solace in cinema : A vast wasteland of movies

Wow.. this a little to much for my weak heart first thing in the morning. The full ‘Hotel Chevalier’ short is online, it’s a prelude to Wes Anderson’s ‘The Darjeeling Limited’ incase you didn’t know. Sweet Natalie Portman flesh… I like to imagine she tastes like fruit polos.. or perhaps Tizer. You’ll need a stinking iTunes account to view it here, or you can download it from rapidshare here

What better way to follow fluffy art school spank material like ‘Hotel Chevalier’ than with a trailer for a film called ‘Midnight Meat Train’. No fucking around. It stars Vinnie Jones and a guy who I recognise but can’t be bothered to look up his name. The thing I’m really interested in is it’s directed by Ryu Kitamura, the guy responisble for crazy Japanese weapon fetish movie like ‘Versus’ and ‘Azumi’. Looks like some gorey fun.

You can check the trailer here, and the (russian) poster on filmz.ru here

In a similar vein to ‘MMT’ (as we will now refer to it) there’s a trailer for ‘Pathology’, but If i was going to lay money on which film would be better, i’d throw it down on this one. It’s from the guys that directed ‘Crank’ so at the very least we know it’ll be fast paced and fun.

Check it out here 480 720 1080

You can catch Zack Snyder chatting about ‘Watchmen’ here

Apparently it’s been recut, and had a lot of CGI added to it since it was slated at Cannes, the new trailer for Richard ‘Donnie Darko’ Kelly’s ‘Southland Tails’ has hit the web. It still looks like a mess to me, interesting.. but a mess. I want to be proven wrong but I don’t think I will. Watch the trailer and see if you can figure out what the fuck is going on..

Check it here 480 720 1080

Some sweet posters for ‘No Country for Old Men’ the new Coen Brothers film have dropped onto the interpipes. Great combination of type and photography. i’m loving it.

I’m actually pretty gutted it’s not playing at the London Film Festival (might be the surprise film, fingers crossed) especially becuase the States get it early November…. and the UK once again gets fucked in the ass with a late January release.

Cormac McCarthy’s books all have a really compelling quality to them, ‘No Country for Old Men’ is really hard to put down, but isn’t half as bad as ‘The Road’ which I read in one sitting.. it’s just that good. It’s a bleak but realistic look at a father and son trying to survive in america after the country has been ravaged by some kind of apocalyptic disaster. The government is gone, the land is gone, most of the people are gone… all that’s left is the occasional survivor, ash, and the search for food.

I read a while back that ‘The Road’ had been optioned to be made into a film and that John Hillcoat (the proposition) was on board to direct it and now Dimension have officially picked it up. There’s also some rumours flying round about Viggo Mortensen being cast as the father, but that’s all they are, rumours… not trumours.

posters via impawards

Zodiac was a fucking fantastic film, I’d go as far to say it’s Fincher’s best film. Unlike a lot of his previous work it was visually quite subtle but ‘the look’ really added a lot to the story overall.

Until now I hadn’t realised how much of the film was enhanced by CGI, in fact I don’t remember actually noticing any on screen apart from a couple of long shots over the Golden Gate Bridge, but that certainly worked in the films favour. The reel above is from the post production company that worked on the film and reveals how much blue screen work was involved with the street scenes, it’s really pretty amazing.

Now we just need to wait for a dvd with extras to replace the bullshit barebones disc currently on release. I want to see some featurettes about the CGI.

(nicked from filmstalker & hollywood elsewhere)

Sure ‘The fountain’ wasn’t for everyone, it was confusing, slightly pretentious in places but well I don’t give a fuck… I liked it. More than anything I admired how brave it was as a film, It took years to make but Aronofsky stuck with it. The film is visually stunning and weaves plots through time and space like few other films have done.

So the dvd for ‘The Fountain’ was released by Warner for some reason without a commentary from Aronofsky, which as we all know sucks. For whatever reason Warner didn’t want Aronofsky spilling his guts about the film, so he said fuck it, did one anyway and has uploaded it to his personal website. If you haven’t seen the film it won’t make a lot of sense, but it’s worth listening too even without the dvd playing to accompany it…

Check it out here

I’m sure this news has been bandied around forever, but seems to have slipped under my radar (as so many things do) but a new film starring Bill Murray is currently filming in Belfast called ‘City of Ember’… here’s the plot synopsis:

For generations, the people of the City of Ember have flourished in an amazing world of glittering lights. But Ember’s once powerful generator is failing … and the great lamps that illuminate the city are starting to flicker. Now, two teenagers in a race against time, must search Ember for clues that will unlock the ancient mystery of the city’s existence, and help the citizens escape before the lights go out forever.

