News

"We're Not Going To Fuck It Up." STAKE LAND's Jim Mickle Remaking Jorge Michel Grau's WE ARE WHAT WE ARE

Thu, 09 Feb 2012 06:46:23 -0500

You want an intriguing collision of talent seemingly tailor made for us here at Twitch? Well, here one is for you.

Jim Mickle has long been a favorite here at Twitch, his debut feature Mulberry Street being a surprising little overachiever of a picture while we publicly declared his 2010 reunion with writing partner and star Nick Damici the best American horror film of the year. Winning the Midnight Madness award at the Toronto International Film Festival certainly helped make that argument.

The Mickle / Damici combo is one of the most vital in American genre film today, the duo tapping into a very gritty, 70's indie vibe in their work. We've been anxiously awaiting whatever the duo would do next from the moment that Stake Land's closing credits finished scrolling up the screen and up until very recently it appeared that the next project was going to be the long talked about adaptation of Joe R Lansdale's Cold In July.

But the Mickle / Damici combo is only one end of the collision we're talking about here. At the other end is Mexico's Jorge Michel Grau.

Grau made his feature debut in Cannes of 2010 with the gritty cannibal film Somos Lo Que Hay (We Are What We Are). Made as part of a film-school backed program that finances the debut feature for one of their alumni with the crew made up of current students We Are What We Are - like Mickle's work - functions best when it imbues its harshest genre elements with an unflinching realism. And while Mickle was winning the top genre prize in Toronto, Grau's film was busy taking the top award at Fantastic Fest.

Having had the chance to spend time with both Mickle and Grau I feel quite comfortable saying that the two are kindred spirits, not just in terms of filmmaking style but also in personality. they'd like each other rather a lot if they had the chance to hang out and now they're going to because it has just been announced at the European Film Market that Jim Mickle is going to direct an English language version of We Are What We Are.

"We're not going to fuck this up," says Mickle. "I just finished a first draft of it with Nick Damici, and we're taking it in a very cool new direction that I'm quite stoked about. I'm not usually a fan of international "remakes", but this one has so many possibilities for trying out new ideas while honoring the Mexican film, and hopefully creating something that can play hand in hand with Jorge's film. I'm hoping it can also bring awareness to the original and not aim to make it obsolete as a lot of retreads wind up doing. Couldn't be happier with what we have so far! Think Winter's Bone with cannibals..."

If you're wondering what this means for Cold In July, fret not. That's still gearing up to go as well but with the cast not available until late in 2012 the goal is to shoot We Are What We Are first - photography is currently scheduled to begin in June - and then roll directly into Cold In July.

Memento Films will be launching international sales for Mickle's We Are What We Are at the European Film Market. Uncorked Productions' Andrew D. Corkin (MARTHA MARCY MAY MARLENE, AFTER SCHOOL) and Rodrigo Bellott (SEXUAL DEPENDENCY) will produce alongside MFI's Nicholas Shumaker (ANOTHER EARTH, ME @THE ZOO) and Belladonna Productions' Linda Moran and Rene Bastian, who produced Mickle's first two films. MFI's Nicholas Kaiser will co-produce. Development was financed by newly minted shingle The Zoo, headed by financiers Brett Fitzgerald, Mo Noorali, and industry vet Jack Turner.

SXSW 2012: Shorts Lineup Features Edgerton, Joost & Schulman, Hertzfeldt, Zakheim, & More

Wed, 08 Feb 2012 22:35:52 -0500

We've got all the details on the SXSW Shorts Lineup to compliment our announcements of the Features Lineup and Midnighters. There are a whopping 135 shorts in no fewer than 8 programs. Man, it must be crazy to program the shorts section of this fest.

135 short films were selected from 3,306 short film submissions, and will screen as part of twelve overall shorts programs. This year SXSW moved up submission deadlines a month earlier than previous years, and still saw a saw an increase of 7% in Short film submissions over 2011.

Here's the full List:

NARRATIVE SHORTS

A selection of original, well-crafted films that take advantage of the short form and exemplify distinctive and genuine storytelling. The winner of our Grand Jury Award in this category is eligible for a 2013 Academy Award nomination for Best Narrative Short.

Aaron Burr, Part 2

Director: Dana O'Keefe

History is a contest.

Another Bullet Dodged

Director: Landon Zakheim

In the fading echoes of a relationship, character is revealed.

Bear

Director: Nash Edgerton

Jack means well, but sometimes good intentions have horrible consequences.

The Black Balloon

Director: Benny Safdie, Josh Safdie

In New York City, a lone black balloon, once part of a huge 100-balloon bouquet, learns that humans are complicated creatures with extreme highs and lows. Part Sci-Fi, part children's film.

The Chair

Director: Grainger David

The story of one boy's reaction to a mysterious outbreak of poisonous mold in his small town.

A Chjána (The Plain)

Director: Jonas Carpignano

Inspired by real events, A Chjàna (The Plain) follows Ayiva, an African migrant worker who seeks to reunite with his best friend in the wake of the most significant race riot in Italian history.

A Fábrica

Director: Aly Muritiba

An inmate convinces his mother to take a risk smuggling a cell phone for him into the penitentiary.

FOXES

Director: Lorcan Finnegan

A young couple trapped in a remote estate of empty houses and shrieking foxes are beckoned from their isolation into a twilight world. A world of the paranormal or perhaps insanity.

Heimkommen (Coming Home)

Director: Micah Magee

When Robert's girlfriend dies, he turns his grief against his younger sister Jo. Jo plays ice hockey with the boys, hoping to gather strength to bring her brother back to the land of the living.

In The Pines

Directors: Zeek Earl, Chris Caldwell

Simultaneously an exploration of nature and psyche, the film documents a young woman's hunt for extraterrestrial meaning. Part science fiction, part psycho-thriller, part poetry - this film crafts a memorable scene rooted in the Pacific Northwest.

Joy

Director: Colm Quinn

Nicola reluctantly introduces her newborn daughter to her best friend Tess.

Liar

Director: Adam Garnet Jones

When a brutal teenage revenge plot gets pushed too far, 14 year-old Tara is forced to choose between standing helplessly on the sidelines or stepping in to defend the boyfriend that hurt her.

Life and Freaky Times of Uncle Luke

Directors: Jillian Mayer, Lucas Leyva

A modern Miami adaptation of the 1962 French short film La Jetee, starring Uncle Luke of the 2 Live Crew.

Little Dad

Director: Noah Pritzker

An insecure father prepares for a party at his in-laws.

Mouthful

Director: Robert G. Putka

Bobby and Bliss are a happy couple, that is, until they begin to tell each other things probably better left unsaid. A single question leads them down a highway to relationship hell.

My Friend Kills Time

Director: Jakob Rørvik

Thomas moves to a remote cabin in an attempt to disappear completely... even from himself. My Friend Kills Time mixes visual textures and haunting soundscapes to create a cinematic diary of a young man's isolation.

Not Far From The Abattoir

Director: Kyle Thomas

A story of a man controlling his demons and trying to imagine a better life outside of the only town he has ever called home.

Pitch Black Heist

Director: John Maclean

Two men, professional safe crackers, meet on a simple job to relieve an office safe of its contents. The catch; a light activated alarm system impelling them to embark on a pitch black heist.

Playtime (Spielzeit)

Director: Lucas Mireles

A seamless journey through the lives of German youth on a Sunday afternoon.

Random Strangers

Director: Alexis Dos Santos

Lulu and Rocky meet, fall in love, spend the night together, and fall asleep looking at each other...except for the fact that he is in Berlin and she is in Buenos Aires.

Reinaldo Arenas

Director: Lucas Leyva

Told from the point of view of a dying shark, Reinaldo Arenas is the story of an unintentional immigrant in Miami.

REMAINS

Directors: Jeremiah Zagar, Nathan Caswell

A blend of documentary and fiction, Remains is about recollection and fading memories. Combining three years of recorded voice messages with stunning macro photography, the film documents a relationship from its inception to its end.

Sea Meadow

Director: Lily Baldwin

A disoriented young woman stumbles upon an empty estate. There are signs of a lush life, but the inhabitants have disappeared. Or have they? Sea Meadow revamps the thriller with pop mashups and stylized dance tableaux.

Shoot the Freak

Director: Bradford Willingham

Through the freak's musings, this film chronicles the last days of the iconic, abrasive Coney Island attraction Shoot the Freak. In masked anonymity, the nihilistic teen indulges in drug-induced daydreams of violence and oceanic abandon.

A Short Film About Ice Fishing

Director: Jason Shahinfar

In rural South Dakota two friends go out for the most explosive day of ice fishing either will ever experience.

Syndromes

Directors: The Golden Filter, Kristoffer Borgli

A young girl's bizarre and unexplained ability to help others leads to her involvement in a sinister underworld.

Would You

Directors: Brian McGinn, Rod Blackhurst

Two friends play 'Would You Rather.' When their choices magically start to come true, they find themselves in a variety of awkward and funny situations.

DOCUMENTARY SHORTS

Unfiltered slices of life, from across the documentary spectrum.

Aisha's Song

Director: Orlando von Einsiedel

Musically lush and stunningly shot, Aisha's Song is a touching and uplifting story of female empowerment from a part of the world where women are all too often overlooked.

A Brief History of John Baldessari

Directors: Henry Joost, Ariel Schulman

No more boring films! Everything you need to know about the godfather of Conceptual Art... narrated by Tom Waits.

BRUTE FORCE

Director: Ben Steinbauer

The story of Apple Records notoriously irreverent recording artist, Brute Force.

CatCam

Director: Seth Keal

When a German engineer creates a tiny camera for his newly adopted stray cat to wear, the photographs reveal more than ever expected.

Cutting Loose

Directors: Finlay Pretsell, Adrian McDowall

"I'm trusted with a pair of scissors and I'm in here for murder." A snapshot of prison life in the build up to the annual hairdressing competition.

Family Nightmare

Director: Dustin Guy Defa

Unearthed home movies and haunting dubbed voices collide to create a personal portrait of family dysfunction.

The Fuse: or How I Burned Simon Bolivar

Director: Igor Drljaca

A nine-year-old boy thinks he is responsible for the civil war in Bosnia.

Kudzu Vine

Director: Josh Gibson

This ode to the climbing, trailing, and coiling species Pueraria lobata evokes the agricultural history and mythic textures of the American South.

The Love Competition

Director: Brent Hoff

The World's First Love Competition.

The Man That Got Away

Director: Trevor Anderson

A musical documentary that tells the true life story of Trevor's great-uncle Jimmy in six original songs.

Meaning of Robots

Director: Matt Lenski

Mike Sullivan's world is overrun by an army of miniature sex robots with no end in sight.

Minor/Major: The TV on the Radio Tour Documentary

Director: Chioke Nassor

An intense documentary portrait on the band TV on the Radio as they transition from minor label darlings to major label success.

New York Accent

Director: Caleb Slain

Once a man with all the answers, Dr. Ed Dobson is struggling to resolve his own questions before succumbing to the unusual disease eating away his body.

Written in Ink

Director: Martin Rath

Can one change what has already been written in ink?

SX GLOBAL SHORTS

A showcase for cutting-edge documentary shorts from around the world.

Abuelas

Director: Afarin Eghbal

In Buenos Aires, an old woman looks forward to all the joys of becoming a grandmother. However, unfolding historic events mean she is forced to wait over 30 years.

The Contest

Director: Jakub Cuman

Observational documentary made during the International Fryderyk Chopin Piano Competition Preliminaries in 2010.

Chronicle of Oldrich S.

Director: Rudolf Smid

Mr Sedlacek wrote one-sentence entries in his chronicle from 1981 to 2005, everyday stories of his life, his village, and of international events. This animated documentary is based on 80 of those entries.

The Contract

Director: Lina Mannheimer

On the 5th of May 2005, Beverly Charpentier declares an oath of allegiance to Catherine Robbe-Grillet. Hereby she gives up her freedom, for the rest of her life.

Doctor Rao

Directors: Alexej Tchernyi, Wu Zhi

Doctor Rao passed away. Family and friends are celebrating his last journey.

Walt Disney Square

Directors: Renata Pinheiro, Sergio Oliveira

A "quasi-musical" approach to contemporary urban life that reflects Brazilian society and many others throughout the world, this documentary describes at the same time a place, a city and a country.

ANIMATED SHORTS

An assortment of stories told using a mix of traditional animation, computer-generated effects, stop-motion, and everything in-between. The winner of our Grand Jury Award in this category is eligible for a 2013 Academy Award nomination for Best Animated Short.

663114

I am a 66-year cicada. There was a big earthquake. There was a big tsunami. There also was a big accident.

Belly

Director: Julia Pott

I can feel you in my belly.

Caldera

Director: Evan Viera

A young girl goes off her medication to leave a bleak metropolis and immerse herself in a vibrant oceanic cove.

Chocolate Milk

Director: Eliza Kinkz

Growing up in a Texas drug rehab, a teenage girl learns the rules of life and dairy products.

Combustion

Director: Renaud Hallée

Fire used as a visual and musical tool.

Giraffe Danger

Director: Randall Hopkins

A giraffe with personal space anxiety has a bad day.

