UK Premiere of Wes Anderson's The Grand Budapest Hotel To Open 2014 Glasgow Film Festival, Programme launched

The programme for the tenth edition of Glasgow Film Festival was announced today, studded with UK, European and World premiere screenings of some hotly-anticipated films, distinguished, fascinating guests and innovative pop-up cinema experiences. The tenth Festival, which is supported by Glasgow City Marketing Bureau, EventScotland and Creative Scotland, will open with the UK premiere of Wes Anderson’s The Grand Budapest Hotel, and close with the Scottish premiere of Under the Skin, which was partly filmed in the city.

As ever at GFF, which in 2014 runs from 20 February – 2 March, Glasgow itself is the biggest star of the Festival. This year, look out for special events in unusual venues across the whole city: the gorgeous Gothic spires of Kelvingrove Art Gallery and Museum are the perfect surroundings for a fancy dress gala screening of Young Frankenstein, while the former industrial warehouses in North Glasgow become a retro-futuristic arcade for a ‘total cinema’ screening of Tron, and potholing enthusiasts are invited to a never-before-accessed location underneath Central Station for a mystery film. The tenth Festival also taps into the city’s live music and visual art scenes, and pulls out all the stops, collaborating with artists, DJs, musicians, fashion designers, bands, video gaming experts, comic book icons and Hollywood legends in a huge, glorious celebration of cinema in all of its forms.

Opening Gala: The Grand Budapest Hotel **UK PREMIERE**
Glasgow Film Festival’s first-ever closing gala was Wes Anderson’s The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou – it seems particularly fitting that the tenth Festival opens with the UK Premiere of his latest film, two weeks after its world premiere at the Berlinale. The Grand Budapest Hotel is one of Anderson’s most ambitious creations yet, reflecting the political turmoil and social upheaval of Europe between the wars through the hectic lives of the staff and guests at one of the most famous hotels on the continent. The preposterously starry cast, headed by Ralph Fiennes and Tilda Swinton, includes Jude Law, Jeff Goldblum, Bill Murray, Saoirse Ronan, Harvey Keitel and Willem Dafoe. Thursday 20 February (19.30) | repeated Friday 21 February (15.45) | GFT


Closing Gala: Under the Skin **SCOTTISH PREMIERE**
Jonathan Glazer’s adaptation of Scottish-based writer Michel Faber’s extraordinary novel is the kind of audacious, spellbinding cinema you only experience once in a generation. Strikingly original in look and execution, it offers an unsettling exploration of loneliness and alienation located in a desolate Glasgow that feels as remote as a distant planet, with a stunning turn from Scarlett Johansson as a seductive alien entity luring her unsuspecting victims to their doom. Sunday 2 March (20.00) | GFT



Allan Hunter, Glasgow Film Festival Co-Director, said:
‘In the decade since the Festival began, it’s grown almost beyond recognition. One thing remains essential, though – GFF is and will always be an access-all-areas event, where you can meet the filmmakers, ask awkward questions, and make friends with the person sitting next to you. Everyone is a VIP here, and in our tenth year we’re pulling out all the stops, trying to create the best possible experiences for our audiences, and involving as much of the city as we can. 2014 is set to be a thrilling year for Scotland with the Commonwealth Games, Ryder Cup and Homecoming attracting visitors from all over the world. Glasgow is at the heart of these celebrations and we are proud to offer our special anniversary programme as part of what promises to be an amazing period in the life of the city.’

