January 9, 2015February 21, 2015 by hutchwp

BAFTA Awards 2015 – Nominations (Full List)

Best Film
Birdman
Boyhood
The Grand Budapest Hotel
The Imitation Game
The Theory of Everything

Outstanding British Film
’71
The Imitation Game
Paddington
Pride
The Theory of Everything
Under The Skin

Actor
Benedict Cumberbatch – The Imitation Game
Ralph Fiennes – The Grand Budapest Hotel
Jake Gyllenhaal – Nightcrawler
Michael Keaton – Birdman
Eddie Redmayne – The Theory of Everything

Actress
Amy Adams – Big Eyes
Felicity Jones – The Theory of Everything
Julianne Moore – Still Alice
Rosamund Pike – Gone Girl
Reese Witherspoon – Wild

Supporting Actor
Steve Carell – Foxcatcher
Ethan Hawke – Boyhood
Edward Norton – Birdman
Mark Ruffalo – Foxcatcher
JK Simmons – Whiplash

Supporting Actress
Patricia Arquette – Boyhood
Renee Russo – Nightcrawler
Keira Knightley – The Imitation Game
Imelda Staunton – Pride
Emma Stone – Birdman

Director
Wes Anderson – Grand Budapest Hotel
Damian Chazelle – Whiplash
Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu – Birdman
Richard Linklater – Boyhood
James Marsh – The Theory of Everything

Adapted Screenplay
American Sniper – Jason Hall
Gone Girl – Gillian Flynn
The Imitation Game – Graham Moore
Paddington – Paul King
The Theory of Everything – Anthony McCarten

Original Screenplay
Birdman – Alejandro G. Inarritu, Nicolas Giacobone, Alexander Dinelaris Jr, Armando Bo
Boyhood – Richard Linklater
The Grand Budapest Hotel – Wes Anderson
Nightcrawler – Dan Gilroy
Whiplash – Damien Chazelle

Animated Film
Big Hero 6
The Boxtrolls
The Lego Movie

Documentary
20 Feet from Stardom
20,000 Days on Earth
Citizenfour
Finding Vivian Maier
Virunga

Foreign Film
Ida
Leviathan
The Lunchbox
Trash
Two Days, One Night

Cinematography
Birdman – Emmanuel Lubezki
The Grand Budapest Hotel – Robert Yeoman
Ida – Lukasz Zal, Ryzsard Lenczewski
Interstellar – Hoyte van Hoytema
Mr Turner – Dick Pope

Costume Design
The Grand Budapest Hotel
The Imitation Game
Into the Woods
Mr Turner
The Theory of Everything

Editing
Birdman – Douglas Crise, Stephen Mirrione
The Grand Budapest Hotel – Barney Pilling
The Imitation Game – William Goldenberg
Nightcrawler – John Gilroy
The Theory of Everything – Jinx Godfrey
Whiplash – Tom Cross

Make-up and Hair
The Grand Budapest Hotel – Frances Hannon
Guardians of the Galaxy – Elizabeth Yianni-Georgiou, David White
Into the Woods – Peter Swords King, J Roy Helland
Mr Turner – Christine Blundell, Lesa Warrener
The Theory of Everything – Jan Sewell

Music
Birdman – Antonio Sanchez
The Grand Budapest Hotel – Alexandre Desplat
Interstellar – Hans Zimmer
The Theory of Everything – Johann Johannsson
Under the Skin – Mica Levi

Production Design
Big Eyes – Rick Heinrichs, Shane Vieau
The Grand Budapest Hotel – Adam Stockhausen, Anna Pinnock
The Imitation Game – Maria Djurkovic, Tatiana MacDonald
Interstellar – Nathan Crowley, Gary Fettis
Mr Turner – Suzie Davies, Charlotte Watts