The Hunter

Director: Marieka Walsh

A hunter searches for a missing boy deep in the snow covered mountains. He must make decisions that will forever change his relationship with the wilderness he fears. The Hunter is a stop-motion sand animation.

"it's such a beautiful day"

Director: Don Hertzfeldt

Bill finds himself in a hospital struggling with memory problems, in this third and final chapter to Don Hertzfeldt's "Everything will be OK" trilogy.

Little Boat

Director: Nelson Boles

One little boat, one big journey.

The Maker

Director: Christopher Kezelos

Life is what you make it.

(notes on) biology

Director: Danny Madden

An animated account of an organism adapting to its environment.

Once It Started It Could Not End Otherwise

Director: Kelly Sears

A terrifying look back at high school.

Paint Showers

Director: Miguel Jiron

Swirling cosmos of paint give way to a storm of color and drips.

Photographs

Directors: Christina Manrique, Robert Clogher

An elderly woman living in an abandoned town finds a camera, which becomes a means for her to recreate her past life and remember a lost love.

Reddish Brown and Blueish Green

Director: Samantha Gurry

Child services, schwag, and the American dream.

The Shrine / An Argument

Director: Sean Pecknold

An elk wanders through a world of madness.

Summer Bummer

Director: Bill Plympton

A man daydreams about what terror could be lurking in his backyard pool.

MIDNIGHT SHORTS

Bite-sized bits for all of your sex, genre, and hilarity needs.

Cheap Extermination

Director: Minka Farthing-Kohl

For Ernst, the perfect disguise was to play himself.

Cherry On Top

Director: Mike Damanskis

A prostitute finds new ways to attract business.

Don't Hug Me I'm Scared

Directors: Rebecca Sloan, Joseph Pelling

A short film about teaching creativity--by This Is It Collective.

Duck Sauce, "Big Bad Wolf"

Director: Keith Schofield

Keith Schofield's original, outrageous and very, very funny promo for Duck Sauce's single Big Bad Wolf has been burning up the internet, causing millions of pelvises to be thrust worldwide. An instant classic.

I Am Your Grandma

Director: Jillian Mayer

An autobiographical video diary log (vlog) that Jillian Mayer records for her unborn grandchildren.

J.P.B.F.

Director: Steve Collins

A woman interviews for a job at a nefarious company that may or may not f**k b**ts.

Jacuzzi Boys, "Glazin''

Directors: Lucas Leyva, Jillian Mayer

Glazin' is part of a larger narrative where a group of 6 anonymous girls innocently paint their privates and rig them to lip-synch their favorite song as a gift to the band.

Machines of the Working Class

Directors: James Dastoli, Robert Dastoli

Two robotic blue-collar workers take a brief hiatus to discuss delusions of grandeur.

Man & Gun

Director: Brian McOmber

A post 9/11 fairy tale about a man's love affair with guns.

Merman

Director: Jono Foley

Harrison swims through the darkest recesses of his mind.

Other

Director: Daniel DelPurgatorio

Patrick is a brilliant doctor in an obsessive race to alter his own grim prognosis. During a series of unconventional experiments, he discovers a scientific loophole unlike anything he had ever imagined.

Perished

Directors: Aaron McCann, Stefan Androv Radanovich

Sometimes survival is worse than death.

Zombie Chic

Director: Todd Cobery

A stuffy dinner party is interrupted by the zombie apocalypse.

MUSIC VIDEOS

A range of classic, innovative, and stylish work showcasing the scope of music video culture.

Alexander, ''A Million Years''

Director: Benjamin Kutsko

Baskerville, ''Reloaded''

Director: Marieke Verbiesen

Battles, ''My Machines''

Director: DANIELS

Casey Veggies, ''Euphoria II''

Director: John Bollozos

Céline Desrumaux, ''Countdown''

Director: Céline Desrumaux

CHRISTEENE, "African Mayonnaise"

Director: PJ Raval

Cults, ''You Know What I Mean''

Director: Kevin Lin

Ganesh Rao, ''Empyrean''

Director: Ganesh Rao

The Good The Bad, "030"

Jeppe Kolstrup

Gotye (Feat. Kimbra), ''Somebody That I Used To Know''

Director: Natasha Pincus

Hawaaii, ''Welcome''

Director: Churl Gwon

Herman Dune, ''Tell Me Something I Don't Know''

Director: Toben Seymour

Hooray For Earth, ''True Loves''

Director: Young Replicant

Hyperpotamus, ''De Camino''

Director: Lucas Borras

Kina Grannis,''In Your Arms''

Director: Greg Jardin

Little Tybee, ''Boxcar Fair''

Directors: Brock Scott, Tom Haney

Ok Go, ''All Is Not Lost''

Director: Ok Go, Pilobolus, & Trish Sie

Porter Robinson, ''Spitfire''

Director: Saman Keshavarz

Son of Kick,"Playing the Villain"

Director: Matt Devine (Glues Society)

When Saints Go Machine, ''Parix''

Director: Daniel Kragh-Jacobsen

Whomadewho, ''Every Minute Alone''

Director: William Stahl

Yip Deceiver, "Get Strict"

Directors: Brandon LaGanke, John Carlucci

Yuksek, ''ALWAYS ON THE RUN''

Directors: David Hache, Marc-Edouard Leon

TEXAS SHORTS

An offshoot of our regular narrative shorts program, composed of work shot in, about, or somehow relating to the Lone Star state.

foolproof

Directors: Zach Anner, Marshall Rimmer

Zach Anner, the freeloading roommate, and Marshall Rimmer, the responsible businessman, eat their morning cereal together.

The Gathering Squall

Director: Hannah Fidell

A teenage girl is forced into adulthood after she is assaulted by a classmate.

The Guessing Game

Director: Angela Cheng

A very short comedy set in a retirement home with senior citizens. On the morning of his birthday, Emmett asks his fellow residents to guess his age and is surprised by their answers.

Hellion

Director: Kat Candler

All hell breaks loose when seven-year-old Petey is left with his hell-raising brothers. But things go from bad to really, really bad when Dad gets home.

Knife

Director: James M. Johnston

From the rugged cross-timbers of Texas comes a portrait of greed and vengeance.

Magpie

Director: Russell O. Buh

On a trip to reconnect with his estranged and recently engaged daughter, Phillip finds a sex tape of the little girl he used to know. Dinner is going to be awkward.

Spark

Director: Annie Silverstein

While a boy waits out his father's tryst he is unexpectedly forced to deal with the lady-friend's daughter. Set on a ranch in Bastrop, Texas, Spark uses the environment to explore the internal space of children.

Tumbleweed!

Director: Jared Varava

The true and historically accurate tale of one tumbleweed that did not tumble.

What It's Like

Director: Matt Naylor

A magazine writer goes to an old folks home to buy mushrooms from one of the elderly residents. What starts as a bizarre transaction becomes a moment of connection across generations.

TEXAS HIGH SCHOOL SHORTS

Texas High School students offer a glimpse of a bright future for Texas filmmaking.

The Apparition

Director: Jonathan Munoz

Paranormal Elimination 101.

The Bench

Directors: Kalen Doyle, Hirsh Elhence

There's a note for that.

The Bench

Director: Christian Benavides

One son's letter to his father.

Boom

Directors: Daniel Matyas, Brian Broder

All around the mulberry bush, the monkey chased the weasel. The monkey thought 'twas all in fun, then Pop! goes the weasel.

Burn Spark

Directors: Maqui Gaona, J.J. Rubin

In the future, one man fights the system to choose his own love.

Chance

Director: Jasmine DePucci

A young girl experiences a transformation by an evil spirit contained within the fluffy seams of a teddy bear.

Code Red

Director: Zach Prengler

Four nerdy guys buy the hottest video game of the year, but what they bought was not what they expected.

Drawings

Directors: Christian Larrave, Alex McKenna

The story of two doodles in love.

Drones

Director: Micah Autry

A social issue film that projects the life of the protagonist and how he overcomes constraints of a normal life.

Drum Roll Please

Director: Alexander Villanueva

Opposable thumbs have allowed humans to become the dominant species. How dominant, you say?

Janitor's Laundry

Director: Brian Broder

A dark thriller exploring the actions of a murderous janitor, who attacks lonely victims at the local laundrymat.

Josh Lumsden, "Guilty"

Director: Josh Lumsden

Josh Lumsden sings and dances while trapped in a mental asylum.

Julian Edmonson: Who I Am

Director: Jake Wangner

Julian Edmonson is a point guard who graduated from Fossil Ridge High School. This is a video putting a spotlight on this student before he went off to college.

Knit-Picky

Director: Bobby Jorgenson

Life socks.

Language

Director: Leah Schell

Jason and his Korean foreign exchange student struggle to overcome a language barrier.

Masterpiece

Director: Anele Page

An artist struggles to create a masterpiece for a special cause.

McChange: a Manifesto

Directors: Jonathan Griffin, Josiah Sandhu

Mark McNeil is the president that Pasadena Memorial High deserves, but doesn't need right now.

Plasticine Dream

Directors: Samantha Fine, Andrew Fields

Romance molded into the shape of a dream.

The Process

Director: Ty Whittington

Ty Whittington, a young artist, takes us through the process of creating an artistic illustration in his own way.

The Proposal

Directors: Marcella Jimenez, Susannah Rodrigue

The story of a young boys hope for childhood love.

SAFE

Director: Pierce Harvell

When a tornado threatens the lives of two brothers, one decides to take the initiative towards survival despite the reservations of his twin.

Silent Night

Director: James Bradford

Run fat boy, run!

Zwichensug

Directors: Cole Martin, Josh Willis

An anonymous man with skills of inexplicable origin infiltrates the corporate hideout of a shady, but high-ranking businessman. Using fast and fluid tactics, our protagonist is determined to complete his task.

EFM2012: It Is Always THE QUIET ONES That Cause The Most Trouble

Wed, 08 Feb 2012 20:48:28 -0500

Teachers are supposed to be one of the firm foundations in your young lives. They educate you. They prepare you for the big bad world. They open up your young impressionable minds to new ideas and worldviews. They're not supposed to use you to summon demonic spirits. Please tell me I'm not the only one who feels this way.

The next film to go into production from Hammer Films will be John Pogue's paranormal thriller The Quiet Ones. The story is presumably based on true events about a professor who took his brightest students out for a little extracurricular poltergeist creating.

EXCLUSIVE MEDIA TO LAUNCH INTERNATIONAL SALES ON HAMMER'S THE QUIET ONES AT BERLIN'S EUROPEAN FILM MARKET

The Quiet Ones marks Hammer's next production after 'The Woman In Black'

8 February 2012: Guy East and Nigel Sinclair, Co-Chairmen of Exclusive Media and Simon Oakes, Vice-Chairman of Exclusive Media and President & CEO of Hammer announced today that Hammer's latest supernatural thriller/horror, The Quiet Ones, will be presented for the first time at the upcoming European Film Market (EFM).

Written and to be directed by John Pogue (Quarantine 2) and produced by James Gay-Rees (Senna, Exit Through The Gift Shop) The Quiet Ones marks Hammer's follow up to Daniel Radcliffe starrer The Woman in Black, which was released last weekend in the US on 3,000 screens grossing an outstanding $21M.

Inspired by true events, The Quiet Ones tells the story of an unorthodox professor who uses controversial methods and leads his best students off the grid to take part in a dangerous experiment: to create a poltergeist. Based on the theory that paranormal activity is caused by human negative energy, the rogue scientists perform a series of tests on a young patient, pushing her to the edge of sanity. As frightening occurrences begin to take place with shocking and gruesome consequences, the group quickly realizes they have triggered a force more terrifying and evil than they ever could have imagined.

Exclusive Media's President of Worldwide Production & Acquisitions, Tobin Armbrust, will oversee production alongside Director of Development, Shira Rockowitz. Nancy Nayor has commenced casting on the film which is currently in pre-production and will start shooting in May 2012 in South Africa.

Alex Walton, President of International Sales and Distribution, will handle the international sales at EFM.

John Pogue said: "The Quiet Ones will take its audience on a thrilling ride of jumps, scares and eerie tingles which combined with set-pieces of unbearable tension will propel them through the shadowy chambers that imprison the tortured mind. It's a dark and claustrophobic picture which will portray how human desire can become trapped in an insidious world of its own creation and how you should always...be careful what you wish for."

Simon Oakes, President & CEO of Hammer and Vice Chairman of Exclusive Media said: "We can't wait to showcase The Quiet Ones at EFM. It's an incredibly chilling and sinister picture that we are proud to be a part of."

Will this be part of the final exam?

Hammer Films Will Get Ian Fried's GASLIGHT Burning

Wed, 08 Feb 2012 20:33:17 -0500

The parent company of Hammer Films, Exclusive Media, has acquired the rights to Gaslight, a Blacklist screenplay by a young burgeoning writer, Ian Fried. It was the second screenplay of Fried's to be featured on the annual list of the most like screenplays not in production.

EXCLUSIVE MEDIA'S HAMMER PRODUCTION LABEL ACQUIRES RIGHTS TO BLACKLIST SCREENPLAY 'GASLIGHT'

HAMMER TO DEVELOP AND PRODUCE THE HORROR FEATURE FILM

Los Angeles, CA (February 8, 2012) - Iconic production company Hammer, an Exclusive Media company, has acquired the rights to GASLIGHT, an original screenplay written by newcomer Ian Fried, it was announced today by Simon Oakes, Vice-Chairman of Exclusive Media and President & CEO of Hammer, and Guy East and Nigel Sinclair, Co-Chairmen of Exclusive Media. Hammer will develop and produce GASLIGHT for the big screen.

