This is clearly a case of absence making the heart grow fonder. I for one will admit that I found the Britcom series Little Britain was wanting by its third year. It is amazing what a couple of years out of the limelight will do for a fan. HBO is presenting this brand new series on September 28th at 10:30pm Little Britain USA! Yes, all our favorite characters- Anne, Carol Beer, Marjorie Dawes, Vicky Pollard and Daffyd Thomas- should be making appearances in this new show. Here’s hoping they have new characters as well.
You can watch the clip after the break. Andy needs to use the toilet. I know!
Continue Reading "Litte Britain USA: The early preview clip of Lou and Andy!"...
Much like the release pattern of indie produced Bubba Ho Tep, Bruce Campbell‘s latest lure to his fan base, the goofy meta-laden My Name is Bruce, is getting a slow ‘tour date’ style roll out release. The first date is in Austin with the Ain’t it Cool News folks at the Alamo Drafthouse on October 26th. Then it (I’m assuming a single print) slowly makes its way across the wide US of A.
While the My Name is Bruce does not look like it achieves the level of ‘special’ or ‘beloved’ that Don Coscarelli managed to with Bubba, I expect these individual screenings should be very fun.
Cities and dates up to Christmas 2008 after the Jump.
Continue Reading "The Chin is coming to your City: Call him Bruce."...
Golly, it’s been well over a year since we first introduced that awesome trailer for Hernán Migoya’s ¡SOY UN PELELE! You know the one I am talking about, the one with the woman’s beach volleyball team in all their… ahem… natural glory. Need a reminder? Sure you do, head on over to the film’s site, but be warned, it is definitely not work safe. Capiche? The movie itself is about a man who loses his memory and forgets he is gay!
Fast forward more than a year and the filmmaker himself let us know today that there is a clip from the film posted over on YouTube. Brightcove has been a bit of a bitch recently so we’re just going to embed the clip after the break. The clip itself is the theme song, sung by comic Spanish duo Los Hermanos Calatrava. Migoya wrote us, This is the first time in more than a decade since Los Hermanos Calatrava record a song together.Also, Paco Calatrava, also known as “The ugly brother”, is one of the main stars in the film. This is a huge comeback to the big screen for him, since he quit from movies in 1983, 25 years ago! Migoya’s film will also be screened at the International Film Festival Sitges this October, where our lord and master Todd will be so you can be sure we will have a full report then.
Continue Reading "Fresh new clip for Spanish comedy ¡SOY UN PELELE! or I, The Clown"...
The dual release of Alexander Medvedkin’s Happiness (1934, 64 minutes, black and white) and Chris Marker’s The Last Bolshevik (1993, 2 x 60 minutes, black & white and color, separate English and French audio tracks) from Icarus Films will probably be the most comprehensive overview of the life and work of Alexander Medvedkin that will ever exist. Happiness is Medvedkin’s key work and Marker’s documentary provides the context necessary to understand the film’s special place within the history of Russian cinema. The hours of material presented on these two DVDs is dense but anyone who spends the time to absorb what is presented will be rewarded with some of the most engaging cinema to appear anywhere in 2008.
Continue Reading "Review: Alexander Medvekin’s HAPPINESS and Chris Marker’s THE LAST BOLSHEVIK"...
Really just to be able to type Chuck Norris’ name was reason enough to bring up the news of a trailer for the sugary pop of Love Fight, a film that looks to make your eyes water as that sugar goodness invades your taste buds.
Kevin over at NipponCinema started it :::pointing accusing finger::: and is hosting the trailer for what appears to be your usual teen love story, but with boxing and kicking gags to boot! I’ll let his description play it out for you.
The movie is based on a novel by Eri Makino called “Seibo Shojo”. Izuru Narushima (Midnight Eagle) directed and Takao Osawa (also Midnight Eagle) served the dual role of supporting actor and producer. The story involves a boy named Minoru (Kento Hayashi) who’s always been a bit of a weakling. Throughout his childhood his spunky female friend Aki (Kie Kitano) watched out for him and protected him from bullies. One day he meets Osawa’s character who trains him how to box. Then when he finally gets stronger than Aki she decides to take up boxing herself, which obviously drives him crazy. Predictably, the mutual boxing obsession brings up all sorts of strong new emotions between them.
