To coincide with the North American DVD release of Zhang Yimou's acclaimed Hero, I've reviewed the superior R2 Japanese release, which presents the theatrical cut of the film with excellent image quality and a pounding full bit rate DTS track in a lavish 2-disc set.

Spasmo (R1 USA) arrived today. And thus I delve into the depths of the work of Umberto Lenzi, or as I prefer to call him, Mr. "I invented every trademark of the giallo genre despite the fact that they were already old news when I started using them".

For those of you who don't know, Larry is still on the go.

Various FAQ updates:

Tell us all about you.
What qualifications do you have?
Work experience?
What music do you like?
What about religion?
Are you, by any chance, you know... uh... racist?
What are your opinions on prostitution?
How do you feel about denominational schools?
How do you feel about swearing?

What the hell am I doing? I've been asking myself that more and more recently. I'm currently nearly half-way through my final year at university, and the world outside seems like a scary place. For the last two years, I've been exclusively "studying" (pff, "drifting through", more like) English Language, and as I look back it seems that I've left behind everything I was interested in. Towards the end of school I said goodbye to Art & Design, which was (and still is, I suspect) probably my greatest strength. At the end of my first year of university, I dropped Film & TV Studies. Not my fault really: my hand was forced, and I'm going to get into that in a moment. At the end of second year, I dropped English Literature, which I suppose was my last tenuous connection to the world of the esoteric and non-literal. Now I find myself with essays on the most boring of subjects (the sprawling minefield that is Sociolinguistics, and Phonetics II, the inferior sequel to Phonetics) due in a fortnight, and facing my finals in a few months' time.

What the hell am I doing?

I have no passion for English Language. I see it as a science, and I am most definitely not a scientist. It happens to be the one science that I can actually understand to some degree (although the results of my finals could easily end up proving this wrong), and it also happens to be the subject that most of my friends are doing, but beyond that, my connection with the subject is tenuous at best.

How I ended up in this situation is a combination of bureaucratic miscommunication, incompetent lecturers and my own bad judgement. Back when I was about to go into second year, I visited my advisor of studies, a useless old clot whose real name I will not divulge -- let's call him Dr. Hitchcock -- and told him that I planned to carry all three of my first year subjects on to second year. (At Glasgow University, you do three subjects in first year, and in second year you generally carry on two and take on an additional subject at first year level.) I was promptly told that I could not do both Film & TV and English Language, as there was a timetable clash. No ifs or buts: it couldn't be done. (I later learned that a friend of mine, Ruth, was able to do both because her adviser suggested an arrangement whereby she taped the one English Language lecture she would have missed per week. But I'm not bitter at Dr. Hitchcock, hell no.) Faced with the choice of doing the subject I was most interested in and doing the one I was less interested in but which all my friends were doing, I decided to do the latter.

I also kept up the old English Literature. Now, let me tell you something. Glasgow University's English Literature department is far from a smooth-running operation. While I certainly wouldn't want to call it a complete disaster (that would be unkind and more than a bit untrue), I am of the opinion that a number of its lecturers simply don't give a flying fuck about their students, and would rather be anywhere other than on the podium giving lectures to an audience that desperately hopes to be able to get enough information to make a decent stab at their exams. Some of the English Lit lecturers are excellent, but others are worse than useless, and I'm afraid it was the latter group that was primarily responsible for my decision to drop English Lit at the end of second year (that and the complete asshole of a convenor who basically implied that it was my fault the secretary gave me the wrong time for the enrollment, leading to me turning up two hours late) and do a straight English Language course.

To put it bluntly, I feel as if I've made the wrong choices (except for staying in the same group as my friends -- there's a great deal to be said for that). So here I am contemplating a future that could easily involve me being in a vocation in which I have little interest. I think with the right side of my brain, not the left, and the subject I am studying is very much one for the left. I know they say that no doors are ever really locked, but I feel as if I've gone down a path that would be difficult, or pointless, or expensive, to find my way back out of.

I don't mean to sound all doom and gloom -- I'm probably just overreacting, after all -- but with the prospect of writing two uninteresting and badly-worded essays before the Christmas Holidays, and another two somewhat better-worded ones due in January, plus the excitement of seven exams to sit in April - May, and no idea of where I want to progress beyond that, you can probably imagine that I'm not in the jolliest of moods.

