Kinji Fukasaku made his name in Japan by directing yakuza films. This, his final completed film, however, may be the one for which he will be remembered outside of Japan. It is the near future, and in the prologue the it is explained to the viewer that Japan's youth have run wild and begun to make the adults nervous. In order to combat the new plague, the Japanese parliament has enacted the Battle Royale, a twisted solution to the problem that both eliminates some children and stands as a warning beacon to those who would think of running amok again. The Battle Royale is a game of elimination, a "random" class of 14 and 15 year olds is chosen and swept off to a remote island, where they are herded into a classroom to have the rules explained. The class must kill each other off over the course of three days, the last child standing is the winner. There can be only one, if there are any more, the electronic collars that have mysteriously appeared around their necks will explode. It is very interesting to watch this film because within its context as a cautionary tale, there lies humor, pathos, and real life. These children have been friends since a very young age, many of them are in relationships with each other, yet they cannot afford to harbor romantic notions anymore. Some choose to ban together to escape the more muderous and reckless children, some choose to try and find a way out, and some just kill like they are supposed to. Though it seems like every child for themselves, not every one has been given an equal advantage, their weapons range from automatic firearms to flahslights, to pots and pans. This also creates a hierarchy among those children who are trying to ban together as they must recognize superior firepower among themselves. Fukasaku's vision was very clear, and his final film is a worthy testament to his ability. Some familiar faces pepper the proceedings as well, Chiaki Kuriyama, who played Go Go Yubari in Quentin Tarantino's Kill Bill Vol. 1 and Japanese omnipresent megastar Takeshi Kitano stars as the chosen class's teacher, who plays more of a role in the proceedings than is initially thought. This director's cut DVD is the best the film will look in the UK, there is a second disc packed with extras on the making of Battle Royale and a booklet with some intereting bits about the film and its stars. My only negative feeling about this package is that the transfer, like many from Tartan Video, is an NTSC to PAL transfer, which leads to ghosting and can be quite irritating to the more astute viewer, but the quality of the film itself is more than adequate to make up for this small minus. A must see film!
HUMANITY AND PAPER BALLOONS
Sadao Yamanaka, 1937
The sad story of director Yamanaka"s life is almost enough to overshadow this wonderful final film from one of the true greats of Japan"s "Golden Age" of cinema. A contemporary and friend of Ozu, "Humanity and Paper Balloons" marked the end of a six-year run directing period melodramas. The day the film premiered, Yamanaka was drafted into the army and sent to Manchuria, where he died on the front aged only 29.
His second collaboration with the leftist theatre troupe Zenshin-za, the film represents a direct challenge to the militarist ethos rampant in other period movies of the time. Both beginning and ending with a suicide, the film focuses on the denizens of a low rent tenement district in Edo, a world of class stratification, insular privilege, and social immobility is exposed, suggesting that life for those at the bottom of the social ladder was both brutal and short in feudal Japan. We follow luckless samurai, Matajuro, as he looks for work, while at home his wife creates the paper balloons of the title. Meanwhile, his neighbour Shinza, a barber, kidnaps a young heiress and hides her in Matajuro's home; his attempt to extort a ransom from her father ends in grief.
Though the story is in fact drawn from a nineteenth century kabuki play, Yamanaka realises the film utterly cinematically, and the performances from the Zenshin-za are surprisingly naturalistic (and what we would call "modern"). Yamanaka's uses seamless, transitional wipe-cuts throughout the film that suggest an intrinsic interrelation between the classes, that connects the residents' boorish actions with the desperate, underhand tactics similarly used by the merchant and samurai classes to achieve their own aims.
This is a pessimistic (but brave) film; like the patiently crafted paper balloons created each day by Masajuro"s wife to help make ends meet, inescapable social class proves to be a carefully a constructed fragile shell of empty, disposable ideals.
This is essential viewing not only as a historical curio (it is one of only three surviving Yamanaka films), but as one of the lost classics of Japanese cinema. Yamanaka"s premature death was a real tragedy, and the impression this film gives is of a man who would have been regularly mentioned in the same breath as Ozu and Mizoguchi, had he lived.
