"...Around" is officially available to be rented/downloaded and streamed at Amazon.com through Amazon On-Demand. It's a first of the platform release through Cinetic Media-Cinetic Rights Management that will soon include ITunes, Netflix, DVD and various other outlets. I really rather like this Independant feel-good drama so would recommend giving it a look.

...Around - Trailer

www.aroundthefilm.com

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tags: download, drama, independent film, rent

"...Around" is directed and written by David Spaltro and inspired by his experiences attending the film program School of Visual Arts (SVA) in NYC from 2001-2005. The film follows Doyle Simms, who at the age of 18 decides to finally live his dream of crossing the Hudson river and escaping a life of potential drudgery in his native New Jersey. Over a period of 4 years Doyle struggles to keep himself in film school while living on the breadline.

Thats the synopsis but at the same time its not really what "...Around" is about. Essentially a character study, "...Around" concentrates more on the introspective thoughts of it's main character. The world is full of people who like the idea of being seen as creative, rather than being driven by any creative vision. People like that tend to turn to talking about themselves or regurgitate clichés, photographers taking pictures of prostitutes and homeless, fashion designers making a sweater into trousers etc., all the while believing they are creating something avant-garde. Independent film just means films produced outside the large studios, however when you mention indie film in an American context, no doubt certain things spring to mind; the hip independent soundtrack, the mostly white middle class characters with "issues", self absorbed pretentious dialogue etc. I don't really care for that style of film much and will hold my hands up for assuming "...Around" would be self serving hipster drivel. And in many ways in the hands of another aspiring director it could of been. David Spaltro however is clearly well aware of the pitfalls and defly sidesteps most of them. Sure "...Around" has the feel of an American indie, but there's real substance here and true talent.

The acting is fairly strong as it needs to be in a character driven piece, with Berenice Mosca as Dolyes mother and Ron Brice as a homeless sage being highlights for me, but there's no really weak turns. Robert W. Evans carries the film well as the slightly sociopathic / disconnected Doyle. I'd like to see more of Veronica Heffron who plays Mona, who exudes a lot of on-screen charm and charisma.

"...Around" is essentially as complex or as simple as the person viewing it wants it to be, which in itself shows Spaltro to be a writer of considerable talent. There's the simple idea that you should "stop and smell the roses", life is after all made out of a series of moments not just a "goal" you have to achieve while ignoring "the journey".  The tagline "embrace the fall" is very apt; the idea that happiness and not saftey is the better thing to strive for, that as long as life is interesting it's worth living, even if this means immediate discomfort. We live in times where in the western world more and more people feel, and in many ways are, disconnected, atomized and driven by routine. "..Around" reminds us that people are what make our lives what they are. They come and go, but they always add a bit more to our own story.

Some of the other reviews of "..Around" take the view that it's about being able to achieve anything you want. And at the end of the day what you take away from a film and feel is correct - it's an individual experience. For me however, thats not quite what I got and would hope it's not the sum total of Spaltro's intent. For one thing it's not really true, you can try and achieve what you want certainly, but meritocracy is an over simplistic daydream. Many hardworking, talented people give it their all and fail (in terms of what they where trying to achieve, not that life is about winning). For me its about accepting you just don't know what will happen, but lack of certainty is no reason not to do things. Its about stepping into the dark and understanding when the sun comes up again you will be a stronger person, even if you tripped a few times wandering blindly. Hell its about whatever you want it to be, but its certainly good.

Socrates said something along the lines of "The unexamined life is not worth living" and in my opinion there's a lot of truth in that.  "...Around" finds Spaltro doing just that and when the credits roll hopefully the audience do to. Slow burning at first ...Around builds into one of the strongest debut films I've seen in some time. A charming, uplifting introspective character study, that should restore your faith that great independent film making is about more than a hip soundtrack and a cool marketing campaign. Talking of hip soundtracks, the use of Kirby Dominant's Nauzeated while Doyle attends the hipster party made me smile. Hopefully that arrow in the heal to the theory of meritocracy, C.R.E.A.M. won't stop "...Around" from reaching a wider audience.

...Around - Trailer

www.aroundthefilm.com

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tags: drama, independent film, low budget

Trailer for dark comedy drama Cold Souls directed by Sophie Barthes and stars Paul Giamatti along with David Strathairn, Dina Korzun and Emily Watson

Cold Souls - Poster

www.coldsoulsthemovie.com

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tags: comedy, drama, paul giamatti, trailer

In the mid-eighties Ng See Yuen’s ‘Seasonal Films’ company decided it might be a good idea to try their hand at making films with more international appeal, initially inspired by the success of a certain Hollywood martial arts movie.

But unlike previous attempts at international productions by the likes of Golden Harvest and other studios, where the main goal was to introduce a home grown star to the west, Seasonal’s aim was to make movies with a combination of American actors in front of the camera, with a mostly Asian crew working behind the scenes, putting together the kind of action that Hong Kong does so well.

Their first attempt, ‘No Retreat, No Surrender‘ was released in 1986...A film which would eventually spawn two sequels.

“Tonight, he either fights for his life, or he’ll be running for the rest of it.”

The original ‘No Retreat, No Surrender’, directed by the great Corey Yuen Kwai (‘Yes Madam‘, ‘Fong Sai Yuk‘), was inspired by the success of ’The Karate Kid’, Seasonal’s mindset was to take the same concept, but pepper it with better action scenes. The film tells the rather simple tale of a Bruce Lee fanatic teenager named Jason (Kurt McKinney), moving to a new town, having problems with the local bullies, the usual stuff. After one particularly bad day he is visited by the ghost of Bruce Lee (played by Tai Chung Kim, who doubled Bruce in ‘Game Of Death’). Ghostly Bruce teaches Jason in the ways of Jeet Kune Do, turning Jason into a kung fu master. All of this leading up to a typical tournament scenario, which is being held by the goons than ran his father out of business, so it’s up to Jason to settle the score by beating seven shades out of their toughest fighter, the evil Ivan The Russian (Or Karl Brezdin according to the credits, even though they call him Ivan numerous times in the movie. Not sure how they messed that up.)

As you can see, the film is ’The Karate Kid’ with some Brucesploitation added into the mix for good measure. Yes, the idea of having the spirit of Bruce Lee randomly appear to teach some kid kung-fu is stupid and pretty tacky, even when I first saw this movie as a kid I thought it was a little daft, but it does add to the overall cheese factor of the movie. And cheese is something it has in abundance; It seems like ‘No Retreat, No Surrender’ exists in a world of it’s own, it’s damn sure the eighties, but it feels like the eighties in overdrive at times. It’s almost as if Corey Yuen and the guys at Seasonal were trying a little too hard to make the movie as hip as possible and as American as apple pie. Just check out the random break dancing/body popping for example and overall corny back slapping friendship between Jason and his buddy R.J. The music, which I’m sure even at the time was considered an Edam-fest, should also be noted, with it’s power-rock styling’s and motivational “training montage” lyrics.

Of course, we can’t forget that this was the first time the world got to see Jean Claude Van Damme on the big screen and to be honest he probably gets to show his stuff in a more impressive way here than he did in ‘Bloodsport’ or ‘Kickboxer’ thanks to the choreography. Van Damme really should play bad guy roles more often because he’s great here, with his Stallone-esque curled lip, battle cries and brutal tactics.

Overall the film kind of falls into guilty pleasure territory, or indeed “so-bad-it’s-good” territory, as do the sequels at times but more so here. You have some pretty atrocious acting and clichés by the bucket load, but you also have well choreographed fight scenes from Mang Hoi (Randy Mang!) and Corey Yuen, which although are not as tight and fast paced as the work they crafted in Hong Kong, are still miles apart from the kind of stuff Chuck Norris and other American martial arts stars were doing at the time.

So ‘Seasonal’ had a little hit on their hands, what was next on the agenda? A sequel of course.

“It’s not a rematch…IT’S WAR!”

‘No Retreat, No Surrender II: Raging Thunder’ was originally intended to be a continuation of the original, bringing back the Jason and Ivan characters to do battle one more time. But, Van Damme had his mind set on starring in ‘Bloodsport’, which ended up shooting at around the same time, but he was contractually obliged to make two more films for Seasonal. So according to producer Roy Horan (of ‘Snake In The Eagles Shadow’ and ‘Game Of Death II’ fame) production was about to commence on the movie in Thailand when he received a fax from Van Dammes lawyer saying he wasn’t going to show up, effectively breaking his contract. As for Kurt McKinney, he had recently married and his wife had concerns about the risks of shooting in Cambodia, so he was out too. In the end the roles ended up being recast and the script was given a re-write.

I’m sort of glad this happened for a few reasons; firstly, Van Damme ended up making ‘Bloodsport’ which is one of the greats of eighties action cinema. And secondly I prefer the direction the series went from here and the characters it introduced in part two especially. So, let’s talk about part two…

The story this time centers on young American hard ass Scott Wylde

(Loren Avedon), a man with martial art skills and without a doubt the greatest name of all time; Throughout the movie you’re always waiting for someone to say something along the lines of “You’re insane, Scott! You’re wild” and for it to be followed up by the line “I’m wild alright…Scott Wylde” [CRASH ZOOM]. Or maybe that’s just me.

