This mashup of the Star Wars prequels and Queen’s Bohemian Rhapsody is arguably more entertaining than the films themselves.

Titled ‘Midichlorian Rhapsody’ someone clearly spent a long time getting the lyrics to match with scenes from the trilogy.

[via Buzzfeed]

> Star Wars prequels at Wikipedia
> Bohemian Rhapsody

David McCandless recently gave a talk at TED in Oxford, where he discussed the importance of design in navigating the information in our lives.

He is a writer and journalist who also runs the blog Information Is Beautiful, where he frequently posts fascinating data visualisations.

They have included the budget of the BBC, time travel in movies and TV and Wikipedia’s Lamest Edit Wars.

His book is filled with many others and is an absolute must-read.

> Information is Beautiful
> David McCandless on Flickr
> More about TED

The Third Man is one of the most enduring films of the post-war era and has now got a worthy Blu-ray release as part of The Studio Canal Collection.

Set in Vienna just after World War II, the story begins when a writer (Joseph Cotten) visits the city to meet his old friend Harry Lime (Orson Welles), only to be told that he has died.

At Lime’s funeral, Martins meets a British army major (Trevor Howard), Lime’s actress girlfriend (Alida Valli) and slowly begins to discover that Lime was a much more ambiguous character than he realised with with connections to the criminal underworld.

A quick glance at some of the key talents involved with The Third Man is illuminating: Welles and Cotton had worked together on Citizen Kane (1941), Alexander Korda and David O Selznick were two of the most influential producers of that era, director Carol Reed was coming off Odd Man Out (1947) and The Fallen Idol (1948) and the screenplay was written by novelist Graham Greene.

In addition to this glittering line up of talent, we can also note Anton Karas, who provided the indelible zither score, and Robert Krasker, who won an Oscar for his atmospheric cinematography.

The film managed to capture the weary mood and shifting moralities of post-war Europe.

Vienna proved to be a memorable backdrop, with key locations including an elm-lined cemetery, the iconic Ferris wheel and the underground sewers.

In Harry Lime, it also gave us one of great villains in cinema.

Welles is magnetic in the role and although he only has a handful of scenes, his presence dominates the film.

Aside from the marvellous technique and fine performances, it also has a unique power and intelligence courtesy of Greene’s script.

It ponders some of the great moral questions of the twentieth century, most memorably in the Ferris wheel sequence, but does so on a way that is engrossing, funny and ultimately moving.

Reed imbues everything with a sublime melancholy that underscores the personal and political impact of World War II.

A film that repays repeated viewings, it contains many delights ranging from amusing supporting turns by Bernard Lee and Wilfred Hyde-White, a famous scene involving a cat in a darkened doorway and one of the finest closing shots in the history of cinema.

The extras on the disc are generous, the best of which is the 89-minute documentary ‘Shadowing The Third Man’, which revisits the original locations and explores the film in considerable depth, revealing the tensions behind the scenes and why the film continues to resonate with audiences.

Narrated by John Hurt, it also features key contributions from Guy Hamilton (the Assistant Director, who would go on to direct Goldfinger) and Angela Allen (2nd Unit Continuity) as they reminisce about their time working on the production.

The audio commentary also features Simon Callow (author of the best biography of Orson Welles) with Hamilton and Allen as they provide further insights on various sequences in the film, along with more anecdotes on the production.

Also of note is some new supplementary material actually shot in HD, which includes an interactive tour of Vienna, which features locations from the film.

Here are the technical details of the disc, alongside the extras in full:

• Region B
• 1080P 1.33:1
• English, French and German DTS-HD MA 2.0 (mono)
• German, French, Spanish and Dutch subtitles
• New or previously unreleased material:
• Guardian NFT Interview with Joseph Cotten (audio only: 47’13)
• Guardian NFT Interview with Graham Greene (audio only: 8’05)
• Audio Commentary by Guy Hamilton (Assistant Director), Angela Allen (2nd Unit Continuity) & Simon Callow (audio only: 1’44)
• 2 x original trailers (1’46 mins & 2’19) (HD)
• Stills gallery (2’24) (HD)
• Interview and performance by zither player Cornelia Mayer (4’44) (HD)
• The Third Man Interactive Vienna Tour (49’50) (HD)
• The Third Man on the Radio (an episode of The Lives of Harry Lime: Ticket to Tangiers (1951) written by and performed by Orson Welles) (audio only: 28’45)
• Shadowing The Third Man –retrospective documentary (1hr29) (SD)
• US alternative prologue by Joseph Cotton (1’20) (SD)
• Booklet Essay by Charles Drazin, film historian / biographer – Charles Drazin is a film historian and biographer. His books include Korda: Britain’s Only Movie Mogul, The Finest Years: British Cinema of the 1940s and In Search of The Third Man. He lectures on the cinema at Queen Mary, University of London.

