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Modern Warfare

MarcMorris — Tue, 10 Nov 2009 10:44:05 GMT

BBC News: Modern Warfare 'set for record'

The widely-anticipated video game Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 has been tipped to be the biggest selling video game in history.

amazon.co.uk: Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2

UK: Boom! from Second Sight in November

MarcMorris — Mon, 09 Nov 2009 21:21:24 GMT

On November 30, 2009 Second Sight will issue Joseph Losey's Boom! on DVD.

The wealthy, self-absorbed eccentric Sissy Goforth has taken up residence on a secluded Mediterranean island where she dictates her memoirs, flied into rages and screams insults at her servants. Her health now failing she drinks, takes pills and has a doctor give her injections to ease the pain. Into her reclusive life comes a stranger who manages to climb to her villa and survive a guard dog attack before introducing himself as a poet. Though attracted by the visitor she soon discovers he has a reputation for appearing when wealthy women are about to meet their demise and is known locally as the Angel of Death.

Based on Tennessee Williams' play, 'The Milk Train Doesn't Stop Here Any More', BOOM! stars real-life husband and wife Elizabeth Taylor and Richard Burton in this story of an incredibly wealthy woman who retires to a her isolated island estate, with the intent of producing an autobiography. Playwrite Williams lauded this as the finest adaptation of his work.

DVD: amazon.co.uk | play.com

Top 100 defining films of this decade ...

claire — Mon, 09 Nov 2009 20:47:12 GMT

... per a couple of journalists:

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/f...s-in-film.html

Film ID needed

SimonT — Mon, 09 Nov 2009 18:11:10 GMT

Someone has asked me about a film they're trying to find the title of, though details are a little sketchy.

Apparently, the plot was about a black box (an invention gone bad) that stalks it's victims moving slowly along the floor. When it has someone cornered, it used what appeared to be electricity to kill. The only other detail is that one could approach the box if wearing what looked to be a welder's mask.

Its a film from the early 70s apparently, not sure if its an American or British (Hammer/Amicus) film or what it is. Might even be a horror TV series.

Sound familiar to anyone?

TIA!

1 Day (Penny Woolcock, 2009)

MarcMorris — Mon, 09 Nov 2009 10:58:51 GMT

Just wondered if anybody has seen this yet? It's apparently been pulled from cinemas in Birmingham where it was filmed.

Quote:

1 Day is a high octane caper through a day in the life of an inner city hustler. The film follows Flash whose day gets steadily worse when he finds out he suddenly has to repay a debt to his big head, Angel, and he has to find the money fast. As more and more people get on his case and the clock starts ticking, Flash is pursued by everyone from a rival gang, the police, three irate babymothers and his granny.

Entirely street cast film, the film was shot on location in Birmingham. It features original hip hop and grime tracks - as well as gospel, reggae and spirituals -making it the first ever British hip hop film. While Flash gets robbed, harassed and shot at, the film explores life for many young men in the Afro-Caribbean community which originated the urban music at its heart.

BBC Birmingham: 1 Day on Birmingham's inner city streets

Media Commons: An Open Letter

BBFC info (SPOLIER ALERT):

Quote:

1 DAY is a drama-thriller that follows a frenzied 24 hours in the life of a gang member and drug dealer in Birmingham who must somehow find a large amount of money that he owes to his gang leader who has just been released from prison. The film was passed at '15' for strong language and violence.

The film contains numerous uses of strong language that feature in the dialogue and the lyrics of hip-hop songs accompanying the action, certainly too many to meet with the restrictions of the Guidelines at '12A/12' which state that 'the use of strong language (for example, 'fuck') must be infrequent'. Consequently, the film was placed at the '15' category where the Guidelines allow for frequent use of such language.

In a film depicting the lives of characters involved in crime and gang rivalries, there are sequences of moderate threat as well as scenes where tensions break out into open violence that include the use of knives and guns. These represent moments of strong violence with sight of its bloody consequences which required the '15' category, but there is no undue dwelling 'on the infliction of pain or injury', or on the bloody detail, which might have presented a challenge to the Guidelines at '15'.

The film contains infrequent soft drug use as well as sight of hard drugs, including a scene which sees a character 'cooking up' crack cocaine but this is portrayed without any significantly instructive detail. The presence of drugs has a contextual justification but the depictions of drug dealing and drug misuse do not carry any elements of overt promotion or encouragement and it is likely that they would have been permitted at '12A'.

UK: Melody (aka SWALK) from Optimum in March

MarcMorris — Sat, 07 Nov 2009 20:55:26 GMT

On 1 March 2010 Optimum will issue Waris Hussein's Melody (aka S.W.A.L.K, 1971) on DVD for the first time in the UK.

