Win Suspenseful Frost On DVD

To celebrate the release of the highly suspenseful horror that's “Guaranteed to deliver chills” (Dread Central) - ‘Frost’ out on DVD 10th February through Entertainment One - we have a copy to give away to one brave winner!

‘The Thing’ meets ‘The Blair Witch Project’ in this terrifying tale of arctic survival. ‘Frost’ keeps the found footage genre alive with its edge-of-your-seat tension and visually ominous atmosphere. The breathtaking landscape of the desolate icy glaciers superbly adds to the suspense especially when the dark of the night descends making ‘Frost’ one of the most tense expeditions into the snowy unknown we’ve encountered for a very long time.

Filmmaker Gunnar (Björn Thors) arrives at a remote glacier camp on the outskirts of the Arctic Circle to meet up with physiologist Agla (Anna Gunndís Guðmundsdóttir) to make a documentary about the research being conducted there. The next day they discover the camp mysteriously abandoned and their co-workers gone without a trace.

As darkness descends and the camp is shaken with ear-splitting shrieks and violent flashing lights, the couple bravely venture out into the vast nothingness frantically following a trail of blood in the snow in the hope that it’ll lead them to their missing colleagues, unaware of what they’ll find at the other end…

Fancy 'frosting up' your DVD collection by winning a copy of Frost on DVD? Great! To enter please answer this simple question...

Q.What Frost famously interviewed Former President Nixon in 1970s which became a Hollywood movie starring Michael Sheen and Frank Langella?

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

1.The competition is not opened to employees, family, friends of  Cinehouse, The Peoples Movies, eOne UK employees who have the right to alter, change or offer alternative prize without any notice.2.All The Peoples Movies entries must be done via contact form. deadline Sunday 2nd March  2014 (23:59pm)  15 years or older to enter 3.Failure to include any information required to enter could result in your entry been void.  4.automated entries are not allowed and will be disqualified, which could result you been banned, DO NOT INCLUDE telephone numbers as for security reason your entry will be deleted.5.If you are friend or like us at facebook for every competition you enter you get double entry, but you must stay friend/like us all the time,or future entries maybe considered one entry if you are liking us share the post on facebook and re-tweet the post.6.The Peoples Movies, Cinehouse takes no responsibility for delayed, lost, stolen prizes 7.Prizes may take from days to a few months for delivery which is out of our control so please do not complain 8.The winning entries will be picked at random and contacted by email for postal details and will be announced via facebook, sometimes we are unable to confirm winners. Uk & Irish entries only.

UK Competitions and Prize Draws at UKwins
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ThePrizeFinder – UK Competitions

Blu-Ray Review - Frivolous Lola (1998) & Cheeky (2000)

Win Iron Sky 'Dictator's Cut' Steelbooks (Blu-ray)

The Umbrellas Of Cherbourg 50th Anniversary Blu-ray Review

Genre:
Drama, Musical, Romance
Distributor:
StudioCanal UK
BD Release Date:
10th February 2014 (UK)
Rating:
15
Director:
Jacques Demy
Cast:
Catherine Deneuve, Nino Castelnuovo, Anne Vernon
Buy:Umbrellas Of Cherbourg (50th Anniversary Edition) [Blu-ray] [1964]
Being the first French New Wave film (and possibly, though I could be mistaken, the first non-English language film) I watched, Jacques Demy’s The Umbrellas of Cherbourg will forever hold a special place in my heart. Back then, the New Wave was just a name and its significance I knew nothing about. And the film, though I found it to be rather enchanting and thoroughly entertaining, was just another film. But seeing the film again now, and in a wonderfully restored edition, I can finally fully appreciate it as the masterpiece it so clearly is.

What Demy’s film does so well is bridge the gap between those New Wave filmmakers he was more associated with, the Left Bank (Agnès Varda, Alain Resnais, Chris Marker), who became filmmakers in a more traditional way, and those of the Cahiers du Cinéma ilk (François Truffaut, Jean-Luc Godard, et al), who began as film critics. Demy achieves this, much in the same way Godard did in films such as Une femme est une femme, through the way he pays homage to the Hollywood musicals he was inspired by while at the same time deconstructing and parodying them in such a way that he simultaneously reinvents the musical.

