DVD Review - Panic in Year Zero (1962)

Genre:
Drama
Distributor:
Simply Home Entertainment
DVD Release Date:
16th March 2015 (UK)
Rating: PG
Director:
Ray Milland
Cast:Ray Milland, Jean Hagen, Frankie Avalon, Mary Mitchel, Joan Freeman
Buy: Panic in Year Zero [DVD]
Ray Milland was one of the big screen’s greatest actors, which is evident in such classics as Lost Weekend (which he won the Oscar for), Dial M for Murder, and The Big Clock amongst many others. Due to rumoured alcoholism (but never confirmed) and a desire to direct, he moved away from acting in major films and started directing, but he also starred in some AIP B-Movies, and actually directed one of the ones he starred in - Panic in Year Zero.

Panic in Year Zero is a classic bit of cold war, apocalyptic filmmaking. Ray Milland plays the father of the Baldwin family, Harry. The Baldwins try to go on a family camping trip, but L.A gets attacked with nuclear bombs (if only that would happen). Harry must become a full out survivalist to survive the nuclear fallout and the chaos and crime that follows in it’s wake.

It’s not quite the harrowing apocalyptic tale of something like Peter Watkins' fantastic The War Game. It moves at a swift 87 minute pace, which is due to the fact it was a part of a double bill with Roger Corman’s Tales of Terror. It’s also certainly one of Milland’s finest later roles; he plays a total paranoid asshole perfectly. It might not be the genius of X: The Man with X-Ray Eyes but it’s pretty damn good. The teen heartthrob singer Frankie Avalon plays his son.

The depiction of the total moral collapse of society after a nuclear war is a more likely outcome than the more proto-hippie takes around the same time. It’s also sets the template for so many post-apocalyptic journey films from Mad Max to The Road to stuff like Time of the Wolf. It may have had a tiny budget but it’s big ideas and the atmosphere it portrayed, despite showing very little, still works it’s charms over 50 years later.

★★★1/2
Ian Schultz

Watch The "The Origins of Auteur Theory" Video Essay

“There are no good and bad movies, only good and bad directors,” François Truffaut once said when talking about the auteur theory.It's a word that's been used for many decades when talking about filmmakers who embeded their personal stamp on their own film.When it started or who was given the first we have to go back to French New Wave Cinema of late 1950's into 1960's  when it became very popularised. Everyone from Alfred Hitchcock, Stanley Kubrick , Martin Scorsese have all been given the title of Auteur but do we really know what an Auteur really is?

In this  17 minute video essay from FilmakerIQ they try and explain what the terms means as year after year many of us debate the meaning and who should be regarded as an 'auteur'. When the likes of Michael Bay get's regarded as an auteur it  can easily become heated . This video delivers an nice argument and useful, entertaining especially if your wanting to enhance your film history knowledge too!

Mubi Selects - Friday 13th March 2015

Something for the Weekend? The weekend is now upon us as many cinephiles worldwide head to their local cinema to watch the latest releases. However sometimes you just want to get the weekend papers and have a lazy weekend watch something on the box or online and our new weekly section we may just have your answer.

In our new weekly post 'Mubi Selects' we've teamed with MUBI the purveyors of great cinema online curating a great selection of cult, classic, independent, and award-winning movies. It's an international community discovering wonderful intelligent thought provoking films MUBI is your passport to those great films.

MUBI unleash great new films every week and in our MUBI Selects we'll deliver a taster with our weekly picks of what's playing and help you enjoy that lazy weekend you desire...

Hiroshima Mon Amour

Alain Resnais a cornerstone of French New Wave cinema with his landmark 1959  starring Emmanuelle Riva Eiji Okada star as a French woman and Japanese man  engage in a brief, intense affair set in post war  Hiroshima, Japan Their impels the couple  to exorcise their own scarred memories of love and suffering. A beautiful, slow paced film ideal for that lazy Sunday afternoon

Planet Terror

If your looking for that nonsensical brainless escapism Robert Rodriguez's Planet Terror will do the trick. Zombies, gore and hot girl's with machine gun leg Planet Terror will deliver that B-Movie exploitation with a capital B. Thanks to a nerve escaping accident thanks to a remote U.S military turning those effected by the gas into flesh eating zombies

Deathproof

If your going to watch Planet Terror you have to watch Deathproof. This an continuation second part of Grindhouse Project this time Quentin Tarrantino in the director's chair with a homage the car action exploitation films of the 1960s and 1970s. Like many Tarrantino films the platform for comeback performances, this time Kurt Russell when a DJ offers  an opportunity for her friends to unwind but when night fall heads turn,

Chico&Rita

When it comes to adult and animation it can be a hard sell but over the years there's been a number of great animations that prove animation is for all and Chico & Rita is one of those films. Fernando Trueba's film captures magic and sounds of Cuba, a melancholic, vibrant journey of a young piano player with big dreams who falls in love with a beautiful singer Rita, a love story set during the pre-Cuban revolution.

Undertow

David Gordon Green maybe unfortunately maybe known by mainstream film fans for his  certain Stoner comedy, however there was a life in independent film. In 2004 Undertow starring Jamie Bell in a gritty Southern gothic noir-ish film based around a family untouched by time. When the arrival of their violent greedy uncle arrives on the scene a tragic event forces the brothers go on the run with the uncle on the pursuit.


For a price of a coffee from one of those chains what better way to enjoy the weekend and every day great films at MUBI? click below to get more info on the other fantastic films on offer...

DVD Review - Child is Waiting (1963)

Genre:
Drama
Distributor:
Simply Media
DVD Release Date:
16th March 2015 (UK)
Rating: PG
Director:
John Cassavetes
Cast:
Burt Lancaster, Judy Garland, Gena Rowlands, Steven Hill, Paul Stewart,
Buy:A Child Is Waiting [DVD]
John Cassavetes is considered by many to be the father of American Independent cinema; he isn’t in my opinion, as Roger Corman and Sam Fuller predate him, amongst many others. He is however a pioneer in the fact he made these rich, character based dramas that he wrote, directed and put his own money into them. He had a couple years in the early ‘60s before he made his groundbreaking Faces where he almost became a studio director with films like Too Late Blues and A Child in Waiting.