Sound
American Sniper – Walt Martin, John Reitz, Gregg Rudloff, Alan Robert Murray, Bub Asman
Birdman – Thomas Varga, Martin Hernandez, Aaron Glascock, Jon Taylor, Frank A Montaño
The Grand Budapest Hotel – Wayne Lemmer, Christopher Scarabosio, Pawel Wdowczak
The Imitation Game – John Midgley, Lee Walpole, Stuart Hilliker, Martin Jensen
Whiplash – Thomas Curley, Ben Wilkins, Craig Mann

Visual Effects
Dawn of the Planet of the Apes – Joe Letteri, Dan Lemmon, Erik Winquist, Daniel Barrett
Guardians of the Galaxy – Stephane Ceretti, Paul Corbould, Jonathan Fawkner, Nicolas
Aithadi
The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies – Joe Letteri, Eric Saindon, David Clayton, R Christopher White
Interstellar – Paul Franklin, Scott Fisher, Andrew Lockley
X-Men: Days of Future Past – Richard Stammers, Anders Langlands, Tim Crosbie, Cameron Waldbauer

British Short Animation
The Bigger Picture – Chris Hees, Daisy Jacobs, Jennifer Majka
Monkey Love Experiments – Ainslie Henderson, Cam Fraser, Will Anderson
My Dad – Marcus Armitage

British Short Film
Boogaloo and Graham – Brian J Falconer, Michael Lennox, Ronan Blaney
Emotional Fusebox – Michael Berliner, Rachel Tunnard
The Karman Line – Campbell Beaton, Dawn King, Tiernan Hanby, Oscar Sharp
Slap – Islay Bell-Webb, Michelangelo Fano, Nick Rowland
Three Brothers -S Aleem Khan, Matthieu de Braconier, Stephanie Paeplow

Outstanding Debut by a British Writer, Director or Producer
Elaine Constantine (writer/director Northern Soul)
Gregory Burke, Yann Demange (writer and director ’71)
Hong Khaou (writer/director Lilting)
Paul Katis, Andrew De Lotbiniere (director/producer and producer Kajaki: The True Story)
Stephen Beresford, David Livingstone (writer and producer Pride)

Rising Star Award
Gugu Mbatha-Raw
Jack O’Connell
Margot Robbie
Miles Teller
Shailene Woodley

January 9, 2015January 9, 2015 by hutchwp

Dreams of Toyland (Arthur Melbourne-Cooper, 1908)

BFI, Mediatheque, Silent Film
BFI, BFI Player, Mediatheque, Silent Cinema
Leave a comment

A young boy dreams that his toys come to life.

Watch here.

Another example of the fine curiosities available on the brilliant BFI Player. I recently discovered this was pre-loaded onto my TV (a Samsung) so I’ve been watching some pretty obscure silent films in my lounge in all their glory.*

This film is well worth watching as the director attempts a highly elaborate stop-motion sequence that lasts for well over half of the total running time. It must have taken hours to create and should be marvelled at given its age – 106 years old. You can imagine the painstaking attention to detail that has gone into it. There’s almost no chance he had a pre-written storyline for the characters and this free-spirited approach has lent itself to a lot of creativity, which in turn succeeds in reflecting a child’s dreams as inspired by a trip to the toy shop.

A must for fans of quirky silent cinema!

* I’ve also been suffering from insomnia recently but silent films are the perfect indulgence if you’re in bed and don’t want to disturb your wife whilst not wasting your time counting sheep!

January 7, 2015January 7, 2015 by hutchwp

Testament of Youth (James Kent, 2015)

Testament Of Youth is a dramatisation of the memoirs of famed pacifist Vera Brittain. Her story is a powerful and heartbreaking one to tell. It’s just a shame that first-time director James Kent fails to bring it to life.

Alicia Vikander portrays Brittain as she watches her fiancé Roland (Kit “You Know Nothing” Harington) leave France to fight in World War I, along with her brother Edward (Taron Egerton) and friends Geoffrey (Jonathan Bailey) and Victor (Colin Morgan). The story follows her as she joins the fight as a frontline nurse, giving up her studies at Oxford University to get closer to her loved ones in France.