This boxset contains the first three adventures of the classic series with plenty of extras. The show started with a very low budget and it was originally meant for kids still the adventures plots are sophisticated and this is one of the reasons why Doctor Who became a success among adult audience too. In the first DVD there's "An Unearthly Child", the adventure that introduced the mysterious Doctor and his space-time machine: the Tardis. Two of the episodes are commented by members of the original crew and cast. The main bonus feature on this DVD is the untransmitted pilot episode in both edited and unedited version. In the second DVD there's "The Daleks", the adventure that introduced the infamous Doctor's arch-enemies. Three of the episodes are commented by members of the original crew and cast. The main bonus feature on this DVD is a documentary on the creation of the Daleks that explores the development of the most famous villains in the show. In the third DVD there's "The Edge of Destruction", an adventure composed of just two episodes all set within the Tardis with only the main cast present. This adventure looks like a stage show and was produced that way simply because there was no budget to do anything more so you get the impression that it was included in the boxset as an excuse to add a third DVD with room for several more bonus features: the most interesting is certainly the 55-minute documentary about the origin of the show that explains the choices that led to its birth through interviews to members of the original crew and cast. In other bonus features members of the original crew and cast talk about the production of the adventure "The Edge of Destruction", the Tardis and the creation of the original theme. There's also a condensed 30-minute version of the fourth adventure - "Marco Polo" - which is missing from the archives so a glimpse of the story is given through the existing production photos and the still existing soundtrack. This boxset is a must for all the people who want to discover the origin of a legendary programme and how it was born because you can get its original look and feel not only watching the adventures but also through the words of the people who were its protagonists in front and behind the camera.
As England's main claim to fame in the punk realm, and igniters of the torch in 1976, the Sex Pistols history has often been told. In fact, director Julien Temple attempted to tell it as early as 1980 with his fabulously loose documentary The Great Rock 'N' Roll Swindle. The Filth and the Fury is a worthy successor to that punk classic. Julien Temple revisits his own history with this film, in fact he oftens uses clips from his previous feature in this film as illustrations. There is quite a difference in tone, however. Swindle had a looseness and an air of glibness about it, despite its well known ending, and its docuemntation of the end of the Pistols. Fury is a more grown up feature, as all involved are well into their 40's now, there is a different feel to the interviews and perspecitve of this film. The Filth and the Fury is a proper documentary, it states the facts, talks to those involved, and presents its version of history. All surviving members of the Pistols are interviewed once again, this time, ironically silhouetted in black, as though we don't know who they are. Strangely I think this non-anonymity may have nurtured the most genuine moment in the film. At one point the Pistols are being interviewed regarding the demise of their infamous bass player cum junkie, Sid Vicious. While describing the horror to Temple, Johnny Rotten, hard-arse of the decade, begins to cry and genuine emotion floods the screen as he painfully explains that no matter how they may have reacted in the past, that John (Sid's real name), was his mate and it was Rotten who brought him on in the first place. For those of us who couldn't have been there, I was merely a sparkle in my parents' eyes, this is an eye-opening history lesson, and for anyone interested in Punk Rock, there are certainly worse places to start. Temple's ability to provide context is wonderful and gives the film a full flavor similarly themed punk docs lack. When into account with the combination of the NF's rise, the garbage strikes, the skyrocketing unemployment rates, the viewer realizes that this movement was not an option, for these poor kids from the council flats, it was an obligation.