Oh well, time to procrastinate yet again by brushing all under the carpet, popping in a DVD or computer game and pretending I'm in some alternate reality where I can actually make a living doing things I enjoy.

My order for World of Warcraft has been cancelled. Apparently all the Collector's Editions are sold out, and the "limited to 750,000" tag actually means something. Oh well, I suppose I might as well wait in the off-chance that the Collector's Edition gets released in Europe when the game is launched here in February.

A precautionary tale against travelling on late night trains if ever there was one, Night Train Murders proves to be a sordid little exploitation thriller that actually manages to be a valid social study. I've reviewed the recent R0 USA release by Blue Underground.

A Woman is a Woman (R1 USA Criterion) and Angel: Season 4 (R1 USA) both arrived this morning, to be stowed away for Christmas.

I also received a review copy of Nathalie (R2 UK), a film I wanted to see when it was on at the cinema but never got a chance to. First impressions aren't good: the transfer, while of excellent quality, is marred by huge butt-ugly English subtitles that are burned in:

No, no, no, no, no! Momentum, why? You were doing so well with your releases of Amelie et al, and now you go and spoil it all for us? Forced subtitles cannot ever be acceptable unless they are for little snippets of dialogue (a la Kill Bill and The Lord of the Rings) and their design is integral to the film's feel. These subs are for the whole film, and their "design", if I can even call it that, is hardly vital for maintaining a specific mood or atmosphere.

This recent interview with Bill Lustig of Blue Underground sheds some light on the current status of their upcoming The Giallo Collection Vol. 2 package.

Interviewer: You've been working with Vittorio Stararo on the transfer of The Bird with the Crystal Plumage, right?

Lustig: Well, yes and no. He is supervising the transfer, but I have not spoken with him. I have someone in Italy who is basically producing the master for me and is very, very good.

[...]

Interviewer: You guys have been talking about the Giallo Collection 2. How is that coming along?

Lustig: It's good. We shot all the interviews. I think there is one more we are shooting, there's one interview with one of the directors... but we shot the bulk of our interviews last February in Rome. We started the transfers and we should be releasing it around the end of June next year.

Interviewer: I also saw something of Bird with the Crystal Plumage during your promo reel.

Lustig: We're releasing that as part of the Giallo Collection [Volume 2].

This is quite surprising news, and implies that fears of Death Laid an Egg being dropped from the package were true. If that's the case, I'm glad I picked up the Japanese release, which is not that great, although serviceable.

Regarding The Bird with the Crystal Plumage, normally I would be very excited at the prospect of a cinematographer personally supervising the transfer for a film he shot, but in Storaro's case I'm less than enthusiastic. The news that the transfer is being done in Italy outside of Bill Lustig's control is both a good thing and a bad thing in my opinion: good, in that it means the transfer has a chance to escape Blue Underground's usual over-filtering/over-edge-enhancing procedures; bad, in that it means Storaro is free to play with the framing to his heart's content (he is a big fan of cropping his 2.35:1 movies to 2.0:1 for DVD releases). Personally I am less than satisfied with the quality of the Medusa Bird transfer (it's comfortably the best to date, but there's still room for improvement), so I look forward to seeing how this turns out. In any event, I'll end up getting it regardless as it's part of the Collection, which I'll definitely be picking up.

Aoccdrnig to a rscheearch at Cmabrigde Uinevtsy, it deosn't mttaer in waht oredr the ltteers in a wrod are, the olny imprmoetnt tihng is that the frist and lsat ltteer be at the rghit pclae. The rset cab be a ttoal mses and you can sitll raed it wouthit porbelm. Tihs is bcuseae the huamn mnid deos not raed ervey lteter by istelef, but the wrod as a wlohe.

Source: JoBlo's Movie Club

I finally got a copy of What Have They Done to Your Daughters?, Massimo Dallamano's unofficial follow-up to his excellent What Have You Done to Solange?, today. The quality of the copy I got wasn't too great, but the film itself turned out to be very enjoyable.