Special Events
Over the past few years, GFF has established itself as the home of pop-up cinema, creating exciting one-off ‘total cinema’ experiences in some of the city’s best-loved venues. The programme also explores crossovers between film and music, visual art, comic books and computer gaming, with a series of one-off evenings to remember.
Highlights include:
· The grandest Gothic gallery in Glasgow plays host to a monstrously good night, with a fancy dress gala and live organ recitals ahead of a screening of 1974 classic Young Frankenstein, at the Monster Mash at Kelvingrove Art Gallery and Museum.
· Recruits are sought for a potholing expedition: take part in a mystery cinematic descent deep beneath Glasgow Central Station to a space never before open to the public. Claustrophobes should probably not apply…
· In a special GFF commission at the Old Fruitmarket, Scottish indie-folk darlings Admiral Fallow collaborate with emerging filmmakers from across the country, and weave footage from the landmark 1951 documentary Glasgow, No Mean City into a one-off live performance.
· The lo-fi surroundings of warehouse-turned-nightclub The Glue Factory are transformed into a retro-futurist gaming arcade for a special screening of the 1980s classic, in Tron: Off The Grid
· Celebrate the Motor City with two days of techno, hip hop, documentary and visuals at The Arches. The endlessly funny Detroit hip hop artist Danny Brown teams up with filmmaker Rollo Jackson (who has made music videos for Hot Chip and James Blake) for a live audio/visual set, while godfather of Detroit techno Carl Craig DJs after a screening of Julien Temple’s celebrated documentary Requiem For Detroit?
· One of Scotland’s most hotly-tipped visual artists, Rachel Maclean, the current winner of GFF’s annual Margaret Tait Award, leads Tae Think Again: Rethinking Identity in Contemporary Scotland, a symposium of artists on Scottish identity, as well as serving up the world premiere of her new film on British nationality and Empire, A Whole New World.
· Eat along with the on-screen action in foodie classics When Harry Met Sally, Goodfellas, Rataouille and Withnail & I, as GFF teams up with hip feeders Street Food Cartel for Street Food Cinema at The Briggait, Glasgow’s beautiful former fishmarket.
· As a continuation of Game Cats Go Miaow!, the programming strand which explores the crossover between video games and cinema, audiences can turn a documentary into their very own gaming-style experience, with the interactive 48 Hour Games.
· GFF’s partnership with Glasgow’s Tall Ship continues, as we screen Wes Anderson’s The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou (the first ever GFF Closing Gala) and John Carpenter’s chilling sea-bound horror The Fog, in the hold of The Glenlee, under the water level. Look out for the smoke machine…
· A special day of programming celebrating Shetland, in film, poetry and song.
· A mini-strand of films from Commonwealth countries, connected to Glasgow 2014.
The Pop-Up! Programmers, a group of 18-24 year olds dedicated to making cinema accessible in community spaces, organise a series of exciting film events across Glasgow and Ayr. From a screening of The Steamie in Bridgeton (with special guests from the film and archive footage projected onto a drying green) to In the Mood for Love brought to Glasgow’s Chinese community, they’re bringing cinema directly to the people.
· Comic books and computers clash in the Geeks vs Gamers Super Quiz, as two celebrity panels, captained by Kapow! strand programmer and Kick-Ass kingpin Mark Millar and Game Cats Go Miaow! programmer / Scots comedy hero Robert Florence, face off in afficienado Armageddon…
· 2013 Jarman Award nominated artist Ed Atkins presents an eclectic compilation of classic artists’ films, strung together with a live karaoke performance, in Man of Steel.
· The UK premiere of Run & Jump, starring Will Forte, leads into a Scottish Mental Health Arts and Film Festival discussion about the portrayal of mental health issues in cinema, led by Douglas T Stewart (BMX Bandits).

Confirmed Guests
· Director and Academy Award-winning set designer Roger Christian (Alien, Star Wars) presents the European premiere of his painstakingly-restored short Black Angel, shot in and around Scotland and created specifically to screen before The Empire Strikes Back in cinemas. Christian will also discuss his long Hollywood career and enduring collaboration with George Lucas.
· Legendary Dutch director George Sluizer discusses Dark Blood, famously River Phoenix’s last film. Sluzier has recently finished a final cut of the film, which has its UK premiere at GFF.
· Director, actor and writer Richard Ayoade returns to the Festival to discuss his new film The Double, which stars Jesse Eisenberg and Mia Wasikowska
· John Sessions, one of the most versatile and accomplished Scottish actors of his generation discusses his incredible career, which includes working with Martin Scorsese, Robert De Niro, Al Pacino, Anthony Hopkins, and a latex puppet of Margaret Thatcher.
· agnés b., the internationally-renowned fashion designer-turned-producer/director, delivers a masterclass on filmmaking and her cinematic inspiration, as well as the UK premiere of her film My Name Is Hmmm…, which stars Glasgow artist and Turner Prize-winner Douglas Gordon.
· Lauren Mayberry, co-founder of feminist collective TYCI and member of the band CHVRCHES, introduces The Punk Singer, the documentary about Bikini Kill frontwoman Kathleen Hanna.

UK Premieres
This year, a record sixty of the films in the programme – more than ever before – are UK premieres, including:
· The Opening Gala screening of Wes Anderson’s The Grand Budapest Hotel
· My Name is Hmmm…, the feature film directorial debut from French fashion icon agnès b.
· Mr Morgan’s Last Love, starring Michael Caine and Clémence Poésy
· Mood Indigo, the new film from Michel Gondry, starring Romain Duris and Audrey Tautou
· Kristin Scott Thomas and Daniel Auteuil in Before the Winter Chill
· The highly anticipated horror sequel Wolf Creek 2
· The restoration of James Dean’s star-making film, Rebel Without A Cause.
· Richard Dreyfuss starring in Cas &Dylan, directed by Jason Priestley
· Thomas Imbach’s new take on the life of Mary Queen of Scots, starring Camille Rutherford, Sean Biggerstaff, and Tony Curran as John Knox
· Dear Mr Watterson, an innovative profile of Calvin and Hobbes creator and legendary recluse Bill Watterson
· Go For Sisters, the latest film from cult director John Sayles