Anyway, Scott is in Thailand to visit his girlfriend and meet her folks, but typically she ends up kidnapped and in the hands of the bad guys, who are once again, the Russians (it was the eighties after all). After Scott beats seven shades out of the kidnappers that stayed behind to finish him off, he ends up in police custody, but being the “Wylde” renegade youngster that he is he escapes, determined to get his girl back.

He enlists the help of his old buddy Mac Jarvis (Max Thayer), a ‘Nam vet

who now earns a living selling all sorts of weaponry, including tanks. Now they’re armed to the teeth with machine guns and crossbows. Off they go into Cambodia to save the day, along with helicopter pilot Terri (Cynthia Rothrock).

Whilst the original was spurred on by the success of ‘The Karate Kid‘, this movie seems to have taken it’s influence from ‘Rambo: First Blood Part 2‘, it’s full of machine guns, explosions and even a red head band. But there’s another movie that this has a lot in common with, ‘Star Wars‘. When you think about the plot; young guy and his friends try to rescue captured beauty from an evil and powerful army. Now I know, that can be said for lots of movies that were made even before ‘Star Wars‘, it is of course a classic narrative, but Max Thayer sounds a hell of a lot like Harrison Ford at times and has this penchant for calling Scott “kid” all the time (I’m sure he also calls him “farm boy” too) so we’ve got a bit of a Han/Luke relationship there. If that seems like too much of a stretch, they’re destination is a place called Death Mountain…Yes? No? Am I over analyzing to the point of annoyance, Mark Cousins style here? Right, moving on…

This is probably my favourite of the three, it’s full of great characters and great slam-bang eighties action, as well as great martial arts action too; the stand out set piece being the fight with the monks, it’s a fantastic piece of complex choreography, especially when the ropes come out and it goes into agile flips and twirls. Brilliant.

As for the bad guys, taking up the role of the bad ass Russian this time around is b-movie favourite Matthias Hues, who I’d say is best known for his role in Dolph Lundgren’s ‘Dark Angel’. Apparently Matthias learned how to fight for the screen whilst shooting this movie, under the masterful tutelage of Hwang Jang Lee, you certainly can’t tell that this is his first stab at an action movie. Matthias is a lot of fun in the movie, playing it just right with a hefty dose of menace along with a slight dose of camp (whether the latter is intentional or not I don’t know, but I still enjoy it). Ty, his right hand man however is played by the aforementioned kung-fu legend Hwang Jang Lee, star (and usually the villain) of many kung fu classics, most notably the movies Seasonal produced that made Jackie Chan a star, ‘Snake In The Eagles Shadow’ and ‘Drunken Master’. As usual Hwang gets to show off his trademark kicking skills, especially during a small, but memorable, fight scene with Cynthia Rothrock.

Rothrock is also good in the movie, handling her action scenes as brilliantly as she usually does. The only problem is her character is hampered with some horrible dialogue, it’s obvious they were trying to make her character the smart ass, tough chick, but it really doesn’t work and her character eventually just ends up coming off like a bit of a childish bitch with some really bad put downs in her repertoire.

Avedon’s character is basically a younger version of the typical gung-ho American “nam vet” heroes of the time, and as I said earlier he even sports the Rambo-esque red head band. And once again his fight sequences remind you of the fact that this guy could easily have been a much bigger star given the chance. It’s a shame he never went to Hong Kong, he could’ve easily been one of the top “gwailo” bad guys over there.

All in all ‘Raging Thunder’ is a hell of a lot of fun, chock full of great action set pieces and a great explosive finale which gives us the carnage of the war themed action epics of the time and combines it with some great martial arts rumbles. It also has quite a cool theme tune too, which I can almost guarantee will be stuck in your head after the credits have rolled.

“The first was for honour…

The second was for his country…

This time…It’s family.”

In 1990 we got ‘No Retreat, No Surrender III: Blood Brothers’, which brought back Loren Avedon from part two but unfortunately Corey Yuen did not return, instead we have Lucas Lo in the directors chair, who after this would go on to direct Avedon again in the great ‘King Of The Kickboxers’…Which I’m pretty sure is one of the only movies to mix the world of snuff films and martial arts.

The story this time centers around two brothers Will (Avedon) and Casey (Keith Vitali) Alexander, but as the trailer says “they’re oil and water, they‘ll never mix”; Casey is following in his father footsteps and making his way up the ranks of the CIA, whilst Will is a rebel, disagreeing with the CIA’s methods and making his own way in the world by running a karate dojo. When their father (the Jimmy Stewart-esque Campanella) is murdered, the brothers go their separate ways to track down the killer; Uber terrorist bastard Franco (Rion Hunter).

So, this time around we have a plot that seems to have been inspired by the likes of ‘Die Hard’ and ‘Lethal Weapon‘, what with the terrorists and mismatched partners etc. And it’s good stuff, once again we have lot’s of good action which is probably even more “Hong Kong style” than the previous entries, the fights certainly seem a lot quicker and sharper. Keith Vitali especially looks great here and whenever I watch this I’m always disappointed that he didn’t get more to do in ‘Wheels On Meals’, but maybes his screen fighting chops weren’t up to scratch back then. After all he has said before that he accidentally knocked Sammo Hung out cold during a fight scene.

Although Keith may be strong in the action department here, his acting is certainly on the stiff side, at times it sounds like he’s saying his lines for the first time or reading cue cards. Take note of the scene in which he goes through the CIA’s records looking for information on his fathers murderer; Never mind the fact that the file he’s looking at is called ‘Top_Secret.doc’, it’s just a classic bit of bad exposition. Even seasoned actors can have trouble with dialogue that only serves to fill in the audience as to what’s going on, never mind actors that are not that experienced.

To be fair, this was only his third time in front of the camera, the others being the aforementioned ‘Wheels On Meals’ and the other being ‘Revenge Of The Ninja’ alongside Sho Kosugi, with this being his first shot at a lead role, so I do have to cut him some slack. And besides, in interviews he always seems like a really nice guy, so I feel a bit bad slating his performance…Plus he could kick my head off it’s hinges.

But, the most memorable thing about the movie (Besides the gorgeous Wanda Acuna in a bikini) is Franco, with his white mullet and white eyebrows and maniacal smile, he’s like a classical Kung Fu villain of yesteryear, but late eighties style. I always find it amusing that Franco is wanted the world over for terrorist acts, yet he never bothers to hide his most distinguished feature, the fact that he’s pretty much an albino. Even when he’s on his way to assassinate the president (with a rocket launcher!) he still doesn’t seem all that bothered that he’ll be spotted. You’d think he’d be well stocked up on ‘Just For Men’.

The finale isn’t as explosive and grand as the ending to part two, but it certainly has more kung fu action with the brothers squaring off against Franco and his George Eastmen look-alike henchman, there’s even a pretty cool homage to Jackie Chan’s ‘Dragon Lord’ thrown in there for good measure.

Well, I’d better finish up here because this is getting long, but if you’ve stuck with this until the end then you’re a good person, anyone who would read this much about this series is alright with me.

To sum up, a great set of films that always put me in a good mood after viewing them. Stick ‘King Of The Kickboxers’ in there and you’ve got yourself a night of solid, no bullshit entertainment. B-movie action at its finest.

Note: For maximum satisfaction, this night of martial arts action is best viewed with pizza, beer and a few friends.

- Snoog (Revolving Video Podcast)

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tags: action, b movie, cult film, martial arts

Poster for Nick Love's - The Firm which stars Daniel Mays as Yeti, Calum McNab as Dom and Paul Anderson as Bex the role played by Gary Oldman in Clarkes film.

(You can grab a larger version of the Quad poster here)

Nick Love's - The Firm - Trailer

www.thefirm84.com

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tags: football, nick love, poster, soccer, uk

Poster for dark comedy drama Cold Souls directed by Sophie Barthes.

Is your soul weighing you down?  Paul Giamatti has found a solution!   In the surreal comedy Cold Souls, Paul Giamatti plays an actor named… Paul Giamatti. Stumbling upon an article in The New Yorker about a high-tech company that extracts, deep-freezes and stores people’s souls, Paul very well might have found the key to happiness for which he’s been searching.  But, complications arise when he is the unfortunate victim of "soul-trafficking."  Giamatti’s journey takes him all the way to Russia in hopes of retrieving his stolen soul from an ambitious but talentless soap-opera actress. Balancing a tightrope between deadpan humor & pathos, and reality & fantasy, Cold Souls is a true soul searching comedy.  Also starring David Strathairn, Dina Korzun and Emily Watson.

www.coldsoulsthemovie.com

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tags: comedy, dina korzun, emily watson, paul giamatti, poster

In case your wondering I'm talking about the 1971 classic and Viggo Mortensen made for TV re-make which I have not seen and pretty much have no interest in seeing either. Having just watched Dirty Mary Crazy Larry (A film which I like), it was time to throw on Vanishing Point (A film I love). Vanishing Point is another film with a simple premise, but one which is given a near perfect execution. Barry Newman (City on Fire, The Limey) stars as "Kowalski" (No first name is ever used). Kowalski is a man who has had a varied career from military service in Vietnam, a cop, a speedway motorcycle rider, a NASCAR driver and now he delivers cars across the states.