And what a magnificent musical it is. The Umbrellas of Cherbourg ups the ante on that tired old Hollywood tradition of characters bursting into song by having all the dialogue sung by its cast in a recitative style normally found in the world of the operetta. This gives the film a level of artifice that is further increased by the addition of the most splendidly coloured buildings imaginable. But far from making the film too artificial and far removed from reality, this artifice emphasises the need of escapism from the ordinariness of everyday life. This is especially true when you get to the nitty-gritty of the films story which is grounded in a recognisable world where war, death, teenage pregnancy, prostitution, and debt are very much a part of reality.

The films story is deceptively simple. In the first part, the departure, we are introduced to Geneviève (Catherine Deneuve), who works with her widowed mother in a chic but debt ridden umbrella shop, and Guy (Nino Castelnuovo), a mechanic who lives with his bedridden godmother. They are in love and share a passionate night together before Guy leaves for two-year military service in Algeria. The second part, absence, concentrates on how a now pregnant Geneviève copes with Guy’s departure and the pressure she faces from a mother who wants to marry her off to a rich suitor (played by Marc Michel who also appeared in Demy’s first film Lola, which, along with Umbrellas and the later Les Demoiselles de Rochefort, forms a loose trilogy). The third part, the return, sees Guy return from his military service and focuses on how he copes with the discovery that Geneviève is now married.

Now this scenario may sound familiar enough when you compare Umbrellas structure with the conventional Hollywood romance, musical or otherwise, but it is the ending that makes the film special. Convention would dictate that the ending would see Geneviève and Guy inevitably end up together again, no matter how implausible that may seem. What Demy does instead, whether it is through coincidence and chance, those two staple themes of his oeuvre, or fate and destiny, is make sure that the couple are no longer together. He does not cop out and give the audience that happy ending they are all expecting but instead has the couple meet in a chance encounter at Guy’s gas station five years down the line. We quickly learn that both of them have moved on and that both are happy with their current situation. This gives the film a more moving finale. It is closer to the realities of life than anything that is thrown up in a conventional musical. Ultimately, we are left in agreement with Geneviève’s mother when she says: “Time heals many things.”


★★★★½

Shane James

Hayao Miyazaki's The Wind Rises Gets A UK Cinema Release Date

 After months of speculation on when Hayao Miyazaki's The Wind Rises will finally arrive in the UK.Today via their Twitter account StudioCanal put British anime fans minds at rest , the anime maestro's Swansong will arrive in UK cinemas on 9th May.

Here's the  the tweet which also gives you a chance to win a steelbook edition of one of the many classic Studio Ghibli blurays they have on offer...

Hayao Miyazaki’s new masterpiece THE WIND RISES to hit UK cinemas on May 9! RT to #win one of these in preparation.. pic.twitter.com/AfL8cgIi5K

— STUDIOCANAL UK (@StudioCanalUK) February 7, 2014

It's been a long frustrating year for fans even critics here in UK since it's release in Japan Summer 2013 it's made it's  way slowly around the world's film festival circuit surprisingly not London Film Festival. Now the date has been set for the arrival of the film  we can finally look forward to some vintage Studio Ghibli most of all

The Wind Rises is inspired by Miyazaki's own personal dreams, the film centres around Jiro a young man inspired to become a aeronautical engineer. The Wind Rises is  the epic tale of love, perseverance, and the challenges of living and making choices in a turbulent world.The film is set in the first half of the 20th Century and will chronicle major events of his life from falling in love right upto Japan entering World War 2 a pivotal event in Jiro's career.

If you missed the  trailer here's another chance to watch it...

Post by The Wind Rises.

