But if you’ve been smart enough to keep an eye on a couple of the most recent 2013 teaser posters out there you’ll have noticed one thing…

…THE SKY IS FALLING!

So yeah, Stark’s latest adventure drops in a couple of weeks, while Trek nerds are given their latest Abrams-flavoured dose of the Enterprise just a couple of weeks later.

Of course, each is almost guaranteed to be a success, but is Paramount trying to tell us something about two of their biggest franchises colliding this summer?

Which will have the biggest impact on audiences?

Does either have the potential to crash and burn at the box office?

I’m guessing the guy in the marketing department at the studio with only one idea in his head has his fingers tightly crossed…

The post Rant – 2013: The year shit fell to Earth appeared first on .

Mike Malloy’s Eurocrime! The Italian Cop and Gangster Films That Ruled the ’70s took a packed Empire Cinema on a genuinely thrilling ride through some incredible and largely unseen titles. Movies that combined the best and most daring of European cinema with mind-boggling stunts, brutal violence and some pretty familiar western actors. By the end of the film, I had to know more, so embarked on a bit of a mission to see some of the films I’d seen covered in the doc. I even reviewed some of them in a short-lived segment on the 35mm Heroes podcast that Ian labelled ‘Catch-up with Mellorcrime’. Lovely.

Anyway, for those who haven’t seen it – which will probably be many as it has yet to get a theatrical or home video release – Eurocrime! really is a must watch, so when I stumbled upon a screening taking place in Manchester this summer, I offered its organiser James Lawrence my full support. Not only is James putting on an exclusive screening of the film in a wonderful bespoke 70-seater independent venue known as A Small Cinema, but he’s making a day of it with two essential entries in the Eurocrime – or Poliziotteschi – genre.

The first film of the day is Fernando Di Leo’s The Italian Connection (1972), in which Mario Adorf’s unfortunate pimp is chased down by a pair of brutal mobsters played by Henry Silva and Woody Strode. Next up is the aforementioned documentary which, trust me, will give you a healthy list of titles to check out after the evening ends. Then finally, the day ends with Maurizio Merli as a violent cop who turns his back on the law to take down a brutal, machine gun-toting psychopath in Umberto Lenzi’s Rome Armed to the Teeth (1976).

The show starts at 3pm, with trailers, shorts and soundtracks throughout the day and a fully licensed bar with hot food. Tickets are available now for just £8 from WeGotTickets.com – and for more info head to the Blazing Magnum Screenings page on Facebook.

If you happen to have a podcast, I’ve put together a short mp3 promo for the show, so if you could find a spot in your show to run it simply download it here.

Apart from that, maybe we’ll see you there. And if we don’t… maybe we have one of our friends pay you a visit.

The post Anyone up for a day of Eurocrime? appeared first on .

So join me as I take an in depth look at the UK Vestron Video/First Choice ex-rental release of the movie, explore the artwork and the trailers and then get into a feature review of the film itself.

As if that wasn’t enough, I’m also joined by the director of the film Jim Wynosrki, who chats about its production, his career, the VHS revolution and how distribution models have changed since those heady days of video rentals.

Subscribe to the Adventures In VHS podcast via iTunes (click ‘view in iTunes. and ‘subscribe’ for the latest episode to download automatically) 

Stream or download the Adventures In VHS podcast via the Podomatic page

Follow me on Twitter: @Filmrant
Find out more: AdventuresInVHS.com
Feedback: noel@filmrant.co.uk

The post Adventures in VHS Episode 9 – Chopping Mall (1986) appeared first on .

However, once the silliness died dow – at least for a while – there were also things to celebrate. A more affordable way for families to enjoy movies together, a colourful range of films that would never have prospered in theatres and the birth of ‘home cinema’ as a realistic proposition. Of course, this infographic doesn’t claim to document all the important films and developments in the history of VHS, but I hope you’ll enjoy it as a guide to some of the formats ups and downs.

Please feel free to share and comment below and, if you want to nab the graphic for your own site or blog, you’ll find some handy code to copy and paste at the bottom of the page.

(Click image for larger version)

To add this infographic to your own site or blog, simply copy and paste this piece of code…

<a href="http://filmrant.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2013/03/UK-vhs-infographic-large.jpg">

<img src="http://filmrant.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2013/03/UK-vhs-infographic-large.jpg" alt="UK VHS infographic" title="Infographic: A history of VHS in the UK" width="560? height="1715?MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:9px">Courtesy of <a href="http://filmrant.co.uk/infographic-a-history-of-vhs-in-the-uk/">Adventures in VHS</a></span>

Please feel free to comment and/or share this page using the social buttons below, thanks!