The Third Man is out on Blu-ray on September 13th from Optimum Releasing

> Buy The Third Man on Blu-ray from Amazon UK
> The Third Man at the IMDb
> Find out more about The Third Man at Wikipedia

This experimental short film by François Vautier is a stunning tribute to Ridley Scott’s Blade Runner.

Made as a unique picture with a resolution of 3.6 gigapixels, it uses 167,819 frames from Blade Runner: The Final Cut.

BLADE RUNNER revisited >3.6 gigapixels from françois vautier on Vimeo.

Vautier describes how he put it together:

1> First Step : The “Picture” of the film
I extracted the 167,819 frames from ‘Blade Runner’ (final cut version,1h51mn52s19i). Then I assembled all these images to obtain one gigantic image of colossal dimensions : a square of approximately 60,000 pixels on one side alone, 3.5 gigapixels (3500 million pixels)

2> Second Step : An Illusion
I placed a virtual camera above this big picture. So what you see is like an illusion, because contrary to appearances there is only one image. It is in fact the relative movement of the virtual camera flying over this massive image which creates the animated film, like a film in front of a projector.

Notice how the whole concept echoes one of the signature scenes from the film where Deckard enhances an image via voice recognition software.

> Blade Runner at Wikipedia
> More videos by François Vautier on Vimeo

DVD & BLU-RAY PICKS

Kick-Ass (Universal): A post-modern superhero film based on the comic book by Mark Millar and John Romita, Jr. It is the story of teenager (Aaron Johnson) who decides to become a super-hero named Kick-Ass after purchasing a costume (even though he has no powers or training) and soon finds himself involved with a local gangster (Mark Strong); his son (Christopher Mintz-Plasse); and a highly trained father and daughter vigilante duo (Nicolas Cage and Chloe Moretz).

Directed by Matthew Vaughn, produced by Brad Pitt and written by Vaughn and Jane Goldman, the film was independently financed – at a budget of $28 million dollars – and gleefully subverts the superhero movie whilst also paying homage to it. It isn’t the awe-inspiring masterpiece that some would have you believe, but it is still a witty and interesting take on the comic-book genre.

The extras on the Blu-ray and DVD versions include:

• Ass-Kicking Bonus View Mode (Blu-ray Disc Exclusive) – Synchronous with the feature film, this innovative multi-media presentation incorporates video and audio commentary, behind-the-scenes clips and illustrative graphics with Co-Writer/Producer/Director Matthew Vaughn, plus cast and crew providing an all-access perspective on Kick-Ass
• “A New Kind of Superhero: The Making of Kick-Ass “ documentary (Blu-ray Disc Exclusive)
• “It’s On! The Comic Book Origin of Kick-Ass” featurette
• Audio Commentary with Writer-Director Matthew Vaughn
• “The Art of Kick-Ass” gallery
• Marketing Archive
• BD Touch and Metamenu Remote
• Lionsgate Live™ enabled, featuring extra content for Internet-connected players
• Enhanced for D-Box™ Motion Control Systems
• Standard Definition DVD Copy of the feature film
• Standard Definition Digital Copy of the feature film
• Audio Commentary with Writer-Director Matthew Vaughn
• It’s On! The Comic Book Origin of Kick-Ass” featurette
• “The Art of Kick-Ass” gallery
• Marketing Archive

> Buy Kick-Ass on Blu-ray / DVD / Special Edition Combi Pack

Exit Through the Gift Shop (Revolver Entertainment): The debut film from enigmatic graffiti artist Banksy is a documentary (or is it?) which tells the story of Thierry Guetta, a French immigrant in Los Angeles who is obsessed with street art. It shows Guetta’s constant filming of his own life and his attempts to capture Banksy on camera. It also features other artists including Invader and Shepard Fairey (the man famous for the Barack Obama ‘Hope’ poster).

