#33 Cannes Film Festival 09

The Cannes Film Festival is rolling around the corner and will be taking place next month on the 13th to the 24th. And the list of line ups has been reviled and I have it here for you guys. The line up is listed below and includes the directors in brackets.

Opening film

Up (Pete Docter and Bob Peterson)
Closing film
Coco Chanel & Igor Stravinsky (Jan Kounen)

In competition

Bright Star (Jane Campion)
Spring Fever (Lou Ye)
Antichrist (Lars von Trier)
Enter the Void (Gaspar Noé)
Face (Tsai Ming-liang)
Les Herbes folles (Alain Resnais)
In the Beginning (Xavier Giannoli)
A Prophet (Jacques Audiard)
The White Ribbon (Michael Haneke)
Vengeance (Johnnie To)
The Time That Remains (Elia Suleiman)
Vincere (Marco Bellocchio)
Kinatay (Brillante Mendoza)
Thirst (Park Chan-wook)
Broken Embraces (Pedro Almodóvar)
Map of the Sounds of Tokyo (Isabel Coixet)
Fish Tank (Andrea Arnold)
Looking for Eric (Ken Loach)
Inglourious Basterds (Quentin Tarantino)
Taking Woodstock (Ang Lee)

Out of competition

The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus (Terry Gilliam)
The Army of Crime (Robert Guédiguian)
Agora (Alejandro Amenábar)

Now he is a few of the films that I am especially interested about.

First film I’m going to talk about is Terry Gilliam’s new film The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus. This is an interesting sounding film. I say sounding because I haven’t seen any thing about it. There’s only been a few pictures and a synopsis that’s been released. Who knows why there hasn’t been a trailer but I’m looking forward to reading about it once its been shown. It’s about some travailing show that’s led by some 1000 year old gentleman called Dr Parnassus. Really the hole thing sounds so weird but being a Gilliam fan I think its right up his street and he’s more then capable to pull it off. Oh, and it was Heath Ledger’s last film but after his death was replaced by Johnny Depp, Colin Farrell and Jude Law.

Then comes Thirst which is a vampire pic from controversial Korean director Park Chan-Wook who’s most famous in the West for Oldboy (2003). The films is about a priest (Song Kang-Ho) who is transformed into a blood sucking vampire after a failed medical experiment. When will they learn? But I think it sounds like a great film a vampire priest riddled with guilt after devouring people. It’s definitely a film I want to see.

Thirst Korean Trailer

The third film which I’m definitely going to see at the end of the May is Drag Me To Hell. I recently did a blog on director Sam Raimi’s return to horror and listed why I wanted to see this film. Not much to say on it because I have all ready wrote about it.

New Film Blog #29 Raimi's Long Awaited Return

The last big film I’m looking forward to reading about is Quentin Tarantino’s Inglorious Bastards. Now anyone that knows me know that Tarantino is my favourite director, so to them this isn’t a surprise. But I think that it has a really good chance of winning because Tarantino and Cannes have a good history together as Tarantino was a judge a few years back. The films about Jewish soldiers going over to France to kill Nazi’s and along the way they run into Shosanna Dreyfus (Melanie Laurent, a Jewish girl out for vengeance. The cast for the Bastards is interesting (Eli Roth for example) but overall from the trailer it looks great. Can’t wait till it comes to England in August but until then I will have to put up worth reading how it turns out.

Ingloriouse Bastard HD Trailer

That’s about it for now wait until Cannes is over to find out who won and what people said about the films.

#32 Review For ‘Låt Den Rätte Komma In’

* * * * *

Director
Thomas Alfredson
Cast
Kåre Hedebrant
Lina Leandersson
Per Ragnar
Screenplay
John Ajvide Lindqvist (novel and screenplay)
Certificate
15
Running Time
114min

Ok, first thing I’m going to say is that I will have to stop reviewing great films. All the films I have reviewed this year have been four star and up. I’m going to have to go see something terrible like Good or Crank 2: High Voltage. Anyways back onto the review.

First of all Låt Den Rätte Komma In’s English title is Let The Right One In, for those confused readers out there. It’s the story of a young Swedish boy named Oskar who deals with the common day to day bully. Meanwhile a mysterious girl Eli and her “Grandfather” move in next door. Soon follows a few murders in the neighbourhood in which the bodies had had their blood tapped. Whilst playing with a Rubix cube in the courtyard of his estate Oskar meets Eli, his new neighbour and after some weird goings on in the estate Oskar begin to think that maybe his new friend Eli is a vampire, but the two children develop a close relationship and Eli helps Oskar fight back against his tormentors.

If you are a self confessed horror fan, like myself, then this is the film that you with definitely need to see. It’s a mix between Del Toro’s Pan’s Labyrinth and Twilight. Before I watched the film I didn’t expect it to be a very scary horror film but still brilliant, but I was wrong. Ok it wasn’t as scary as some slasher films but it had its nerve racking parts. Its tense ridden and is very reminiscent of a Stephen King book. Whilst also being very inspirational. The story is slow building as Oskar lives his mundane life in the snow right up until the end and some what conclusion.