The screenplay landed on Hollywood's Blacklist of the best unproduced scripts in 2011 and is an atmospheric thriller in the vein of FROM HELL meets THE SILENCE OF THE LAMBS. Secretly imprisoned in a London insane asylum, the infamous Jack the Ripper helps Scotland Yard investigators solve a series of grisly murders whose victims all share the iconic death brand: dual puncture wounds to the neck.

Tobin Armbrust, President of Worldwide Production & Acquisitions of Exclusive Media, Hammer's parent company, will oversee the project for Hammer. Armbrust commented, "Ian's script is an atmospheric thriller that reads like a Gothic SILENCE OF THE LAMBS. He does a fantastic job of weaving iconic characters into a plausible and entertaining story."

The project was brought to Exclusive Media by the company's Creative Executive, Jennifer Ruper.

Ian Fried is currently writing an original supernatural action project called SPECTRAL for Legendary Pictures. His previous script, THE EVER AFTER MURDERS, featuring fairy tale characters investigating murder scenes, also landed on Hollywood's Black List in 2010.

Fried is repped by Daniel Cohan and Mike Esola at WME, Prolific Entertainment and attorney Eric Suddleson.

Dual puncture wounds? Cue Christopher Lee cameo!

The Director And Star Of Danish Prison Drama R Return With A HIJACKING

Wed, 08 Feb 2012 18:00:12 -0500

It has been a busy couple years for Denmark's Tobias Lindholm. Though his 2010 directorial debut R - cowritten and codirected with Michael Noer - suffered some from being released in close proximity to Jacques Audiard's similarly themed A Prophet, the film's raw power still drew a great deal of attention.

Lindholm has since written for a popular Danish TV show, while also penning the script for Thomas Winterberg's Mads Mikkelsen starring thriller The Hunt. But the big question, of course is when Lindholm would direct again and the answer is now.

Lindholm - flying solo this time - has reunited with his R leading man Pilou Asbaek for A Hijacking. Now in post-production it's not hard to make out from the image above that the film revolves around the hijacking of vessels off the Somali coast.

Magnolia acquires US rights to EMERGO

Wed, 08 Feb 2012 16:30:46 -0500

When Rodrigo Cortés looks back on the early days of 2012, he will no doubt do so with a smile. His second feature film, Red Lights, impressed audiences at Sundance and was picked up by Millennium Entertainment. And now Emergo, written by Cortés and produced by him and longtime collaborator Adrian Guerra, has been acquired for US distribution by Magnolia, via its Magnet label. It has been doing well in international sales, having already sold to major territories such as the UK, Canada, Germany, Australia and Japan.

The film, performed in English by a mainly American cast, is a found-footage tale of paranormal phenomenon. A parapsychologist and his team of investigators come to the small apartment of a single father and his two children, who are apparently being terrorized by a particularly angry ghost. I saw it at the Sitges festival last October, and it was one of my favourites there. Rarely falling into cliche, it blended the paranormal scares with good family drama, anchored by a solid script and excellent direction by Carles Torrens in his first feature film outing.

Magnet is one of the best distributors of genres films in the industry, with recent releases such as Trollhunter, Down Terrace and The Innkeepers, and upcoming ones such as God Bless America showing not only a wide range of acquisitions, but the know-how and muscle to promote these films to their target audiences. They plan for a VOD release on April 27th, with a theatrical release six weeks later on June 1st. Cortés and Guerra's film could not be in better hands.

EFM 2012: Official Synopsis For Von Trier's NYMPHOMANIAC

Wed, 08 Feb 2012 16:10:32 -0500

With Lars Von Trier gearing up to start on his provocatively titled next film - with rumblings that regular compatriots Stellan Skarsgaard and Charlotte Gainsbourgh will star - international sales agents Trust Nordisk are launching presales for Nymphomaniac at the European Film Market starting tomorrow. And that means they need to tell people what it's about.

NYMPHOMANIAC is the light and poetic story of a woman's erotic journey from birth to the age of 50 as told by the main character, the self-‐diagnosed nymphomaniac, Joe.

On a cold winter's evening Seligman, an old bachelor, finds Joe semi‐unconscious and beaten up in an alleyway. After bringing her to his flat he sees to her wounds while trying to understand how things could have gone so wrong for her. He listens intently as she over the next 8 chapters recounts the lushly branched-‐out and multi faceted story of her life, rich in associations and interjecting incidents.

A project that first made it into the public eye when Von Trier joked about making a hardcore porn film during his now infamous, seemingly pro-Nazi press conference in Cannes it seems clear that calling this a porn film is hugely reductive. Time will tell, though, just how far Von Trier pushes the erotic angle.

First Trailer for THE BOURNE LEGACY, Featuring Jeremy Renner

Wed, 08 Feb 2012 15:55:14 -0500

You just cannot keep a good franchise down. Changing Bourne appears to be even easier than changing Bonds as there can always be another super-spy in the Treadstone/Blackbriar Program. After having written the first three films in the franchise (which drifts further from the work of Robert Ludlum with each entry) Tony Gilroy will now be writing and directing this entry with some familiar faces, Joan Allen, Scott Glenn, David Strathairn and Albert Finney (but wither Julia Stiles?) and a lot of big new faces including Rachel Weisz, Oscar Isaac and Edward Norton, while Jeremy Renner is handed the keys to the kingdom after doing some solid on-screen training in films like 28 Weeks Later, The Hurt Locker and of course Mission Impossible: Ghost Protocol.

Here is your first big look at the film in trailer form.

SXSW 2012: MODUS ANOMALI, V/H/S, & THE AGGRESSION SCALE Lead Midnight Lineup

Wed, 08 Feb 2012 15:53:47 -0500

Last week we brought you the (mostly) full features lineup. But wait! There was a major program missing from the announcement: The Midnight Films!.

A key component of the SXSW Film lineup, the long-standing Midnighters section has hosted the premieres and fostered the careers of such filmmakers as Joe Cornish, Ti West, and Eli Roth. The eleven films announced in the 2012 program include a feast of titles that promise to rouse, haunt and thrill the eager SXSW late-night audiences with an eclectic mix of thrills from genre filmmakers at the top of their game.

There are some pretty great films from talented filmmakers such as Don Coscarelli, Ti West, and Juan Carlos Fresnadillo. A few have screened at such festivals as TIFF and Sundance while most are world premieres. Let's get right to the list:

The Aggression Scale

Director: Steven C. Miller, Screenwriter: Ben Powell

4 hitmen + $500,000 of stolen cash + 1 family = WAR

Cast: Fabianne Therese, Ryan Hartwig, Dana Ashbrook, Derek Mears, Jacob Reynolds, Joseph McKelheer, Boyd Kestner, Lisa Rotondi, Ray Wise (World Premiere)

CITADEL (Ireland, Scotland)

Director/Screenwriter: Ciarán Foy

An agoraphobic father teams up with a renegade priest to save his daughter from the clutches of a gang of twisted feral children.

Cast: Anuerin Barnard, James Cosmo, Wumni Mosaku, Jake Wilson, Amy Shiels (World Premiere)

Girls Against Boys

Director/Screenwriter: Austin Chick

A psychological thriller about two girls on a killing spree. With edgy and ironic humor and a darkly meditative tone, it is also a coming-of-age story about a girl learning how the world really works.

Cast: Danielle Panabaker, Nicole LaLiberte, Liam Aiken, Michael Stahl-David, Andrew Howard

(World Premiere)

Intruders (Spain, UK)

Director: Juan Carlos Fresnadillo, Screenwriters: Nicolás Casariego, Jaime Marques

The haunting story of two children living in different countries, each visited nightly by a faceless being who wants to take possession of them.

Cast: Clive Owen, Carice Van Houten, Daniel Brühl, Pilar López de Ayala (U.S. Premiere)

Iron Sky (Finland, Germany, Australia)

Director: Timo Vuorensola, Screenwriters: Michael Kalesniko, Timo Vuorensola

In 1945 the Nazis went to the moon; in 2018 they are coming back.

Cast: Julia Dietze, Götz Otto, Christopher Kirby, Peta Sergeant, Stephanie Paul, Tilo Prückner, Michael Cullen, Udo Kier (North American Premiere)

John Dies At The End

Director & Screenwriter: Don Coscarelli

On the street it's called "soy sauce," a drug that promises an out-of-body experience with each hit. Suddenly, a silent otherworldly invasion is underway. Can college dropouts John and Dave save humanity? No, they can't.

Cast: Chase Williamson, Rob Mayes, Paul Giamatti, Clancy Brown, Glynn Turman

Modus Anomali (Indonesia)

Director/Screenwriter: Joko Anwar

A man tries to save his family who go missing during a vacation in the forest.

Cast: Rio Dewanto, Hannah Al Rashid, Izziati Amara Isman, Aridh Tritama, Surya Saputra, Marsha Timothy, Sadha Triyudha, Jose Gamo (World Premiere)

[REC] ³ GENESIS (Spain)

Director: Paco Plaza

Screenwriters: Luiso Berdejo, Paco Plaza

Koldo and Clara's wedding is horrifically interrupted when some of the guests start showing signs of a strange illness. Before they know what's happening, the bride and groom find themselves in the middle of a hellish ordeal, as an uncontrollable torrent of violence is unleashed on the wedding.

Cast: Leticia Dolera, Diego Martin (World Premiere)

Super Secret Screening

Be the first to see this feature film coming to theaters near you.

The Tall Man

Director/Screenwriter: Pascal Laugier

When her child goes missing, a mother looks to unravel the legend of the Tall Man, an entity who allegedly abducts children.

Cast: Jessica Biel, Jodelle Ferland, Stephen McHattie, William B.Davis (World Premiere)

V/H/S

Directors: Ti West, Adam Wingard, Joe Swanberg, David Bruckner, Glenn Mcquaid, Radio Silence, Screenwriter: Ti West, Simon Barrett, David Bruckner, Radio Silence, Glenn Mcquaid

A group of misfits are hired to burglarize a house in the countryside and acquire a rare tape. The guys are confronted with a dead body and an endless supply of cryptic footage, each video stranger than the last...
Cast: Joe Swanberg, Calvin Reeder, Kate Lynn Shiel, Sophia Takal, Lane Hughes, Helen Rogers, Adam Wingard

Berlin 2012: Full IRON SKY Trailer Delivers The Space Nazis To Earth

Wed, 08 Feb 2012 15:40:45 -0500

With the World Premiere of long awaited scifi comedy Iron Sky just around the corner a big additional helping of Space Nazi Madness has been delivered in the form of a brand new full length trailer.

The ubermensch are coming! And Udo Kier leads them! In a space zeppelin!

Check out the new trailer below.

Win YAMADA: WAY OF THE SAMURAI On Blu-ray From Cine Asia!

Wed, 08 Feb 2012 14:40:44 -0500

Our pals at Cine Asia have offered up three copies of Yamada: Way of the Samurai on Blu-ray for Twitch readers! All you have to do is send me an e-mail letting me know that you're interested and I'll enter you into the drawing. Find my e-mail address at the link below.

Get ready for hard-hitting, hi-impact fight action from the cinematic tradition that brought you Ong-Bak and The Warrior King.
Set in the ancient Kingdom of Ayothaya, this incredible true story brings to life the adventures of Yamada Nagamasa, a young Japanese Samurai warrior, who gave up his homeland to protect the sovereignty of the Thai people. Betrayed and left for dead by treacherous Japanese forces, he finds a new family in a remote village and masters the devastating fighting art of Muay Boran (Thai boxing).
Fearless, he ascends to the royal bodyguard of King Naresuan The Great, but will soon face his greatest ever battle against the elite Japanese warriors he once regarded as brothers...

This giveaway is open to Twitch readers all over the world, so jump on in!

Will HK Film Awards deem BULLETS mightier than SWORDS? - Nominations Announced!

Wed, 08 Feb 2012 12:23:38 -0500

Our diligent neighbours over at LoveHKFilm.com have been quick to post the first full English language list of this year's Hong Kong Film Award nominees, which were announced earlier today. The nominations seem to be pretty evenly shared amongst 6 films in particular, Tsui Hark's FLYING SWORDS OF DRAGON GATE and Jiang Wen's LET THE BULLETS FLY lead the pack with 13 nominations, Peter Chan's WU XIA has 12, Felix Chong & Alan Mak's OVERHEARD 2 is named in 9 categories, while Ann Hui's A SIMPLE LIFE and Johnnie To's LIFE WITHOUT PRINCIPLE picked up 8 nods each.

Notable omissions amongst these were no acting nomination for Chow Yun Fat in LET THE BULLETS FLY, despite both his co-stars, Jiang Wen and Ge You, appearing in the Best Actor category. Also of interest is the fact that Chan's WU XIA managed to accrue so many mentions without appearing in the Best Picture, Best Director, Best Screenplay or Best Actor categories (although Donnie Yen is acknowledged in the Action Design category).

The full list of nominations can be found below and the winners will be announced at the 31st Hong Kong Film Awards ceremony, to take place on 15 April.

