Readers with a smattering of French and a penchant for long and difficult films will be pleased to learn that French distributor Carlotta Films will be releasing RW Fassbinder’s Berlin Alexanderplatz as a 6 DVD set on October 3, 2007. Whether the 15-1/2 hour saga rises to the heights of Edgar Reitz’s monumental Heimat trilogy remains to be seen, but judging from a handful of online reviews, opinions are likely to be sharply divided. Criterion is to release an English-subtitled set in the fall. Earlier this year, Carlotta’s beautiful transfer of Kobayshi’s masterpiece The Condition of Man provided me with one of the highlights of my viewing experience and revealed gifts that I hadn’t suspected from seeing Kwaidan. If you’re in Paris on October 6 and 7, you can catch Berlin Alexanderplatz in its entirety at the Grand Rex.

[Source: DVD Classik]

It has become a common practice among movie directors today to provide audio commentary for DVD releases of their films.  One notable exception, however, is Steven Spielberg, who has never created such a commentary and according to reports has no plans to do so in the future.  Thus, Richard Schickel’s documentary Spielberg on Spielberg, scheduled to be broadcast on Turner Classic Movies ("TCM") Monday, July 9, 2007 at 8:00PM ET / 5:00PM PT with an encore at Midnight ET / 9:00PM PT provides an opportunity to hear Spielberg speak candidly about his films.  “Some stories,” as TCM publicizes, “need to be told in the first person.  His movies speak for themselves.  Now he speaks for himself.”

My interest was in having producer / writer/ director Richard Schickel speak for himself.  Schickel is a documentary filmmaker, movie historian and film critic who has published more than 30 books and produced, written and directed more than 30 films for television.  Among the most recent are Charlie: The Life and Art of Charles Chaplin, Woody Allen: A Life in Film, Scorsese on Scorsese and Watch the Skies!, a history of 1950s science fiction.  Earlier this year TCM broadcast Bienvenue á Cannes, Schickel’s portrait of the film festival.  Spielberg on Spielberg marks the 19th in a series of portraits of American film directors he has made over the course of his television career.

TCM notes on Spielberg on Spielberg.

Continue Reading "TURNER CLASSIC MOVIES: SPIELBERG ON SPIELBERG—Interview With Richard Schickel"...

Paddy Breathnach’s Shrooms is scheduled to be screened at this year’s FrightFest in London, England on August 24th (technically, August 25th) just after midnight. Capitol Films Limited is the international sales agent for the movie.

As was previously reported here and there on Twitch, the screenplay for Shrooms was written by Pearse Elliott. According to the website of the Irish Film Board (Bord Scannán na hÉireann)—“IFB” for short—the movie stars Lindsey Haun, Jack Huston, Max Kasch, Maya Hazen, Alice Greczyn, Rob Hoffman, Don Wycherley, and Sean McGinley.

Here’s a description of Shrooms from the FrightFest website: “Get ready to get wasted tasting a moment of madness. Five Americans head to rural Ireland for fungi fun on an organized package holiday where magic mushrooms are the Party Central fuel. But there’s one psychedelic mushroom with a black spot on its cap that promotes the strongest of hallucinogenic trips. It’s that potent variety Tara ingests… just as her college friends start getting brutally slain by a shadowy maniac. As stark reality blurs with frenzied fantasy and drug delirium turns their love-in to one of hateful violence, Tara must separate fact from illusion if she is to survive a Lovely Sort of Death! Adding smart twists and turns to the teens in slasher peril fear format, director Paddy Breathnach’s short, sharp shocker piles on an arsenal of visual trickery for high acid style. The raft of accomplished performances further makes Shrooms a top attraction in the growing Irish horror stakes.”

Shrooms large trailer (downloadable 17.1 MB MOV file)
Shrooms medium trailer (downloadable 13.3 MB MOV file)
Shrooms small trailer (downloadable 9.7 MB MOV file)
Capitol Films: Shrooms

FrightFest: Shrooms

Andrew Traucki and David Nerlich’s Black Water is scheduled to be screened at this year’s FrightFest in London, England on August 23rd. AV Pictures Ltd. is the international sales agent for the movie.