· The 100 Year Old Man Who Climbed Out Of The Window And Disappeared, based on Jonas Jonasson’s globally bestselling novel.
· A Thousand Suns, Mati Diop’s hauntingly beautiful tribute to her late uncle Djibril Diop Mambéty’s multi award-winning classic Touki Bouki
· Quai D’Orsay, the new work from cinema legend Bertrand Tavernier
· The Red Robin, starring cinema veteran Judd Hirscht
Beyond The Edge 3D, a revolutionary 3D documentary piecing together Edmund Hillary and Tenzing Norgay’s ascent of Everest using archive footage
Yves Saint Laurent, an evocative, exciting biopic of the pioneering French designer
Witching and Bitching, which has just received 10 nominations in Spain’s Goya Awards
Seven of the best new films made in Chile in the last year, as part of CineChile, our homage to Chilean cinema
Glasgow Film Festival is also delighted to host the first-ever public UK screening of the eagerly-anticipated A Long Way Down, based on the novel by Nick Hornby, starring Aaron Paul, Imogen Poots, Toni Collette and Pierce Brosnan

World Premieres
· A Whole New World by Rachel Maclean, winner of the 2013 Margaret Tait Award
· The House of Him, the feature film directorial debut from Burnistoun star Robert Florence
· David Graham Scott’s Iboga Nights, a revealing insight into a controversial treatment for drug withdrawal
· Documenting John Grierson, a profile of the Scottish filmmaker who created the documentary format
· Katie Cassidy, Michelle Tratchenberg and Eliza Dushku team up in the big screen adaptation of Daniel Schaffer’s graphic novel The Scribbler, as part of FrightFest. FrightFest will also screen the European premiere of Jordan Baker’s Torment
· Video Nasties: Draconian Days, a documentary looking at the restrictive censorship and horror movies of the 1980s

Scottish Premieres
The 2014 programme also features fifty-seven Scottish premieres, including:
· Oscar-nominated documentary 20 Feet From Stardom, about the legendary backing singers in rock & roll.
· Locke, starring Tom Hardy
· The Book Thief, the hugely-anticipated Holocaust film starring Emily Watson and Geoffrey Rush.
· Tom Hiddleston making a surprising appearance in Joanna Hogg’s excellent third feature, Exhibition.
· Chiwetel Ejiofor, Thandie Newton and Anika Noni Rose in the film adaptation of Orange Prize for Fiction winner Half of a Yellow Sun
· Kathleen Hanna profile The Punk Singer
· Starred Up, the new film from BAFTA Scotland winner David Mackenzie, starring Jack O’Connell
· Mistaken For Strangers, a rockumentary following The National on their European tour.
· Our Closing Gala screening of Jonathan Glazer’s Under the Skin, starring Scarlett Johansson

Our Festival Club takes over CCA’s Theatre and Terrace Bar for the duration of the Festival. A series of free talks and events examines the Scottish film, television and gaming industries from all angles – from casting to criticism, Scotland as film location and inspiration, and how to write for video games. After the discussions, a selection of GFF-associated DJs will keep things busy late into the night, in this unique club space where, if 2013 is anything to go by, audiences and filmmakers will most certainly meet and mingle.

As ever cinehouse and The People's Movies will be attending and we'll do our best to cover the festival to the best of our abilities. Happy Birthday Glasgow Film Festival!

BFI to Release Claude Sautet’s Classe tous risques (1960) on Duel Format This February

Brilliantly suspenseful and surprisingly moving, Classe tous risques is a devastating study of loyalty and betrayal, distinguished by a bleak, incisive psychological realism. Previously unseen in the UK, it was released in cinemas by the BFI last September and now comes to DVD and Blu-ray in a Dual Format Edition on 24 February 2014. Special features include a documentary on the life and career of the great Italian-born character actor Lino Ventura.

French gangland boss Abel Davos (Lino Ventura) has been on the run in Italy for a decade in order to escape a death sentence. But when police finally close in, he turns to his old criminal friends to help him and his young family return to Paris. With loyalty in short supply, it takes an insouciant stranger (coolly played by Jean Paul Belmondo in the same year as his breakthrough performance in A Bout de souffle), to come to the rescue.

The directorial debut of the influential Claude Sautet (Un Coeur en hiver, Nelly & Monsieur Arnaud), and based on the novel by death-row-inmate-turned-writer José Giovanni (Le Trou, Le Deuxième souffle), Classe tous risques features a stand-out performance from Ventura as a bad man trying to do right by his children.

Special features

• Presented in both High Definition and Standard Definition
• Brand new restoration
• Monsieur Ventura (Doug Headline, 1996/2014): documentary on the life and career of Lino Ventura
• Original French and US trailers
• Illustrated booklet with newly commissioned essay by the Guardian’s John Patterson

Check out the film's trailer....


Classe tous risques will be released on Dual Format (DVD&Blu-ray) by BFI on 24 February,pre-order/buy Classe Tous Risques (DVD + Blu-ray) [Amazon]

There's No Room At Home In UK Trailer For Boomerang Family (Go Ryeong Haw Ga Jok)

There comes a time when the siblings really need to leave home and make their own homes in Song Hae-Sung's madcap Boomerang Family when the 'kids' are 35, 40 and 44 you question if you are a parental failure?!