ActionFest 2012 Honours Gina Carano (The Inaugural Chick Norris Award)

Wed, 08 Feb 2012 12:07:44 -0500

ActionFest returns to Asheville on April 12-15 for its 3rd Edition ("This Time It's Personal!") and continues to grow stronger (cue work-out/training montage) whilst finding its sea-legs as the only festival (that I am aware of) exclusively devoted to action flicks.

the festival remains a showcase for the most exciting action films from around the globe and feature mind-blowing live stunt performances by the best in the business. The festival will also continue to pay tribute to Hollywood's stunt men and women, fight choreographers, and 2nd unit directors, whose fearlessness makes action films thrilling for audiences worldwide. But they'd added a new recognition award:

The Chick Norris (if you forgive the name...) award honors the Best Female Action Star of the year, in a play off the attitude, spirit, athleticism and grit of Hollywood legend Chuck Norris. For this, the inaugural year of the award, the recipient will be former American Gladiator, and ex-MMA star Gina Carano who can be currently seen punching through the lion's share of attractive A-List Hollywood men in Steven Soderbergh's Haywire.

No films have been announced as of yet for the festival, but Midnight Madness Programmer (and for us Toronto Locals, curator of Kung Fu Fridays) Colin Geddes will return as Festival Director, so you know that the film line up will be pretty kick-ass.

The Sleeper has Awakened: New EXTRATERRESTRIAL Trailer

Wed, 08 Feb 2012 11:30:10 -0500

We here at Twitch are big fans of director & screenwriter Nacho Vigalondo. And there's a lot to be a fan of, from his plethora of short films (including the deliciously surreal 7:35 in the Morning, which was nominated for Best Short at the Oscars in 2003,) to his feature film debut Timecrimes, to the breathless anticipation of his screen adaptation of Mark Millar's graphic novel Supercrooks. (And you haven't truly experienced karaoke until you've seen it done by this guy.) Vigalondo's second feature Extraterrestrial is a brilliant mash-up of a comedy of manners and an alien invasion. Here's a synopsis:

There's only one sane response when you wake up to a sky full of alien invaders - run like hell. But what do you do if the invasion starts when you've just met the girl of your dreams?

Julio wakes up - horribly hungover and with no memory of the night before - next to a mind-blowingly sexy girl, in a stunning apartment. She wants him out now but the alien invasion that's just begun outside is the perfect excuse for Julio to stay.

And even though things are growing worse by the minute, even though the girl's boyfriend has arrived on the scene, even though the alien threat is getting more and more terrifying, Julio's clear about one thing. Just like the monstrous creatures that have traveled across galaxies to destroy Mankind, he's here to stay.

The film screened at numerous festivals last fall, including TIFF and Fantastic Fest, and will be making its Spanish debut in March. This film has been picked up by Focus Features for distribution in the US, though as yet no word on a release date. But between this new trailer and the brand-spanking-new poster filled with praise, no doubt it won't be long before it is unleashed at a theatre near you.

Win UK Zombie Movie THE DEAD On BluRay

Wed, 08 Feb 2012 11:00:16 -0500

Recent UK zombie picture The Dead arrives on DVD and BluRay from Anchor Bay in the US on February 14th and we've got three BluRay copies to give away.

When the last flight out of war-torn Africa crashes off the coast, Lt. Brian Murphy (Rob Freeman) is the sole survivor in a land where the dead are returning to life and attacking the living. On the run in a hostile and inhospitable parched landscape, Murphy has to use his wits and ingenuity if he is to get home alive to his family. When he crosses paths with local solider Daniel Dembele (Prince David Osei), a man frantically searching for his son, they join forces. Two desperate men from two very different cultures fight side-by-side to survive across the incredible vistas of Africa as the world around them succumbs to the deadliest of viruses.

Want a crack at this? Just email me here and say that you want in on The Dead BluRay giveaway. Be sure to include your mailing address. Winners will be drawn Friday.

Competition: Win 1 Of 2 Double Passes For The Opening Night Of Sing-A-Long-A SOUND OF MUSIC In Sydney, Australia!

Wed, 08 Feb 2012 07:09:50 -0500

Thanks to our friends at Cardinal Spin, we have 2 double passes to give away for the Opening Night of the upcoming Sing-A-Long-A SOUND OF MUSIC event at the State Theatre in Sydney on Friday February 24. Not only will you get to experience the musical masterpiece on the big screen, you'll also get to sing along to all the beautiful songs that you know and love! That sure sounds like a heap of fun!!

About the event:

'Back by popular demand, Sing-A-Long-A Sound of Music returns to its spiritual home the State Theatre for three performances ONLY (Friday 24 & Saturday 25 February, 2012 7:30pm), and due to popular demand a family friendly Matinee (Sunday 26 Feb 1.00pm).

Lovers of The Sound of Music (and what's not to love?) join in an unforgettable interactive experience and tribute to the film that continues to have millions of hearts swelling.

See the classic movie on the big screen, re-mastered to its original cinematic glory. Admit it, you know the words - and if you don't there are song-sub-titles so EVERYONE can sing a-long! Sing-A-Long -A Sound of Music is an audience participation event where the celebrity host leads a vocal warm-up, gives a guide to the use of the interactive fun pack and accompanying actions and (with a little help from the audience) judges the Costume Parade - a highlight of the night that separates the die-hards from the dabblers!

An overwhelming force takes over, as delirious fans cheer on Julie Andrews, wolf-whistle Christopher Plummer, hiss the Baroness and boo the Nazis! And who could forget the glorious moment when Maria and the Captain finally kiss? Not to mention the experience of 2000 party poppers going off simultaneously as their lips touch!

The costumes are truly inspiring. A sea of black and white floods the foyer of the State Theatre year after year as fans eagerly dressed as nuns gather for the show and sing a few of their favourite songs. Audience members have dressed as anything and everything from the movie.... Maria, girls in white dresses with blue satin sashes, Plumbers (Christopher Plummers!) the Alps, brown paper packages tied up with string, goats (with or without lonely goatherds), larks that are learning to pray - the possibilities are endless..... limited only by your imagination.'

How to win:

All you have to do is to tell us in 35 words or less why you want to win a double pass to Sing-A-Long-A SOUND OF MUSIC. You can email your answer, together with your name, address and phone number to me at: hugo@twitchfilm.net. The competition will close on Friday February 17 at 5pm (EST), and the winners will be notified shortly after.

For further details about the event:

Visit the official website at www.singalonga.net.

POSTCARDS FROM THE ZOO director to receive Edward Yang Award

Wed, 08 Feb 2012 03:42:49 -0500

It has just been announced that Indonesian filmmaker Edwin will receive the Edward Yang New Talent Award at the 6th Asian Film Awards, to take place in Hong Kong on 19th February. The director's latest film will have its World Premiere in the coming days as it debuts in competition at this year's Berlinale. The film will then play as part of the 36th Hong Kong International Film Festival, where it will compete for the Firebird Awards for Young Cinema.

The 33-year-old director is only the third recipient of the Edwin Yang New Talent Award since it was first introduced in 2008. The award was named in commemoration of the acclaimed Taiwanese filmmaker who passed away in 2007 and has to-date been awarded to Japanese director Ishii Yuya (SAWAKO DECIDES) in 2008 and Wei Te Sheng (WARRIORS OF THE RAINBOW: SEEDIQ BALE) in 2010.

Edwin's short film KARA, ANAK SEBATANG POHON (2005) premiered at the Cannes Film Festival, while his follow-up TRIP TO THE WOUND (2007) was first screened at Berlin. His debut feature, BLIND PIG WHO DESERVES TO FLY (2008) was an intricately conceived mosaic of stories depicting racial tensions in urban Indonesia and proved a notable success on the festival circuit. Edwin's new film, POSTCARDS FROM THE ZOO is about a young masseuse who tells stories to her customers about the animals around which she grew up within the confines of Jakarta Zoo.

From the press release:

"The aim of the Award is, of course, to encourage emerging talents from the region," said Mr. Roger GARCIA, Executive Director of the Hong Kong International Film Festival Society. "We are very happy to find in Edwin a most deserving recipient of the Award. His approach to cinema and eternal human issues is at once lyrical, dreamlike, magical, and I'm almost tempted to say mythical. I venture that we are witnessing an auteur in the making, hopefully the evolution of a world class filmmaker."

Junji Ito's Nightmarish Manga GYO Now Set To Terrify Anime Fans

Tue, 07 Feb 2012 19:51:37 -0500

Anime studio ufotable are bringing morbid manga master Junji Ito's putrid, and surreal, story of mutant zombie fish that sprout legs and attack Okinawa, Japan, to home video systems everywhere later this month.

Ok. Wrapped your head around that concept yet, readers? It's eccentric to say the least.

That's right,Gyo, that bizarr-o survival horror tale of a couple vs. bio-mechanical fart propelled rotting sea-life, is now a new OVA directed by Takayuki Hirao (Futakoi Alternative), and slated for release on Feb. 15'th.

Ito is probably most well-known as the creator of a couple of classic horror mangas, Tomie, and my personal favorite, Uzumaki. Both have been brought to the screen in live action incarnations, the Tomie manga spawning a long running series of films, about an immortal spectral girl, who causes people to become obsessed with her to the point of going murderously insane. The film version of Uzumaki while highly condensed , is still a brilliant color-saturated take on Ito's intricate b&w work, and the manga itself remains one of the only graphic novels that has ever creeped me out.

And now, yet another warped and twisted vision emerges from Ito's pen and onto the screen, as the whopping 4-minute trailer for the gross-out nightmare that is Gyo is available for your viewing pleasure. Watching it is easier than any explaining I can try to do of Ito's incredibly off-kilter creations. So click play below, and start planning those fish fry's with your fellow anime loving friends NOW!

First Artwork For CG Animated Film SAINT SEIYA

Tue, 07 Feb 2012 13:45:50 -0500

Toei Animation has announced that Keiichi Sato (Tiger & Bunny, Karas) will handle the directorial duties for the CG film adaptation of Masami Kurumada's mythological fantasy manga Saint Seiya (aka Knights of the Zodiac) while Satoshi Suzuki (Rokku: Wanko no shima, The Incite Mill) will write the screenplay. Along with this announcement, the first promo artwork with a shot of Pegasus Seiya has been revealed at the official site but the teaser trailer that was release back in February of last year has been removed. According to the press release, the goal is to reboot the origin story to draw up new possibilities.

No specific release date has been confirmed but its "coming soon". More details as we get'em.

First Trailer For Yim Pil-sung and Kim Ji-woon's DOOMSDAY BOOK

Tue, 07 Feb 2012 13:00:57 -0500

The end of the world is coming and acclaimed Korean directors Yim Pil-sung (Antarctic Journal) and Kim Ji-woon (I Saw The Devil) think they know what it looks like. The duo have teamed up for three part anthology The Doomsday Book with each directing one segment solo while collaborating on the third.

Two acclaimed Korean directors unfurl three unique stories of human self-destruction in the modern high-tech era. In a hope to restore the humane compassion in the insusceptible modern age, the film displays an alternative form of genuine humanity. And thus you are stepping into the world of future, where a series of unexpected stories awaits you. All these stories originate from the earth. From the very earth you live on.

Viral outbreaks, an impending asteroid, Buddhist robots ... they all come together in the film's first trailer. Check it below.

MACHETE Returning To The Big Screen. And This Time He KILLS!

Tue, 07 Feb 2012 12:15:00 -0500

Didn't Machete kill the first time? Isn't that the entire point of the character? Heh ...

Word is out that Robert Rodriguez plans to return Danny Trejo to the big screen in the second of what is now a planned trilogy of films. First came Machete. Next comes Machete Kills. Is it too much to hope that the third will be titled Machete Kills Everyone?

Working from a script by Kyle Ward the plan appears to be to make things bloodier than last time. Deadline describes the story like this:

The new film finds Machete recruited by the U.S. Government for a mission which would be impossible for any mortal man. Machete must battle his way through Mexico to take down a madman cartel leader and an eccentric billionaire arms dealer who has hatched a plan to spread war across the planet with a weapon in space. Machete takes on an army in an effort to dismantle a plan for global anarchy.

It is not clear from the announcement whether Rodriguez will direct or only produce. the film is targeting an April start.

New Clips From Studio Ghibli's THE SECRET WORLD OF ARRIETTY

Tue, 07 Feb 2012 12:00:31 -0500

Studio Ghibli's The Secret World Of Arrietty - adapted from Mary Norton's novel The Borrowers - arrives on US screens February 17th and local distributors Disney have just released a handful of new clips from the film.

The Clock family are four-inch-tall people who live anonymously in another family's residence, borrowing simple items to make their home. Life changes for the Clocks when their daughter, Arrietty, is discovered.

Check the clips below!

EURO BEAT: On The Passing Of Theo Angelopoulos And The Prudish French

Tue, 07 Feb 2012 11:22:54 -0500

For the second time in two years, I am frustrated and a bit sad to begin discovering the work of a great, oft-overlooked filmmaker upon reading news of their death. Such was the case last year with Jean Rollin, whose passing prompted me to dig into his filmography and in turn discover one of the most unique genre filmmakers of all time. Now I suspect I'm about to repeat this story with the late Greek filmmaker Theo Angelopoulos.