What Have They Done to Your Daughters? (1974)

Cast: Giovanna Ralli, Claudio Cassinelli, Maro Adorf, Franco Fabrizi, Farley Granger, Marina Berti
Screenplay: Ettore Sanzò & Massimo Dallamano, based on an idea by Ettore Sanzò
Music: Stelvio Cipriani
Production designer: Franco Bottari
Cinematographer: Franco Delli Colli
Editor: Antonio Siciliano
Director: Massimo Dallamano

Leaner and even more nihilistic than its predecessor, this unofficial second outing into the so-called "Schoolgirls in Peril" trilogy covers many of the same themes as What Have You Done to Solange? but grounds them in a more typical Italian setting and places the focus squarely on the efforts of the police to apprehend the film's killer. The sleaze factor is toned down somewhat but still present, with all sorts of debauchery being hinted at off-screen via a series of surreptitious tape recordings. The story itself is very similar to that of Solange: nubile teenage girl found dead, revealed to have been part of a secret sex cult, implication is that the killer will go after the other members next, police try to apprehend killer. It's all very standard stuff, but Dallamano delivers it with the same vicious panache that pervaded Solange.

The more standard Italian backdrop, as opposed to Solange's England, allows Dallamano to comment on politics and the class system in a similar way to that of Aldo Lado. Both directors seem to be nihilists, at least to some extent, and as with the three Lado films I have seen and Dallamano's Solange, the ending is not allowed to be truly happy. The final frames make it quite clear that the protagonist cops will fight on against the system, but one gets the sense that is a fruitless struggle. (I won't say any more for fear of revealing the ending and plot twists to those that haven't seen the film yet.)

The killer's attire is an interesting riff on the usual black coat and gloves, replacing them with a leather biker's outfit, including helmet, and having him roar through the city on a motorcycle. His identity is not of prime importance in this film - indeed, he is identified about half-way into the film, so it comes as something of a disappointment that his discovery and apprehension are so inconsequential (he just happens to be spotted as the film gets conveniently near the end of its running time).

The desaturated colour scheme and eye-catching Scope photography, this time round credited to Franco Delli Colli, are impressive and suit the subject matter well. Cold and clinical in their execution, they are perhaps less appealing than Joe D'Amato's work on Solange but demonstrate a more effective use of the frame. Taking over scoring duties is Stelvio Cipriani, who diverges from Ennio Moriconne's lyrical tunes in Solange by providing a jazzier, more rhythmic piece of work.

What Have They Done to Your Daughters? is, overall, just a notch below Solange, which is no bad thing at all, as I consider Solange to be one of the very best non-Argento Italian thrillers. More of a police procedural thriller than a genuine giallo, the film is strangely engaging even if none of its leads are particularly interesting. While character development is hinted at, the procedural elements and extended chase sequences are very much to the forefront, delivering an exhilarating but somewhat melancholic end result.

**** out of *****

Oh, and I ordered the World of Warcraft collector's edition, from DVDBoxOffice.com. At least I get a month of free gameplay and a whole lot of cool extras, so the price should be justified even if I never play beyond the first month.

I'm debating whether or not to buy Blizzard's upcoming MMORPG World of Warcraft. I've bought every other (PC) game they've ever made, but the fact that this game is online only and requires a monthly fee (the price of which they have still not actually announced) to play has caused me to enter into many a diatribe about how I would never buy such a game. However, the latest Blizzard Insider newsletter just hit my inbox, and I have to admit that the Collector's Edition looks fucking cool indeed. 1-hour behind the scenes DVD, coffee table art book (similar to the one in the Warcraft III Collector's Edition, score CD, cloth map, exclusive in-game "pet", and a free one-month subscription to the game. It's certainly a hefty package, and a lot of it sounds absolutely cool. The game is released on November 22nd, and I'm currently wrestling with my conscience as to whether or not I should plonk down the money ($89.99 Canadian, plus the inevitable customs charge) for it after all. My thinking is that, even if I never actually subscribe to the game, at least I will get one month of gameplay out of it and a hell of a lot of other cool stuff. The music samples sound nice, and the documentary DVD sounds absolutely fascinating.

What do people think? Should I go ahead or am I being a complete dumbass? Let me know, but don't leave it too late: the clock is ticking.

It's outrageous, it's contagious... I've reviewed the R2 UK release of Peep Show: Series One, a warped, borderline offensive and downright hilarious "candid camera" style comedy from Channel 4, at DVD Times.

The Stepford Wives. Charlie and the Chocolate Factory. Planet of the Apes. Evil Dead. Ringu. The Italian Job. Suspiria? The Hollywood remake machine grinds and grinds, and I'll be damned if I can understand the thinking behind it. It strikes me that the idea to remake classics, semi-classics or films that were remotely successful at all is completely misguided and defies any kind of logic.

