Film Review - A Most Violent Year (2014)

Genre: Action, Crime, Drama
Distributor: Icon Film Distribution
Release Date: 23rd January 2015 (UK)
Rating:15
Running Time: 125 mins
Director: J. C. Chandor
Cast: Oscar Isaac, Jessica Chastain, David Oyelowo, Albert Brooks

1981 is on record as statistically being one of the most dangerous years for New York City.  As well as being a dangerous year, it is also my birth year, so I sat down to enjoy this film thinking about those The Year I Was Born books that you got given as ‘original’ gifts as a child, eager to find out about New York City, in the year I was born.

The film follows Abel Morales (Oscar Isaac; Ex Machina, The Two Faces of January) and wife Anna (Jessica Chastain; Interstellar, Zero Dark Thirty) as they try to succeed with their oil trading business in the most violent year.  Business has been up and down for them, someone has been stealing oil from their tankers and they are being threatened with legal action from the DA for various accounts of embezzlement, but they are in the process of purchasing a large warehouse facility to greatly expand their business.

When a film is called A Most Violent Year you’re expecting a level of violence, so I spent a lot of the film waiting for something to happen, which kept me on my toes. However, the film is not about the city and the violent year, the story is more about an immigrant trying to do well in business and life, with crooked business associates, in a crooked business, in a violent city.  The nods to the violent year are achieved by radio snippets about shooting peppered throughout the film.

Jessica Chastain’s performance is standout and the highlight of the film, Anna’s moral compass slightly scewed to get the job done and to do right by the business and her family.  She skirts round questions from her husband about how legally they’ve been working with such class, very much aware that their competitors are just as crooked as they are.

One of the more interesting characters is Julian (Elyes Gabel; Interstellar, Game of Thrones), a driver who early on the film has his oil tanker stolen at gun point. He is then, after much debate, given a gun to protect himself, however he is really not emotionally ready to be back on the road. Abel is too preoccupied with financially concerns to fully sympathise with his employees state of mind, and as a result Julian handles his situation badly.  Girls fans like myself will also be pleased to see Christopher Abbott as one of the hijackers, who puts in a fine and gutsy performance.

A Most Violent Year is a subtle, suspenseful but rather slow moving at times, however an interesting portrayal of a well meaning man trying to do right in a violent and crooked world.  Though entertaining enough, I don’t think the film packs the punch which it promises.

Side Note - For old times sake I just dug out my copy of The Year I Was Born book, which tells me that on my birthday an ex-Trappist monk hijacked a Boeing 737 flying between Dublin and London.  He did this by covering himself in petrol and demanding the plane changed location to Iran, but being a short distance flight, the plane only had enough petrol to go to Paris.  When they landed in Paris, in discussions with the police the ex-monk's demands did not include any financial gain, only that Pope John Paul II make public a series of apocalyptic visions and prophecies called the Third Secret of Fatima.  I hope I’m not the only one thinking that this story would have made a far more interesting movie than A Most Violent Year.

★★★★★

Alice Hubley

Blu-ray Review - I'm All Right Jack (1959)

Genre:
Comedy
Distributor:
Studio Canal
Release Date:
19th January 2015
Rating: U
Director:
John Boulting
Cast: Ian Carmichael, Peter Sellers, Terry-Thomas, Richard Attenborough, Miles Malleson
Buy: Blu-ray I'm All Right Jack
I’m All Right Jack is considered one of the great British satirical films, and although it is certainly a good film, it doesn't quite live up to it’s reputation. Back during it’s release it was the highest grossing film of 1959, how times have changed. The film’s highlight is a performance by Peter Sellers as the socialist union shop steward Fred Kite.

The film’s protagonist Stanley Windrush (Ian Carmichael) is an upper class graduate who takes a job at his uncle’s missile factory. However, his uncle plans to have Stanley become the focus of a labour dispute that he plans to profit from. This all goes pear shaped when Kite takes advantage of the dispute for his own agenda.

As is so often the case with Peter Sellers, he completely steals the film from under all the other actors, and according to The Guardian, “it’s a career best performance”. Although that is a ridiculous overstatement, it is definitely considered up there with his finest performances, and Bafta agreed, awarding him Best Actor. British veteran thespians like Dennis Price and the recently decreased Richard Attenborough round off the supporting cast.

Unfortunately the satire is dated and isn't as funny as it should be, but with that being said, it’s still a very enjoyable watch. The film’s 102 running time flies by, and it does have something to say about how the greedy bosses will do anything to make a buck at the expense of their workers. This is certainly an issue that has relevance to today’s political climate. The disc includes a new interview with star Liz Fraser, a featurette on Peter Sellers, and an early Richard Lester short with Peter Sellers.

