Yesterday marked the 50th anniversary of Yuri Gagarin‘s pioneering mission into space and First Orbit is a new documentary that gives audiences a view of what the cosmonaut would have seen.
Directed by Chris Riley, it uses footage shot aboard the International Space Station the film mixes some extraordinary images with Gagarin’s historic voice recordings aboard the Vostok 1 along with an original score by composer Philip Sheppard.
* Spoiler alert: If you haven’t seen Taxi Driver then there are spoilers in this post *
The new 4K restoration of Martin Scorsese’s Taxi Driver (1976) is another reminder of why it remains an enduring American classic.
A drama about an isolated New York cab driver named Travis Bickle (Robert De Niro), it charts his relationships with a fellow driver (Peter Boyle), a political campaign volunteer (Cybil Shepherd), a young prostitute (Jodie Foster) and her pimp (Harvey Keitel) as he starts to see violence as a solution to his problems.
I first saw the film on video in 1992 and then caught it several times on television and DVD since but had never seen it on the big screen until last night at the BFI in central London.
This new version has been given an extensive 4K digital restoration under the supervision of Grover Crisp of Sony Pictures, which means that the basic resolution of the 35mm negative has been preserved, and it was done with the co-operation of Scorsese and cinematographer Michael Chapman.
First time viewers should be aware that the film captures mid-70s New York in all of its grimy glory, so don’t expect some crisp, shimmering artefact that you might get from a more modern production.
However, this version is faithful to the look of the original and is complemented by a restored soundtrack which does real justice to the sound design and Bernard Hermann’s classic score.
Many things have been written about the film since it opened in 1976, so what follows are some thoughts that struck me after watching the restored version last night.
The Hitchcock style fonts on the opening titles: Just before Hermann’s classic score kicks in you might notice that the font of the opening titles are vaguely reminiscent of those Saul Bass designed for Alfred Hitchcock and others.
Was Scorsese preparing us for the music from Hitch’s longtime composer? (Also look out for the vintage Columbia Pictures logo which Scorsese insisted be put on this restored version).
Bernard Hermann’s Score: The classic drums and brass that open the film as De Niro’s cab comes out of the smoke are broken beautifully by the contrasting saxophone, which serves as a motif throughout.
It was Hermann’s final score before he died and is a fitting swan song for one of the all-time great film composers.
General Image and Sound: The new 4K restoration is deeply impressive, although it should be noted that the slightly grainy film look has been preserved. There are numerous scenes which look cleaner and crisper but there are also sequences – especially the climax – in which the rougher, desaturated look has been preserved. It should be noted that the film was shot entirely on location in New York, which makes the sound work all the more impressive.
De Niro’s Legendary Performance: Given the dramatic artistic collapse of De Niro’s acting career over the past fifteen years, his golden years of the 1970s and 80s are almost painful to watch. In The Godfather Part II (1974), Taxi Driver (1976), The Deer Hunter (1978) and Raging Bull (1980) he gave iconic performances, which were some of the finest in film history. Much has been made of his exhaustive research for the role, but look out for the layers he gives Travis.
There is the charming innocent who tries to politely communicate with women, the amiable cab driver and ultimately, the disturbing vigilante who sees guns as a solution to his urban hell. De Niro brilliantly juggles all of these elements and really sells his gradual descent into violence. The now legendary ‘You talkin to me’ monologue is not only bravura acting, but mesmerising because it mixes his psychotic impulses with a human desire to communicate (tellingly he is talking to himself).
The Supporting Cast: Because De Niro is so outstanding, it is easy to forget how good the supporting cast is. Boyle is a classic ‘leader of the pack’ in the cab office; Shepherd is charming as the object of Travis’ affections; Brooks is deliciously smarmy as her political campaign colleague; Leonard Harris is pitch-perfect as the political candidate; Foster is precocious in what must have been a hard role to play; and Keitel is brilliantly sleazy as her pimp.
Portrait of Urban Decay: The production design and use of locations is masterful and comes across strongly on this restored version. The dirt and grime of New York feels incredibly real and is important in establishing the urban squalor that helps drive Travis to desperate acts. There are careful shots of pimps, street criminals and crowds that subtly set the mood. But overall, you come out thinking there was something deeply rotten about the Big Apple in the 1970s and Travis Bickle – in an iconic yellow cab – is a perfect metaphor for the city in this period.
Scorsese’s Cameo(s): The director has a famous cameo in the back of a cab, as rather irate husband in a suit. But he can also be seen very briefly earlier on with a t-shirt and jeans sitting down as Betsy walks in the street.
Are they meant to be two different characters? Or was Scorsese just short of extras that day? But whenever I see a Scorsese cameo I can’t help but think of Hitchcock – a director deeply important to him – who also made several on-screen cameos.
The Clint Eastwood Connection: Before the screening began I was comparing De Niro’s career to Eastwood to someone sitting next to me as they make for an interesting case study. In the 1970s De Niro was the respected leading man every serious actor aspired to be, whilst Eastwood was the commercial star of the Dirty Harry series and mainstream fodder like The Gauntlet (1977) and Every Which Way But Loose (1978). But today Eastwood is the hugely respected director of films like Mystic River (2003) and Letters From Iwo Jima (2006), whilst De Niro is the comedy dad-for-hire in commercial gunk like Little Fockers (2010) or horror crap such as Godsend (2004).
Coincidentally, as Taxi Driver progressed I noticed the presence of Eastwood in more ways than one. For a start his 1975 film The Eiger Sanction is showing opposite the cinema where Travis takes Betsy to see a Swedish sex film. Then there is Scorsese’s speech about the 44 Magnum and what it can do to the female anatomy. Could this possibly be a riff on Dirty Harry’s famous speech about the handgun? Or is it all just a coincidence? (Just a thought. Can you even imagine a contemporary director like Christopher Nolan or David Fincher doing this kind of cameo?)
The Political Dimension: The political campaign that hovers in the background of the film is shrewdly judged. Palantine’s slogan (‘We are the people’) typifies the calculated insincerity of politics so brilliantly that I’m surprised real campaigns haven’t used it more often.
The scene where the senator gets in the back of the cab is wonderfully played. Leonard Harris, who plays Senator Palantine, was actually better known as a TV cultural commentator but his natural gravitas and diction make him perfectly suited for the role.
His dialogue with Travis is funny but also splendidly awkward, showing the gulf between politicians and the people they represent, even though the illusion is that they have something in common. Isn’t this modern politics in a nutshell? It also foreshadows a key later sequence.
Bickle as Assassin: You could read Bickle as a thinly veiled version of loner assassins like Arthur Bremer or Lee Harvey Oswald in his frustration with life and desire to make a name for himself. But at the same time screenwriter Paul Schrader has admitted that his own personal troubles inspired the character and even Oliver Stone (a pupil of Scorsese’s at NYU film school) has said he could have been an influence on Bickle. Like Travis, Stone was a Vietnam vet who, during the mid-70s, wore a green combat jacket whilst driving a cab in New York. Bickle is thus a complex protagonist: a dangerous outsider who we can sympathise with up to a point. Certainly the original trailer sold the film on the danger of the central character:
But he is more layered than the traditional movie monster. In fact he is a disturbing character precisely because we get to know him. He ironically ends up a ‘hero’ in the press and it could be this quality which gave the film an unfortunate real life legacy when real life loner John Hinckley Jnr became obsessed with it and Jodie Foster, before trying to shoot President Regan in 1981. In his mind, did Hinckley think that he would end up like Travis does? This suggests a creepy relevance to Taxi Driver, which is perhaps a testament to how well it taps in to a certain mindset.
The Easy Andy Scene: The scene where Travis purchases guns from an illegal dealer, “Easy Andy” (Steven Prince) is a memorable one. The windows of the apartment room provide a great backdrop with their views of the Hudson, contrasting with the more claustrophobic scenes in the film. Guns here are a form of release for Bickle. Notice how he pointedly refuses any illegal drugs but buys as many weapons as possible. It seems hand guns are his real drug of choice. Incidentally, Scorsese later made a short film about Prince called American Boy. (Note the prescient mention of Crystal Meth at the end of the scene, a drug which spread in the US over the next thirty years).
Compassion Amidst The Murder: It is worth noting that Bickle throughout shows an unusual level of compassion towards others. Betsy is initially attracted to him because his honest compliments and sincerity contrast nicely to her smarmy co-worker, whilst his attempts to help Iris get out of child prostitution are similarly laudable. This prepares us for the end where the press and Iris’ parents see him as a hero, although not the one they think he is. It also shows us that even bad people can do good things – again, this is unusual in a mainstream Hollywood film.
The Racism of the 1970s: Maybe in retrospect, we like to think that racism is a ghost of the past exorcised by the Civil Rights movement of the 1960s. But Taxi Driver doesn’t shy away from the racial tensions of a large city. Notice the looks Travis gives to black characters (especially black pimps) and he freely uses racist terms. Scorsese’s cameo as the ‘sick’ passenger in Travis’ taxi features a use of the n-word that younger audiences might find objectionable. When Travis first shoots the robber in the convenience store, the owner carries on beating the man with a savagery that suggests a racial dimension. The pimp played by Harvey Keitel was black in the first draft of the script, but that was later changed as they wanted to avoid the stereotype and accusations that the film itself had racist overtones. So, the film is still a powerful and uncomfortable reminder of how racism lingers just under the surface of ‘regular’ society.
