From Brazilian writer/director KARIM AÏNOUZthis production was split between Brazil and Germany. Brought to the UK by distributor Peccadillo Pictures; know for their support of Gay/LGBT cinema.
Note: The film is in a mix of Portuguese & German with English subtitles.
The film stars Wagner Moura, Clemens Schick and Jesuita Barbosa
“Donato (Wagner Moura) works as a lifeguard at the spectacular but treacherous Praia do Futuro beach in Brazil; Konrad (Clemens Schick) is an ex-military thrill-seeker from Germany vacationing with a friend. After Donato saves Konrad from drowning, but fails to save his other friend, initial sexual sparks give way to a deeper, emotional connection. Donato decides to leave everything behind, including his ailing mother and younger brother, Ayrton, to travel back to Berlin with Konrad.”
Soda Pictures are releasing critically acclaimed Australian drama ‘The Turning’ in a special DVD release in the UK from 6th April following a limited a theatrical run; certificate 15. VOD options for the film have not yet been confirmed.
The Turning is based on the best-selling book of short stories by Australian author Tim Winton. This big-screen adaptation is a collaboration between many writers and directors; each working on one the books segments. The film stars Cate Blanchett (The Curious Case of Benjamin Button), Hugo Weaving (The Hobbit: Battle of the Five Armies) and Rose Byrne (X-Men First Class). Continue reading →
From writing/directing team Andy Phelps & Jake Hawkins comes the British zombie thriller/comedy Zombie Resurrection. Interestingly; this was originally written as a screenplay to sell; but with lack of interest the writers chose to take the project on themselves.
After a short intro scene; we break into an animated title sequence with a booming score…..they are really building it up here. Will it live up to this intro?
This soon establishes itself as an a group survival zombie flick…as the group is travelling to a new encampment in the post zombie apocalypse. However the overtone to begin with is purely comical and farce with accents to match; perhaps taking it’s cues from Shaun of The Dead. Continue reading →
From new director Dammie Akinmol and writer/cinematographer Kazi Zaman comes a brand new British noir short; Board to Death. It is produced by a collective called ‘Broken Lens Productions’.
We follow a husband (Joshua Expositio) who is incredibly paranoid and vengeful. He suspects his wife (Victoria Ashford) of being unfaithful and we follow him as he hunts down those who have he feels disrespected his wife and his marriage. Performed mostly as voice-over; Expositio does a great job of creating the seeds of a complex character that is one part villain and one part victim in a larger game that we discover later in the piece.
This alone is enough to maintain interest; supported by some other pop-up characters that range from bar-tenders to priests. The flow is also propelled by a constant techno/ambient score that carries the piece along and builds momentum to the inevitable conclusion.
The noir genre has had somewhat of renaissance in recent years; thanks in part to big-budget film’s such as Sin City (Robert Rodriguez); it is once again stylistically acceptable. A lot of effort has been made in this piece to create this especially with the cinematography and it is very successful in this respect. Visually it maintains a consistent black & white noir look with a generous use of backlight. It also has that dark and menacing feel we have come to expect.
However; I can’t help but feel this is noir for noir’s sake…and it would be nice to see some of the film-makers own creative flair come into play. All that said, this piece shows some promise and I look forward to what this production team will do next.
The Internet’s Own Boy tells the tale of programming genius and privacy/information activist Aaron Swartz who is known for his involvement in development of web technologies such as RSS & Creative Commons as well as co-founding the website Reddit. Often labelled as a ‘hacktivist’ his political activities and campaigning garnered him many enemies as well as supporters. He was heavily involved in campaigning to stop the SOPA(Stop Online Piracy Act) bill. In the age of the internet these issues are increasingly important and no clearer for most individuals to understand. Continue reading →
Notorious serial killer Elizabeth Bathory (Louise Griffiths) believed that bathing in virgin blood would keep her young and beautiful forever. Still alive in present day America she’s found a perfect hunting ground promoting celibacy in the young girls at San Griento High School under the banner of the V.A.G. society.
Dolphin Tale 2 is the sequel to the 2011 Dolphin Tale which was loosely based on the true story of bottlenose dolphin ‘Winter‘ that was rescued from the Florida coast and taken to the Clearwater Marine Park (which is also used in the film) who sadly lost her tail and had to be fitted on a prosthetic. This film centred on the friendship between Winter and 11-year-old Sawyer Nelson (Nathan Gamble).
The film stars Harry Connick Jr., Ashley Judd, Nathan Gamble, Kris Kristofferson, Cozi Zuehlsdorff & Morgan Freeman; all of whom returned from Dolphin Tale. Writer/Director Charles Martin Smith also returns. Continue reading →
The 1991 thriller Toy Soldiers is being released for the first time on Blu-Ray on the 2nd June by 101 Films as part of their ‘Cult Film Collection’. It is probably arguable however whether this film deserves cult status. It fits in with the typical action/military films of the late 80s/early 90’s; but this is no WarGames.
This was the directorial debut of Writer/Director Daniel Petire Jr. who is better known for his comedic writing on films such as Beverly Hills Cop an Turner & Hooch. Some of that humour is also seen here but is not nearly as effective as his other works. The cast includes Sean Astin(The Goonies, Lord of the Rings), Wil Wheaton (Stand By Me), Louis Gossett, Jr. (An Officer and a Gentlemen), Andrew Divoff (Air Force One), Mason Adams (Lou Grant) and Denholm Elliott (Indiana Jones).
Regis High School, an exclusive prep school for delinquent teens becomes the target of a terrorist hostage-taking when Columbian drug lord and terrorist Luis Cali (Divoff) travels to the US to negotiate the release of his father and it is left to a group of student pranksters (Astin, Wheaton etc.) to outsmart the terrorists.
The Turning is based on the best-selling book of short stories by Australian author Tim Winton.This big-screen adaptation is a collaboration between many writers and directors; each working on one the books segments. The film stars Cate Blanchett (The Curious Case of Benjamin Button), Hugo Weaving (The Hobbit: Battle of the Five Armies) and Rose Byrne (X-Men First Class).
Compilations like this run the risk of feeling disjointed however this film seems mostly to avoid that as the various tales intertwine and cover the whole range of the human experience from relationships to death. Continue reading →
This documentary (a joint venture between Fuel Entertainment and Xbox Presents) explores one of the great urban myths in video gaming, the dumping of around 700,000 copies of the Atari game ‘E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial,’ for the classic Atari 2600 console at a dumping site in Alamogordo, New Mexico. This game has often been referred to as one of the worst games in history and blamed for the ultimate financial failure of Atari. This propels the stereotype we still have today that video games based on films are invariably terrible.
Typically at the time Atari would spend many months developing a game but after making a multi-million dollar deal with Steven Spielberg (who approved the game himself) for the E.T. game gave the company just 12 weeks to get the game to market in time for Christmas. Following the games release the companies finances took a turn for the worst and it went on to lose $536 million. Continue reading →
beach in Brazil; Konrad (Clemens Schick) is an ex-military thrill-seeker from Germany vacationing with a friend. After Donato saves Konrad from drowning, but fails to save his other friend, initial sexual sparks give way to a deeper, emotional connection. Donato decides to leave everything behind, including his ailing mother and younger brother, Ayrton, to travel back to Berlin with Konrad.”
score…..they are really building it up here. Will it live up to this intro?
Indie Mac User 