Spy Vs Spy

Here at Kino we are very excited about the new Tinker, Tailor, Solider, Spy adaptation.
It has the best British cast thats shared a screen together for ages. Gary Oldman, Colin Firth, Tom Hardy, John Hurt, Toby Jones, Mark Strong and Benedict Cumberbatch!
It has a very stylish look and I think this is due to the colabration with director Alfredson and Nottinghams very own Paul Smith. Paul got involved in the early development stages of the movie, offering his insights on 1970s London. He advised on the mood, colour and photographic approach to take. Not only that he has designed 4 stunning posters for the film.

The silk screen posters (which come in editions of 50 and are signed by Smith) will be sold for £100 each, with all profits going to Maggie's Cancer Caring Centres.

So if anyone has a spare £100 down the back of there sofa drop me a line.

2011: A Film Odyssey.

Wow. This has got me very excited, it doesn't take much but wow.
Mark Cousins Presents The Story Of Film: An Odyssey
A 15 hour film charting the history of cinema.
Its on More4 (sorry to any one outside of the UK) and starts on Saturday 3rd at 21:15.
It looks superb and I can't believe how hidden More4 have kept this. There are only 205 views of the trailer on You Tube!
I know that some people give Mark Cousins stick for following Alex Cox in Moviedrome but he always came across as someone who was very passionate about cinema.

According to More4:

The first episode in Mark Cousins' epic history of cinema reveals how this art form was born.

Filmed in the buildings where the first movies were made, it shows that ideas and passion have always driven film, more than money and marketing.

The programme reveals the story of the very first movie stars, close-ups and special effects, and travels to Hollywood to show how it became a myth.

The story is full of surprises - such as the fact that the greatest and best-paid writers in these early years were women - and celebrates the glamour of the great movie cathedrals.

Not sure what follows but it looks like there is some great stuff in the trailer...So thats the next 15 saturday nights in front on the TV then...Oh well.

Wants List.

There are 3 films I really want to see.
All 3 all unavailable in the UK and 1 of those seems to have vanished off the face of the earth.
There is a very strong possibility that these films are terrible.

Hu-Man (1975)

I can't find a trailer or any images apart from the 2 I have added here.
After Mark Cousins took over Moviedrome from Alex Cox, he had a short series where interviewed different actors and directors. The week he interviewed Terence Stamp he showed clips from a film called Hu-Man which I think is French(?),its Sci-fi and looked incredible.
There was a fantastic shot of Terence in front of an active Volcano...I have to see this film even though it may be terrible.

The Last Wave (1977)



Peter Weir and lots of water...Thats all I know about this film and its one I have really struggled to get a copy of. I know that there is a Criterion DVD but its pretty expensive and I am worried that it may be rubbish.

Sorcerer (1977)


The film I need to see the most...I just can't track it down. I know there is a US DVD but I have read that the print is pretty bad. I am a massive Wages Of Fear fan and that first pricked my interest in the movie, Team that with Roy Scheider and William Friedkin and add a Tangerine Dream soundtrack and I have got to see this film.
Again it may be very bad.

I have wanted to see these films for so long now that I guess I can only be disappointed.
If you have seen any of them let me know how bad they are, I need to move on.
And why haven't WB released a blu ray print of Performance...In fact I want a Roeg/Cammell boxset.
In blu ray.

Tats Entertainment.

70mm
Technicolor
Tati
Playtime (1967)
What a film.
I watched Playtime last night for the 1st time and I have fallen completely in love with it.
It looks beautiful and alien, Its all shades of grey and straight lines and has the same 60s futuristic feel as 2001.
Tativille is a world I want to live in.
It also really reminded me of Roy Andersson's Songs From The Second Floor (2000), which too transports you to a strange grey land.
Tati shot in 70mm and avoided close-ups so the audience could watch his world through a window, it engages you to discover the jokes which subtly play within this space. There is a nice running gag that all of the characters are completely completely enveloped within this ultra modern environment and the only glimpses of Paris we see (Eiffel Tower, Arch De Triumph, Basilica Of Sacre-Coeur) are reflections in the polished glass of the modern structures. This all plays towards Tati's view on globalization, People are on display in there own homes like shop dummies, People start speaking French then change to English half way through a sentence, All signs are in English, A travel agent shows posters for international destinations all with the same grey destination on them.
The film transports you from one location to another with only the slightest hint of a plot and we end up at the The Royal Garden a restaurant/club so new and happening that its not even finished yet. This club scene is a highlight of the film with smart gags coming one after another.
Initially I thought that the film was Tati's fear of the modern world and he felt lost until it came to the final scene which bought me close to tears, he finds such joy and excitement in the modern world and the film bursts into colour and life becomes a circus.
This is a charming and unique film that I would love to see on the big screen, Its such a pity that it was the film that bankrupted Tati and isn't regarded as his finest work.
Its his masterpiece.

All About Albert.

