From Up on Poppy Hill Double Play Review

Distributor:
Studiocanal UK
Rating:
U
DVD/BD Release Date:
23rd September 2013 (UK)
Director:
Goro Miyazaki
Cast:
Jun'ichi Okada,Masami Nagasawa,Keiko Takeshita, Sarah Bolger, Chris Noth, Anton Yelchin
Buy From Upon Poppy Hill:
[Blu-ray]


Teenagers in love Post World War Japan is the setting for the latest  Studio Ghibli home release. With Hayao Miyazaki-San ready to handover the reigns of Japan's greatest ever to younger hands is Goro Miyazaki's From Upon Poppy Hill a worthy application for his fathers crown?

Set in 1963 Yokohama, From Upon Poppy Hill is an coming of age story that centre's around Umi and Shun a friendship that's blossoming into young love. As Tokyo starts to prepare for Olympics the young lovebirds are brought together to save their schools old ramshackle clubhouse from demolition to make way for the upcoming games.

From Upon Poppy Hill is a far superior film from Miyazaki Jnr's  debut Tales From The Earthsea which I'll be honest wasn't as bad as some critics made it out to be. Poppy Hill is evidence he has made progress but enough to call it a vintage Studio Ghibli.This film is not set in the fantasy realms of such Ghibli greats as Spirited Away but more at home with Whisper of The Heart grounded in reality. The film captures the post World War 2 era perfectly capturing a nation rebuilding as old traditions clash with the young. You get glimpses into the clashes from the village Umi & Shun live in from the quaint traditional houses to the small dirty roads and vibrant, colourful but simple lifestyles. Compared to Tokyo's sprawling crowed metropolis, with its new skyscraper buildings and a lifestyle that gives you no time to saviour anything. If there was ever going to be an animated version of Ozu film, Poppy Hill could give some indication what it may look like . Tonally as well as the narrative is rich in homage to one of Japan's true masters of cinema.

At times the film lets itself down by descending into melodramatics even suggesting the film even delves into some dark provocative sub text you wouldn't expect from the studio, convulsing into a  tragic  romance of incest. Thankfully at the last minute things are saved but it could have been helped by a back story that hasn't been constructed with great thought.

From Upon Poppy Hill may not be in the mould of the studios classic but there's enough in the film for Ghibli purists to enjoy immensely, so if your looking for great creatures or mythical spirit you'll a tad bored of this.The craftmanship, the visual storytelling is essential Ghibli but what this film does do is remind us all that the traditional hand drawn methods of animation are still alive and well been used in one of the world's greatest animation studios. The attention to detail is sublime rendered masterfully  which you can see in the scenes in the school clubhouse (which deliver some of the best scenes as well as keep a balance in the plot too) to preparing a mealat Umi's house. Even the smallest of details are given the respect they deserve.

From Upon Poppy Hill maybe lightweight for some folks but life is one big fantasy, an adventure of discovery we all must take. A slice of life delivered in a warm, charming and intimate way that only Ghibli know how to do with great precision.

★★★★☆

Paul Devine

TIFF 2013 Review - The Sacrament

Rating:
15
Directed By:
Ti West
Cast:
Joe Swanberg, Amy Seimetz, AJ Bowen
Release Date:
8th, 10th & 13th September (TIFF)

New Splat Pack maestro Ti West wowed us back in 2009 with House of the Devil then again last year with Innkeepers. Whilst House of the Devil was a slow burning kind of 70’s hark-back, Innkeepers was very much a modern horror.  His latest feature, The Sacrament, played at Toronto’s International Film Festival, but is it any good?

Unfortunately West goes for the slow burning thing again and it doesn’t pull off. Any slower and you’d be catatonic. The Sacrament is a film in the spirit of The Wicker Man but way less spooky. Two reporters ( AJ Bowen and Joe Swanberg) venture into South America after a friend receives a summons from his estranged sister. The trio arrive to discover the sister is living in an idyllic but secluded religious convent lorded over by the mysterious ‘Father’ (Gene Jones). About half way through you’re going to start wondering what the point of the film is, because it certainly isn’t to scare or entertain. Sure there’s an interesting concept here, but when the final act kicks off you realise that this has been a one trick pony: a script formulated around its ending, and no film should merely be a means to its own end.

Step away from the lack of substance and look at it from a different angle, then you can see that there are plenty of great components at work. The set for one is fantastic, no arguments there. But where Eli Roth’s The Green Inferno managed to successfully convey hell in a South American paradise, West squanders a set on an uneventful plotline and flopped mounting tension. By this I mean that West orchestrates his characters into position, presents us with the stage, but then it doesn’t really go anywhere bar its predictable finale. Actually, there’s one sequence of particular merit that ignites interest in the long shadowy boredom of the feature.