After the cult success of Rian Johnson‘s debut feature, the stylish high-school noir, Brick, A-list stars and a much bigger budget were sure to follow. The Brothers Bloom was filmed in a variety European and North American locations and things look fabulously bright and breezy on the big screen. Unfortunately, a mild case of the sophomore slump is in place, as the new con artist caper film never quite lives up to the promise of its opening moments and gets mired down a bit by cleverness for cleverness sake. It would be unfair to tag the film with the hubris of Guy Richie’s Revolver because it seems clear that Johnson was aiming for a whimsical light-hearted touch, but the film unfortunately does share glossy posturing and pseudo intellectual chest thumping whilst simultaneously lacking any desired emotional (or intellectual) payoff. Things are fun enough while the film unspools, but there is no sense of click (while there was with Brick) and the whole affair is simply forgettable by the time the end credits have finished rolling.
The film opens very promising however. A delightful voice-over narration from magician extraordinaire Ricky Jay, whose interesting speech rhythms (on display in most David Mamet films, but also in the opening set-up for P.T. Anderson’s Magnolia) set the stage for the bubbly confidence caper film to follow. An image of an amputee kitten pushing itself in a roller skate along the candy-coloured main street in small town America makes things clear that the tonal territory is more Terry Gilliam than David Gordon Green. I suspect the folks who hate the recent onslaught of quirk in film, (for instance, the scene in The Life Aquatic where the crew deal with the Philippine pirates) will be sharpening their knives for The Brothers Bloom in the same way that Juno felt the quirk backlash.
Continue Reading "TIFF Review: THE BROTHERS BLOOM"...
We have already seen Coffin Joe stomping down the red carpet of the 65th Venice Film Festival (here) and now at last we see Minoru Kawasaki stomping down the red carpet Takemajin-style! While audiences and critics seemed shocked the Coen Brothers, heaven forbid, would make a silly comedy, Kawasaki was sexying up Venice with gigantic romping kaiju action. Click the link below to witness pictures from its showing at Venice and images from the film itself, Monster X Strikes Back: Attack the G8 Summit that feature destruction, confused world leaders, kaiju paparazzi, mayhem and… Takemajin and Guilala locked in fierce deadly fighting!
Oh you lucky, lucky people. The first wave of titles for this year’s edition of the Toronto After Dark Festival was announced today and you are in for a treat this year! Festival director Adam Lopez and his team, including our lord and master Todd, have put together another fine selection of films for your viewing pleasure and horror and wonder. These titles will already be familiar to Twitch viewers and if you haven’t had the chance to catch yet you can do so in October.
In its first wave of film titles revealed for 2008, Toronto After Dark Film Festival is proud to announce a selection of eight outstanding new horror, sci-fi, action and cult feature films that will have their Toronto Theatrical Premieres at the festival this October 17-24. The initial lineup includes a number of critically acclaimed and award-winning films from around the world including the much-anticipated new sci-fi horror musical REPO! THE GENETIC OPERA, Sundance selection revenge thriller RED based on Jack Ketchum’s novel, cult horror action movie TOKYO GORE POLICE, celebrated vampire feature LET THE RIGHT ONE IN which won Best Picture at the Tribeca Film Festival, and Oscar-nominated animator Bill Plympton’s dark and twisted modern fairytale, IDIOTS & ANGELS.
For more information on the complete lineup of films at this year’s Toronto After Dark Film Festival, to watch trailers, or to buy advance festival passes which are now on sale, visit the festival website.
All eight title descriptions after the jump. We’ll see you in the dark!
Continue Reading "Toronto After Dark 2008: First wave of titles announced!!!"...
Ask me what is high on my list of anticipated films for 2009 and if I don’t say Crows Zero II kick the guy standing beside me in the nuts and yell out, ‘See! See what happens when you forget?!’ Don’t matter who they are, if I forget, they pay.
Filming has already started on the sequel to Takashi Miike’s awesome adaptation of the Japanese manga. If I’m to believe anything that Google Translate and Babel Fish tell me from the report on the official site the conditions are hot but the cast has plenty of willpower and filming is progressing at a nice clip [ie. the shout potato sufficient of the cast]. Damnit, I really need to learn Japanese. But, what does translate well is the fact that the final battle in the sequel will involve 500 gang members. Oh, bliss!