I was watching Saturday Night Sunday Morning yesterday and was blown away by Albert Finney's debut staring role. It made me think about the films of his that I love and how much he's kind of been taken for granted.
He brings great anger and pain to his roles which is often hidden behind a drunk smile. A particular favorite of mine is Gumshoe directed by Stephen Frears its a little seen but excellent British thriller in which he plays a wise cracking Mikey Spillane mac wearing detective despite the fact he is living in Liverpool and is a entertainer in a working mans club,there is even a thrilling chase through the local dole office with Mr MacKay from Porridge!
I think he has been in some awful films too but he's he's always a reason to watch a film just to see what he will do, well apart from Breakfast Of Champions even he can't save that mess.
Here are my top 5 Albert Finney Performances:

1:Gumshoe (1971) : Eddie Ginley

2:Under The Volcano (1984) : Geoffrey Firmin

3:Saturday Night Sunday Morning (1960) : Arthur Seaton

4:The Dresser (1983) Sir

5:Miller's Crossing (1990): Leo

I challenge you not to be a least a bit curious to watch these films from these stills.
Other notable Finney films are:
Wolfen (1981)
The Duelists (1977)
Tom Jones (1963)
Murder On The Orient Express (1974)
The Bourne Ultimatum (2007)

And Definitely not this:

When We Were Young: Part 5 Tim Burton

Tim Burton.
Weird Gothic Tim Burton.
I wish he'd make a film that was neither weird or gothic.
I grew up watching Tim Burtons films and for a while I thought he was my favorite director, I got very excited when I knew there was a new Burton film going to be released. And what a fantastic run of films he had.
Beetlejuice was my favorite video to lend from the mobile video-man (the others were Raising Arizona, The Naked Gun and The Three Amigos),My first 12 rated cinema film was Batman (I was 11 and was terrified of being caught) that was then followed by Edward Scissorhands,Batman Returns, Ed Wood (one the first 15 rated films I saw in the cinema), Mars Attacks and Sleepy Hollow. I also got a bit obsessed with Pee-Wee Herman which I had taped off the TV and tried to learn all the words. It struck me how different all his films looked it now strikes me as to how similar his films look. He's painted himself into the weird kid corner and its getting dull, not gothic black.
He has lost some of the heart he bought to Edward Scissorhands and Ed Wood, I find it physically painful to watch Charlie and the Chocolate factory.
The last Tim Burton film I went to see in the cinema to see with a heart full of excitement was Planet of the Apes. I felt upset and angry. It has got to have the worst, most tacked on bull shit Scooby Doo ending in cinematic history. I believe thats were the rot finally took hold, It had started in Mars Attacks which I found very hard to love, I really wanted to love it because I loved the creature designs so much but its a pretty lame movie. Sleepy Hollow isn't perfect but does have a true Corman/Bava style and some horrible imagery.
Maybe its me but I have now totally switched off to Burtons work.
I think seeing Charlie and the Chocolate Factory has put me off seeing his work in the cinema.
Is it Johnny Depp's "Wacky" and "Zany" performances? The way I see it is 3 Great Depp/Burton films, 3 Rubbish Collaborations.
Is is Helena Bonham Carter? She is still adamant that despite being in a relationship with Burton that she still has to "audition" for the parts she gets to play in all his movies since Planet of the Apes. I am really bored with her kooky, mad as a teapot act.


Here goes:

Young Burton:

1:Pee-Wee Herman’s Big Adventure 1985
2:Beetlejuice 1988
Edward Scissorhands 1990

Old Burton:

1:Charlie and the Chocolate Factory 2005
2:Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber Of Fleet Street 2007
3:Alice In Wonderland 2010

Winner: YOUNG BURTON

I started this asking Tim not do anything weird or gothic again but maybe that was wrong maybe he should get really gothic and do some dark Poe stories instead of recycling old ideas such as remaking Frankenweenie an early short (which is great) or a TV a remake of a TV series Dark Shadows which will no doubt have another out there performance from Mr Depp.

Its 1979.

I watched 4 fantastic films yesterday and I realised that they were all released in 1979:

Being There
Alien
All That Jazz
Apocalypse Now

4 fantastic movies from 4 fantastic directors Ashby, Fosse, Coppola and Scott. I knew all the films backwards apart from All That Jazz. I have wanted to watch All That Jazz since I saw a clip on Martin Scorseses Journey Through American Movies. Its a fantastic and unique musical, It grounds people bursting into song and dance in reality (apart from the amazing hospital hallucination scene) and most music on the soundtrack comes from a source that an actor has interacted with. Roy Scheider is great as Joe Gideon a very thinly veiled Bob Fosse. Its a musical for adults. Very dark.
Anyway it got me thinking about 1979, the dawning of a new era. On a personal note the year of my birth. There was magic in the air that year, a last hurrah of the hollywood excess of the 70s. Here are my top 12 films from 1979 not all of them are regarded as classics but they are all certainly one offs :

Alien 

All That Jazz

Apocalypse Now

Being There

The Black Hole

Life Of Brian 

Mad Max

Manhattan

Quadrophenia

Time After Time

Warriors

Zombie Flesh Eaters

What a year...
...1980 was great also.

Please buy the Alien and Apocalypse Now Blu-ray box sets, They will make your life better.