Arriving in Denver with a car to drop off "Kowalski" decides against the advice of the guy at the depot to pick up another car and drive right back to San Francisco. The car he chooses is of course an iconic white 1970 Dodge Challenger. Just before he leaves Denver "Kowalski" drops by a speed dealing friend to pick up some amphetamines so he can keep those nasty slices of death known as sleep away. He bets that he can be back in Denver in record time or will double the price he pays for the drugs at his next purchase. Wired on uppers and sitting on several hundred horses of American muscle car "Kowalski" starts his run and nothing will stop him from reaching his goal ... nothing.

On his high speed limited time journey "Kowalski" is chased by the authorities almost from the start when he fails to stop for some motorcycle cops. How ever he is aided by various outsiders and members of counterculture, 1% bikers, drug users, an old hermit and maybe most importantly blind radio DJ Super Soul played by Cleavon Little (Greased Lightning) who is best known for his role in Mel Brooks Blazing Saddles. As the film moves along Kowalski becomes a kind of hero for those who believe in true freedom and in turn he becomes a deadly pariah to those who would keep order. Although in reality his "crime" is nothing more than a simple mistermeaner, his refusal to stop (and the failure of the establishment to stop him) becomes an insult those who believe respect is bestowed (In this case with a badge and a gun) and not earned. "Kowalski" though is no simple hippy maniac giving a finger to the man; he was a cop who stood up when his partner did wrong and a decorated war hero. No doubt these things were included in the characters back story to make it less easy for certain viewers to dismiss. Unlike Dirty Mary Crazy Larry which is really just an excuse to drive cars around having fun (Nothing wrong with that) Vanishing Point is more complex, it’s a look at American culture as the innocence of the 60's is lost to the escalating backdrop of the Vietnam War and the changing times. "Kowalski" is a much a visual representation as an idea or a theme as he is a character. He is in the words of Super Soul " ... the last American hero, the electric centaur, the, the demi-god, the super driver of the golden west!"

The thing I like about movies like this is they know they won't resonate well with everyone. It really depends on your mind set. For some people while they may enjoy the fast cars and naked girl on a bicycle they will be thinking "Why doesn’t he just stop when they ask him to". The rest of us however will be right alongside Super Soul cheering on "the last American hero" and personal freedom. No nation no matter its history is more synonymous with the motor car than America and Vanishing Point is a great slice of America on film. This is a road movie and thriller with very few peers and one rarely bettered.

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tags: cult film, thriller

A few years ago I picked up a book called Trash: The Graphic Genius of Xploitation Movie Posters. On page 42 and 43 are the posters for Dirty Mary Crazy Larry and Vanishing point. Also on page 42 is a flyer for a 1975 (Drive-in I assume) double bill of with both films. The flyer / poster bears the slogan "3 1/2 hours of high performance action as two of the great chase films return ... together". Now I've seen both films  over the years (Vanishing Point more, because its the better movie), but ever since I picked up the book I have wanted to watch them back to back as a double bill. With cult movie magpie Quentin Tarantino referencing both films in his "Grindhouse" movie Death Proof it reminded me of this, love or hate QT he does have the effect of putting older movies back in the public consciousness. Anyway you have obviously figured out where this is leading, I did indeed enjoy 3 1/2 hours of high performance action ...

Dirty Mary Crazy Larry was first up and it’s a pretty simple film with a simple premise. Iconic actor Peter Fonda (The Trip, Easy Rider, Race with the Devil, The Cannonball Run) stars as Larry. Larry is a down on his luck NASCAR driver, who feels he never really has a chance of winning because he lacks the money for a top of the range car. Susan George who is best known for her role as Amy Sumner the wife of Dustin Hoffman's character in Sam Peckinpah's mighty Straw Dogs stars as Mary. Mary is one of those laid back sexually active swinging chicks / groupies looking for excitement and the men that can provide it. The film opens up with Larry leaving Mary in bed after a night of passion and joining his friend and ace mechanic Deke Sommers (Adam Roarke). Today is the day Larry and Deke pull a heist to rob a supermarket of all its cash and get out of town. Deke keeps the managers wife and child hostage in their house while Larry pays him (Roddy McDowall) a visit to collect the cash. On leaving the supermarket Larry finds Mary sat in the getaway car unhappy to have been screwed and left without a goodbye. He now has no choice but to take her along for the ride. Picking up Deke, the three of them flee the town and head for the state line however grizzled cop Everett Franklin (Vic Morrow) has no intention of letting them get out of his jurisdiction and will do everything in his power to stop their escape. And so ensues a game of cat and mouse that makes this one of the most drive time heavy movies of all time.

Of course a driving action movie from 1973 completely differs from the modern concept. There's no "Michael Bay" style CGI cars flying in the air as trucks jack-knife left right and centre .... while the road becomes a series of enormous explosions. In the likes of Dirty Mary Crazy Larry the majority of cars are just run off the road and are brought to a standstill in the dust. This is one of those films that's probably not as good as you remember, but it has a great nostalgia factor whether that be because you where old enough to have seen it on the big screen back in the day or like me saw it as originally as a kid back when the likes of Smokey and the Bandit, Cannonball run and The Dukes of Hazard TV show where essential viewing. Sure it’s dated, but unlike films from the 80's it dated in that "Cool" way. I think that’s a lot to do with fashion and music, where 80's fashions still look ridiculous for the most part I would not blink if I saw a modern girl wearing Susan Georges bikini crop top warn jeans combo.

Realistically this is a movie about driving and muscle cars a lot of your enjoyment will hinge on a simple fact. Whether of not you think the 1969 Dodge Charger is a cool piece of machinery or not. I think it’s pretty cool and that's pretty much what I think of the movie, its not essential viewing unless you're really, really into seeing old school muscle cars on the big screen, but its pretty cool and the ending is a classic.

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tags: cult film

Trailer for Daybreakers which is written and directed by Michael Spierig and twin brother Peter Spierig. The where behind 2003's Australian cult zombie comedy horror Undead.

Ethan Hawke, Willem Dafoe,Isabel Lucas,Sam Neill and Claudia Karvan star.

"Ethan Hawke plays Edward Dalton, a researcher in the year 2019, in which an unknown plague has transformed the world's population into vampires. As the human population nears extinction, vampires must capture and farm every remaining human, or find a blood substitute before time runs out. However, a covert group of vampires makes a remarkable discovery, one which has the power to save the human race."

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tags: claudia karvan, ethan hawke, horror, isabel lucas, sam neill, vampire, vampires, willem dafoe

Oliver Parker (St. Trinian's - remake) directs this adaption of Oscar Wilde's classic tale "The Picture of Dorian Gray".

After having his portrait painted by the artist Basil Hallward (Ben Chaplin) Dorian Gray (Ben Barnes) no longer seems to be effected by the ravages of time. However the painting is a different story, Dorian's debauchery is reflected in the ever increasing ugliness of the painting.

Dorian Gray stars Colin Firth, Ben Barnes, Rachel Hurd-Wood, Maryam d'Abo, Emilia Fox,Caroline Goodall and Ben Chaplin

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tags: ben barnes, classic, colin firth, film stills, horror, oscar wilde, rachel hurd-wood

UK trailer for director Chris Nahon live action adaption of Blood: The Last Vampire the now classic anime from 2000. French director Nahon previously directed Jet Li in Kiss of the Dragon and Jean Reno in Empire of the wolves.

"A vampire named Saya, who is part of covert government agency that hunts and destroys demons in a post-WWII Japan, is inserted in a military school to discover which one of her classmates is a demon is disguise."

Gianna Jun (My Sassy Girl, Uninvited) stars as government sponsored half breed vampire Saya. Liam Cunningham, JJ Feild, Koyuki and Colin Salmon also star.

The film opens in the UK on June 26th

*New International (UK) trailer added

Film Clips: Clip 1, Clip 2, Clip 3, Clip 4, Clip 5

Blood: The Last Vampire - Poster

www.bloodthelastvampire.co.uk

www.bloodthelastvampire-movie.com

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tags: anime, blood the last vampire, horror, manga, martial arts, vampire

Trailer for Korean rampaging giant pig movie Chaw. Jeong-won Shin directs a cast that includes Josiah D. Lee (The Red Machine) Yu-mi Jeong (A Bittersweet Life). The IMDB describes the movie as "a black comedy about the events that are set into motion in a town after a man-eating boar goes on a rampage."