My friend who saw it with me (I won’t name names) said that the ending was a rather anti-climatic but I think other wise. Maybe it’s because I’m being over optimistic but after confronting him on it, it seemed that the story ended in a consistent way to how the rest of the film was. Unlike other horror films like Kubrick’s The Shining which starts slow building and ends with a fantastic/crazy finale. Let The right One In ends with a seemingly relaxed feel. But its relaxed, mundane feel reflects Oskar’s life and adds realism to the otherwise strange events. By this I also mean the film doesn’t feel rushed and that they just wanted to get to the killings but build character development, much like Stephen King books.

Let The Right One In simply put is a beautiful film. The cinematography is fantastic and the camera really shows the emptiness and plainness of Oskar’s life. From the perfectly fallen snow to Oskar’s empty apartment, it really shakes things when a vampire moves in next door. And even though you would be scared and intimidated by a bloodsucker their relationship is beautiful because unlike Twilight, Oskar and Eli’s connection isn’t sexual. At parts Oskar’s curiosity may get the better of him but the fact that they’re not hormonal teenagers.

Really there’s not much to say about the acting because it was all really good. And seeing how this was my first Swedish film I have seen, it seemed better then a lot of acting in other Western films. But in short the child actors are brilliant and the adult actors are great. No one seems to steal the show and they all seem to have the relaxed chilled theme that Oskar and Eli have.

Last thought are that if you are a horror fan, who loves foreign films and loved Pans Labyrinth then you are in for a treat. Even if you are looking for a quick fright at the cinema this is a good pick but I warn you that this is not for the squeamish there are some graphic parts that keeps you on edge.

Oliver Hunt

#31 First Look At Sandy Collora’s Sci-Fi Debut!

If you a gamer and want the latest gaming news check out my fairly new blog New Game Blog. Updated alongside New Film Blog with the latest and greatest things going on with gaming! And no biases opinions! Warning no fanboys allowed in!

Before you ask, who the hell Sandy Collora is, you should watch this…

Batman Dead End

…that is what he is most know for, Batman vs. Alien vs. Predator. When I first saw this I was confused. But it’s a fan film, plain and simple. Anyways back on track, Collora’s new project Hunter Prey is looking amazing. AMAZING. For some reason I have gone crazy for this film. From the stills and the trailer I am just really exited for this.

In an interview with io9.com (I had never heard of it as well) Collora gave us the low down-

Sandy Collora: “At its core, this is a picture about survival. Being able to adapt to your surroundings and persevere, to survive at all costs and prevail against incredible odds to complete an objective. That's something that I've had some experience dealing with in my own life and career, so there were a lot of personal feelings and emotions to draw from. The film centers around a crew of special forces commandos who must recapture an alien prisoner that has escaped after the military transport ship carrying it crashes on a desolate and hostile planet.”

Now what does this sound like? Oh that’s right Pitch Black! I loved that film and Hunter Prey looks like a mix of Pitch Black + Star Wars + Battlestar Galactica. If this is the case it will be sweet. I’m going to keep a look out for this and I think Sci-Fi fans should as well. I think this will work because like Pitch Black the Sci-Fi bit of it wasn’t rammed down our throats.

For the teaser it is below along with the interview from io9. Check them both out!

Hunter Prey HD Teaser

First Look At Fan Auteur, Sandy Collora’s ‘Hunter Prey’

Oliver Hunt

#30 Bruno & Where The Wild Things Are Trailer Impressions!

Two new trailers have been released for ‘Bruno’ and ‘Where The Wild Things Are’. So I thought I would write a quick, first impressions on the two trailers. I have also put both trailer links at the bottom for you guys to check them out yourself.

I will start with Sacha Baron Cohan’s new pro gay mockumentary; ‘Bruno’. If you don’t know who Bruno is, he is one of Sacha Baron Cohan’s creations; he is a gay German model as he tries to make it big. What can I say, it’s exactly what we expect from Baron Cohan. Its hilarious, controversial, fun as Bruno travels around America. From the trailer its seems like it is going to cause an uproar among a lot of people. I’m definitely going to go see this because even if it’s racist, or sexist or homophobic its all a joke. I am also a big Sacha Baron Cohan fan so I wouldn’t even think about missing this.

Now on to something that I am really exited for; ‘Where The Wild Things Are’. This is of course based on the popular child’s book and it is no surprise that its final had an adaptation. The thing is the film looks just really nice and happy. It has a easy feel about it. The Wild Things make you want to hug them with their fur and there cute horns. I know this film will be a classic because it looks like its going to be a feel good movie and separate its self from others. I think you have to watch it before commenting on it. The film doesn’t even have a target audience, its appeals to kids, teens, adults and the elderly, and that’s why I think that is why it will be successful. I can’t wait for this one.

Where The Wild Things Are Trailer

Bruno Trailer

Oliver Hunt