The Colour of the Climax: The violence of the climactic shootout freaked out the MPAA and they threatened to give the film an X rating if changes weren’t made (which would have meant commercial death for the film). As part of the changes Scorsese toned down the colour of the climax in order to get an R-rating, so that the blood looks less red. For this restored version Grover Crisp explained in a lengthy interview with The Digital Bits why they didn’t colour correct this sequence:
Q: Much has been made of the decision to alter the color of the shooting scene at the end of the film to get an R rating in 1976. Why didn’t you restore it to the originally-shot, more colorful scene?
A: There are a couple of answers to this. One, which we discussed, was the goal of presenting the film as it was released, which is the version everyone basically knows. This comes up every now and then, but the director feels it best to leave the film as it is. That decision is fine with me. However, there is an impression from some who think we could easily “pump” the color back into that scene and that is not as easy as it sounds. The film was not just printed darker, or with muted colors, as some think. There are two sections of the original negative that were removed from the cut and assembled camera negative. One is the long shot where the cab pulls up, Bickle walks over to Sport, they argue, he shoots him, then he walks back and sits on a stoop. That is all one shot that was removed. The second section removed begins with the shot of the interior of the apartment building where he shoots the hood in the hand and all the shots following this down to the final one of the overhead crowd shot outside – that entire sequence was removed as assembled. These two sections of original camera negative were then sent to TVC, a small lab in New York, where it went through a Chemtone process, a chemical treatment that somewhat opens shadows allowing for greater density and lower contrast, for the most part. The exact process was a bit clouded by TVC as a proprietary service, but it usually involved original processing and, at this point, the negative was already finished. Whatever the actual processes, what I can say is that they delivered back duplicate negatives of these two sections, with the long sequence, in effect, now an optical dupe and with the desired color and density built into it. So, literally, when printing this film at a lab then (or now), there was no way to grade it and print it the way it was shot. Those muted colors are built into the dupe negative and it doesn’t work to try to print it otherwise. We also searched many times over the years for the original negative that was removed, but to no avail. Likely, it was junked at TVC at the time.
Q: What about for the Blu-ray – couldn’t you just re-do the color with today’s technology?
A: No, the same situation exists in that environment. You can’t really successfully pump a color into a film that isn’t there. There were attempts, to some degree, to put more red into that scene on older transfers of the film (the most recent almost ten years ago, and without talent involvement) and you can see those results in DVDs that were released. There is more red than should be there, but the red is everywhere, in the walls, clothing, skin, hair, etc., and that is what happens when you try to force a color into an image that really isn’t present. This Blu-ray release is actually closer to what it looked like in 1976 than any previous home video release, and not just for the color. The well-know “you talkin’ to me” scene, for example, was seriously cropped on older editions. All those shots are actually from the camera looking at his reflection in the mirror, not straight on of him while he talks, and they cropped out the side of the mirror and zoomed in to the point where he had slightly more headroom, but you could barely see the gun he’s holding. We don’t agree with that kind of framing manipulation, so we framed it properly for 1.85 SMPTE standards for projection and now you will see the image as you would in a theater, which is the way it should be.
The Final Shot: The ambiguous final shot of the film, which involves Travis looking suddenly in his rear view mirror has always been intriguing. It suggests that he has seen something (although it isn’t clear what) and that he is disturbed. Or is it all just a fantasy? On the audio commentary for the Laserdisc Scorsese revealed that the last scene implies that he might slip back into rage in the future, and is like “a ticking time bomb.” Schrader has also said that Travis “is not cured by the movie’s end” and that “he’s not going to be a hero next time.” Again the ambiguity is startling and fascinating and provides a great talking point in any post-screening discussion.
Some classic films can lose something when you revisit them but Taxi Driver stands up remarkably well.
Part of its power lies in how well it taps in to urban alienation, the haunting power of Schrader’s script, the brilliance of Scorsese’s direction and the unforgettable central performance from De Niro.
Scorsese’s explores the dark heart of America like few other filmmakers.
It is no coincidence that his best films – Taxi Driver, Raging Bull and Goodfellas – have central characters who represent a side of the American psyche that Hollywood wasn’t always comfortable with.
Taxi Driver is re-released at UK cinemas from Friday 13 May in London, Edinburgh, Dublin and other cities
This could be because the New Statesman have elected to save the full article for their print edition, but if you can I would urge you to read it in full.
Figures such as News International executive Rebekah Brooks, Prime Minister David Cameron, his former spin doctor Andy Coulson and even Top Gear presenter Jeremy Clarkson all feature in what is a riveting tale of an actor delving deep into the murky world of the UK tabloid press.
First, a bit of background.
Since 2006 Britain’s biggest selling Sunday newspaper the News of the World has been caught up in an ongoing scandal involving journalists who interecpted private voicemail messages for stories.
In 2007 the paper’s royal editor went to jail for accessing voicemails belonging to the royal family and the editor Andy Coulson also resigned, before eventually going to work as David Cameron’s spin doctor (and resigning again as the story resurfaced).
Ever since then, questions have been asked about what really went on and how much parent company News International knew about it.
Various high profile figures who claim that their phones were intercepted have brought legal action against the newspaper group owned by Rupert Murdoch, who until now have always denied widespread wrongdoing.
But last week the company did an about turn and offered an astonishing, unreserved apology and compensation to eight people affected, saying:
“Past behaviour at the News of the World in relation to voicemail interception is a matter of genuine regret. It is now apparent that our previous inquiries failed to uncover important evidence and we acknowledge our actions then were not sufficiently robust.”
Last Christmas his car broke down in Kent and when a former News of the World journalist named Paul McMullan offered him a lift they got into a conversation about the paper’s rather creative approach to getting stories.
In what plays out like a like a comedy hybrid of All the President’s Men (1976) and Notting Hill (1999), Grant then went back to the former journalist’s pub (he’s now a landlord) armed with a hidden tape recorder.
There is something hilarious in the actor exposing a tabloid journalist, especially given his previous run-ins with them.
Imagine the scene. Hugh Grant and a friend go into the pub armed with a secret tape recorder and greet the landlord and former News of the World hack Paul McMullan.
The following highlights from the article would actually make the basis for a decent Grant comeback movie produced by Working Title Films.
But the actor could also consider a career as an investigative reporter as he managed to reveal some eye-opening details.
McMullan claims Andy Coulson knew more than he has so far admitted:
“Coulson knew all about it and regularly ordered it… He [Coulson] rose quickly to the top; he wanted to cover his tracks all the time”
Then there is the idea put forward that the Daily Mail were also intercepting voice mails:
Grant: … it wasn’t just the News of the World. It was, you know – the Mail?
McMullan: Oh absolutely, yeah. When I went freelance in 2004 the biggest payers – you’d have thought it would be the NoW, but actually it was the Daily Mail.
(That certainly puts this recent Mail story in a different light and demonstrates how the paper spun it. In fact, it initially appears McMullan had stitched up Grant, claiming the actor didn’t pay for his drinks. Only little did he know that Grant was several steps ahead of him with a tape recorder in his pocket).
It is then claimed that when the scandal involving Clive Goodman blew up in 2006, the Mail stopped accessing celebrity voice mail.
According to McMullan:
“For about four or five years they’ve absolutely been cleaner than clean. And before that they weren’t. They were as dirty as anyone … They had the most money”
There’a a comedy moment when he denies that News International overlord Rupert Murdoch knew about this:
“He’s a funny bloke given that-he owns the Sun and the Screws …quite puritanical. Sorry to talk about Divine Brown, but when that carne out … Murdoch was furious: “What are you putting that on our front page for? You’re bringing down the tone of our papers.”
Grant then reminds him that he was promoting the film Nine Months for Fox (the studio owned by Murdoch) at the time the Divine Brown episode blew up in 1995.
Then comes the bit that could’ve been scripted by Richard Curtis:
Grant: So everyone knew? I mean, would Rebekah [Brooks] have known all this stuff was going on?
McMullan: Good question. You’re not taping, are you?
Grant: [slightly shrill voice] No.
McMullan: Well,yeah.
Just when you thought then things could get any more bizarre, McMullan claims that The Guardian paid him to get a picture of Rebekah Brooks riding horses with David Cameron in Oxfordshire:
“I’ve also doorstepped my ex-boss [Brooks] by hiding in the bushes, waiting for her to come past with Cameron on a horse. The Guardian paid me to do it.”
So a former News of the World hack was paid to snoop on our Prime Minister and a News International executive by The Guardian – the very paper that has led the way in exposing the phone hacking revelations.
But it gets even better.
McMullan claims our Prime Minister dressed up as as The Stig from Top Gear in order to record a message for presenter Jeremy Clarkson‘s 50th birthday party.
As McMullan memorably puts it:
“Is that demeaning for a prime minister? It should be the other way round, shouldn’t it?”
Then there is this contender for quote of the year:
“So basically, Cameron is very much in debt to Rebekah for helping him not quite win the election”
I can’t remember the last time a politician thanked someone for helping them ‘not-quite win an election’ but we live in strange times.
Then we get the rumor that a ‘much-loved TV actress in her sixties’ might have once worked as a prostitute, and collusion between the police and the tabloid press:
“So I asked a copper to get his hands on the phone files, but because it’s only a caution it’s not there any more. So that’s the tip …it’s a policeman ringing up a tabloid reporter and asking him for ten grand because this girl had been cautioned right at the start of his career. And then I ask another policeman to go and check the records …so that’s happening regularly. So the police don’t particularly want to investigate.”
So far, we have celebrities getting their phones intercepted, Hugh Grant putting Colombo to shame, David Cameron dressed as The Stig and a police force that doesn’t want to investigate itself, because they could find themselves to be corrupt.
Is just me or is this the greatest story of the year so far?