Angelopoulos died last week at, 76, after being hit by a motorcycle while working on location for his new film. The New York Times described his films as "dreamy, atmospheric and enigmatic...allegories that illuminate the painful history of 20th-century Greece..." But perhaps the most compelling endorsement I found came from Andrew O'Hehir's review of The Weeping Meadow. To wit:

"If you haven't seen any of Angelopoulos' acknowledged masterpieces -- I'd count 'The Travelling Players,' 'Landscape in the Mist' and probably 'Ulysses' Gaze' -- you owe them to yourself. I say that in total seriousness, and then I also say: Who the hell has time? These are the kinds of movies that demand your entire attention for an entire evening, and then want you to spend the next day hanging around with your friends, drinking coffee and talking about your role in the life of this planet, the past or future deaths of people you love, whether the evil of the 20th century outweighed the good and (not least of all) what that long movie you just saw has to do with it all."

And so the bittersweet silver lining to the tragedy is that I, and hopefully others, will now make time for these films.

Meanwhile. as The Artist continues its seemingly unstoppable Oscar march, it's also on track to hold its own at The Cesar awards in France. Though The Minister and Polisse both scored more nominations, the critical darling is still resting comfortably with ten nominations. Unfortunately, its star Jean Dujardin is under fire for the poster above advertising his even newer film, The Players, a raunchy comedy about male infidelity. For example:

The regulatory authority of professional advertising (ARPP) received several complaints from individuals about the posters of the film, and while, like everything else in France, actually moving to legally ban the posters will take them a bit of time, the posters are going to be removed soon and replaced with new artwork. To be fair, the posters are really nothing compared to the movie's NSFW red band trailer, embedded below.

Asked what he thought about the posters, Dujardin said, "I don't think anything. I simply clarify that those are not my legs on the poster. I'm not that flexible!" Ahh, the French. Despite the poster removal, these advertisements for the new Premiere magazine with Dujardin on the cover continue to adorn the walls of Metros and newsstands.

The European box office was mostly dominated by American releases just making their way overseas. War Horse at first continued to dominate in the UK and Ireland, having now pulled in $21,061,877 total, but it was overthrown by Chronicle this weekend. France's top spot went to Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows, which only just opened, followed by The Descendants in a distant second. However, the Descendants is having a fairly strong showing in Europe overall, taking the number one spot in both Spain and Portugal and even topping Underworld Awakening in Spain.

Finally, The Intouchables (which is apparently the newly-decided-upon American translation) continued to reign over the German box office, while also taking the number one spot in Austria.

New York residents will have a chance to finally see what Europe is making all the fuss about when The Intouchables opens the Rendezvous with French Cinema program, which will take place at The Film Society, the IFC Center and BAMcinématek, March 1-11. Other program highlights include Paris by Night, a police procedural, which, while weak on plot, is about as good of a travelogue of modern Paris night life as you can get, The Last Screening, a clever thriller for cinephiles, and a restored print of Marcel Carné's Children of Paradise.

Full AMAZING SPIDER-MAN Trailer Says 'Yes, Please'

Tue, 07 Feb 2012 10:12:30 -0500

Well now.

There is certainly room to question the wisdom of rebooting a franchise that is still generating bags of cash. And there is certainly room to question the wisdom of casting a thirty year old actor to play a high schooler when part of the rationale for rebooting in the first place was that the original actor was getting too old for the part. But it's hard to argue with results like this.

The full trailer for Marc Webb's The Amazing Spider-Man has arrived and, bluntly, it looks better than any of the Sam Raimi helmed efforts. While I enjoyed the first two Raimi pictures greatly the Andrew Garfield / Emma Stone combo here are far more appealing than Tobey Maguire / Kirsten Dunst ever were with both seeming far more comfortable in this world. Garfield captures the humor of the character far better and the casting of Denis Leary is looking fairly inspired as is Rhys Ifans in the villain role.

If you're looking for a summer blockbuster this is looking like just the ticket. Check the trailer below.

Producer Says No Harrison Ford In BLADE RUNNER. Maybe.

Tue, 07 Feb 2012 09:26:12 -0500

On Saturday Twitch broke word that the producers of Ridley Scott's upcoming return to the world of Blade Runner had engaged in early conversations with Harrison Ford regarding the film.

Not so! Says producer Andrew Kosove, who described that report to The Playlist as 'patently false'. Here's why you should take Kosove's public response with a grain of salt.

Kosove has, to date, issued two statements directly regarding Harrison Ford and his potential involvement with a new Blade Runner. In both cases he has launched his statements with a clear 'No, it's not happening, we're intending a reboot with fresh cast.' And in both cases he has ended with more of a 'Well, you know, maybe ...' intentionally giving himself wiggle room to back off of that position.

In an August interview with the LA Times Kosove said:

If you're asking me will this movie have anything to do with Harrison Ford, the answer is no. This is a total reinvention and in my mind that means doing everything fresh, including casting.

Which would seem pretty clear but for the fact that he led off that very sentence saying:

In no way do I speak for Ridley Scott.

In other words, Ridley may think differently in which case we go down a different road.

So what does Kosove say this time? The negative statement seems clear enough:

It is absolutely patently false that there has been any discussion about Harrison Ford being in 'Blade Runner' ... there is one clear mandate -- this movie will be entering the "Blade Runner" world fresh.

However, there is also this:

What we are trying to do with Ridley now is go through the painstaking process of trying to break the back of the story, figure out the direction we're going to take the movie and find a writer to work on it ... What Ridley does in 'Prometheus' is a good template for what we're trying to do ... In advance of knowing what we're going to do, I suppose you could say yes, he [Ford] could [appear in the movie]. But I think it is quite unlikely.

You see the split? On one hand, there is a "clear mandate" to enter the world fresh. One the other they are "trying to break the back of the story, figure out what direction we're going to take the movie" and, suddenly Ford could appear.

So, what's happening here? Simply put, Kosove is playing both sides.

If, as he claims, there is a "clear mandate" for the film to be a fresh reboot with fresh casting both statements end at that point. There is absolutely no reason to go further, Ford absolutely will not be in the movie. That Kosove continues tells you that something else is going on. Either they do not know yet if they want Ford to come back or - more likely - they do not know yet if they can get him.

If you take Kosove's statement that they are trying to crack the story and work out what direction they are going to go in at face value, ask yourself this: What is the process of doing that? How do you decide what direction you are going in? Well, you start by finding out what is possible and you begin that process by making a call to Ford to determine if he is willing to return and, if so, in what context and under what conditions. In other words, exactly what we reported has happened.

Kosove's statement that Prometheus provides the template for what they are doing with Blade Runner is also an interesting comment, Prometheus having just engaged in a months-long misinformation campaign with all involved denying any sort of direct links to Scott's previous Alien until the visual evidence to the contrary piled up to such a degree that they had to acknowledge what was already becoming obvious to many. While we do not know yet how connected Prometheus and Alien may be we know damn well that they are. And if that's what Kosove is aiming for here then we are categorically not looking at a totally fresh reboot of Blade Runner but something that links directly to the original film in some as-yet unspecified manner. Which would allow room not only for Ford to return but also Edward James Olmos and others, should they choose to walk that road.

Why is Kosove hedging his bets in his public comments? Beyond the obvious point that he simply may not know at this point the answer is that, at this point, speculation does more for them than news. Keep the fans on their toes and you keep them engaged.

Twitch has absolute confidence in our sources for the original story, sources which to date have a literal, one hundred percent accuracy rate. I'm not saying we've never gotten a story wrong, I'm not saying that these sources never will, but so far they never have. Wait a bit and see how this all shakes down before taking anything at face value. Either way, it's going to be interesting.

Hong Kong European Film Festival 2012 Full Line-up Announced

Tue, 07 Feb 2012 03:30:38 -0500

Just as Berlin 2012 is about to kick off over in the German capital, a decidedly more modest selection of titles has just been announced for this year's Hong Kong European Film Festival. Curated in part by the various consulates that represent their particular countries in the city, each has put forward a film, of both cultural and artistic significance, to feature in the festival.

HKEUFF 2012 will feature 15 films and run from 2-14 March. Opening the proceedings is CHICKEN WITH PLUMS, the second film from the Oscar-nominated writer-directors of PERSEPOLIS, Vincent Paronnaud and Marjane Satrapi. Moving away from animation, this is the story of a heartbroken violinist (Mathieu Amalric) who reflects back on his childhood and forward into his children's futures. The film also features Maria de Mederios, Golshifteh Farahani and Isabella Rosellini.

Other notable entries include the Dardennes Brothers' THE KID WITH A BIKE, winner of the Grand Prix de Jury at last year's Cannes Film Festival and Edgar Pera's bizarre black and white THE BARON, winner of four Portuguese Film Awards including Best Screenplay and Best Cinematography. The festival will close with the long-awaited premiere of Tomas Alfredson's TINKER TAILOR SOLDIER SPY, nominated for 11 BAFTAs and featuring the first ever Oscar-nominated performance from Gary Oldman, leading an incredible ensemble of British acting talent.

Here is the full line-up:

Opening Film:

France - CHICKEN WITH PLUMS (2011) - dir. Vincent Paronnaud/Marjane Satrapi

Closing Film:

United Kingdom - TINKER, TAILOR, SOLDIER, SPY (2011) - dir. Tomas Alfredson

Denmark - SUBMARINO (2010) - dir. Thomas Vinterberg

Netherlands - THE DARK HOUSE (2009) - dir. Will Koopman

Finland - LAPLAND ODYSSEY (2010) - dir. Dome Karukoski

Poland - SWEET RUSH (2009) - dir. Andrzej Wajda

Austria - A BREATH OF HEAVEN (2010) - dir. Reinhold Bilgeri

Germany - THE DAY I WAS NOT BORN (2010) - did. Florian Cossen

Portugal - THE BARON (2011) - dir. Edgar Pera

Belgium - THE KID WITH A BIKE (2011) - dir. Jean-Pierre Dardenne/Luc Dardenne

Greece - DOS - A LOVE STORY IN REVERSE (2011) - dir. Stathis Athanasiou

Spain - BLACK BREAD (2010) - dir. Augusti Villaronga

Czech Republic - 3 SEASONS IN HELL (2009) - dir. Toma Main

Italy - LOOSE CANNONS (2010) - dir. Ferzan Ozpetek

Sweden - BEHIND BLUE SKIES (2010) - dir. Hannes Holm

For further information regarding the screening schedule, ticketing and venues, check out the link to the official website below.

Berlin 2012 Preview: Competition Lineup

Mon, 06 Feb 2012 18:32:14 -0500

Berlinale 2012 kicks off in three days, and with its vast, diverse international program, preparation is mandatory. So, between stockpiling warm clothes and memorizing how to say "I don't speak German" in German, I've been combing the program and singling out potential highlights in each festival category. I'll be sharing these over the next several days before I depart, at which point I'll stop guessing and start actually seeing movies and posting dispatches.

We'll start with competition films. I've narrowed down the list based on talent attached, plot synopses and occasionally publicity stills and gut-instinct. If anyone notices something I missed, feel free to chime in.

Caesar Must Die
Paolo & Vittorio Taviani's documentary follows the rehearsals and performance of a group of inmates in a Roman maximum security prison Rebibbia putting on Shakespeare's Julius Caesar.

Aujourd'hui
The very talented Actor/Musician/Poet Saül Williams stars in this drama about a Senegalese man returning to his native city after living in America for years.

Jayne Mansfield's Car
Billy Bob Thornton directs and acts in this ensemble family drama, which also stars Robert Duvall, John Hurt, Kevin Bacon and Robert Patrick. Hey, why not?

Coming Home
The intriguing, potentially disturbing plot for Frédéric Videau's film involves a girl who gains freedom after being kidnapped and living in captivity for eight years.

Childish Games
The trailer was solid, and after Spain's excellent recent output of character-based psychological thrillers (Most recently Sleep Tight), I'm doubly interested.

Meteora
In Spiros Stathoulopoulos' film, a monk falls in love with a nun in the Orthodox monasteries of Metéora, perched atop sandstone pillars. Surely, complications ensue. Eeven if they don't, I'll be happy just watching the beautiful scenery and monks and nuns who have simpler lives than me.

Farewell, My Queen
Here's an antidote to Marie Antoinette: Benoït Jacquot's new film (And the opening night selection) chronicles the beginning of the French revolution through the eyes of the servants, not the Royalty. These must be the most beautiful servants of all time though; Léa Seydoux, Diane Kruger and Virginie Ledoyen star.

Sister
More Léa Seydoux! And class warfare to boot! Ursula Meier's second film tells the story of a poor child who lives below a fancy ski resort in the alps and takes to stealing from the rich tourists who visit. Gillian Anderson also stars.

Captive
Based on true events, Brillante Mendoza's film chronicles the kidnapping of twelve tourists, by the Muslim Abu Sayyaf group. As if the situation weren't harrowing enough, they then commence on a prolonged march through the jungles of the Philippines. Isabelle Hupbert stars.

Tabu
The plot of this effort from Portuguese director Miguel Gomes (The Portoguese Nun) is hard to pin down from the synopsis, but it sounds like a playful, audacious adventure of sorts, and the black and white stills look great. Especially the Crocodile.