The noted director Stanley Kramer produced A Child is Waiting and they butted heads over the final cut. Despite the post-production turmoil, Cassavetes (who disowned the film), admitted it wasn’t too bad, just a bit overly sentimental for his own taste. It’s a fascinating film for many reasons. Firstly, as a historical depiction of disability on screen, uncommonly (even shamefully today), most of the disabled children are played by actual disabled children which is in tune with Cassavetes’ realistic, improv style.

Judy Garland and Burt Lancaster star in the film, and both gives some of their finest performances in their respective, extraordinary film careers. Lancaster plays the head of the school, Dr. Matthew Clark, and clashes with Garland’s Jean Hansen over his strict teaching methods. Hanson also becomes emotionally involved with one of the kids who Clark considers to be one of their big failures, and they battle over how to education him. Lancaster brings the physicality that he always did due to his background in the circus. Garland also really shows off her acting chops, something that was rarely on display in other films she did.

A Child is Waiting deserves to be re-analysed as one of Cassavetes’ finest films and of his two “Hollywood” films it’s certainly his best, despite obviously being toned down from Cassavetes’ original intentions. Cassavetes had an extremely forward thinking take on the material, stating in the book Cassavetes on Cassavetes, “My film said that retarded children could be anywhere, any time, and that the problem is that we're a bunch of dopes, that it's our problem more than the kids. The point of the original picture that we made was that there was no fault, that there was nothing wrong with these children except that their mentality was lower." The finished film, which Kramer edited, had a bent that was more of it’s time, basically saying the kids are better off in the institute than in the main population.

★★★★
Ian Schultz

DVD Review - He Walked By Night (1948)

Genre:
Film Noir
Distributor:
Simply Home Entertainment
Rating: PG
Director:
Alfred L. Werker, Anthony Mann
Cast: Richard Basehart, Scott Brady, Roy Roberts, Whit Bissell, Jack Webb
Release: 16th March 2015
Buy: He Walked By Night [DVD]
He Walked by Night is a fairly standard procedural noir fare but has enough style to move it up a level. It was directed by Alfred L. Werker even though Anthony Mann finished the film. It’s very loosely inspired by the real life Erwin "Machine-Gun" Walker who committed a similar strings of crimes as depicted in the finished film.

Richard Basehart plays the killer Roy Morgan, who in the beginning shoots and kills a police officer. This is after the police officer questions him because he is acting suspicious outside an electronics store. The rest of the film is basically the police trying to find this mystery man.

The film’s big set piece is it’s climax, in an L.A storm drainage system. It’s very similar to the climactic scene in Carol Reed’s masterpiece The Third Man and begs the question, did Graham Greene or Carol Reed see He Walked by Night? It’s very possible. The film’s director of photography was John Alton, who also shot one of the textbook examples of classic noir The Big Combo and numerous others; his use of light and shadow is partly what brings He Walked by Night up from being a fairly standard film to a solid one.

I would certainly not say He Walked by Night would be the best starting point for a budding fan of noir; there are dozens you should see before. Despite my reservations it has a strong lead performance by Basehart who plays a psychopathic killer very well. Overall, the film has a brutal nihilism that many of the best noirs do, but due to the standard of storytelling it misses it’s mark in becoming a classic.

★★★1/2

Ian Schultz

DVD Review - Big Star: Nothing Can Hurt Me (2012)

Genre:
Documentary
Distributor:
UMC
Rating: TBA
Director:
Drew DeNicola, Olivia Mori
Release: 2nd March 2015
Buy: Nothing Can Hurt Me [DVD]
Nothing Can Hurt Me is a documentary of the cult band Big Star from Memphis, Tennessee. They bridged the gap between The Velvet Underground and what would later become punk rock, and more specifically the power pop and paisley underground that would come in it’s wake. It was the brainchild of two songwriters, Alex Chilton and Chris Bell.

The documentary, like the band’s fame, is a bit too late for it’s own good. The film really started filming around the time of Alex Chilton’s death and Chris Bell has been dead since the late ‘70s. Chilton also was notoriously cagey about speaking about his time in Big Star, and when him and Jody Stephens reformed the band, he admitted it was for the money many times. The film’s crucial flaw is that there is no on video interview with Chilton - there are audio interviews and some archive stuff but that’s all. Chilton, after all, wrote most of the band’s enduring songs.

It however does successfully tell the story of the band, and to some extent gets into the heads of the two songwriters, not from the outside but through the people who knew them. It’s very much a musos doc as oppose to a biography of the band; there is a lot of talk about the album’s production. I’m a massive fan of Big Star but, for the most part, couldn’t care less about the production techniques they used. This can also be said of anyone when they talk about the plus and minuses of album’s production.

Sadly there is very little footage of the band, mostly just silent footage of them in the studio. It’s a fascinating story of a band that nearly made it, but due to so many different factors didn’t quite make get there. What a different world we would live in if Big Star were as big as one of their contemporaries like Led Zeppelin. It’s very well made given the limitations they had, but if you're looking for a deeply insightful documentary into the minds of the bands’ songwriters you may come out of it disappointed.


★★★1/2

Ian Schultz

Social Media Unveils It's 'dark side' In The Horror Short Alexia

If your under a certain age and own a smart phone your life probably evolves around social media especially Facebook, Twitter, Snapchat, etc... If you know what Facebook is and have a profile if you ever thought what would happen to that profile after you die? It seems in Argentina  it's a bit of an phenomenon a sadistically sinister one of following profiles after death and in Andres Borghi's short film Alexia all will be unveiled.

After the death of his girlfriend Alexia follows a young man dealing with the repercussions of keeping her social profile runnng. As he attempts sever his part of everything it looks like things aren't as easy as he first thought.

enjoy!



Source:Twitchfilm

DVD Review - Swimming to Cambodia (1987)

Genre:
Comedy, Drama
Distributor:
Simply Media
Release Date:
16th March 2015 (uk)
Rating; 18
Director:
Jonathan Demme
Cast:
Spalding Gray, Sam Waterston, Ira Wheeler
Buy:Swimming To Cambodia [DVD]
Jonathan Demme, like so many directors of his generation, came through the Roger Corman film school. After “graduating” he struggled throughout the later 70s, making stuff like Last Embrace which he has expressed disappointment with. However, he had a chance to come back with the more idiosyncratic Melvin and Howard which was a big critical success, and made him a director to look out for.