Narrated by Rhys Ifans, the music is by Geoff Barrow and although there has been a continuous debate about the nature of the film since it debuted at Sundance in January, it has got very strong reviews and is likely to increase the mystique of Banksy even further.

Extra features include: stickers, art prints, the movie, and ‘limited edition 2D glasses’.

> Buy Exit Through The Gift Shop on Blu-ray or DVD

ALSO OUT

After.Life (Anchor Bay Entertainment UK) [Blu-ray / DVD]
Bent (Park Circus) [Blu-ray / with DVD]
Black Lightning (Universal Pictures) [Blu-ray / DVD]
Doctor Who – The New Series: 5 – Volume 4 (2 Entertain) [Blu-ray / DVD]
Entourage: Season 6 (Warner Home Video) [Blu-ray / DVD]
The African Queen: Restoration Edition (ITV DVD) [Buy it on Blu-ray]
The Brit Indie Collection (4DVD) [Blu-ray / DVD]
The Last Song (Walt Disney) [Blu-ray / DVD]
The Official 2010 World Cup South Africa Review (2 Entertain) [Blu-ray / DVD]
True Inspiration Collection (4DVD) [Blu-ray / DVD]

> The DVD and Blu-ray releases for September 2010
> The Best DVD and Blu-ray releases for 2009

There are plenty of Inception trailer mash-ups on YouTube, but this one should please fans of The IT Crowd.

UPDATE: The creator of this video is Stefan Zurich. Follow him on Twitter (@StefSOFT) or check out his blog here.

> Original Inception trailer
> The IT Crowd at Wikipedia

Terence Malick’s Days of Heaven (1978) is one of the most visually stunning films ever made, a poetic tale of a couple (Richard Gere and Brooke Adams) who migrate to the Texas panhandle in order to work for a farmer (Sam Shepherd) in 1910.

Beautifully shot by Nestor Almendros, it is famous for its cinematopgraphy, especially the way in which it captures the magic hour between dusk and dawn.

In this video cinematographer John Bailey, who served as a camera operator on the film, sheds some light on how Alemendros and Malick managed to give the film its unique look.

> Days of Heaven at the IMDb
> Buy the Region 2 DVD or the Criterion Blu-ray (Region 1 only)

The DVD and Blu-ray highlights to look out for this month include: the Banksy documentary Exit Through The Gift Shop, the surreal Greek drama Dogtooth, The Studio Canal Collection (which includes Blu-ray versions of classic films such as Breathless, The Third Man and Mulholland Drive), Roman Polanski’s timely political thriller The Ghost, the landmark TV series The World at War on Blu-ray for the first time, Werner Herzog’s reworking of Bad Lieutenant and Michael Winterbottom’s controversial drama The Killer Inside Me.

MONDAY 6th SEPTEMBER

After.Life (Anchor Bay Entertainment UK) [Blu-ray / DVD]
Bent (Park Circus) [Blu-ray / with DVD]
Black Lightning (Universal Pictures) [Blu-ray / DVD]
Doctor Who – The New Series: 5 – Volume 4 (2 Entertain) [Blu-ray / DVD]
Entourage: Season 6 (Warner Home Video) [Blu-ray / DVD]
Exit Through the Gift Shop (Revolver Entertainment) [Buy it on Blu-ray or DVD]
Kick-Ass (Universal Pictures) [Blu-ray / DVD / Limited Edition]
The African Queen: Restoration Edition (ITV DVD) [Buy it on Blu-ray]
The Brit Indie Collection (4DVD) [Blu-ray / DVD]
The Last Song (Walt Disney) [Blu-ray / DVD]
The Official 2010 World Cup South Africa Review (2 Entertain) [Blu-ray / DVD]
True Inspiration Collection (4DVD) [Blu-ray / DVD]