★★★1/2
Ian Schultz

Did You Hear Voices Or The New Trailer For Enter The Dangerous Mind Trailer

When it comes to horror flicks these day the psychological thriller-horrors are the ones that seem to deliver the everlasting memories.The Babadook is one certain film another is a film that arrived on the festival circuit in 2013 Enter The Dangerous Mind (then called Snap) has a new trailer check it out


EDM for short made its name at SXSW back in 2013 and those fortunate to see it then have stated it's left a impact on them , be it the nastiness of the film or the great use of the film's soundtrack as an extra level of tension. These are attributes tick the boxes for horror fans, it's not The Babadook but it does sound it uses some of the same checklist to deliver us all the scares.

Enter The Dangerous Mind tells the tale of a troubled musician/composer Jim (Jake Hoffman) whose past has been nothing but trouble and is struggling with his grip on reality. When he thinks he has a shot of happiness when he meets Wenday (Nikki Reed) those long buried memories decide to surface forcing him on a deep violent abyss when crushes become obsession.

No word on a UK release, if anything this could sneek onto a direct to DVD release later this year possibly next, but for U.S its 6th February limited theatrical release as well as a VOD release. The film also stars Scott Bakula, Thomas Dekker, Gina Rodriguez and Jason Priestly.

Synopsis

Enter the mind of Jim (Jake Hoffman) – a socially awkward EDM musician with a traumatic past, a tenuous grip on reality, and voices in his head. When he meets Wendy (Nikki Reed), he thinks he might finally have a shot at happiness. But as long-buried memories begin to stir, and his crush turns into obsession, Jim finds himself looking into a violent abyss… and he won’t be going alone. Pulsating with raw energy and an intense electronic soundtrack, Enter the Dangerous Mind is a pitch-black psychological thriller that doesn’t let off the gas for a second as it twists to its shocking conclusion.

source:Bloody Disgusting

Watch The Intense Frantic Short Isolated

Zombie films or TV programmes are ten a penny these days  some we love many we loathe however when someone tries something a little different our respect goes out to them. Even if that idea doesn't work we still show our appreciation but in Thomas Vergara's Isolated.

No one ever thought they could make The Walking Dead a success but  they have but until now we haven't seen a zombie apocalypse animated? Vergara delivers that vision that he's co-written (with his brother Manuel), directed a 5 minute frantic journey that certainly delivers intensity with a hyper-real aesthetic.

Isolated is if anything a one chase scene, an awesome scene at that, one a man wakes up in his
 wrecked taxi, in a mysterious desert city. No idea how he got there he attempts to piece together the clues and that those crazy humans that populate the city he may just be connected to them more than he realizes.

ISOLATED from Peak Pictures on Vimeo.

If you want to feel totally disconnected Isolated does the trick

source:Shortoftheweek

Blu-ray Review - The Lady Vanishes (1938) and Young and Innocent (1937)

Genre:
Comedy-thriller
Distributor:
Network
Release Date:
19th January 2015
Rating: U
Director:
Alfred Hitchcock
Cast: Margaret Lockwood, Michael Redgrave, Paul Lukas, Dame May Whitty
Buy: Blu-ray The Lady Vanishes

Genre: 
Thriller
Distributor: 
Network
Release Date: 
19th January 2015
Rating: U
Director: 
Alfred Hitchcock
Cast: Nova Pilbeam, Derrick De Marney
Buy: Blu-ray - Young and Innocent

Network are releasing 2 of Hitchcock’s early British films on Blu-ray this week: The Lady Vanishes and Young & Innocent. Both of the films show that Hitchcock’s style and technique was fully formed years before he left to go to Hollywood to make his masterpieces like Vertigo, The Wrong Man, Psycho and Rear Window.

The Lady Vanishes is the more well known of the two and is often considered the high water of his British films, with only The 39 Steps topping it. It was also his penultimate film in Britain before he left for the glitzy heights of Hollywood; his last was Jamaica Inn, which is considered one of his very worst. A young woman is travelling by train and meets an elderly lady, but she soon mysteriously disappears. The rest of the train passengers deny the existence of the old lady, but a young musicologist helps the woman, and together they search the train for clues and for the whereabouts of the mysterious woman.

The film is equally as much a film by Hitchcock as it is a film written by Sidney Gilliat and Frank Launder who seemed like the perfect match for Hitchcock’s perverse sense of humour. However, they never worked together again, except for some re-writes on Jamaica Inn. The film is one of Hitch’s most overtly comedic (of course, all of his films have his trademark humour) and the script is just one great line after another, giving it an almost screwball comedy feel at times. It’s also full of concise shots and storytelling, which is expected from the Master of Suspense.

Young & Innocent is the more overtly Hitchcockian film of the two in the classical sense. It’s about a man who is believed to be guilty of the murder of a young woman; it’s the classic wrong man scenario, which many of Hitchcock’s best films follow. This one is not one of his best but it has many virtues.