But things take a darker turn when Grant asks about possibility of the police re-opening the investigation as McMullan says:
“…20 per cent of the Met has taken backhanders from tabloid hacks. So why would they want to open that can of worms?”
So if he is right, we basically have a London police force that is about as honest as the bad cops in Serpico (1973)?
More disturbingly, the conversation touches on the possibility that the News of the World intercepted the phones of friends and families of high-profile murder victims:
“Yeah. Yeah. It’s more than likely. It was quite routine.”
If true, the moral depths UK newspapers are sinking to here is truly staggering. But why did McMullan blow the whistle? He says:
“a friend of mine at The Guardian kept hassling me for an interview. I said, “well if you put the name of the Castle [his pub] on the front page of The Guardian, I’ll do anything you like.”
So basically he basically admits it was all about publicity for his pub. Hardly Daniel Ellsberg is he?
On the future of the phone hacking revelations he promises:
“…there’s people who have much better records – my records are non-existent. There are people who actually have tapes and transcripts they did for Andy Coulson”
But what about these tapes, transcripts and other evidence which must have piled up in the offices of journalists ordered to hack into voicemails up and down the land?
Grant: “And where are these tapes and transcripts? Do you think they’ve been destroyed?
McMullan: No, I’m sure they’re saving them till they retire”
I was semi-joking that this whole affair would make a great film, but it is a fantastic morality tale.
Grant and the New Statesman have not only probed where few in the UK newspaper industry have dared to go, but they’ve also provided one of the most entertaining stories in recent memory.
But the great thing is, if this were actually a film, we are still awaiting a dramatic climax.
A riveting documentary about Danish soldiers in Afghanistan provides an eye-opening view of the War on Terror.
The directorial debut of Janus Metz is a startling one and the title comes from the military base in Helmand province where troops are based for six months.
Over the course of the film we see various troops as they leave home, go out on patrol, get involved in skirmishes with the Taliban and deal with civilians caught up in the conflict.
Comparisons will be made with last year’s Restrepo, the Oscar nominated documentary about US troops in the mountainous Korengal Valley, and even Susanne Bier’s drama Brothers (2004) which explored how the conflict affected Danish troops.
But Armadillo has its own distinct flavour and part of this comes from the extraordinary level of access afforded to Metz and his crew, which one suspects would not have been afforded to a similar film about US and UK troops.
A brutal honesty pervades the film and it doesn’t shy away from showing details which don’t make it on to the nightly news.
We see soldiers bored in their downtime as they watch porn, play first-person shooter computer games and make phone calls to worries relatives.
When it comes to the battlefield, the uncertainty and mistrust of the locals isn’t whitewashed as the local elders demand to know why innocent people are dying in the crossfire and even children insult the troops.
But where the film kicks into another gear is with the remarkably candid and unsettling scenes where the troops confront the Taliban.
One fire fight involves a hauntingly ambiguous image of a corpse and the images captured are a world away from the carefully edited coverage you see on the nightly news.
The most memorable sequence involves an extraordinary shootout at dawn where the soldiers find themselves right next to five Taliban soldiers in a ditch.
After it screened at Cannes last year, this sequence proved controversial in Denmark and led to an official investigation which eventually cleared soldiers in the film of any wrongdoing.
Part of the footage was actually shot from a camera attached to a soldier’s helmet, and the resulting images provide an incredible glimpse into life on the frontline.
This will prove a turn off for some audiences, but as a document of the brutal realities of war, it remains vivid and valuable document of this conflict.
There are numerous interviews with the soldiers and some revealing conversations, which capture their love of battle as well as the anxiety of knowing death is close by.
Shot on a variety of digital cameras, the visuals by DP Lars Skree are highly impressive and effectively mix the energy of combat with quieter moments.
The mood of the film is also greatly enhanced by Uno Helmersson’s atmospheric score and the sound design by Rasmus Winther.
There also appears to be a use of colour correction to give the film a consistent look, giving it the visual sheen of a dramatic feature like The Hurt Locker (2008).
Aside from being a technically brilliant portrait of modern warfare, Armadillo also poses interesting questions about how the war in Afghanistan has been represented.
Could it be that mainstream media have subconsciously watered their coverage down to gain access and submit to a conventional narrative of the troops as heroes? Recent revelations would suggest things are more complicated.
It is easy to forget that Afghanistan isn’t just an American war. The allied forces which make up the International Security Assistance Force are drawn from many countries from around the globe, including Denmark.
Perhaps it took a Danish perspective to craft such an illuminating film, which doesn’t take sides but still confronts the audience with difficult questions about an intractable conflict.
Armadillo is currently out at selected UK cinemas and is released on DVD on June 13th
Of Gods and Men (Artificial Eye): A drama about Trappist monks in the monastery of Tibhirine in Algeria who live in harmony with the local population until events spiral out of control. Directed by Xavier Beauvois, it is based on real events in 1996 and stars Lambert Wilson and Michael Lonsdale. The slow burning pace, attention to detail and fine performances give the film a rare power and it won the Grans Prix Prize at the Cannes film festival last year. [Buy it on Blu-ray / DVD]
Monsters (Momentum Pictures): The alien invasion genre gets a mumblecore twist with this British sci-fi film about a photojournalist (Scoot McNairy) who has to guide his employer’s daughter (Whitney Able) out of a Mexico which is infested with alien creatures. A considerable production achievement from first-time director Gareth Edwards (who provided the SFX himself), it lacks basic thrills but makes up that with its thoughtful approach and features a wonderful ambient score from Jon Hopkins. [Buy it on Blu-ray / DVD]
Two in the Wave (New Wave Films): A French documentary directed by Emmanuel Laurent which examines the relationship between directors François Truffaut and Jean-Luc Godard, the two key figures of the French New Wave in the late 50’s and early 60’s. Although the formal, conservative style is perhaps at odds with what its subjects stood for, there is a lot of great archive news and interview footage of the young directors who revolutionised cinema in the early 1960s. [Buy it on DVD]
ALSO OUT
2012: Doomsday (Lighthouse DVD Distribution) [Blu-ray / Normal] About a Boy (Universal Pictures) [Blu-ray / Normal] Babe (Universal Pictures) [Blu-ray / Normal] Babe: Pig in the City (Universal Pictures) [Blu-ray / Normal] Coraline (Universal Pictures) [Blu-ray / 3D Edition with 2D Edition / Normal] Deep Ocean Experience (FilmicArt) [Blu-ray / with 3D Version] Harry Potter 1-7A (Warner Home Video) [Blu-ray / Box Set] Legend of the Guardians – The Owls of Ga’Hoole (Warner Home Video) [Blu-ray / Normal / Triple Play] Peter Pan (Universal Pictures) [Blu-ray / Normal] Rory Gallagher: Irish Tour 1974 (Eagle Rock Entertainment) [Blu-ray / Normal] Rubber (Optimum Home Entertainment) [Blu-ray / Normal] The Girl Who Kicked the Hornet’s Nest (Momentum Pictures) [Blu-ray / Normal]
Director Sidney Lumet has died in New York at the age of 86.
He was best known for films such as 12 Angry Men (1957), Dog Day Afternoon (1975), Network (1976) and The Verdict (1982), all of which earned him Academy Award nominations for Best Director.
With over 50 films to his credit he was easily one of the most prolific directors of his era and some of his more overlooked works are well worth seeking out, especially Fail-Safe (1964),
He began directing for live television in 1950 and broke through in to features with the classic court-room drama Twelve Angry Men (1957), which starred Henry Fonda as a member of a jury deliberating over a case.
The 1970s was something of a golden decade for Lumet.
The dark and unjustly neglected drama The Offence (1972) was one of Sean Connery’s best roles as a police officer investigating a series of murders in an English town.
Serpico (1973) was a powerful depiction of police corruption in New York city, with a great lead performance from Al Pacino.
The bank-heist drama Dog Day Afternoon (1975) immediately established itself as one of the great films of that decade and again featured Pacino in one of his most memorable roles.
Network (1976) was also an acclaimed social drama, with Peter Finch as a news anchor who becomes an instant celebrity after his memorably angry speeches connect with the disillusioned public.
Written by Paddy Chayefsky and co-starring Faye Dunaway, William Holden and Robert Duvall, its satire of television and the media is still amazingly relevant 35 years on.
After this extraordinary run of films, it would be a few years before he returned to comparable form with The Verdict (1982), a legal drama about a veteran Boston lawyer (Paul Newman) who seeks redemption in a medical malpractice case.
His output shifted from genre to genre with mixed results over the next three decades, although Prince of the City (1981), Running on Empty (1988) and Q & A (1990) are well worth revisiting.
In 2005 was the recipient of an Academy Award for Lifetime Achievement for his “brilliant services to screenwriters, performers, and the art of the motion picture.”
At the age of 82, he directed the acclaimed thriller Before the Devil Knows You’re Dead (2007), which starred Philip Seymour Hoffman, Ethan Hawke and Marisa Tomei.
Intriguingly, he as was a big supporter of digital filmmaking and at the New York Film Festival in 2007 sang the praises of shooting on digital over celluloid.
The New York Times reported a quote of Lumet’s which serves as a fitting epitaph:
“While the goal of all movies is to entertain, the kind of film in which I believe goes one step further. It compels the spectator to examine one facet or another of his own conscience. It stimulates thought and sets the mental juices flowing.”
