Tag Archives: Movies

Five :- Blu Rays I need to own that aren’t available in the UK

Posted by Craig Gorham on

I’ve been a movie collector for as long as I can remember. VHS, Laserdisc (I still have them. My Japanese import of Tremors is a thing of beauty.), DVD and now Blu- Ray. Hundreds of titles covering most genres and eras. Each film means something to me and I would be hard pressed to pick even one from my collection to dispose of.

There are however gaps. Films I haven’t seen in years that belong on those shelves. I have spaces reserved for them (yes, my shelves are alphabetized) but the titles themselves are just not available to buy. At least not in my region and/or legitimately. They are not even really old titles or small independent films that never found an audience. These are big (ish) movies with major star which for some unfathomable reason have never had a UK release. Some of them have been around on VHS but DVD and/or Blu ray. Nope. Avatar is on its third or fourth release in the UK, Commando is on it’s second Blu Ray release and yet these (and many other) arguably better films are still sitting in some vault crying out to be watched and loved.
In the US, some of the major studios have burn to order DVD schemes, basic vanilla versions of hard to find movies pressed to order rather than given major (expensive) wide releases. No such scheme (to the best of my knowledge) exists in the UK. Come on what would it take. Really. I’m not asking for a fully restored, fully loaded extras laden high def Blu Ray extravaganza. I just want to watch them again, exactly as I remember them.

I want my DVDs.

1. Doc Savage – Man of Bronze

This one brings back memories of Sunday afternoon movies as a kid. It’s not a great movie but that’s not the point. If you look at my movies on the shelf, it’s a glimpse inside my mind. You should be able to understand me and how I am by looking at what I put out on display (I feel the same about record collections and a persons books. Always distrust anyone with doors on their bookshelves. They’re hiding things) but here are pieces missing. It might be rubbish but it still belongs (right between District 9 and Dr No). This film at least may surface in the foreseeable future when the Shane Black scripted Doc Savage movie eventually gets released. Fingers crossed.

2. Quick Change

My all time favourite Bill Murray movie. Extremely funny (Tony Shaloub almost steals the show as the non-English speaking cab driver). Geena Davis, Randy Quaid, Mexicans duelling on bicycles and a bank robbery scheme that could potentially work. I always make a point of catching this on the odd occasions it turns up on tv (which isn’t often) and would gladly hand over large amounts of hard earned moolah to own a copy for myself. Apparently available in Holland on DVD but no sign of a UK release on either format. Why?

3. The Man Who Knew Too Little

The other Bill Murray film on the list is a bit different. I’ve only seen it the one time, years ago very late at night. I managed to fall asleep three quarters of the way through and have never seen the end. Currently German import DVDs are changing hands for upwards of £70 on Amazon and Ebay. I might be curious to see how it ends but not that much. Give me a UK DVD release for £20 however and I’ll be first in line. I’m just hoping we don’t have to wait for Murray to pass away before this happens.

4. Zero Effect

I only know three people who have seen this film; Me, a friend that I loaned my Region 1 DVD to and Jonathan Ross (who reviewed it on TV). A slightly skewed modern day take on Sherlock Holmes, I absolutely love this film and quote from it all the time (People know they’re being followed when they look behind them and see someone following them). Since my multi region DVD player packed up I haven’t seen this in the best part of a decade. Need to scratch that itch. Yes. I could just go out a get a new player but that just puts me at the mercy of the technology again. What happens in another ten years when that player stops and I can’t replace it?

5. Sorcerer

On the long list of films on my wish list to own, this one is unique. The truth of the matter is that when it comes to William Friedkins remake of The Wages of Fear, I’ve never seen it. I am however massively pre-disposed to love it and can’t wait for that glorious day when I can slip it into the player, turn off the lights and experience it for the first time.

It’s a “men on a mission” movie, it stars Roy Scheider and has a score by Tangerine Dream. How could I not love it?

Good news is that following a restoration of the print by Friedkin himself, Sorcerer is due to be released on Blu Ray on April 14th this year. No news however on whether that is in the US only. Watch this space.

Mystery Screening

Posted by Craig Gorham on

This Monday I shall be attending my first ever mystery screening at my local multiplex.

All I know in advance is that it is a very early preview screening “of a major movie” and that the certificate is 12A.

That means it isn’t World War Z, Riddick or Kick Ass 2 (boo) but it could possibly be The Worlds End (fingers crossed) or Pacific Rim. There is even a rumour passing round that it could be Thor 2 (meh).

I will keep you posted and hopefully put up a review the same night.