It’s a very quick paced film. At only 83 minutes or so, it’s a perfect example of Hitchcock's theory of a film’s length, “The length of a film should be directly related to the endurance of the human bladder.” The same can be said for The Lady Vanishes as well, however sadly in some of his later films in the 60s he didn’t follow his own rule. Young & Innocent is a solid populist thriller that shows a master filmmaker early on, yet clearly his focus and cinematic technique are already there, and much of his themes are on full show. Even his first film has a scene of characteristic Hitchcockian voyeurism.

Both discs boast hi-def transfers and look as good as they can due to their age. Both films include introductions by Charles Barr and image based extras. Young & Innocent however has the upper hand in the features department, featuring a 25 minutes documentary on Hitchcock’s British career.

The Lady Vanishes ★★★★

Young and Innocent ★★★1/2

Ian Schultz

Blu-ray Review - Two For the Road (1967)

Genre:
Comedy
Distributor:
Eureka
Release Date:
19th January 2015
Rating: PG
Director:
Stanley Donen
Cast: Audrey Hepburn, Albert Finney
Buy: Blu-ray - Two for the Road

Two for the Road is a slightly forgotten film by Stanley Donen (Singin’ in the Rain, Bedazzled, Charade), which has been re-released by Eureka in their Masters of Cinema imprint. It stars Albert Finney and Audrey Hepburn and both have rarely been better. The film’s influence can certainly be seen in Richard Linklater’s rightfully celebrated Before Trilogy.

Mark Wallace (Albert Finney) is a well off architect who is married to Joanne (Audrey Hepburn) in a relationship which is obviously on the rocks. Through a series of flashbacks and flash-forwards the stories of how they fell in love, fell out of love, and got back together are shown. The film is mostly set in parts of Northern France, and more often than not is set on the same road but at different points in their relationship.

It was an interesting period for Hollywood when Two for the Road came out; films like Bonnie &Clyde and Point Blank were murdering the classic Hollywood studio system. I think Donen saw this and decided to make a film which partly owed itself to some of the work from the French New Wave, but simultaneously worked as a mainstream romantic comedy. It was also the first big film that Albert Finney did for an American Studio; he had great success a couple years earlier with Tom Jones (for those who don’t know, it’s not about the Welsh singer). Audrey Hepburn obviously was a massive iconic film star, but even by 1967 her star was fading and she only acted in 5 more films in the next 25 years.

Frederic Raphael, who had a massive success with Darling starring Julie Christie (he won the Oscar for it), wrote the script. It has been said that the interactions between Finney and Hepburn are based on his own relationship with his wife, and it certainly has a feel of an authentic real life romance. Raphael deservingly was nominated for an Oscar for the script.

Christopher Challis shot the film. He learned his trade being a camera operator for Powell & Pressburger, eventually graduating to becoming their DP. Martin Scorsese once said of Challis, “Chris Challis brought a vibrancy to the celluloid palette that was entirely his own, and which helped make Britain a leader in that long, glorious period of classic world cinema”. His innovative work is on glorious display in Two for the Road. The photography of the French landscape just pops with the new Hi-Def transfer.

Two for the Road is fascinating and extremely funny film and a example of old Hollywood director taking his cues from the New Wave but making something still accessible to a mainstream audience in 1960s. It’s editing is fascinating and it’s shot length is extremely short for the period, much more modern than even someone like Sam Peckinpah who is noted for his fast cuts. It’s probably Audrey Hepburn’s finest performance and Finney is always a joy on screen. The film’s influence on future films is undeniable, and it has a wonderful score by Henri Mancini that fits the mood and pace perfectly - he considered it the favourite among his scores.  

The disc contains an interview with Frederic Raphael, a commentary by Stanley Donen, the theatrical trailer and a booklet with essays on the film.

★★★★
Ian Schultz

BFI To Release Chinese Masterpeice Spring In A Small Town On DVD

Regarded as the finest work from the first great era of Chinese filmmaking, Fei Mu’s quiet, piercingly poignant study of adulterous desire and guilt-ridden despair is a remarkable rediscovery, often compared to David Lean’s Brief Encounter. Following its theatrical release last year as part of the BFI’s major season A Century of Chinese Cinema, Spring in a Small Town will be released on DVD by the BFI on 23 February 2014.


China / 1948 / black and white / Mandarin with optional English subtitles / DVD9 / Original aspect ratio 1.33:1 / Dolby Digital 1.0 mono audioAfter eight years of marriage to Liyan – once rich but now a shadow of his former self following a long, ruinous war – Yuwen does little except deliver his daily medication. A surprise visit from Liyan’s friend Zhang re-energises the household, but also stirs up dangerously suppressed longings and resentments.