Haruma Miura [Negative Happy Chainsaw Edge] has been cast as the rival gang leader. Miura plays Tatusya Mito, the leader of Housen Gakuen, the rival school of Genji’s Suzuran. RIZE drummer Nobuaki Kaneko is also appearing in the film playing the third-year Housen student Narumi, an original character for the film. Shame, he’s gonna get that pretty face of his all messed up by Genji.
Back in July it was announced that Tadanobu Asano would be the lead in the adaptation of the stage-play Donju written by Kankuro Kudo [Go, Ping Pong, Zebraman, Mayonaka no Yaji-san Kita-san and Maiko Haaaan!!! We can go on, you know]. The story is the mystery behind a young writer named Dekogawa (Asano), who has been “killed” multiple times, but somehow keeps reappearing.
We can now add more names to the bill. Asano’s supporting cast includes Yoko Maki [Udon and The Grudge], Kazuki Kitamura [Maiko Haaaan!!! and Azumi], Yusuke Santamaria [Udon and the Bayside Shakedown movies], Yoko Minamino, and Aimi Satsukawa.
Filming began at the beginning of this month and we can expect a release in 2009.
It’s been a long time coming but Chilean super hero comedy Santos is finally complete and ready to have its world premiere at the upcoming Fantastic Fest next month. And what better way to celebrate than with the full, theatrical trailer! Glee! Or, at least it would be glee if I weren’t currently stranded at the paying job where streaming video is blocked. So you can see it, but I can’t. Sigh. Oh well, glee for you ...
You know what’s missing from most giant monster films? Romance! Romance and comedy! At least that’s what Australian film makers Daley Pearson and Luke Tierney think. They are the creators of $quid, the upcoming romantic monster comedy based on their own 2007 award winning short film. Comparing the teaser for the feature to the short - which is available below the break - it’s obvious that they’ve expanded things out greatly, adding characters and messing with the premise a bit but both versions revolve around a giant squid loose in the Brisbane river. In the short version one of the characters owes the squid a large amount of money, no idea if that carries over to the feature. Goofy, yes, but it looks very well made and the end of the short is a very surprising treat that I recommend very highly. Again - teaser for the feature linked below, complete short below the break.
Continue Reading "Beware The Giant, River Dwelling Cephalopod! Here Comes The SQUID!"...
At last year’s Toronto International Film Festival, my favorite tennis match was between the Discovery and Masters programs, which I wrote up for Greencine. I’m tempted to replicate the sport this year.
As indieWIRE noted when they recently interviewed Cameron Bailey, the Discovery program has doubled this year—26 titles up from 13—and there’s a noticeable increase in American fare—7 films up from 2—but, notwithstanding, it’s still an eclectic mix of regions, with 18 countries being represented overall. When asked the reasoning for the increase in slots, and what Bailey’s general thoughts were regarding what emerging filmmakers are up to, he responded: “Well this one is by design. Discovery was one of the sections I wanted to work on this year and I’m really proud of how it’s turned out. I wanted Discovery to be the place that people go to discover new talent at our festival where we show what we consider to be some of the most exciting new voices in cinema from all over the world. To do that I took off some of the restrictions we had on the program in the past in terms of the premiere status and distribution status. We had quite a number of limitations on what was eligible for our Discovery section in the past. That’s changed and as a result I think this is really just a great showcase for new talent in the movies.”
It’s certainly where I intend to catch some of the festival darlings from Cannes08: Better Things, Hunger, Snow, Tony Manero and Tulpan. And, of course, I couldn’t be prouder of SF homeboy Barry Jenkins’ Medicine for Melancholy for being included in the line-up. If removing some of the program’s previous restrictions accounted for that, I’m all for it because it puts Barry in the running with the other 25 feature-length Discovery titles to be eligible for the Diesel Discovery Award chosen by the Festival press corps, which consists of over 1000 accredited media from around the world. I can honestly say, however, that I doubt I’ll catch much of the U.S. fare, presuming these indies will travel Bayside in due course. I’m more prone to take a chance with Zift from Bulgaria, or The Paranoids from Argentina, or the Israeli/Australian animation. Or maybe I’ll just let myself be creeped out by Tale 52 from Greece? Ultimately, it comes down to the calendar.