The performance of Gene Jones (the only man to win a coin toss in No Country for Old Men) is a carrot on a stick, enticing us through the film. Like Michael parks in Red State, there’s something utterly watchable about religious zealots, and they have the followers to prove it. Jones’s interview sequence with AJ Bowen, is one of the few really great moments in the film, its more intense than most of the film, and shows how much shit the three guys are in. Jones is masterful in his execution of dangerous hospitality and manipulation, as is Amy Seimetz as religious nut Caroline.

Bar a few great performances, West disappoints here with a predictable escapade into religious mania, perhaps faulted by its positioning as a post-Red State feature. Even then it’s still dull as dishwater, void of previously flaunted visual flare, and lacking any real drive to develop its characters. When the inevitable set piece kicks off, you really won’t care who survives.


★½☆☆☆

Scott Clark

Blu-Ray Review - The Kings Of Summer

Rating:
15
DVD/BD Release Date:
30th September 2013 (UK)
Director:
Jordan Vogt-Roberts
cast:
Nick Robinson, Gabriel Basso, Moises Arias, Nick Offerman
Buy:
The Kings of Summer [Blu-ray]

Kings of Summer has became the surprise critics darling of the 2013 summer period. It premiered at this year’s Sundance film festival under its original name “Toy’s House”. Britain’s best film critic Mark Kermode made a video blog about how it caught him by surprise when he attended a screening. It actually got pushed back a couple weeks because the critics responded so well to it.

The story is a pretty simple story a teenager called Joe Toy who doesn’t really get on with his dad and him and 2 other friends decide to build a house to live in the woods. They don’t tell their respective parents where they are going and it’s becomes a media sensation in the town. It’s a coming of age story with a real heart and at times darkness which is extremely rare.

It’s reminiscent of films like Stand by Me, Breaking Away and even to an extent the much-underrated Youth in Revolt from a few years ago. It mixes comedy and drama and in this case quite broad comedy, which isn’t always successful but it does have a handful of laughs. It does however work it’s charm on you and you do really care about the boys. It’s not quite as good as those other films but it’s a remarkable little gem.

It’s got a interesting use of music, it starts with the Thin Lizzy song “Cowboy Song” and also used MGMT and somehow it works. Kings of Summer is beautifully filmed by Ross Reige who is definitely a cinematographer to look out for. It has great use of slow-mo and not as cliché that is very refreshing. It’s the director, writer and cinematographer’s first film that is astonishing cause it’s such a self assured piece of work.

It got a limited release in August but it’s out on Blu-ray and Dvd at the tail end of September and it’s really worth checking out.

★★★★☆

Ian Schultz

LIFF 2013 - Watch The New Trailer For Blue Is The Warmest Colour (La vie d'Adèle)

It shocked many when it won this year's Palme d'Or at Cannes leaving Steven Spielberg awe struck in praise this Autumn Abdel Kechiche's Blue Is The Warmest Colour (La vie d'Adèle)will arrive in UK cinemas let have a look at the American trailer.

Based on Julie Maroh’s graphic novel Blue Is The Warmest Colour follows

TIFF 2013 Review - The Green Inferno

Rating:
18
Release Date:
7th & 9th September (TIFF)
Director:
Eli Roth
Cast:
Lorenza Izzo, Ariel Levy, Daryl Sabara, Kirby Bliss Blanton, Sky Ferreira,
I've said it before and I’ll say it again: I have a love/hate relationship with horror. I love its ingenuity and its ability to ponder the greater mysteries from behind a gory veil, but I’m realistic, I can enjoy entertainment horror when it comes pounding my way, and yet, I have little place in my heart for lazy horror. And that’s just what Eli Roth’s The Green inferno is.

A group of do-gooders rush to the amazon rainforest in order to disrupt forestry that will destroy a rarely seen tribe of natives. After a series of mishaps and an unfortunate mix-up, the group find themselves at the mercy of a vicious tribe of cannibals. This squandered ode to classic 70’s cannibal films like Cannibal Holocaust is the horror auteur’s latest and perhaps most disappointing feature to date. Taking the tried and tested formula of group of twenty-something’s + adventure = terror and brutal dispatch, Roth seems shamelessly at ease with letting his feature trundle along on the road to mediocrity.