MONDAY 13th SEPTEMBER

Breathless (Optimum Home Entertainment) [Buy it on Blu-ray or DVD]
Date Night (20th Century Fox Home Ent.) [Blu-ray / DVD]
Delicatessen (Optimum Home Entertainment) [Buy it on Blu-ray]
Dogtooth (Verve Pictures) [Buy it on Blu-ray or DVD]
Glee: Complete Season 1 (20th Century Fox Home Ent.) [Buy it on Blu-ray or DVD]
Here We Go Round the Mulberry Bush (BFI) [Blu-ray and DVD combi]
Hung: Season 1 (Warner Home Video) [Blu-ray / DVD]
Inferno (Arrow Films) [Blu-ray / DVD]
Kandahar Break – Fortress of War (Revolver Entertainment) [Blu-ray / DVD]
Lost: The Complete Seasons 1-6 (Walt Disney Studios Home Ent.) [Buy it on Blu-ray or DVD]
Lost: The Complete Sixth Season (Walt Disney Studios Home Ent.) [Buy it on lu-ray or DVD]
Mountain Gorillas (2 Entertain) [Blu-ray / DVD]
Mulholland Drive (Optimum Home Entertainment) [Buy it on Blu-ray]
Prince of Persia – The Sands of Time (Walt Disney Studios Home Ent.) [Blu-ray / DVD / Combi pack]
The Graduate (Optimum Home Entertainment) [Buy it on Blu-ray]
The Pianist (Optimum Home Entertainment) [Buy it on Blu-ray]
The Third Man (Optimum Home Entertainment) [Buy it on Blu-ray]
Unthinkable (E1 Entertainment UK) [Buy it on Blu-ray or DVD]
Vincere (Artificial Eye) [Blu-ray / DVD]

MONDAY 20th SEPTEMBER

Death Note (4Digital Asia) [Blu-ray / with DVD]
Forbidden Planet (Warner Home Video) [Blu-ray / DVD]
I Spit On Your Grave (101 Films) [Blu-ray / with DVD]
Lang Lang: Live in Vienna (Sony Classics) [Blu-ray / DVD]
Mars Attacks! (Warner Home Video) [Blu-ray / Normal]
Mother (Optimum Home Entertainment) [Buy it on Blu-ray or DVD]
Robin Hood (Universal Pictures) [Buy it on Blu-ray or DVD]
The Back-up Plan (Sony Pictures Home Ent.) [Blu-ray / DVD]
The Ghost (Optimum Home Entertainment) [Buy it on Blu-ray or DVD]
The Hannibal Lecter Trilogy (Universal Pictures) [Blu-ray / DVD]
The Special Relationship (Optimum Home Entertainment) [Buy it on Blu-ray or DVD]
The Sword With No Name (Showbox Media Group) [Blu-ray / DVD]
The World at War (Fremantle Home Entertainment) [Buy it on Blu-ray or DVD]
Tooth Fairy (20th Century Fox Home Ent.) [Blu-ray / DVD]
[Rec] (E1 Entertainment UK) [Blu-ray / DVD]
[Rec] 2 (E1 Entertainment UK) [Blu-ray / DVD]

MONDAY 27th SEPTEMBER

A Nightmare On Elm Street (Warner Home Video) [Blu-ray / DVD]
American – The Bill Hicks Story (2 Entertain) [Blu-ray / DVD]
Bad Lieutenant: Port of Call – New Orleans (Lionsgate UK) [Buy it on Blu-ray or DVD]
City of Life and Death (High Fliers Video Distribution) [Blu-ray / DVD]
Death at a Funeral (Sony Pictures Home Ent.) [Blu-ray / DVD]
Fringe: Season 2 (Warner Home Video) [Blu-ray / DVD]
Fringe: Seasons 1 and 2 (Warner Home Video) [Blu-ray / Box Set]
House: Season 6 (Universal/Playback) [Blu-ray / Box Set]
Infernal Affairs (Palisades Tartan) [Blu-ray / DVD]
She’s Out of My League (Paramount Home Entertainment) [Blu-ray / DVD]
Space Chimps 2 – Zartog Strikes Back (EV) [Blu-ray / DVD]
Stephen Hawking’s Universe (Demand DVD) [Blu-ray / DVD]
StreetDance (E1 Entertainment UK) [Blu-ray / DVD]
Tetro (Soda Pictures) [Blu-ray / DVD]
The Deep (2 Entertain) [Blu-ray / DVD]
The Killer Inside Me (Icon Home Entertainment) [Blu-ray / DVD]
Wake Up Sid (UTV) [Blu-ray / DVD]
Warren Miller: Dynasty (Demand DVD) [Blu-ray / DVD]

> The Best DVD & Blu-ray releases of 2009
> Recent DVD & Blu-ray releases

This compilation of dancing sequences from various movies set to Footloose by Kenny Loggins is a fairly slick and polished affair.

Can you name all the films included in it?