While you might laugh, it's not the first time a movie has been made bout a giant boar on the rampage. I've always been a fan of Russell Mulcahy's (Resident Evil: Extinction) 1984 big box VHS classic Razorback. A film about a crazed giant boar that terrorizes the Australian outback.

www.chaw.co.kr

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tags: horror, korean film

Trailer for the re-make of 1987's The Stepfather which was directed by Joseph Ruben and starred Terry O'Quinn (Lost). The remake see's TV director Nelson McCormick take the rains and Dylan Walsh of "Nip/Tuck" fame take the O'Quinn role.

Elias Koteas look-a-like Christopher Meloni also stars along with Amber Heard (Zombieland), Sela Ward and Penn Badgley of "Gossip Girl".

It's doesn't look to bad from the trailer as remakes go, but the director, cast and look of the thing make me think TV movie.

welcometothefamily.com

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tags: amber heard, horror, re-make, thriller

Trailer for director Roland Emmerich's latest disaster movie 2012. The film has a massive cast which includes John Cusack, Thandie Newton, Amanda Peet, Oliver Platt, Woody Harrelson, Danny Glover, Morgan Lily, Chiwetel Ejiofor, Patrick Bauchau, George Segal, John Billingsley, Jimi Mistry and Beatrice Rosen.

www.whowillsurvive2012.com

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tags: john cusack, sci-fi, thandie newton

Trailer for Zombieland which is directed by Ruben Fleischer. Bill Murray, Amber Heard, Emma Stone, Abigail Breslin, Jesse Eisenberg and Woody Harrelson star.

"Columbus (Jesse Eisenberg) has made a habit of running from what scares him. Tallahassee (Woody Harrelson) doesn't have fears. If he did, he'd kick their ever-living ass. In a world overrun by zombies, these two are perfectly evolved survivors. But now, they're about to stare down the most terrifying prospect of all: each other."

www.zombieland.com

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tags: abigail breslin, amber heard, bill murray, emma stone, horror, jesse eisenberg, woody harrelson, zombies

After many years directing films for television, Funny Games director, Michael Haneke, made his debut with what is the first in the trilogy of his “emotional glaciation” films. 1989’s The Seventh Continent makes stylistically and thematically explicit the nature of his filmmaking in what is a work which, as you can glean from the trilogy linkage, a bleak and haunting piece. This “based on a true story” film places a family as the subject of a subdued and paradoxically pointed social commentary drama, where the mundanity of modern life proves insufferable as the film breaks to be a familial and societal horror story.

Husband Georg (Dieter Berner), wife Anna (Birgit Doll) and daughter Eva (Leni Tanzer) are the family unit living a middle-class existence in suburban Austria. Their lives are that of conformity, aided by the usual trappings of modern living. The parents both work and Eva goes to school. They rise to the sound of the alarm clock at 6 each morning, ready for another day. Dressed and breakfasted, they each unquestioningly attend their respective institutions. They wash their car, go to the supermarket, listen to the radio, watch TV, the parents have sex. Eva, though, feigns blindness in a move which proves an eye-opener for the mother, an indication that you only have to scratch at the wipe-clean surface to reveal the stench of disaffection. Maybe a move to Australia is what the family needs.

Similarly to American Beauty, Haneke’s own tale of existential alienation sees the introverted vacuousness lead to a shock conclusion. Though the drama of cultural disaffection is played to like effect, The Seventh Continent is vastly different from the Sam Mendes film which came a decade later. There isn’t the gloss, plot or characterisation to Haneke’s film. Strangely, we barely know this combusting family, though we bear witness to a very personal destruction. The social displacement experienced by them is conveyed with a stark voyeurism which feels conversely both uncomfortably open but also detached. It is almost with gratitude that we receive this detached status as Haneke works away toward a conclusion that leaves you feeling emotionally winded. Those who cannot abide an unhappy ending will not be catered for here, as the plan for emigration to Australia is confounded by a turn which gives an emotional punch of such severity that it almost feels below the belt.

Bluntly put, this is a very depressing film, though one which rewards upon reflection as the almost imperceptible set-up yields gentle indications. But you can perceive Haneke’s leanings, you just must detect through the grey areas and the edges for what is purposefully lacking in conformed narrative construction. In an emptiness that portrays the family’s social isolation and cultural dissatisfaction, we have very little expressionism of any form, including dialogue. Voices seem as if disembodied as shots focus on objects and tasks. Much of the film takes place in real-time as we are forced to feel just how dully draining this repetition can be. Some will find this boring, but, surely all will feel successfully emotionally glaciated by the end of it all.

Not for the emotionally squeamish, this downbeat and stark family drama acutely portrays the futility of modern life. An unassumingly powerful film.

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tags: michael haneke

Nick Love (Outlaw, The Business, The Football Factory) revisits Alan Clarke's (Scum, Made in Britain , Rita, Sue and Bob Too!) seminal late 80's TV movie about the violent casual firms that warred on and off the terraces of British football clubs. Love's new film tentatively titled "the firm 1984" is set some years earlier than Clarkes opus and revolves around a different character. Dom, a young wannabe football casual, who get drawn into the charismatic but dangerous world of the firm's top boy, Bex. Accepted for the fast mouth and sense of humor, Dom soon becomes one of the boys. But as Bex and his gang clash with rival firms across the country and the violence spirals out of control, Dom realises he wants out – until he learns it’s not that easy to simply walk away.

The film stars Daniel Mays as Yeti, Calum McNab as Dom and Paul Anderson as Bex the role played by Gary Oldman in Clarkes film.

www.thefirm84.com

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tags: nick love, trailer, vertigo films

Four upper middle class gents retreat to the suburban townhouse that belongs to one of their number. Their intention is to spend the weekend indulging in a gluttonous feast of epic proportions. Food of the highest class is ordered in copious amounts and with one of the friends being a master chef the culinary delights are sure to be first rate. However there is a twist to the debauchery in that they are going to take gastronomic consumption to the limit and beyond.

A judge, a television producer, a pilot and a master Chef have for whatever reason decided life has become bland. Their solution to shuffle off the mortal coil via a grand blow out. Their weapon of choice is not the rope, the blade or the bullet. For these seemingly successful men, their end is to come via the continuous consumption of food over a weekend. After arriving at their destination they make themselves comfortable and set about planning their meals with military precision. How ever it's not long before the Italian friend states that food and alcohol alone are not enough, he can't make it to the end without fornication. Three local prostitutes are summoned and soon the Bouffe descends into an orgy. Also invited by chance is a local schoolteacher who the men worry may not be able to take the pace. However it soon becomes clear her veracious appetites for food and sex far outstrip their own. As the Italian friend soon points out, they have chosen a disgusting way to die. By the second day the prostitutes have left sickened. The toilet has exploded spraying one of the men with copious amounts of shit and stinking out the house. One of the men is having a serious problem with flatulence, which leads to one of the most disgusting ways to go out ever put on film.

Marco Ferreri's La Grande Bouffe won the Fipresci award at the Cannes Film Festival. Italian director Ferreri's film is Art House, but it's of the boundary pushing type and not the bland and pretentious type that many recognise as Art House movies. While La Grande Bouffe does take a "swiftian" style poke at the French bourgeoisie, you can take of leave that as you wish. Where the film excels is in its study of stoic, sickening self indulgence. At first the characters indulge in the purely hedonistic pleasure of food, drink and sex. How ever as the film continues the consumption becomes far from pleasurable as they continue to cram food into their gullets with sickeningly grim determination. La Grande Bouffe is a lesson against excess with food in the way Scarface or The Boost are for Cocaine. At first the viewer revels in the way food is lovingly prepared and consumed, but as the film goes on its consumption becomes grueling. The diners have found an extreme sport that participants can do while seated. There’s no real story of narrative here, but the performances are all first rate and carry the film. A very strange mix of humor and the morose, enjoyment and disgust. At first all the food preparation made me hungry, but by the end of the film the last thing I felt like doing was eating. I love the way "Art House" can get away with a man led on his back being spoon fed as he eats himself to death while a fat semi naked woman masturbates him to climax ... but hey it's art!

A beautifully disgusting, very European look at bourgeoisie excess taken to the extreme, which may turn even the strongest stomach. 

www.nouveauxpictures.co.uk

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tags: arthouse, european cinema, world cinema

Episode 14 of North East England's premier movie podcast. This episode the boys review the classic British horror-mockumentary Ghostwatch. Only ever shown once on the BBC on 31 October (Halloween) 1992. Also being reviewed is 1989's "so-bad-it's-good" classic Samurai Cop directed by Amir Shervan and starring Robert Z'Dar (Maniac Cop, Dragonfight, Tango & Cash) , Matt Hannon and Jannis Farley.

In movie news Steven Seagal Expendable? ...  [Rec 2] Trailer, Shia LaBeouf's Indiana Jones 5 comment, Blofeld to return to Bond?