Focusing on people rather than politics, director Fei Mu’s greatest achievement perfectly captures the dilemma of desire raging against loyalty, and sits alongside both the tender family dramas of Japan’s Yasujiro Ozu and the wonderful post-war humanist realist cinema of René Clément, Satyajit Ray and Vittorio De Sica. It has been acknowledged as a formative influence by Zhang Yimou (House of Flying Daggers), Chen Kaige (Farewell My Concubine), Jia Zhangke (Still Life), and Wong Kar-wai (In the Mood for Love).

Fei Mu’s deft use of locations, dissolves and camera movements makes for a fraught, febrile mood of hesitant passion, entrapment and ennui. Cinematically and psychologically sophisticated, Spring in a Small Town has been restored by the China Film Archive as part of the Digital Restoration Project. It is accompanied here by two rare and fascinating films from the BFI National Archive.



Special features
BFI re-release trailer
A Small Town in China (1933, 9 mins): an intimate portrait of community life in an unidentified Chinese town
This is China (1946, 9 mins): a fascinating compilation of scenes showing diversity and disparity in 1940s China
Illustrated booklet with film notes and credits

Fei Mu's Spring In A Small Town will arrive on DVD from BFI on 23rd February, we are hoping to review  so stay tuned and you can pre-orderSpring in a Small Town (DVD) now.

Berlinale 2015 - Watch The Trailer For Opening Gala Nobody Wants The Night Starring Juliet Binoche

2015 Cinehouse And The People's Movies are hoping to spread our wings internationally and next week we will at Sundance Film Festival.In February we also hope to attend Berlin for the first time and today we get our first look at the trailer for the opening film Nobody Wants The Night.

Starring Juliette Binoche, Gabriel Byrne and Rinko Kukuchi, Nobody Wants The Night is set in 1908 a true story that accounts of an upper class womanJosephine (Binoche) who braves the dangerous Artic conditions. She is however the wife of celebrated adventurer Robert Peary however she's not only woman braving the elements Allaka (Kikuchi)  pregnant  to meet her lover and father of her child who happens to be same man Josephine is heading to. After an event  both women as they attempt to survive the most hospitable conditions on Earth.



It's refreshing to see Survival tales from a woman as epic adventures usually one taken by a man, it's also a slight unusual twist on romance too. Fantastic cast and certain to get a good festival run  then a UK distribution, which you could see someone like Artificial Eye, Soda Pictures, Studiocanal picking this film up.

Nobody Wants The Night is directed by Spanish filmmaker Isabel Coixet filmed in Norway and Tnerife, Spain.,Berlin Film Festival opens 5th February.

source:Twitch

DVD Review - God's Pocket (2013)

God’s Pocket will go down in history as one of the late Philip Seymour Hoffman’s last films. It won’t make any other serious dent in the history of cinema, but it’s a perfectly fine, indie-spirited, black comedy, that harkens back to the glory days of the character based stories of 70s cinema. It’s also the directorial debut of Mad Men’s John Slattery, which is why his Mad Men co-star Christina Hendricks plays Hoffman’s wife.

The film is set in a close knit, working class community where Mickey Scarpato (Philip Seymour Hoffman) tries to cover up the death of his son who has died in a mysterious accident. His wife Jeanie (Christina Hendricks) is convinced he was murdered. The local reporter Richard Shellburn (Richard Jenkins) also suspects something is amiss and begins to investigate.

God’s Pocket major flaw is in its tone: it is a dark comedy but it’s either too earnest or too broadly comedic to go full out. With that said, the film is funny at times, mostly because of the absurd situations Hoffman’s Micky gets into. For example, there is great set piece of him driving a dead body around only for it to fall out, which is reminiscent of Hitchcock’s unsung masterwork The Trouble with Harry. The film is passable however, due to a strong performance by Hoffman who could read the phonebook and make it captivating. John Turturro has a supporting role, and brings some comical relief as he normally does and Richard Jenkins is fantastic as usual as the alcoholic journalist.

Overall it’s a film that wants to be Five Easy Pieces or any other great 70s drama but at times it feels a little too forced. It does have strong performances from the cast, which is probably due to the fact the director is an actor himself. John Slattery makes an admirable directorial debut even though it doesn’t fully work and it’s nice to see a film about the working poor from the States as it’s so rare these day.

★★★ 

Ian Schultz

Elia Kazan's Wild River To Receive Masters Of Cinema Release This February

Eureka! Entertainment have announced the release of WILD RIVER, one of the crowning achievements of Elia Kazan, director of A Streetcar Named Desire, On the Waterfront, and Splendor in the Grass. Starring legendary actor Montgomery Clift (Red River, A Place in the Sun) in one of his most gripping roles, Lee Remick (Anatomy of a Murder) and Jo Van Fleet (Cool Hand Luke, East of Eden), Wild River is an expansive portrait that combines erotically charged love story with social realism, in the classic Kazan manner. Wild River is released in a Dual Format (Blu-ray and DVD edition) as part of the Masters of Cinema Series on 23 February 2015.