The screenplay for Black Water was written by Traucki and Nerlich. The movie stars Diana Glenn as Grace, Maeve Dermody as Lee, Andy Rodoreda as Adam, Ben Oxenbould as Jim, and Fiona Press as Pat.

Here’s a synopsis for Black Water from AV Pictures’ website: “Grace, her boyfriend Adam and her younger sister Lee are on holiday in Northern Australia and decide to take a river tour with Jim, their guide. ¶ As they drift into a mangrove swamp their boat is suddenly capsized and in the ensuing panic Jim disappears. Realising they’ve been attacked by a crocodile, Adam pulls Grace to the safety of a tree whilst Lee clings on top of the overturned boat. Adam and Grace frantically try and manoeuvre Lee and the boat to the tree but it is stuck firmly. Finally, Lee braves the water and manages to join the others. ¶ With no other option, Grace decides to explore the swamp by climbing from tree to tree and reaches the edge of the mangroves only to discover they are surrounded by water. On her way back she is attracted to a splashing sound and is horrified to discover Jim’s severed ear. By now Adam is restless and heads for the boat. He enters the dark and murky water but just as he is climbing onto the overturned boat the croc strikes, leaving Adam’s mutilated body nearby as a gruesome warning to the two women. Night comes with a lightning storm but no rain and nothing to drink. ¶ Next morning, tired and exhausted, the women resolve to try and reach the boat. As they near possible safety, the beast slowly rises out of the water in front of them and attacks, taking Grace underwater. The animal goes into a death roll, but luckily the water is shallow and the beast cannot retain its grip. Lee grabs Grace and drags her back to the tree. ¶ Grace is badly injured and bleeding and Lee realises that she is now the only one left to fight the relentless predator.”

For more information on Black Water, see Twitch’s third, second, and first articles on it.

Black Water official website (w/ trailer)
AV Pictures: Black Water
FrightFest: Black Water

FOR TRAILERS, SEE THE BOTTOM OF THIS ARTICLE

Issei Oda’s Arch Angels (Warau Mikaeru—or “Warau Michael”, if you prefer back-transliterations) is scheduled to have its North American première at this year’s Fantasia Festival in Montréal, Canada on July 7th at 12:00 p.m.. Albatros K.K. (Arubatorosu K.K.) released the movie theatrically in Japan on July 15th of last year; Geneon Entertainment K.K. (Jeneon Entateinmento K.K.) released it in a 2-disc sale DVD set (GNBD-1158; NTSC, region 2, no subtitles) there on December 22nd of last year.

The screenplay for Arch Angels (Warau Mikaeru) was written by Oda (who was also the visual effects supervisor for the movie) and Genki Yoshimura, based on the eponymous manga Warau Mikaeru by Izumi Kawahara. The movie stars Juri Ueno as Fumio Shijô, Megumi Seki as Kazune Saiki, Airi Taira as Yuzuko Sarashina, and Yûsuke Iseya as Kazuomi Shijô. The rest of its principal cast is as follows: Toshinobu Matsuo, Rinko Kikuchi, Brian Davis, Delcea Mihaela Gabriela, Kei Katô, Aimi Satsukawa, Mitsuki Tanimura, Mayu Kitaki, Tomomi Miyashita, Rinako Matsuoka, Satomi Tezuka (Teduka Satomi), Taichirô Hirokawa, and Tokuma Nishioka. Kanako Miyauchi, Nanase Iwai, Erina Hayase, Kimiko Fuchiuchi, Haruka Kudô, Natsuki Okamoto, and Aoi apparently are also in the movie.

Continue Reading "Fantasia: Issei Oda’s ARCH ANGELS (WARAU MIKAERU)"...

After Yam Laranas, the other Filipino director I am personally rooting for is Topel Lee.  I saw his short film Bruce around five years ago and have been expecting great things from him ever since.  Too bad no one has uploaded that flick on youtube yet.  Anyway, he did have a few hits and misses since then.  Dilim, at least the version I saw, wasn’t perfect but his short film, Yaya, in the omnibus Shake, Rattle and Roll 8 is just brillant!

Topel’s films are very moody, very textured, like many films nowadays are expected to be but what makes it fun is he is able to insert a very Filipino humor into it.  Sometimes silly but very, very well done and that exactly is my kind of film.  I have a feeling he will develop a cult following around the world, if not necessarily with foreigners but with Filipinos worldwide.  I do hope some other people get it, too.