The Wind Rises will more likely be released in UK dubbed with Joseph Gordon-Levitt lending his voice to play adult Jiro along with Emily Blunt, Elijah Wood, Many Patinkin, Stanley Tucci, Martin Short, William H Macy even Werner Herzog all lend their voices to the film. Anime fans mark 9th May in your diaries however if you can't wait that long, This Sunday 9th February you can catch the UK premier at Glasgow Youth Film Festival (click on link to book/more info).
source: Yahoo UK

Muirhouse DVD Review

Genre:
Horror,Thriller
DVD Release Date:
10th February 2014(UK)
Distributor:
Monster Pictures
Rating:
15
Director:
Tanzeal Rahim
Cast:
Iain P.F. McDonald, Kate Henderson, Steve Lynch
Buy Muirhouse: [DVD]

Handheld horror inducts yet another tired entry into its seemingly endless reign of crap in Muirhouse, a wholly disappointing and irredeemable project from Tanzeal Rahim.

Lazily opting for the typical handheld narrative; Muirhouse follows the story of Philip Muirhouse, an author out to promote his latest ghost book by staying in the haunted Monte Cristo household, only by the end of the night three people will be dead and Muirhouse himself will be found by the police wandering miles away.

When the film opens on a squad car coming across Muirhouse, he looks less “nightmare victim” and more “festival goer post-hammering tent pegs” and from that moment it all gets worse. Long stretches of nothing are perhaps the signature of this piece, cutting into the 80 minute run-time and questioning whether the obviously bare script deserves a feature length flesh-out. These boring wasted minutes are not nuanced moments of apprehension and fulfillment, they do not contribute to the film whatsoever, they simply make it dull and let the viewer’s attention wander from the start.

In terms of the fear-factor, Muirhouse could have easily achieved the minimum scares by perhaps being a bit more ballsy. Instead of going for consistent jump-scares, which would have at least evoked some kind of response, Muirhouse gets bogged down fairly early on with confused visuals and audio ensuring that there’s little to scare. In its favour, however, these incoherencies recreate the ridiculous nature of paranormal investigation to a tee.

The aspect of Muirhouse most worthy of note would be its majestic setting which unfortunately does most of the film’s work for it. Filmed at the actual haunted Monte Cristo house in Australia, the house oozes creepy, every room and hallway inspires some kind of dread, but the film still suffers from shoddy scripting and bad filming which make it seem like a location scout’s presentation piece as opposed to an actual horror film. Seriously, a documentary on the house might be a better use of the space because it is the perfect haunted house.

The “climax” works only in the fact it’s just as tedious and flat as the rest of the film. A quick-cut bullshit ending does little to explain the set-up at the start, instead stopping in an awkward and frankly laughable state of affairs. Blair Witch-style sudden impact finales only work with the right build up and imagery, here, Muirhouse squandered a final chance at coherency.

The ultimate bogus horror based on minimal understanding of the mechanics of fear and cinema. Blank scripting, dull performances, a patronizing  guide to ghost hunting ,and non-existent scares keep Muirhouse hopelessly marooned in tedium.  This is horror cinema at its least entertaining and most despicable.

★☆☆☆☆

Scott Clark

Penthouse North Blu-ray Review

Genre:
Thriller
Distributor:
Image Entertainment
DVD/BD Release Date:
3rd February 2013 (UK)
Rating:
15
Director:
Joseph Ruben
Cast:
Michelle Monaghan, Michael Keaton, Barry Sloane
Buy Penthouse North: [DVD] or [Blu-ray]
On New Year ’s Eve, blind photo journalist Sara (Michelle Monaghan) finds her New York penthouse apartment turned into a private hell when she is stalked by a sadistic criminal intent on finding a hidden fortune.  Directed by Joseph Ruben (The Forgotten) and written by David Loughery (Lakeview Terrace) Penthouse North understands the basic mechanics of the thriller and passes as a throw-away kind of feature, but overall there isn’t enough going on to send you away wowed. 