My main issue with the film lies in the fact it seems like a glorified excuse to let legendary gore craftsmen Howard Berger and Gregory Nicotero off the leash in a gleefully gory escapade. Make no doubt about it; there are some genius moments of brutality and sedition that will turn the stomachs of the most weathered horror fans. And the scarlet-skinned cannibals of Roth’s jungle nightmare are something to behold- chilling and brutal. But that’s just the problem. Roth makes minimal attempts at backing up his visuals with narrative, style, or substance - which are all forsaken in exchange for what can only be referred to as a gore-coaster.

Saying that there’s an upsetting kind of irony and humour (of the blackest kind) at work here.  There are moments, as with all Roth’s films, that will have you staggered on the peak between laughing and grimacing and that’s something few directors can orchestrate: panic-stricken girls having bouts of explosive diarrhoea in cages with their friends, hordes of cannibals with Emo Philips hair doos racing through the jungle. Tension erupts in moments when we think the more likable individuals of the bunch will be fucked up beyond all recognition, but generally dissipates in a cloud of guts and (dare I say) glory. Like Hostel Part 2 this feels like more of the same, and raises a certain question as to Roth’s actual legitimacy as a horror icon. The Green Inferno does however sport one of the most ludicrous yet hilarious and enjoyable cannabis extravaganzas committed to horror, I won’t say anything because I don’t want to ruin one of the more enjoyable aspects of the film, but its shamelessly ridiculously stupid and kind of lovable simply for that.

Maybe I’ve touched on Roth’s particular brand of genius there. Maybe if you ignore the silliness of it all, the black humour and lack of likable character, there’s a fun way to spend an hour and a bit. Then again, maybe not.

The Green Inferno is as dumb as its characters and irritating in its lack of flare. What it surrenders in story it attempts to reclaim in sheer break-neck gore-splattered tension. Though it works to some degree this is an ultimately lackluster project.

★★ 1/2☆☆

Scott Clark

Win No To Pinochet The Pablo Larrain Collection on DVD

In 2013, acclaimed Chilean director Pablo Larraín’s ‘Pinochet trilogy’ reached its pinnacle when NO was nominated for an Academy Award. Larraín has vowed never to make another film on Chile’s darkest days but now, for the first time, all three acclaimed films will be released as part of one set. Released this week (16th September) in UK on DVD we have joined forces with our friends at Network Releasing we have 2
copies of the box set to give away tcoinciding with the 40th anniversary of the coup that brought him to power.

This definitive set includes films charting life in Chile at various stages of the Pinochet regime. TONY MANERO is the tale of a Saturday Night Fever obsessed psychopath living under the regime at the height of its power. POST MORTEM is set amidst the backdrop of the 1973 coup, NO stars Gael García Bernal. In the arthouse hit of 2013 about the true story of the election campaign that brought democracy to Chile.

To win this fantastic box set please answer the following question...

Q.Who played the character Tony Manero in the cult 1977 Hollywood hit film?

You must be 18 years or older to enter.
Deadline for this competition is Sunday 13th October 2013 (23:59pm)(anyone who includes telephone number entry will be deleted automatically for security reasons)

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)

Terms&Conditions: You Must be a UK or Irish resident aged 18 or older to enter. If your successful and win the competition then you will be asked for Postal address to arrange deliver of the prize.The competition is not opened to employees, family, friends of The Peoples Movies, Cinehouse,Network Releasing  who have the right to alter, change or offer alternative prize without any notice. The Peoples Movies, Cinehouse takes no responsibility for delayed, lost, stolen prizes.Prizes may take from days to a few months for delivery which is out of our control so please do not complain, we will tell you when prizes are sent to us, mostly all cops prizes come directly from the PR company representing the film distributor. Deadline Sunday 13th October 2013(23:59pm)..

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The Invisible Woman - TIFF 2013

Rating:
15
Release Date:
9,10th September (TIFF) 17th& 19th October (LIFF)
Director:
Ralph Fiennes
Cast:
Ralph Fiennes, Felicity Jones, Kristin Scott Thomas, Tom Hollander,
In 2011 Ralph Fiennes made his brutally impressive directorial debut with Coriolanus, a raw back-to-basics modern retelling of the lesser known Shakespeare play. Fiennes second feature is a brave departure from this, a perfect opposite to Coriolanus. Essentially a love story, The Invisible Woman follows the relationship between Charles Dickens (Fiennes) and his young lover Nelly Ternan (Felicity Jones), the pair had a controversial extra-marital affair that surpassed Dickens own marriage and continued on until his death at the age of 58.