... News on the next Revolving Video Podcast special

For full show notes and to comment / leave feedback visit the Revolving Video blog or email them revolvingvideo [at] hotmail.co.uk. Also remember to subscribe to the feed and vote for the guys at Podcast Alley. You can also follow Chris from Revolving Video on Twitter @snoog

Subscribe via iTunes

Download the show or listen to it below:

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tags: film, horror, movies, podcast, revolving video

Van Heflin stars as Sam Cooper (the film is sometimes known as Sam Cooper's Gold) A man who has struck a rich vain of gold. The problem is one man can't get enough out and back, he needs a partner. Circumstances conspire to land him with three. Manolo Sanchez (George Hilton), who he raised as his son. Mason (Gilbert Roland) A man who holds a grudge against Sam believing he double crossed him some years earlier. The forth partner is "Brent the Blonde" played by Werner Herzog's Best Fiend Klaus Kinski.

Giorgio Capitani's spaghetti western, probaly won't be making too many top ten lists, but its an enjoyable flick and you can watch it right now (Visit this link for full screen) online for free thanks to AMC’s B-Movie BMC Classics. BMC provides an online destination to watch some classic (and not so classic) B movies from yesteryear. The films include (and I would recommend these) John Carpenters "Dark Star", Herk Harvey's Carnival of Souls (which we are big fans of and posted here thanks to Joost). They also have Amicus classic and late night UK TV gem Asylum.

To see what else you can catch on the channel visit www.amctv.com/b-movies/

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tags: b-movie, cult film, full movie, italian film, spaghetti western

Soul power premiers at  is released theatrically in the UK on the 10th July 209 Glastonbury festival 2:30am Friday (Saterday morning)

"In 1974, the most celebrated American R&B acts of the time came together with the most renowned musical groups in Southern Africa for a 12-hour, three-night long concert held in Kinshasa, Zaire. The pipe dream of musician Hugh Masekela and producer Stewart Levine, this music festival became a reality when they convinced boxing promoter Don King to combine the event with “The Rumble in the Jungle,” the epic fight between Muhammad Ali and George Foreman, previously chronicled in the Academy Award winning documentary “When We Were Kings.”

Soul Power is a verité documentary, entirely composed of footage shot in 1974 at the legendary music festival (dubbed “Zaire ’74”). It shows the experiences and performances of such musical luminaries as James Brown, BB King, Bill Withers, Celia Cruz, Miriam Makeba, among a host of others. At the peak of their talents and the height of their careers, these artists were inspired by this return to their African roots, as well as the enthusiasm of the Zairian audience, to give the performances of their lives. The concert has achieved mythological significance as the definitive Africa(n)-American musical event of the 20th Century.

Soul Power has been crafted from the extensive footage which remained after the making of When We Were Kings, which famously documented the epic title fight, but only briefly touched upon the Zaire ’74 music festival. This footage has remained vaulted for the past 35 years, unused, unseen, until now. Lensed primarily by celebrated cinematographers Albert Maysles (Gimme Shelter, Grey Gardens), Paul Goldsmith (Rust Never Sleeps), Kevin Keating (Harlan County USA), and Roderick Young (Wattstax), Soul Power finally provides today’s audience the opportunity to experience this historic musical event in all of its magnificent, filmed glory, restored in HD and with incredible sound quality. An unbridled musical journey for the ages."

www.soulpowerfilm.co.uk | twitter.com/soulpowerfilm

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tags: bb king, bill withers, documentary, funk, james brown, soul

Richard Stanley's cult classic Hardware finally makes it's way to UK DVD on the 22 Jun 2009. It's long over due this one and with sub par euro editions and obscenely expensive OOP region 1 versions being the only option film collectors across the pond will want to pick this up as well (assuming you have region free equipment).

Dylan McDermott, Stacey Travis, Carl McCoy, Lemmy, William Hootkins & Iggy Pop star.

"In the post-apocalyptic, post-nuclear world of Hardware, our worst environmental fears have come true. Temperatures hover at a balmy 110 degrees in the shade and the omnipresent radiation has wreaked havoc with the societal gene pool. For your entertainment there is a 24-hour television broadcasting porno films and heavy-metal music videos. Radio offers the rantings and ravings of Angry Bob (Iggy Pop), a lunatic disc jockey who broadcasts bad news all day. Good news has become a thing of the past. If you are looking to escape reality, try smoking the mind-altering “Major Good Vibes” – the painkiller of choice. But, if you’re looking for comfort or safety, forget it: just lock your doors, turn on your super-sophisticated security system and pray that nobody knocks. For in this world, everything can harm you – whether it is the air you breathe, the food you eat, or a seemingly harmless bit of hardware… Upon its release in the US, Hardware became the most successful British independent movie ever released over there."

Extras: Audio commentary with Richard Stanley & Paul Trijbits / Deleted, Extended & Behind the Scenes / Sea of Perdition / The Early Days Richard Stanley Super 8 Movies / The Voice of The Moon / Original Hardware Promo

Also contains: Set of original concept art cards, Booklet containing liner notes written by Kim Newman and Shok! Reprinted with permission of 2000AD

Pick Richard Stanley's Hardware on Blu-ray and DVD now.

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tags: blu-ray, cult film, dvd, killer robot, region 2, sci-fi

Mister Cok is the owner of a large bomb factory. Looking for efficiency and profit, he decides to replace his workers by sophisticated robots. The formers stare helplessly at the toil of the robotic labourers. But one of the workers does not accept being discarded so easily ... Find out more  www.monsieurcok.com

Via Savage Popcorn / Twitch Film

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tags: animation, short film, steampunk

Two brothers on different sides of the law, are torn apart by the death of their father, and destined to play their childhood game of Cops and robbers in real life.

Over two decades ago way back in 1986 Hong Kong director John Woo made two films. The first was Heroes Shed No Tears and the other was A Better Tomorrow. Both where great films in there own ways and both featured lots of gunfire and violence. Although both films could be said to belong to the Heroic Bloodshed sub genre of Hong Kong cinema, they were very different celluloid outings for the director in several key ways.  Heroes Shed No tears is undeniably a great fun film in my opinion, but in many ways it was thematically and stylistically a very Americanized take on the action genre. Ironically Woo's second action film that year A Better Tomorrow would instantly make his first feel dated. It was not just the move from the in vogue during the 80's action genre setting of war style conflict to a more urban setting. Though of course this was important, with Woo combining the huge death counts of 80's warfare action with a criminal underground setting. Sure Scarface has its fantastic final scene, but that was more a fitting end to the ultimate film about 80's excess rather than an attempt at an action film. It was not really even Woo's trademark "bullet ballet" action that made the difference, after all that’s not present fully present yet. A better tomorrow more a prototype for what would come in the killer and hard boiled. No the thing which puts this film on the map and by association Woo and Fat is the handgun. 80's US and Woo's own Hero's shed no tears relied on that behemoth of 80's film and television weaponry the AK47 and its ilk. With A better tomorrow the hand gun was to instantly become dreggier for the discerning action star. Not since the heyday of the "western" and its later re-incarnation as the Italian "Spaghetti western" had it played such a strong role in film. How ever it was not the six shooter or the revolver that would rain here but the clip loaded automatic handgun the 45. Where automatic rifles and machine pistols are unwieldy weapons, that demand a certain stance from the user even within the confines of the make believe world of film. The new generation of rapid loading, rapid firing hand guns left the user free to really move. Now you could jump, role, run and slide with a gun in the hand and with an added stroke of movie genius Woo seemed to figure out that if one made you look cool, two would make you look twice as cool. Woo gave Fat a second gun making a cinematic cliche and gaining the moniker "Two guns" Woo.

Starring Shaw brother’s legend Ti Lung as Ho, The sadly deceased Leslie Cheung as his brother Kit and Chow Yun-Fat as Ho's best friend Mark. The role which would see him go on to be one of Hong Kong’s most recognisable stars. The film also see's John Woo himself in the role of Inspector Wu and featuring a guest appearance from the very recognisable producer/director Tsui Hark as a Music Judge. Waise Lee turns in a strong performance as the slippery gangland boss Shing.

The tale is a simple one of honour, family, friendship and betrayal all common themes in both action and crime cinema. Where the film really excelled was in its new idea's and now iconic action set pieces including the fantastic corridor scene. In which we see a seemingly partying Chow (As Mark) placing guns in plant pots and then after carrying out a hit retrieving them to battle his way out. Right there is where Woo gave birth to "Bullet Ballet", something he would later hone to the point of high art. That’s not to say how ever the plot is not important it is indeed effective and even emotional at times and works brilliantly to drive the action. All this means when the final bloody scene comes the violence has both emotional and visual impact which was rarely achieved before this film and has rarely been achieved in the two decades since. Watching this again today made me think two things, the first Chow Yun-Fat really was the epitome of action cinema cool. The second films like S.P.L. fun as they are do not mark a return to the heyday of Hong Kong heroic bloodshed cinema. Please Mr Woo ring up Chow, tell him the tickets are booked and get both your asses on a plane back to Hong Kong and don't look back.

