the film makers provide a little something for everyone. Its an ambitious project which to the untrained eye be a bit inconsistent but a fun film for horror with each director assigned a letter giving us an interesting way to learn A's and B's.The film has been playing on the festival circuit the past few months and if you where at last month's Frightfest Halloween all-nighter you would have enjoyed this film.

Massive roster which includes some big players in horror: aare Andrews (Altitude), USA
Angela Bettis (Roman), USA,Ernesto Diaz Espinoza (Mirageman; Mandrill), Chile
Jason Eisener (Hobo With A Shotgun), Canada,Bruno Forzani & Héléne Cattet (Amer), Belgium,Adrian Garcia Bogliano (Cold Sweat), Mexico,Xavier Gens (Frontiers; Hitman), France
Jorge Michel Grau (We Are What We Are), Mexico, Noburo Iguchi, (Robo Geisha), Japan
Thomas Malling (Norwegian Ninja), Norway, Anders Morgenthaler (Princess), Denmark, Yoshihrio Nishimura (Tokyo Gore Police), Japan, Banjong Pisathanakun (Shutter),Thailand, Simon Rumley (Red, White & Blue), UK, Marcel Sarmiento (Deadgirl), USA,Jon Schnepp (Metalocalypse; The Venture Bros.), USA, Srdjan Spasojevic (A Serbian Film), Serbia, Timo Tjahjanto (Macabre), Indonesia, Andrew Traucki (The Reef), Australia, Nacho Vigalondo (TimeCrimes), Spain, Jake West (Doghouse), UK, Ti West (House of the Devil; The Innkeepers), USA,Ben Wheatley (Sightseers; Kill List), UK,Adam Wingard (A Horrible Way to Die), USA
Yudai Yamaguchi (Yakuza Weapon), Japan and Lee Hardcastle (T Is For Toilet), UK.If your familiar with the list of filmmakers you'll know what you'll get with this horrorfest.

No word on a UK&Irish release but when it does come expect sometime 2013.

sourceYahoo

Trouble In Paradise DVD Review (Masters Of Cinema)

Trouble in Paradise is an early screwball comedy by Ernst Lubitsch, which has some crime elements. It’s his most well known and respected him and one of the few in his lifetime that got classic status. Lubitsch influenced such noted directors such as Woody Allen and Billy Wilder among many others. This edition of Trouble with Paradise come from Eurkea’s Masters of Cinema who are so hung up on Lubitsch they previous released a boxset dedicated sorely to his German films of the 1920s which has a impressive 6 discs of films.

Trouble in Paradise is set in Venice and 2 team of pickpockets, one a gentleman thief Gaston Monescu (Herbert Marshall) and his lover Lily (Miriam Hopkins) who decided to rob a perfume window Madame Mariette Colet (Kay Francis). They start with planning to rob her purse at the theatre, which they do. The Madame is asking for a reward for the purse because it’s value and naturally Gaston returns the purse but at the same time, he worms his way into working for the Madame. The Madame starts to flirt with Monescu and he starts having some feelings towards her much to the displeasure of his partner in life and crime.

The film is a brilliantly written witty script with some memorable dialogue. It was written by noted screenwriter Samson Raphaelson also worked with Hitchcock on Suspicion wrote it. He worked with Lubitsch who over and over for the 2 decades, He also wrote The Jazz Singer and was also the cousin of the great Bob Rafelson who started the great innovative BBS studios and directed such classics such Head, Five Easy Pieces and The King of Marvin Gardens. The film pre-dates the screwball boom of the 30/40s especially the Cary Grant and Howard Hawks collaborations such as Bringing Up Baby and His Girl Friday.

The film was also pre-production code which means the sexual innuendo of later films of the 30s is much more explicit. Masters of cinema has of late been doing a lot of this such as masterful Island of Lost Souls and Cecil B. DeMille’s Cleopatra. This ended up being a big issue a few years later when Paramount wanted to reissue the film and also when they wanted to make a MUSICAL version in 40s.

Overall the film is wonderful glass of champagne of a film, fluffy but in a good way which boost a wonderfully witty script, cool art deco sets and some great performances.