Just the Wind
Bence Fliegauf's true crime tale based on a series of eight killings in Hungary that began with the murder of a Romany family seems like it may have potential to thrill and examine a the still-relevant problem of racism against Romanes in Europe.

The competition program also ironically includes several movies that aren't actually in competition for the Golden or Silver Bear. Search me. Notable films in this category include James Marsh's Shadow Dancer, Tsui Hark's Flying Swords of Dragon Gate and Bel Ami, which stars Robert Pattinson and Uma Thurman.

Check back for more on Berlinale 2012 soon!

The Bride will throw a Chainsaw: New [REC] GENESIS Images

Mon, 06 Feb 2012 17:00:39 -0500

This is not going to be your typical wedding video. Paco Plaza's [REC] GENESIS, set to be unleashed in Spain on March 30, looks like it might be taking a slight detour from the previous two films. However, it doesn't look likely to be any less frightening, violent or brilliant. Moving the setting far away from that fateful apartment building in Madrid, Plaza has stated that the plot will encompass those of the previous two films, but this time in broad daylight in a larger space, giving the infection a while new set of bodies to invade. Below are some new images which will only heighten anticipation. The series has been one of the freshest and most original in years. The second film built on the first, and the third looks to flesh out the story and horror even further. With Jaumé Balaguero set to direct the final installment shortly, this is looking to be the best quadrilogy since Alien.

Dolph Lundgren Will Lead An Army Of Robots Against The Undead Hordes In BATTLE OF THE DAMNED

Mon, 06 Feb 2012 16:35:32 -0500

Zombies. Robots. Dolph Lundgren.

Sure, sure ... Michael Bay may be producing a big budget adaptation of Ashley Wood's Zombies Versus Robots but why wait until 2013 for that (maybe, it still doesn't have a director attached) when you can have Dolph Lundgren in Christopher Hatton's Battle Of The Damned instead?

Backed by Singapore's Boku Films and Bleiberg Entertainment's genre label Compound B, we first brought word of the action / horror / scifi hybrid that will feature zombies and robots in whatever the equivalent of mortal combat would be for things that are already dead and things that were never alive in the first place back in October. Things have been relatively quiet since as the project proceeds through development but now there's brand new artwork for the project featuring the unimpressed face of everyone's favorite Swedish Expendable. "Undead? Bah. You should see Stockholm in the middle of winter once the SAD sets in. This is nothing."

On the outskirts of civilization, a remote test facility lays ruin following a catastrophic security breach. All that remains is a handful of survivors, their small armory of weapons, and a fleet of the infected. The breach lead to a viral outbreak that left hundreds dead or mutated. Now the infected walk the land, stalking the few that stayed alive.

Led by private military operative Max Gatling (Dolph Lundgren, "The Expendables," "Universal Soldier"), our heroes have learned to fight against the infected, in hopes that rescue will soon come from the outside world. What they weren't expecting, though, was the emergence of another deadly threat.

The breach also gave way to the escape of a band of malfunctioning prototype robots. Armed and incredibly dangerous, the robots could either be an indomitable force... or an unexpected ally in their battle against the infected masses.

Yes, Dolph Lundgren has signed on to lead the cast of Battle Of The Damned. He'll kill the already dead even deader.

Oscar Nominated Animator Damian Nenow Launching Debut Feature, ANOTHER DAY OF LIFE

Mon, 06 Feb 2012 15:00:23 -0500

Polish production house Platige Image has received a great deal of praise in these pages over the years, praise borne out this year by the Oscar nomination for Damian Nenow's stunning aerial dogfight short Paths Of Hate.

Observers of the international animation world have long been waiting for Platige to make the step into features - their upcoming Hardkor 44 will be dominantly live action with a high degree of CGI augmentation - and it looks as though Nenow will be the first of the Platige stable to create an animated feature.

Titled Another Day Of Life, Nenow's feature debut will be co-directed with Raúl de la Fuente and clearly Nenow plans to stay within the military themes he set for himself with Paths Of Hate.

No specifics have been released as far as plot just yet but with the film being freshly announced as part of annual production market Cartoon Movie, I would expect to see more soon. For the time being check out an additional still in the gallery below and take a look at Paths Of Hate to see why this is a big deal.

SPACE STALLIONS Channels 80's Cartoon Goodness

Mon, 06 Feb 2012 14:37:04 -0500

Any child of the 80's cartoon era can take a trip down to memory lane with Space Stallions, a 2012 Bachelor film project from Denmark-based The Animation Workshop. The retro CG animation is seemingly a mash-up of something between He-Man and Thunder Cats. Its directed by Thorvaldur S. Gunnarsson, along with Jonatan Brüsch, Ágúst Kristinsson, Arna Snæbjørnsdottir, Esben J. Jespersen, Touraj Khosravi and Polina Bokhan onboard as part of the production team with the opening theme music by Friðfinnur Oculus Sigurðsson.

As darkness is covering the multiverse, far away in the galaxy of the wild stallion, a spark of hope is born. Guided by the light of Mother Mustang, the Space Stallions must defeat the Demon of darkness, Destructo.

You'll find the animated parody and a making-of video embedded below.

THE GREAT BEAR Director Esben Toft Jacobsen Prepares To Travel BEYOND BEYOND

Mon, 06 Feb 2012 14:30:37 -0500

Denmark's Esben Toft Jacobsen had remarkable success with last year's debut feature, Berlin-selected children's fantasy The Great Bear. And so it comes as no surprise that Jacobsen is teaming up with production house Copenhagen Bombay once again for a sophomore effort.

Though there has not been a synopsis released yet, Jacobsen's second film has been announced as part of the selection at Cartoon Movie, an annual production market for European animation. Titled Beyond Beyond the images released make it abundantly clear that Jacobsen intends to stay within the children's fantasy world and while these are almost certainly pieces of concept art there is a very, very large part of me hoping that Jacobsen and Copenhagen Bombay will embrace this exact style for the final film. Because these images are simply gorgeous to look at.

Check a pair of images in the gallery below.

A TOWN CALLED PANIC's Patar And Aubier Return To Where It Began With PIC PIC ANDRE SHOOW - THE FILM

Mon, 06 Feb 2012 13:48:51 -0500

You know what they say about overnight successes? Most of them are built on years upon years of hard work in relative obscurity. And that is certainly the case with Belgian animators Stephane Aubier and Vincent Patar.

When the duo's stop motion animated film Panique Au Village - A Town Called Panic in English - premiered in Cannes it created an instant sensation amongst fans of cult animation, many of who didn't realize that this was not a new creation. Aubier and Patar had started telling these demented stories years before on Belgian TV. Panique Au Village was a cult hit in Belgium long before it was a feature film and its creators well known even before that for their earlier series Pic Pic Andre.

Will Aubier and Patar's stories of a pig and horse find the same success on the big screen as did their plastic toy Cowboy and Indian? We'll find out soon because the development of a Pic Pic Andre film is now public knowledge.

The project has just been announced as part of Cartoon Movie, an annual event held in Lyons for European animation projects at various stages to find production partners, investors and distribution. Not every project showcased at Cartoon Movie ends up getting made but a great many do and my money says this one will.

Check an additional still in the gallery below.

The Art of Self-Incrimination: A Social Media inflected CHRONICLE

Mon, 06 Feb 2012 11:22:23 -0500

*Some Spoilers, Fair Warning*

Perhaps a goofy co-incidence that Facebook filed with the SEC to launch its $5 Billion (with a B) initial public offering in the same week as this viral/web advertised film hit cinema screens. The dollar value for the filing is itself equal parts news-catcher, market-hubris and ultimately an underscore on where society, in the here and now, lays its value: Social Networking. Even more curious that the script for Chronicle makes room for Carl Jung and Arthur Schopenhauer, but relegates Facebook and Twitter curiously to subtext. Chronicle is an interesting name for the movie; perhaps more literal in meaning (a chronological ordering of events - here by an unseen editor) but also less on-the-nose than say, "Status Update."

I'm getting ahead of myself, perhaps.

The latest found footage movie is one of the more interesting uses of this increasingly strained sub-genre and this is why: The main character, an angry young man with nascent telekinetic powers who is well on his way to becoming a super-villain, not only self-incriminates himself by filming the process of his road to villainy but (and here is the kicker) he uses his powers control the camera's framing of his own story. In the case of the films big climactic show-down, the full self-realization/actualization of himself as the Apex-Predator, he uses dozens of cameras to capture things from multiple angles. The thing that always struck me as strange with the outbreak of social networking, is how so many young people capture themselves drinking underage, skipping school, or other such activities that are both unacceptable in society (but also loaded, perhaps, with a cachet of cool) and upload it THEMSELVES to later be prosecuted, ostracized, or whatnot by their own self-publication. To make the the unspoken, but underlying 'thesis' of the film is interesting to me. One might argue that the serial killer genre has always been filled with this self-aggrandizement, from Man Bites Dog to Seven/Zodiac, but there is a key difference in that others were documenting or processing the information flow. Here it is self-mythology by way of what is filmed and how; the very fabric of a found-footage self-portrait. I wish the filmmakers (Josh Trank and Max "son of John" Landis) did not have to be so overt with every character justifying or explaining why they are filming all the time (see also George Romero's Diary of the Dead) because, dammit, it is 2012 and rather obvious that we are race of beings whose souls are been stolen by the camera on pretty much an hourly basis - from mall and street security, to our own goshdarned phones!

Certainly this is interesting enough to let me make my way through a film where the acting is somewhat mediocre, and the character moments are played at 'eleven.' Perhaps over-simplification of motive is a side effect of the comic book superhero-movie genre which almost always wears its emotions and character beats on its sleeve, but it also plays into the 'crafting of a story' boiling a narrative down into blog entries or emoticons. I will not say the idea of building an crafted personality (ahem, Catfish) or video autobiography as catharsis (Tarnation) are new, but Chronicle is the first movie to mould these ideas in an interesting mash of genre-filmmaking (teen angst, superhero.) Well loved movies B-films such as They Live or Invasion of the Body Snatchers (1955) were not the first time their respective ideas (Trickle-Down-Reaganomics and The Red Scare) were put out there, but man, they captured their times in timeless (and yes, slightly clunky) genre fare. I do not believe that Chronicle is any different in shouting out our own bigtime flaws. Note: In the logic of Chronicle, the emotional fallout of the death of the high school super-star popular guy is given equal parity as hallway heresay of a blowjob gone wrong (Oi! Easy A eat your heart out.) The film ends on a possible note of (self-aggrandizing) blasphemy - a video blog of one of our three Übermensch filming himself in front of an isolate Tibetan monastery - in other words, "One kick-ass Facebook update, Dude!"

Instead of all these nostalgic cold-war era Marvel and D.C. comic books being turned into films, radio-active accidents and military-industrial-complex billionaires, this is the super-hero movie that our times deserve.

This editorial was cross-published from Kurt's other stomping grounds at Rowthree.com

THOR Meets Long Lost God Uncle Vili

Mon, 06 Feb 2012 10:00:37 -0500

On Friday we introduced you to Daniele Rizzo, a German actor / comedian with something of a habit of gooning Hollywood actors on their press junkets. That initial taste featured Rizzo in character as Captain Italy interviewing the cast of Captain America and now we've got another Rizzo interview with a member of The Avengers, this time with Rizzo having a chat with Chris Hemsworth, aka Thor. Take a look below.

Watch The Trailer For Dark Serbian Fairy Tale LOVELESS ZORITSA (CRNA ZORICA)

Sun, 05 Feb 2012 14:40:35 -0500

[Updated with English subtitled trailer.]

Back in November Twitch brought a selection of stills from Loveless Zoritsa, a Serbian production dabbling in dark fairy tales and even darker comedy.

Zoritsa is a village girl who bears an extraordinary curse: Since her first love got mysteriously drawn in the river, men around her die in a strange way. The raged villagers name her "the kiss of death". The case is in the hands of Mane, the stubborn, young, newcomer cop from Belgrade, temporarily working in the "haunted village". Mane doesn't believe in such "mumbo-jumbo" stories. Soon he will have to face the heavily armed villagers, but also to answer the crucial question: Is Zoritsa a serial killer or just a girl who yearns for love?

When we wrote our previous article on this one we commented that the last time a Serbian film went into this territory the result was the Jeunet inspired madness of Tears For Sale and while the first trailer makes it clear that directors Radoslav Pavković and Christina Hadjicharalambous are keeping the stylistic flourishes rather more grounded with this one it's the sort of thing Jeunet would be proud to have his name on regardless. Take a look below.

Your First Look At Superstar Rajnikanth In KOCHADAIYAAN!

Sat, 04 Feb 2012 22:30:52 -0500

I've been waiting for some kind of image to post for Rajnikanth's new latest project, Kochdaiyaan, and the first look poster has finally arrived.

Some of you may recall my posts about all of Rajni's post-Enthiran projects going back over a year, but this is the latest one, and they swear it's gonna happen. Immediately after Enthiran, Rajni was supposed to work on Sultan (Hara), a 3D animated film with his daughter Soundarya Dhanush. However, that project allegedly morphed into the live action Rana, which was to be directed by KS Ravikumar, but during the first week of shooting, Rajni fell ill and was rushed off to Singapore for medical treatment. He was in Singapore for a couple of months, and upon his return, everyone said that he needed to convalesce, and that Rana would go back to floors when he was ready. Well, that didn't happen, or Rajni was more ill than they'd let on, and a third project has come up, and that seems to be what they're going ahead with.