                Monaghan gives a good performance but the script doesn’t exactly allow her much room to really grapple with her character in an intriguing way. Strange attempts at backstory see Michelle Monaghan blinded in Afghanistan, whilst random and seemingly pointless moments of “character development” fail to interest.  The same can be said for Barry Sloane’s intimidating but ultimately third-wheel turn as Chad the sadistic burglar. For 45 minutes or so the two do their best to keep the film afloat until a frustrated phone call has Keaton’s smooth king-criminal on-route to save the film. The timing is symbolic: as the film starts to prove it doesn’t have the stamina to pull off a truly exhilarating cat and mouse ordeal,  Exec producer Keaton steps in to liven the mood and lend his extensive experience.  Make no mistake, Penthouse North wouldn’t be nearly as entertaining without Keaton’s input; the veteran oddball exudes charm, leapfrogging the script to steal the show and give a surprising amount of clarity and direction to an otherwise loose cannon of a thriller.

                As a thrill ride the film actually sweeps you up,  the pace and action all ensure that the ninety minute run-time doesn’t exactly drag, but Penthouse’s own inability to create consistently involving scenarios leaves Sara and Chad bumbling around the apartment with little idea of why either are really there.

                Even though Keaton, Monaghan, and Sloane charge the finale with desperate energy ensuring the film ends on a good note, the end reveal seems a footnote rather than a climax, the action often fizzles out with little emotional involvement, and the near-gimmicky turn of narrative event reduces the feature to an elongated episode of something daft. Again and again the film appears to be a selection of parts as opposed to one consistent feature film.

Coherent and enjoyable enough for one viewing Penthouse North is a bland kind of thriller, consistently replicating other features rather than embracing a truly original story. Keaton ensures the second half of the film glides along smoothly, stealing the show with perfect comic timing and a conversational kind of villainy only the great are gifted with. 

★★☆☆☆

Scott Clark

DVD Review: Hell Comes To Frog Town (1988)

Genre:
Sci-Fi, Action, Comedy
BD Release Date:
3rd February 2013 (UK)
Distributor:
Arrow Video
Rating:
15
Director:
Donald G. Jackson, R.J. Kizer
Cast:
roddy piper,Julius LeFlore, RCB, Sandahl Bergman
Buy: Hell Comes to Frogtown [Dual Format DVD & Blu-ray]
Hell Comes to Frogtown, the title kinda says it all. It’s a unabashedly b-movie in the way that makes the film truly awful in every way and not even in a so bad it’s mind kind of way. It has somehow over the years became something of a very minor cult classic and I guess this must be down to the presence of a certain wrestler turner actor Roddy Piper.

The “plot” of Hell Comes to Frogtown is in a nutshell is most men are infertile due to nuclear waste. There are also mutant frogs and Hell (Roddy Piper) must rescue women from Frogtown and put his seed in them so they can save the human race. The film really drags though it’s 80 minute running time, I fell asleep once but didn’t miss a thing. The depiction of women though out is ridiculously sexist and not even in an ironic campy way, it’s just very crude. I’m also pretty sure many of the actresses were porn stars.

Now we get to the director of this toxic oozing piece of turd Donald G. Jackson who is considered the Ed Wood of the video age. That’s so ridiculously unfair on the pioneering work of Ed Wood who was a visionary director in every way and made a pioneering film Glen or Glenda which was decades ahead of it’s time. Ed Wood had a distinctive style, the film may have been awful but they had something. Hell Comes to Frogtown has nothing to offer the viewer and it’s no wonder Roddy Piper though nobody saw it until years later.

Avoid Hell Comes to Frogtown and just see They Live, which is one of the greatest satires ever mad and stars Roddy Piper. Arrow Video as usual put some great love in this release but the film doesn’t live up to silly title or for fans of They Live. Arrow will be bringing out loads great releases soon so just invest in those.

