Tag Archives: film review

Skyfall: The Best Bond Film Ever?

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The new Bond film, Skyfall, has had a wave of good publicity. It is now the highest-earning Bond film ever, making £32.7million in its first seven days in the UK, and that is even before it opened in America.

I thought Skyfall was one of the best Bond films I have ever seen. My other favourite being Casino Royale. Bond’s relationship with ‘M’ in the movie, played by Judi Dench, is wonderful and multi-layered. The scenes in London are shot beautifully, as are the ones in Scotland.

This side of Bond is more human. Sure Javier Bardem as the villian is camper than a row of tents, but a lot of the Bond villians have been quite outlandish, it only adds to the movie experience. If anything it is a nod to past Bond films. I have always liked Daniel Craig as an actor, he really is one of our best, and I think he makes a great Bond. This film is a more human side to Bond.

Skyfall is a much more modern take on the Bond franchise. It also goes much deeper than previous films, letting us know about Bond’s past. Skyfall is sleeker, more human and full of depth. Sure it is entertaining and full of action- it’s a Bond film- but Skyfall gives you even more: an action film with something to say. I think Sam Mendes has done a great job. One of the themes of Skyfall is the loss of youth. We see that Bond is not invincible. The feels like a changing of the guard.

I know some people have complained that Skyfall is sexist BUT complaining that a Bond film sexist is a little like going to a violent film and complaining that there is blood: it just makes you look silly. Ian Fleming’s book are hardly feminist textbooks. Just watch the film and enjoy. It is a fun ride.

The 16th UK JEWISH FILM FESTIVAL

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this year’s UK JEWISH FILM FESTIVAL (November 1st-18th) which opens in London and Manchester on November 1st with the UK premiere of PARIS-MANHATTAN, the debut of French writer/director Sophie Lellouche. A delightful romantic comedy inspired by the philosophy and comedy of Woody Allen, PARIS-MANHATTAN stars Alice Taglioni and Patrick Bruel (left with Sophie Lellouche) and features a cameo by Woody Allen himself.

This year’s UK Jewish Film Festival rolls out simultaneously to Manchester, Liverpool, Leeds, and Glasgow for the first time since Executive Director JUDY IRONSIDE founded the festival in Brighton in 1997. More than 70 feature films, shorts, documentaries, and TV programmes will be shown at this year’s festival including the hotly tipped ZAYTOUN starring Stephen Dorff; the highly anticipated YOSSI, Eytan Fox’s follow-up to his Tribeca winner, Yossi & Jagger; HIS PEOPLE, a poignant, funny black and white silent film made in 1925 which will screen at the Barbican with a live score performed by SOPHIE SOLOMON; the riveting documentary GAINSBOURG ON GAINSBOURG: AN INTIMATE PORTRAIT; the absorbing SIMON AND THE OAKS by award winning Swedish director Lisa Ohlin; SHARQIYA an absorbing story about the plight of a family of displaced Bedouins; ROMAN POLANKSI: A FILM MEMOIR; MY DAD IS BARYSHNIKOV the uplifting tale of a misplaced ballet pupil in the pre-Perestroika Bolshoi Ballet School; and many more.

Events include THE SHARPEST CUT in which David Baddiel, Norman Lebrecht and guests discuss the portrayal of Jews in TV and film; EMERGING FILMMAKERS day with workshops by the likes of Michael Kuhn and Tim Bevan; TEL AVIV ON FILM which celebrates the way the city has been captured on film; PEARS SHORT FILM EVENT which will screen the two winning films and lots of Q&A sessions with filmmakers throughout the festival.

New Star Wars Film – It’s Official

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New Star Wars Film – It’s Official!

George Lucas has sold LucasFilm to Walt Disney for $4.05 billion and now the studio has confirmed it will make Star Wars Episode 7 in 2015.

If you are a fan of George Lucas then don’t get upset, Lucas will be working on the film as a creative consultant.

“It’s now time for me to pass ‘Star Wars’ on to a new generation of filmmakers,” announced George Lucas.

Kathleen Kennedy, who is the current co-chairman of Lucasfilm, will become the president and report to Walt Disney Studios Chairman Alan Horn.

What do you think?