As I see it, there are a number of possible types of remake:

(1) A (virtually) shot-by-shot duplicate of the original film, which is often foreign in origin and/or dates back to an era before the 1980s, supposedly desiged to "update" the movie by placing it in a "relevant" present-day setting (i.e. the USA) and featuring actors who are "relevant" to present-day US audiences (i.e. surgically-enhanced 20-somethings from American sitcoms and dramas). This type of remake is designed for those who are unable or unwilling to read subtitles and don't like anything foreign or that is the product of a generation other than their own. This is the worst type of remake because it does nothing but pander to the stupidity of the MTV generation. Recent example: Ju-On > The Grudge.

(2) The remake that retains the original ideas of basic story structure but abandons its underlying themes and message in favour of creating something hip, modern and more "exciting". Again the source material is likely to be foreign or slightly dated. Certain viewers will probably embrace this because they consider it more "relevant" to their modern-day American needs, but devoid of any substance the film will disappear from the radar reasonably quickly, although some do end up being relatively enjoyable distractions. Recent example: Ringu > The Ring.

(3) The relatively rare remake that takes only the basic idea of the original and proceeds to spin an almost unrecognizable yarn. These remakes tend to relate to their predecessor in name only, and are generally the least offensive of the three, but still rarely bring anything new to the table. Indeed, their biggest crime is usually the fact that they dispose of any underlying themes, comments or innovations present in the original but fail to replace them with anything remotely their equivalent. Recent example: Dawn of the Dead.

The remake is a fundamentally bad idea, especially when it concerns (as it usually does) the re-interpretation of a good movie. Surely it would make much more sense to remake a bad movie and try to improve on it? Remake Pearl Harbor, not The Evil Dead. At least that way you run the risk of actually adding something rather than merely taking stuff away.

The biggest problem is that these remakes actually seem to be making money. This will sound elitist, but I am of the opinion that the general public always has been and always will be, primarily, idiots. These are people who would rather watch some watered-down piece of popcorn filler than actually take the time to read some fucking subtitles or, heaven forbid, actually think about what is taking place on the screen. Some of these remakes actually do make for half-way decent entertainment -- the new Dawn of the Dead is, when all said and done, dumb but generally harmless and watchable fluff -- but the fact that film crews and actors, many of whom are pretty talented, are wasting away regurgitating good ideas in ways that are easier to swallow, is very very sad indeed.

DVD Debacle

Two giallo DVDs arrived today: Autopsy (R0 USA) and Death Laid an Egg (R2 UK). A couple of mini-reviews for you to enjoy:

Autopsy
Armando Crispino, 1975
*** out of *****

Reasonable mid-70s giallo featuring Mimsy Farmer (from Argento's Four Flies on Grey Velvet), Barry Primus and Ray Lovelock. The morgue setting and Farmer's character's visions of corpses coming to life are suitably disturbing, and director Crispino does an admirable job of capturing the nausea and disorientation of Rome in the heat of summer, but the film feels a bit too long at 100 minutes, and none of the characters are particularly likeable. Also, after a rather hard-hitting sequence immediately following the credits that features various depictions of suicide and murder, the film is relatively light on the gore and features a number of bizarre lapses in logic that would baffle even the most ardent giallo fanatic.

Anchor Bay's DVD is pretty nice, with a reasonable transfer, but extras are limited to two trailers.

Lost in Translation
Sofia Coppola, 2003
**** out of *****

What works best about Lost in Translation is definitely the performances of the two leads, Bill Murray and Scarlett Johansson. The script is good enough, but it's somewhat lightweight and does do a fairly bad job of reducing both Japanese and Americans to one-note stereotypes. (Witness the big-toothed grins and "Engrish" of the overly enthusiastic Japanese hosts and their penchants for fetishes; see also, Anna Faris's typical dumb blonde American who cackles and squeals uproariously and thinks she's fitting in by learning a few words of the language.) This actually ends up working quite well because it emphasizes the humanity of Murray's Bob and Johansson's Charlotte: they are the only well-rounded characters in a sea of caricatures. By the end of the film, their relationship has become wonderfully touching despite the fact that they never wallow in sentimentality. At times it feels as if the film was made to be a postcard of Tokyo, but after seeing it I still don't feel any particular desire to visit there...