9/10

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tags: chow yun-fat, heroic bloodshed, john woo

The three main cast members (Ti Lung, Leslie Cheung, Chow Yun-Fat) from A Better Tomorrow are back. Kit(Leslie Cheung) is now working on a dangerous undercover mission. The authorities feel his currently incarcerated brother may be of use. Ho (Ti Lung) is offered the chance to get out of jail early if he agrees to help. At first he turns the offer down, but soon he realizes the best way to protect his brother is to take the offer. Useing his former status to infiltrate the syndicate himself. Meanwhile the twin brother of the now deceased Mark(Chow Yun-Fat) is living in New York running a Chinese restaurant and trying to avoid paying protection money to the local wise guys.

Once inside the gang Kit and Ho both make contact with former mob boss Si Lung(Dean Shek) who appears to be going straight but is finding it difficult. It's not long before things go bad and the brothers smuggle Si onto a ship to New York, where he conveniently meets Marks long lost twin Ken. After some hi-jinx across the pond including a pretty cool hallway/stairwell shoot out the two return to Hong Kong and reunite with the brothers. From there on in the film drops some of its cheesiness and heads towards one of the best shoot out scenes of all time.

After A better Tomorrow became a massive surprise hit for Director John Woo and Producer Tsui Hark it was inevitable a sequel would follow. However for it to work the fans really wanted to see the show stealing Chow Yun-Fat on the screen again. The problem how ever was his character Mark Lee was killed off at the end of the original. To bring him back a very lame twin brother plot was put together. Still lame or not Chow needed to be there, great as Ti Lung and Leslie Chung are, it was Chow's character that really stood out. Joining Ti Lung, Leslie Cheung and Chow Yun-Fat is Dean Shek better known for comedic roles. Woo and Hark argued over the focus of the film, Hark wished to concentrate on Dean Sheks character, while Woo wanted Yun-Fat to be the focus. As a result of this and other issues between the two the film is patchy and does not have one consistent style. Some of the scenes in New York are pretty sub par, while others like the mentioned  shoot out are fun, though not up to the standard of the original.

The scenes shot in Hong Kong are better though the film still feels choppy. However as the film draws towards the end it settles down and has some great moments of both violence and a truly emotional scene. The films final shoot out takes things to another level, it's an action cinema piece de resistance.  In fact there's a good chance this is one of the top ten shoot outs of all time and makes A better Tomorrow 2 absolutely essential viewing. In fact this single scene is probably one of the most influential ever put on film as the black suits, handguns and swords come together and define what a bloody finale should be. Woo and Hark take the best from the past and combine it with their new heroic bloodshed genre to define brutal cool. Influencing the course of action and crime cinema once again and no doubt inspiring uber fan boy Quentin Tarantino and a legion of other filmmakers further. The shot of the hero's sat on a couch at the end is cinematic perfection. If only the whole film could have kept up to the standard of the finale this might have been the single greatest action film of all time. Sadly the whole film didn’t and it's not, but it's still essential viewing for genre fans.

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tags: heroic bloodshed, john woo, tsui hark

On the day of his wedding local noble Kao is visited by uninvited guests. A deadly kung fu master named Pai and his men. Pai had previously lost much of his land to Koa's father and sensing that the son is weaker than his father he decides now is an opportune moment to strike back. A fight ensues and Koa is badly wounded and his clan devastated. Koa Bitter that he was not able to defend his family and was unable to defeat the deadly Pai, Koa sets about looking for a way to get revenge at any cost. In the town their are two great swordsmen, one the hot tempered Chang has renounced the sword and works with horses, the other Green spends his day's drunk when not taking on jobs as an assassin. It does not take Koa long to figure out there must be a way he can use them to take down Pai.

1978's Last Hurrah for Chivalry was produced by Raymond Chow's Golden Harvest and written and directed by none other than legendary action director John Woo. Woo spent most of the seventies working on Martial arts films and the early 80's working in comedy. It was not until 1986's A better Tomorrow that he would hit on the style that would make him a legend in his own lifetime, though his other 1986 action outing Heroes Shed No Tears should not be overlooked in terms of enjoyment. 1976's Hand Of Death was competent outing for the young Woo, but Last Hurrah for Chivalry takes things to another level and is much more than just a curiosity piece for those looking into Woo's early career. In fact Last Hurrah for Chivalry is a very, very good old school swordplay movie. Where Hand Of Death hinted at what was to come later in Woo's career, Last Hurrah for Chivalry is very clearly a Woo film hand guns aside. The classic Woo themes are now firmly in place with honour, loyalty and male bonding top of the menu.

The other thing that marks this out as a John Woo film is the action. There are no birdcages being broken or slow motion white doves yet, but the action is played at a breakneck pace. In the second half of the movie you hardly get time to draw breath so constant is the fighting. Though you can't describe the film as gory it's certainly very bloody as the various characters hack and slash their way through opponents. The plot follows the revenge theme as does most of the genre, but Woo manages to throw in some brilliant twists.

Wei Pai (Five Deadly Venoms) Damian Lau (Duel to the Death, What Price Survival) are great in the lead roles as Chang and Green respectively. Lau Kong is great as Kao and shows off some pretty mean fight skills as does Lee Hoi San (Magnificent Butcher) as bad guy Pai.

Chang and Green storming Pai's home and taking on his various guards make for classic old school kung fu stuff especially when they take on the deadly but narcoleptic "sleeping Buddha". Fans of both John Woo's work and Old School Kung Fu flicks should seek this one out.

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tags: golden harvest, hong kong, john woo, kung fu, martial arts

The government of Thailand hires a squad of immigrant Chinese mercenaries to infiltrate the notorious golden triangle and capture a drug baron. If they can achieve this mission the squad will receive a nice fat pay check and green cards to emigrate to the US. How ever the Drug lord in question General Samton has a tight grip on the area and a large force of armed troops to back him up. Can a five man team really get in, capture the general and make it back alive to claim the reward?

After trying his hand at several genres’ including comedy, drama and classic Martial arts director John Woo hit open the sub-genre that would make him famous in 1986. The year would see the release of Heroes Shed no tears (maybe a reissue from '83 I'm not sure) and A better tomorrow. It was these two films that would set John Woo on a path that would make him a legend in his own lifetime and bring a new term to the lips of western film fans. In 1986 Woo put Heroic bloodshed on the map and his influence reverberated through the world of action cinema and is still being felt today in films like DVD hits A bittersweet life and S.P.L. For many the eighties where the heyday for action cinema. Rambo, Red Scorpion, Scarface, Die Hard, Platoon, RoboCop, Commando and maybe the most macho movie of them all Predator where born in the eighties. And in that climate on the other side of the world John Woo unleashed his own action classic Heroes Shed No Tears. The film is pitched somewhere between a Vietnam War movie and a one man army movie like Commando. Tough desperate men with shady backgrounds, Special Forces training taking down a drug lord, you might have heard the plot before but you won't have seen it done by Woo (Unless you have seen this film already).

What ever happened to the subgenre of desperate men on one last deadly mission movies? If you miss it, then this new release of Heroes shed no tears lets you travel back in cinematic history to a time when men where men. A time before everything had to be PG-13 and men became all metorsexaul and started wearing make up and buying Joop Jump for men. Back when if you wanted to smell "nice" you bought something Manly with a name like Brut or Old Spice. Heroes Shed No Tears follows the desperate flight through the Golden triangle of Chan Chung and his men as they try and make a better life for themselves by completing one last desperate mercenary mission. Joined on the way by Chung’s sister in law and son, as well as a French tourist they save from an attempted rape at the hands of a Vietnamese officer and a recluse white former US soldier from Vietnam who was once saved by Chung. In hot pursuit how ever are the men of the drug lord they captured. These are soon joined by those of the officer whose eye Chung shoots out of his head while saving the tourist. He in turn enlists the help of a Vietnamese jungle tribe with deadly tracking skills. As the odds mount up against Chung the flight through Vietnam becomes desperate and things get very bloody indeed.

Starring Eddy Ko (Hitman in the Hand of Buddha, Peacock King, PTU) as Chan Chung leader of the Chinese hit squad who gives a great performance as the grizzled hero. Featuring sadly deceased Hong Kong Legend Lam Ching-Ying(Close Encounters of the Spooky Kind,  Mr. Vampire). As well as a great supporting cast. I personally love this type of film and most of Woo's eighties work in general. While not packed with the "Bullet Ballet" style action scenes Woo was to make famous, it is filled with old school shoot em up style scenes and packs in a good amount of gore. When someone dies in this movie it’s messy and harsh, just the way it should be. It even has an irritating kid in the form of Chung’s son; you know the kind that gets people killed trying to save him. At first he annoyed me, but then I realised being annoyed at the kid is part of the fun, you can sit munching on your snack and drinking a beer while shouting at the TV screen "For god sake will someone just kill that fucking kid already". And Lam Ching-Ying's character does indeed have a good try at killing the kid by putting him in the middle of a ring of burning crops ... YAY! The great thing about this film and many of the Hong Kong films of the time is there is no guarantee who will live and who will die, in Heroic bloodshed movies being the hero does not automatically make you safe.