The 80s is really where the case can be made that Demme was one of the finest directors around at the time. He would make great comedies like Something Wild, and Married to the Mob. Simultaneously, he made performance films like the classic Talking Heads concert film Stop Making Sense. His fame, of course, reached it’s height with the release of The Silence of the Lambs, yet since then it’s been very hit and miss, with, for the most part, more misses than hits. He made the awful remake of The Manchurian Candidate, and vowed to only make documentaries and small-scale dramas from then on.

One of the early performance films he made was Swimming to Cambodia. Demme has made many performance films over the years and this one is probably the most similar to Stop Making Sense in style. It’s however not a music film, but a filmed monologue by actor Spalding Gray, talking about his experiences making the film The Killing Fields.

Gray only acted in a few films (and only a few worth seeing) in his career including a couple of pornos! His real love was doing these surreal monologues about his life experiences, often at the off-Broadway venue the Performance Garage in New York City. Swimming to Cambodia was filmed there and was the first of 5 theatrically filmed versions of his monologues.

Demme and his great cinematographer John Bailey film it like a normal film. It’s expertly lit; there is background of a sea, which is to symbolize the South China Sea. Spalding only has two props, which are two maps he points to at different times during the proceedings. Spalding tells the extraordinary story of how he got the part, the filming and the his relationship with his girlfriend (who later became his wife) and everything in-between.

It’s almost plays like Louis Malle’s My Dinner with Andre, which despite being a narrative film is basically a conversation. Funnily enough Demme’s new film, A Master Builder reunites the stars from that film.Grey is a captivating speaker, and very funny and frank about his experiences before, during and after the filming. It does now have a level of melancholy because Gray years later would commit suicide after years of suffering with mental and physical illnesses. It’s an 80s cult oddity that seems to be have been forgotten and should be rediscovered and cherished.

★★★★
Ian Schultz

BFI Unleash A Stunning New UK trailer For Upcoming Blade Runner:The Final Cut

You may say to yourself "Again?!!!" but to true film fans will relish a  rare chance to see Ridley Scott's 1982 sci-fi Masterpiece Blade Runner on the big screen again, watch new trailer.

After numerous special editions for the home release and fans of the cult film argue which one is the best, we have to say the best is to relive the enjoyment of the big screen. BFI are bringing the film back to UK cinemas for a limited release and if your of a certain age group (like myself) either too young or weren't born so we see this as a rare chance.

So what version version will we watch? BFI are distributing Blade Runner:The Final Cut the version approved by director Ridley Scott, here's what he said about this version...

“The Final Cut is my definitive version of BLADE RUNNER, and I’m thrilled that audiences will have the opportunity to enjoy it in the way I intended – on the big screen. This new trailer captures the essence of the film and I hope will inspire a new generation to see BLADE RUNNER when it is re-released across the UK on 3 April.”



Graced with extraordinary sets, ground-breaking special effects, stunning costumes and photography, Blade Runner: The Final Cut brilliantly evokes a dystopian vision of the future. Breathtaking city vistas, rain-drenched neon-lit streets and gloomy interiors combine with Vangelis’ sweeping, sensual score to conjure an oppressive futuristic Los Angeles, a dark and dehumanising landscape where the sun no longer shines.

Blade Runner: The Final Cut will make an limited UK cinema release from 3rd April, check BFI website for a list of cinema who will show the film.

Short Sighted Cinema Presents: TRANSFORM - A night of documentary and live stories. Hackney Attic, 25th March.

A selection of short documentaries and autobiographies that lead into metamorphic journeys of discovery and transformation. Secrets are shared and identities challenged in this evening of short film and live storytelling, followed by open-mic revelations.

Want to tell a story? We’re looking for storytellers to take part in the launch event of a new series of film & spoken word collaborations, looking at stories on screen and off. Got a story about ‘transformations’ (whatever your take on that is!) – get in touch at info@shortsightedcinema.com.


Featuring:
A DAY IN THE LIFE OF JACOB M. BIRD - Camilla Mathis
A documentary profile on Jacob M. Bird aka Dinah Lux.

THICK SKIN - Despina Christodoulou
Thick Skin offers an insight in to the life of Ben, a Mexican wrestler and entertainer, which sheds light on the unusual and intense activity of body suspension.

THE LADY OF LAMBETH - Tom Sweetland
A character driven documentary explores themes of disability and old age through the eyes of Ann Parnell-McGarry, a former theatre director and opera dancer. Now aged 75, she is slowly coming to terms with her life in a wheelchair, but even her inability to walk hasn’t stopped her being an extraordinarily active pensioner.

Details:
Doors: 7.30PM
Venue: Hackney Picturehouse Attic, 270 Mare St E8
Tickets: £5
Age: 16+
Station: Hackney Central / London Fields
Link: http://bit.ly/1B8KXta

Film Review - White Bird in a Blizzard (2014)

Genre:
Drama, Mystery
Distributor:
Altitude Film Entertainment
Release Date:
6th March 2015 (UK Cinema)
16th March 2015 (UK DVD)
Rating: 15
Director:
Greg Araki
Cast:
Shailene Woodley, eva green, Christopher Meloni, Thomas Jane, Gabourey Sidibe, shiloh fernandez, Angela Bassett
Buy:White Bird In A Blizzard [DVD]
Gregg Araki is a director who I have a love it/hate it thing with. He started out being one of the founders of “New Queer Cinema” of the ‘90s, making these bisexual teen comedies that have great soundtracks full of shoegaze goodness, with a slightly trippy nature. However his greatest flaw was always the film’s ending, they always seemed rushed or haphazard.

Things changed when he made the out and out masterpiece Mysterious Skin starring a very young Joseph Gordon-Levitt. It was strange, surreal, daring, and finally had an ending that was totally satisfying. He followed it up with the more conventional Smiley, and the enjoyable but deeply flawed attempt to get back to his earlier films Kaboom. This brings us up to his latest film White Bird in a Blizzard.

White Bird in a Blizzard is by far the closest in tone to his undisputed masterpiece Mysterious Skin. Both are mysteries based on novels, which might be why both films have a satisfying beginning, middle and end. It’s about a teenage girl Katrina Connors (Shailene Woodley) whose “perfect” suburban housewife mother, simply disappears one day and is never seen again. The rest of the film is her coming of age and dealing with the disappearance.