The post Infographic: A history of VHS in the UK appeared first on .

Unusually, there are a couple of my favourite (I don’t presume to know what the ‘best’ of any creative endeavor might be) films from 2012 that are a shoe-in for the top slots. More predictably of course, there are even more nominees I’d like to see take a statuette home, that have absolutely no chance of doing so. Yet foolishly, some might say, it’s using this blueprint that I cast my annual wagers for Oscar night. Weighing favourable odds up against the titles that have given me  a thrill in their respective category over the previous year.

I don’t put up much – in fact this year it’s only £20 spread across seven bets – but it adds something extra to the night and occasionally pays off. Last year for example, The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo struck me as a film with quite incredible editing, so when the odds looked good I added it to my list. It ended up tripling the money I’d spread over all bets and gave me a warm sense of drunken smugness regarding my apparently deep knowledge of the cinematic art.

Anyway, for 2013, I’ve applied the usual ‘technique’ of balancing preference with value for money and have come up with the following…

Best Animated Feature Film – Paranorman

Chosen purely because it was the most enjoyable of the category, Paranorman is for me an example of exactly the kind of movie I’d have adored as a child – and look forward to sharing with my own son or daughter one day. Brave had the visuals, Frankenweenie the story and both Pirates and Wreck-it Ralph the fun, but Paranorman was a remarkable blend of all three. The odds favour Brave or Wreck-it Ralph, but I’d love to see the team at Laika get the recognition they deserve.

Odds: 25/1 £3 bet = £78 return

Best Visual Effects – Prometheus

Prometheus was by far one of the most disappointing films of the whole year in almost every respect. Based on a convoluted, nonsensical script, Ridley Scott’s ‘is-it-or-isn’t-it’ return to the Alien franchise struggled to decide whether it was a prequel or a standalone piece – and settled awkwardly for being neither. Its visual effects, on the other hand, were incredible – particularly in IMAX 3D. Overall, I preferred every other film in this category, but the aesthetic is the one thing I can see the Academy getting behind… if Life of Pi doesn’t steal it.

Odds: 20/1 £3 bet = £63 return

Best Supporting Actress – Amy Adams (The Master)

A film I thoroughly enjoyed watching, digesting on the way home and debating at length on the 35mm Heroes podcast, The Master is a true ‘actors’ film’. The always interesting Amy Adams plays the puppeteer (not literally) wife of Phillip Seymour Hoffman’s Lancaster Dodd with real subtlety, yet somehow manages to cast an imposing shadow over the whole movie. I’ve always been a huge fan of Adams and, while the odds are stacked well against her with Anne Hathaway (herself a worthy winner) looking like she’ll take it home, I’ll happily back her all the way.

Odds: 33/1 £1 bet = £34 return

Best Supporting Actor – Phillip Seymour Hoffman (The Master)

Again, for all the reasons above, The Master was a big hit with me. Joaquin Phoenix was fascinating as a deeply troubled alcoholic searching for something to cling to, but as the equally unstable and unjustifiably self-assured rock he finds for the job, Phillip Seymour Hoffman is in a different class. He’s far from being the favourite – in fact his odds have slipped further since I placed the bet – but I’d absolutely take his performance over each and every one of the others he’s up against.

Odds: 7/1 £5 bet = £40 return

Best Director – Michael Haneke (Amour)

A real difficult category for a director I have a mixed relationship with – but who simply blew me away with this heartbreaking and tragic love story. Haneke may well see his lead actress come away with a gong for her performance, but while this would indeed be well-deserved, I’d be much happier for his incredible grasp of pace and mood to be recognised. Spielberg’s almost boringly-solid direction may well win the day, but I’ll be rooting for Haneke – if only to see the response from his hilarious fake Twitter account.