An excellent musical score by the Bee Gees adds appeal to this curious little movie about two ten-year olds, Daniel and Melody (Mark Lester and Tracy Hyde) who are completely taken with each other and announce to their parents, in all seriousness, that they plan to get married. This marriage is not planned for the distant future, but as soon as possible. The uproar that is caused when their seriousness becomes clear is not too surprising. Their best friend Ornshaw (Jack Wild) is not too thrilled with their plan either. What makes the film work is that the entire story is told from the children's point of view in which the grownups' objections, since they have no relation to the truth of what the children are feeling, come across as silly or inconsequential. This film is a reunion of sorts for Oscar-winning Oliver! co-stars Mark Lester and Jack Wild.

DVD: amazon.co.uk | play.com

UK: Pontypool from Spirit in January

MarcMorris — Sat, 07 Nov 2009 20:04:53 GMT

On January 25, 2010, Spirit Entertainment will issue Bruce McDonald's Pontypool on DVD and Blu-ray.

It's not just the snow storm that's chilling in this Canadian zombie movie from director Bruce McDonald (THE TRACEY FRAGMENTS). Stephen McHattie (WATCHMEN) stars as controversy-courting radio DJ Grant Mazzy, who can only find work in Pontypool, Ontario, where he broadcasts his show from the church basement. The monotony of relaying the small-town news of a blizzard is broken when Grant begins to report strange stories of violence to his listeners. It is soon revealed that there's a virus infecting the whole town, and Grant and his coworkers barricade themselves in the office. But the virus doesn't use the standard methods of blood or air for its transmission; instead, language is responsible for the disease, which leaves Grant wondering whether it is better to spread the news or keep quiet.

DVD: amazon.co.uk

Blu-ray: amazon.co.uk

UK: Thirst from Palisades Tartan in January

MarcMorris — Sat, 07 Nov 2009 20:01:03 GMT

On 25 Jan 2010 Palisades Tartan will issue Chan-Wook Park's Thirst on DVD.

A priest becomes a vampire...another man's wife is coveted...a deadly seduction triggers murder. Thirst is the new film from director Park Chan-wook (Old Boy, Sympathy for Mr. Vengeance, Sympathy for Lady Vengeance). Already a box-office smash in Korea, Thirst was honored with the Prix du Jury [Jury Prize] at the 2009 Cannes International Film Festival.

Continuing his explorations of human existence in extreme circumstances, the director spins a tale that he conceived and then developed over several years with co-screenwriter Chung Seo-kyung, inspired by �mile Zola's Therese Raquin. Sang-hyun (played by top Korean star Song Kang-ho, of The Good The Bad The Weird, The Host and Sympathy for Mr. Vengeance) is a priest who cherishes life; so much so, that he selflessly volunteers for a secret vaccine development project meant to eradicate a deadly virus. But the virus takes the priest, and a blood transfusion is urgently ordered up for him. The blood he receives is infected, so Sang-hyun lives but now exists as a vampire. Struggling with his newfound carnal desire for blood, Sang-hyun s faith is further strained when a childhood friend's wife, Tae-ju (Kim Ok-vin) comes to him asking for his help in escaping her life. Sang-hyun soon plunges into a world of sensual pleasures, finding himself on intimate terms with the Seven Deadly Sins.

DVD: amazon.co.uk

The Royal Hunt of the Sun (Irving Lerner, 1969)

fredzilla — Fri, 06 Nov 2009 04:29:01 GMT

I just can't get enough of adventure-movies set in historical times. Temples, battles, intrigues, men dressed in very little clothes.

There's peplums, there's dark dramas from the eastern europe, there's Hollywood extravaganzas. And then we have those middle-movies. Not cheap, not expensive, just inbetween somewhere. They're aren't consider big classics because not so many people know about them. Kings of the Sun is one one. The War Lord is another one. Excellent flicks, but hardly any movies that are brought up together with the big classics in the genre, like Spartacus or Ben-Hur. The Royal Hunt of the Sun is one of the most forgotten ones, maybe just because it's in public domain and no one really bothered to release it properly over the years. I think it's well worth watching, if not only for impressive performances by Robert Shaw and Christopher Plummer.

Robert Shaw plays Pizarro, the spanish explorer who makes one final journey to South America to proove to his king that there are gold for everyone there. This time he's being forced to bring two priests and a couple of the kings men with him, which causes trouble. The only thing they want is to make everyone they meet a christian and claim more land for Spain. Pisarro is a warrior, but also way smarter than the religious idiots he has to bring with him, and when they meet a young and free-spirited Inca King (Christopher Plummer) he's starting to get confused about his mission and about his religion...

As you can hear, it's mostly a drama - and it's based on play by the way - but it's also a good drama with Plummer in one of the most weird roles I've seen him in. He's has the strangest acccent I've heard in a movie, makes sounds and weird movements, like monkey or a bird, and dances around like a madman. He causes a crisis when he says he's a god, and makes the spanish monks belive he's a reincarnation of Satan. The spanish expects him to convert to christianity, to act like a "normal" person, but finds out that he never will do that. Instead he starts to question the logic in the christian religion, which opens up more questions about morality and what people do in gods name.

