Tag: looking for eric

UK DVD & Blu-ray Releases: Monday 12th October 2009

Post author By Ambrose Heron
Post date 12/10/2009

DVD & BLU-RAY PICKS

Coraline (Universal): Based on the book by Neil Gaiman, this stop-motion animation written and directed by Henry Selick follows an adventurous girl named Coraline who finds another world that is a strangely idealized version of her frustrating home, but has sinister secrets.

* Listen to our interview with Henry Selick about Coraline *

Available on 1-Disc DVD (£19.99 RRP), 2-Disc Limited Edition DVD (£19.99 RRP) and Blu-ray Disc (£24.99 RRP), the 2-Disc DVD and Blu-ray Disc release will include both the 2-D and 3-D version of the main feature and 4 pairs of 3-D glasses. Got that? Phew.

Features on all of the different versions are as follows:

1-Disc DVD – Includes the 2-D version of the main feature and the following extras:
Deleted Scenes
The Making of Coraline
Feature Commentary with Director Henry Selick and Composer Bruno Coulais

2-Disc Limited Edition DVD – As above plus a second disc with the 3-D version of the main feature and 4 pairs of 3-D glasses.

Blu-ray Disc – Includes both the 2-D and 3-D versions of the main feature plus 4 pairs of 3-D glasses. Features include:

2-D and 3-D Presentations
1080P 1.85:1 Widescreen
English 5.1 DTS-HD Master Audio
French, Italian, German, Spanish and Dutch 5.1 Dolby Digital
English SDH, French, Italian, German, Spanish, Korean, Swedish, Danish, Finnish, Dutch, Greek and Traditional Chinese subtitles
U Control – Picture in Picture (2-D Feature Only)
U Control – Tours and Voice Sessions (2-D Feature Only)
U Control – Picture in Picture Animatic (2-D Feature Only)
Deleted Scenes
The Making of Coraline – Director and screenwriter Henry Selick hosts this behind the scenes feature about how this hand-crafted, stop-motion animated film was made
BD Exclusive: Voicing the Characters – Coraline’s acclaimed cast and filmmaker Henry Selick talk about their experiences working on the film, including defining the perfect voice for their characters
BD Exclusive: Creepy Coraline – Director and screenwriter Henry Selick and Coraline author Neil Gaiman take fans deeper into the darker intricacies of Coraline’s alternative worlds
Feature Commentary with Director Henry Selick and Composer Bruno Coulais

Although much of the publicity surrounding the film focused on ‘King Eric’, the two real stars are Steve Evets and Stephanie Bishop who deliver excellent performances. It also features the hallmarks of Loach’s best work: sensitive treatment of social issues; well rounded characters with believable flaws; and a lack of cheap sentiment.

The script by Paul Laverty deserves a lot of credit for working in social issues (gun crime, football ownership) alongside some of Cantona’s reflections on life and existence in a way that isn’t forced or cheesy. Whilst some of the reactions at the Cannes film festival were correct in observing that it is lighter than usual for a Loach film, that is no bad thing as it contains some marvellous feel good scenes (especially the climax).

Available on Blu-ray Disc (£24.99 RRP) and 2-Disc DVD (£19.99 RRP), extras include:

Audio Commentary
United We Stand Documentary
Extended Meditation Scene
Deleted Scenes
Happy Ending Short Film
Music Video
Deleted Scenes
Director’s Shorts

Synecdoche, New York (Revolver): Charlie Kaufman‘s directorial debut (pronounced “Syn-ECK-duh-kee”) is so Kaufman-esque that it takes his ideas to another level of strangeness. The story centres around theatre director Caden Cotard (Philip Seymour Hoffman) who starts to re-evaluate life after his health and marriage start to break down. He receives a grant to do something artistically adventurous and decides to stage an enormously ambitious production inside a giant warehouse.

What follows is a strange and often baffling movie, complete with the kind of motifs that are peppered throughout Kaufman’s scripts: someone lives in a house oblivious to the fact that it is permanently on fire; a theatrical venue the size of several aircraft hangars is casually described as a place where Shakespeare is performed; and visitors to an art gallery view microscopic paintings with special goggles.

But despite the oddities and the Chinese-box narrative, this is a film overflowing with invention and ideas. It explores the big issues of life and death but also examines the nature of art and performance – a lot of the film, once it goes inside the warehouse, is a mind-boggling meditation on our lives as a performance.

Imagine The Truman Show rewritten by Samuel Beckett and directed by Luis Buñuel and you’ll get some idea of what Kaufman is aiming for here. I found a lot of the humour very funny, but the comic sensibility behind the jokes is dry and something of an acquired taste. Much of the film hinges on Seymour Hoffman’s outstanding central performance in which he conveys the vulnerability and determination of a man obsessed with doing something worthwhile before he dies.

The makeup for the characters supervised by Mike Marino is also first rate, creating a believable ageing process whilst the sets are also excellent, even if some of the CGI isn’t always 100% convincing. The supporting cast is also impressive: Catherine Keener, Michelle Williams, Samantha Morton, Emily Watson, Hope Davis, Tom Noonan and Dianne Weist all contribute fine performances and fit nicely into the overall tone of the piece. Although the world Kaufman creates will alienate some viewers, it slowly becomes a haunting meditation on how humans age and die.

Revolver Entertainment are releasing it, priced at £19.99 RRP on DVD and £24.99 RRP on Blu-ray Disc.