Odds: 14/1 £3 bet = £45 return

Best Actor – Hugh Jackman (Les Miserables)

OK, we all know Daniel Day Lewis’ mixture of Zoolander and Grandpa Simpson ticks all the boxes of biopic, ‘white-people-conquer-racism’ and, well, Daniel Day Lewis. But can we honestly say this is an actor in a role he was born to play? Hugh Jackman, on the other hand, has been dying to get his teeth into a weighty musical role and did so with visible glee in Les Miserables. Some may favour ‘their’ Jean Valjean and that’s fine, but I have no interest or frame of reference that relates to the stage version. All I know is, Jackman was stunning in the one and only version of the story I’ll ever see.

Odds 16/1 £3 bet = £45 return

Best Film – Les Miserables

Despite picking it in two of the biggest categories, you might be surprised to hear I was lukewarm on Les Miserables. As a story, it’s way too long and loses a lot of steam when the focus shifts to the frankly uninteresting and massively undercooked relationship between Cosette and Marius. I also have a massive issue with the random singing bits ‘between’ songs and frankly, musicals in general. So why pick it? Well, first of all I enjoyed it more than I thought. Secondly, there’s a lot of love out there for both the source material and the film itself. Finally, the odds are great. If there’s one surprise of the night, I’m hoping it’ll be this one. Don’t agree? Argo fuck yourself.

Odds: 50/1 £2 bet = £102 return

The post How to gamble on the Oscars 2013 – if you don’t mind losing appeared first on .

So, as always, I take a look at the UK home video release of each of these films before delving deep into the cover art, trailers and film itself – while reminiscing gently about the wonderful old days of VHS rentals. Not only that, but I even managed to score an exclusive interview with Mr Ted Nicolaou himself in which he talks about the movie, the era and working for legendary producer Charles Band.

The podcast will be followed in the coming months with two free exclusive chapters from the upcoming Adventures in VHS book – Chapters that won’t appear in the final version and will only be available on this site, so be sure to check in regularly or keep up with me on Twitter for news on when they go live!

Subscribe to the Adventures In VHS podcast via iTunes (click ‘view in iTunes. and ‘subscribe’ for the latest episode to download automatically) 

Stream or download the Adventures In VHS podcast via the Podomatic page

Follow me on Twitter: @Filmrant
Find out more: AdventuresInVHS.com
Feedback: noel@filmrant.co.uk

The post Adventures in VHS Episode 8 – The Blob (1988) / TerrorVision (1986) appeared first on .

As anyone who’s browsed these pages will know, I’m a sucker for nostalgia. Like many people, I can fondly recall the many hours spent in my local HMV store (on Manchester’s Market Street), as well as the many times I spent all the money I had in there. From Guns N’ Roses t-shirts to Ice-T CDs, Stone Roses singles to Manga VHS tapes, that place was like a home from home in my teenage years. But that was a long time ago.

The worst of the fallout from the collapse of HMV, in my opinion, will be the fact some 4,500 people will be put out of a job. I once worked there and know that, while it’s a job many take to get them through college or university, it’s also one people go for because of a genuine love of music, film, TV and video games. Many of these innocent folks will now have to find retail work in a high street that’s already struggling – and it seems unlikely their devotion to entertainment will be required.

On a personal note though, I won’t miss HMV one bit. Over the years, I’ve become less and less impressed with the way it does business and how easily customers can find themselves out of pocket for not knowing how it operates. During my time, I saw the persistent recycling of movies, music and games every month under a different banner. January’s ‘Big HMV Sale’ might be followed in February by the ‘2 for £15’, only to be replaced by the ‘Big Clearout’ in March. While it was bad enough that these were essentially the same titles being unnecessarily rotated to convince people they were getting a new bargain, it also meant items would often be priced incorrectly. You sticker up half a store’s worth of stock, move it all to one section, then 30 days later you re-sticker it all and move it elswhere. Meanwhile, you’ve got new stock, chart items and special collections (i.e. the back catalogue of whoever died that month) all flying from place to place. Hardly surprising then that so often you might find copies of the same thing on different shelves with price discrepencies of anything between £1 and £15. Then there’s the inexplicably overpriced items you would come across. Stuff that had clearly never been looked at since it first arrived.

The photograph at the top of this post, taken April 22nd 2011, is of two movies pretty much priced at double what you’d expect to pay for them new. Thick as Thieves and Vicky Christina Barcelona were released on Blu-ray in 2009 (February and June respectively), yet there they were, two years later, for the princely sum of £30 each. Visit HMV online, or wander into a different part of the store, and you’d probably find them for about a third of the price or lumped in with the ‘2 for £15’ section. Now let’s say I’d gone to the my high street HMV to buy these two films specifically (unlikely I suppose, but indulge me). I would almost definitely have gone directly to the A-Z section and, if temporarily taking leave of my senses, might have paid £60 for something that might have cost me half, a third or even a quarter of the price elsewhere in the same place.