The tone of the film is a mixture of Sirkian melodrama and David Lynch strangeness. The lead performance by Shailene Woodley is attempting to channel Winona Ryder circa Heathers, but as my girlfriend said it was more shoegaze Lindsay Lohan which is not necessarily a problem. Eva Green goes full Mommie Dearest as the mother and is one of the best performances she has ever given. To add to the Lynchian connection, Sheryl Lee plays the father’s new girlfriend and it took me two viewings to recognize her.

I have to admit I had pretty much given up on Gregg Araki after Kaboom, coming to the conclusion he will never get back to the filmmaking of Mysterious Skin. I was pleasantly surprised with what he did with White Bird in a Blizzard. It has a twist you won’t see coming from a mile away, and an absolutely fantastic 80s soundtrack full of New Order, Cocteau Twin, The Jesus & Mary Chain, The Psychedelic Furs, Echo & the Bunnymen and The Cure among many others.

★★★★
Ian Schultz

Hate Crime Director Releases Statement On His Films UK ban

James Cullen Bressack, director of HATE CRIME, which has been banned in the UK, said today:

"As a Jewish man, and a victim of anti -Semitic hate, I made a horror film that depicts the very thing that haunts my dreams. As an artist I wanted to tell a story to remind us that we live in a dangerous world; a world where racial violence is on the rise.

It saddens me to learn that censorship is still alive and well. As a critic and journalist, you should at least see the film you are criticizing and do your research to learn that the filmmaker is Jewish. However I have to admit that I do appreciate the press."

He added: "As a fan of Simon Thompson's work and the Huffington Post, I'm disappointed he didn't see my movie."

TheHorrorShow.TV's Jack Bowyer revealed that the Video On Demand service and Nerdly Presents will be potentially platforming other Bressack titles.

He commented: "Like James, we are disappointed not to be able to bring Hate Crime to the UK, as planned. However, we are pleased to announce that we are in the process of submitting some of James's other films to the BBFC, so that we can bring this distinctive and important filmmaker's voice to UK horror fans, along with other exciting titles under our partnership with Nerdly Presents."

THE BBFC announced last week HATE CRIME, the first release in a new joint VOD venture between geek blog Nerdly.co.uk and TheHorrorShow.TV - has officially been banned in the UK. It is one of only four horror movies officially refused classification by the BBFC since 2009, the others being Grotesque, The Bunny Game and The Human Centipede 2, later released with nearly 3 minutes of cuts.

HATE CRIME tells the story of a Jewish family, having just arrived in a new neighbourhood, who are recording their youngest son's birthday celebrations on video when their home is suddenly invaded by a bunch of crystal-meth-crazed neo-Nazi lunatics.

Whilst not everyone may enjoy or feel comfortable with the content of Hate Crime we do believe in everyone's right to decide for themselves. It furthers the argument how 'liberal' are BBFC really are when certain films fins themselves banned from UK you question why? We believe in everyone's right to political, religious view as well as sexual orientation but if religious, political views have effected the reason's for banning Hate Crime then the decision to ban the film is wrong. No one has a right  to use their views to influence a decision. 

Blu-ray Review - Leviathan (2014)

Genre:
Drama
Distributor:
Artificial Eye
Rating: 15
Director:
Andrey Zvyagintsev
Cast:
Elena Lyadova, Vladimir Vdovichenkov, Aleksey Serebryakov
Release: 9th March 2015
Buy: Leviathan [Blu-ray]
Leviathan is the film Vladimir Putin and his cronies don’t want you to see. It was however funded partly by money from the Russian ministry of culture, and it’s leader Vladimir Medinsky has admitted openly he dislikes the film. He claims it’s not a real depiction of Russian life and the director is more interested in “fame, red carpets and statuettes".

There are numerous reasons why the Russian government would have disdain for the film. First and foremost it depicts the Russian government as corrupt beyond repair in a Kafkaesque comedy of corruption. One of the biggest criticisms of the film by Medinsky is that the Russian coastal villagers are depicted as “swearing vodka-swigging humans” and given the story of the government stealing the home of the main character Koyla (Aleksey Serebryakov), it’s certainly believable he might be a bit “sweary” and might be drinking more than his fair share of Russia’s biggest export.

The themes of the film are as heavyweight as you might expect from the Russians, they are not known for their lightweight entertainment after all. The title of course comes from the Bible, and is the name of a giant sea monster in the Old Testament, obviously in this context the monster is the oppressive government. It’s also a loose retelling of the book of Job which some cineastes might know also inspired the Coen Brothers A Serious Man.

Andrey Zvyagintsev has made one of the most relentlessly bleak films to come out in a long time. However, despite the bleakness is also has an extremely dark sense of humour, the circumstances as so bleak it becomes absurd in the way Franz Kafka is very funny. Mikhail Krichman shot the film and some of the imagery is truly haunting, Zvyagintsev claims Krichman learned his craft from reading American Cinematographer. Aleksei Serebryakov as the lead Koyla gives one of the most heartbreaking performances in years, despite being at times rather unsympathetic. The arc he goes though is a perfect blend of biblical doom with aspects of the struggle Josef K goes through in The Trial.

It might not be a lightweight watch, and it’s a lengthy one at 2 hours and 20 minutes, but it’s a feat of work that should be seen. It’s an important film that depicts the issues that face the normal people of Russia under the tyrant that is Vladimir Putin. It has an ambition that is extremely rare in world cinema today, alongside a willing to tackle some deep questions. It should certainly be congratulated for that.

★★★★
Ian Schultz

Blu-ray Review - Devo - Hardcore Live! (2015)

Genre:
Concert documentary
Distributor:
Wienerworld
Rating:Exempt
Director:
Keirda Bahruth
Release: 2nd March 2015
Buy: Devo -Hardcore Live! [Blu-ray]
Hardcore Live! is the first proper concert film by pioneering “New Wave” band Devo. There has been a handful of Devo concerts on DVD but never really a concert film in the tradition of a Talking Heads’ Stop Making Sense, despite an appearance in the cult classic Urgh! a Music War. It received a small theatrical run Stateside but has just come out on Blu-Ray/DVD over here.