Regarded as one of the crowning achievements in the career of both director Elia Kazan (A Streetcar Named Desire, On the Waterfront) and actor Montgomery Clift, Wild River charted new territory for cinema at the dawn of the 1960s, combining psychology, eroticism, documentary realism, and

exquisite pictorial beauty within the CinemaScope frame.

In the early 1930s, an administrator for the Tennessee Valley Authority (Clift) arrives in the small town of Garthville with the business of convincing an elderly landowner to sell her land to the government. Soon afterward, he’s thrown into conflicts emotional (falling in love with the landowner’s widowed granddaughter, played by Lee Remick, who is expected to marry another man) and societal (the employment of black labour on the authority’s river project).

With its mix of the personal and the political, Wild River, in the words of critic and scholar Adrian Martin, shows us that "there is only, in each case and circumstance, the particular problem, the isolated breakthrough, and the irretrievable loss.” The Masters of Cinema Series is proud to present Wild River in a special Dual Format edition that presents the film on Blu-ray for the first time in the UK.

Wild River will come in 1080p HD presentation with its original aspect ratio and will come with a 40 page booklet with a new essay by Adrian Martin, a score of rare archival imagery, and more!

Wild River will be released in a dual format on 23rd February and we will be reviewing the film nearer the release date and you can pre-order your copy now  Wild River (1960) [Masters of Cinema] Dual Format (Blu-ray & DVD)
.

Sci-fi Short Atropa Pays Homage To Classic Ridley Scott Science Fiction

If you adore Alien, Blade Runner Eli Sasich's Science Fiction short Atropa will be right up your street, paying Homage to classic gritty sci-fi of 1970s & 1980s.

Sasich's beautifully created film tells the tale of a space detective (Anthony Bonavetura) whose sent on a deep space mission to investigate the missing  research vessel Atropa, but what he finds everything is not what it seems.

There's also a big nod to the sci-fi horror Event Horizon here, a fantastically constructed film and for short with impressive CGI. Atropa is another fine example to filmmaker wannabe's that sometimes crating something smaller with plenty of TLC is a smarter move than going the juggular with a full feature. Here's hoping those with the power in film have there eyes on Sasich's fantastic film as it's a film we love to see created into a full feature.

ATROPA -- Sci-fi Short from Eli Sasich on Vimeo.

source: GeekTyrant

DVD Review - Night Moves (2013)

Genre:
Thriller, Drama
Distributor:
Soda Pictures
Rating: 15
DVD/BD Release Date:
12th January 2015 (UK)
Running Time:
112 Minutes
Director:
Kelly Reichardt
Cast:
Jesse Eisenberg, Dakota Fanning, Peter Sarsgaard, Alia Shawkat
Extras:
Interviews With Kelly Reichardt, Jesse Eisenberg, Short Film Trailer
Buy:Night Moves [DVD]
Night Moves, directed by Kelly Reichardt, is not a conventional thriller, yet it remains compelling because of its character-driven, slowly-unfolding nightmare. What stood out most for me in this film was the characterisation and acting; each character was written and casted perfectly.

The film follows Josh (Jesse Eisenberg, The Social Network), Dena (Dakota Fanning, Twilight Saga: New Moon) and Harmon (Peter Sarsgaard, Garden State), three eco-activists who blow up a dam that they believe is harming the environment. However, their protest with good intent quickly becomes a dangerous misfortune. After they blow up the dam, and return to their ordinary lives, everything carries on as normal, making the situation eerily real – there are no high-octane police chases or fight scenes – these genre standards are replaced with increasing paranoia, guilt and numbness.

Eisenberg’s character is a subdued version of the actor’s typically awkward film roles, perfectly portraying a temperamental and troubled eco-terrorist. As the film progresses, and the suspense builds, he becomes more and more erratic and threatening, executed outstandingly by the actor. Dakota Fanning provides incredible support, as an edgy and unreadable college dropout, whilst still retaining a young innocence. Sarsgaard’s character, an ex-marine, appears light-hearted at first, with a calmer approach to the act of eco-terrorism. However, the actor’s performance becomes more chilling as Horman slowly becomes desensitised after the event.

The character relationships are subtle and implied rather than thrown in your face, with the first hour, seemingly, dedicated to character development – learning about their backgrounds and personalities which influence their roles in the second hour’s conflict. A key scene shows a wide shot with all three activists sitting in the car they used to escape from the imminent explosion. Each character’s face is extremely telling as they wait for the sudden eruption of their plan coming together. These character building scenes, at first, can seem slightly un-engaging however, they are integral for the ensuing tension.

