Movies

An eye opening movie based on the realities of the for-profit rehab/addiction treatment complex (though the text at the end, as well as revealing some horrific related statistics, also makes it clear that this is a at least partly promotional material for the 12 step programs, which have their own issues).

A pretty depressing watch, but important if you want a better understanding of the tip of the iceberg of reasons why profit and care (health, social, communal, any care really) should never mix.

Completed just before his assisted death, the French New Wave master director talks through his ideas as illustrated in his hand-drawn scrapbook

EXCLUSIVE: First came Cocaine Bear and Cocaine Shark. Now meet Cocaine Werewolf. Ireland’s Tarf Media has secured worldwide sales rights (excluding North America) to the indie comedy-horror film, which is written by Ford Austin and Tyger Torrez. Mark Polonia, who directed Cocaine Shark, is directing. David Sterling and Tim Yasui are producing for Cleopatra Entertainment. …

Mars Express is a futuristic detective story about the autonomy of synthetic beings — which is to say, it’s the latest in a long line of sci-fi influenced by Ghost in the Shell and Blade Runner. But while its premise may be familiar, the movie makes up for it with style and energy. The debut feature from director Jérémie Périn, Mars Express features absolutely stunning 2D animation, a fully realized world, and a pulse-pounding story that kept me guessing right until the end.

It’s set in 2200, a point in time when Earth is described as a “slum for the unemployed,” while Mars has become somewhat better... at least for the rich, who live in what’s best described as a futuristic vision of the suburbs under a protective dome with bright screens that mask the outside world. Complicating the social dynamics are synthetic life-forms, which come in various flavors. There are typical robots used to do menial and service jobs, with some humans fighting to liberate them and one megacorporation trying to phase the machines out in favor of organic versions. Meanwhile, there are also “backups,” androids with the memories and personalities of deceased humans, who must follow a strict set of Isaac Asimov-like rules.

Warner Bros. has just announced it will return to the well of one of its most valuable IPs, Lord of the Rings, for a new feature film out in 2026.

The movie is called Lord of the Rings: The Hunt for Gollum, so the catch here is that this is a movie…starring Gollum, which may not be what many fans were hoping for, rather than touching on other aspects or timelines of the larger LOTR universe. Not…more Gollum.

Naturally, Gollum actor Andy Serkis is returning for the role, but not only that, he’s also directing the film. Serkis previously directed the Venom sequel, Let There Be Carnage, and 2018’s Mowgli movie. This would be the first LOTR film not directed by Peter Jackson, who is instead producing....

Peter Jackson’s Lord of the Rings trilogy is coming back again — but it’s a bit different this time. Warner Bros. and Fathom Events are teaming to rerelease the Oscar-winning fantasy blockbusters this summer.

The versions screened will be Jackson’s extended editions (so you might want get the jumbo tub of popcorn), and also the versions that the filmmaker remastered in 2020 for a 4K Ultra HD rerelease.

The films will screen across three days at Fathom Events participating chains, like AMC, Cinemark and Regal.

'Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes' takes us on a thrilling journey that not only entertains but also provokes thought.

The easy freedom of this medium allowed the artist to range over subjects as diverse as Tarot, male nudes at Fire Island and a friend’s flat – and offer clues to his more public feature films

Excerpt:

These shorts were all made in the early 1970s, between his first major break in the film industry designing Ken Russell’s 1971 historical fantasy The Devils and releasing his first feature film, the erotic fantasy Sebastiane in 1976. Jarman’s main source of income in this period, apparently, was via Russell; another job, on Savage Messiah, materialised; others, such as a film of Rabelais’ Gargantua and an opera of The Tempest, fell apart. Although Jarman found the uncertainty and committee nature of the commercial film industry dispiriting (so much so that he turned down Russell’s offer of designing Tommy), involvement in it triggered an interest in film-making that largely displaced painting, at least until the mid-80s.

The hermetic, personal nature of these short films can’t be disguised and is, of course, the point; Mackay says that Jarman saw his film-making “on two different levels”. The Super 8 films are, he says, like “private work that an artist makes [for] themselves and for their friends” and the features like a “public commission, in the same way you might make an artwork for some building, or a statue or something”.

“Derek,” he says, “picked up on Super 8 because it was so simple and all under control. He could carry a camera around and make films as he pleased.”

A documentary about a young deaf Kurdish boy and his family who move to the UK so he, and they, can learn to communicate. It quite delicately touches on so many themes from family, community, acceptance, self determination, pride, to ableism, displacement, hostile immigration policy, and other systemic barriers. I cried throughout.

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In a recent interview, actor Nicholas Galitzine opens up about his burgeoning career, his creative process, and his aspirations for the future. With a string

Premiering on Amazon Prime Video, "The Idea of You" offers a captivating exploration of contemporary relationships and societal expectations.