In his first film for a major studio, Russ Meyer made a film that made sure of two things: first, this was unlike any other major studio film ever made, and second, he would probably never get another shot with the majors. Beyond the Valley of the Dolls is possibly Meyer's greatest achievement, it was the closest to a real traditionally plotted film that he ever got. The film follows a rock band from obscurity playing parties to rock 'n' roll decadence in Hollywood as they become the "it" thing in La La Land. This film is a tripped out, psychedelic journey through the music industry as The Carry Nations find out that rock 'n' roll stardom is not all its cracked up to be. Trials and tribulations concerning drugs, promiscuity, infidelity, hedonism, and all manner of bizarre happenings conspire to derail them at every turn, but leave it to Russ Meyer to turn what could have been a purely cautionary tale into a stunning showcase for his trademark "pneumatic" wenches! Busty Cynthia Myers makes the, *ahem*, biggest impression with her ample endowments and her bed-trotting behavior. But it turns out that The Carry Nations very own Svengali, Z-Man, has the biggest surprise in store. While it pushed the boundaries for a studio film, and even today may have a hard time getting through the system, Meyer and co-writer and Chicago Sun-Times film critic Roger Ebert, actually toned down some of Meyer's usual hysterics to make the picture palatable. Meyer's trademark editing is, however, on full display and this film does remind us what a forgotten and lost talent he was, and could have been if he'd chosen a different route or oeuvre of film to work in. As it stands, thank goodness he didn't, and for the uninitiated into Meyer's world, Beyond The Valley Of The Dolls stands as a monument to the man that could have been. Frankly, I'm glad that man never was, as his later, even more gonzo features are some of my favorites. This DVD version is as close to definitive as I'm sure we'll ever see, there are many excellent featurettes spanning all manner of topics, including the music, Russ Meyer the man, and the girls. All very worthwhile topics, if you ask me. This is a definite must-own.
This is an amazing film.The human cast is believable,especially Paul Walker.The canine cast will make your heart melt as you watch their antics in the battle for survival.
I first watched this at the cinema after which I bought my own copy and I have just bought another copy as gift.
There is nothing to find fault with in this movie .Its beautifully filmed ,well acted and fun as well as heart stopping in some bits!
Series three of family guy is the stepping stone between the offspring of The Simpsons to overtaking the daddy of the animated sitcoms and becoming the adult version of the classic t.v show. Now it has regained almost the same recognition as The Simpsons and has become the alternative to The Simpsons and Futurama. The third series also contains 21 episodes, 7 more than any other series and at under a tenner brilliant value for money.
This series is really good, better than the first one.
I missed the first one on Sky Tv but have seen it on DVD.
I watched the 2nd Series on Sky Tv and its definately worth buying if you liked the first one.
In this series Millie is always in trouble and the storylines are so much better than series 1.
Every time I watch this film, it honestly strikes a deeper chord with me. Every time I watch this film back, I find something new that I never saw before, something so raw, and innocent and pure. Watching Meet Joe Black is like watching love stripped down - you see it naked and trembling before you, and yet at the same time alive and thriving in all of the characters of this wonderfully moving masterpiece by Martin Brest.
When I first watched the film I was so intrigued as to the angle it took - it is a film which truly explores human emtions, and it does it unlike any other I have seen. Death has taken the form of a living man, and Pitt offers an astounding performance in this role, who has forced himself into the life of William Parish, played incredibly by Hopkins, a man on death's doorstep approaching his 65th birthday. His main purpose is to experience the other side of death, the emotion, the involvment, the human element. Through the course of the film Brest takes us deeper and deeper into the Parish family until we feel like one of them ourselves, and we can feel the presence of Joe Black, his unnerving watchfulness, the unsolicited air he carries, his child-like naivite. He enters the family at such a crucial point, and only William Parish knows who he is. The rest of the family, his friends, his colleagues - all left astounded as to the identity of this man who has diesrupted and affected their lives so.
But whatever Death expected, what he found was more than he could believe, more than he could comprehend - and she came in the form of beautiful Susan Parish.
Through the eyes of one who has never experienced feelings, we find within ourselves the most extraordinary, the most moving and uplifting emotions - love that sets our souls ablaze, tears at our hearts and beings, a love that hurts and blinds, casting all else aside, a love that erupts between two people who can never be together: the most painful emotion of all, the most dangerous form of love.
This film, as well as being incredibly emotional, is important in an age where people perhaps take love for granted, or may have forgotten what love means. Watch this film, and watch love burst open in front of you, a rose in bloom, alive and needing, yearning to be in your heart. Watch this film and know what love really, truly is, and be reminded of what it is to be in love. Watch this film, and prepare to love again.
WARNING: If you are easily offended, insistent on political correctness, or you lack the ability to differentiate between a political statement and a stand-up routine, stay away from this DVD. It will only upset and possibly warp your fragile mind.