The accompanying music, composed by Jeff Grace (composer for the Lord of the Rings trilogy), is quiet and subdued, consisting mainly of piano and pan-pipes, but is still eerie and, at times, unsettling as the onscreen action can become very tense. It becomes clear that the label of ‘thriller’ is not because of anything particularly action-packed and grand, but rather because of the guilt eating away at the protagonists, until they all become extremely fearful and unconfident in a unique way.

This is not a film for someone expecting to be immediately gripped and thrilled, as it sometimes lacks the ability to engage, however, Reichardt’s portrayal of three people made victim to their own psychological decay stays with its audience long after watching.

Night Moves is available on DVD from 12th January.

★★★ 1/2
Jenn Spiers

Yee-Haa! Eureka! Entertainment Giving Gary Cooper's Classic Western Man Of The West Masters Of Cinema Treatment

Eureka! Entertainment have announced the release of MAN OF THE WEST, starring studio superstar Gary Cooper in one of his most uncompromising performances. The capstone to director Anthony Mann’s extraordinary run of westerns in the 1950s (including Winchester ’73, The Furies, Bend of the River, The Naked Spur, and more), Man of the West is regarded alongside The Searchers, Rio Bravo, and The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance, as one of the greatest of all westerns. Man of the West will be released on Blu-ray in a Dual Format (Blu-ray & DVD) edition as part of Eureka’s award-winning The Masters of Cinema Series on 23 February 2015.

Check out the original theatrical trailer sent to us courtesy of Eureka! Entertainment...

The pinnacle in the brilliant career of director Anthony Mann, Man of the West has earned a reputation as one of the finest westerns — and one of the finest films, full stop — produced in the late studio era.

Ex-outlaw Link Jones (Gary Cooper) boards a train to Fort Worth to hire a schoolteacher for his town when he’s knocked unconscious and robbed — by a gang of outlaws associated with his own uncle (Lee J. Cobb) whom he abandoned years earlier in his bid to go straight. Soon after, and in order to protect the life of the woman he’d earmarked for schoolteacher, saloon singer Billie Ellis (Julie London), Link rejoins the gang for one last hold-up…

Jean-Luc Godard wrote of Man of the West: "I have seen nothing so completely new since — why not? — Griffith… With Anthony Mann, one rediscovers the western , as one discovers arithmetic in an elementary maths class. Which is to say that Man of the West is the most intelligent of films, and at the same time the most simple." The Masters of Cinema Series is proud to present Man of the West in a special Dual Format edition that presents the film on Blu-ray for the first time in the UK.

Man Of The West will come on dual format in a New HD 1080p HD presentation of the film in its original aspect ratio, plus a 44-PAGE BOOKLET with writing by Jean-Luc Godard, a score of rare archival imagery, and more!

We will be reviewing the film so stayed tuned, Man of The West will be released on 23rd February on Dual Format , pre-order your copy here

When Mad Max Meets Dawn Of The Dead, Watch The Trailer For Wyrmwood: Road Of The Dead

What if Mad Max was set in a world not plagued by psychotic road pirates but the walking dead,
what would it look like? Step forward Wyrmwood: Road Of The Dead as Ozploitation turns zombie road movie as the new trailer arrives online, so it's time to rev up and lock and load!

After a successful run via Fantastic Fest, After Dark and Busan Film Festival South Korea, the Zombie Apocalypse is getting ready for it's cinematic release next month.

Wyrmwood: Road Of The Dead is the creation of brothers Kiah and Tristan Roache-Turner  foolows our road warrior hero Barry who must save his sister from the militia forces.However things never run smoothly as Barry must fight his way through the hordes of undead and a psychotic doctor who is behind the kidnapping.



This is bat-shit crazy and it's that premise that we love about this film, it has a sense of fun about it, but it seems this trailer  reveals too much of the plot. It has a nice balance of action and horror which should bring a smile to fans of each genre, so if you haven't seen any of the coverage of the film I maybe not watch this for a few weeks so you don't spoil the excitement of checking this one out.

IFC Midnight have bought the American rights to Wyrmwood:Road Of The Dead with Raven Entertainment for Canada. What we can gladly announce is this will get an UK release by Altitude Entertainment what date that will be we don't know at this Stage. We think this one may play a few UK film festivals in 2015 possibly Frighfest either next month at Glasgow or in the summer at London Frightfest, Wyrmwood will be released in Australia 6th February cinematically and USA 13th February on V.O.D

Source: IGN (via Twitchfilm)

Eureka! Entertainment To Give An UK theatrical release of Alain Renais' Last Film Life Of Riley

Eureka! Entertainment have announced the UK theatrical release of LIFE OF RILEY (Aimer, boire et chanter), Alain Resnais’ (Last Year at Marienbad, Hiroshima mon amour) final film before his death in March 2014 is a moving, graceful, and surprisingly affirmative farewell to life from a truly great artist.