★☆☆☆☆

Ian Schultz

Vintage Wilder, Altman, Ashby, Casavettes Make Up The April - July Masters Of Cinema Line Up

When it comes to their fantastic Masters Of Cinema Imprint Eureka Entertainment never disappoint. Today Eureka! have have announced via their twitter feed their forthcoming releases in The Masters of Cinema series for the months of April, May and June 2014.

    

The slate for 2nd quarter of 2014 has an big focus on American cinema The latest slate of films from  The Masters of Cinema Series brings together some of the most heralded masterpieces of the 20th century. Their is some real gem of releases coming  starting off with some vintage Billy Wilder with a Dual Format (Blu-ray + DVD) edition of Ace in the Hole , an electrifyingly dramatic critique of society and the media starring Kirk Douglas in one of his very best roles in a career already filled with highlights. Also released in April is the long awaited Blu-ray UK debut of Lindsay Anderson's Palme d'Or-winning If...., which stars Malcolm McDowell in the role that made him famous, as the leader of a rebellious group of youths fighting back against the oppression of their boys' boarding school. 

May sees the long-awaited Dual Format (Blu-ray + DVD) debut of one of the great classics of the American screen: Robert Altman's stunning, freewheeling Nashville, an epic ensemble tour de force depiction of the Nashville music industry and American society at the end of the Sixties that is as hilarious as it is powerful. Another Dual Format (Blu-ray + DVD) edition comes in the form of Elia Kazan's 1947 noir-inflected crime drama Boomerang!, starring Dana Andrews and Lee J. Cobb in powerhouse performances anchoring a gritty procedural rife with murder and corruption.


Hal Ashby's 1971 counter-culture comedy Harold and Maude arrives on Blu-ray this June, and tells the tale of the burgeoning relationship between a 20-year-old and an 80-year-old: it's a razor-sharp, and moving masterpiece that has become considered another of the great classics of the American screen. June also brings the first entry into the Series of a film by American master John Cassavetes in a Dual Format (Blu-ray + DVD) edition — his second-feature, the studio-backed Too Late Blues, which stars Bobby Darin as a jazz musician down on his luck; it's one of the most explosive films of the late studio era.

 

In addition to the new titles being added to the Masters of Cinema Series, Eureka! have also announced the blu-ray release in April of The War Lord, one of the finest historical adventures ever made and starring Charlton Heston  and Richard Boone. May will see the release of Violent Saturday, a coolly riveting crime saga from director Richard Fleischer, available on blu-ray for the first time ever on home video. And June sees the home video release of The Rocket, the multi-award winning debut feature from Kim Mordaunt about a ‘cursed’ twin who guides his family to a new life in Laos. Released in cinemas on 14 March, The Rocket will be released on DVD and Blu-ray formats on 2 June 2014.

As usual we're massive fans of Master Of Cinema releases from Eureka! Video and will cover the great films reviews nearer release dates.You can also catch a special screening of The Rocket at Glasgow Youth Film Festival on 11th February purchase your tickets here

Forbidden Love - The Invisible Woman Feature

The theme of forbidden love has formed the basis of many romantic dramas; fuelling scenes of passion, desire, and devotion. The latest film to add to the line-up is The Invisible Woman, the true story of Charles Dickens and his young mistress, actress Nelly Ternan. Ralph Fiennes directs himself as Dickens, with Felicity Jones as the young beautiful actress. Nelly is forced to remain an ‘invisible’ muse and lover to hide the scandalous relationship from the world. To mark the February 7th release in cinemas, here is a look at eight films about forbidden love.

The Graduate (1967)

Starring Dustin Hoffman and Anne Bancroft, The Graduate tells the story of Benjamin Braddock and his affair the wife of one of his father’s business partners, Mrs. Robinson. Having recently graduated from college, Ben meets Mrs. Robinson upon arriving home and they begin their short-lived affair. However, his past comes back to haunt him as Ben finds himself falling in love with Elaine, Mrs. Robinson’s daughter. The Graduate, a hugely influential coming of age comedy, hilariously tells one of the most tense and noteworthy love stories in film.