Buy Heroes Shed No Tears and reclaim your *Manhood

*I am in no way saying woman will not love this slice of macho fun too.

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tags: action, action cinema, hong kong, john woo, thailand

Jeffman from Head Full Of Snow recommends five Spaghetti Westerns not directed by Sergio Leone.

A bruised and battered stalwart of the late night cinema circuit, the Spaghetti Western held a bastardised, custom-job revolver to the head of its inferior American cousin and relieved it of both its basic premise and last shred of decency; joyously blurring the line between right and wrong and leaving morality swinging from a ragged noose in the hot, desert sun.

The Spaghetti Western was an Italian phenomenon, mostly financed by Rome's famous Cinecitta Studios, although there were plenty of co-productions with other Euro countries like Spain and Germany, even stretching as far afield as Israel if you count the soul-sapping awfulness that is God's Gun. One man is responsible for popularising the Spaghetti Western, Sergio Leone. If you're a follower of LateMag's frequent forays into the weird and wonderful worlds of cult cinema you'll probably know his films already. The Clint Eastwood 'Man with no name' trilogy: Fistful of Dollars, For a Few Dollars More and The Good, The Bad and the Ugly. The pure majesty that's the operatic and sweeping Once Upon a Time in the West; the Mexican revolution-flavoured epic Gui La Testa (Duck, You Sucker or the more familiar yet boring title, A Fistful of Dynamite); and finally, the unfortunate comic attempt of My Name is Nobody.

Leone's name is synonymous with the Spaghetti Western and it's because of this monopolisation of the genre that Late Mag presents five must-see Spaghetti Westerns not directed by Sergio Leone:

The Great Silence

Made by another prolific Sergio of the Spaghetti Western scene, Django director Sergio Corbucci, The Great Silence, Il Grande Silenzio, The Grand Silence, The Big Silence - whichever of these titles you happen to see it under – won't leave you disappointed.

Spaghetti Westerns thrived on bleak amorality and 1967's The Great Silence took this to its logical conclusion with an ending that still shocks despite its grim inevitability, whilst brazenly pissing on the chips of the audience's preconceived notions regarding the superhuman reliability of the hero in cinema.

Eschewing the usual sweat-beaded heat of the Spaghetti Western, The Great Silence is one of the few films of the genre to benefit from a snow setting. This provides some great scenery along the way as a band of sadistic bounty hunters, led by the ruthless and aptly named Loco (Klaus Kinski in excellent form), hold siege to a small town trembling under the corrupt thumb of its justice of the peace, Pollicut (Luigi Pistilli, For a Few Dollars More; Death Rides a Horse). Into this icy hell rides the eponymous Silence (Jean-Louis Trintignant), a mute gun for hire who forfeits the standard Western revolver in favour of one of the first automatic pistols. He has been summoned by Pauline (Vonetta McGee in her debut role) to avenge the cold-blooded slaughter of her husband at the hands of Loco. Also showing up are Frank Wolff as the obligatory bumbling sheriff and Leone regular Mario Brega, as well as several more grizzled fizogs that will be familiar to anybody who's seen the odd Spaghetti Western or two. Add a memorably moving score by Ennio Morricone and alongside The Good, The Bad and The Ugly and A Bullet For the General, you have one of the greatest Spaghetti Westerns ever made.

No Room to Die

1969's No Room to Die looks just as a Spaghetti Western should. It has the extreme close-ups, the unusual camera angles, the forced perspective shots, and despite the location filming looking quite nippy at times – a sweaty, dusty, grime-ridden feel throughout. It also has a regular of the genre in the lead role, Shango himself, Anthony Steffen. His sun-baked, dry-lipped performance is pitched somewhere between Eastwood's 'Man with no name' and Franco Nero's Django,the omnipresent Spaghetti character who Steffen would play in the supernatural-tinged precursor to Eastwood's High Plains Drifter - Django the Bastard, also made by No Room's director, Sergio Garrone.

Another familiar face from Spags is William Berger (Sabata; Keoma), playing a cold-blooded bounty hunter known as 'The Preacher' and combining two elements popular of the genre: the bounty hunter with a peculiar quirk – he reads the bible and dresses in holyman garb – and an unusual item of weaponry; in this case a seven-barrelled shotgun.
 
With all these elements in place you can almost forget the secondary plot involving a corrupt and brutal landowner smuggling Mexican peasants across the border for cheap labour. You can certainly forgive the gaping holes, the achingly contrived situations, the often disjointed narrative, and character motivation that would topple in a light breeze. It looks great, that's all that matters, and uses every last inch of its widescreen vista. Just as every great Spaghetti Western should.

Cemetery Without Crosses

Frenchman Robert Hossein co-wrote, directed and starred in this downbeat Spaghetti Western from 1968, which takes the bleak pessimism of The Great Silence and cranks it all the way up to number eleven. There's an impending sense of doom right from the off, with the cold-blooded lynching of the leading lady Maria's (Michelle Mercier) husband and our first sighting of anti-hero Manuel (Hossein), who lives alone in a deserted town in the middle of nowhere. With such a bleak set-up, it's to be expected that things can only get worse.

Hossein is the gunslinger to who Mercier looks to administer brutal revenge on the rancher who killed her husband; this revenge involves infiltrating the rancher's inner circle before kidnapping his daughter and standing aside while the dead man's brothers administer their own form of justice upon her. Yes, the line between good and bad is not just blurred, but completely obliterated. The ending is as grim as Spaghetti Westerns get, with any vestige of hope lain bloody and dead in the dust as the closing score kicks in. Just the sort of thing this writer likes.

A Bullet for Sandoval

1969's A Bullet for Sandoval plays like a Greek tragedy, one that's been dragged kicking, screaming and bleeding profusely from a nasty buckshot wound to its gut into the equally grim world of the Spaghetti Western. Julio Buchs' (A Few Bullets More; Django Does Not Forgive) dark tale of despair and revenge stars Spag regular George Hilton (Any Gun Can Play; I Am Sartana, Trade Your Guns for a Coffin) and Dominic Santini himself, Ernest Borgnine.

Sandoval is a Gringo hating, Mexican landowner, played with scenery-chewing gusto by Borgnine. Hilton plays confederate deserter, John Warner, who finds himself cast out with his newborn baby when cholera takes the mother, Sandoval's daughter. Unable to look after the child it soon dies and Warner swears revenge on Sandoval and all the others that denied him and his son help. In this moment he transforms from the obvious hero of the piece into a cold-blooded killer, and with a gang made up of a couple of fellow deserters, a fallen priest and a treacherous convicted "child molester" (!?!), takes to robbing, maiming and killing along the Mexican border.

A Bullet for Sandoval is superb stuff, even if it's crying out for a remastered and fully restored release. The only dubbed print currently on DVD has fallen foul of those who used to carve these things up to cater for the short attention span of an American audience, shoehorning them into TV spots or double features. Hence it suffers from an often disjointed and episodic flow.

Nevertheless, there's plenty to make up for this, with viewer expectations challenged by Warner's switch to a heartless and sadistic killer, plenty of violence, an embarrassingly bad narration by Borgnine (possibly added for the US market to explain away what's been removed), some hilariously bad drunken acting from Hilton and a memorable and sombre climax where the band of desperadoes face down the might of the Mexican Army at the Plaza de Toros. Great soundtrack, a complete lack of moral compass and that classic Spaghetti feel; what more can mortal man ask for?

A Bullet for the General

It was a hard fought race for fifth spot on this list with Django, The Big Gundown, $10000 Blood Money and Death Rides a Horse all jockeying for position. However, it was a last minute viewing of an old favourite that saw Damiano Damiani's 1966 masterpiece, A Bullet for the General, come from further down the field and pip all four to the post.

This Spag Western has it all. Political chicanery, amoral anti-heroes, a bomb-hurling holy man, a high-velocity golden bullet, sun-scorched vistas and enough sweat-soaked lingering close-ups to please an army of salophiles. Throw into the mix a terrific Luis Bacalov soundtrack and the requisite stopped-counting-when-it-nudged-over-50 body count and you have one of the best.

Gian Maria Volante (Fistful of Dollars; For a Few Dollars More; Face to Face) plays Mexican bandit-turned-revolutionary gunrunner, El Chuncho, whilst Lou Castel (Kill and Pray) is the sharp-suited Gringo mercenary who infiltrates his gang to take out a high-profile revolutionary leader. The backdrop of the Mexican revolution provides plenty of scope for Franco Solinas's (Tepepa; The Mercenary) excellent script to explore the left wing themes it so proudly wears on its sleeve. Klaus Kinski, who appeared in over 20 Spaghetti Westerns, quite often at the low rent end of the market (Black Killer; Fistful of Death – made by the Godfrey Ho of Spaghetti Westdom, Demofilo Fidani) plays Chuncho's brother, El Santo, notable not only for the fact he's a grenade-toting monk quoting passages from the bible whilst administering explosive justice upon the repressive forces of the Mexican army, but also for his blue eyes and flowing blonde hair. "Our mother is the same, but his father... who knows?" As El Chuncho explains.