Premiering at the BFI London Film Festival in the year of the centenary of the start of the war, giving the story additional poignancy, the underlying themes of the film are no less true today. We see Brittain in all her inspirational glory, fighting for her beliefs and showing resilience in the face of adversity.

But it is far from a perfect film. Perhaps one of the most distracting parts of the feature is Kit Harington. Known a little for his modelling work but quite a lot more for his role as Jon Snow in HBO’s episodic epic Game of Thrones, he failed to ignite anything but boredom in me as I watched him try to manage a deep gamut of emotions whilst just looking a bit lost and out of place.

The pacing of the film was another downside. I think the tendency with these wartime biopics is to draw them out and allow them space to breathe, but I’m sure this could have been cut slightly. Alternatively, if they wanted to give the story more time to develop, they could have opted for a more appropriate mini-series. Oh wait…

Vikander’s accent needed work. She is of Swedish origin and clearly hasn’t mastered the English nuances yet. You’d have thought that there were better options available, although director Kent has previously stated how thrilled he was that she signed up. Maybe I missed something.

My final bug-bear is the desire to build up sympathy in a character that seemingly has everything. We watch her in the opening scenes have a disagreement with her father because he bought her a grand piano instead of helping fund her to go to university. She storms off out of the room, whilst their maids look on in horror, up the stairs and into her oversized room, which I think was in the East Wing. You get the idea. I just don’t find this sort of thing entertaining as I have no connection to that sort of lifestyle.

The film has tough competition at the box office from Oscar tips Birdman, Foxcatcher, Cake, American Sniper, Whiplash, The Theory of Everything (the list goes on). There are still some huge blockbusters too in The Hobbit: Battle of the Five Armies, Into The Woods, Hunger Games: Mockingjay Part One, Paddington and How To Train Your Dragon 2. And Dumb and Dumber To is still on. I’m sure this film won’t be overlooked when it hits home media releases later this year, but I can’t see why they’re releasing it in awards season. It needs more help than that.

Testament of Youth is released in UK cinemas on 16th January 2015.

January 5, 2015October 30, 2016 by hutchwp

Esio Trot (Dearbhla Walsh, 2015)

There have been many adaptations of Roald Dahl’s many novels and short stories. Some were great: Matilda, Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory and, surprisingly, Gremlins (yes, I know*) were all brilliant. Others were just awful (I may just be thinking about Tim Burton’s Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, which is frankly beyond creepy and really is an abomination to the source). It was quite a surprise to realise that Esio Trot has never been made into any kind of feature film, though based on the cast and the time slot this aired (6:30pm, New Year’s Day, BBC1), I was expecting a soft and faithful take on what was always a whimsical story. This is exactly what I got.

This television adaptation stars Dustin Hoffman as Mr Hoppy, an older man who lives alone in a flat in London with nothing much to keep his interest except his love of traditional jazz and a meticulously maintained flower garden terrace. This is all turned upside down when Mrs Silver (Dame Judi Dench) moves into the flat below and he is immediately overcome with feelings of love and excitement. He hatches an elaborate plan involving the growth of her beloved pet tortoise Alfie knowing it will bring her happiness, in the belief that she will fall in love with him as a result.

The supporting cast, including James Corden as narrator and Richard Cordery as the annoying neighbour Mr Pringle (a new character created especially for this adaptation), worked their parts well, though this really was a tale of two hearts.

It was a faithful take on the classic Dahl book, one of the last of the seventeen children’s novels he wrote. By this I don’t mean just in the details (and there were one or two deviations made by the writers Richard Curtis and Paul Mayhew Archer, mainly because the original book was so short), but also in the tone.