Ian Schultz

★★★★☆

Rating:N/C
DVD Release Date: 12th November 2012(UK)
Directed By: Ernst Lubitsch
Cast: Miriam Hopkins, Kay Francis , Herbert Marshall
Buy:TROUBLE IN PARADISE (Masters of Cinema) (DVD) [1932]

It Always Rains on Sunday DVD Review

A snapshot of post-war, working class austerity, It Always Rains on Sunday, released in 1947, makes its way back onto cinema screens as part of the BFI’s Ealing retrospective, and is granted a special edition DVD release into the bargain.

Robert Hamer’s engaging drama, is arguably much less well known than Ealing’s comedic offerings, but its relative anonymity compared to the studio’s later offerings hides a stylistic and thematic ingenuity that prefigures not just nourish thrillers which would flourish shortly after, but also the working-class graft of the British New Wave.

Trapped in a joyless existence of bleak domesticity, dejected housewife Rose (Googie Withers) finds her dull life upset by the sudden reappearance of old flame, Tommy (John McCallum), on the run from police having recently escaped from Dartmoor Prison. As the routine of a typical Sunday unfolds around her, Rose desperately attempts to keep the presence of her former lover a secret from her husband, stepdaughters, and the cluttered, tangled lives of the street’s inhabitants: petty thieves, inquisitive journalists in search of a story, prying policemen and wheeler-dealer businessmen whose lives all contribute to a neat tapestry of supporting and intruding narrative threads.

It’s a bit of a conundrum to explain why It Always Rains on Sunday is not regularly included amongst the pantheon of Ealing greats. Perhaps the plain truth is that it was too much, too soon; a dangerous, determined piece of cinema intent on confronting the problems and realities of a post-war Britain, rather than playing on past glories.

The stylish Noir-tinged finale, the breathless chase through the Stratford train yard, faultlessly photographed by Douglas Slocombe would seem to echo that most illustrious of British thrillers, The Third Man, were it not for the fact that Robert Hamer’s daunting, dizzying chase through the shadows pre-dates Carol Reed’s masterpiece by two years. The low-key grind of daily life amongst the bomb-scarred terraces of the East End also provides us with a glimpse of the kind of social realism that wouldn’t be fully exulted for a decade or so.

If you are already familiar with this largely unheralded gem, do yourself a favour and reacquaint yourself. If not, find it and discover a wonderfully progressive masterwork of British cinema.

Chris Banks(@Chris_in_2D)

★★★★1/2

Rating:PG
DVD Re-release Date:12th November 2012 (UK)
Directed By:Robert Hamer
Cast: Googie Withers, Jack Warner , John McCallum
Buy:It Always Rains On Sunday (Digitally Remastered) [Blu-ray] / DVD

Watch The Cabin In The Woods/Lionsgate Short The Sleepover

Are you like me love films full of iconography? If you do you'll dig this fantastic little short film The Sleepover. Directed by Chris Cullari The Sleepover twists the traditional characteristics of the slasher movie and the film was also the winner of The Cabin In The Woods/Lionsgate short film contest and just recently made its premier at the Fantastic Fest. Now thanks to Vimeo you can enjoy the short film in it's entirety below.....


THE SLEEPOVER from Chris Cullari on Vimeo.

Watch The Awesome Looking Short The Killing Joke

Never criticize a  Short film apart from been some really cool films that are at times superior to it's feature length cousin. Let's take Sebastian Lopez's The Killing Joke a perfect example of great short film about a woman who comes a across a red balloon attached to a small box  she opens leading to a sadistic clown hunting her down....

The Killing Joke is a 15 minute suspense/fiction short film about a mysterious woman that finds a red balloon tied up to a curious little box on an eery derelict street. Using classic elements of suspense and working within a seventies aesthetic, 'The Killing Joke' is an action packed film that pays homage to some of the horror movies from that era.

The piece was shot during four intense days of filming in the Argentinian capital Buenos Aires. The micro budget production was shot using just two 7d canon cameras. The composition and CGI effects for 'The Killing Joke' required months of 'invisible' digital retouching to create the panoramic, yet claustrophobic atmosphere that pervades throughout the movie.

The Film editor was Sabrina Mottino.