Kochadaiyaan is to be India's first ever motion-capture film, nothing but the best for Superstar. Not only is it motion capture, but also in 3D, ain't that some shit? This does make sense, though. If Rajni's health wasn't robust enough to take on the rigors of a full film shoot for Rana, the controlled conditions and relatively lighter shooting schedule of a mocap film could be a good way to get him back on the big screen sooner rather than later. Hopefully this and Hara don't keep me from seeing the real Rajnikanth on screen for too long, his 3 minute cameo in Ra.One was certainly not enough to scratch that itch.

All of the biggest stars in India have been angling to get a piece of Rajnikanth since Enthiran, and this film has hooked a whopper in the lead female role. Katrina Kaif, voted the sexiest woman in India and the first Bollywood heroine to have her own Barbie doll, is on board as Superstar's love interest, which is only slightly less creepy that Deepika Padukone in Rana because they'll both be animated. Also on board is Bollywood character actor Jackie Shroff, and Tamil cutie, Sneha. The word on the street in India is that Puri Jagannadh, director of Mahesh Babu's Pokiri and The Businessman and Amitabh Bachchan's Buddah Hoga Tera Baap, is working on a script which would pair Amitabh and Rajni for the first time in over twenty years. I would pay any amount for a ticket to that show.

The image above is the first official look at Kochadaiyaan, and it looks very similar to the images we saw for Hara/Sultan, and Rana, leading me to believe that there are some connections between the projects. If nothing else, the animators seem to have designs on giving Superstar Rajnikanth the rockin' abs he deserves. Bring it on!

According to the imminently trustworthy Wikipedia, Kochdaiyaan is aiming to hit screens this summer, but I think that may be a tad ambitious. I'll keep you updated.

CHINA BEAT: A Flirtation with Classification

Sat, 04 Feb 2012 21:40:54 -0500

Earlier this week, Chinese cinema exhibitor Beijing Bona Starlight Cineplex Management Co. Ltd. announced that it will start applying film classifications to films in the hope of providing better guidance to its patrons and improving box office performance. A subsidiary of film distribution giant Bona Film Group, the exhibitor currently only operates four cinemas in China, including two in Beijing, but has seven more venues in various stages of development. While this may seem like a pretty insignificant gesture, China currently has no official film classification system in place but there have been numerous appeals for one from throughout the industry.

As it stands, any film that is passed for exhibition by China's State Administration of Radio, Film and Television can be watched by audiences of any age. SARFT itself also operates without any official guidelines and the opinion amongst many filmmakers and distributors is that if a classification system was in place, SARFT would be more lenient in what it chose to pass as suitable viewing for the country's 1.3 billion inhabitants. The announcement was made by Starlight's General Manager, Huang Wei, and while the specifics of the proposed system have yet to be revealed, Huang suggested that Beijing Bona Starlight's ratings would be based on Hong Kong's current system.

Here in Hong Kong, any film that is exhibited to the general public must first be submitted to and cleared by the Television and Entertainment Licensing Authority (TELA). Currently there are four ratings that can be awarded to a film, but only one of them has an actual age restriction attached. Category I means the film can be viewed by anybody, while Category IIA and IIB advise parental guidance. The general consensus is that IIA films are not suitable for children under the age of 10, while IIB films should not be viewed by anyone under the age of 14. However, there is no restriction attached to any of these and cinemas are perfectly entitled to allow young children into films awarded with either of these ratings. Category III movies, on the other hand, prohibit anyone under the age of 18 from seeing the film, whether they are accompanied by an adult guardian or not. Recent recipients of the Category III rating include Christopher Sun's 3D SEX AND ZEN: EXTREME ECSTASY and David Fincher's THE GIRL WITH THE DRAGON TATTOO and as expected it is most often applied to explicit sexual or violent content. However in recent years the Category III rating has been issued for other reasons, most notably to Johnnie To's ELECTION for its detailed depiction of triad societies, and Pang Ho Cheung's romantic comedy LOVE IN THE PUFF, for its gratuitous and relentless bad language.

If China were to implement such a system then the hope is that SARFT would relax its attitudes towards sexual and violent content in films, if it was confident that only audiences of a certain age would be able to see them. Such a system might also help distributors hone their marketing campaigns towards specific audience demographics, making them more efficient and cost-effective. Beijing Bona Searchlight's system, set to be implemented at the end of February, would only be advisory, and carry no legal weight, but it's certainly a fascinating move that we'll be sure to track in the months ahead.

Turning our attention to the mainland box office and the Chinese New Year holidays was dominated by the release of Guy Ritchie's SHERLOCK HOLMES: A GAME OF SHADOWS. The film opened on 15 January and by the end of its first week had taken RMB83.6 million ($13.26 million), almost twice that of Dante Lam's THE VIRAL FACTOR, which debuted in second place. A week later and both films were continuing to perform strongly, but had been knocked off the top spot by the arrival of Brad Bird's MISSION: IMPOSSIBLE - GHOST PROTOCOL. After just 2 days in cinemas, the Tom Cruise vehicle had taken RMB99.3 million ($15.74 million). With SHERLOCK HOLMES now at RMB151 million ($24 million) and THE VIRAL FACTOR on RMB102 million ($16.13 million), 4th place belongs to holiday comedy ALL'S WELL ENDS WELL 2012, with just shy of RMB63 million ($10 million) after 10 days on release.

Derek Yee's THE GREAT MAGICIAN has proved far more popular north of the border than it did in Hong Kong and to-date has accumulated a healthy RMB158 million ($25 million) in just under three weeks, with hit animation PLEASANT GOAT AND BIG BIG WOLF now in 6th place with RMB147 million ($23.3 million). The success of this fourth installment in the popular PLEASANT GOAT series has prompted producer Imagi International Holdings Ltd. to commit to three more films in the coming years, including a mixed animation/live action adaptation in the hopes of broadening the films' appeal beyond children.

The success of PLEASANT GOAT AND BIG BIG WOLF 4 - MISSION INCREDIBLE: ADVENTURES ON THE DRAGON TRAIL (to give it its full title) was probably largely to blame for the relative failure of the other home-grown animated film of the season, THE MONKEY KING 3D. A restored, re-edited and retro-fitted re-release of a much older adaptation of the classic Journey To The West story, the film has taken RMB42 million ($6.64 million) in 19 days on release, barely more than a quarter of its rival's haul over the same period. Meanwhile, this week finally saw Tsui Hark's monster smash FLYING SWORDS OF DRAGON GATE, as well as Giddens Ko's YOU ARE THE APPLE OF MY EYE both fall out of the Top Ten.

Sundance 2012 Final Wrap

Sat, 04 Feb 2012 19:17:00 -0500

A new year of indie film has officially kicked off with the completion of Sundance 2012. Will it be the fest faves like Beasts of the Southern Wild or The Surrogate that make big waves over the next 12 months? Perhaps challenging critical darlings like Compliance and Room 237 will find a way to break through. Or will it be the more commercial titles with big dollar sign deals like Arbitrage and Red Lights that we remember when we think back on Sundance 2012? No doubt, there has been plenty to talk about and everyone at Twitch is proud of our most robust Sundance coverage yet. While a few more interviews are yet to trickle in, here is a recap of all our festival coverage, followed by a few thoughts on the fest from our waterproof boots on the ground.

Previews:
Dramatic Competitions
Documentaries
Premieres & Spotlight
Midnight & Next
Short Films

Reviews:
About the Pink Sky by Ryland Aldrich
Arbitrage by Ryland Aldrich
Beasts of the Southern Wild by Ryland Aldrich
Black Rock by Ryland Aldrich
Bones Brigade by Chase Whale
Filly Brown by Alex Koehne
Grabbers by Alex Koehne
John Dies at the End by Alex Koehne
Oslo, August 31st by Ryland Aldrich
The Pact by Alex Koehne
Robot and Frank by Alex Koehne
Safety Not Guaranteed by Alex Koehne
Sleepwalk With Me by Alex Koehne
Smashed by Chase Whale
Shut Up and Play the Hits by Ryland Aldrich
Under African Skies by Alex Koehne
V/H/S by Ryland Aldrich
West of Memphis by Andy Jurgensen
Wrong by Chase Whale

Interviews:
Kat Candler talks Hellion with Chase Whale
Don Coscarelli talks John Dies at the End with Alex Koehne

News & Features:
Sundance Juries Announcement
Curtain Raiser - 15 Top Picks
Sundance Awards Coverage
Sundance 2012: The Big Roundup

And don't forget about Slamdance 2012:
Slamdance 2012 Preview
Slamdance 2012 Roundup by Andy Jurgensen

Sundance 2012 Wrap from Chase Whale

What was your overall favorite film?
My favorite thing about Sundance is going into a film completely blind and wind up loving it. This year that film was Beasts of the Southern Wild.

How about your biggest disappointment?
Safety Not Guaranteed. This has a great cast and the buzz surrounding it was nothing but great, but the story didn't do it for me. The script felt rushed.

Who gave the best performance?
Mary Elizabeth Winstead. She knocked it out of the park in Smashed; most adorable alcoholic ever! My review

What was your favorite documentary?
Bones Brigade. Growing up skateboarding, this film felt right at home. My review

What was your top discovery of the fest?
Beasts of the Southern Wild!

Finally, what was your favorite Sundance moment?
Hanging out with the Twitch guys for the party Ryland set up. Twitch reminds me of what GATW was - everyone involved feels like family.

Sundance 2012 Wrap from Alex Koehne

What was your overall favorite film?
Beasts of the Southern Wild has to be my pick for favorite over all film. It's a rare feat that a film could be unlike anything I've ever seen before in almost every way, and yet still have as strong of an emotional resonance as this film does. The story telling, the location, the types of characters, the environments and the music all feel entirely unconventional and yet it doesn't come off as trying to be arty or experimental. The underlying story feels honest, even in the more whimsical moments, and that honesty is the core of the humorous moments as well as the heart wrenching ones.

How about your biggest disappointment?
Simply because I was excited about the cast, I was really looking forward to Save the Date. Okay, perhaps I was clouded by my crushes on both Alison Brie and Lizzy Caplan, and ever since Freaks and Geeks, I can't help but love Martin Starr - but man, this movie just fell flat for me no matter how much I wanted to like it. It wasn't very funny or moving. It felt blandly conventional in almost every way and in the end I just couldn't get into it.

Who gave the best performance?
I'm going to go with Gina Rodriguez from Filly Brown. Her "girl from the ghetto" performance felt so raw and real. Her spunk and sass were so fun to watch, and then seeing her during the Q&A being a bubbly NYU grad hit home how good of a performance she gave. Her rapping was phenomenal and the fact that she had never rapped before preparing for this film shows how dedicated she is and I think it's just the beginning of a long list of standout performances. My review

What was your favorite documentary?
Out of the two documentaries I saw, Shut Up and Play the Hits was definitely my favorite. Between the music, the fervor of the live show and the interesting side story lines, I thought this was a very clever take on the well-established form of concert documentaries. There were a lot of creative shots that took this a step above a standard, recorded concert and put it in the upper echelons of the genre along with Stop Making Sense and The Last Waltz.

What was your top discovery of the fest?
This is a hard one because so many of the films at Sundance could be my answer to this question. One of my favorite films this year was Mike Birbiglia's Sleepwalk With Me. As a comedian, he has really honed his voice and it translated so well to this form of storytelling. The tale had developed from a stand up bit, to a one man show, to a segment on This American Life and now here, to film. I know Birbiglia has a lot of hilarious and touching stories in his arsenal and I'd love to see more of them get the big screen treatment. My review

Finally, what was your favorite Sundance moment?
Coolest moment at Sundance for me had to be escorting Alison Brie to the bathroom (an unnecessary gesture, sure, but I justified it as being easier to show her rather than explain its location). We chatted and bantered a bit on the way and then while I was waiting outside for her, out of nowhere Lizzy Caplan appeared and we had our own solid banter session (in which I totally held my own) until Alison got out and Lizzy went in and I resumed bantering with Alison. Clearly we're on a first name basis now.

Sundance 2012 Wrap from Ryland Aldrich

What was your overall favorite film?
A bit of a broken record around here, but this is another easy call for Benh Zeitlin's Beasts of the Southern Wild. Such a rare and beautiful film. Just read what Alex wrote above. My review

How about your biggest disappointment?
I had very high hopes for Katie Aselton's Black Rock. Unfortunately, this effort just felt unimaginative and rushed. My review

Who gave the best performance?
I could very easily echo Alex's sentiments on Gina Rodriguez, but for the sake of variety, I'll give my nod to Frank Langella's turn as the geriatric cat burglar with a robotic pal in Robot and Frank.

What was your favorite documentary?
Damn Alex is taking all of mine, but it's pretty hard to not to call Shut Up and Play the Hits my favorite doc of the fest. I also liked The Imposter quite a bit as well. My review

What was your top discovery of the fest?
My discovery of the fest goes to winner of the Grand Prize for Short Film, Cutter Hodierne's Fishing Without Nets. This awesome short film is best described as City of God in Somalia. I can't wait to see if they make a feature version.