After it's UK premiere at Last November's London Korean Film Festival Uk's best Asian Film Distributor Third Window Films are bringing the film to DVD, Next month.

A peaceful household is disturbed by the return of a mother’s (Youn Yuh-Jung) three grown children one after the other. The first is eldest is unemployed freeloader Han-mo (Yoon Je-Moon), second is failed film director In-mo (Park Hae-Il ), and last is double divorcée Mi-yun (Kong Hyo-Jin). Having come back home after leaving the nest years before, they try their best to accommodate each other but constantly bicker and fight nonetheless. Thrown into the mix is Mi-yun’s teenaged daughter from one of her failed marriages, Mi-kyung. How will they ever manage to co-exist under one roof and hold on to a shred of dignity?

DVD Special Features

• Anamorphic Widescreen transfer with 5.1 Surround Sound
• Interviews with the Cast & Crew,
• Making Of,
• Q&A at London Korean Film Festival,
• Theatrical Trailer

Pre-Order/Buy: Boomerang Family [DVD]

Boomerang Family will be released on 24th February on DVD, the film stars Park Hae-Il(The Host),Yoon Jae-Moon (Mother),Kong Hyo-Jin (Volcano High) and Youn Yuh-Jung (The Housemaid).

The Phantom Of Paradise To 'Rock' Your Blu-ray Collection This February

Arrow Video is thrilled to announce the release of Brian De Palma’s seminal horror fantasy Phantom of the Paradise coming to Blu-ray for the first time in the UK on 24th February. One of 2014’s most hotly anticipated titles from the Arrow Video label, this feature-packed disc will be released as both a Limited Edition SteelBook and deluxe Blu-ray featuring original and newly commissioned artwork by The Red Dress. This exciting Blu-ray release will also include an exclusive collector’s booklet featuring new writing on the film by festival programmer Michael Blyth and an exploration of the film’s troubled marketing history by Ari Kahan, curator of SwanArchives.org, illustrated with original stills and promotional material.

Featuring a bumper crop of bonus features such as Paradise Regained, a 50 minute documentary on the making of the film featuring director Brian De Palma, producer Ed Pressman and members of the cast, The Swan Song Fiasco, a new video piece exploring the changes made to the film in post-production plus alternate takes and bloopers from the cutting room floor, original trailers, a gallery of rare stills and most excitingly a newly filmed 70 minute interview where renowned director Guillermo del Toro interviews Paul Williams.

Brian De Palma’s Phantom of the Paradise came hot on the heels of his early horror film Sisters. De Palma planned both films at the same time but the complex production design and sets forced Phantom into second place due to budgetary constraints. For those who found Sisters to be too much of a Hitchcock rip-off Phantom of the Paradise is a very different film and finds De Palma working with his most wicked sense of humour in this gothic masterpiece.

Phantom’s devoted fans not only claim this to be De Palma’s best film but also far superior to the Rocky Horror Picture Show for cult musical madness. Phantom of the Paradise also claims many celebrity fans including Edgar Wright, Guillermo del Toro and Quentin Tarantino.

Synopsis

Brian De Palma’s inspired rock ’n’ roll fusion of Faust, The Phantom of the Opera and The Picture of Dorian Gray boasts an Oscar-nominated score by Paul Williams, who also stars as an evil record producer who not only steals the work of composer/performer Winslow Leach (William Finley) but gets him locked up in Sing Sing - and that’s not the worst that happens to him along the way.
Few revenge scenarios have ever been so amply justified, but the film is also constantly aware of the satirical possibilities offered by the 1970s music industry, exemplified by Gerrit Graham’s hilariously camp glam-rock star. Jessica Harper (Suspiria) appears in her first major role as the naïve but ambitious singer, on whom Winslow secretly dotes.

Prodigiously inventive both musically and visually, this is one of De Palma’s most entertaining romps, not least because it was so clearly a labour of love.

The super-deluxe package, which is available both as a standard Blu-ray and as a limited edition Blu-ray SteelBook, is full of special features and bonus material. The special features for this edition include:

· High Definition Blu-ray (1080p) presentation of the feature, available in the UK for the first time!

· Original uncompressed Stereo PCM / 4.0 DTS-HD Master Audio options

· Isolated Music and Effects soundtrack

· Optional English SDH subtitles for the deaf and hearing impaired

· Paradise Regained – A 50 minute documentary on the making of the film featuring director Brian De Palma, producer Ed Pressman, the late star William Finley, star and composer Paul Williams, co-stars Jessica Harper and Gerrit Graham and more!

· Guillermo Del Toro interviews Paul Williams (72 mins, 2014)

· The Swan Song Fiasco: A new video piece exploring the changes made to the film in post-production

· Archive interview with costume designer Rosanna Norton

· William Finley on the Phantom doll!