It isn’t an easy book to tackle in comparison to the likes of Matilda and Charlie and the Chocolate Factory. Dahl’s books are always firmly aimed at children, and many of his most enduring successes are stories that prominently feature relatable young characters. In Esio Trot, however, we are presented with two much older individuals, and thus a conundrum for the filmmakers. I am pleased to say they were able to maintain the quintessential Dahlness we have grown to love over the years. It would have been far easier to adapt the story to one aimed at the older generation, those the same age as Hoppy and Silver.

Looking back, I’m not sure why I loved this story so much as a child. It is essentially a love story between two lonely and wrinkled septuagenarians. Perhaps it was the ridiculous mischief of the plan Hoppy executed. I’m not entirely sure. In many ways, Esio Trot is the biggest vindication of Roald Dahl’s status as one of the greatest children’s authors that ever lived. How else could he have made this one work?

Esio Trot is available for purchase on DVD now.

* The 1984 film Gremlins is loosely based on the characters developed by Dahl for his 1943 book The Gremlins, which were to be the basis of a Walt Disney Studios animated film until plans were shelved. The gremlins in his book derived from the mythical creatures that British Air Forces pilots blamed unknown faults with their aircrafts on.

January 4, 2015January 4, 2015 by hutchwp

NEKRomantik (Jörg Buttgereit, 1987)

Arrow Videos never shy away from putting out a controversial release, and the history of a banned film has never been as gloriously controversial as NEKRomantik.

Released in 1987, Jörg Buttgereit’s German-language horror is one that is designed to test the viewer in the same way that The Human Centipede has for modern audiences. In fact, The Human Centipede falls short of this one ever so slightly in the “Making Me Feel Physically Sick” competition, though it is probably slightly behind Saló. I don’t think any of them would be an easy explain to someone walking in at the wrong time though.

The film basically charts a short period of the life of a man who is heavily into necrophilia, with both him and his girlfriend harbouring corpses for their own personal endeavours. Fortunately he’s landed himself a job at Joe’s Streetcleaning Agency (JSA), who are responsible for cleaning up fatal car accidents and such like, so he has ready access to his next unsuspecting victims. However, when he gets sacked for lack of hygiene he quickly realises that he has no easy access to further bodies and to make matters worse his girlfriend quickly loses interest in him, a double blow that leads him down a path to depression and drug abuse.

I’ve probably explained away pretty much the whole film there, not that it really matters. If you’re thinking about buying this Arrow release – the first time it has been available on home video for years – it’s probably worth noting that it really isn’t a very good film. There’s a lot of scenes where we’re shown sex scenes involving corpses; they aren’t too hard to look at as they don’t really look too much like dead people. There’s a disproportionate amount of shots of men urinating, which I never really figured out. I think it’s just in keeping with the theme of transgressive imagery. The locations tend to look like Buttgereit has pulled in favours from friends, and don’t look like they’ve been prepped too much. The camera quality is similar to that of most home video recording equipment of the time. The acting isn’t very good. The most upsetting scene is the one where a rabbit is killed and skinned, though this looks like the director just asked a butcher if he could film him doing his job.

It’s a sub-par film that didn’t really emote any kind of response from me except for a bit of discomfort in the rabbit scene and the first sex scene. What I find most interesting is the continued fame of the film, which is solely down to the fact it was banned and remained so hard to get hold of for years and years. My hunch is it wouldn’t have remained so popular amongst cinephiles but for the fact it was banned for so long.

This is a similar situation to Seth Rogen and James Franco’s The Interview, whose release is still shrouded in controversy. Two months ago few people knew about it, and those that did weren’t overly bothered about its release. But once it was banned and involved in an international political scandal that almost triggered the start of a USA-North Korean War, people started to wonder what it was all about, making it a highly anticipated film. Funny, really.