Finally, what was your favorite Sundance moment?
After a pretty hectic first few days of the fest, I finally got a good chance to unwind Tuesday night with an amazing party at Bing DJed by LCD Soundsystem's James Murphy. It was a great time with great friends and one of those Sundance moments where you just stop and say, "fuck yeah!"

BREAKING: Harrison Ford In Early Talks For Ridley Scott's New BLADE RUNNER

Sat, 04 Feb 2012 11:29:32 -0500

Is Deckard coming back?

In March of 2011 word broke that Alcon Entertainment and Warner Brothers had teamed up to return to the world of Ridley Scott's classic scifi Blade Runner. In following weeks Scott himself would sign on to direct the project - it is widely expected to be Scott's next project after Prometheus, though he's got a number in the works so scheduling could always change - but the official line has always been that Scott would be the only returning alumni, that the plan was a completely fresh reboot.

In fact, producer Andrew Kosove made this abundantly clear in an August interview with the LA Times, saying:

In no way do I speak for Ridley Scott but if you're asking me will this movie have anything to do with Harrison Ford, the answer is no. This is a total reinvention and in my mind that means doing everything fresh, including casting.

Well, either Kosove was throwing up a smoke screen or Scott disagrees.

Twitch has learned that Harrison Ford has entered into early talks to join the new Blade Runner. While this is still very early stages and it is quite possible that things won't work out the obvious implication is that what we are looking at is not a reboot but a direct sequel to the original.

Watch The First Ten Minutes Of 1st Animated Film BERSERK UPDATE

Sat, 04 Feb 2012 11:28:11 -0500

[Update 2: Replace the opening ten-minute video with a slightly better video quality version]

[Update: Added another video below from an episode of Imagine Nation where the main topic of news is Berserk and its upcoming animated trilogy. If you fast forward to the 10:40 mark, there is a 77-second pilot from Studio 4C that serve as a proof of concept to convince the creator Kentaro Miura to give the go ahead to produce the animated film version.

To kick off the premiere of the theatrical release for Studio 4C animated film Berserk Golden Age Arc I: Egg of the Supreme Ruler (Berserk Ougon Jidaihen I: Hao no Tamago, ベルセルク黄金時代篇Ⅰ 覇王の卵) in Japan today, Gyao is hosting the first ten minutes until Sunday and its restricted to the locals only. Fortunately for us, a Berserk fan has capture the video and posted it on YouTube. The video features a large and powerful army sieging a castle and a young Guts engaging in a duel against Bazuso. Susumu Hirasawa's theme song "Aria" is shown in the opening credits. Due to online laws and regulations, the graphic violence were censored but the film will remain uncut in theaters.

You'll find the opening embedded below. Also embedded is the music video "Utsukushiki Mono" (aka Beautiful Things) by Japanese-American singer Ai and a TV spot that commemorate the special edition of the original manga.

Listen To Susumu Hirasawa's Aria From BERSERK Soundtrack

Sat, 04 Feb 2012 10:42:02 -0500

From the anime series to the video games, Japanese electropop artist Susumu Hirasawa has been the definitive music composer for Berserk and he continues to lend his musical artistry in the animated film trilogy. On his official site, a short version of the opening theme "Aria" from Berserk Golden Age Arc I: Egg of the Supreme Ruler soundtrack is available for a listen in a video player. His other animated film/series soundtracks include Paprika, Millennium Actress and Paranoia Agent.

You can listen to the track below.

Impulse Pictures Brings DEBAUCHERY/SEX HELL To DVD This Spring! Nikkatsu Roman Films Return!

Sat, 04 Feb 2012 02:05:38 -0500

These discs are a long time coming. Back in 2010 Impulse Pictures announced the acquisition of in excess of twenty Roman Porno films from Nikkatsu. We were promised DVD releases over and over again, but the closest we came was the Nikkatsu Roman Porno Trailer Collection, which only served to whet the appetite. Impulse has finally formally announced the release of the first two of these films, True Story of Woman in Jail: Sex Hell, and Debauchery. I really don't think I need to sell these, I think the covers and titles do a pretty decent job, but here are the details from Synapse:

IMPULSE PICTURES PRESENTS TWO NEW THRILLERS IN THE NIKKATSU EROTIC FILMS COLLECTION!
TRUE STORY OF A WOMAN IN JAIL: SEX HELL and DEBAUCHERY
JAPANESE EROTIC DELIGHTS -- WITH AN EDGE!
------------------------------------------------

A Wham! Bam! Thank you, ma'am! double-whammy sexy slammer double feature from the masterminds of Nikkatsu!

Due to their juvenile crimes, a group of fresh young girls is thrown into a horrid, squalid jail. They soon wish they were back on the outside, as a gang of inmates subjects this "fresh meat" to the horrors of being locked up. Mayumi, a new inmate with a mysterious past, stands up for herself and fights back! NO ONE is going to push her around, and she hatches an escape plan to seek revenge on the person who had her incarcerated.

TRUE STORY OF A WOMAN IN JAIL: SEX HELL
is a sleazy, sexually graphic and surprisingly violent entry in the "women in prison" genre. The opening uniform changing, nude medical examination sessions, communal scrubbings in the bathhouse, nimble-fingered lesbians and vicious catfights are all here... and more!

In DEBAUCHERY, the sexy Ryôko Watanabe stars as Ami, a jaded housewife who pitches herself, body and soul, into the Tokyo decadence of the decade in an attempt to pep up her marriage. She secretly joins the elite "Madame Machiko Society Club" to experiment with discrete sex games and the thrill of making love to anonymous men. The sexual perversion and sick depravity she is subjected to, by her clients, is much more than she bargained for. Bondage, beads and whips are only the beginning! Can she escape this secret life she has chosen, or will it destroy her forever?

Impulse Films proudly presents two historic stunners from the heyday of the violent sex film. Nikkatsu always delivers. DEBAUCHERY features an original theatrical trailer and both discs include liner notes from Japanese film scholar Jasper Sharp.

Both comin' at ya from Impulse April 10th!

Jane Levy In Talks For THE EVIL DEAD

Fri, 03 Feb 2012 16:03:13 -0500

Never watched ABC's Suburgatory? No worries, you'll be getting to know star Jane Levy soon enough.

Deadline are reporting that Levy is in advanced talks to take over the lead role in the Fede Alvarez directed remake of Sam Raimi's The Evil Dead, a role that had been given to Lily Collins before scheduling issues forced Collins to drop out.

Perhaps to avoid direct comparisons to the original film producers Sam Raimi, Rob Tappert and Bruce Campbell have opted to change the gender of the lead role in the remake, with Levy playing a character named Mia - a young woman recovering from a drug overdose in a remote cabin with friends when, you know, the soul swallowing begins.

Fantastic US Trailer For Oscar Nominated BULLHEAD

Fri, 03 Feb 2012 15:57:38 -0500

Michael Roskam's Bullhead has received a great deal of press in these pages for the simple reason that it is very, very good.

And now, riding on the strength of a Best Foreign Film Oscar nomination, a limited US theatrical release is planned for February 17th and a new US trailer has arrived.

Domineering cattle farmer Jacky Vanmarsenille (Mattias Schoenaerts in a ferocious breakout performance), constantly pumped on steroids and hormones, initiates a shady deal with a notorious mafioso meat trader. When an investigating federal agent is assassinated and a woman from his traumatic past resurfaces, Jacky must confront his demons and face the far-reaching consequences of his decisions.

Drafthouse Films have cut a brand new trailer for the film, a potent bit of work, that can be seen over at Apple right now. Very well worth the time.

Watch The Opening Scene From THE WOMAN IN BLACK

Fri, 03 Feb 2012 15:14:02 -0500

The James Watkins directed, Daniel Radcliffe starring remake of classic chiller The Woman In Black opens today and the opening scene has been released on Yahoo for those who want a taste.

Arthur Kipps is widowed lawyer whose grief has endangered his career. When he is sent to a remote village to sort out the affairs of recently deceased eccentric, it soon becomes clear that everyone in the town is keeping a terrible secret. Although the locals try to hide the town's tragic history from Kipps, he soon learns that his client's house is haunted by the ghost of a woman who is looking for someone and something she had lost, and until she does, no one is safe from her vengeance.

Take a look at the clip below.

Tom Cruise Starring Adaptation Of ONE SHOT Hit By A Lawsuit From Its Own Producer

Fri, 03 Feb 2012 14:57:50 -0500

Could the Tom Cruise starring adaptation of Lee Child's One Shot be in trouble? Probably not to the degree that would stop it from being made but producer Kevin Messick is unhappy about the way things are going and he's filed a lawsuit against fellow producers Don Granger and Gary Levinsohn to make his point. And, hopefully, his money.

The Hollywood Reporter have the full blow by blow breakdown of what's going down but the short version is that Messick claims to have put years of development work into the picture based on agreement with Granger and Levinsohn that once the movie was greenlit and the money came in they would all share equally in the rewards. The green light has come. Granger and Levinsohn have been paid. Messick has not.

This is very unlikely to be enough to derail the project but it another ding against a project already widely criticized by fans of the novel and the Jack Reacher character upset that Cruise does not match the physical description of Reacher in the books.

ADRIFT IN TOKYO DVD From Third Window 27th February!

Fri, 03 Feb 2012 13:20:18 -0500

Third Window's latest release, Adrift in Tokyo, is coming to DVD on February 27th.This is their third Miki Satoshi film, and one that hasn't been released on US DVD, though it is available in Canada. In celebration of this release, Third Window are also compiling their first box set, the Miki Satoshi Collection, featuring Adrift in Tokyo, Turtles are Surprisingly Fast Swimmers, and Instant Swamp. The two older features are fantastic, and I can't wait to check out Adrift. The box set is on sale for a ridiculously low price at Amazon right now, so if you don't have the other two films, you'll want to get in on the deal before that price goes up! Here are the details for Adrift in Tokyo:

Adrift in Tokyo

A film by Miki Satoshi
(Instant Swamp, Turtles are Surprisingly Fast Swimmers)

Best Script / Best Film (Special Mention) - Fantasia Film Festival
Best Supporting Actor - Kinema Junpo Awards, Closing Film - Toronto Reel Asian FF

Starring: Odagiri Jo (Air Doll, My Way, Bright Future, Dream)
Kyoko Koizumi (Tokyo Sonata, Quirky Guys and Gals, Survive Style 5)
Tomokazu Miura (Outrage, My Back Page, Always: Sunset on Third Street)
Japan / 2007 / 101 Mins / In Japanese with English subtitles / Colour / 35mm

DVD RELEASE DATE: 27 February 2012

- Synopsis -

Leading a lazy life, Fumiya has been a university student for 8 years and owes money to loan sharks. One day, a man named Fukuhara comes to collect the loan, which Fumiya cannot pay. So Fukuhara makes a proposition: He will cancel the debt as long as Fumiya agrees to walk with him across Tokyo to the police station of Kasumigaseki, where he intends to turn himself in for a crime he deeply regrets. Not having much choice, Fumiya accepts the deal. Thus begins their journey which will lead them to various unusual encounters, most of all with themselves. Based on the original novel by Naoki Prize winner Yoshinaga Fujita comes a fascinating, humorous and wildly clever film that is sure to charm you.

CAPTAIN AMERICA Meets CAPTAIN ITALY!

Fri, 03 Feb 2012 11:30:37 -0500

There's a madman on the loose in Germany and his name is Daniele Rizzo. The German actor and comedian has become something of a cult figure in his home country thanks to a hysterically bizarre series of video interviews he has been conducting with major Hollywood stars, interviews for which he arrives as one of a string of original characters and frequently breaks his subjects down into fits of confused laughter.

You will hopefully be seeing a lot more of Rizzo in these pages but with Joss Whedon's The Avengers on the horizon we thought now was a good time to introduce the man by going back to an older classic: Rizzo interviewing Captain America stars Dominic Cooper and Chris Evans in character as Captain Italy. Evans is certainly a good sport about it but Cooper's reactions, in particular, are absolutely brilliant. Check it out below.

Joel Edgerton And Jessica Chastain To Star In THE DISAPPEARANCE OF ELEANOR RIGBY 'Double Bill'

Fri, 03 Feb 2012 09:46:48 -0500

Australia's Joel Edgerton continues to pop up in an increasingly diverse range of projects, the latest an intriguing 'double bill' of features in which he will star with Oscar nominated Jessica Chastain.

Titled The Disappearance Of Eleanor Rigby: His and The Disappearance Of Eleanor Rigby: Hers the films will tell the story of a strained marriage from both sides. Written and to be directed by Ned Benson the idea is to create a pair of films that can each stand comfortably on their own while also presenting a more complete picture when taken together. Edgerton will be playing a restauranteur whose wife (Chastain) returns to college.

The coming year will be extremely busy for both with Edgerton anchoring Kathryn Bigelow's Kill Bin Laden while a project he wrote (One Night Stand) also gears up. Edgerton has also talked about a crime thriller he wants to do in Australia this year and also appears in The Great Gatsby. Chastain? She's also in the Bigelow, has three projects (including a new Malick) currently listed as being in post production, is doing voice work on the new Madagascar and has two others listed in development.