Fiennes pays close attention to the roles of men and woman at the time in this, his carefully crafted essay on Victorian relationships and –more subtly- fame. The doomed role of the lover in a male writer’s life is perhaps the most heart wrenching aspect of the piece, carefully relayed in the fantastic performances of Jones and Joanna Scanlan- who personifies Victorian reserve in her often tragic portrayal of Dickens’ wife. As Nelly and Dickens draw closer and closer to the inevitable affair, the world around them sniffs scandal and forces them to take a more covert approach. Even if Dickens’ London is a man’s world, it is no place for divorce.

Fiennes is as magnetic as ever as the larger-than-life author at the height of his career. Tom Hollander deserves note for an energetic performance as the mischievous Wilkie Collins, the only grievance regarding Hollander would be his lack of screen time. The wonderful rapport between Fiennes and Hollander is electric and constitutes a large portion of the truly enjoyable scenes of the film. Bring on ‘Wilkie and Dickens: the college years’.

Here I have perhaps touched on the problem with Fiennes’ second feature: it is a period drama, and thus flirts consistently with surrendering to a certain brand of tedium. Aside from fantastic performance and Maria Djurkovic’s impressive production design-which ensures Fiennes’ Victorian London is realistic and aesthetically gorgeous, the film does lack that fine daring edge that might maintain the viewer’s absolute attention. Technicality, Fiennes is a good director, but merely good. His keen ear for diegetic sound helps pull the viewer into the world, but an as-of-yet unfound style leaves some of his frames wandering, left to be gathered by his actors. This leads us to another issue: particular scenes of magnetic performance, those between lovers and family, break the softly-spoken jib to deliver moments that surpass a large portion of the film.

The Invisible Woman is unfortunately a meandering film, beautifully realised but lacking in truly riveting subject matter. There are moments of startling clarity and splendour, a stand out performance from Felicity Jones, but by the end a point could be raised that there’s more beauty than brawn at work here.

★★★☆☆

Scott Clark

TIFF 2013 Review - Horns

Rating:
15
TIFF Release Date:
6th & 8th September
Director:
Alexandre Aja
Cast:
Juno Temple, Max Minghella, Joe Anderson, Heather Graham, David Morse
Based on the bestselling novel by Joe Hill (that’s horror maestro Stephen King’s son), Horns is a spellbinding gothic fairy tale that tackles lost love and the pits of human nature to deliver one of the most enjoyable horror flicks in some time. This was one of the highlights of this year's Toronto International Film Festival.

Ig Perrish (Daniel Radcliffe) wakes up one day to find he has grown a set of horns that grant him strange abilities. Haunted by the brutal murder of his girlfriend (Juno temple) and hounded by the people of his town who blame him, he decides to use those abilities to help exact his brtal revenge on the true killer.

As Ig quickly unravels the conspiracy, people can’t help confiding in him- and more often than not acting out- their most primal desires. So matter where he goes he leaves a trail of destruction, at times shamelessly depraved (see Heather Graham’s role as a sadistic waitress) at others touching. The humour is transferred seamlessly from book to screen, encapsulating the most realistic aspects of Ig’s condition and wrapping them with such charm and glee that there are more than just a few laugh-out-loud moments.

It’s not all black comedy though; Alexandre Aja (Switchblade Romance, The Hills Have Eyes 2006) understands the most important aspect of this story: at its heart, under the sharp, devilish humour and zany plot points, Horns is a romance. His attentions towards Ig and Merrin’s relationship, the heart-breaking fate of it and the superb casting of Radcliffe-Temple provides a believable base from which all other facets of the plot can grow from. Radcliffe has here stepped into full fruition as an actor, removing doubts of his post-Potter significance by seizing the down-and-out lover and relaying him with such torment and tenderness that the film often pulls at heartstrings whilst making you laugh and cower at the brutality of its more visceral scenes.

One of the few gripes with the film would be its bombastic and- at points -choppy music choice and editing which shake you out of Aja’s near-masterpiece. When the rest of the film has such a unity of vision, it’s a shame some of those soundtrack choices hit a gimmicky note, but it’s a small gripe in the face of such an enjoyable film. Similarly, the finale gets a bit stretched, but it’s difficult to talk realism on the subject of the Devil.

Consistently brilliant, horrific, and hilarious, Horns flaunts Radcliffe’s best performance to date and the claim to be one of the most touching horror films of recent years. This is a fantastic piece of filmmaking and a great addition to Aja’s repertoire.

★★★★☆

Scott Clark

TIFF 2013 Review - All Cheerleaders Die

Rating:
18
Release Date:
15th Sept (TIFF), 12th &14th October(LIFF)
Director:
Lucky McKee
Cast:
Caitlin Stasey, Sianoa Smit-McPhee, Brooke Butler, Tom Williamson,

Lucky Mckee has always had a bizarre sense of style I’ve never quite come to terms with. Some of his films are cult crackers (May) and others are more laid back (Red). His new film All Cheerleaders Die, co-directed with Chris Sivertson, is his most shameless step into black comedy and madcap yet.