Found this Arthouse film trailer via @lookluc who is the film's director. I really like the oversaturation, it's lush.

Struggling if the existence of his love is real or not, Matthew embarks on a train journey to find it. As he travels without a fixed destination and searches for his beloved, he begins to hallucinate between imagination and reality, trying to realise which is which. Was it true love or just metaphysical?

Movie Trailers may have started out as a tool to sell films, but over time they have evolved into their own spectacle. Before a film is released there are a multitude of Theatrical Trailers, TV Spots, Web Shorts, and even Trailers before the Trailer starts. How did Hollywood turn from a simple marketing tool, to a an ever expansive industry of movie trailers that mostly give away the entire plot of the film? How did Hollywood crush the Movie Trailer?

This BFI recommendations page offers "a beginner’s path through the hilarious and heart-wrenching tragicomic dramas of British director Mike Leigh".

A newlywed husband causes chaos whenever he falls asleep, to the distress of his pregnant wife, in Jason Yu's Korean horror film. Watch the trailer at Empire.

US research suggests that 92 minutes is the optimum length for a film. But I have sat through long films that felt short and short films that felt buttock-annihilatingly long.

Excerpt:

I can only say I have taken on films of buttock-annihilating, bladder-stress-testing massiveness. Bela Tarr’s mysterious black-and-white Hungarian meisterwerk Sátántangó weighs in at 439 minutes and if you’re already trying to divide that by 60 in your head and work out how many hours it is, then forget it, you’re too much of a lightweight. And only a lightweight wants loo breaks or food breaks. The original uncut version of Erich Von Stroheim’s silent 1924 masterpiece Greed went on “all day” at its single screening for awestruck critics and aghast executives, with the master himself reportedly sitting at the back scowling at anyone who dared ducking out to visit the restroom.

That said, an hour and a half isn’t a bad proportion. My late predecessor Derek Malcolm told me that 10% can be cut out of any film, no matter how long it is, and then 10% of that, and again, so that a film – like Zeno’s arrow – approaches a sublime existential state of brevity. In truth, there’s something to be said for the 92-minute idea. Charles Laughton’s The Night of the Hunter is 92 minutes. So is Ingmar Bergman’s Autumn Sonata, Howard Hawks’s His Girl Friday, Tim Burton’s Beetlejuice, Anthony Mann’s Winchester ’73, Pete Docter’s Monsters, Inc, and Kevin Smith’s Clerks.

Mike Leigh, the veteran director of “Vera Drake,” “Another Year” and “Happy-Go-Lucky,” will be honored at Malta’s Mediterrane Film Festival with its Career Achievement Golden Bee Award.

Leigh will also host a masterclass at the festival, the second edition of which is taking place June 22 to 30 in Malta’s capital city of Valletta. The director, who has earned seven Oscar nominations and won the Cannes Film Festival Palme d’Or for 1993’s “Naked,” will be in conversation with Adrian Wootton, chief executive of Film London and the British Film Commission.

In a future where state-sanctioned euthanasia is the answer to climate change, four furious siblings have two hours to decide which one will die.

Excerpt:

“Humane” pulls a comparable bait-and-switch. The film’s premise is that climate changed has metastasized, to the point that none of the earth’s population has enough food, water, or resources. An emergency decree by the UN has dictated that every country will have one year to meet its population-reduction goal, which is to cull 20 percent of its people. In the unnamed country where the film is set (but it was shot in Canada, looks like Canada, and feels like Canada, so let’s call it Canada), citizens are invited to “enlist” — that is, to volunteer for euthanasia. If they do so, giving up their lives for the greater good, the government will pay them $250,000 tax free. In other words, they can die and help set up their families. “Humane” was written by Michael Sparaga, and one of the things that’s savvy about it is the way the film plays, almost subliminally, off the current mood of economic desperation. (Instead of just being horrified, we’re supposed to hear the terms of enlistment and think, “Not a bad deal.”)

Even as the beloved Japanese animation house theoretically winds down, Studio Ghibli is flying high. Hot off the heels of that Oscar win for The Boy And The Heron, the accolades just keep coming – the studio is being recognised at the Cannes Film Festival next month, set to receive an honorary Palme d’or at the 77th rendition of the festival, acknowledging its profound impact on our screens with 24 films across four decades.

Honorary Palme d’or awards are typically reserved for individuals – with George Lucas also set to join the ranks at this year’s festival – so this marks the first time that a group is receiving the honour. “With Ghibli, Japanese animation stands as one of the great adventures of cinephilia, between tradition and modernity,” notes Cannes’ Iris Knobloch and Thierry Frémaux. The award marks yet another positive turn for Ghibli, after The Boy And The Heron sailed to nearly $175 million at the worldwide box office and took home a little gold man to boot.