Rio (20th Century Fox): An animated comedy-adventure about tropical birds, focusing on Blu, a rare macaw who travels to Rio to find a partner. Directed by Carlos Saldanha, it features the voices Jesse Eisenberg, Anne Hathaway and George Lopez. [Nationwide / U] [Trailer] [Reviews]
Mars Needs Moms (Walt Disney): One of the biggest flops in recent Hollywood history is this animated film about a young boy who gains a deeper appreciation for his mom after Martians take her away. Directed by Simon Wells, it features the voices of Seth Green and Joan Cusack. [Nationwide / PG] [Trailer] [Reviews]
The Roommate (Sony Pictures): Thriller about a college student who finds herself in danger after she’s assigned to a dorm room with a new roommate. Directed by Christian E. Christiansen, it stars Minka Kelly, Leighton Meester and Cam Gigandet. [Nationwide / PG] [Trailer] [Reviews]
Tomorrow, When the War Began (Paramount): Action-adventure about a group of teenagers who fight back after their country is invaded. Directed by Stuart Beattie, it stars Caitlin Stasey, Rachel Hurd-Wood and Lincoln Lewis. [Nationwide / 12A] [Trailer] [Reviews]
Thank You (UTV Communications): A Bollywood romantic comedy about a pretty, young girl tennis player falls in love with a playboy. Stars Akshay Kumar, Sonam Kapoor and Anees Bazmee. [Selected cinemas]
ALSO OUT
Rubber (Optimum Releasing): Cult film about a killer tire, directed by Quentin Dupieux and starring Stephen Spinella, Roxane Mesquida and Jack Plotnick. [Selected cinemas / 15]
Armadillo (Soda Pictures) Acclaimed documentary from director Janus Metz Pederson about a group of Danish soldiers in Afghanistan. [Selected cinemas / 15]
Before The Revolution (BFI): Re-release for Bernardo Bertolucci’s 1964 film starring Francesco Barilli and Adriana Asti. [Selected cinemas]
Cold Fish (Third Window Films): Japanese film directed by Sion Sono about a muderous fish-breeder. Stars Asuaka Kurosawa, Denden, Hikari Kajiwara and Megumi Kagurazaka. [Key Cities / 18]
A political thriller about who wrote the plays of William Shakespeare might not seem like obvious material for director Roland Emmerich.
But Anonymous opens in the US in September and the first trailer has been released:
It follows Edward de Vere, 17th Earl of Oxford (Rhys Ifans) – who some people believe wrote Shakespeare’s plays – and is set against the backdrop of the Essex rebellion against Queen Elizabeth I (Vanessa Redgrave).
Incidentally, 16th century London was recreated at Babelsberg Studios in Berlin with sets and a lot of CGI.
It begins in 499 BC, when people in Europe started to record events, then goes to Asia and after 1492 the Americas light up as the image of the modern world begins to form.
Gareth Lloyd and Tom Martin used geotagged articles from Wikipedia with references to 14,238 historical events and this is the video:
Many wikipedia articles have coordinates. Many have references to historic events. Me (@godawful) and Tom Martin (@heychinaski) cross referenced the two to create a dynamic visualization of Wikipedia’s view of world history. Watch as empires fall, wars break out and continents are discovered.
This won “Best Visualization” at Matt Patterson’s History Hackday in January, 2011. To make it, we parsed an xml dump of all wikipedia articles (30Gb) and pulled out 424,000 articles with coordinates and 35,000 references to events. Cross referencing these produced 15,500 events with locations. Then we mapped them over time.
The Heart Specialist is an independent comedy that was reportedly completed in 2006, about a group of young medical residents at a Florida hospital starring Wood Harris, Brian White and Zoe Saldana.
But a five year wait seems excessive and places this firmly in the realm of Kenneth Lonergan’s Margaret (although that long-delayed film has more pedigree behind the camera).
It opened in the US in January and the verdict from the trades was pretty brutal.
“The Heart Specialist” is DOA. A ploddingly paced and tonally dissonant mix of broadly played sitcom-style humor and shameless heartstring-yanking, this long-shelved indie has been dropped into a limited theatrical run much like a terminally ill patient might be checked into a hospice. After its inevitable B.O. flatline, expect a quick transfer to Redbox kiosks.
Frank Scheck of The Hollywood Reporter was also less than enthusiastic:
Filmed in 2006 but only now receiving a limited theatrical release no doubt thanks to the presence of rising star Zoe Saldana (Avatar), the African-American, medical-themed The Heart Specialist plays like a poorly written episode of Gray’s Anatomy. This awkward, amateurish blend of comedy and melodrama will need life support stat to prevent it from immediately disappearing from theaters.
But this begs the question as to why it got a theatrical release at all. Did investors in the film have a legal clause demanding a theatrical release?
According to Box Office Mojo it has so far grossed $1,103,037.
It is fascinating to see the painstaking production and release of the film condensed to just 8 minutes.
The film broke ground with its use of Technicolor and won an Academy Honorary Award “as a significant screen innovation which has charmed millions and pioneered a great new entertainment field”.
Last week some major questions about the cinema experience were raised at Cinema Con, the annual convention of American theater owners in Las Vegas.
Previously known as ShoWest, the convention has been relaunched and gathers the National Association of Theatre Owners, who represent over 30,000 movie screens in the US and additional cinema chains from around the world.
Studios go there to preview their big summer blockbusters and get exhibitors excited for upcoming titles like Super 8 and Real Steel.
It is an important place to spot industry trends this year two of the big ones were: higher frame rates and a controversial video on demand scheme backed by four of the major studios.
HIGHER FRAME-RATES
One of the fundamentals of cinema is that films are shown at 24 frames per second, as light is projected through a print on to a screen.
Even with the rise of digital projection systems, this has essentially stayed the same as audiences have got used to this particular look.
Cameron was advocating that films in cinemas should be projected at 48 fps or 60fps and that the current generation of digital projectors could easily adopt this with a software upgrade.
But what would films screened at higher frame rates actually look like?
This NBC news clip in 1984 shows Trumbull promoting Showscan:
For various reasons, it never took off even though in 1993, Trumbull, Geoffrey Williamson, Robert Auguste and Edmund DiGiulio were awarded a Scientific and Engineering Academy Award for devloping the system.
Trumbull persisted with a digital version of Showscan, which he thinks has a place in modern cinemas and can improve regular movies as well as those shot on 3D.
In this 2010 video, Trumbull demonstrates Showscan Digital:
Back at CinemaCon, Cameron indicated that he plans to shoot his upcoming Avatar sequels using a technique similar to Showscan.
He unveiled a series of basic scenes shot by Russell Carpenter (his DP on True Lies and Titanic) which involved a medieval set.
They included a lot of camera movements such as pans and sweeps that often cause “strobing” or the appearance of flicker.
The scenes involved included a banquet and a sword fight and part of the presentation was to compare them at different framerates: 24, 48 and 60, as well as 3D.
He spoke earlier this year of his desire for higher frame rates in a talk with former Google CEO Eric Schmidt:
Part of the argument against higher frame rates is that 24fps is the established look of film and to mess with it is unwise and will make films look weird.
It could also be argued that it would tend to benefit the action spectaculars Cameron specialises in.
But given how much money the director has generated for cinema owners with Terminator 2 (1991), Titanic (1997) and Avatar (2009), the audience would have given serious consideration to his idea.
As studios struggle to deal with declining DVD profits and cinema owners struggle to adapt to shifting audience expectations, it is a development worth watching over the next couple of years.
But that wasn’t the biggest news story to come out of Cinema Con as four of the major studios dropped a major bombshell regarding how films are distributed.
VIDEO ON DEMAND or STUDIOS vs EXHIBITORS
One of the hot topics for the film industry that has been smouldering for a number of years is the issue of the release window.
Since the advent of home video in the early 1980s, there was an established pattern of release for a movie which allowed it to be screened first at cinemas, then on video a few months later and eventually on TV platforms.
Each stage made money for the studios and it was important that one didn’t cannibalise the other.
But over the years the window has gradually shortened to the point that films hit DVD and Blu-ray around 3 months after they have opened in cinemas.
There is a now a growing movement of people that feel the release window is outdated and that audiences should be able to legally access films via download or pay-per-view at the same time as they are released in cinemas.
Obviously, the exhibitors are dead against this.
Not only would it potentially cut into their profits but could be the beginning of a slippery slope where the cinema experience would be badly damaged, perhaps fatally.
So when the news broke during CinemaCon that four of the major studios (Warner Bros., Fox, Sony and Universal) had signed up to a premium VOD service with satellite company DirectTV, it was a major slap in the face to exhibitors.
The details are that DirecTV will allow users to stream titles to their home from April, beginning with titles such as Unknown (the Liam Neeson thriller which came out in the US on February 18th) and Just Go With It (the Adam Sandler comedy which had a February 11th release in the US).
Wide theatrical releases will become available on this service just 60 days after they open at cinemas, at a cost of $30.
This means that the window of release has been shortened even further and NATO (National Association of Theater Owners) issued a swift statement, expressing “surprise and strong disappointment” at the move.
Firstly, they were pissed at the basic idea:
On March 30, it was reported that Warner Bros., Fox, Sony and Universal planned to release a certain number of their films to the home 60 days after their theatrical release in “premium” Video on Demand at a price point of $30. On behalf of its members, the National Association of Theater Owners (NATO) expresses our surprise and strong disappointment.
Then there was the timing (although I guess the studios plan was to ruffle feathers and get attention):
Theater operators were not consulted or informed of the substance, details or timing of this announcement. It’s particularly disappointing to confront this issue today, while we are celebrating our industry partnerships at our annual convention – CinemaCon – in Las Vegas. NATO has repeatedly, publicly and privately, raised concerns and questions about the wisdom of shortening the theatrical release window to address the studios’ difficulties in the home market.