The QM union at Glasgow University has been having a poster sale extravaganza. Today was the last day of the offer, so I decided to wander along and peruse the collection before it was too late. At £5 for two, it was a steal, so I bought the posters for Amelie and Pulp Fiction.

I also bought the DVDs of David Cronenberg's Spider and Sofia Coppola's Lost in Translation. At this rate my collection will have hit 300 DVDs by the end of the year. :|

Source: Mobius

Criterion president Peter Becker and technical director Lee Kline held a panel discussion in Astoria, New York last Sunday. Mobius member Dave Cheung has done a brief write-up of some of the questions and answers. Worth checking out.

Director Giullermo del Toro, 2002
**1/2 out of *****

I finally got around to watching this yesterday, after it had sat on my shelf for nearly a fortnight. While I liked elements of it, overall I have to say I was quite disappointed. Set in Eastern Europe, the whole look and feel of the film is more gothic than its predecessor, but it all feels very forced and the story is muddy. The colour design is very vivid and the action sequences are extremely well done, with much better CGI than the original Blade, but they are ruined somewhat by the fact that VERY ANNOYING and VERY LOUD heavy metal and hip-hop music is played over almost every single one of them. Wesley Snipes makes for a very cool vampire slayer hero, but at times he feels out of his depth here -- some of his dialogue is cringeworthy. At least Kris Kristofferson is back, and as good as he was in the original. A shame they had to throw in a clichéd Jack Black-esque techy character, though. The biggest problem with this film, which to a certain extent was also an issue in the original Blade, is that it doesn't do a very good job of straddling the line between comic book action and realism. At times if feels like it desperately wants to conform to the laws of physics and reality, but then it goes all out with crazy fast-forward-motion fights and characters climbing up walls. Relatively entertaining, but pretty average nonetheless.

That said, I do look forward to seeing Blade: Trinity when it comes out.

I've reviewed Lilo & Stitch (R2 Italian Special Edition) at DVD Times.

I've added a comparison for All the Colors of the Dark (R1 US vs. R2 German).

A while back I told you about the single player demo I played of Armies of Exigo, a cool-looking (and playing) real-time strategy game from EA. Well, the good news is that a multiplayer demo has now been released. At 499 MB the size is quite excessive, but you do get to play all three races, as well as four multiplayer maps and the ability to play online with others and/or computer opponents, and to save and view replays -- pretty good for a free demo.

Download here: http://www.eagames.com/official/armiesofexigo/armiesofexigo/us/downloads.jsp

The game is currently on track for release on December 3rd: just in time for Christmas.

Speaking of Christmas, I pre-ordered Criterion's upcoming re-release of Fritz Lang's M, as well as ordering their release of Jean-Luc Godard's A Woman is a Woman (Une Femme est une Femme). It's early, I know, but given the back-log of import DVDs at customs (GEE, I WONDER WHY), you never can tell how long a delivery will take. I expect that I'll probably also get the Looney Tunes Golden Collection Vol. 2 and the US version of Angel Season 4 for the festive period.

Last night, the second season of Channel 4's hilarious comedy Peep Show started. Very funny stuff -- if you haven't seen it yet, I urge you to check it out.

And wonder of wonders, the DVD of Season 1 arrived this morning (although, of course, in the UK, for some reason a season is called a series, and a series is called... a series).

Source: Melon Farmers

This new-found wave of liberalism seems to be continuing to sweep through the BBFC, with Anatomy of Hell, the notorious Catherine Breillat's latest movie, being passed uncut as an 18. Only yesterday I watched The Dreamers, which 5 years ago would probably never have been passed uncut, and today I hear the news that features 70 minutes of "penises, oral sex, vaginal intercourse, close-ups of the woman’s genitalia, a stone dildo and a rake" has been approved for general release. This can only be a good thing.

Source: Melon Farmers

George Warmonger Bush has accepted the resignation of Attorney General John Ashcroft, according to White House spokesman Scott McClellan. Ashcroft sent a five-page, handwritten letter to Bush Tuesday announcing his plan to resign.

A consistent and vocal critic of Adult content, Ashcroft’s resignation will generally be seen by the industry as a positive development, but not everyone is quite so sanguine about what Ashcroft’s resignation augurs for the business.