Let’s take another example, Splice on Blu-ray. Price online new: £15.99, price in store: £28. Fancy watching Lost Season 1 two years after the whole series ended and eight years after it originally aired? That’ll cost you £68. Or you could have a Netflix subscription for a whole year for virtually the same price and watch it there. Granted, these are individual incidents at an individual store, but it gives you an idea of just what a mess HMVs high street strategy has been in a market where people are becoming increasingly comfortable with online shopping. Perhaps if it hadn’t been busy trying to sell mobile phones and alarm clocks, it might have had time to sort out the very bread and butter of its business.

A lot of people have talked about today’s news as another nail in the coffin of the high street retail industry. Others have focused on the changing experience of shopping for music and video, and how HMVs demise means something has been lost forever. I don’t know much about the retail industry, but I can relate to the idea that I’ll no longer spend hours in a HMV outlet perusing the shelves. The thing is, in recent years my visits to the store have usually involved picking something up, putting it back and then checking my iPhone to discover I can get it a fiver cheaper elsewhere – and not always online. The reality of the situation is that things have changed and HMV failed to change with them. That’s their fault.

Of course, there’s a wider issue and one I feel is important to mention. For the majority of people (whether hardened movie lovers like it or not) films are almost as disposable as music. When I was a kid, a new movie would hang around at the cinema for weeks, months or even years in some cases. Nowadays, the luckier ones will have a sequel, franchise or remake just around the corner. But for most, they are merely water-cooler fodder for the few days where they’re ‘newsworthy’. This level of consumption is good news for subscription services like Netflix and LoveFilm. But in a world where accessibility is changing so rapidly, what does it mean for physical media. Will people stop collecting films? I doubt it. But I guarantee in ten years’ time those who do will be the minority.

I used to love HMV, purely because it served my needs and gave me something to do on a Saturday afternoon. Ultimately though, it was a faceless corporation that was greedy, disorganised and ill-equipped to deal with the changing home entertainment market – which is why we’re where we are today. So, to the company that happily sold gift cards to thousands of trusting customers before Christmas – gift cards that are now irredeemable – when it was clear they were going bump, I say a hearty goodbye. I won’t miss you at all.

The post Goodbye HMV… I won’t miss you one bit. appeared first on .

Episode 8 will be a double bill, featuring two movies from the selection below that won’t feature in the upcoming book. Instead, you vote (you can pick one or two) using the poll in the sidebar and the two most popular will be covered in detail on the podcast. Not only that, but both will be made available on these pages as special ‘unreleased chapters’ from the book. These will give you a bit of a flavour of what to expect from it when it is finally released – and you’ll be able to download them in PDF format to read your smartphone, tablet, laptop or PC.

So, take a moment to breathe in the musty air of AiV Video and browse the shelves below. Granted, we aren’t the most well stocked rental store in town, but once you’ve decided which titles you’d like to take home for one night only, you can place your vote. You’ll have until January 20th to make your choice… so take your time (late fees may apply) and choose wisely!

The post Poll: Which films should feature in AiV Episode 8? appeared first on .

As if that wasn’t enough, I also have an exclusive, hilarious and brutally honest interview with the film’s director Harry Bromley Davenport – the man who once branded it “reprehensible”. Has he changed his mind? What went on during the making of the film? How does he feel about it being branded a ‘video nasty’? All this and more in a fantastic discussion with the director.

Subscribe to the Adventures In VHS podcast via iTunes (click ‘view in iTunes. and ‘subscribe’ for the latest episode to download automatically) 

Stream or download the Adventures In VHS podcast via the Podomatic page

Follow me on Twitter: @Filmrant
Find out more: AdventuresInVHS.com
Feedback: noel@filmrant.co.uk

The post Adventures In VHS Episode 7 – Xtro (1983) appeared first on .

“I can’t understand anyone with a real interest in cinema avoiding The Hobbit in HFR. It has to be seen; 48fps is a new way of looking at Middle-Earth, and at movies.” – Russ Fischer, Slash Film

It seems the divisive points of Peter Jackson’s The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey have changed. No longer is the case for or against a fourth Lord of the Rings film under scrutiny. Nor is it the fact a 300-page book has been split over three films.