As always, Arrow has pulled out all the stops with the package. We’ve got a Blu-Ray, DVD and soundtrack CD, a certificate with an individual number on it, five postcards of stills from the film, a 100-page booklet, a new introduction, extensive interviews, a Q&A from Glasgow’s Centre For Contemporary Arts, two Buttgereit-directed music videos, several commentary tracks, two short films (Hot Love and Horror Heaven) and a lovely package to house it in. To be honest, it’s frustrating that a film like this gets this kind of treatment when some films I’ve bought recently are really just a bare-bones release (The Killing Fields 30th Anniversary Edition and Attenborough’s Brighton Rock both fall into this category). If only the people at Arrow had the time and the rights to do more releases like this, the world would be a much happier place.

Nekromantik is out now on Arrow Video Collector’s Blu-Ray. Be quick as it is limited to 3000 copies and no further prints are planned as of writing.

December 31, 2014February 21, 2015 by hutchwp

Best Films 2014

Here’s the countdown of my favourite films of 2014. I didn’t review all of them originally, but where I did I’ve included a link.

10. Gone Girl

Ben Affleck is going from strength to strength and Gillian Flynn has given us a completely gripping story and one that offers plenty of promise for her future writing output. With the mighty David Fincher at the helm and adding another top quality title to his catalogue of first class films, seeing it is a no brainer.
Read original review here

9. Under The Skin (Jonathan Glazer, 2014)
An erotic sci-fi thriller, with Scarlett Johansson starring as an alien at large in Glasgow, seducing unsuspecting men before murdering them in the most bizarre of fashions. With a description like that, what’s not to like? Subtly effective, it kept my intrigue on edge throughout.

8. Giovanni’s Island / ジョバンニの島 (Mizuho Nishikubo, 2014)

It is overall a very depressing subject matter. By this I’m talking Grave of the Fireflies sort of level of depressing. There were many teary eyes as the film reached its conclusion, and that is testament to what a fantastic job Nishikubo has done here.
Read original review here

7. Marvellous (Julian Farino, 2014)

A late entry into this list (so late so I haven’t got as far as reviewing it yet). A moving BBC biopic of cult legend Neil Baldwin, former kit-man at Stoke City FC, with English actor Toby Jones in the lead role. It was at times hilarious, at times devastating. Well worth watching (and it might be on iPlayer if you’re quick about it). The most entertaining 90 minutes of TV concerning Stoke City FC in a long time.

6. Inside Llewyn Davis (Joel Coen and Ethan Coen, 2014)

The soundtrack is clearly the driving force behind the storyline. One of the greatest achievements the Coens manage is to allow our attention to be fully dedicated to the music. It’s never a case of starting a song and cutting away to a montage or separate conversation whilst the song goes through the motions of a second verse or middle 8. It is clear they are truly passionate about the music that drives the story and in almost every case the song is uninterrupted from start to finish. It could well be the greatest Coen Brothers soundtrack yet, and if you’ve heard the O Brother Where Art Thou? OST then you know what a compliment that is.
Read original review here

5. ’71

Despite his frequenting of the tabloids, Jack O’Connell keeps on proving himself to be an actor with plenty of natural talent and it’s fantastic to see him building on his excellent performance in last year’s Starred Up. With a fantastic support cast (Sean Harris stands out as Captain Sandy Browning), this is a solid film worthy of your attention. Seek it out.
Read original review here

4. Guardians of the Galaxy

A breath of fresh air for the still thriving but bordering on repetitive superhero film market, finally Guardians of the Galaxy has given us all some great new characters to enjoy on the big screen… and the lunchbox manufacturers some new faces to stick on their products. Hilarious, fast-paced and an awesome soundtrack to boot, this is a great start to an inevitable franchise.