Sebastián López wrote and directed the story, and was also responsible for all the impressive post and composition work.

Colin Devlin created the Original Soundtrack, working from his home studio in LA he collaborated on the project with Sebastian from it's inception, creating a wonderful striking symmetry between sound and image.This is the second collaboration for Sebastian and Colin, the first being an action packed trailer created for a fictitious movie called 'Vertical' that went viral on the net, creating a serious buzz for the young director.

Actors Gustavo Marzo and Clarisa Staracci Worked together to portray the intense characters seen on screen.

The Killing Joke from sebastian lopez on Vimeo.

Christmas Evil DVD Review

With the approach of Christmas comes the inevitable release of a slew of films joining the ranks of the “Yuletide Slasher”. While you wait for the Silent Night remake to enter cinemas I would like to recommend one X-mas related horror film for your collection. Released back in 1980 under the title You Better Watch Out, Christmas Evil (why did they bother to change the title?) has garnered a cult following and the praise of “Pope of Trash” John Waters, slowly lifting it above the throng of abandoned B-features that populate 70’s – 80’s horror. 

                The film opens on Christmas Eve 1947 where two brothers watch their father dressed as Santa deliver presents to the house, young Harry later sneaks down stairs to find his father, still dressed as Santa, fondling his mother and Christmas is changed forever. Jump forward thirty years and Harry is a desk Jockey at a production-line toy factory, disgruntled at the lack of Christmas cheer in his fellow employees and obsessively listing the deeds of the local children in his “Naughty” and “Nice” books. Slowly Harry slips into an obsessive rage-driven Christmas nightmare where he deals out his own brand of Christmas justice.

                The first thing that one can’t fail to notice is that, for a film left in the side-lines, Christmas Evil is actually well-shot and directed, sure there’s some crude editing and naff moments of action but on the whole the film has more rewards than flops. After style the story impresses with a much more toned down approach to carnage than expected. The film isn’t a blood bath start to finish, its collected and well-paced, letting us into Harry’s life and introducing us to all the assholes he meets every day, so that there’s always a sense of, rather than being a psychopath, Harry is just a troubled guy. Considering character construction along with the garish colouring and keen social commentary, Christmas Evil plays out like Falling Down by way of The Grinch and Peeping Tom.

                Brandon Maggart’s genuinely superb performance is the keystone of the feature, without his ranged approach the film could have dwindled but thankfully there’s enough conviction, misery, and alienation to build a believable psychopath. Most films never quite pull of the inception of a murderer, but Jackson’s careful scripting allows Maggart moments of bombastic absurdity then grounds him with poignant moments of total isolation. But that’s not to say the film takes itself too seriously, there’s a self-awareness that helps make the piece easier to swallow. Also,  a young Jeffrey DeMunn (The Walking Dead, The Mist) appears as Harry’s brother and makes for enjoyable viewing, especially towards the finale. The only criticism of his performance would be he’s not used nearly enough.

                Jackson’s film has received flak over the years for being anti-Christmas but the film seems more focused on the commercialisation of Christmas as opposed to an attack on the holiday itself. A sharp eye for the trashy quality of Christmas imagery and the miserable, at times pointless, bizarre functions of the holiday push the film beyond the reach of a crappy B-film. This is a film at once ridiculing the Santa myth (Santa Clauses at police line-up) and celebrating it, whilst dragging the whole Christmas ordeal into a sewer of madness and mayhem.

                This review is in no way the product of low expectations; it’s a reaction to something genuinely sharp, a real gem amidst the cascade of trashy horror escapades, plus it culminates in probably one of the best horror climaxes I’ve seen, an ending which seals the deal on the brilliance of Jackson’s festive chaos. Well written, well crafted, with a great lead performance, Christmas Evil is a beautifully constructed cult terror tale with a keen eye for cultural satire, if you’re looking for the perfect Christmas movie then look no further.

Scott Clark

★★★★☆

Rating:18
DVD Re-release Date: 12 November 2012 (UK)
Directed By: Lewis Jackson
Cast: Brandon Maggart, Jeffrey DeMunn ,Dianne Hull 
Buy:Christmas Evil [DVD]

Christmas Evil by CellpanTv