The Royal Hunt of the Sun is shot in Peru, and they uses something that looks like a real Inca temple. The location is fantastic, and if it's fake I just want to send my regards to the set designers. Like Kings of the Sun, it has a realistic feeling to it, and there's a lot of strange rituals and clothes that seems real, and not some silly invention from Hollywood (or England in this case). But is there any action at all? Yes, there's one battle in the beginning when the spanish first meet the Inca king and his people. But it's not a normal generic epic movie-battle, it's much cooler. Everything is in slow-mo, gorgeous slow-mo so you can see everything. It's like a early version of 300, with less blood. It's so stylish and cool that it made the hair on my arms stand up. Every movie I love has that "thing" that makes it even closer to me, and this is one of the scenes which moved this movie from good to great in my opinion. It was the extra spice I needed before all the drama started.

I've only seen the short version, which runs around 95 minutes. The original version is almost 2 hours. This is a cheap british dvd which is in the original ratio, but non-anamorphic. The picture quality is quite bad, but better than the other versions of the movie I've seen.

(from my blog)

Takeshi's Castle (1986) DVD.

WhyWhyZed — Fri, 06 Nov 2009 02:20:19 GMT

According to Keshiheads.co.uk there are two official DVDs planned to be released. The first is due to be released on the 20th of November 2009 and the second on the 26th of February 2010:

Unfortuantly it doesn't look like there's subtitles available.

Anthony Balch's Secrets of Sex on DVD

Simon Sheridan — Thu, 05 Nov 2009 17:22:31 GMT

I'm absolutely delighted to announce that Odeon Entertainment will be releasing Antony Balch's celebrated 1970 sex 'n' horror classic Secrets of Sex on DVD in January 2010.

This is one of the most idiosyncratic and unforgettable British movies of all time: in fact, a film the censor tried to stop! From beyond the grave, a 1,000-year-old mummy (voiced by Valentine Dyall) narrates a series of kinky stories to illustrate the age-old battle of the sexes. From cosmic thrills, supernatural kinks and swinging permissiveness, this is boy versus girl in a hip, psychedelic mix of vintage glamour and grotesque horror.

Now fully restored from the original negatives in original widescreen ratio, Secrets of Sex features a cast of gorgeous young models including Sue Bond (The Benny Hill Show), Cathy Howard (School for Sex) and Nicola Austine (Come Play with Me) and is presented here completely uncut for the very first time in the UK.

SPECIAL FEATURES:

New sleeve-notes written by Simon Sheridan
Producer's Audio Commentary
Interview with writer and star Elliott Stein
2x Antony Balch short films.
Original Theatrical Trailer

Secrets of Sex is due on 18 January 2010.

DVD: amazon.co.uk

Beatles USB 16GB Apple

bigandya — Thu, 05 Nov 2009 12:29:22 GMT

Basically, where can I pre-order these in the UK, if anywhere?

UK: Optimum's The Lost Continent

Tim Rogerson — Wed, 04 Nov 2009 22:12:49 GMT

Optimum appear to be releasing a heavily edited version of Hammer's The Lost Continent (1968) per the BBFC website. At 83m it runs 10m shorter than the German Anolis DVD I have (identical to the Anchor Bay US DVD).

DVD: amazon.co.uk

The Moon Stallion (1978)

mark meakin — Wed, 04 Nov 2009 19:31:29 GMT

I received this the other day on german r2 dvd.I recalled watching it as a 10 year old & it certainly must have left an impression on me like Children Of The Stones on my first viewing.Unfortunately the release has german (obviously !) opening titles & is in three parts instead of the original six but I'm looking forward to seeing it again.Written by Brian Hayles who wrote the screenplays for Nothing But The Night & another childhood favourite Warlords Of Atlantis.

UK: Friday the 13th (1980) blu-ray from Warner in October

Shaun C — Wed, 04 Nov 2009 17:15:49 GMT

Surprised to see the blu-ray in HMV today of the original 1980 slasher FRIDAY THE 13TH. My favorite from the series: only like part 1 and 2...Part 1 still retains that low budget independant feel that I like and has some strong atmosphere set among the the natural wooded landscape. Heavily influenced by Bava's Bay of Blood, but that's not a bad thing...

Seems to have a load of extras, probably same as the US release. Cnt find any info or reviews of this. I thought I read that the US release was cropped on the sides and hope this release corrects that. Anyone bought this yet.

Available on Amazon uk

p.s....shit cover...Why can't they use the beautiful original uk quad poster art..

Blu-ray: amazon.co.uk | play.com | hmv.com