Then there was the risks of ‘early-to-the-home VoD’:
We have pointed out the strength of theatrical exhibition — revenues have grown in four of the last five years — and that early-to-the-home VoD will import the problems of the home entertainment market into the theatrical market without fixing those problems. The studios have not managed to maintain a price point in the home market and we expect that they will be unable to do so with early VoD. They risk accelerating the already intense need to maximize revenues on every screen opening weekend and driving out films that need time to develop—like many of the recent Academy Award-nominated pictures.
Piracy also got a mention:
They risk exacerbating the scourge of movie theft by delivering a pristine, high definition, digital copy to pirates months earlier than they had previously been available.
Interestingly, Paramount is mentioned as being a hold out. (Could this be because Viacom boss Sumner Redstone has a background in movie exhibition?):
Paramount has explicitly cited piracy as a reason they will not pursue early VoD. Further, they risk damaging theatrical revenues without actually delivering what the home consumer seems to want, which is flexibility, portability and a low price.
Then the big guns really came out:
These plans fundamentally alter the economic relationship between exhibitors, filmmakers and producers, and the studios taking part in this misguided venture. We would expect cinema owners to respond to such a fundamental change and to reevaluate all aspects of their relationships with these four studios. As NATO’s Executive Board noted in their open letter of June 16, 2010, the length of a movie’s release window is an important economic consideration for theater owners in whether, how widely and under what terms they book a film.
Additionally, cinema owners devote countless hours of screen time each year to trailers promoting the movies that will play on their screens. With those trailers now arguably promoting movies that will appear shortly in the home market to the detriment of theater admissions, we can expect theater owners to calculate just how much that valuable screen time is worth to their bottom lines and to the studios that have collapsed the release window. The same consideration will no doubt be given to the acres of wall and floor space devoted to posters and standees.
And to finish there was what appeared to be a thinly veiled threat:
In the end, the entire motion picture community will have a say in how the industry moves forward. These studios have made their decision in what they no doubt perceive to be their best interests. Theater owners will do the same.
The above words could be read as: “You want to put Liam Neeson thrillers and Adam Sandler comedies on to VOD? Fine, we just won’t show them”.
Exhibitors still have this powerful weapon.
If they choose not to promote or even screen films, then that would almost certainly turn an expensively assembled theatrical release into a straight-to-DVD leper.
Earlier this year, the UK’s three big cinema chains – Odeon, Vue and Cineworld – threatened to boycott Alice in Wonderland in protest against Disney’s plan to shorten the theatrical run by bringing forward the DVD release date.
Eventually, agreements were reached but it highlighted the fact that big studios also have a powerful bargaining chip: they have the hit films cinemas need in order to survive.
But is it conceivable that in the future they could make a major film available on home platforms and bypass cinemas?
It would appear that established filmmakers are on the side of the cinemas.
During a Warner Bros presentation for The Hangover Part II, director Todd Phillips got wild applause for pledging his support for exhibitors.
Even futurists like Cameron and Lucas are still big believers in the theatrical experience.
But if you are on the studio side advocating the VOD argument, you might think that this is a bridge that should be crossed sooner rather than later.
The costs of digital distribution are lower and VOD potentially reaches the audiences who can’t make it to a cinema.
With lower-budget films dependent of word of mouth such as 127 Hours or Win Win, a studio like Fox Searchlight might argue that a mixed model of theatrical and VOD might benefit those films, as they would get more people watching and paying for them than is currently the case.
Strangely, it could be the more specialised films with lower marketing budgets that benefit more from the current plans.
But there are also those arguing that folding the release window is a suicidal move that would kill profits.
Every time [a film] plays the studios are earning back more money. If you eliminate all that to one window, it is completely destructive to the overall film business. This is myopic …very short-sighted and a very bad idea.
Film studios seem determined to kill the movie business completely. After putting video stores out of business by authorizing Redbox to rent videos for $1 per day from what amounts to a Coke machine, now they want to put movie theaters in a coma by authorizing a new at-home video-on-demand release during what has until now been the exclusive first-run theater window. As for the impact on theatrical attendance, I believe it will be devastating. However, among studio execs the best case quoted to me was a 10 percent drop in attendance with the executives insisting that, “Some theaters will close, others will raise prices … it’s all good.” The reality is that a 10 percent drop in total attendance, across the board and permanent, will cause 2/3 of all the theaters in the U.S. to close their doors and never open again.
Perhaps the uncomfortable truth is that there is a larger cultural change going on.
Although large numbers of the general public enjoy going to the cinema, the pace of technological change in devices (TVs, computers) and the distribution of films has made a key section of the audience impatient as to what, when and where the see something.
Major studios can gauge this and are willing to burn bridges with exhibitors in order to satisfy this demand and reduce their distribution costs.
I don’t think anyone film fan wants to see the theatrical experience go away, as it remains the best way to experience the medium.
But this move by the big studios makes it feel like major changes are just over the horizon.
He is the US photographer and filmmaker who also shot the iconic cover for Bob Dylan’s Blonde on Blonde (1966) album.
As a director Schatzberg is probably best known for Scarecrow (1973), the film with Al Pacino and Gene Hackman that shared the Grand Jury prize at Cannes.
Dunaway and Schatzberg will both be attending the festival this year for a screening of their 1970 film Puzzle of a Downfall Child, in a restored presentation that is guaranteed to look better than this YouTube clip:
In this short interview on Vimeo (posted by Antonin74) he describes how he met Dunaway and their collaboration on the film:
He went on to direct The Panic in Needle Park (1971), a drama about heroin use in New York that also won acclaim at Cannes and was a breakout film for Al Pacino.
This year’s festival takes place from May 11th-22nd.
The American (Universal Picutres): An enigmatic American (George Clooney) moves to a remote Italian town in order to build a rifle for an assassination. Directed by Anton Corbijn and co-starring Violante Placido and Thekla Reuten. [Read our full review here] [Interview with Violante Placido] [Buy it on Blu-ray or DVD]
Somewhere (Universal Pictures): Sofia Coppola directs this drama about the empty life of a Hollywood star (Stephen Dorff) and his relationship with his young daughter (Elle Fanning). [Buy it on Blu-ray or DVD]
ALSO OUT
2 Fast 2 Furious (Universal Pictures) [Blu-ray / Normal] Barbarossa – Siege Lord (Metrodome Distribution) [Blu-ray / Normal] Boudu Saved from Drowning (Park Circus) [Blu-ray / Normal] Fast and Furious (Universal Pictures) [Blu-ray / Normal] Fast and Furious Collection (Universal Pictures) [Blu-ray / with Digital Copy – Double Play] Megamind (DreamWorks Animation) [Blu-ray / Normal] My Soul to Take (Momentum Pictures) [Blu-ray / Normal] Outcasts (2 Entertain) [Blu-ray / Normal] Pirates of the Caribbean Trilogy (Walt Disney) [Blu-ray / Box Set] Prowl (G2 Pictures) [Blu-ray / Normal] The Karate Kid (Sony Pictures Home Ent.) [Blu-ray / Normal] The Wonders Collection With Prof. Brian Cox (2 Entertain) [Blu-ray / Normal] Wonders of the Universe (2 Entertain) [Blu-ray / Normal]
Don’t Look Now is an adaptation of the short story by Daphne du Maurier, and stars Julie Christie and Donald Sutherland as a married couple who travel to Venice only to haunted by the death of their recent daughter.
It recently topped Time Out’s list of the 100 best British films and remains a remarkably atmospheric drama with its brilliant editing, haunting visuals and great use of the wintry Italian locations.
The Man Who Fell To Earth is a cult adaptation of the Walter Tevis novel about a mysterious man (David Bowie) who seemingly arrives from another planet and builds a vast business empire before becoming a recluse.
An unusual and rewarding film, it has aged like a fine wine with an inventive approach to time and enduring exploration of the forces that shape modern society.
Both films are getting re-releases on Blu-ray and I recently spoke to Anthony about his work on what are now seminal films of the 1970s.
Various pieces of film music often end up in trailers for other movies but some appear more frequently than others.
When you watch a trailer for an upcoming film, the music featured is not necessarily what you hear in the final cut.
Often this is because the film and score haven’t been finished, but there are some musical cues that keep re-appearing.
The movie music website Soundtrack.net have compiled a long list of frequently used cues from trailers and here are the top five:
1. Redrum from Immediate Music (Used 28 times): Immediate Music are a LA-based music company that specialise in music for trailers and for some reason their track ‘Redrum’ has really caught on. The pounding rhythm conveys a sense of emergency, the dynamic pause at 0.22 is useful for cutting to a dramatic shot and the choral singing creates an atmosphere of heightened tension.
It has been used 28 times in trailers for Dante’s Peak (1997), The Day After Tomorrow (2004), The Last Castle (2001), The Mummy Returns (2001) and The Ring (2002).
2. Fire in a Brooklyn Theatre from Come See The Paradise (1990) by Randy Edelman (Used 27 times): Not many people remember Alan Parker’s drama about the treatment of Japanese people in America following the attack on Pearl Harbor, but one track from Randy Edelman’s score has been used in plenty of trailers as an action cue.
Again, urgency is the key here with the insistent rhythm and pounding keyboards creating the impression that what you are watching is dramatic and important. Ironically, this is musically out of step with the rest of film but studio marketing departments seem to love it, especially for weighty dramas with high stakes, which means it has appeared in trailers for The Chamber (1996), Clear and Present Danger (1994), A Few Good Men (1992), Rob Roy (1995) and Thirteen Days (2000).