                The film follows a rebel teen (Caitlan Stasey) as she attempts to infiltrate a group of cheerleaders in order to exact revenge on the captain of the high school football team. A supernatural occurrence throws the group of cheerleaders into a whole mess of occult violence and bitchy high school drama where cheerleading is the least of their worries.

                The film is not the self-aware horror that the title harks it might be, neither is it a particularly easy film to watch. It starts out in a fairly solid and amusing way, doing what it says on the tin. A black comedy revenge film is set in motion but very quickly unravelled with the alienating supernatural overtones. Even then its not the supernatural that causes the problem, it is the way in which its executed.

                The film slips from one genre to another in an uncomfortable and disappointing way. Perhaps it’s my fault for enjoying the grounded revenge concept too much and not wanting to follow the film into Jennifer’s Body territory. But then again if the film had managed to look less like a crap episode of Goosebumps, things could have been a whole lot better. Magic stones and swapped bodies throw the film off course, rendering it a Frankenstein feature that fires in different directions until it loses sight of its original narrative, a narrative that once regained is less cared for.

                Sure there’s fun to be had here, a group of hot cheerleaders getting pulled into a revenge scheme against the football guys who scorned them is always going to give ample opportunity for laughs and thrills. Mckee and Silverston even pull off some pretty gruelling violence that can’t be dulled by the campiest moments at work here. Even if there’s a fiendish comedy element and a good idea of how to shock audiences, it all feels - like most of its characters - dull and superficial. On that note, Stasey and Sianoa Smit-McPhee are knock-outs, as is Tom Williamson’s turn as super Jock and villain Terry. There’s ample talent and good individual components but the film is frankly grating as a whole.

Commendation is deserved for being unrelentingly mad, bad, and corny and there is a keen and consistent sense of humour at work here. However, awful effects and plain ridiculous concepts squash what might have been a solid stand-alone picture into a weird extended episode of your least favourite kiddy horror series.

★★☆☆☆

Scott Clark

Win uwantme2killhim? on DVD

To celebrate the release of uwantme2killhim? (eOne) on DVD, we have a copy to give away!

From Producer Bryan Singer (X-Men, X-Men: Days of Future Past, The Usual Suspects) comes
uwantme2killhim?, a British thriller based on a true story. A fascinating and disturbing examination of the impact that the emerging online culture had on the lives of a generation, uwantme2killhim? brings together award-winning talent to tell a story more unbelievable than any fiction.

uwantme2killhim? is available to own on DVD from Monday 16th September.

When 16-year-old Mark, a handsome boy, popular with girls, meets local girl Rachel on the Internet, he quickly finds himself in an intense online relationship. Besotted, he will do anything for her – even befriend and defend – her awkward, loner brother, John, the perpetual target of school bullies. When Rachel, who is trapped in the grips of an abusive relationship, is murdered, Mark and John are determined to avenge her death. Their actions draw the attention of a female MI5 agent as they unwittingly stumble into an on-going operation. Soon, Mark is recruited to commit a devastating crime, one that made British legal history.

Based on true events in the UK in 2003, uwantme2killhim? is the story of a friendship of opposites and the hidden evils that lurk deep within the Internet.

To Win uwantme2killhim? on DVD please answer the following question:

Q.What Downton Abbey cast member stars in uwantme2killhim?

Email your answer, name, address including Postcode (subject is uwantme2killhim?)winatcinehouseuk@gmail.com You must be 15 years or older to enter.
Deadline for this competition is Sunday 6th October 2013 (23:59pm)(anyone who includes telephone number entry will be deleted automatically for security reasons)

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)

Terms&Conditions: You Must be a UK or Irish resident aged 15 or older to enter. If your successful and win the competition then you will be asked for Postal address to arrange deliver of the prize.The competition is not opened to employees, family, friends of The Peoples Movies, Cinehouse, eOne employees who have the right to alter, change or offer alternative prize without any notice. The Peoples Movies, Cinehouse takes no responsibility for delayed, lost, stolen prizes.Prizes may take from days to a few months for delivery which is out of our control so please do not complain, we will tell you when prizes are sent to us, mostly all cops prizes come directly from the PR company representing the film distributor. Deadline Sunday 6th October 2013(23:59pm)..

UK Competitions and Prize Draws at UKwins
Loquax Competitions
Free Competitions
ThePrizeFinder – UK Competitions