This spells an uncertain future for the Adult industry, said Lawrence Walters, an industry attorney with the law firm Weston, Garrou & DeWitt. Although many in this industry have hoped for Ashcroft's ouster, Bush's current indebtedness to the evangelicals may mean that we end up with someone worse, with a clear axe to grind against erotica. This situation bears close scrutiny.

There has also been unconfirmed speculation within and without the industry that Ashcroft is exiting the Department of Justice in anticipation of being nominated for a seat on the Supreme Court, should a spot open up. But Ashcroft was cryptic rather than clear about his plans for the near future.

Bush has now nominated White House legal counsel Alberto Gonzales to succeed Attorney General John Ashcroft. Gonzales, a former Texas Supreme Court justice who considered a likely candidate for the Supreme Court, is a long time confident of Bush’s.

The nomination is not yet official, but Whitehouse spokesman Scott McClellan suggested that the announcement may come today.

Gonzales would then need to be confirmed by the Senate, where he may face opposition that could mirror the difficulty Ashcroft had winning his confirmation.

Well, I guess that when you're running for the position of senator for Missouri and your opponent dies but still gets more votes than you, it's a good idea to quit while you're ahead.

Source: BBC News

The Scottish parliament has decided to enforce an outright ban on smoking in all enclosed public areas (e.g. restaurants, pubs), much like the systems already in place in New York and Ireland.

As a non-smoker and someone who is sick of being exposed to the fumes, I am behind this legislation in theory, but I can't help thinking that the focus is on the wrong venue. Ultimately, however much I hate smoking, I do think that the proprietor of an establishment should have a right to set their own rules. People choose to go into pubs, so ultimately they are making some sort of choice regarding exposure to tobacco fumes. What I would much rather see is a ban on smoking in all public outdoor areas. Nothing annoys me more than walking down the street, standing at the bus stop or whatever, and someone next to me decides to light up and have a good old puff. In situations like these, people generally have no choice as to whether they are exposed to the smoke, whereas in pubs you can at least choose not to go in if it bothers you too much, and likewise most restaurants do have non-smoking areas.

Real-life Rambles/DVD Debacle/Literary Legend

The other day, I took the bus into town and spent a good couple of hours perusing various bookshops. While there, I discovered that the Asterix books, which have been unavailable in the UK for around five years now, are being reissued in hardback format with new covers, glossy paper and new hand-lettering and, even more importantly, the first eight books have been completely re-coloured. Apparently, these stories were put together very quickly, since Asterix was at that time serialized in the weekly French magazine Pilote. As a result, the colour jobs done on these early stories was often very cheap and haphazard, resulting in artist Albert Uderzo being very dissatisfied with the results. (He was also colour-blind at the time, which certainly didn't help matters.) The new colours are much more vivid and accurate, and bring the colour styling up to date with the hues that were established as the standard later in the series. [More info]

Of course, being the big dork that I am, I felt the overwhelming urge to buy something, so I walked away with the first book, Asterix the Gaul, and one of my personal favourites, Asterix and the Big Fight. Being the gullible sap that I am, I will probably end up rebuying the entire series to replace my tatty old paperbacks, many of which have been forever spoiled by my felt-tip pens, ever since I had the idea, as a young child, to "correct" the colour values for the earlier books in much the same way that has now been done officially.

The new colour styling is overall a big improvement, especially for the first three or four books, which exhibited some genuinely awful paint-work -- especially Asterix the Gaul, which was completed in such a rush that, on many occasions, entire characters are comprised of a single flat was of primary colour. Of course, a handful of errors have cropped up in these new editions -- for example, some scenes have now lost their individuality due to the same colour values being used regardless of the time of day -- but overall the results are most impressive. That said, I'm glad I still have my tattered old copies that exhibit the original colour schemes, since I'm not much of a fan of revisionism at the expense of the original product.

Old:

New:

The books are also being released in their correct chronological order for the first time in the UK (they were originally translated out of sequence).

I also picked up a copy of Bernardo Bertolucci's The Dreamers (R2 UK), a drama/character study set against the backdrop of the French student uprisings in 1968. It's definitely an interesting film, and I enjoyed it overall, but I do have reservations. I wasn't at all enamoured by the two male leads - I thought Louis Garrel was too bland and Michael Pitt too much like a wide-eyed Leonardo DiCaprio/Macaulay Culkin type. Eva Green (the female lead), though, was superb and I couldn't take my eyes off her (and not only for the more obvious reason of her pendulous breasts, which are on full display on a number of occasions): her performance was riveting and extremely theatrical -- not surprising given her stage background. I'm definitely going to keep an eye on anything she does next. And oh, that voice!