3. Tightwire from Immediate Music (Used 26 times): The trailer music specialists are at it again with this fast, orchestral cue which screams urgency and a sense that something big is about to happen (i.e. a bomb about to go off), creating the illusion that you’re seeing something important and dramatic.
This is probably the reason why it has been used in trailers for The Avengers (1998), Die Hard with a Vengeance (1995), Leprechaun 2 (1994), The Man in the Iron Mask (1998) and What Lies Beneath (2000).
4. Naked Prey by Immediate Music (Used 25 times): Another track from Immediate Music, this cue automatically signifies urgent action with its quick beats and pounding rhythm.
Film trailers it has been used in include: Along Came a Spider (2001), The Beach (2000), The Constant Gardener (2005), The Mummy (1999) and Waterworld (1995).
5. Bishop’s Countdown from Aliens (1986) by James Horner (Used 24 times): James Horner’s score to James Cameron’s sequel to Alien (1979) was composed under extreme time constraints and pressure. But it features perhaps the most memorable trailer cue ever, taken from the climax to the film as Ripley fights the Alien queen.
The sounds of pounding metal, interweaving strings and perfectly judged brass all build to a monumental crescendo. It works so brilliantly that it appears in plenty of trailers including Alien 3 (1992), Broken Arrow (1996), Dante’s Peak (1997), From Dusk Till Dawn (1996) and Minority Report (2002).
UPDATE 07/04/2011: After Roger Ebert tweeted about this post (thanks Roger!) there was a lot of traffic and some excellent suggestions in the comments below.
Some are more modern examples of music that has been re-purposed for use in trailers.
Michael Williams suggests Steve Jablonsky‘s theme My Name is Lincoln from Michael Bay’s The Island (2005), which most people probably remember for its use in the trailer for Avatar (2009):
What’s interesting about this one is that it is used for the first minute of the trailer and was probably chosen for the spacey, sci-fi vibe.
Another suggestion from Fax Paladin was the track “St Crispin’s Day” from Patrick Doyle’s score to Kenneth Branagh’s Henry V (1989). Click forward to 2.37 to hear the specific cue, which is used when Henry give the Band of Brothers speech.
I’m not exactly sure what it has been used for, but it sounds familiar and the rousing strings around 4.22 certainly have that uplifting quality you often see in a good trailer.
Although the film wasn’t a box office hit for The Coen Brothers, the moving strings and charming melodies make it perfect for creating a mood in a trailer.
Aronofsky told me in 2008 that Mansell was initially unhappy about this use of his music, but it caught on and quickly became a staple of various trailers and ads including The Da Vinci Code (2006), Sunshine (2007), and even Sky Sports News (it was also the theme for Soccer Saturday from 2007-2009)
Kevin Bingham suggests a track from John Murphy’s score to Danny Boyle’s Sunshine (2007), which combines an absolutely epic mix of strings, electronic beats and piano.
Chris Knight suggests the track “Archer Solomon Hike” from James Newton Howard’s score to Blood Diamond (2006):
I can’t quite put my finger on what trailers have used it but the moody strings certainly fit that quiet/reflective moments in a trailer.
Dave suggests Basil Pouledoris’ main theme for Conan the Barbarian (1982). Listen to the opening part:
The rhythm and melody sound very familiar and create a vibe of impending doom in a foreign land. It also sounds like Jerry Goldsmith’s main theme for Total Recall (1990), another film which starred Arnold Schwarzenegger.
Loosely adapted from the novel by Walter Tevis, it depicts the arrival of enigmatic stranger Thomas Jerome Newton (David Bowie) as he quickly makes a fortune by securing advanced industrial patents with the help of a New York lawyer (Buck Henry).
Retreating to New Mexico he falls in love with a hotel chambermaid (Candy Clark) and recruits a disillusioned chemistry professor (Rip Torn) to build a spaceship so he can save his dying planet.
Director Nicolas Roeg and screenwriter Paul Mayersberg opted for a different brand of sci-fi, with an elliptical story highlighting the emptiness of existence on earth rather than depicting the mysteries of the cosmos.
It baffled a lot of audiences who would soon be thrilled by more mainstream fare such as Star Wars (1977), Alien (1979) and E.T. (1982), but unlike those films, this is much stranger affair that touches upon deeper themes of corporate greed, solitude and the passage of time.
Over the years it has become something of a cult classic and not just for Bowie fans.
Roeg’s trademark editing style and skill behind the camera is evident and DP Tony Richmond captures the beauty of the New Mexico locations.
Although rough around the edges as an actor, Bowie was perfectly cast as the enigmatic Newton and, living like a Howard Hughes-style recluse, he remains distant and ageless whilst bringing a touching sadness to his part.
Incidentally, Bowie was so taken with May Routh’s costumes that he used them on his subsequent tour and stills from the film would be used for the covers of his albums Station to Station (1976) and Low (1977).
The supporting performances are excellent: Henry brings a wistful quality to his lawyer role; Candy Clark makes for an engagingly innocent emotional partner to Bowie; and Rip Torn is good value as the academic who finds himself fascinated by the life opened up by his new boss.
Like much of Roeg’s work it is a film that repays repeated viewing, containing a lot thematic material to chew on beneath its stylish surface.
Momentous events happen in the background: Newton’s company becomes so big that it distorts the US economy and he becomes a major celebrity figure, but the primary focus is always kept on the individuals surrounding him.
Is he an alien Howard Hughes or Charles Foster Kane unhappy with his wealth and power? Do earthly pleasures corrupt him? Is he even an alien at all?
The enigmatic Newton personifies the film: he’s fascinating, mysterious and rewarding once you get to know him.
Part of what makes the film so effective is that we see 1970s America though alien eyes.
The corrupt business and political elites and the addictive qualities of television, alcohol and sex are things that affect the central characters.
Its effectiveness as a social satire lies in the way these themes are allowed to quietly brew in the background and they still have a resonance even today.
This subtlety is also present in the film’s approach to time as the chronological shifts gradually creep up on the viewer.
Like some of the characters, we are left a little disorientated as the years pass by, which is like the ageing process itself.
Modern viewers may note that one of Newton’s inventions is eerily similar to what would eventually become the modern digital camera.
This version is the longer 140 minute cut, with the more explicit – though never gratuitous – sex scenes that censorious US distributors trimmed.
This Blu-ray release is presented in its original aspect ratio of 2.35:1, and the transfer is excellent.
SPECIAL FEATURES
Whilst not as extensive as the now deleted 2008 Criterion Blu-ray, this version has a substantial amount of extras including:
Watching the Alien documentary (24:30): The most substantial feature is this making of documentary which includes interviews with Roeg, executive producer Si Litvinoff, actress Candy Clark, production designer Brian Eatwell, DP Tony Richmond and editor Graeme Clifford. Although Bowie’s absence is disappointing, it covers various interesting aspects of the production such as the all British crew (unusual for a film shot in the US), Bowie’s performance, the costumes, the non-linear style of editing, the use of music (the temp score used during the edit was Pink Floyd’s Dark Side of the Moon) and the legacy of the film.
Interview with director Nic Roeg (33:27): This lengthy interview sees Roeg discuss various issues related to the film including: how he ‘fell’ into his career in the film industry; the speed of technological change; how he came across the Walter Tevis novel and why the sci-fi genre appealed; the political relevance of the issues in the film and the casting of Bowie.
Interview with cinematographer Tony Richmond (21:48): The cinematographer talks about working with Roeg (he also shot Don’t Look Now and Bad Timing), the novel, shooting on location in New Mexico and the influence of the film.
Interview with screenwriter Paul Mayersberg (31:33): The writer goes in to some detail about how he got involved in the production; how he kept to the structure of the novel but changed various elements (such as the political subplot); trying to predict the futuristic gadgets Newton develops; the emotional triangle at the heart of the film; the theme of betrayal and playing around with the notion of time.
Interview with Candy Clark (27:46): The actress who plays Mary Lou talks about how she got introduced to Roeg by producer Si Litvinoff; the immediate appeal of the script; the physical challenges of the role; the significant differences between the novel and the film; and working with Bowie.
Radio interview with Walter Tevis from 1984 (4:08): The author of the novel talks on a New York radio show about his upbringing, how he got into writing, his first novel The Hustler (later made into the film starring Paul Newman) and how he only quit teaching in the late 1970s.
Theatrical Trailer (2:18): The original trailer comes in its original aspect ratio and plays up the fact that this was Bowie’s first film role and features a ridiculously heavy voiceover.
The Man Who Fell to Earth is released on Blu-ray by Optimum Home Releasing on Monday 4th April
Here are my picks of the best DVD & Blu-ray releases during April.
Particular highlights include the remastered Blu-ray of Nic Roeg’s cult classic The Man Who Fell to Earth (1976), a Blu-ray of beloved fantasy The Princess Bride (1987) and a re-issue from Eureka of Henri-Georges Clouzot’s classic Les Diaboliques (1955).
If you go to www.rebuildjapanpixelbypixel.com you can make a small donation and a pixelated addition to the rebuilding of the Japanese flag, which will help their goal of raising at least £15,000 towards the Japan Earthquake and Tsunami Relief Fund.
Buying a pixel for £2 (or whatever you can afford) through this site means that money will go help distribute funds to those providing relief and emergency services to victims of the earthquake and tsunami including the International Medical Corps, Save the Children, and other organisations on the ground.