If we were drinking in a bar (not that I drink in bars) on trivia night and this question came our team's way, I'd be pretty comfortable (granted, I'd be drunk) guessing Enter The Dragon.

You got to think it'd be a film which was popular at the start of home movies and remains popular enough to day to continue getting releases.

I was able to find proof of 11 releases of Enter The Dragon.

VHS, DVD, Blu-Ray, UMD, CED, LaserVision, Super 8, Betamax, VCD, VHD, and HD-DVD

I wasn't able to find any proof Enter The Dragon was released on China Blue High Definition, but with how heavily Warner Bros backed that format it would make sense if it was. Although they only had the international distribution rights to that film, an I'm not sure if the Hong Kong distributor Golden Harvest hold the rights to that film in Mainland China.

The only film I think could possibly be a contender for this contest is Oliver Twist—depending on which version it is—which according to this list was released on HDVMD. I doubt it, though.

I also doubt anything is pulling through by having been released on VideoNow, the only films having been released on the format—Snoopy Come Home, A Boy Named Charlie Brown, and Agent Cody Banks—not having near enough other releases to come close to the 11 we're currently at with Enter The Dragon.

Thinking on it some of the Star Wars films might tie, but I really think it all comes down to if Enter The Dragon got that CBHD release. 🤔

However! you are limited to watching The Animatrix on the Japanese UMD release under the same restrictions.

If you consider UMD "basically DVD" (a format 👎 Resurrections 👎 was released on) the highest resolution you can view it on a format on which the " fourth " film (which we don't acknowledge) was never released is specifically the PAL version of the film on VHS.

If you want to watch The Animatrix digitally and "UMD doesn't count" the Thai or Turkish dub of The Animatrix on VCD is the highest resolution you can own it on (adhering to our silly self-imposed limitations).

UMD is 720×480
PAL VHS is 625x240
I think Thailand & Turkey are both PAL countries, so their VCD is 352×288

I welcome addendums and corrections. I for example have no idea which if any of these films were and were not released on CBHD

A Malayalam-language film that depicts the plight of impoverished Indians seeking jobs in the Middle East has been drawing throngs to cinemas.

Aadujeevitham (Goat Life), adapted from the bestselling 2008 Malayalam book, stars Prithviraj Sukumaran as Najeeb, an Indian immigrant in Saudi Arabia who is kidnapped and forced into slave-like labour as a goat herder in the desert. The story is inspired by the real-life ordeal of a man with the same name, who was abducted in the country in the 1990s and managed to escape after two years.

Written as a gripping thriller, the book has become a cultural cornerstone in the southern Kerala state, with its 250th edition released this year. Its widespread acclaim had sparked a conversation on the harsh realities of migrant life in the Gulf.

The three-hour film has also done exceedingly well, grossing over 870 million rupees (£8.23m, $10.4m) worldwide in the first week of its release. Critics have called it a "stunning survival drama" and a much awaited "cinematic portrayal of brutal struggle".

Aadujeevitham shows Najeeb isolated from the world, alone with his master and his animals, facing extreme heat in a harsh desert, miles away from the nearest road, with no access to a phone, paper or pen to write with, and no one to call a friend. He drinks water from the same trough as his animals.

Via @tardigrada

**Opponents say SOPA-like proposal would block plenty of legitimate websites.**Motion Picture Association CEO Charles Rivkin yesterday said his group plans a major push to impose a site-blocking law in the US. The MPA will "work with members of Congress" to require Internet service providers to block piracy websites, he said during a "state of the industry" address at CinemaCon 2024 in Las Vegas, a convention for movie theater owners.

"This danger [of piracy] continues to evolve, and so must our strategy to defeat it," Rivkin said. "So today, here with you at CinemaCon, I'm announcing the next major phase of this effort: the MPA is going to work with members of Congress to enact judicial site-blocking legislation here in the United States."

A site-blocking law would let copyright owners "request, in court, that Internet service providers block access to websites dedicated to sharing illegal, stolen content," he said. Rivkin claimed that in the US, piracy "steals hundreds of thousands of jobs from workers and tens of billions of dollars from our economy, including more than one billion in theatrical ticket sales."...

Lawful content would be blocked, group warns

Consumer advocacy group Public Knowledge urged Congress to reject the MPA push, saying that a site-blocking law would threaten the open Internet. "With today's announcement, the MPA has made its intentions crystal clear: It wants to give itself and its members the power to force any Internet infrastructure provider, up to and including the broadband providers that service your home, to cut off access to websites on their say-so alone," said Meredith Rose, the group's senior policy counsel.