I found most of the film interesting in a voyeuristic sort of way - most of the fascination comes not from any kind of actual plot development but simply from being able to watch these characters interacting and seeing how they react in different ways to the same things. Unlike many people I don't think that the sex and nudity was overdone; indeed, if anything I felt the opposite was true, with Bertolucci incorporating a very restrained style of photography where the camera cuts away or chooses a conveniently obscuring angle any time the events run the risk of becoming explicit (not surprising, perhaps, given that the film had UK funding and would have had to secure an 18 rather than an R-18).

The film definitely becomes a bit over-sentimental about the time period, but I got the impression that Bertolucci was being fairly even-handed about it. The lifestyle of the "Dreamers" is certainly appealling, but it is made fairly clear that they are thinkers rather than doers, and that when they enter the real world they are definitely at a loss. In that respect I didn't feel that anyone was really musing about "the good old days", but rather studying the effects that this turbulent time period had on people. 7/10

Finally, today, I got the results for my dissertation in the post: an A3 (A1 is the highest), which I am very happy with. It looks like all my hard work throughout May and June paid off after all.

I've reviewed the Tom and Jerry Spotlight Collection (R1 Canada) at DVD Times.

I've reviewed Mulan (R1 USA Special Edition) at DVD Times.

You can also read Natski's review of the R2 version here.

I've reviewed Monster (R2 UK) at DVD Times.

I do feel the need to lighten the atmosphere by poking fun at this tragedy, but some of this is more saddening than amusing.

Average IQ of each state in relation to who they voted for:
http://whiggles.landofwhimsy.com/funbag/2004election_by_iq1.jpg

Free states and slaves states during the Civil War, versus 2004 election results:
http://whiggles.landofwhimsy.com/funbag/progress.jpg

Attention Canadians! Marry an American and save them from the hell!
http://www.marryanamerican.ca

A review copy of Tom and Jerry: Spotlight Collection (R1 Canada) arrived this morning. This set includes 40 random cartoons and a handful of extras, including a documentary and three commentaries by Jerry Beck. One of the best things about this set is the fact that the three Cinemascope cartoons included are in their original aspect ratio for the first time on home video, and they look excellent. Unfortunately, the image quality of the rest of the cartoons is variable, with most of them seemingly coming from the same blurry, beat-up sources as previous releases, and at least five being encoded interlaced. Quite why this has happened is anyone's guess, since these cartoons were made entirely on film -- hence no video editing. This really does seem like sheer laziness on Warner's part -- they clearly haven't invested anything like as much effort as they have for their Looney Tunes sets. (Speaking of which, the Looney Tunes Golden Collection Vol. 2 has been released. I must pick it up... probably for Christmas.) Still, I would judge this set to be worth it overall. I just wish they were releasing the cartoons chronologically instead of seemingly picking them at random.

Now, as you have probably heard by now, the set is cut. Three cartoons have had scenes removed or shortened to remove blackface gags. Warner have confirmed that this was unintentional and, to their credit, are setting up a replacement programme where customers can send in their faulty discs and get the proper ones for no extra charge. Hopefully this option will be open to people outside America too, but the new discs are still being replicated so there is no further news as of yet. Rest assured I'll keep you posted.

http://www.ishkur.com/editorials/kerrywins.php

Says it all really.

Night Train Murders (R0 USA) and Blade II (R1 Canada) arrived today.

Night Train Murders is really great film, much better than The Last House on the Left in my opinion. The story and characters are almost identical to those of Last House, except it takes place on a train instead of in the woods. Perhaps it's my European sensibility talking, but I identified much more with the events of Night Train Murders than those of Last House. The acting is on the whole better, the characters more defined and more interesting, and both the budget and quality of cinematography are much improved. There are some moments that are truly shocking to watch, and I also liked the fact that the villains only gradually became violent towards the protagonists. Although there is never any doubt that they are a couple of thugs, they start out by charming the two girls before gradually becoming more sinister. Flavio Bucci (who played Daniel in Suspiria and looks a great deal like Dario Argento did in the 70s) is very unnerving to watch. This could be Aldo Lado's best film I've seen so far (the other two being the two in the Giallo Collection). Highly recommended.