Ouija seems very much on the right track to be his first great full-length Topel film.  He will be making another short horror film on Christmas called Christmas Tree.  Sounds good already.  I think Ouija will make a lot of money in the box office here in the Philippines thus assuring him of a second and maybe even a third.

We believe in Topel!  Mabuhay ka!

Trailer (You Tube)

FOR TRAILERS, SEE THE BOTTOM OF THIS ARTICLE

“Crime lord and racketeer Claude Corti (Philippe Caubere)… appl[ies] a power drill to a man’s knees and a knife to his eyeballs, in addition to ramming a large metal rod up an underling’s rectum.... A seemingly endless supply of nubile, compliant young women runs the gamut from pole dancers to prostitutes and from sluts to whores, with rapes and beatings so standard as to be banal. Matter-of-fact male and female full-frontal nudity is capped by a few very rough sex acts.”—Variety

StudioCanal S.A. is scheduled to release Frédéric Schoendoerffer’s Crime Insiders (Truands) on DVD (PAL, region 2, no subtitles) in France on August 6th; the DVD is available for pre-order from Amazon.fr (Amazon EU SARL). Mars Distribution released the movie theatrically in France on January 17th. TF1 International S.A. is the international sales agent for it.

The screenplay for Crime Insiders was written by Schoendoerffer and Yann Brion. The movie’s principal cast is as follows: Benoît Magimel, Philippe Caubère, Béatrice Dalle, Olivier Marchal, Mehdi Nebbou, Tomer Sisley, Ludovic Schoendoerffer, Anne Marivin, Alain Figlarz, Cyril Lecomte, André Peron, Ichem Saïbi, Christophe Maratier, Nicky Marbot, Olivier Barthélémy, Guillaume Hédouin, Pierre-Marc Perrussel, Stefan Godin, Ben Badra, Julien Lorcy, Bruno López, Yan Epstein, Jean-Claude Bourbault, Marie Bihemle, Clément Thomas, Ivan Fegyveres, Walter Shnorkell, Fani Kolarova, Dominique Bettenfeld, Sandrine Rigaux, Ruth Sery, Mohamed Makhtoumi, Alain Zita, Moussa Maaskri, Christian Morin, Jean-Luc Abel, Bertrand Constant, Eric Sebakhi, Igor Skreblin, Mirza Halilovic, and Marina Moncade. Oksana d’Harcourt (viewer discretion is advised) apparently is also in the movie.

Continue Reading "DVD: Frédéric Schoendoerffer’s CRIME INSIDERS (TRUANDS)"...

Growing up in the 80s, you can’t help but take notice of the Transformers toys which can change from various vehicles to robots, or the cartoon series which had a pretty good run, with its fair share of spin offs having different character variations (Headmasters anyone?), settings in outer space, 3D animation (Optimus Prime as a mean looking gorilla), all great symbiotic marketing strategies between the toys and the cartoons. But one thing about the animated series though, both the Autobots and the Decepticons had lousy aim, which the Movie (1986) sought to correct, and “traumatized” (well, at least me when I was a kid watching this) kids with mortality for the beloved bots.

Continue Reading "Review of TRANSFORMERS"...

That is, this is the first 1080p HD stuff out of HK, it seems. No HD-DVD, but a Blu-Ray Disc.

Couple of questions are made relatively clear by the initial reaction to this, primarily it’s about how HK (or Megastar, the company releasing this disc) will handle or cope with mastering, because there’s been issues with HK in general terms all along and some are worried Megastar will cock this up. Mostly it’s been about subs in the past, but early discs image qualities aren’t too hot either, although largely often at least seeming to be resolved. A new format means you go through initial instability and uncertainty once again, and are left waiting to see how it all works out with regards a slightly more global perspective in connection with importing from other territories, which places turn out what you’re looking for with respect all the various criteria you might have in mind.

More interestingly, for me at least, is the issues as far as double-dipping (I’ve no intention of doing so) because I will hope for a flood of releases or support for a format that sits alongside or replaces DVD, and the issues as far as the general price point we’re likely to see in HK in comparison to the USA. Yes, HK is cheaper, Blu-Ray is generally slightly more expensive at this time, and no I don’t want a cheap source of USA films as much as I’ll just be interested to see how the format fairs in HK’s seemingly more price-driven market, how far down the prices go, what we’re likely to find ourselves paying for them.