“Smoke ’em if you got ’em”

Stoker

Posted by Craig Gorham on

As it’s been a while since I went to the Cinema (by my standards 3 or 4 weeks counts as a while) I went out this evening and bought a ticket for the next screening of something I haven’t already seen. I do this from time to time and it can lead to some wonderful (and sometimes not) discoveries. If it were not for these “blind tastings” I would never have seen Headhunters last year or Brotherhood of the Wolf before that (Both Foreign Language but that’s a coincidence).
This time my random selection lead me to Stoker and oh, what a surprise!

Stoker is essentially the coming of age story of a young girl but oh what a messed up, warped and downright odd coming of age tale it is. Told at a glacial speed this is not your typical multiplex, lowest common denominator fare. This is one for the thinkers out there.

With a title like Stoker, you could be forgiven for expecting a vampire movie and for at least the first 45 minutes you are drip fed clues about one character possibly being a child of the night. Now I’m not about to say whether they are or not (and to be honest I’m still not 100% sure) but that’s not the point of the movie. The movie is there to creep you out, make you uneasy and just build your anticipation to fever pitch. You watch and you wait for the big horrific thing to happen and the bloodbath to begin and it just doesn’t.
Don’t get me wrong, people die but for the most part this happens off-screen. There are red herrings and false trails. One particular sequence in a shower is brilliantly shot in such a way that you think you are watching one thing at first and end up realising it’s something quite different.

I should also comment on the look of the film. Lots of close-ups of seemingly unimportant detail (they’re not) and odd angles (they are). The transitions from one shot to another are also stunning; hair being brushed becomes a reed bed; flicking between a photo of a sea shell and a wave becomes an ice-cream cone. It is absolutely beautiful.

Did I enjoy it? Hell yes.
Do I want to sit through it again? Not anytime soon.

7 out of 10
Slow and utterly creepy.

Bruces Oscar Predictions 2013

Posted by Craig Gorham on

That time of year is rapidly approaching again and as usual I am writing down my predictions (or is it wish list) for this years Oscars. The difference this year is that they will be out here for the world to see (So I better get a few right). This year (to me at least) looks wide open and I wouldn’t be that surprised to see a whole bunch of movies picking up the big awards rather than just one sweeping the board. What follows is a combination of educated guesses and intuition with a dash of wishful thinking thrown in.

I’ll start with the two that I don’t think are in any doubt (again at least in my mind);

Best Supporting Actress – Anne Hathaway – Les Miserables
To me the only person who could have beaten Hathaway this year was Anne Hathaway in Dark Knight Rises and she didn’t even get nominated. Better luck next time Anne.

Best Supporting Actor – Christoph Waltz – Django Unchained.
Going to put my money where my mouth is with this one. Wonderful performance and deserves recognition.

And then on to the others, starting with something a little controversial.

Best Actor – Hugh Jackman – Les Miserables.
Sure, all the smart money is on Daniel Day Lewis and the rest of the less smart money is on Denzel Washington but i’ve always been a bit of a square peg and something tells me the Academy might just plump for this. I guess I won’t have to wait too long to find out.

Best Actress – Naomi Watts – The Impossible. Haven’t seen any of the five performances nominated so this is pure speculation.

Best Director – Ang Lee – Life of Pi. Lee pulls off another miracle and films the so called “unfilmable” novel and just nails it. Even if it is in 3D  (Eurgh!)

Best Picture – Argo – How Ben Affleck didn’t get nominated for Best Director I have no idea. Good feeling about this one.

Best Song – Adele – Skyfall. Bond  definitely deserves to win something and after getting stiffed in the Directing category, I think it’s going to be this and Cinematography.

Best Animated Feature –  Frankenweenie.  Wow five films nominated and the weakest entry is the Pixar one! Who would have thought that a year ago.

Best Foreign Film – Amour. Hard to see how it can’t be this as its nominated for Best Picture as well but stranger things have happened at the Oscars (Shakespeare in Love beats Saving Private Ryan! Yeah right.)

Best Documentary – Searching For Sugarman. Fascinating story, well told.

Best Cinematography – Skyfall – Forget Best Bond or Best Bond Film, Skyfall is easily the most beautiful Bond film ever. The silhouette fight in Shanghai is stunning.

Best Animated Short – Paperman – If you’ve seen Wreck it Ralph you know that the best part of it is this short attached to the begining.

As for the rest, your guess is as good as mine but would love to see Skyfall pick up the two Sound awards and Tarantino get Original Screenplay just to see what he’s going to say this time.

Not long to wait so see you in a few.

