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Monday, February 1, 2010: THE STRANGERS (USA, 2008) 4/10 Thursday, February 4, 2010: THE DOUBLE LIFE OF VERONIQUE (France/Poland/Norway, 1991) 7/10 or 8/10 Tuesday, February 9, 2010: MYSTIC RIVER (USA/Australia, 2003) 7/10 Sunday, February 14, 2010: THE GIRL WHO...

Posted at 11:59 PM in Cinema

Wednesday, February 3, 2010: THE ARMY OF CRIME (BD, Region B, UK) Monday, February 8, 2010: MYSTIC RIVER (BD, Region ABC, UK) Friday, February 12, 2010: GANGS OF NEW YORK (BD, Region ABC, USA) Saturday, February 20, 2010: PONYO...

Posted at 11:59 PM in Blu-ray

This is going to be a rather incomplete report, because although eight films were shown at the Glasgow FrightFest, I only went along for two: A LIZARD IN A WOMAN'S SKIN and AMER. I met up with Nick and Sandy...

Posted at 10:10 AM in Cinema

I'm off to the Glasgow Film Festival tomorrow afternoon to meet up with some of the Dark Dreams crowd and catch screenings of Lucio Fulci's A LIZARD IN A WOMAN'S SKIN and Hélène Cattet and Bruno Forzani's AMER. With a...

Posted at 3:22 PM in Cinema

Best Film - The Hurt Locker Outstanding British Film - Fish Tank Director - Kathryn Bigelow, The Hurt Locker Actor - Colin Firth, A Single Man Actress - Carey Mulligan, An Education Supporting Actor - Christoph Waltz, Inglourious Basterds Supporting...

Posted at 12:23 PM in Cinema

I believe PONTYPOOL first came to my attention thanks to Mark Kermode's Radio 5 show. He didn't review the film himself, but if memory serves me correctly several listeners wrote in to recommend it. I'm glad I decided to check...

Posted at 12:13 PM in BD Impressions

I've heard PONYO described as a minor entry in Hayao Miyazaki's impressive resume, and that may be true, but I personally enjoyed it more than a number of his supposedly meatier films. It's not, I feel, the best animated movie...

Posted at 7:42 PM in BD Impressions

Tonight sees the 2010 instalment of the UK's answer to the Oscars, the BAFTAs. I've just taken a look at the nominees and am once again shamed by how few I've actually seen. The full list of nominees, as per...

Posted at 3:08 PM in Cinema

I apologise for being so late with this comparison. Mondo Vision's release of Andrzej Zulawski's L'AMOUR BRAQUE came out back in October, but for one reason or another I didn't get an opportunity to do one of my customary comparisons....

Posted at 2:34 PM in DVD

Ponyo (BD, Buena Vista, Region ABC, USA)...

Posted at 11:02 PM in Blu-ray

I knew very little about Jacques Mesrine (pronounced "meh-reen" rather than "mez-reen") before watching this two-part biopic starring Vincent Cassel as the titular French ganster, and after watching it I wasn't convinced I knew all that much more, except that...

Posted at 3:35 PM in BD Impressions

For my thoughts on the film itself, please see my previous post. A quick summary: It's hard to put my finger on why, but THE GIRL WHO PLAYED WITH FIRE definitely FEELS like a TV movie rather than a theatrical...

Posted at 3:20 PM in BD Impressions

Whereas the first instalment of Stieg Larsson's Millennium trilogy, THE GIRL WITH THE DRAGON TATTOO, received a lavish, big-screen adaptation, its two follow-ups, THE GIRL WHO PLAYED WITH FIRE and THE GIRL WHO KICKED THE HORNET'S NEST, were fast-tracked as...

Posted at 2:53 PM in Cinema

Yes, it's better than The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo. How much better you find it to be will depend on your ability to once again slog through a considerable quantity of Stieg Larsson's observations about trivia that have nothing...

Posted at 11:54 AM in Reviews

Gangs of New York [remastered] (BD, Buena Vista, Region ABC, USA) As someone else already said, what was previously one of the worst-looking catalogue titles on the format is now one of the best. I don't think I have...

Posted at 11:38 AM in Blu-ray

How this insane, wonderful cartoon was turned down is an absolute mystery to me. PS. Part 2 is here, in case it doesn't play automatically....

Posted at 12:03 AM in Animation

What's the biggest bottleneck in your system? I'm willing to stake money on it being your hard drive. It's a curious fact that, while the performance of CPUs, memory, graphics cards etc. skyrocket every year, the trusty old mechanical disc...

Posted at 12:41 PM in Technology

Source: AV Science Forum A rumour posted at The Digital Bits suggests that, hot on the heels of Disney atoning for the disastrous initial BD release of Gangs of New York, Paramount are preparing to do the same for their...

Posted at 9:56 PM in Blu-ray

Mystic River (BD, Warner, Region ABC, UK)...

Posted at 2:26 PM in Blu-ray

My first viewing of The Double Life of Veronique was a little on the disappointing side. Prior to watching it, I hadn't seen anything of Krzysztof Kieslowski's work outside of the "Three Colours" trilogy, which I found very impressive, particularly...

Posted at 3:59 PM in BD Impressions

I came across this the other day (while Googling solid state drives, for some strange reason) and the PC fanboy in me just couldn't resist. I plan on wearing it to my workplace, a stomping ground for numerous Mac...

Posted at 8:15 PM in General

I've returned my copy of Broken Embraces to Amazon. Today I discovered that the UK release by Pathé features English subtitles burned into the image itself (they're not just a forced subtitle stream: they're actually part of the encoded image...

Posted at 5:50 PM in Blu-ray

Broken Embraces (BD, Pathé, Region B, UK) The Army of Crime (BD, Optimum, Region B, UK) Updated Thursday, February 4, 2010 at 05:55 PM: I've returned Broken Embraces for the reasons described here....

Posted at 10:21 PM in Blu-ray

For my thoughts on the film itself, please see my previous post. A quick summary: The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo is ultimately hampered by what it is: a faithful adaptation of a novel about a guy who sits around...

Posted at 1:38 PM in BD Impressions

Note: a big thank you to Nick for setting me up with English subtitles, which are not included on the Norwegian BD version I watched. The film will receive a UK theatrical release in March, and an English-friendly BD will...

Posted at 9:40 AM in Cinema