With there being so much to recommend A Bullet for the General, whether it's the sumptuous cinematography, the sweeping Luis Bacalov score, the epic Spaghetti Western ambience, or the symbolic victory over imperialist capitalism at the denouement; it's safe to say that if you only see a couple of Spaghetti Westerns in your lifetime, make sure A Bullet for the General is one of them.

To read more from Jeffman visit headfullofsnow.com which covers psychedelic, acid, prog and classic rock as well as his upcoming contributions to the print magazine Shindig! You can also follow him over at twitter @jeffman1

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tags: fives, klaus kinski, sergio corbucci, sergio leone, spaghetti western

Trailer for Jeremy Benson's independent horror Live Animals. A group of college kids must decide what price they will pay to gain their freedom after being kidnapped by a ruthless White Slave trader.

Live Animals, will be released nationally (US) on DVD September 8th, 2009 through EchoBridge Entertainment.

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tags: horror, independent film, low budget, torture

Images from Quentin Tarantino's Inglourious Basterds, which stars Brad Pitt, Shosanna Dreyfus, Christoph Waltz, Eli Roth, Michael Fassbender, Diane Kruger, Daniel Brühl, Til Schweiger, Gedeon Burkhard, Jacky Ido and B.J. Novak.

In the first year of the German occupation of France, Shosanna Dreyfus (Melanie Laurent) witnesses the execution of her family at the hand of Nazi Colonel Hans Landa (Christoph Waltz). Shosanna narrowly escapes and flees to Paris where she forges a new identity as the owner and operator of a cinema.

Elsewhere in Europe, Lieutenant Aldo Raine (Brad Pitt) organizes a group of Jewish American soldiers to perform swift, shocking acts of retribution. Later known to their enemy as “the basterds,” Raine's squad joins German actress and undercover agent Bridget von Hammersmark (Diane Kruger) on a mission to take down the leaders of the Third Reich. Fates converge under a cinema marquis, where Shosanna is poised to carry out a revenge plan of her own....

Inglourious Basterds - Trailer

www.inglouriousbasterds-movie.com

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tags: brad pitt, eli roth, film stills, inglourious basterds, jacky ido, movie stills, quentin tarantino, shosanna dreyfus, war movie

Episode 13 of the cult podcast Revolving Video from the Northeast of England. This episode the guys talk about the season finale of Lost, The Expendables, Shane Meadows to tackle the horror genre, Mad Max 4, Jean-Claude Van Damme's 'Weapon' and 'The Eagle Path'.

Movie Reviews: Bus 44 and Soft andSteve Ayson's ecellent horror short The French Doors whitch is a favorite of LateMag scribe Fi Wilson (watch it here)

For full show notes and to comment / leave feedback visit the Revolving Video blog or email them revolvingvideo [at] hotmail.co.uk. Also remember to subscribe to the feed and vote for the guys at Podcast Alley.

Subscribe via iTunes

Download the show or listen to it below:

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tags: cult film, podcast, revolving video, tv

Trailer for Pandorum, a terrifying thriller in which two crew members wake up on an abandoned spacecraft with no idea who they are, how long they've been asleep, or what their mission is. The two soon discover they're actually not alone -- and the reality of their situation is more horrifying than they could have imagined.

Christian Alvart who directed Antibodies takes the directors chair. Ben Foster, Dennis Quaid, Cam Gigandet, Antje Traue and martial artist Cung Le star

Pandorum - Poster

www.pandorummovie.com

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tags: horror, sci-fi, thriller

Trailer for I Sell The dead. The harrowing tale of Arthur Blake and Willie Grimes, two bumbling grave robbers embroiled in a series of adventures wit the dead and not so dead, is told by Blake to a strange priest

The film is directed and written by Glenn McQuaid and stars Dominic Monaghan (Lord Of The Rings), Brenda Cooney and Larry Fessenden (Habit) alongside genre legends Ron Perlman and Angus Scrimm.

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tags: horror, ron perlman, trailers

"A Kiss From Tokyo", Theatrical Trailer (1964) - Yuki 7 dashes around the world in hot pursuit of the tantalizingly tricky Diamond Eye, who is stealing parts and plans and leaving behind a path of murdered scientists in her quest to build a missile inside her volcanic lair.

This rather wonderful retro animated faux trailer was created by Stephane Coedel, a French animator living in London.

The Character Yuki 7 is the creation of illustrator Kevin Dart, whose book "Seductive Espionage: The World of Yuki 7" is available for pre-order.

I think the trailer works really well in capturing that Modesty Blaise, Golgo 13, Lupin The Third, Avengers, James Bond etc. spy vibe

Props to kanYe West : Blog

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tags: animation, faux trailer, retro, spy, trailer

Trailer for independant film "The Red Machine" a spy caper set in 1935 in Washington, D.C. and 1928 in Tokyo. The film stars independant film favourite Lee Perkins (Carnies, Edges of Darkness, KatieBird *Certifiable Crazy Person).

Co-directors Stephanie Argy and Alec Boehm won several awards for their 1930's newsreel style short "Gandhi at the Bat".

www.redmachinethemovie.com

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tags: crime, drama, independent film, lee perkins, period drama, teaser trailer, trailer, war

Management chronicles the chance meeting of Mike Cranshaw (Steve Zahn) and Sue Claussen (Jennifer Aniston) when she checks into the roadside motel owned by Mike's parents in Arizona. A bottle of wine 'compliments of management' jump starts the cross-country journey and unique courtship between two different kinds of people who are both ultimately looking for the same thing - a sense of happiness.

Woody Harrelson, James Hiroyuki Liao, Fred Ward and Margo Martindale also star and Stephen Belber directs.

The film is on limited release in the US, so check your local theater listings.

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tags: comedy, jennifer aniston, romance, romantic comedy, woody harrelson

The Documentary Blog's jay C covered the Canadian Hot Docs film festival. If your partial to the odd documentary it's well worth jumping over to his blog and checking out the reviews.

You can also check out Jays Five: Documentary recommendations article he wrote for us a while back to, if you have not done so before.

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tags: documentaries, documentary

Episode 12 of the cult podcast Revolving Video. This episode the guys talk about Arnold Schwarzenegger's role in Sylvester Stallone's The Expendables. Shinya Tsukamoto's long awaited Tetsuo III, the passing of Dom Deluise and the upcoming Rotoscoped Spaghetti western ‘Hired Guns’. Along with Jackie Chans ‘Chinese Zodiac’ and news that Fox is suing an Indian company over a re-make.

Then Chris reviews The Yakuza Way, which stars the legendary Riki Takeuchi (Big Man Japan, Fudoh: The New Generation, Dead or Alive, Deadly Outlaw: Rekka). Jamie reviews The Da Vinci Code and looks forward to Angels & Demons.

All that plus some music and as usual weird news to start including a man who ate his own fingers as a protest and a stone baby. Plus they get to mention Gary Daniels (Fist Of The North Star, Cold Harvest, Knights) again.

For full show notes and to comment / leave feedback visit the Revolving Video blog or email them revolvingvideo [at] hotmail.co.uk. Also remember to subscribe to the feed and vote for the guys at Podcast Alley.

Subscribe via iTunes

Download the show or listen to it below:

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tags: cult movies, horror, podcast, revolving video

First trailer for Guy Ritchie's take on the classic detective created by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle. The film simply titled Sherlock Holmes is due for a boxing day release.

This adaption see's the titular hero revamped in a vain similar to the The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen. Sadly the film version and not Alan Moore's fantastic comic. The reactions across the net for this trailer have been very positive. I personally don't feel that excited, sure Basil Rathbone style fog and deerstalkers has been done to death and would not fly today. However I'm a bit surprised Richie and the screenwriters have taken it to such safe blockbuster action comedy ground. One would have hoped for a little touch of snatch / Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels infused to give it just a little more edge. After all Sacha Baron Cohen and Will Ferrell are meant to be taking on the roles of Holmes and Watson in a still "Untitled Sherlock Holmes Project", which one imagines will touch the comedic itself. Many feel it has a similar vibe to Pirates of the Caribbean, which was a fun franchise, so its probably going to fairly good popcorn munching fun.

Detective Sherlock Holmes (Robert Downey Jr.) and his stalwart partner Watson (Jude Law) engage in a battle of wits and brawn with a nemesis whose plot is a threat to all of England.

Joining Downey and Law in the cast are Mark Strong, Kelly Reilly, Eddie Marsan, James Fox and Rachel McAdams (sporting a rather fetching corset in the trailer)

You can download an HD version of the trailer from Yahoo! Movies

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tags: action, adventure, arthur conan doyle, crime, drama, eddie marsan, guy ritchie, jude law, kelly reilly, mark strong, mystery, rachel mcadams, robert downey jr., thriller, trailer