3. Nightcrawler

Gyllenhaal is a wonder to watch in a film like this. He has chosen his films wisely over the years and has a body of work he can already be very proud of, including Donnie Darko, Jarhead, Brokeback Mountain, Zodiac and Source Code. This is definitely amongst his best overall, and I’d go as far as say that Lou is his most defined character yet. He plays sinister very well and clearly knows how to make his audiences tick. At times it’s a real joy to watch, at times it made me want to cover my eyes; both responses indicative that I was hooked.
Read original review here

2. Lilting

Hong Khaou’s Lilting is one of the best films I’ve seen this year. It’s a stunning study of the emotions people go through when someone they are close to dies with a secret, and the difficult resolutions they find to deal with the loss. If you get a chance to see it, then grasp it with both hands. Watching it is a deeply moving experience.
Read original review here

1. The Imitation Game

Every so often I see a new film that absolutely blows my socks off, where the storyline sits perfectly with my mood and I get totally enthralled in the joyous and rare occasion of seeing what could be one of my favourite films of all time. The Imitation Game was one of those films.
Read the original review here.

December 28, 2014December 30, 2014 by hutchwp

Saboteur (Alfred Hitchcock, 1942)

The earliest film included in the Hitchcock Masterpiece Blu-Ray Collection, Saboteur offers viewers a chance to see the master before the string of films he is most remembered for (Vertigo, Psycho, The Birds, to name but three) but long after he had established himself as a first class director.

The wartime story follows Barry Kane (Robert Cummings) as he is framed for a murder he did not commit. We pick up the story as Kane, a worker in an aircraft factory, is accused of causing a fire that kills his friend Mason (Virgil Summers), though he believes that it is a mysterious man named Fry (Norman Lloyd) who is really behind it. Kane is quickly being embroiled in the unravelling of a complicated cover-up involving a whole array of people he comes across, all seemingly involving a secret community of saboteurs attempting to fulfil a plot to blow up the USS Atlanta battleship. His eventual companion and love interest comes in the form of Pat Martin (Priscilla Lane), who provides a counterpoint to his story arc and is a very intriguing character in her own right.

The first thing to say is that this is not vintage Hitchcock. The cast will be largely unfamiliar to modern cinema fans, though that is not to say they are all terrible. The storyline is enticing but not gripping, with a number of conveniences allowing an easy route to the next step of the journey. Actually, the plot is at time nonsensical and you have to forgive this to enjoy it. Some of the acting is below par, particularly from the Mason housemaid and the blind father of Martin, whose performance is afforded a rousing and self-righteous speech about what it is to be a real American.

There are a few hallmarks of the great director on display though. Of course he gets his cameo, this time quite early on in the film. It is quite standard, though this was mainly due to Hitchcock appeasing the censors by cutting his originally planned argument between two deaf-mute pedestrians. We also see a much-revisited theme: an innocent man presumed guilty and on the run from the police. It’s a joy to see an early take on this, though admittedly it would later be trumped several times by Hitchcock as he created some of the greatest films ever made.

One thing I loved was the climactic scene on top of the Statue of Liberty. It’s actually worth watching just for this scene, with some brilliant close-up shots and clever cutting between parallel stories building the tension into a frenzy as a life hangs by a thread. It truly is a masterclass in suspense and at this early stage was merely a hint of what Hitchcock would achieve later in his career.

The best way I can think to sum this up is that it’s a great place to start for people looking to investigate the underbelly of Hitchcock’s vast catalogue of films. With the 14-disc Hitchcock Masterpiece Collection currently on sale for a mere £34.99 at Zavvi, now is the perfect time to start.

December 13, 2014December 12, 2014 by hutchwp

Upcoming Crowdfunded Films Preview Part Three: Elstree 1976

British Cinema, Documentary, Sci-fi
A New Hope, Elstree, Extras, Jedi, Sci-Fi, Star Wars
Leave a comment

Elstree 1976 charts the lives of ten people who were featured in some way in the original Star Wars film. This includes people we know already: David Prowse (the body of Darth Vader), Jeremy Bulloch (Boba Fett) and Paul Blake (Greedo) are all involved. There are also a few people who were extras only, including one who was in the film for less than a second. They didn’t realise at the time but their involvement with the film would come to define their lives, something that they have forever been associated with and can’t get away from, whether they like it or not.