After Smoking/No Smoking (1993) and Private Fears in Public Places (2006), this is the late Alain Resnais’s thirdnadaptation of a work by British playwright Alan Ayckbourn and the great master’s last film. By confining the action to an artificial, almost entirely studio-bound world, he succeeds in creating a tragicomic theatre of vanities. Employing the ironic distance of a sage observer of human nature, Resnais ponders the power of love and desire and in doing so enables his characters, driven by their longings, hopes and obsessions, to leave the beaten track for once



In the Yorkshire countryside, the life of three couples is upset for a few months, from Spring to Fall, by the enigmatic behaviour of their friend George Riley.When general practitioner Dr. Colin inadvertently tells his wife Kathryn that the days of his patient George Riley should be numbered, he doesn’t know that George was Kathryn’s first love. Both spouses, who are rehearsing a play with their local amateur theatre company, convince George to join them. It allows George, among other things, to play strong love scenes with Tamara, who is married to Jack, his best friend, a
rich businessman and unfaithful husband.

A tearful Jack tries to persuade Monica, George’s wife who left him to be with Simeon the farmer, to go back to her husband in order to support him during his last months. George has a strange seductive power over Monica, Tamara and Kathryn, which highly upsets those men sharing their lives with the three women.

Which one will George Riley take on holidays in Tenerife with him?

If you missed LIFE OF RILEY at the recent UK French film festival, it will be released in selected cinemas nationwide in the UK and Ireland on 6 March 2015, starring Sabine Azéma, Hippolyte Girardot, Caroline Sihol.

Vittorio Di Sica's Sunflower Starring Sophia Loren Re-Mastered To Be Re-released On DVD

Oscar-winning screen siren Sophia Loren's classic Sunflower finally gets the release it deserves as it arrives on DVD and VOD in a stunningly re-mastered version, presented in its original widescreen format courtesy of Argent Films.

Loren (Two Women, A Special Day) and award-winning leading man Marcello Mastroianni (Dolce Vita, 8 1/2) are newlywed lovers torn apart by war, despite almost impossible odds they never give up on one another. Originally released in 1970, the film comes to DVD in a newly restored version, taken from HD elements, befitting its sumptuous photography (by Giuseppe Rotunno, who lit most Italian headliners including The Leopard, he was Fellini's cinematographer and received an Oscar nomination for All That Jazz), and production values. Sunflower is presented for the first time in its entirety featuring eight minutes of previously unseen scenes and comes complete with an exclusive documentary Sophia, Yesterday Today Tomorrow, woven around an intimate interview with Loren. The DVD comes with alternative language options: the English language version and optional Italian audio with new improved, switchable, English subtitles.


Twelve days before WW II breaks out, Giovanna (Loren) marries Antonio (Mastroianni), with no desire to fight in the conflict he fakes insanity in an attempt to avoid the draft. Officials see through

the charade and Antonio is sent to the Russian front, where soldiers must endure unbearable freezing temperatures and a short supply of rations.

As the war ends, Antonio is left to die in the snow on the Russian front, but is found by a beautiful Russian girl who hides him and helps him recover. Giovanna refuses to believe that her missing in action husband is dead and travels to the sunflower plains of Ukraine - seemingly to the end of the earth, in by-then post-war Russia - to search for the man she vowed she would never abandon.

Produced by Loren's husband, Carlo Ponti of Doctor Zhivago fame, Sunflower recalls Zhivago with its rich, wide-vista production of this heartfelt drama of war-torn lovers. Underpinned by Henry Mancini's Oscar-nominated rousing score and magnificently directed by one of Italy's greatest filmmakers, Vittorio De Sica (Bicycle Thieves, Two Women), who taps into his Neo-realist roots to depict the human tragedy of war-displaced persons as seen through the heroic determination of Loren's character.

SUNFLOWER will also launch on iTunes on 26 January followed by other selected VOD platforms exclusively for rental & download to own

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The Critically Acclaimed Harry McQueen's Hinterland To Get February UK Release

Critically acclaimed directorial debut Hinterland from Award-winning Actor/Director Harry Macqueen will be released in UK cinemas and On Demand from 27th February 2015. Nominated for Best UK Feature at Raindance Film Festival 2014, the film will open at Curzon Cinemas and will be simultaneously available on Curzon Home Cinema from 27th February through Soda Pictures, before touring UK cinemas.