Continue Reading "TIFF08—DISCOVERY"...
With the full line-up for the 2008 Toronto International Film Festival officially announced, I can finally begin to effectively obsess. And with 312 films from 64 countries screening at TIFF08, including 249 feature-length films, 76 per cent of which are world, international or North American premieres, and 61 of which are feature directorial debuts … well, needless to say, there’s a lot to obsess about.
Never let it be said, however, that I am not methodical in my obsessions. I begin with a preliminary review of the Contemporary World Cinema sidebar, with special thanks to Bay Area filmbud Carole Rutherford whose raids on IMdb and Wikipedia got me motivated. I also shout out to my Evening Class cohort Michael Hawley, the Twitch and Row Three teams, Dave Hudson at The Greencine Daily, Darren Hughes at 1st Thursday, the crew around Girish Shambu’s water cooler, and Anthony Kaufman at indieWIRE for their welcome recommendations. This will be a slightly amoebic entry that gains mass as recommendations pour in. That being said, recommendations welcome!
Off the cuff—being an avid supporter of Spanish cinema—I’m intrigued by José Luis Cuerda’s Blind Sunflowers (Los Girasoles ciegos), primarily because it features one of my favorite Spanish actresses and spooky Simón from The Orphanage (Maribel Verdú, Roger Príncep). Also, I found Juan Carlos Tabío’s Strawberry and Chocolate both sexy and hilarious so I’m primed for more sensuous laughs with Horn of Plenty. And after the visually stunning Bonbon El Perro, I’ll look through any cinematic window with Carlos Sorin.
Having seen both Ramin Bahrani’s Man Push Cart and Chop Shop, I’m keen to his compassionate observations of marginalized lives and anticipate that Goodbye Solo will not disappoint. With a cast that includes Juliette Binoche, Jérémie Rénier and the incomparable Edith Scob, I’m curious what kind of B-movie vibe might be present in Olivier Assayas’s most recent L’Heure d’été (Summer Hours). Impressed with last year’s Jar City, and appreciative of his production credits on The Amazing Truth of Queen Raquela, I’m inclined to check out Baltasar Kormakur’s Brúðguminn (White Night Wedding). As a board member on The Global Film Initiative, I’m steeped in Indonesian auteur Garin Nugroho (Of Love & Eggs, Opera Jawa) and am anxious to follow through with Under the Tree to monitor his strengthening creativity. Upon Anthony Kauffman’s recommendations, I’ve become interested in Two-Legged Horse and Treeless Mountain; the latter especially because Girish Shambu introduced me to So Yong Kim’s In Between Days, which I very much enjoyed.
I could roost fully in the World Cinema selection and will have to make some difficult decisions to sample TIFF08’s multiple sidebars.
Continue Reading "TIFF08—CONTEMPORARY WORLD CINEMA"...
I’ve spent the last day in Ottawa on the set of the latest film from Jesus Christ Vampire Hunter director Lee Demarbre and while I’ve got to hold off a bit to comment on what I’ve seen on this set as part of the visit I was just given a look at several scenes from Demarbre’s Smash Cut, the director’s tribute to Herschell Gordon Lewis starring horror icons David Hess (Last House on the Left) and Michael Berryman (The Hills Have Eyes) along with *ahem* adult star Sacha Grey. Lewis has not only given his blessings to the film but appears in a small role while Hess takes the lead as a struggling film maker who resorts to extreme measures to add realism to his films.
So, what did I think? The second film shot on the Red camera here in Canada the thing looks great. Cinematography is very strong and the production designers have obviously had a blast with the color schemes and set design. Hess looks very strong in a rare lead role, delivering a bizarrely compelling off-kilter performance. The balance of humor and gore is very strong, there are some very strong kill shots and all involved are obviously having a blast. It’s early days yet, but from what I saw today this looks like the real thing. We’ve got a few stills to share already along with a conceptual teaser that includes no actual footage from the film, and have been promised more images along with a first look at the proper trailer once it’s cut together. You can check that teaser below the break and hit the link below for the images.
Continue Reading "Very Early Thoughts on Lee Demarbre’s SMASH CUT"...