 

Find haute couture from the finest French wardrobes

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UK SHOPPERS FLOCK TO vestiaire collective TO FIND haute couture from the finest French wardrobes

 

Vestiaire Collective, the pre-owned, luxury, fashion website today celebrates its first six months in the UK by announcing quadruple digit growth in UK members and record sales to UK consumers. The cult French fashion site has grown its base of users in the UK by 1200% since adding English and sterling to the site in March 2012. The site now boasts over 1.2million members and 12.2 million monthly visits globally.

 

The attraction of previously owned designer labels from the finest French wardrobes has attracted British label hunters who are now spending an average of £300 per shop as they rush to snap up the latest from French luxury brands.  Some of the treasures grabbed by UK shoppers in the past six months include a Yves Saint Laurent bag for £1,000, a Shamballa jewels item for £1500 and a men’s IWC watch for £1,100.

 

Across the channel, the fashionable French are clearing out the designer items at a rate of 25,000 items per month. In fact initial statistics for October reveal a 20% increase in items submitted for sale since the UK came online in March. It’s not only the fashionable woman on the street clearing her wardrobe, Vestiaire Collective is also home to French and British celebrities who are actively using the site to empty their wardrobes for the upcoming season.

 

Some of the French ‘bargains’ available today include a Valentino python and sable bag for £4876, about half the original price for the sought after bag. The sale list also includes more than 720 Isabelle Marant shoes, handbags, coats and dresses for up to 70% off. Unlike other pre—owned and vintage fashion sites, Vestiaire Collective checks every item for authenticity, so British shoppers know that what they are buying is absolutely genuine.

 

“We are seeing a wave of interest and excitement about the contents of French wardrobes from our British community,” says Vestiaire Collective’s UK MD Shannon Edwards. “On average British women are spending 30% more than their French counterparts and whilst we are shopping, the French are selling. We have seen more than 400 brands added to the site which are being snapped up here by women who are used to buying vintage and love that classic French style.”

 

Vestiaire Collective was founded by French internet entrepreneur, Sébastien Fabre who alongside five co-founders has developed the business by integrating a strong social community with ecommerce. The site gives consumers a platform to share, discuss and review fashion trends, labels, brands and items, yet closely monitors the buying and selling of goods to ensure that each piece is authentic, in excellent condition and is beautifully presented and delivered to the end consumer. The site manages all financial transactions to ensure that the seller has absolute peace of mind with items that often have a very high ticket value.

 

First Québec Cinema Showcase for London

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Following the international success of Québécois films including Monsieur Lazhar (Philippe Falardeau), Incendies (Denis Villeneuve) and Café de Flore (Jean-Marc Vallée), a showcase of new cinema from Québec will take place for the first time in London at the Institut Français, South Kensington (2-4 November).

Québec Cinema Showcase is part of the 50th anniversary celebrations marking the opening of the Québec Government Office in London. The programme of five feature-length films and four shorts will present some of Québec’s finest and most recent cinematic offerings, including the latest work from award-winning director, 23-year-old Xavier Dolan, Laurence Anyways.

Québec Cinema Showcase will open with the UK premiere of Ken Scott’s massive box office hit comedy Starbuck (2 November).  Veteran comedy actor Patrick Huard plays David Wozniak, a 40-something delivery man whose life is out of control. But things are worse than he thinks. In his twenties, David was a prolific sperm donor to help pay the bills but the past comes back to haunt him when nearly 150 of his more than 500 offspring, now young adults, collectively take court action for their right to know the identity of their father. The film has been so successful – Canada’s biggest domestic hit in 2011 taking $3.5 million at the box office – that Scott has been asked to direct the US remake starring Vince Vaughn for Steven Spielberg’s DreamWorks Studios. Starbuck is on general release in the UK from November 23.