If on the other hand, you possess more than a narrow minded view of the world, this is an experience that should not be missed. Raw had me laughing until i was wiping tears from my eyes and has yet to dissapoint a single soul i have shown it to. An absolute must have for all stand-up fans.
First thing to say - this film is not for everyone. If you cannot stand sub-titles (or can't speak Spanish) you probably won't enjoy.
That said the film is a tragic mix of tense war story and horror fairytale. A young girl and her pregnant mother move out to the countryside to live with the mothers new husband. He unfortunately is a sadistic, self centred dictator and so the young girl withdraws into a world of fantasy, which also has it's own horrors. Good special effects take you into the fantasy world, with creatures that would not look out of place in a Clive Barker film.
The mix of genres works to provide a engaging climax which is either gut wrenching or tragically sweet depending on your world view.
If you want a change from the usual blockbusters or Hollywood dross, then give this a good. You never know, might help you learn Spanish too! Buena película.
This film is one of my favourite films alongside delta force 2 the colombian connection. the film stars chuck norris (as i say you cant beat a bit of chuck!) waging war on a deadly south american drug cartel run by notrious drug dealer Ramon Cola. so as not to spoil it too much People get kidnapped and Delta Force mobilise to action. The film has alot of fight scenes and explosions and has a good storyline. I would say this is a must have film if you enjoy action films as it is one of the original and best of its era in my opinion.
Just to get this out of the way: I do not like George W. Bush. That being said I will attempt to judge this film according to its merits. Death of a President is a unique, and some would say, foolhardy attempt at a "mockumentary". The premise is this: the year is 2008, and the film is a documentary on the assassination of George W. Bush, which occured in late 2007. The film attempts to uncover the "facts" about the assassination and the ensuing search for the culprits and tracking justice's progress. The film has its issues. There are too many characters, I understand that in real documentary features, they try to have many authoritative sources from which to draw, however, when the film attempts to track all of the suspects and people involved, the "plot" tends to get a bit muddled. The film seems to dwell on the fact that many people strongly dislike the president, therefore making it difficult to narrow the suspects. This could be an effective way to look at the search for the assassin, but, it really just makes the film look preachy, telling the audience things it already know for the purpose of making a point, rather than attempting to clarify the plot. While I appreciate the attempt made by teh film to try something different, I think the execution (no pun intended) was a bit of a muddle, and I think a lot of the critical accolades like teh best film at TIFF were more a reaction to the president's politics rather than teh films quality, not unlike Fahrenheit 9/11 with the Palm D'Or at Cannes.
Daniel Craig certainly brought a new James Bond to the screen. The opening scenes were tremendous and the pace did not fall throughout. The fact that there were no computerised stunts gave the film a more authentic (if jumping from cranes and tankers crashing with buses is authentic) feel and made you appreciate the true technical passion of the film. Although there was some brutality in the film it did not compromise in any way. Along with a lot of people when it was announced that Daniel was to take the lead I was devastated. I take it all back, lets have more of him and this sort of adventure.
Bamboozled is a terrifying film, a flawed film, a brave and ambitious film, and one with its heart in the right place.
The story revolves around a middle class African-American TV writer's attempts to get fired. He revives the black and white minstrels, Sambo and a host of racist cartoon characters and placing them on a cotton plantation's water melon patch, this film is deeply satirical. And the satire, whilst not subtle - the film starts with a definition of satire - works, and is painful to watch. However, in the second half of the movie thanks to a sentimental narrative drive the film becomes increasingly messy. But never enough to ruin the film completely.
I hesitate to call the film genius, as it clearly is not, though it does have moments of flawed genius. If you like Spike Lee and/or challenging movies then you might get something from this. However, and unfortunately, alot of people have been and will be put off by the strong subject matter.
This boxset contains not just three great films but also my favourite Japanese film of all time - Late Spring.
When Ozu made films in the 1940s and 1950s his films were not considered for export as they were considered "too Japanese". However, the wonderful characterisation in his films has since proven this to be wrong, and his films have made him the most internationally celebrated Japanese director ever.