· Paradise Lost and Found: Alternate takes and bloopers from the cutting room floor

· Original Trailers

· Radio Spots

· Gallery of rare stills including behind-the-scenes images by photographer Randy Black

· Collector’s booklet featuring new writing on the film by festival programmer Michael Blyth and an exploration of the film’s troubled marketing history by Ari Kahan, curator of SwanArchives.org, illustrated with original stills and promotional material

· Reversible sleeve featuring original and newly commissioned artwork by The Red Dress [Amaray release only]

· Limited Edition SteelBook™ packaging featuring original artwork [ SteelBook only]

· Booklet featuring new writing on the film by John Kenneth Muir, author of The Films of John Carpenter, as well as a re-print of an interview with production designer John Lloyd and make-up effects artist Steve Johnson on the design and effects of the film, illustrated with archive stills and posters

Phantom Of Paradise will arrive on Blu-ray  on 24th February from Arrow Video, we will be reviewing the film nearer the time, so stay tuned.

You can pre-order/buy Phantom Of Paradise on Blu-ray or Steelbook Blu-ray

Horror Channel Reviving Hammer Double-bill nights

Vampire vixens, creepy castles, mouldy mummies, satanic sadists and Lee & Cushing on top show. Yes, its Hammer heaven as the UK’s number one TV destination for all things horror presents a HAMMER DOUBLE-FEATURE SEASON, which broadcasts from Sat Feb 1 – Feb 22 @ 9.00pm.

Here is the line-up:

Sat 1 Feb @ 21:00 – DRACULA: PRINCE OF DARKNESS (1966)

This sequel to the 1958 The Horror of Dracula sees the supposedly dead Count Dracula back in bloody business once his trusty servant Klove entices the English Kents - Charles (Francis Matthews), brother Alan (Charles Tingwell), and their wives, Diana (Suzan Farmer) and Helen (Barbara Shelley), inside his welcoming castle. Directed by Terence Fisher, this is seen as the “quintessential Hammer horror"

Sat 1 Feb @ 22:45 - SCARS OF DRACULA (1970)

Directed by Roy Ward Baker, this popular sequel to Taste the Blood of Dracula stars Christopher Lee as Count Dracula, who spreads his evil from his mountaintop castle. When libertine Paul Carlson disappears one night, his brother Simon and girlfriend trace him to the area, discovering a terrified populace. They make their way towards the sinister castle and its undead host. Also stars Dennis Waterman.

Sat 8 Feb @ 21.00 – FRANKENSTEIN CREATED WOMAN (1967)

Directed by Terence Fisher, this popular feature stars Peter Cushing as Baron Frankenstein, who discovers a way of trapping the soul of a dead person. Frankenstein believes he can transfer the soul into a recently deceased female (Susan Denberg) to restore her to life. This is one of the most critically acclaimed Hammer films and Martin Scorsese cites this as one of his favourite films.

Sat 8 Feb @ 22.50 - FRANKENSTEIN AND THE MONSTER FROM HELL (1974)

The aged Baron Victor Frankenstein (Peter Cushing) is housed at an insane asylum where he has been made a surgeon, where, under the alias of Dr. Carl Victor, uses his position to continue his experiments in the creation of man. Filmed at Elstree Studios in 1972 but not released until 1974, it was the final chapter in the Hammer Frankenstein saga of films as well as director Terence Fisher's last film.

Sat 15 Feb @21:00 – THE MUMMY’S SHROUD (1967)

Directed by John Gilling, the film stars André Morell and David Buck as explorers who uncover the tomb of an ancient Egyptian mummy. (played by stuntman Eddie Powell, Christopher Lee’s regular stunt double), brought back to life to wreak revenge on his enemies. It was the third of Hammer's four Mummy films, and the last to feature a bandaged mummy. It was the final Hammer production to be made at Bray Studios.

Sat 15 Feb @ 22:45 - BLOOD FROM THE MUMMY’S TOMB (1971)

This was the swan song for director Seth Holt, who died before filming finished. An expedition, led by Professor Fuchs (Andrew Keir), find the tomb of an evil Egyptian princess. Her preserved, still-bleeding severed hand sports a dazzling ruby ring. Several years later, Fuchs gives the ring to his daughter Margaret (Valerie Leon), who slowly begins to take on the malevolent traits of its original wearer.

Sat 22 Feb @ 21:00 – THE DEVIL RIDES OUT (1968)

The powers of good are pitted against the forces of evil in this gripping tale of Satanism, based on the best-selling 1934 novel of the same name by Dennis Wheatley. Written by Richard Matheson and directed by Terence Fisher, the film stars Christopher Lee, Charles Gray, Niké Arrighi, Leon Greene and Patrick Mower. Christopher Lee has often said that of all his vast back catalogue of films this is his favourite

Sat 22 Feb @ 22:50 - TO THE DEVIL A DAUGHTER (1976)

Directed by Peter Sykes, this was the second of Wheatley's "black magic" novels to be filmed by Hammer, following The Devil Rides Out and stars Richard Widmark, Christopher Lee, Honor Blackman, Nastassja Kinski and Denholm Elliott. Wheatley disliked the film because it did not follow his novel and found it obscene. Wheatley told Hammer Production that they were not to make another film from his novels ever again