Bruce

The Last Stand

Posted by Craig Gorham on

He said he’ d be back.
After an eight year stint trying to save the state of California, Arnie returns to our screens in The Last Stand. Playing the Sheriff of a small border town, he and his motley deputies are all that stand between an escaped drug baron and Mexico..
So far, so eighties action movie. The difference here is that Schwarzenegger is playing his age and it really works. This is easily the best performance of Arnies since Conan. Almost making to the end of the flick before slipping in a one liner (or two), you really could make an argument for this being a straight “acting” role.
Unfortunately the rest of the film doesn’t seem to know what it wants to be. The tone is all over the place. I’m really struggling to think of another film with quite so many gun shots to the head that also contains so many laugh out loud moments. It’s a precarious balancing act and I’ m not entirely sure it gets away with it. Had it gone one way or the other the end result would hang together better. As it is, it sometimes feels like you’re flicking between two different channels on tv. You like both programmes but you just can’t decide which to watch.
The supporting cast suffers from the same schizophrenia. Forrest Whittaker and Harry Dean Stanton (blink and you’ll miss him) play it completely straight. Luis Guzman is in a gentle feel good comedy whilst Johnny Knoxville seems to have escaped from Attack of the Killer Tomatoes. Seriously what the hell !!!
At the end of the day it’s a good solid Arnie actioner which with anyone else in the lead would have gone straight to DVD. He lifts it above this with a pretty decent performance, playing to his strengths and for once, his weaknesses. On the strength of this, I for one can’t wait to see him in “The Tomb” alongside Stallone.
He said he’d be back and he is.
6 out of 10 Just above average. Just.

Cine World War Three D

Posted by Craig Gorham on

I am currently engaged in a battle of wills with my local Cineworld multiplex.

It’s a fight I would rather not have as I am extremely fond of them and they allow  me to indulge my passion for movies at an extremely reasonable cost. The Cineworld Unlimited card is a thing of beauty. For fifteen of our English pounds each month I can see as many films as I wish and get fifty per cent off of my Empire magazine subscription to boot. Two trips to the picture palace per month and you’re ahead of the game. Once or more per week and by the time you reach June the rest of the year’s films are effectively free. Bargain!

So why the conflict?

3D.

My local Cineworld has twelve screens and has in the past used them to their fullest by having ten or more (and on one glorious Saturday twenty-three) different films to choose from on a single day.

And then came 3d.

At first this meant that each film would be shown in both formats thus effectively halving the number of screens available. Half the screens equals half the choice.

Popularity for 3d screenings soared and the “real” movies were relegated to the smaller screens. At this point things are going downhill but still ok. I still have enough choice and the smaller “2d” screens were mercifully clear of the cinema yobs who so often hamper your enjoyment.

Then the novelty wears off and the public start to realise that the proper place for 3d is in a theme park. 3d attendances plummet. But hang on a minute, Cineworld has invested a princely sum in their digital projectors and need to recoup the money somehow. How about we put 3d films in eight or nine screens and give the regulars even less to choose from.

Yeah, well how about we film enthusiasts sell out your tiny screens and leave the main ones empty. What will you do then Cineworld? What will you do?

Well, what they did was to show only the 3D version on the first week of release. If you wanted 2D you had to wait a week or even two (An extra two-week wait for Avengers – Torture).  Sometimes a new film would do so badly in its first week that it wouldn’t get a second week. No second week, no 2d. This has led to me not seeing several films recently including, Total Recall, Fright Night and Dredd (which I finally caught on Blu Ray – excellent).

So I say this to you Cineworld. The audiences are voting with their wallets and are choosing the 2d version over the 3d.  Just think on this; the average person in the UK goes to the cinema twice a year. That means that for every person like me, there are twenty or so who don’t go at all. If you drive away us regular cinemagoers your attendances will all but disappear. Give us a reasonable choice of film, in a pleasant atmosphere and we’ll keep on turning up.

If you show them, we will come.

Who Am I?

Posted by Craig Gorham on

Welcome.

I should probably begin at the beginning. In this instance, the beginning is 1975, I was six and the whole world was in the grip of a phenomenon.
Jaws.
It was everywhere, t- shirts, magazines, bus stops, ice lollies, videogames and newspapers. It was even on the evening news. To my six year old brain it was the Grail. I had to know what could possibly cause such hysteria. I had to know, I must know and I would. Finally my Dad gave in and having seen it once himself agreed that I was up to the experience and we would go that weekend.
The rest as they say is history. I’ve loved film and all aspects of film making ever since and still consume new movies with a voracious appetite, hoping to one day (secretly hoping not to) find a film better than Jaws.

So expect plenty of reviews of new releases and thoughts on upcoming movies. Keep an eye out for micro reviews on other stuff I’m watching. Maybe some TV and the odd book.

The search continues…

Oh and “Just Right of Centre (and about half way back)”, well, that’s where I sit.