Shot in 13 days in February and March 2013 in London and Cornwall and set over one February weekend, Hinterland is an original and visually stunning British road-trip and a tender and honest exploration of love and change.

Hinterland follows two old friends who escape the city for a trip of nostalgia, love and new beginnings. When Harvey (Harry Macqueen) hears that his old friend Lola (musician Lori Campbell) has been forced to return home after years abroad he arranges to take her away for a weekend to the seaside cottage where they spent so much of their youth. What follows is a touching and beautiful story of an old friendship rekindled within a new context. Hinterland is a poetic journey of self-discovery and heartbreak in contemporary Britain.

Hinterland stars Harry Macqueen (Me and Orson Welles, Eastenders) as ‘Harvey’ and introduces musician Lori Campbell as ‘Lola’ in her acting debut. Lori is a fulltime musician with her first album as a singer/songwriter recently released in 2014.

Harry Macqueen said: “I am interested in telling intimate, personal stories that focus on character and relationships but that have a broader resonance be it social, moral or political. I admire filmmakers that allow their cameras to be passive observers and that give the actors the freedom to perform organically.

Perhaps due to my background as an actor I am also a great believer in the use of structured improvisation and the creation of the scripted dialogue as a collaborative process. With HINTERLAND I wanted to explore the themes of love and re-connection. How people and situations change and the impact this can have on them and those around them. The film also deals with people in a period of personal flux within the context of a country itself unsure of its direction.”

If you missed the trailer, you can check out Hinterland trailer below...

Short Film Review - D.I.Y.

JAM Flicks have sent us their new short D.I.Y., which has been selected for festivals such as London Lift-Off and the Portabello Film festival, and it’s rather good.

The film follows a male protagonist, Andrew, as he tentatively enters a DIY shop to confront Darren, the man who has been sleeping with his wife. A suspenseful and simple story, the tension builds as the film progresses, leaving the audience unsure as to what the protagonist’s final actions will be.

The two men appear to be complete opposites: the husband, a seemingly quiet, and smartly dressed man; and the lover, a cocky, confident 'bloke', dressed in his casual work uniform. The film employs this juxtaposition well, using the lover's brash, assured delivery to highlight the husband's lack of confidence, and the uncertainty in his actions. Dialogue serves its purpose, letting the actors' emotions tell most of the story. 

In between the main events in the DIY shop, little snippets of flashbacks and intriguingly ambiguous flash-forwards are shown, building the suspense. The unsettling sound design further reflects Andrew's conflicted feelings. One particular moment I enjoyed is during a sequence where he is playing out his revenge on the adulterer, with a mixture of natural and mechanical sounds building to invoke the sound of blood pumping in the ears during an adrenaline rush.

The film is well cut and well paced, with solid performances from both men, in particular the lead Andrew, played by Anton Saunders, whose understated performance as the cuckold is noteworthy.  D.I.Y. is a gripping short film, that builds more tension and suspense over ten minutes than some films do over ninety.

Hannah Newton


You can watch D.I.Y. below.

D.I.Y - A short film by Josh & Mitch from JAM Flicks on Vimeo.

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Maisie Williams Among This Year's Shooting Stars for 2015

Maisie Williams, star of films Heatstroke, Gold, and The Falling, and TV series Game of Thrones, has been nominated for the 2015 Shooting Star Award.  European Film Promotion announced today the ten talented actors from across Europe that will be making their way to the award ceremony held at the Berlin Film Festival on 7th February.  The nominations are as follows: Joachim Fjelstrup (Denmark), Jannis Niewöhner (Germany), Emmi Parviainen (Finland), Hera Hilmar (Iceland), Moe Dunford (Ireland), Aistė Diržiūtė (Lithuania), Abbey Hoes (The Netherlands), Natalia de Molina (Spain), Sven Schelker (Switzerland) and Maisie Williams (UK).

The prestigious award is now approaching it's 18th year, and has served as a platform for it's talented, international alumni such as Daniel Craig (UK - 2000), Daniel Brühl (Germany- 2003), Elio Germano (Italy - 2008), David Dencik (Denmark - 2007), Carey Mulligan (UK - 2009) and Alicia Vikander (Sweden - 2011).

Jury member, Polish film director Malgorzata Szumowska said of the announcement, “ The Shooting Stars jury deliberated at length over what constitutes ‘star quality’ - that rare and special something that allows these actors to rise above their peers and to display not only impressive technical skill in their performances - but also something more. We pored over showreels and past performances of young actors from all over Europe and our discussions in Hamburg this month have resulted in what we think is a particularly strong year .”

Other members of the jury include:  actress Eva Röse (Maria Wern), UK film magazine editor Damon Wise (Empire magazine), Slovenian film producer Danijel Hočevar (Circles) and French casting director Nathalie Cheron (Lucy).

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