Water for Elephants (2011)

When his parents die in a car accident before he finishes his veterinary studies, Jacob Jankowski falls into a new life in the circus. It is here that he meets Marlena, the young wife of the ill-tempered and unstable circus owner, August. Jacob soon falls in love with Marlena, and she with Jacob. August’s violent nature threatens their lives and the livelihood of the circus. Based on the novel, Water for Elephants, starring Reese Witherspoon and Robert Pattinson, depicts the whirlwind love affair of Jacob and Marlena and how two people will beat all obstacles to be together.

Lolita (1997)

In this forbidden love affair based on the famous Nabokov novel, Humbert Humbert falls in love with his land lady’s 14 year old daughter, Dolores “Lolita” Haze. Humbert, a British professor who moved to the US to teach, marries Charlotte Haze, in order to stay close to Lolita. Lolita proving to be much more mature than her age begins a relationship with her step father. The gripping tale of Lolita, starring Melanie Griffith and Jeremy Irons, with Dominique Swain as Dolores, is filled with romance, guilt, jealousy, and perfectly depicts the ultimate price one might pay for forbidden love.

In The Mood for Love (2000)

Newspaper editor, Chow Mo-Wan, moves into a new building with his wife and at the same time, Su Li-Zhen, a beautiful secretary, moves into the building with her husband. Chow and Li-Zhen form a friendship and begin spending time together as their spouses are away. However, they soon find out their significant others are having an affair and vow to not be like their unfaithful spouses, yet find comfort in their growing relationship. Set in Hong Kong in 1962, In the Mood for Love, starring Maggie Cheung and Tony Leung Chiu Wai, beautifully illustrates the growing love between two individuals and their resistance to give into passionate feelings.

The Scarlett Letter (1995)

Seeking independence from 17th century England, Hester Prynne arrives to Massachusetts Bay Colony awaiting the arrival of her husband from England. While befriending other outsiders in the colony, Hester falls for young pastor Arthur Dimmesdale. Soon, Hester bears their child, after rumour of her husband’s death reaches her. On the day Hester is made to wear a scarlet A, her husband arrives very much alive and seeks revenge on her love and his own wife. The Scarlet Letter, starring Demi Moore and Gary Oldman, shows that sometimes love will overcome every rule and all humiliation.

Romeo and Juliet (1996)

Retold in a modern day Verona, Romeo and Juliet remains the timeless story of star crossed lovers. The Montague and the Capulet families are fierce, feuding enemies when their children meet and fall in love. The two have hidden their love from their families and soon meet their tragic destiny. Still preserving the original dialogue from the Shakespeare classic, Romeo and Juliet, starring young Leonard DiCaprio and Claire Danes, is one of the greatest forbidden love stories told.

Titanic (1997)

101 year old Rose DeWitt Butaker tells the story of her romantic adventure on the Titanic, and her discovery of true love, to her granddaughter and the crew aboard the Keldysh research ship. While aboard the Titanic, Rose met Jack Dawson, a spirited artist with whom she soon fell in love. When the Titanic went down, Jack lost his life, but Rose used his name to disappear from her mother and fiancé. 84 years later, Rose recalls this story as the crew searches for remnants of the wreck her nearly priceless lost jewellery. A beautifully told story of love lost, Titanic, starring Kate Winslet and Leonardo DiCaprio, is one of the most spectacular stories of forbidden love.

The Invisible Woman (2013)

Set in 19th century England, The Invisible Woman illustrates the illicit love affair between Charles Dickens and young actress, Ellen Ternan. At the height of his success, an older Dickens meets 18 year old Nelly with whom he soon falls in love and begins a secret affair, eventually leaving his wife. To keep her reputation, Nelly must live a life of “invisibility” until Dickens’ death. An epic drama, starring the outstanding Ralph Fiennes and illustrious Felicity Jones, The Invisible Woman passionately depicts what one must pay for love in an entrancing and heart wrenching film.

THE INVISIBLE WOMAN IS RELEASED IN UK CINEMAS ON 7 FEBRUARY