Other highlights during Feb include the UK TV premieres of SAWNEY: FLESH OF MAN (Fri 21 Feb @ 22:55) and SHARKZILLA (Tues 25 Feb @ 16:00). Plus there is the Network premiere of OPEN WATER (Fri 7 Feb @ 22:50)

TV: Sky 319 / Virgin 149 / Freesat 138
 www.horrorchannel.co.uk | twitter.com/horror_channel

DVD Review - Computer Chess

Genre:
Comedy, Independent
Rating:
15
Distributor:
Eureka! Entertainment
BD/DVD Release Date:
20th January 2014 (UK)
Director:
Andrew Bujalski
Cast:
Kriss Schludermann, Tom Fletcher, Wiley Wiggins,
Buy: Computer Chess (Masters of Cinema) (DVD & BLU-RAY DUAL FORMAT)
The year of 1984 proved a seminal time for computer nerds. With Orwell's ideas of the impending doom of the human race becoming more apparent, alongside the release of The Terminator and Revenge of the Nerds, it was certainly a time in history which still conjures nostalgia for those who stayed up into the small hours discussing the future of computer technology and their makers. For Andrew Bujalski's latest work, Computer Chess, revisiting such a time resurrects various hypothesises, pandering to them in a manner which reveals something much more sinister underneath.

Set in a nameless budget hotel over a weekend convention, the film presents a group of obsessive computer software programmers as they attempt to compete for a grand prize for the best computer chess programme. Amongst all the competitive bragging and pot induced ramblings on artificial intelligence, the film reveals a larger frame-work of the relationships and insecurities between its characters and their machines, presenting a surreal de-humanised look of a digital age which has only considered to have been lost as technology advanced over time.

A popular Sundance veteran, Bujalski has usually been seen as the master of the American Indie sub-genre Mumblecore. With film-festival hits such as Funny Ha Ha and Mutual Appreciation within his canon, he has a skilful eye in directing intricate character studies where droll, yet textured, dialogue and interactions from actors prevailed over the main story. Unsurprisingly, Bujalski's idiosyncratic style is regularly compared to that of Cassavetes or Rohmer. However, in a refreshing move, he has broadened his skills, presenting a film that is as nightmarishly unique as anything by David Cronenberg or as complex as Shane Carruth's Primer.

Although the neurotic outsider characters which made Bujalski a significant indie director still prevail, exchanges in dialogue soon create a noticeably more ominous atmosphere once the humorous tone shifts into sci-fi surrealism. Starting off like a mockumentary, the cringe inducing obsessiveness of these characters slowly uncovers a few unsettling ideas once they themselves begin to question the power these machines actually have over them. Having one particular system refusing to operate until its chess skills are actually put towards another human soul, an uncomfortable paranoia lingers over the film. Despite these characters speaking at length about the expansiveness of the circuitry within their computers, their difficulty in emotionally connecting with anybody else - or even understanding what their machines are doing – makes one wonder that while the evolution in artificial intelligence still seems infinite, has the development and intelligence of the human race become more rooted sooner than one would think?

Yet, what turns transforms seemingly standard idea for a character driven piece into a compelling puzzle is in the actual look of the film. Entirely shot on an ancient and cumbersome Sony videocamera (the AVC-3260, incase you were wondering), the fuzzy, black and white footage gives a sense that the film was unearthed from the depths of an old government filing cabinet, deemed completely classified. Amplifying the uneasy atmosphere, the simplicity of the camera movements within the competition, combined with a discreet intrusiveness outside it, works well in creating a secretive knowingness from the man in control behind it. In all its retro simplicity, there is a warped satisfaction in being in on the act. Alongside a 4:3 aspect ratio and an unstable picture quality, it boxes these characters within the claustrophobic labyrinth of the hotel.With no sense of escape from these walls or their (now) imperfect mentality, Bujalski reveals an alternative point of view on the origins and mindset of the 'wired' generation that could still arguably be resonant today. Encouraging the viewer to philosophise over its development and origins from all possible angles, the unsettling conclusion concocts an uncertainty towards the future of these characters. It is not so much that the computer nerds came and conquered, it is just that they unconsciously laid the foundations for a future that is today.

★★★★☆

David Darley

Arrow Video Get 'Naughty' With Tinto Brass Double Bill Home Release of Cheeky And Frivolous Lola

Arrow Video is excited to announce the UK release of Tinto Brass’ Cheeky and Frivolous Lola. Both titles will be available to own in the UK on 10th February on Dual Format Blu-ray and DVD and feature packaging that will showcase the original poster artwork as well as a reversible sleeve with newly commissioned artwork by The Red Dress. These editions will also include collectors’ booklets featuring new writing on the film by critics Maitland McDonagh and David Flint respectively, both of which will be illustrated with original archive stills.