Laurence Anyways (3 November) is the latest offering from Cannes award-winning director Xavier Dolan, (I Killed My Mother, Heartbeats). Dolan’s success continued in 2012 at the Cannes Film Festival when Laurence Anyways’ female lead, Suzanne Clément, won best actress in the festival’s “Un certain regard” category and the film was awarded the Queer Palm. Laurence Anyways also won the award for Best Canadian Feature Film at Toronto International Film Festival 2012. Dolan made his Cannes debut with I Killed My Mother, a film he made in his teens, resulting in an eight-minute standing ovation and three awards in the Directors’ Fortnight section in 2009. Spanning a decade, Laurence Anyways tells the story of a couple who are passionately in love. But when Laurence (Melvil Poupard) announces to girlfriend Fred (Suzanne Clément) on his 30th birthday that he wants to live as a woman, the consequences are tumultuous – and unexpected.  Laurence Anyways screened at the BFI London Film Festival on 11 and 12 October and is on general release in UK cinemas from 30 November.

“The Québec Government Office in London takes pride in witnessing Québec cinema’s current popularity worldwide. We are delighted to welcome the first edition of the Québec Cinema Showcase as part of our 50-year anniversary celebrations marking the opening of our London office,” says Pierre Boulanger, Agent-General of the Québec office in London.

Other films in the programme include Karakara from Claude Gagnon (3 November), a Canadian/Japanese co-production which follows Pierre (Gabriel Arcand), a retired professor in his early sixties who goes on a short, unsettling trip around Okinawa in Japan with Junko (Youki Kudoh), a 40-year-old runaway wife. Bestiary (Bestiaire) from Denis Côté (4 November) is an intriguing documentary which reflects on human fascination with animals.  Behind Closed Doors (Catimini) from Nathalie Saint-Pierre (4 November), the final film in the Québec Cinema Showcase, is a touching story about a reunion between four girls living under the care of the child protection services.

Across the weekend there will be director Q&As: Claude Gagnon, on Saturday, 3 November after the screening of Karakara and Nathalie Saint-Pierre on Sunday, 4 November after Behind Closed Doors.

Cinema from Québec is currently enjoying the international spotlight with two films – Incendies and Monsieur Lazhar – shortlisted for best foreign language Oscars in the past two years, as well as a BAFTA nomination for Incendies. Québécois director, Jean-Marc Vallée’s Café de Flore starring Vanessa Paradis, has also garnered critical acclaim. Earlier this month (October) at the Raindance Film Festival – Europe’s leading independent film festival – a number of films were screened in a special Québec Strand and Laurentie by directors Mathieu Denis and Simon Lavoie scooped Best International Feature.

François Macerola, President and CEO of SODEC, Québec’s development agency for cultural enterprises added: “For many years, the international market’s interest in Québec cinema and its filmmakers has grown considerably.  New audiences and new possibilities have allowed films from Québec, and our filmmakers’ vision to cross borders, thanks to events such as the Québec Cinema Showcase in London.”

 

Tickets for Québec Cinema Showcase are £10 (conc £8) and are available from the Institut Français website (https://www.institut-francais.org.uk/book)

Québec Cinema Showcase is an extension of the marketplace event Cinema du Québec a Paris which is celebrating its 16th year (6-11 November). Québec Cinema Showcase is also part of the 20th French Film Festival UK, which will present a selection of the best shorts from Québec in Glasgow and Edinburgh . (http://frenchfilmfestival.org.uk/FFF2012/wp/)

 

Québec Cinema Showcase has been organised by the Québec Government Office in London, with the support of SODEC and the Ministry of Culture and Communications, in collaboration with the Institut Français in London and the French Film Festival UK.

The Québec Government Office in London’s cultural services implements market development initiatives for artists and cultural industries from Québec.

For more information:
www.quebec.org.uk
www.sodec.gouv.qc.ca
www.mcc.gouv.qc.ca
www.institut-francais.org.uk
www.frenchfilmfestival.org.uk

 

Starbuck 
Dir: Ken Scott 2011 – 109 mins
Friday 2 November, 8.15pm

The biggest Canadian box office hit in 2011, Ken Scott’s comedy Starbuck follows a likeable middle-aged loser as he wrestles with regret and responsibility. Hapless deliveryman David Wozniak (Patrick Huard) gets parking tickets at every stop along his route, has thugs on his tail for massive overdue loans, and his girlfriend tells him she’s pregnant just before dumping him. These are the least of David’s concerns, however, when he returns home to find a lawyer in his kitchen. The past comes back to haunt him in the form of a class-action lawsuit launched by 142 of the 533 children who resulted from sperm donations he deposited over 20 years ago.

Starbuck will be preceded by Demoni, a short directed by Theodore Ushev.