As you’ll hear on a forthcoming episode of 35mm Heroes, I wasn’t a big fan of high frame rate (HFR). Having spent about 20-25 minutes trying to watch The Hobbit this way, I walked out and grabbed a ticket to the regular-rate screening in the theatre next door. I’d taken the HFR Pepsi challenge and decided to have a Coke and a smile instead. But after my adventure in Middle Earth, I found there were many others like me who were asking ‘why does HFR look sped up?’ and were stunned at how this incredibly un-cinematic format was being pushed as ‘the future of movies’.

I was amazed at just how ugly everything looked. Imposing fortresses reduced to the cheap plastic look of a second-hand He-Man playset, outdoor scenes that felt swiped from the cutting room floor of BBC One’s Merlin and the once warm and welcoming Shire seeming more like an unkempt version of Tellytubbyland. But more than this, the whole thing just felt incredibly wonky, especially when it came to how characters moved and expressed themselves physically.

In one early scene, for example, Gandalf chastises Bilbo (Martin Freeman) for his negative take on ‘adventure’, causing him to respond with some peculiar facial movements which look like he’s having some sort of seizure. But when viewing the moment again in standard rate, you can see this simple, quirky expression for exactly what it actually is. It doesn’t look weird; in fact it’s quite amusing. After that, any quick walking, fast hand movements and moments where actors are required to emote, just look as if they’ve been sped up. It’s downright distracting.

I had no intention of committing my thoughts on HFR to a post. That is, until I happened upon an article from Russ Fischer of Slash Film (I won’t provide a link, as I have no interest in helping the site prop up its metrics in any way, no matter how small). I’ve talked to friends and followers before about how this dislikeable site will hit-bait with ‘news’ headlines based on rumour and I’ve ignored the ugly way it posts links every day to just one online retailer under the guise of doing so ‘for us geeks’. What I won’t put up with though, is being told that my opinion – and apparently that of many others – isn’t valid.

We’re informed by Fischer’s article that HFR is unlike anything else we’ve ever seen in a theatre. It eliminates motion blur and increases clarity, with the only downside being that it “doesn’t look exactly like cinema”. He points out that HFR allows the viewer to pick apart every detail in a scene, with wigs, prosthetic ears and custom-made clothing all highlighted as “impossible to miss”. And yet, Fischer pouts, there are “cinephiles” and “naysayers” out there who have claimed this makes The Hobbit look cheap. An opinion, he has decided, is “absurd”.

“Anyone who knows even a bit about film production can see, with astounding clarity, that The Hobbit is not cheap.” Yes, and anyone who hasn’t recently crawled out of a swamp could probably assume the same thing. But that’s really not the point is it Russ? The vast majority of people who watch a blockbuster of this nature would probably admit they don’t know much about film production. They don’t know the difference between TV lighting and film lighting (luckily Russ does, a massive relief for us all I’m sure) and I don’t believe for a second they should. I would say that for most people even aware of HFR, all they know is there’s “a new way of looking at Middle-Earth” being sold – and they’re willing to buy it.

There are, of course, basic expectations that come with a Lord of the Rings movie. People will expect a luscious fantasy epic depicting strange beautiful worlds and terrifying creatures. One can probably assume – unless talking about uneducated swamp scum with no knowledge of film production – that the picture will even have been made on a big budget. If a new technology has been applied to the film which renders it with a horrible to the eye, which in my apparently ridiculous opinion it does, I think we have a right to say so without being told we’re uninformed idiots.

For me, ultra-awareness of all the things that comprise a film does not make for an immersive experience. For Russ Fischer, it apparently does. It’s a chance to “lean forward in wonder” while admiring the wigs, make-up and sets that separate fantasy from reality. All of which makes me think his time would be better spent watching a pantomime than a motion picture made by a major Hollywood studio and based on one of the biggest and most popular fantasy novels of all time.

For the most part, when I go to the cinema, it’s to see something cinematic – not televisual. HFR isn’t something I’ll be indulging in again and the reason for this is that it made a huge multi-million dollar movie look cheap. If this was the same experience you had, whether you’re a cinephile or a naysayer, your opinion is not “absurd”.

The post Don’t like The Hobbit in HFR? ‘You’re film illiterate swamp scum’ appeared first on .