Looks like George W(armonger) Bush has been re-elected. I really despair of the American people sometimes. He's destroyed their economy, lied to them repeatedly, stolen their civil liberties, taken them into an unjust and pointless war, burned just about every single bridge he had to international relations (with the exception of those idiots Tony Blair and John Howard), and the majority still voted the dumbass back in. It doesn't reflect well on democracy at all (if you can actually bring yourself to call what they have in America democracy).

Oh well, at least I can look forward to another four years of cheap import DVDs.

To all American visitors, please can I implore you to do the whole world a favour and vote Bush out? That is all.

Source: The Guardian

Quentin Tarantino has announced that his next movie will be a kung fu film shot entirely in Mandarin. A deliberately bad English dub will also be created for the illiterate.

His last film, Kill Bill, bravely incorporated Japanese, Chinese and Spanish dialogue into a mainstream Hollywood movie, but Quentin Tarantino's next project promises to dispense with the English language altogether. It will be shot entirely in Mandarin, he claims, and it will be "another kung fu that's gonna blow your asses off". The announcement comes as a surprise, as it was widely believed that the director was preparing his long-delayed war movie, Inglorious Bastards, having finally completed the two-part Kill Bill last year. But according to an interview in Total Film magazine, that is no longer the case.

Like Kill Bill, Inglorious Bastards is "ballooning", said Tarantino, and could again be split into two movies. "Before, I want to do something much smaller."

And in homage to the kung fu films of the 1970s that so in fluenced Tarantino, the new film will also be available in a version with subtitles and an English language version with old-school, out-of-sync dubbing...

...Tarantino is currently writing the movie, which he will spend five months shooting in about a year's time.

It is unclear whether he will stick to native Mandarin speakers or encourage Hollywood stars to learn the language, as he did with Kill Bill. In that film, Chinese martial artist Gordon Liu had some sharp words for Uma Thurman's linguistic efforts: "Your Mandarin is lousy. I can't understand a single word you say. It causes my ears discomfort."

This sounds great to me. Personally Inglorious Bastards didn't exactly sound all that riveting to me, although I've now seen all of Tarantino's movies and enjoyed every single one of them, so I'm probably talking out of my anus.

I've reviewed Mulan II (R2 UK) at DVD Times.

Don't y'all rush out to buy it at once now.

Source: DVD Times

Fox Home Entertainment have announced the Region 1 DVD release of Angel Season 5 for 15th February 2005 priced at $59.98 SRP. In the final season, Angel has finally emerged from 200 years of darkness, but the fine line between good and evil is harder to see than ever!

This six-disc set includes all 22 episodes from the fith and final season with the following features:

1.78:1 Anamorphic Widescreen
English, French and Spanish Dolby Surround
English and Spanish subtitles
Audio Commentary for episodes:
- Conviction by writer/director Joss Whedon
- Destiny by director Skip Schoolnik, writers David Fury and Steven S. Deknight and Juliet Landau
- Soul Purpose by director/actor David Boreanz, writer Blent Fletcher and actor Christian Kane
- You're Welcome by writer/director David Fury, actors Christian Kane and Sarah Thompson
- A Hole in the World by writer/director Joss Whedon, actors Amy Acker and Alexic Denisof
- Underneath by director Skip Schoolnik, writers Elizabeth Craft and Sarah Fain, and actor Adam Baldwin
- Not Fade Away by co-writer/director Jeffrey Bell
Featurettes:
- Hey Kids! It's Smile Time
- Angel 100
- Angel: Choreography of a Stunt
- Angel: The Final Season (27:15)
- To Live & Die in L.A.: The Best of Angel (8:48,)
- Halos and Horns: Recurring Villainy (9:22)
- Angel Unbound: The Gag Reels (8:51)

Very nice! I've only seen a couple of episodes of Season 5. I'll definitely be picking this up. I'll also be punting my R2 of Season 4, poor image quality and all, and picking up the R1.

Eyes Without a Face (Les Yeux Sans Visage, R1 Criterion) arrived today. This is a very interesting film, certainly worth a look for the curious. It's interesting to see edgy horror from more than 40 years ago, and it definitely remains potent today. Excellent transfer too -- reassuring after Criterion's slight blip with the mildly edge enhanced Videodrome (an otherwise amazing release).

I also received the score for Hero from Amazon.co.uk. It is good.