The Blu-Ray of Infernal Affairs is released in HK July 9th 2007; 16:9 Widescreen 1920x1080p Full HD. Audio : Cantonese (PCM 5.1), Cantonese (DD 5.1), Mandarin (DD 5.1). Subtitles : Traditional Chinese, Simplified Chinese, English. Extras : Audio Commentary, Teaser, Theatrical Trailer, Making Of, Confidential File. Coded for Region A. [Source : AsianDVDGuide].

This Is England is not only by far the best film of Shane Meadows’ career—which is saying soemthing considering how much I love Dead Man’s Shoes—but it is also one of the very finest of the year.  And it’s coming to DVD September 3rd.  Yum.

Read my review here.
Read Mathew’s interview here.
Watch the trailer here. (downloadable Quicktime)
Order the DVD.

You know, if I were a first time film maker I don’t know that I’d necessarily want comparisons to Chan Wook Park.  It’d be flattering and all, but man ... those are some big shoes to fill.  But the folks at Screen have gone there with Aleksei Mizgiryov’s Kremen, throwing in a Taxi Driver comparison as well.  Can it live up to it?  The film is the story of a young man, fresh from the army and new to Moscow after growing up in a small town taking violent action against the corruption he sees around him. 

The film’s generating a lot of strong reviews and there’s a website and trailer up for it now for you to judge for yourself.

Kremen Website
Kremen Trailer (embedded Flash)

We’ve been big supporters of Filipino director Yam Laranas in these pages for quite some time and are getting a bit anxious to see wha tthe man is able to make of the Hollywood machine with The Echo, the English language remake of his stellar Sigaw which he is currently gearing up production on here in Toronto.  Cameras are yet to roll but things are certainly looking good on the cast front.  Laranas announced the signing of Jesse Bradford—seen most recently in Eastwood’s Flags of Our Fathers—and we’ve gotten word that the female lead for the picture has just signed on.

And she is?  Up and coming Brit Amelia Warner.  Warner’s had support roles in a number of films—Aeon Flux, Quills—and 2007 looks to be a big year for her with a major part in The Dark Is Rising already wrapped and now a lead in this ...

Laranas has also posted a location scouting shot on his blog ...

The New York Asian Film Festival is in full swing—check the archives for a pair of reports from Michael Wells—and we’re happy to announce the winners of our Aachi and Ssipak ticket giveaway.  Congratulations to Noah Berkley, Jose Morales and Mark Lastimosa who each score a pair of tickets.

King Record K.K. (Kingu Rekôdo K.K.) released Takashi Shimizu and Keisuke Toyoshima‘s anthology movies Ghost vs. Alien 01 (Yûrei vs. uchûjin 01) and Ghost vs. Alien 02 (Yûrei vs. uchûjin 02) on sale DVD (KIBF-459 and KIBF-460, respectively; NTSC, region 2, no subtitles) in Japan on June 6th; the DVDs are available for order from Twitch affiliate YesAsia.com (Hong Kong) Ltd.

FOR STILLS, SEE THE BOTTOM OF THIS ARTICLE

There are six large (1920 x 1080) stills from Takashi Shimizu and Keisuke Toyoshima‘s anthology movie Ghost vs. Alien 03 (Yûrei vs. uchûjin 03)—the third volume of the Ghost vs. Alien series—on the website of production company/distributor Shaiker Co. Ltd. (Y.K. Shaikâ). The movie is scheduled to have its international (i.e., outside-of-Japan) première at the 11th Puchon International Fantastic Film Festival (PiFan) in Puchon, South Korea on July 14th at 2:00 p.m. (14:00), and to subsequently be screened there on July 18th at 5:00 p.m. (17:00). It had its world première at the 9th Short Shorts Film Festival & Asia (SSFF&Asia) in Tokyo, Japan on June 25th.

As was previously reported here on Twitch, Ghost vs. Alien 03 is comprised of two stories; they are as follows:

Continue Reading "Update on Takashi Shimizu & Keisuke Toyoshima’s GHOST VS. ALIEN 03 (YÛREI VS. UCHÛJIN 03)"...