The set up is a back to basics approach to Devo, founding member Bob 2 (Bob Casale) sadly passed away in early 2014 and the surviving members decided in tribute to do a short tour of the US playing the early “Hardcore” songs, and for the most part ignoring their later songs. They also mostly use vintage analogue equipment to replicate the original sound. The “Hardcore” recordings were also reissued in 2013 after being out of print for a long time too much acclaim from fans and critics.

Devo, to anyone who has been lucky enough to witness them live (I’ve seen them twice), will know that they are much more intense on stage than on their records. Lead singer Mark Mothersbaugh stares out everyone in the hall, and for a band that for the most part is made up of men in their 60s, they out play any young band in pure intensity. The first part of this concert however is a deliberately subdued performance of them going through early songs sitting on chairs making jokes in-between the songs pretending they are still stuck in their in basement in mid 70s. Devo opens with the futuristic “Mechanical Man” and plow through tracks like “Auto Modown” and “I Been Refused”.

The show ups the pace when they change into their early blue boiler suits (not the later, more well known yellow suits) and play their mutated version of The Rolling Stones’ enduring classic “Satisfaction”. They just completely burn the house down like every time they perform, they play some stuff off their first album like “Uncontrollable Urge” and Devolution rallying call “Jocko Homo”. They also play obscurities like “Fountain of Filth” and they finally do a touching encore featuring Bob 2’s son on bass of “Clock Out”, a song they last played live in 1977.

The concert is interspersed with interviews with the remaining members talking about the early days, Bob 2, their philosophy etc. It also includes interviews with Toni Basil (of “Mickey” fame), and with the great V. Vale, founder of Re/Search publications and early punk zine Search & Destroy, who has been a Devo fan since the very beginning. It brings some interesting commentary to the proceedings for a band who were sometimes completely misunderstood by critics.

The final product is a superbly entertaining concert film, that is moving and more exciting than most. It’s directed by Keirda Bahruth, who is mostly known for television work, but did also direct the documentary on musician Bob Forrest. The footage is extremely well shot, my only criticism is it could’ve used some colour correction near the end to give it a more seamless colour palette. The disc includes a feature to just play the concert without the interviews and alternative opening along with a short scene showing the creation of Mark’s mutant guitar.

★★★★
Ian Schultz

THE TOP FILM SCORES BY ALEXANDRE DESPLAT

Alexandre Desplat is without question one of the most prolific composers in contemporary film. The 53-year-old Frenchman has composed for over 100 films since 1985 when he began contributing to small movies in his home country. Desplat composed the dark yet beautiful score for Syriana in 2005, and this remarkable musical feat cemented his place as one of the most in demand composers in the business. To celebrate the home entertainment release of THE IMITATION GAME arriving on Blu-ray™, DVD and digital platforms on 9th March 2015, courtesy of STUDIOCANAL, this feature will take a look at Alexandre Desplat's top film scores.


THE IMITATION GAME (2014)

Desplat had a very limited period of time to compose music reflecting the brilliant mind of Alan Turing. Desplat knew that a big-orchestra approach was out of the question—if not just for time’s sake, it was also too outsized for a story reflecting the unique mind of one man. Realizing that the visuals of the film would never be able to depict the process of Turing’s brain, Desplat decided to make that the focus of his music, paying homage to the godfather of computers by using machines to randomly layer multiple piano tracks over each other. The result is a an extremely atmospheric score to go along with one of the films of the year.

The Tree of Life (2001)

Terrence Malick's controversial masterpiece took nearly thirty years to come to the big screen, and with such a heavy burden of expectation, the film needed an equally bold musical score. Desplat delivered such a score in a typically emphatic fashion. His music is one of the film’s great binding forces, gifting Malick the cohesion that he often has difficulty establishing on his own.

The Fantastic Mr Fox (2009)

Beautifully whimsical, touching and bright, Desplat shows his versatility by creating a score that is clearly out of his comfort zone but no less incredible for Wes Anderson’s critically acclaimed The Fantastic Mr Fox. Desplat produces a resonantly beautiful sense of homecoming that speaks to the titular wild animal’s belief that everything will turn out alright in the end so long as his family survives in one piece


Birth (2004)

Even divorced from the setting of the film for which it was commissioned, Desplat’s score for Birth has the feel of a chilly afternoon somewhere north of 66th St. These pieces are some of the composer's most luxurious work—so garlanded with deep drums and dancing flutes that they genuinely begin to take on the feel of the wealthy characters onscreen. The recurring theme is a touch off-kilter, the perfect disequilibrium for a movie about an affluent Manhattan widow who starts to believe that her dead husband has been reincarnated in the body of a young boy.

The Grand Budapest Hotel (2014)

Wes Anderson teams up with Desplat time after time due to the almost telepathic connection they have when working on a score for one of Anderson's films. Desplat's natural ability to capture Anderson’s movie worlds in just a couple of notes was critical to the filmmaker’s decision to move into the world of moviemaking where the uniquely quirky ideas he had in his head were finally allowed to be brought to the big screen. The Grand Budapest Hotel's music feels true to the films setting in a historically volatile period, its organ blasts and harpsichord tunes resounding with the call for a great adventure.

The Curious Case of Benjamin Button (2008)

This subtle yet beautiful score – another Oscar nominated piece from Alexandre Desplat – went a long way in providing the audience with the freedom to really experience escapism at its very best. The light and subtle tones used throughout added another layer of mystique and beauty to a film that would change cinema forever.

A Prophet(2009)

A Prophet is the masterpiece from Jacques Audiard, and composing a suitably gritty yet beautiful score was always going to be a near impossible feat. As you would come to expect from Desplat, he scored an elegant selection of music to provide the perfect backdrop to this Academy Award winning film.