Its apparantly based on a popular childrens book (a popular source for movies nowadays) and sounds a lot like a Jeunet Film to me. There’s a really interesting set report over at IGN…

“IGN observed days 58 and 59 of shooting in Belfast. The remarkable sets were constructed at the Harland and Wolff paint hall in the Titanic Quarter of Belfast, where the doomed RMS Titanic was painted after being constructed in the shipyard right outside. This industrial location, found after a worldwide search, afforded the filmmakers 90-foot tall ceilings for them to build a fully functional city for the film. This is not your usual movie set, but rather a village of two-and-three-story buildings with actual apartments and stores built inside them for filming…”

sounds pretty fucking epic, read the full report here

There’s a couple of new stills from Wes Andersons ‘The Darjeeling Limited’ up over at IGN; including the first look at Anjelica Huston, check out the full gallery here

While we’re on the subject /film has a look at the new AT&T ads that Anderson directed here

I’ll be catching ‘The Darjeeling Limited’ next month as part of the London Film Festival, but until then I’m keeping my eye out for any new stuff from the film. I’ve kind of flip-flopped back and forth with my enthusiasm for the movie, but a couple of things have recently spurred me on… 1. I watched the trailer at the Press Launch for the LFF, and while funny when I watched it alone at home on my PC, with an audience it kicked it up a notch. and 2. I rewatched ‘The Royal Tenenbaums’ and ‘Rushmoore’ over the weekend, and Anderson’s Dolls house worlds never fail to suck me in.

I think people are going to discover a couple of things too; Owen Wilson while funny isn’t as funny as Jason Schwartzman or Adrien Brody. Yeah that’s right.. I live on the edge and make wildly contentious statements… woooooo!. Schwartzman cracks my shit up in everything I’ve seen him in, he plays angy napoleonic characters better than anyone yet can do the same wide eyed optimism acting better than Wilson does it. Oh Yeah, and Adrien Brody is really good at playing funny, if you haven’t seen it you need to check out dummy

I’m sure this is fan art.. but since I found it on a random design site, and the flickr stream is in spanish and gives no information about the image anyway…who knows…

If the Cloverfield beast turns out to be a fucking giant killer whale i’m interested in this film again.

**UPDATE** it’s been confirmed as fan art by cloverfield news, drawn by this guy.. ah well **

Check it out really big here

I really do have a lot of love for the London Film festival, they always seem to have a good mix of mainstream films i’m looking forward too, arthouse films i’ve been reading about and then they throw them all in with a bunch of dark films from Denmark i’ve never heard of and new cinema from China. It’s a great mix.

So here’s a quick line-up of films i’m looking forward to at the LFF, based purely on my first glance through the brochure. I’m sure there’s a lot more i’ll want to see as I hear about films from friends or read reviews of something I’ve missed.

Eastern Promises & Darjeeling Limited (Dir: David Cronenberg / Wes Anderson)
I’m lumping these two together as they were announced ages ago and I think it goes without saying that I’m really looking forward to both of them. Viggo playing a russian mobster and kicking the shit out of people in steam baths, and Owen Wilson and Adrian Brody wrestling on a train in india.. you can count me in.

Lions for Lambs (Dir: Robert Reford, Stars: Robert Redford, Meryl Streep, Tom Cruise)
My interest in this film is more curiosity than anything else, I’m hoping it’s more political drama/corridors of power than overly-important commentary on the ‘war on terror’ because that’s how the trailer strikes me. I also find it difficult to watch Tom Cruise on screen anymore… he gives me the creeps… but still I’ll be checking it out.

Lust, Caution (Dir: Ang Lee. Stars: Tony Leung, Joan Chen)
Ang Lee for my money is one of most consistantly great directors working today. His new film looks really similar to ‘In the mood for love’ but that’s such a fantastic film that comparison only makes me want to see it more. Plus I grab hold of any chance I get to see Tony Leung on screen… the guys incredible.

I’m not there (Dir: Todd Haynes)
This is that interesting looking film about the life of Bob Dylan, with everyone from Christian Bale to Cate Blanchett playing him over the course of his life. Looks different if nothing else… and I read a couple of good reports from the Toronto film festival.