When free-spirited beauty Carla (Yuliya Mayarchuk) moves to London, her search for a flat leads to a lesbian seduction by estate agent Moira (Francesca Nunzi), much to the horror of Carla’s boyfriend Matteo (Jarno Berardi) still stuck in their native Venice. And then he discovers a cache of letters from an ex-boyfriend, accompanied by a highly revealing and very public photograph of her…

Ravishingly shot in two of the world’s great cities, bouncily scored by Pino Donaggio, and crammed with wall-to-wall nudity and casual sexual flings, Cheeky is as lighthearted as its title suggests, but it’s subtler and more philosophical than the average sex romp.

In particular, it’s a genuinely moving look at problems arising when a desire to remain scrupulously faithful collides with the lure of baser instincts. Carla genuinely loves Matteo, but how can she reassure him when he spots temptation around every corner?



Frivolous Lola – Synopsis
One of the sunniest of Tinto Brass’s erotic comedies, this sets its breezy tone from the opening scene in which Lola (Anna Ammirati) cycles around a small Po Valley town in a flapping skirt that leaves nothing to the imagination.
But it’s the 1950s, and her baker fiancée Masetto (Max Parodi) is determined that Lola remains a virgin until their wedding night. However, she is equally set on establishing whether or not he’s a good lover before they tie the knot. His dough-kneading technique seems promising, but how can she be sure without an expert to compare him with? In short, can Masetto live up to the erotic ideals professed by Lola’s mother’s lover (Patrick Mower)?

Fortunately, the outwardly innocent town turns out to be a hotbed of licentiousness, with opportunities for voyeurism and maybe more around every corner – all in the interests of self-improving research, of course.



Cheeky - Special Features

· High Definition Blu-ray and Standard Definition DVD presentation of the film uncut and in widescreen for the first time!

· Optional English and Italian audio

· Newly translated English subtitles for the Italian audio

· Featurette on the film with director Tinto Brass

· Original Trailer

· Reversible sleeve featuring original and newly designed artwork by The Red Dress

· Collector’s booklet featuring new writing on the film by critic and author Maitland McDonagh, illustrated with original archive stills.

Frivolous Lola - Special Features

· High Definition Blu-ray and Standard Definition DVD presentation of the film uncut and in widescreen for the first time

· Optional English and Italian audio

· Newly translated English subtitles for the Italian audio

· Original Trailer

· Alternate Italian language opening and closing credits

· Reversible sleeve featuring original and newly designed artwork by The Red Dress

· Collector’s booklet featuring new writing on the film by critic David Flint, illustrated with original archive stills

Watch The Hypnotic First Trailer For Jeff Barnaby's Rhymes For Young Ghouls

Every so often a film comes along which is blessed with visual qualities, powerful and challenges the establishment as well as a voice in film to be reckon with. Canadian film maker Jeff Barnaby is one of those voices and Rhymes For Young Ghouls is his directorial feature debut a film that squares up one of Canada's darkest hours.

Rhymes For Young Ghouls is dark vexing film that tackles Canada's  stance residential schools and the 'civilization' of Aboriginal children to be 'educated' in the white man's way of life. These kids where forcibly removed from their families subjecting them years of abuse and enforced to loose their own cultural identities. This issue may sound very familiar to some as it's the same plight that the Australian Aboriginals where subjected  too and it now seems legally as well as morally many cases can be found in court.

Here's the film's synopsis from The Toronto Film Festival

Set against the backdrop of the residential schools tragedy -- when thousands of Aboriginal children were separated from their families, culture, and language -- his much-anticipated debut feature Rhymes for Young Ghouls resembles an S.E. Hinton novel re-imagined as a surreal, righteously furious thriller. At the tender age of 15, Aila (Kawennahere Devery Jacobs) has taken over the drug business of her father Joseph (Glen Gould) while he serves a stint in prison. Joseph's return signals an abrupt end to Aila's reign as the reservation's drug queen; it also piques the interest of Popper (Mark Antony Krupa), the reserve's corrupt and sadistic Indian agent. The bloody tragedy that unfolds becomes an angry and poetic howl for lost lives, lost opportunities and lost loved ones -- a fever dream whose terrifying fictions are grounded in even more terrible fact.

Rhymes For Young Ghouls has been named by Toronto Film Festival as on of Canada's top 10 films of 2013 which deliver's in a dark, gritty but humorous manner. It delivers a story that must be told but never forgotten, check out the trailer below and if your Canadian you can catch the film on it's limited cinema release from 31st January.

source:Twitch

Sam Fuller's White Dog Joining The Masters Of Cinema Family In A March Re-Release

Eureka! Entertainment have announced the first UK release of the long-awaited classic White Dog, directed by iconic director Samuel Fuller (The Big Red One, Shock Corridor, Pickup on South Street) and featuring Kristy McNichol, Burl Ives, Paul Winfield, and cameos from Dick Miller, Paul Bartel, Marshall Thompson and Samuel Fuller himself. One of the most controversial films of its era - released briefly in the UK at cinemas and on VHS in the 1980s and rarely seen since, White Dog is a tragic portrait of the evil done by that most corruptible of all animals: the human being! White Dog will be released in a Dual Format (Blu-ray & DVD) edition as part of Eureka! Entertainment's award-winning The Masters of Cinema Series on 24 March 2014.