This film promises to find out their side of the story, through a series of interviews with all of them and footage of them at conventions, giving a side of the story never seen before. The filmmakers are keen to stress that this is not just a film to provide Star Wars fans with loads of new stories about the making of the film. I think this is a wise move – the stories have been told so many times and if you’re really interested in that side of things you probably have all of the various DVDs and Blu-rays with their respective bonus features.

It will instead fell the stories of the forgotten men, those whose lives are now ruled by a seemingly inconsequential decision to take up a lowly paid job as an extra. Judging by the trailer, some clearly enjoy it whilst others detest the fact that their best way to earn money is to play into the hands of the geeks who desire their autographs.

It doesn’t promise to be a laugh-a-minute, but rather a humorous and sometimes painful look at the lives of people who otherwise never get any attention. Jon Spira – who has already proven himself as an excellent filmmaker with the much celebrated 2011 music documentary Anyone Can Play Guitar – has spent months and months getting deep into interviews with his ten subjects and judging by the updates there’s plenty to go on, with editing and post-production beginning in earnest in February 2015. As documentaries go, this is bound to be quirky but I predict it will find a wide audience if the momentum can keep building, especially with its release schedule set to coincide with Star Wars VII: The Force Awakens next year.

Elstree 1976 is set for release in November 2015.

December 12, 2014December 11, 2014 by hutchwp

Upcoming Crowdfunded Films Preview Part Two: AVGN The Movie

American Cinema, Documentary, Uncategorized, Video Games
Angry Video Game Nerd, Atari, AVGN, James Rolfe, Nintendo, Retro, Sega
2 Comments

I’ve been following the foul-mouthed ranting reviews of terrible old video games by the Angry Video Game Nerd (portrayed by James Rolfe) for many years. They’re one of my go-to videos on the net when I have 10 minutes to kill and want a sure-fire way to give myself a shot of humour. For someone who grew up with these infuriating games, seeing him struggle to play through Silver Surfer or Wayne’s World is a hilarious blast from the past and if you’ve not seen them I heartily recommend you check them out.

One thing you will pick up on if you watch his videos is just how much he knows about his subject matter, and it doesn’t stop at video games. I remember being blown away by his cross-referencing of the original Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles TV series with the classic horror films they were paying homage to. There is no way he could have looked any of these up; he just knows his stuff.

So when he announced he was doing a movie based on The Nerd, I was immediately excited. The subject matter – his quest to unearth the legendary hidden ET Atari cartridges in a landfill in New Mexico – is ideal. At the time the film started production, these cartridges were one of the biggest myths of the video game industry and the story had taken on a life of its own. Some believed it was a complete fabrication, whilst others were convinced they were buried somewhere. Nobody knew how many would be found if they were ever located, and many doubted the increasingly renowned story.

What has been frustrating is the recent unearthing of the Atari cartridges, itself documented a the Zack Penn film to be released later this year. I personally thought it was a shame the myth was proven to be correct (to some extent), as it meant the speculation was over. It was terrible timing when the AVGN film was so closed to completion, but it hasn’t deterred Rolfe from powering through and completing his first big-budget feature film. Indeed, he posted a blog post on the week the cartridges were unearthed discussing how he felt about the excavation and he raises some interesting points.

It has been released in the USA already and has been receiving solid reviews. It looks like it’s aimed directly at his already vast fanbase. For newcomers it might be a little alienating, but staying true to his character is the most important thing here. The effects were something he has poured over and the team have done an excellent job with a comparatively low budget. So much love and care has gone into the film already and I can’t wait for the UK Blu-Ray release early next year [1].

The AVGN Movie is out now to stream from Vimeo via Cinemassacre, the home of AVGN.