Late Spring tells the story of a widower (Shukichi) who feels compelled to marry off his only daughter (Noriko). The relationship between these two is then carefully painted in awe inspiring detail so that you experience their love, loss, social pressures and pain with them. The film also contains, for me, the single most powerful use of music in cinema. It plays throughout, but the occasional silence can devestating, drawing you into the film cinematic and emotional heart like you never knew was possible.
The other two films in this boxset are similar family dramas, each with a central female character called Noriko and played Hara Setsuko. Again the details with which Ozu renders his characters are incredible, and Tokyo Story and Early Summer are also incredibly moving.
I love these films so must recommend them to anyone interested in films, Japan or human emotions.
For many people, if they have created an iconic, critically acclaimed comedy TV series, they would have wallowed in its success and produced series until it was no longer popular. But Ricky Gervais is not many people and made the decision to stop The Office in its prime. Many people were horrified by this decision and had many doubts that he could ever follow up to the comedy that made his name but Extras was as good and for many, better than what Gervais had left behind. His second comedy is completely different and shows that Gervais has no fears about letting go of David Brent, instead Extras is more plot driven and has turned more towards conventional sitcom, not that you can"t still see Gervais and Stephen Merchant"s hilarious penchant for awkward situations, many involving a-list celebrities, be it racist towards Samuel L. Jackson or homophobic towards Sir Ian McKellan.
The plot throughout the first series follows Andy Millman, a failing actor who can only get work as an Extra thanks to his terrible yet hilarious agent played by Stephen Merchant. Accompanied by his hopeless romantic friend Maggie, who is sweet but incredibly stupid and often causes awkward moments as mentioned before, Gervais every episode fails to get any proper acting work, instead making more and more enemies out of celebrities until the final episode when his script for a sitcom is produced by the BBC. The next series then follows Andy as his TV program that he acts in gets increasingly worse, thanks to dumming down by BBC 2, a sly spoof of Extras real producers! Meanwhile Andy attempts to socialise with the rich and famous, David Bowie and Jonathon Ross for instance. The second series follows on perfectly from the first and is in every way just as good, but one thing that is noticeably different is that unfortunately Maggie has less screen time, replaced by the terrible agent. This is very big dilemma as both characters are hilarious and are begging for more screen time but ultimately Maggie is the superior character and lack of her presence is felt. However, both series are completely excellent, each episode is a work of comedy genius and if you do not like the plots then it is worth it just to see the many superstars happy to play themselves as monsters and idiots, possibly most memorable are Ben Stiller as the complete git, Kate Winslet as the foul mouthed sex monster and the annoying Daniel Radcliffe giving a performance ten times as good as he did in any of his other work!
"The Party and The Guests" (presented here for the first - and still only - time in the world on DVD) was "banned forever" after its initial, short-lived, release in 1966. This was because it was A) deemed subversive; B) deemed incomprehensible; and C) made by persons on the watched list. And it manage this through absurdist comedy - on several occasions reminding me of Samuel Beckett, and at one point even Rainer Werner Fassbinder.
The film follows a group of happy picnickers who have been invited to a party. They are then accosted by another group of guests headed by one sadistic man - who it turns out was adopted the day before by the party's host. The patriarchal host once he appears becomes a protector (of some guests from other guests) - and master - of all of the guests but one.
The film is obviously highly allegorical, and the way in which it displays the relationships between the characters are often more significant than what those characters say. What they on the other hand rarely makes alot of sense, but is full of gags.
Because of its nonsensical approach to satire The Party and the Guests is clearly not always going to be an easy watch. However, its very nuanced and cinematic delivery of some politically charged ideas is interesting. Perhaps endlessly so, thanks to its opaque language.
One of the better remakes - Tom Cruise is very good and the effects are very good.
What a cracking movie! Daniel Craig takes the mantle of Bond as if he was born to wear it. He is tough and rough - lean and mean. There is the usual Bond body count, including those he has slept with! The action is non-stop and the story is believable. "Le Chiffre" could have been more villainous, but the "eye candy" is as good as ever. What makes this such a good Bond - apart from Craig - is that gadgets are at a minimum. This is mainly man against man and returns Bond to its earlier, purer days. The soundtrack is good too. I would give this four or even five stars and a great recommendation.
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