The MPA's latest push for a site-blocking law comes about two weeks before a Federal Communications Commission vote to restore net neutrality rules that prohibit ISPs from blocking and throttling websites. The proposed net neutrality rules apply only to lawful content, but opponents of site-blocking legislation fear a blocking law would undermine the goals of net neutrality by compelling ISPs to block both lawful and unlawful content.

Rose said the MPA's requested law would be similar to the proposed Stop Online Piracy Act (SOPA) that was shelved after major protests over a decade ago.

Via @glass0048

Joewackle J Kusi was finishing his film Nyame Mma when an anti-LGBTQ+ bill was passed, bringing the threat of prosecution for those ‘promoting’ queer stories

Arare Ghanian film featuring a queer main character could not have been released at a worse time for its director and cast. Joewackle J Kusi was making finishing touches to his short film, Nyame Mma (Children of God), and arranging screenings in the capital, Accra, when a piece of legislation passed through Ghana’s parliament, targeting LGBTQ+ content.

According to the bill approved in late February, those involved in the “wilful promotion, sponsorship or support of LGBTQ+ activities” will face jail sentences of up to five years. The legislation, awaiting presidential endorsement before it becomes law, also stipulates a prison sentence of between six months and three years for those found guilty of identifying as LGBTQ+.

Kusi says the bill’s passing forced him to cut the schedule short, to just one private screening for prominent art and film figures. It was shown on 6 March, Ghana’s independence day, at a venue in Accra, but Kusi has no idea if it will ever reach a wider audience.

“I was nervous, I was anxious because of the bill,” Kusi says. “The safety of my cast and crew kept me up at night.

“We considered that it was safer to just have one night. We didn’t go big because it didn’t feel safe to screen a film with a queer character in Ghana around the time this bill was passed.”

Nyame Mma tells the story of Kwamena (played by Kobina Amissah-Sam), who moves away from home to live in Bolgatanga, a town in northern Ghana, because of family friction over his sexuality. After the sudden death of his father, the 30-year-old queer man returns home to Sekondi, in the country’s south-west.

There, he meets his estranged lover, Maroof (played by Papa Osei A Adjei), who, under intense societal pressures, is about to marry a woman. Kwamena is left grieving not just for his father, but also the loss of Maroof.

In a touch of magical realism, Kwamena, in a dream sequence, meets his father in the afterlife. The film also alludes to Sekondi’s annual masquerade – the Ankos festival – with spirits featuring in surreal episodes.

“Some of the stories we are going to tell are going to be heavily impacted by the bill. It’s stifling to creativity,” Kusi says.

“When this film goes out there at the right time I could spend four to five years in prison because I made a film that acknowledges and highlights marginalised and queer stories.”

The bill, he says, is in contrast with Ghana positioning itself as a tourist destination, particularly after its 2019 Year of Return initiative, designed to encourage the diaspora to come back to the country.

Based in Accra, Kusi, 31, studied broadcast journalism and mass communications at the Ghana Institute of Journalism. He worked as a writer and producer at a local television network before losing his job during the pandemic which led him to focus on film-making.

One of his first major productions was a well-received audio drama called Goodbye, Gold Coast, telling the love story of a Ghanian schoolteacher and her European lover on the eve of Ghana’s independence in 1957..

Finding actors willing to play queer characters was a major challenge during Nyame Mma’s production. Kusi choose straight actors because “if I had to cast queer actors then they would have to go in hiding”.

“People read the script and said beautiful things about it but said they can’t act the role,” he says.

“Growing up, every single time I have seen a queer representation in a Ghanian film it’s been in negative light. You’ll see them at the end of the film giving their life to Christ, or they’re probably on the bed dying from some STDs. I felt that shouldn’t be the only real representation, so I tried to create positive characters.”

The existing colonial-era gay sex law in Ghana, which carries a prison sentence of three years, has recently led to arrests. In 2021, a group of 16 women and five men were arrested in southeastern Ghana after attending a meeting for LGBTQ+ advocates, in a case that attracted global attention – however a few months later they were acquitted.

“The [new] bill is targeting and criminalising all aspects of nonconformity,” Kusi says.

Human rights groups have been urging the president, Nana Akufo-Addo, not to sign the bill into law. One, Outright International, says it would “lead to a surge in violence and human rights violations against LGBTQ persons in Ghana”, including “an increased risk of mob attacks, physical and sexual violence, arbitrary arrests, blackmail, online harassment, forced evictions, homelessness, and employment discrimination”.

But Kusi points out it is election year in Ghana, and the season for populist policies.

“The only thing that unites Ghanians, no matter what political party, or religion, is homophobia,” Kusi says.

“Homophobia makes it really hard for people to think clearly. It obstructs your reasoning.”