 

Karakara  
Dir: Claude Gagnon 2012 – 101 mins
Saturday 3 November, 5pm

Gabriel Arcand plays Pierre, a retired professor in his early sixties who has decided to renounce sex and achieve spiritual peace until Junko (Youki Kudoh), a  40-year-old Japanese housewife arrives on his doorstep seeking refuge from her abusive husband. They end up making a short, unsettling trip around Okinawa, Japan, together. Though the confused intellectual would rather not get involved with this unlikely and unexpected lover, he decides to follow his destiny, wherever it may take him.

Karakara will be preceded by Anata O Korosu, a short directed by Phillipe David Gagné and Jean-Marc E. Roy

Laurence Anyways 
Dir: Xavier Dolan 2012 – 159 mins
Saturday 3 November, 7.30pm

The third Cannes award-winning film by 23-year-old writer-director Xavier Dolan (Heartbeats, I Killed My Mother), Laurence Anyways follows the story of Laurence and Fred, his girlfriend – a couple passionately in love who attempt to sustain their relationship and fight the prejudices of their family, friends and society when Laurence turns 30 and can no longer deny his desire to be a woman.  Winning two awards at Cannes including Best Actress in the festival’s “Un certain regard” category for Suzanne Clément and the Queer Palm and, as well as the award for Best Canadian Feature Film at Toronto International Film Festival 2012.he film had its UK premiere at this year’s BFI London Film Festival on 11 and 12 October.

Bestiaire ( Bestiary)

Dir: Denis Côté 2012 – 72 mins
Sunday 4 November, 4.15pm

The documentary explores the fascination humans have for animals, combining footage from a drawing class, a taxidermist’s workshop and a Québec safari park. The poet, essayist and naturalist Diane Ackerman has reflected on animal parks as venues for the discovery of interspecies shared identity, but also as places where humans focus “on the lives of other creatures to dispel the usual mind theatres that plague us.” Those notions are challenged as often as they are reinforced in Denis Côté’s soberly beautiful Bestiaire, but exact conclusions are left for the viewer to form.

Bestiaire will be preceded by Tout va Mieux (Everything is alright) a short directed by Robin Aubert.

Catimini (Behind Closed Doors)  
Dir: Nathalie Saint-Pierre 2012 – 112 mins
Sunday 4 November, 6.30pm

Four girls are living under the care of child protection services: Cathy, six-years-old, arrives in a new foster family, the Bilodeaus; 12-year-old Keyla is transferred into a group home for teenage girls; Mégane, a rebellious 16-year-old, ends up in a detention centre in late winter; on her 18th birthday, Manu leaves her youth centre and moves into her first apartment. In the hope of reconnecting with the few people that have meant something to her, Manu attends a reception honouring the Bilodeaus, one of her former foster families. She bumps into Keyla and Cathy, and ends up hanging out with Mégane. It proves to be a reunion that no-one will forget anytime soon. Behind Closed Doors won the Valois d’or prize at the fifth festival of francophone cinema in Angoulême.

Behind Closed Doors will be preceded by Ina Litovski, a short directed by Anaïs Barbeau-Lavalette and Andre Turpin.

 

Horror Channel Brings Winter Chills

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Friday 9th, Saturday 10th & Sunday 11th Nov, 10.55pm

 

Deep and crisp and bloody! Get ready to be frozen to the bone this November with Horror Channel’s Winter Chills Weekend – featuring some truly snow-filled spine tingling premieres.

 

 

Fri Nov 9 @ 22:55

The hills are alive – with undead Nazis as the season kicks off with the premiere of DEAD SNOW (2009), a beautifully nasty horror comedy directed by Tommy Wirkola (Run Lola Run). With a car full of ski equipment and enough beer to fuel their escape from everyday life, eight medical students head out on their vacation.  Isolated in the snowy hills the group begin to realise they came to the wrong resort, as deep in the hills lay an unthinkable evil.

 

Sat Nov 10 @ 22.55

 

The season continues with BLOOD RUNS COLD (2011). Swedish director Sonny Laguna gives the slasher genre a welcome Scandinavian make-over. Record-producer Winona heads to her hometown on the outskirts of Stockholm for a break… Shortly after settling in, she invites a former boyfriend and a couple to the house. But there is an unknown presence stirring within the house, one that has been waiting for the right moment to strike.