Random fact: One of the dancers pulling off all the difficult moves at the climax of Flashdance was actually a guy.

[via Buzzfeed]

NATIONAL RELEASES

Dinner For Schmucks (Paramount): A US remake of the French comedy The Dinner Game (Le Dîner de cons), about an ambitious executive (Paul Rudd) who accepts an invitation to a dinner party where successful professionals make fun of an unsuspecting idiot (Steve Carrell).

Directed by Jay Roach, it co-stars Stephanie Szostak, Bruce Greenwood and Zach Galifianakis. In the US it got mixed reviews and opened to middling box office. [Odeon West End & Nationwide / 12A]

The Switch (Lionsgate UK): A romantic comedy about an unmarried 40-year-old woman (Jennifer Aniston) who turns to artificial insemination in order to become pregnant, only to find out years later from her best friend (Jason Bateman) that there may be complications on who is the real father.

Directed by Josh Gordon, this comedy attracted average reviews in the US and provoked a bizarre war of words between Aniston and Fox News host Bill O’Reilly. [Empire Leicester Square & Nationwide / 12A]

The Last Exorcism (Optimum Releasing): A low budget mockumentary horror, shot from the perspective of a priest filming his last exorcism.

Shot by director Daniel Stamm for just $1.5 million, it narrowly missed out on the number 1 slot at the US box office last weekend and got a warm critical response. [Cineworlds Shaftesbury Ave., Wandsworth, Vue West End & Nationwide / 15]

Jonah Hex (Warner Bros.): A comic book adaptation about a soldier (Josh Brolin) seeking revenge after the US Civil War, when he was horribly disfigured by his ruthless commanding officer (John Malkovich).

Despite an impressive cast featuring Brolin, Megan Fox and Michael Fassbender this bombed in the US after bad buzz, negative reviews and a running time of just 81 minutes, which suggests the studio tried some kind of rescue job in the edit suite. [Nationwide / 15]

Why Did I Get Married Too? (Lionsgate UK): The latest film from Tyler Perry is the sequel to Why Did I Get Married? (2007) and is about four couples who undertake a week-long retreat to improve their relationships. Directed by and starring Perry, it co-stars Janet Jackson and Tasha Smith. The usual bad reviews that surround Perry’s films may give you some idea of what to expect. [Nationwide / 12A]

ALSO OUT

Certified Copy (Artificial Eye): The latest film from Iranian director Abbas Kiarostami is a drama set in Tuscany about a French art gallery owner (Juliette Binoche), who pretends to be married to a man she has just met. The dialogue is in French, English and Italian. Binoche won the Best Actress at Cannes earlier this year for her role. [Barbican, Curzons Mayfair, Richmond, HMV Curzon Wimbledon & Nationwide / 12A]

22 Bullets (Anchor Bay UK): A French thriller about a retired mobster (Jean Reno) who goes on a revenge spree after being left for dead with 22 bullets in his body by his former childhood friend. Directed by Richard Berry. [Key Cities / 18]

Bonded By Blood (Revolver Entertainment): Another British gangster film based on the Rettendon Range Rover murders of December 1995. Directed by Sacha Bennett, it stars Kierston Wareing, Neil Maskell and Tamer Hassan. [Key Cities / 18]

Cherry Tree Lane (Metrodome Distribution): The third film from writer-director Paul Andrew Williams is a gritty crime drama about a young couple terrorized in their home by a group of teenagers. [Curzon Soho / 18]

No Impact Man (Dogwoof): A documentary following a Manhattan-based family as they abandon their high consumption lifestyle and try to live a year while making no net environmental impact. Directed by Laura Gabbert. [Empire Leicester Sq., Everyman, Lexi, Ritzy & Nationwide / 15]

SoulBoy (Soda Pictures): A coming-of-age drama set in the 1970s Northern Soul underground music scene, directed by Shimmy Marcus. [Soda Pictures Empire Leicester Sq., & selected Key Cities / 15]

Splintered (Kaleidoscope Entertainment): A British horror film set in a remote part of North Wales, directed by Simeon Halligan. [Key Cities / 18]

Perestroika (ICA Cinema): A film about that re-enacts a journey on the Trans-Siberian railway to investigate loss and memory. [ICA Cinema]

> UK DVD and Blu-ray picks for this week including Four Lions and Sherlock
> Get local cinema showtimes for your area via Google Movies