Source Code (Momentum): A sci-fi thriller about on a soldier (Jake Gyllenhall) who finds himself part of a mission to find out why a commuter train exploded. Directed by Duncan Jones, it co-stars Michelle Monaghan, Vera Farmiga and Jeffrey Wright. [Nationwide / 12A] [Trailer] [Reviews] [Read our full review here]
Hop (Universal): Live-action mixes with animation in this family film about a driver (James Marsden) who accidentally hits the Easter Bunny (Russell Brand) and then has to save the holiday where people celebrate the death of Jesus by eating chocolate eggs. Directed by Tim Hill and co-starring Gary Cole and Hugh Laurie. Nationwide / U] [Trailer] [Reviews]
Sucker Punch (Warner Bros.): A young girl (Emily Browning) is institutionalized by her wicked stepfather and retreats to an alternative reality as a coping strategy, as she envisions a plan which will help her escape from the facility. Directed by Zack Snyder, it also stars Abbie Cornish, Jena Malone and Carla Gugino. [Nationwide / 12A] [Trailer] [Reviews] [Read our full review here]
Killing Bono (Paramount): Based on the memoirs of music journalist Neil McCormick, two brothers in Dublin attempt to become global rock stars but can only look on as old school friends U2 become the biggest band in the world. Directed by Nick Hamm and starring Ben Barnes and Robert Sheehan. [Nationwide / 15] [Trailer] [Reviews]
ALSO OUT
Oranges and Sunshine (Icon): The story of a social worker from Nottingham (Emily Watson) who uncovered one of the forced migration of children from the United Kingdom to Australia and Canada. Directed by Jim Loach and co-starring Hugo Weaving and David Wenham. [Selected cinemas] [Trailer] [Reviews]
Essential Killing (Artificial Eye): Political thriller film by the Polish writer and director Jerzy Skolimowski, about a man captured in the desert by American forces, who finds himself transported to a nameless European country. Stars Vincent Gallo and Emmanuelle Seigner. [Selected cinemas / 15] [Trailer] [Reviews]
Blooded (Revolver): British indie horror done in the style of documentary. Directed by Edward Boase and starring Oliver Boot and Tracy Ifaechor. [Selected cinemas / 15]
Young Hearts Run Free (Bede Films Ltd): Romantic drama set against the backdrop of the 1974 miners’ strike. Directed by Andy Mark Simpson, it stars Andy Black and Jennifer Bryden. [12A]
Game (Eros International): A Hindi action film directed by Abhinay Deo and starring Abhishek Bachchan and Kangna Ranaut. [Selected cinemas]
Hatchet II (Arrow Films): Sequel to the 2006 horror, which sees Adam Green return to direct and Kane Hodder and Tony Todd reprise their roles from the first film. [18]
A gaudy, adolescent fantasy riddled with mindless slow motion set-pieces marks a creative low-point for director Zack Snyder.
Opening with a young girl named Babydoll (Emily Browning) being sent to an asylum, Sucker Punch explores how she tries to escape her grim reality by imagining another world of an underworld bordello where she and her fellow inmates (Abbie Cornish, Jena Malone, Vanessa Hudgens) dance for various men.
This then develops into another imaginary world every time she dances, which features various combat missions against fantastical enemies (which include giant samurais, zombie Nazis and fire-breathing dragons) whilst a wise man (Scott Glenn) offers her guidance.
(Incidentally, there are some striking similarities to John Carpenter’s The Ward, a little seen horror from last year about a young woman sent to an asylum.)
All of this plays like a low-rent version of Inception, as various characters traverse different levels that affect one other, mixed with the camp theatricality of Burlesque, with the female characters dressed in increasingly over the top costumes.
Incorporating a variety of influences, including graphic novels, manga and first-person shooter video games, it appears that Snyder has attempted a major homage to his own passions.
Like his previous film 300 (2007), this is a world heavily reliant on stylised CGI landscapes, and armed with a sizeable budget (reportedly $80m), he has created what is essentially a hyperactive console game for the big screen.
The fundamental flaw is that none of it really matters.
Despite the sword fights, gun battles and attempts to escape the asylum, nothing is ever at truly at stake and there is zero tension as the film plays out like a deranged firework.
Snyder’s trademark use of slow-motion is especially tiresome, especially in addition to the use of songs (including sacrilegious covers of tracks by The Beatles, The Smiths and The Pixies) which make long stretches feel like a Britney Spears video.
It is hard to talk about the effectiveness of the performances, as Snyder’s script (co-written by Steve Shibuya) only allows his leading actresses to be the most puerile of fantasy figures.
Their names – Babydoll, Sweet Pea and Blondie – and increasingly icky attire reduce them to ciphers and the unreal set-pieces play out like a Charlie’s Angels episode on acid.
Actors in supporting roles don’t fair much better: Carla Gugino is memorable only for a bad Russian accent; Jon Hamm barely has any screen time at all; and Scott Glenn is on auto-pilot as a fatherly figure spouting words of advice.
In order to get commercial-friendly ratings (PG-13 in the US and 12A in the UK), Snyder has removed a sex scene and cleverly cut around the violence, so we don’t actually see anything too graphic.
Despite this, an uneasy air of sleaze still hangs over the production, especially given the fetish gear costume designer Michael Wilkinson has designed for the female leads.
The persistent threat of rape and violence towards young women – usually from sleazy, overweight men – also pervades the film like a bad smell and feels vaguely creepy in a film aimed squarely at younger-leaning audiences.
It isn’t often that you get a brothel, lobotomies, shootings to the head and attempted sexual assault in a 12A film, but I guess its all fantasy, so who cares anyway?
Sucker Punch is an original story in the sense that it wasn’t adapted from an existing property, but it is pretty unoriginal in processing existing films and games in this genre.
But to what end?
There’s no heart, emotion or tension here and all the sequences seem to have been designed solely to make a certain kind of fantasy nerd go ‘awesome!’. It also tries to capture a younger female audience who might like the idea of girls in kick-ass action roles.
But this film shows the danger inherent in giving an audience ‘what they want’ (or what the studios think they want) as it has already largely failed to appeal to either crowd.
The tidal wave of negative reviews, plus the fact that finished up behind Diary of a Wimpy Kid: Rodrick Rules on its opening weekend, suggest it alienated mainstream audiences and the very geeks it was supposed to indulge.
Snyder’s stock as a director is considerably diminished after this, but as he heads off to prepare for his upcoming Superman film one hopes he can put this relentless, vapid exercise behind him and make something worthwhile.
It depicts the (fictionalised) recording of Blue Öyster Cult‘s classic rock song (Don’t Fear) The Reaper and Walken plays a legendary music producer who suggests they include more of a certain instrument.
Part of the site’s growth was down to the fact that it was an early adopter of HD and in 2009 Engadget reported that around 10% of uploads were in high definition.
The interface for the new app is pretty slick and the combination of the site and mobile editor make it very handy indeed.
It is a free download which you can use on newer iOS devices including the iPhone (3GS or 4), iPod touch (4th generation), or the iPad 2.
After a quick play around, it seems easier to use than the iMovie app (which costs £2.99 in the UK app store and $4.99 in the US) and the fact that its free is also a major bonus.
You can download the app from iTunes or via Vimeo.
He had already worked with director Steven Spielberg on films such as The Sugarland Express (1974) and Jaws (1975), but Close Encounters involved more elaborate sets and visual effects.
There hasn’t been any official word yet from UK distributor Icon about their release plans, but it seems staggering that it would open at UK cinemas and completely scupper the possibility of what would be one of the most anticipated Cannes screenings in years.
The idea that a high profile festival premiere, featuring Brad Pitt and Sean Penn on the red carpet alongside Malick, would be sacrificed so UK audiences and critics could see the film a week earlier is fairly mind boggling.
It has already been announced that the film will screen there, but whether it will show in competition won’t be officially confirmed until April 14th when Thierry Fremaux announces the full lineup.
When Garrett Brown invented the Steadicam in the 1970s it had an immediate impact on how films were shot.
Before his invention if filmmakers wanted tracking shots (i.e. ones where the camera moves), they were limited to using a dolly track or hand-held work.
After shooting a demo reel with a prototype rig, he caught the attention of Hollywood and it led to work on such films as Bound for Glory (1976), Rocky (1976) and The Shining (1980) as well as an Academy Award of Merit.
Last year at the EG conference Brown gave a talk where he described how he came up with the idea for his revolutionary camera rig and its subsequent application in movies, sports broadcasting and industry.
Among the things worth noting are:
His father Rodney G Brown invented the ‘hot melt’ glue used in paperback books
He was once a folk singer
Kubrick’s desire for multiple takes on The Shining helped him become a better operator
He teaches Steadicam operators to have a calm demeanor
Working on Return of the Jedi (1983) and Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom (1984) helped inspire the SkyCam
The original demo for the Steadicam prototype was filmed on the steps of the Philadelphia Museum of Art, which directly inspired the famous scene in Rocky
Unstoppable (20th Century Fox Home Ent.): Tony Scott’s latest film is stimulating mainstream fare about two railway engineers (Denzel Washington and Chris Pine) who must stop a runaway train loaded with toxic chemicals. [Read our full review here] [Blu-ray / Normal]
Babies (Optimum Home Entertainment) [Blu-ray / Normal] Charlie Chaplin: Limelight (Park Circus) [Blu-ray / with DVD – Double Play] Concert for George (Warner Music Entertainment) [Blu-ray / Normal] Fantasia (Walt Disney) [Blu-ray / Normal] Fantasia 2000 (Walt Disney) [Blu-ray / Normal] Life As We Know It (Warner Home Video) [Blu-ray / Normal] Locked Down (Lionsgate UK) [Blu-ray / Normal] Machete (Sony Pictures Home Ent.) [Blu-ray / Normal] Mad Men: Seasons 1-4 (Lionsgate UK) [Blu-ray / Box Set] Secretariat (Walt Disney Studios Home Ent.) [Blu-ray / Normal] Tamara Drewe (Momentum Pictures) [Blu-ray / Normal] The Warrior’s Way (EV) [Blu-ray / Normal] Top Gear – The Great Adventures: Volume 4 (2 Entertain) [Blu-ray / Normal] Uncle Boonmee Who Can Recall His Past Lives (New Wave Films) [Blu-ray / Normal]
Over the last few years it has travelled to various cities across the globe including Berlin, Zurich, Rome and Melbourne.