Extras include:

Infectious Diseases In Cattle: Bloggers’ Roundtable
The Story of Caden Cotard
Script Factory Interview with Charlie Kaufman
Charlie Kaufman Animations
In & Around Synecdoche, New York

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ALSO OUT

12 Rounds (Fox)
B-Girl (Anchor Bay)
Cherry Blossoms (Dogwoof)
Claymore Volumes 5 & 6 (Manga)
Doghouse (Sony)
Hell Ride (Warner)
Heroes Season 3 (Universal Playback)
Inside (Momentum)
Momma’s Man (Diffusion Pictures)
Skin (ICA)
Smallville Season 8 (Warner)
Spooks Season 7 (E1 Entertainment)
Two and a Half Men Season 6 (Warner)

> Browse more DVD Releases at Amazon UK and Play
> Check the latest DVD prices at DVD Price Check
> Take a look at the current UK cinema releases (W/C Friday 9th October)

Tags blu-ray, coraline, looking for eric, synechdoche new york, uk dvd releases

Cinema

UK Cinema Releases: Friday 12th June 2009

Post author By Ambrose Heron
Post date 12/06/2009

UK Cinema Releases 12-06-09

NATIONAL RELEASES

The Hangover (Warner Bros): A comedy directed by Todd Phillips which follows four friends who travel to Las Vegas for a bachelor party, only to wake up the next morning unable to remember a thing and discover that the groom has gone missing. a thing and missing the groom, whose wedding is to occur mere hours away. Although on the surface it might seem like yet another formulaic US comedy, this is actually really rather funny, not least because of a refreshing narrative that doesn’t play its hand too early, the chemistry between its stars and some highly amusing set pieces. Given the lack of stars and relatively low budget (it was shot for around $35 million) execs at Warner Bros will be thrilled that it topped the US box office last week (narrowly beating Pixar’s Up in its second week) and must be confident that it will do similar business over here. Although it has received less media coverage than Looking For Eric, word of mouth will be very strong and it could easily claim the top spot. [Cert 15 / Vue West End & Nationwide] (Previews 11 June)

Looking For Eric (Icon): The unlikely pairing of French footballer Eric Cantona and English director Ken Loach is the tale of a Manchester postman (Steve Evets) undergoing a midlife crisis. When his idol Cantona appears to him in a series of visions, he manages to inspire him with his distinctive brand of philosophy. Although much of the publicity surrounding the film has focused on ‘King Eric’, the two real stars are Steve Evets and Stephanie Bishop who deliver excellent performances. It also features the hallmarks of Loach’s best work: sensitive treatment of social issues; well rounded characters with believable flaws; and a lack of cheap sentiment. The script by Paul Laverty deserves a lot of credit for working in social issues (gun crime, football ownership) alongside some of Cantona’s reflections on life and existence in a way that isn’t forced or cheesy. Whilst some of the reactions at the Cannes film festival were correct in observing that it is lighter than usual for a Loach film, that is no bad thing as it contains some marvellous feel good scenes (especially the climax) which make it more likely to reach a wider audience. Icon are giving this a national release, providing the unusal – but welcome – scenario of a Ken Loach film in UK multiplexes, but they will be hoping that it fares better than The Damned United, another football related film which underperformed earlier this year despite a lot of publicty.[Cert 15 / Curzon Soho, Odeon Covent Gdn, Vue West End & Nationwide]

The Last House On The Left (Universal): I have almost worn out the keys on my keyboard typing out the letters that spell ‘yet another US horror remake’ but they are getting pressed again because Wes Craven’ 1972 film has been updated for modern audiences. The premise sees a married couple (Tony Goldwyn and Monica Potter) who unwittingly give refuge to a group of criminals (Garret Dillahunt, Aaron Paul and Riki Lindhome) that have attacked and left their daughter (Sara Paxton) for dead. Although a cut above most of its kind, it suffers from not having the same atmosphere of the original, with less atmosphere and more manufactured gore and terror. [cert 18 / Vue West End & Nationwide]

Red Cliff (Entertainment): A Chinese epic about the Battle of Red Cliffs, based on events during the end of the Han Dynasty and immediately prior to the period of the Three Kingdoms in ancient China. Directed by John Woo, it stars Tony Leung Chiu-Wai, Takeshi Kaneshiro, Zhang Fengyi, Chang Chen, Hu Jun, Lin Chi-ling and Zhao Wei. It is being released here in a truncated 2½ hour version unlike in China, where it was shown in two parts (both of which were massively popular at the box office). With an estimated budget of $80 million, it is the most expensive Asian-financed film to date and although it is unlikely to prove a massive hit here, Entertainment will be hoping for good reviews and word of mouth to give it a decent shelf-life on DVD. [Cert 15 / Vue West End & Nationwide]

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IN LIMITED RELEASE

Doghouse (Vertigo Films): A British zombie-themed comedy film about a group of men who travel to a remote village in England to help one of their friends get over his divorce. Directed by Jake West and starring Danny Dyer, Stephen Graham, Terry Stone, Lee Ingleby and Noel Clarke. [Cert 15]

New Town Killers (High Fliers Films): A British film which follows two business men (played by Dougray Scott and Alastair Mackenzie) who play macabre cat and mouse games with people from the fringes of society. Written and directed by Richard Jobson. [Cert 15 / Key Cities]

Soi Cowboy (Network Releasing): The relationship between a Danish film-maker and his Thai girlfriend is explored in the second film by director Thomas Clay. [ICA Cinema & Key Cities]

The End Of The Line (Dogwoof): A documentary that explores explores the devastating effect that overfishing is having on fish stocks and the health of the world’s oceans. Directed by Rupert Murray. [Cert / Odeon Panton Street & Nationwide] (Previews 8 June)

> UK cinema releases for June 2009
> DVD Picks for this week including The Curious Case of Banjamin Button and Milk (W/C Monday 8st June)