[1] I’m a complete snob when it comes to picture quality and resolution. I know how much effort has gone into this film and I’m not about to short-change myself and the filmmakers by streaming over the internet. My connection is so bad (thanks BT!) that I know it would wipe out a whole evening waiting for it to load. I’d rather just wait. In the meantime, I’ve noticed he’s uploaded a new AVGN review (an increasingly rare event). In fact, this one (Tagin’ Dragon) is part of a series of reviews called “The Twelve Days of Shitsmas”, which promises twelve AVGN reviews over the next twelve days. Clocking in at over one hour of running time, Christmas really has come early!

December 11, 2014December 11, 2014 by hutchwp

Upcoming Crowdfunded Films Preview Part One: Beyond Clueless

There are a three crowd-funded films I’m pretty excited about: Beyond Clueless from Charlie Lyne; Elstree 1976 from Jon Spira; and The Angry Video Game Nerd Movie from James Rolfe. All three are extremely talented people who opted to crowd-fund their projects, and succeeded way ahead of their target dates.

Crowd-funding is a double-edged sword. In an ideal scenario, you get the money you need to complete your project and ensure you have an audience of backers who are all on board from the start, getting e-mails on a regular basis updating them with all the latest progress as it happens. It also gives you a bit of impetus to finish it on time as you have 100s or 1000s of people to keep happy.

The negative side of crowd funding is that you can end up highly embarrassed if you fail to get enough backers and your project falls flat on its face. There have been some big-name stars who’ve fallen foul of this for a variety of reasons, usually because they set their target too high (see Bjork’s failed Biophilia app campaign) or they didn’t come up with enough interesting rewards at appropriately-pitched prices.

These boys have got it right so I thought I’d write about them and give them the attention they deserve. I’ll start with Beyond Clueless, with the other two covered over the next week.

I’ve been a backer of this campaign for almost two years now and thus feel wholeheartedly part of the journey that all backers have gone on with writer and director Charlie Lyne, who makes a living as a columnist to The Guardian and as the editor of film blog Ultra Culture. With regular updates to all the backers and exclusive videos and artwork sent out to us all (and preview screenings), this was a crowd-funding campaign that has been executed perfectly by Lyne and maintained my interest throughout, and this in turn has evidently generated a lot of buzz around the project.

The film is essentially a review and dissection of the teen movie genre narrated by Fairuza Balk (American History X, Almost Famous). The press release states “Beyond Clueless is a dizzying journey into the mind, body and soul of the teen movie, as seen through the eyes of over 200 modern teen classics”. I’m a big fan of many of the films covered, including Mean Girls, Clueless, Ferris Bueller’s Day Off and The Breakfast Club (to name but a few). The film promises to draw comparisons by interlinking scenes of different films and commenting on the themes and critically analysing all the films it covers – no easy achievement considering the breadth of the subject. Judging by the backer updates, Lyne is clearly very passionate about the subject matter and so everything will be dealt with the utmost respect.

The soundtrack is provided by the excellent Summer Camp and I’ve been listening to bits of it already and it’s absolutely perfect for this film. Plenty of it is available online and it’s well worth a listen. This is complimented by the highly stylised illustrations surrounding the film, provided by Hattie Stewart. She has done wonders to create a brand for the film and help nurture the buzz, and this can’t be underestimated.

Having read some reviews, there has been some criticism of Balk’s narrative and also of the cutting techniques used by Lyne to produce the final edit. This all remains to be seen when the film arrives locally – I’ll be at the QUAD screening in Derby when tickets and times are released. On a side note, there is a mini tour going on to promote the film and if you get chance to drop in to one of these screenings there’s quite a lot on offer, including Q+A sessions with Lyne and live soundtrack accompaniment from the aforementioned Summer Camp. They start on 13th January and go pretty much until the general release later in the month.

When it is finally released across the UK, I hope it gets the audience the team behind it deserve.

Beyond Clueless is on a promotional tour, with dates across the UK leading up to a wider release on 29th January 2015. All dates for the tour are on the official website.

Cinema, etc.

A blog about things. Mainly films.

Category / Cinema