THE IMITATION GAME arrives on Blu-ray™, DVD and digital platforms on 9th March 2015, courtesy of STUDIOCANAL

GFF2015 Review - Tales Of The Grim Sleeper (2015)

Genre:
Documentary
Distributor:
Shear Entertainment
Rating: 15
Screened:
Glasgow Film Festival
Director:
Nick Bromfield
Cast:
Pam Brooks

In 2010 Lonnie Franklin Jr was arrested for the crimes of the so-called ‘Grim Sleeper’, a serial killer active in downtown LA since the early 80’s. His capture came after 25 years of botched investigations and public outcry, his moniker awarded due to the Sleeper’s apparent habit of killing only once every few years. The moniker, like the investigation, is a fallacy and Franklin Jr is now thought to be responsible for well over a hundred disappearances. Nick Broomfield reveals the truth behind the case in his latest documentary Tales of the Grim Sleeper

Broomfield continues to be one of the legends of contemporary documentary filmmaking because he is continually content to throw himself into subject matter that most would find uncomfortable. But he seems so at ease yet never laid back, so sharp in his questioning but never confrontational. His monotonous tones slide their way around fields of venture alien to the vast majority. His work with serial killer Aileen Wuornos picks out the blatant sexism of American justice, but also the total disregard shown for sex workers. Its in Tales of the Grim Sleeper that Broomfield has perhaps provided the best canvas for issues of sexism, race, and class. His is, more than ever, a supporting voice in the plight of those shoehorned into the fringes of society.

At the very least, there is an attempt to highlight sex work as a site of gross cultural apathy, for Broomfield finds himself at the heart of a story as-of-yet shockingly untold. The police have, for years, danced around the concrete facts of the case (A, that there was a serial killer, and B that the public needed to know) so Tales of the Grim Sleeper appears to be the first full account of what has happened. Frankly it’s disturbing, but not surprising, that the white-run LAPD have never given as varied, in-depth, and honest an account as this. Broomfield minimises issues around his own role, as white alien, by minimising the white voices in the film and letting the story play out courtesy of those who have lived it. An unflinching respect for the black community of LA paired with an unspoken disregard for the bureaucracy that permitted a 25 year reign of terror make this an acidic and astute piece of filmmaking.

Between the blatant racism of American police and the homogenized sexism of one of LA’s poorest areas, Broomfield’s latest looks at the perfect storm which enabled the Grim Sleeper to kill unchallenged for a quarter century. Terrifying arresting viewing.

★★★★
Scott Clark

GFF 2015 - Man From Reno (2014)

Genre:
Drama, Mystery, Thriller
Screened:
Glagow Film Festival
Rating: 15
Director:
Dave Boyle
Cast:
Ayako Fujitani, Pepe Serna, Kazuki Kitamura,
One night, after hitting an unidentified Japanese man with his car, Sherriff Del Moral (Pepe Serna) stumbles on a mysterious case that leads him to San Francisco. There, author Aki Akahori (Ayako Fujitani) has fled Tokyo and after enjoying a brief fling with a mysterious stranger, is thrust into the very same case. Dave Boyle’s Man from Reno keeps threatening to be a dark (at least consistently serious) film pulling on film noir inspirations and pulp paperback detective stories, but it never quite gets there.

The humour is off, sometimes far too dry, others far too silly, considering the story, but then, there’s another issue. The story, in attempts to achieve the kind of ludicrous twisting narrative of the noir thriller, loses itself too many times. It delves in deeper and deeper but doesn’t manage to drag us with any great zeal. Though, one of the most interesting things about Man from Reno is its array of zany multinational characters who, though sometimes jarring, are often enjoyable. Unfortunately its array of strange characters are left in a pile somewhere out of sight, its story hopelessly convoluted and confused by too many characters and not enough intrigue. There is some success in Kazuki Kitamura’s portrayal of a handsome stranger and Serna’s wily old cop, but even when those two characters eventually meet, it’s unfortunately underwhelming.

The humour along with the mix of genre templates is surprisingly uninvolving. The darker streaks work best when married with a significant amount of mystery, but the humour inevitably sinks the boat. Del Moral’s investigation really pulls you in, but is thrown overboard by a middling and distracted story of author melodrama. This is a mixed pot that’s trying far too hard to achieve a type of story usually marked by shameless nonchalance.

Moments of gorgeous noir cinematography are few and far between in the glorified melodrama of Man from Reno. Viewers will be split by which side of the plot they enjoy more, but as a whole this isnt quite there.

★★★
Scott Clark

Film Review - Mina Walking (2015)

Mina Walking is the feature film debut from Yosef Baraki, originally from Afghanistan but now residing in Canada. The film, exploring the life of a young Afghan girl, had it’s world premiere at the Berlinale as part of it’s Generation selection.

The film focuses on seven days in the life of Mina (Farzana Nawabi), an impulsive twelve-year-old who, in order to care for her senile grandfather, and drug-addled father, must take to streets selling cheap trinkets and neglect her education. We follow her as she struggles to emancipate her father from the local, smooth-talking, drug dealer, and attempts to secretly attend school. 

Shot in a semi-documentary style, the camera always stays with Mina as she walks the busy streets, effectively reflecting the chaotic nature of the city, and her life. Shooting her from above during the hectic market scenes emphasises this message. Although a practical solution to avoid too much unwanted attention, it serves to highlight the turbulent nature of the location by viewing Mina’s interactions on a larger scale. We can see that the wider world surrounding her is just as chaotic as her immediate one.

The natural feel is not accidental. Baraki wants to put us in Mina’s shoes and feel her life. Of course the way of shooting emphasises this, but so does the free-flowing rhythm of the dialogue. The amateur actors were given a treatment rather than a full script to work from, leaving much of the dialogue superbly improvised. This makes 12-year-old Farzana Nawabi’s performance even more impressive.

The young actor improvises effortlessly in the potentially difficult market scenes with the general public, and never misses a beat. Her portrayal of Mina is incredibly natural, and completely engaging. She manages to play both feisty and vulnerable in equal measure, leaving no doubt that the audience is on her side, right from the very beginning.

Mina Walking is clearly a personal project for Yosef Baraki, with him wanting to highlight the troubles that young Afghans face as they try to live their lives in the shadow of the Taliban. Nawabi’s natural performance, combined with the active camera, and free-flowing dialogue makes it feel like we are really getting a slice of Afghan culture and some of the situations young Afghans face. Mina Walking is a thoroughly enthralling and engaging film with an important story.


★★★★

Hannah Newton

Blu-ray Review - The imitation Game (2014)

Genre:
Thriller
Distributor:
Studio Canal
Rating: 12
Director:
Morten Tyldum
Cast:
Benedict Cumberbatch, Keira Knightley,  Mark Strong, Matthew Goode
Release: 9th March 2015
Buy:The Imitation Game [Blu-ray]
The Imitation Game, as everyone probably knows at this point, is about Alan Turing (Benedict Cumberbatch) who was one of the radical figures in the creation of what we now know as the computer. He was also homosexual, and was convicted by the police as a result. Due to being forced to undertake chemical castration, he later committed suicide. The film was an early front runner for the Academy Awards and ended up being triumphant in the adapted screenplay category.