 

Sun Nov 11 @ 22.55

 

Wrapping up the season is sci-fi horror thriller THE THAW (2009) Directed by Mark A Lewis, it stars Val Kilmer as Dr. Krupien the head of a team of ecology students, who are examining a melting ice cap in the Arctic.  When Krupien unearths a prehistoric specimen the likes of which has never been seen, he summons four of his brightest students to take part in the excavation. But the melting polar ice-cap has released a deadly pre-historic par

Dark Hearts Director Rudolf Buitendach On Film & Inspiration

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Frost went along to the world premier of Dark Hearts at the 2012 Raindance Film Festival. We had lots of fun and really enjoyed the film. Here is our interview with the film’s director, Rudolf.

Tell us about Dark Hearts

Dark Hearts is on one level a neo-noir, a film that gives a voice to the dark side – on another it is a film about passion and obsession and the thin line in-between. How some of us will give anything for our art,

Dark Hearts is an impressive first film. Are you happy with the finished film?

I find it very hard to watch anything I’ve done objectively, but thanks.


Dark Hearts reminded me of a film noir. Can you tell us about the general look and feel you were going for?

Yes, as mentioned above I consider it a neo-noir. I based the film’s palette on the rust and decay of Downtown LA’s art district. With the help of Travis Zariwny, a great production designer, Kees Van Oostrum a great DP and Suzanne Barnes, a great costume designer we wanted the ‘mise en scene’ to be portraits in themselves. I think we succeeded quite well in places, despite our modest budget.

Dark Hearts is your first feature film. Was it scary making the leap?

It wasn’t scary at all as I had done quite a few shorts at this point, I just wished I had a bit more time to enjoy losing my ‘feature virginity’

Tells us a bit about you. How did you get into film?

I was studying law when I saw a film that changed my life, Wim Wenders’ Wings Of Desire. I finally knew what I wanted to do with my life and enrolled in film school, I was hooked for life.

What is the hardest thing about directing films?

Everyone with a TV and a Facebook account fancies themselves a critic and no matter how hard you try to be original, someone will always try and rain on your parade

How was the process of financing?

It was very tough and in true indie style we didn’t have an official green light even days before the filming was about to commence. But I was very lucky that I had a brave producer Jack Bowyer who believed in me when push came to shove.

How did you choose the actors?

I had wonderful casting agents Lisa Essary and Heidi Levitt who brought most of the actors to audition and I picked them from there, apart from Lucas Till who came through a brilliant agent Larry Shapiro.

You had quite a short shooting schedule. Do you think that was a help or a hindrance?

It was neither, just a whirlwind.

Who is your inspiration?

I have many, starting with Luis Bunuel, the surrealist painters, the symbolists up to modern filmmakers like Park Chan Wook, Lynch, Gilliam, Cronenberg, Greenaway and Roy Andersson.

The film has an amazing score. Who chose the music?

I did, I’m lucky in that a lot of the artists were my friends. I also had help from a musical supervisor extraordinaire Bruce Lampcov.

What is next for you?

I am in post on my second feature ‘Where The Road Runs Out’ starring Isaach De Bankole, with another 2 scripts ready to roll, any financiers out there?

Vinyl Film Review | Raindance Film Festival 2012

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Vinyl was one of my favourite films at the Raindance Film Festival. It is a comedy film about an ageing rocker, Johnny Jones, who goes to the funeral of a member of his former band. Johnny is living in a caravan and trying to have a baby with his wife, A washed up rock star, he misses his former life.

When he sees the rest of the band at the funeral they all end up jamming and they make a record, it’s good but Johnny cannot get anyone to sign the band or play the record in the youth-obsessed world of the music industry. Instead he spins the truth and says that the song has been made by a Welsh teenage band, and will reveal the truth when the record is a hit.

This film by Sara Sugarman is a real gem of a film. It is funny and entertaining. With a stellar cast including Phil Daniels , Keith Allen and Perry Benson, Vinyl is full of punk spirit, a fun, likable film which has been described as ‘School of Rock meets Spinal Tap’ and I couldn’t put it better myself.