One of the most controversial American films of the 1980s, Samuel Fuller's White Dog was originally withheld from release in the USA and has been rarely seen since. This head-on examination of racism remains a riveting and startlingly powerful film experience, with superb performances and a brilliant score by the great Ennio Morricone.

When a young actress (Kristy McNichol) adopts a stray white Alsatian she hit with her car, she soon discovers that the dog has been conditioned to attack any black person on sight. Its only chance is Keys (Paul Winfield), an animal trainer focused on breaking the dog's behaviour and finding a way to eradicate its vicious instincts.

An acclaimed and daring late-career highlight for its director, White Dog amply demonstrates Fuller's clear-eyed intelligence, impassioned humanity and filmmaking dynamism. Unavailable in the UK for decades, The Masters of Cinema Series is proud to present its premiere in a new Dual Format (Blu-ray & DVD) edition.

SPECIAL FEATURES:

- New high-definition 1080p uncut presentation, supervised by producer Jon Davison
- Optional English subtitles for the deaf and hearing-impaired
- More to be announced!
- A booklet featuring the words of Samuel Fuller, rare imagery and more!

We will review  Sam Fuller's White Dog near the time, when it's released on Dual format (blu-ray & DVD) on 24th March.

Pre-order/Buy WHITE DOG (Masters of Cinema) (Dual Format Blu-ray & DVD) [Amazon]

You're Next DVD Review

Genre:
Horror, thriller
Rating:
18
Distributor:
Lionsgate Films UK
DVD/BD Release Date:
13th January 2014 (UK)
Director:
Adam Wingard
Cast:
Sharni Vinson, Joe Swanberg, AJ Bowen, Joe Swanberg, Ti West
Buy You're Next: DVD or Blu-ray [Amazon]
Adam Wingard and Simon Barrett are making quite a name for themselves as contenders in modern horror. If you check out 2010’s A Horrible Way to Die, then the two VHS films that have appeared since then, you will see a curve of improvement that should garner some keen interest. The pair’s latest offering is their best to date; a home invasion thriller married with horror imagery, family drama, and a sharp black humour.

You’re Next’s premise is simple: a family celebration interrupted by brutal masked mercenaries, who are surprised to find one of their victims has a knack for violence and survival. After a seductive yet brutal prologue, the heat turns down to allow us entry to its characters proving Wingard and Barrett are wise to the pitfalls of the modern horror film: lack of character = lack of shits given when they get dispatched. And make no mistake they get brutally dispatched. Giving us at least half the film to understand the politics of the Davison family could seem a bit overboard in a film of this ilk, but it’s exactly why You’re Next stands out amidst last year’s slashers and terror trips. That, and a blender.

Sharni Vinson’s turn as Erin is one of the strongest points in the feature, remoulding the classic slasher girl into a merciless home-defence guru come brutal combatant. Vinson’s sharp delivery and no-bullshit attitude will have you cheering in an era still too reliant on the utter stupidity of not just its murder-fodder (steroid huffing jocks and fraternity bitches) but its lead roles too. Gushing about the cast doesn’t stop there, Joe Swanberg flaunts perfect comic timing as Crispian’s asshole brother, House of the Devil director Ti West pops up in a minor role, whilst Stuart Gordon regular Barbara Crampton makes a most welcome return to the screen as the Davison children’s mother.

You’re Next flaunts an appreciation for classic horror but doesn’t actively engage, its not taking up the postmodern element but it does feel like a retrospective of late-70’s slasher tropes. Rather than being a rip-off, Wingard and Barrett have recycled some images and tones that bolster their feature as an impressively constructed thriller with moments of horror that actually have the power to intimidate. On a bum note, as the tension winds and the blood splashes, the soundtrack switches to a weird hark-back synth sound, which dangerously compromises the intensity of the film at points. The almost playful scoring highlights why You’re Next works so well: because it doesn’t desperately try to emulate everything that’s gone before.

Genre hybridity does not equal “Game-Changer” however, as many reviews seem to think , and anyone going into the film expecting The Cabin in the Woods will be sorely disappointed. Instead of changing the face of the genre, You’re Next stands its ground as an enjoyable venture by surprising the audience with well executed plot, scares, practical effects, fleshed out characters, and a keen sense of humour. You probably won’t laugh out loud, but there are plenty of moments to remind the audience that Barrett and Wingard are in complete control of their project.

You’re Next is a concise, rip-roaring sort of ride the likes of which only come around every once in a blue moon.  Expertly put together, at points chilling, at points hilarious, always entertaining, here is horror cinema at its most enjoyable from bloody beginning to outrageous ending without forsaking any intensity what so ever.

★★★★☆

Scott Clark