In The Imitation Game, Benedict Cumberbatch has never been better; he perfectly captures a driven man who has ideas too large for his time. He also manages to capture the paranoia Turing suffers after the war, specifically in the scenes where he is interrogated, which eventually leads to his downfall. Keira Knightley plays Joan Clarke who was one of the code breakers but had to operate in secret because of the sexism of the time. The rest of the cast is full of solid British actors like Mark Strong and Matthew Goode.

The production design is top notch by Maria Djurkovic who also did Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy (which also shared some of the same cast). Both have an attention to period detail that is sorely lacking in many films. Oscar Faura shot it and he has been doing beautiful work for a long with films like The Orphanage and The Machinist and this no exception. Finally the director Morten Tyldum solidly puts it all together, even if at times it seems as though it’s begging for an Academy Award.

The film works on many levels; it’s firstly a nail-biting thriller that is gripping from the moment it starts to it’s sad climax, but it also works as a solid war film that shows the behind the scenes of what really won the war. Not only that, but it also works as a depiction of a time when being yourself could lead to prison, or in the case of Turing, even worse. The film is actually surprisingly funny throughout which is surprising given the subject matter, but Turing's interactions with high officials and his team of code breakers are laugh out loud funny as times. The Imitation Game is one of the better British films to be released in 2014, in a year where there were a surprising amount of British films up for the major awards in the US.

The Blu-ray release includes 3 features including 2 on the true history of the story, and finally the more standard making of.


★★★★

Ian Schultz

BBFC bans the horror film HATE CRIME

THE BBFC announced today that HATE CRIME, the first release in a new joint VOD venture between geek blog Nerdly.co.uk and TheHorrorShow.TV - has officially been banned in the UK. It is one of only four horror movies officially refused classification by the BBFC since 2009, the others being Grotesque, The Bunny Game and The Human Centipede 2, later released with nearly 3 minutes of cuts.

Set to be the first release under the new Nerdly Presents banner, HATE CRIME tells the story of a Jewish family, having just arrived in a new neighbourhood, who are recording their youngest son's birthday celebrations on video when their home is suddenly invaded by a bunch of crystal-meth-crazed neo-Nazi lunatics.

The film is the second feature from director James Cullen Bressack (To Jennifer, Blood Lake, 13/13/13), and has already had a successful release in the US, reviewed favourably by the likes of Bloody Disgusting, MoreHorror and even the UK's very own Starburst Magazine.

The full official statement from the BBFC:

"HATE CRIME focuses on the terrorisation, mutilation, physical and sexual abuse and murder of the members of a Jewish family by the Neo Nazi thugs who invade their home. The physical and sexual abuse and violence are accompanied by constant strong verbal racist abuse. Little context is provided for the violence beyond an on screen statement at the end of the film that the two attackers who escaped were subsequently apprehended and that the one surviving family member was released from captivity. We have considered the attempt at the end to position the film as against hate-crime, but find it so unconvincing that it only makes matters worse.

"The BBFC's Guidelines on violence state that 'Any depiction of sadistic or sexual violence which is likely to pose a harm risk will be subject to intervention through classification, cuts or even, as a last resort, refusal to classify. We may refuse to classify content which makes sexual or sadistic violence look appealing or acceptable [...] or invites viewer complicity in sexual violence or other harmful violent activities. We are also unlikely to classify content which is so demeaning or degrading to human dignity (for example, it consists of strong abuse, torture or death without any significant mitigating factors) that it may pose a harm risk.'

"It is the Board's carefully considered conclusion that the unremitting manner in which HATE CRIME focuses on physical and sexual abuse, aggravated by racist invective, means that to issue a classification to this work, even if confined to adults, would be inconsistent with the Board's Guidelines, would risk potential harm, and would be unacceptable to broad public opinion."
"Of course, the Board will always seek to deal with such concerns by means of cuts or other modifications when this is a feasible option. However, under the heading of 'Refusal to classify' our Guidelines state that 'As a last resort, the BBFC may refuse to classify a work, in line with the objective of preventing non-trivial harm risks to potential viewers and, through their behaviour, to society. We may do so, for example, where a central concept of the work is unacceptable, such as a sustained focus on sexual or sadistic violence. Before refusing classification we will consider whether the problems could be adequately addressed through intervention such as cuts.' The Board considered whether its concerns could be dealt with through cuts. However, given that the fact that unacceptable content runs throughout the work, cuts are not a viable option in this case and the work is therefore refused a classification."

Says director James Cullen Bressack: "I am honoured to know that my mind is officially too twisted for the UK. So it goes … I find it unbelievable that a film that shows little to no on screen violence and no nudity was actually banned. it just shows the power of what is implied and peoples imagination; and is a testament to the fact that the same crimes that happen in the world are truly horrifying."

Nerdly.co.uk's Phil Wheat adds: "HATE CRIME was always going to be a contentious title to submit to the BBFC, especially given recent racial tensions. But as part of Nerdly Presents' remit to uncover great underground movies it was worth taking the gamble on James Cullen Bressack's movie. After all, horror is often about pushing boundaries and making your audience uncomfortable. HATE CRIME does that by throwing political correctness out of the window to create a raw, emotive and disturbing film that is a tour-de-force in reality filmmaking, taking the found-footage genre to a whole new level - asking questions of both the filmmakers and the audience. As such it's definitely worth championing."

TheHorrorShow.TV's Jack Bowyer said: "Although it may surprise some people, TheHorrorShow.TV supports classification over censorship, as we would hate for any of our growing number of films to be viewed by an inappropriate audience. We work in collaboration with the British Board of Film Classification to ensure that our content is appropriately rated, but sometimes you need to test boundaries to find out where they are. In the case of HATE CRIME, it appears that the BBFC has deemed the content inappropriate for people of any age, even adults, and regrettably we will be unable to bring the film to the UK as part of our very exciting collaboration with Nerdly."