The archives contain a number of documents from Kubrick’s productions including scripts, letters, research materials, photos, costumes and props.
It also includes materials from films that Kubrick planned but never made, including the Napoleon project from the early 1970s and the Holocaust drama Aryan Papers which he planned in the early 1990s.
The layout of the exhibition is designed so each space is dedicated to a film and it takes up two floors of the Frank Gehry building, on the 5th and 7th floors, with large-scale models and interactive digital installations.
The fourth season of the acclaimed TV show continues its fascinating exploration of the life and times of a New York ad agency.
By now Mad Men is something of a phenomenon. Even though it doesn’t get huge ratings, it has captured the hearts and minds of critics, cultural tastemakers as well as receiving multiple awards, including thirteen Emmys and four Golden Globes.
The end of Season Three saw the partners at ad agency Sterling Cooper dissolve their copmany to start afresh and the cultural eruptions of the 1960s and the personal dramas of the characters continue.
Opening in November 1964, this series begins with recently divorced Don Draper (Jon Hamm) still struggling to balance his personal and professional life, as he juggles relationships and deals with revelations about his past rising to the surface.
Peggy Olsen (Elisabeth Moss) continues her rise at the agency despite the sexism of the times; the senior partners have to deal with a tricky major client; the Vietnam War is beginning to rear its head and affect Joan (Christina Hendricks), whilst Pete (Vincent Kartheiser) deals with the personal ties that conflict with his work.
As with previous seasons the creative standards are very high, with the acting, writing and direction as good as anything you’ll see on television.
The production values and period setting are as impressive as ever, but Weiner and his creative team go beyond just recreating a past era and skilfully explore the social anxities of the time, which also neatly reflect the current turmoil in Western culture.
One of the chief pleasures of the show as it progresses is the way in which it conveys the compleys layers of the characters lives. Don still remains enigmatic despite numerous revelations about his life, Pete is a much more sympathetic character than he was in Season One and the painful realities of divorce are explored through Don daughter Sally (Kiernan Shipka).
As for new characters, perhaps the most notable is Dr. Faye Miller (Cara Buono), a market research consultant who represents the data driven approach to advertising that contrasts with Don’s old school approach.
There are some outstanding episodes this season: the opener “Public Relations” sets the tone for the season; “The Rejected” explores the very real drama of a market research group; “The Chrysanthemum and the Sword” depicts the lingering tensions of World War II and what can be learned from Eastern culture; and “The Suitcase” sees Don and Peggy stay up all night to work on a Samsonite ad, in what could be the best single episode in the history of the show.
If I had a quibble about Season Four it would be a major late development that had my head spinning after the final episode, although how Wiener and his writers develop it will be interesting, to say the least.
Visually, Mad Men is the most filmic of TV shows. Not only is it shot on 35mm, but the compositions and attention to detail are reminiscent of cinema, whilst the influence of Hitchcock can be felt throughout the series in the opening credits, the blonde females and camera movements.
It is worth remembering that when it began life what was primarily on a movie channel in the US (AMC) and Matthew Wiener didn’t want it to look out of place.
The visual craft and attention to detail make it perfect for the Blu-ray format and the show looks gorgeous in high definition – with a AVC encoded 1080p transfer in 1.78:1 – and the costumes and production design come across in exquisite detail.
SPECIAL FEATURES
The box sets for the series have been notable for some fine supplementary features, which include documentaries and news footage exploring the historical backdrop to the show. Season Four is no exception.
Commentaries: Every episode has at least one commentary and although the most revealing tend to involve show creator Matthew Weiner, often alongside a key crew member, the actors can also be good value, providing another perpective on their characters. The list of commentaries includes:
“Public Relations”: 1) Weiner and Hamm; 2) David Carbonara and Jane Bryant
“Christmas Comes But Once a Year”: 1) Joel Murray and Alexa Alemann; 2) Weiner and Michael Uppendahl
“The Good News”: 1) Melinda Page Hamilton and Jared Harris; 2) Weiner and Jennifer Getzinger
“The Rejected”: 1) Vincent Kartheiser, John Slattery and Cara Buono; 2) Weiner and Chris Manley
“The Chrysanthemum and the Sword”: 1) Weiner and Erin Levy
“Waldorf Stories”: 1) Aaron Staton, Jay Ferguson and Danny Strong; 2) Weiner, Brett Johnson and Scott Hornbacher
“The Suitcase”: 1) Elisabeth Moss; 2) Weiner, Tim Wilson and Chris Manley
“The Summer Man”: 1) Christopher Stanley, Matt Long, and Rick Sommer; 2) Weiner and Leo Trombetta
“The Beautiful Girls”: 1) Christina Hendricks, Cara Buono and Kiernan Shipka; 2) Weiner and Dahvi Waller
“Hands and Knees”: 1) Vincent Kartheiser and Christina Hendricks; 2) Weiner and David Carbonara
“Chinese Wall”: 1) Jessica Paré and Cara Buono; 2) Weiner and Erin Levy
“Blowing Smoke”: 1) John Slattery, Andre and Maria Jacquemetton and Robert Morse; 2) Weiner, Bob Levinson and Josh Weltman
“Tomorrowland”: 1) Kiernan Shipka, Weiner, and Jessica Paré; 2) Weiner and Jonathan Igla
Divorce: Circa 1960’s (HD; 1:19:36) A three-part documentary that explores the issue of divorce during the 1960s, a major theme in Season Four as Don and Betty’s separation begins to affect their children. Various experts give us insights into the subject, such as how people viewed it at the time and the difficulties it posed for people involved, whilst using illustrative clips from the show.
How to Succeed in Business Draper Style (HD; 56:29): A two-part featurette which interviews several businessmen and how Don Draper is a role model for today’s business executive. Most of this plays like a Tony Robbins-style seminar and I can only imagine it was included as an ironic comment on how some modern males perceive the central character as a hero (i.e. they love the smoking and drinking, whilst ignoring the emotional turmoil).
Marketing the Mustang: An American Icon (HD; 27:07): An excellent featurette on the iconic car that was introduced by Ford in 1964, which Don is seen driving in some of the episodes.
1964 Presidential Campaign (HD; 31:12): A fascinating compilation of campaign ads for the 1964 presidential election between Lyndon Johnson and Barry Goldwater, which resulted in a landslide for the Democrats. There is the infamous ‘Daisy‘ TV spot of a little girl picking daisies followed by a nuclear explosion, which played on the fear that Goldwater would use nuclear weapons in Vietnam. But there is also the inclusion of several others, which show how much (and how little) political campaigning has changed since.
Mad Men Season Four is out on DVD & Blu-ray from Lionsgate on Monday 28th March 2011
Limitless (Paramount/Momentum): A struggling writer (Bradley Cooper) discovers a top-secret drug which bestows him with super human abilities. As his usage begins to change his life, he begins to discover the drug’s shadowy origins. Directed by Neil Burger and co-starring Abbie Cornish and Robert De Niro, this has a promising first third but soon dissolves into a formulaic thriller. [Nationwide / 15] [Reviews] [Trailer]
The Eagle (Universal): In Roman-ruled Britain, a young Roman soldier endeavors to honor his father’s memory by finding his lost legion’s golden emblem. Directed by Kevin MacDonald and starring Jamie Bell and Channing Tatum. [Nationwide / 12A] [Reviews] [Trailer]
Country Strong (Sony Pictures): A fallen country star (Gwyneth Paltrow) strives to revive her career with some help from her husband (Tim McGraw), a young songwriter (Garrett Hedlund) and an emerging country artist (Leighton Meester). Directed by Shana Feste. [Nationwide / 12A] [Reviews] [Trailer]
Faster (Sony Pictures): An ex-convict (Dwayne ‘The Rock’ Johnson) seeks revenge for his brother’s death in this revenge thriller, co-starring Billy Bob Thornton, Oliver Jackson-Cohen and directed by George Tillman Jr. [Nationwide / 15] [Reviews] [Trailer]
A Turtle’s Tale: Sammy’s Adventures (Optimum Releasing): A sea turtle who was hatched in 1959 spends the next 50 years traveling the world while it is being changed by global warming. Directed by Ben Stassen, it stars Melanie Griffith and Isabelle Fuhrman. [Nationwide / U] [Reviews] [Trailer]
ALSO OUT
Cave of Forgotten Dreams (Picturehouse): Werner Herzog’s latest documentary sees the German director gain access to film inside the Chauvet caves France, capturing the oldest known pictorial creations of humankind in their astonishing natural setting. [Selected cinemas / U] [Read our full review here] [Reviews] [Trailer]
Wake Wood (Vertigo Films): Irish horror film about the parents of a girl killed by a savage dog who are granted the opportunity to spend three days with their deceased daughter. [Selected cinemas / 18] [Reviews] [Trailer]
Toast (Momentum Pictures): Drama based on the memoirs of food writer Nigel Slater, which first premièred on BBC1 around Christmas. [Selected cinemas / PG] [Trailer]
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