I still don’t think i’ve read any reports of why Haneke has chosen to remake his own film but in english, but I won’t label it as a good or bad thing until I see the film, but of course the cynic in me says it’s for money. I saw the original when it came out back in 1997/98 and loved it, it’s the classic Haneke mix of humour, drama, and horror with a consistent undertone of fear and dread that most of the people you see on screen are going to be badly hurt in some way or another.

Funny Games is playing at the London Film Festival so i’ll hopefully have a review up sometime in early October.

Honestly though it didn’t need to be remade, and it’s not like Haneke’s put a new spin on it, or it’s some kind of Evil Dead 1/Evil Dead 2 type situation.. as far as I can tell this is an absolute shot-for-shot remake… they’ve even cut the trailer to be exactly the same as the original.

You can check out the trailer for the remake which stars Tim Roth (nice to see him back on the screen), Naomi Watts and Michael Pitt over at msn in crappy straming windows format here, or you can download it as a wmv here and then check out the trailer for the original (1997) film below…

I just got back from the London Film Festival press launch. There’s a lot of really great looking films playing this year and as soon as the press screenings kick in at the beginning of October I hope to be covering as much of it as I can….

I’ll comment more later on the films that are playing.. meanwhile here’s the press release from the LFF:

Opening the Festival on Thursday 17 October is the UK premiere of David Cronenberg’s EASTERN PROMISES with Viggo Mortensen, Naomi Watts and Vincent Cassel, whilst Wes Anderson closes the Festival on November 1 with the UK premiere of THE DARJEELING LIMITED, starring Jason Schwartzman, Owen Wilson and Adrien Brody.

Hosting 7 World, 29 European and 128 UK premieres, the Festival welcomes both familiar faces and newcomers, showcasing established and emerging talent throughout the 16 day cinematic celebration. The programme includes the latest work from Venice Film Festival’s Golden Lion winner Ang Lee (LUST, CAUTION), Alexander Sokurov (ALEXANDRA), Abdellatif Kechiche (THE SECRET OF THE GRAIN), Jan Svĕrák (EMPTIES), François Ozon (ANGEL), Sean Penn (INTO THE WILD), Ermanno Olmi (ONE HUNDRED NAILS), Michael Haneke (FUNNY GAMES), Adoor Gopalakrishnan (FOUR WOMEN), Takeshi Kitano (GLORY TO THE FILMMAKER!), Andrew Dominik (THE ASSASSINATION OF JESSE JAMES BY THE COWARD ROBERT FORD), Todd Haynes (I’M NOT THERE) and Nobuhiro Yamashita (THE MATSUGANE POTSHOT AFFAIR). Audiences will also discover debut feature directors including: Céline Sciamma (WATER LILIES), Rodrigo Plá (LA ZONA), Shivajee Chandrabhushan (FROZEN) and Marjane Satrapi & Vincent Paronnaud (PERSEPOLIS).

British filmmaking talent is strongly represented by Penny Woolcock (EXODUS), Garth Jennings (SON OF RAMBOW: A HOME MOVIE), Nick Broomfield (BATTLE FOR HADITHA), Asif Kapadia (FAR NORTH), Richard Attenborough (CLOSING THE RING) as well as by newcomers Simon Welsford (JETSAM) and Joanna Hogg (UNRELATED), and a selection of documentaries and shorts.

Cinema-goers will also be transported around the globe with films from 43 countries including Israel, Lebanon, China and Korea, and with a special event ROMANIAN CINEMA: THE NEXT NEW WAVE?, exemplified by Cristian Mungiu’s Palme d’Or winner 4 MONTHS, 3 WEEKS, 2 DAYS and Cristian Nemescu’s CALIFORNIA DREAMIN’ (ENDLESS). Spain’s Iciar Bollain directs MATAHARIS while Hungary’s ISKA’S JOURNEY is directed by Csaba Bollók and Austrian IMPORT EXPORT comes from Ulrich Seidl. Argentinian double-bill: COPACABANA by Martín Rejtman with STARS by directing duo Federico León & Marcos Martínez, sits alongside a strong Japanese presence including Masayuki Suo’s I JUST DIDN’T DO IT and Cannes Grand Prix winner THE MOURNING FOREST by Naomi Kawase while Jia Zhangke’s WU YONG (USELESS) hails from China.