DVD Review- Throwback (2015)

Genre:
Horror
Distributor
Monster Pictures (UK)
Rating: 18
DVD Release Date:
9th February 2015 (UK)
Director:
Travis Bain
Cast:
Shawn Brack, Anthony Ring, Melanie Serafin
Buy:Throwback [DVD]
I’ve read great things about Travis Bain’s Throwback, an Ozzy Indy Yowie monster flick with its eyes on some hefty old-school adventure roots. Though its heart’s in the right place the film’s technical failures and lack of common sense unfortunately reveal an essentially lazy filmmaking process.

The film follows two treasure hunters, (Shawn Brack and Anthony Ring) who venture into the bush for the legendary lost treasure of ‘Thunderclap Newman’. Before the two would-be explorers can claim their prize however, they have to survive the attacks of the deadly Yowie.

Clearly Bain’s scope goes beyond his budget, but rather than tightening the script and keeping he film concise, he takes the amateur blandness of high-school filmmaking and runs with it. Sure, at times the film achieves a kind of hammyness that seems purposeful and oddly comfortable, but that happens rarely. For the most part, Throwback seems childish and ill-conceived. Woeful dialogue and terrible character interaction keep the audience at bay whilst Bain’s Yowie (the Australian Sasquatch) mopes around the brightly lit forest in its carpet shag onesie. A monster that looks this half-assed should be wreathed in shadows, caught from the corner of the eye, not paraded where it can never really be taken seriously.

The camera work shows promise, but low quality shooting and bad lighting bleach the screen at times. This kind of overexposure paired with the clunky editing don’t really help Throwback’s initial appeal, since – after the great vintage credits- there’s little throwback about this feature except its preposterous story and beautiful scoring. Vernon Wells shows up as charismatic Private Eye Detective McNabb and helps maintain audience attention whilst Brack, Ring, and Melanie Serafin fade into the background. His is a far more entertaining character and applaudable for numerous counts of shameless lunacy.

Strange child-like reasoning: using a zippo in a day-lit cave, a nonsensical amputation (Ring goes from panic to self-dismemberment in seconds, beating Cary Elwes’ decision time by hours), and some dumb ideas about treasure hunting make Throwback a bit of a surprise mess. The ideas in themselves are fine but the execution and script fall flat far too often to allow true enjoyment of the film’s nostalgic intentions.

★
Scott Clark

Throwback Official Trailer - Monster Pictures from Monster Pictures on Vimeo.

Win A Coll Limited edition It Follows T-Shirt

The breakout film from the 2014 Cannes Film Festival, IT FOLLOWS is a contemporary horror Maika Monroe), the fall should be about school, boys and weekends at the lake. But after a seemingly innocent sexual encounter, she finds herself plagued by strange visions and the inescapable sense that someone, or something, is following her. Faced with this burden, Jay and her teenage friends must find a way to escape the horrors that seem to be only a few steps behind.

exploring teen sex, suburbia, and the stuff of nightmares – a cult classic in the making from one of the most exciting filmmaking talents around. For 19-year-old Jay (It Follows is coming to UK and Irish cinemas 27th February.You can read our Sundance review of the It Follows Here

We have one limited edition It Follows T-shirt to give away, courtesy of Icon Film Distribution. To be the lucky winner of the T-shirt please answer the following question...

Q.Name David Robert Mitchell's debut feature film he release din 2010?

Deadline is Sunday 15th March  2015 (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 15  or older to enter.

1.The competition is not opened to employees, family, friends of The Peoples Movies,Icon Film Distribution.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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Film Review - It Follows (2015)

Genre:
Horror 
Distributor:
Icon Film Distribution (UK)
Rating: 15 
Running Time: 100 minutes
Release Date:
27th February (UK)
Director:
David Robert Mitchell
Cast:
Maika Monroe, Keir Gilchrist, Jake Weary
The newest graduate from the school of mumblecore horror is David Robert Mitchell's It Follows which blends the low-key drama of the likes of The Innkeepers with the gut-punching shocks and unrelenting tension and nostalgia of The Guest.

After a strange sexual encounter, Jay (Maika Monroe) finds herself pursued by a supernatural force only visible to her. This relentless force is ever-changing in its human image and is willing to follow Jay continually until it takes her life or the curse is passed on.

The concept of being followed is a fear that immediately strikes a primal nerve with audiences. When It Follows adds the element of anonymity to the force in question, it makes for a relentless and masterfully unnerving watch that forces audiences to examine the people that surround them in everyday life. Using this excruciatingly suspenseful, paranoia-infused concept, Mitchell presents us with an abundance of nerve-shredding set-pieces from harrowing home-break ins (featuring one of the most chilling villain reveals in recent memory) to surprise beach attacks.

This cleverly directed picture forces you to examine each of its many wide-shots - scanning the surrounding areas for any source of terror. Mitchell amazingly manages to make the concept of someone simply walking towards the camera truly terrifying with an immediate frantic fear. With a variety of camera trickery that plays with viewer perspective, Mitchell crafts a watch loaded with continual unease and produces a nervous anticipation amongst viewers as we await the next shocking unveil. The visual design of It Follows is packed with a nostalgia towards the classic horror film where abandoned suburban streets echo the desolate unease of John Carpenter's Halloween locale, Haddonfield. This nostalgia also carries on into its synth-heavy soundtrack and crushing sound design.

Despite the unrelenting tension in the horror-centric sequences, the film's dramatic backbone feels too low-key and occasionally contrived. Dramatic scenes feel tired and can appear lethargic when following the highly-strung genre scenes. An unwanted subplot concerning Jay's best friend's feelings towards her eats away at far too much narrative time, feeling contrived and sucking the energy from the proceedings - well, until the next terrifying unveil. A cluttered conclusion set in an abandoned swimming pool also proves to be another rare misfire for Mitchell - whilst also feeling hypocritical towards already established narrative rules. Fortunately a wide-eyed energy from Maika Monroe keeps things engaging for the most-part.

It Follows is an undeniably impressive contemporary horror that in its best moments will have audiences pinned to their chairs in fear. The tension is so remarkably executed, and the scares so impassionately bold that the weaker dramatic moments are entirely forgivable.

★★★★

Andrew McArthur

Blu-ray Review - Nightcrawler (2014)

DVD Review - Dying of the Light (2014)