Jay Cheel of the Documentary Blog and some of his Film Junk cohorts (Sean and Frank) join our own Kurt Halfyard for a mondo wrap-up podcast of the recent Hot Docs film festival. As Jay states, the show is “designed specifically for those of you who like listening to four guys talk about documentaries for nearly three hours”, so fans of the Cinecast might enjoy it as a short warm-up to the next show…

They lead off the chat with a long discussion of my personal favourite from the fest – the fantastic Tchoupitoulas – and proceed to tackle an additional 26 films. Listen to it here.

With the 65th Cannes Film Festival enjoying one of its most (potentially) impressive line-ups in years I was lucky enough to attend the festival this year. Due to work and financial constraints I could only make the first few days of the festival, but I still managed to squeeze in 10 films (and the last half of Project A on the beach). So to give you my thoughts on what I watched, plus to rub it in for those who weren’t there, here are capsule reviews for everything I caught.

A couple of my friends and colleagues are still there and plan to record some podcasts during the festival, so keep an eye out at Blueprint: Review for those. I recorded a couple with them last week so check those out over there too.

Flying Swords of Dragon Gate

Director: Tsui Hark
Screenplay: Tsui Hark
Starring: Jet Li, Xun Zhou, Kun Chen
Country: Hong Kong
Running Time: 121 min

(2.5/5)

Tsui Hark’s latest martial arts extravaganza is entertaining and handsomely mounted but rather uninspired and clumsily plotted. There are a few too many characters too and it gets a little confusing at times. It’s not as enjoyably crazy as Hark’s previous offerings either which was disappointing but it is action packed and still fun to watch. The 3D is OTT which does it favours at times, adding depth to the lavish and extravagant sets, but distracts at others with a barrage of items being thrown at the camera.

Moonrise Kingdom

Director: Wes Anderson
Screenplay: Wes Anderson, Roman Coppola
Starring: Jared Gilman, Kara Hayward, Bruce Willis, Frances McDormand, Bill Murray, Edward Norton
Country: USA
Running Time: 94 min

(3.5/5)

Wes Anderson’s new film is charming and enjoyable but ultimately very slight. The central romance is a little too creepy to anchor the emotional core with the kids acting like adults all the time, but Anderson’s style takes centre stage and it’s clearly lovingly crafted, making for a very pleasant and easy watch. Maybe that’s feint praise but it’s hard to come up with a better way to describe the experience. I certainly enjoyed it at least.
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Directed By: Andy Sidaris
Starring: Dona Speir, Hope Marie Carlton, John Aprea

Tag line: “Run for cover. This is no ordinary day in the sun…”
Trivia:  All principal actresses in this film were former Playboy Playmates

For more Cinematic oddities and reviews, head over to dvdinfatuation.com

Savage Beach is an action/adventure about drug smugglers, spies, and stolen shipments of gold. It also has former Playboy Playmates in skimpy outfits firing automatic weapons.

You tell me…which is the stronger draw?

Donna (Dona Speir) and Taryn (Hope Marie Carlton), two drug enforcement agents based in Hawaii, have been chosen by their superior to transport vital medical supplies to a remote island hospital. The mission is a success, but on their return flight, the girls encounter a severe storm, and are forced to make an emergency landing on a seemingly deserted island. What they don’t know is this island is the resting place of a lost shipment of gold, which the Japanese army swiped from the Philippines during World War II. Many parties (including the United States Navy) are interested in recovering this gold, and descend upon the island to join in a frantic search for its whereabouts. Caught in the middle of a dangerous situation, Donna and Taryn do their best to keep out of sight, all the while dodging a Japanese soldier who’s been stranded on the island since the 1940′s, and believes the war is still going on.

Savage Beach is exploitation in its purest form. As the story opens, Donna and Taryn, with the assistance of fellow agents (and fellow babes) Patty (Patty Duffek) and Rocky (Lisa London), are conducting a drug raid on a heavily-guarded warehouse. There’s action aplenty in this opening sequence, which features automatic weapons fire, hand-to-hand combat, and even an exploding van. So what’s the first bit of slow-motion we’re treated to? It’s of a topless Patty jumping into a hot tub with her three cohorts (who are also topless) to celebrate their successful raid. Along with the skin shots, Savage Beach also offers lots of dialogue laced with sexual innuendo. In one hilarious exchange, Donna and her “boss”, the muscular Shane Abilene (Michael J. Shane), are reviewing some new weaponry the agency just sent over. “Are you comfortable with a big gun?” Shane asks Donna, to which she replies, “They have their advantages”. “This baby’s bigger than most any other around”, Shane continues, practically licking his lips as he says it. “I’m not as impressed with size as I am with performance” she shoots back, staring into his eyes. And that’s not even the half of it; the exchange goes on for another couple minutes, and gets steamier with each new syllable. By the time they finally packed the damn gun away, I was ready to light up a cigarette!

So, what’s my final assessment of director Andy Sidaris’ Savage Beach? I’ll sum it up for you in the following two points:

1. Despite being easy on the eyes, Playboy Playmates don’t make the most convincing Drug Enforcement Agents. On top of that, the action scenes are poorly executed, and the whole “stolen gold” sub-plot is so ludicrously complex that it’s impossible to follow.

2. As Donna and Taryn are navigating their small plane through that heavy storm, they pause for a moment (in mid-flight, no less) to peel off their wet T-shirts and towel down.

Now, I ask you, what’s not to love about this film?

I know that I am not the only one who has been eagerly waiting for the trailer to Baz Luhrmann’s adaptation of the great American classic novel The Great Gatsby. I’ve been publicly pleading for a new adaptation that would relieve me of the bitter taste left by Robert Redford’s bland 1974 version since 2007 (amusingly, at the time I recommended Leonardo DiCaprio, who is playing Jay Gatsby, for the part of Nick Carraway and someone like Robert Downey Jr. for the role of Gatsby).

I knew coming in that Baz would put his signature flair on the film – and I was okay with that. I’ve always imagined something stylish, something completely distinct from the novel unlike the ’74 film, yet still effectively touching on the same themes that made the 16 year old me fall in love with the novel a decade ago.

Now, for the trailer: Tobey Maguire doesn’t do much for me. The voice of Nick Carraway drove the novel, so the voiceover is no surprise, but there has always been something so bland about Tobey – although then again, maybe that is what they need for a character such as Carraway. I’m also not necessarily digging the Kanye/Jay-Z thing the trailer has going on – although I completely expected something along these lines considering this is a Baz Luhrmann film. The Jack White U2 cover, on the other hand, was an interesting touch, even if I had hoped for something a little more jazzy in there somewhere, anywhere, considering this is adapting the quintessential Jazz Age novel. Where the film will shine and what I think will carry the film will be the interaction between DiCaprio and Carey Mulligan (who plays Daisy Buchanan, a former love), as the tension we see in just the few moments of their screen time is enough to turn one’s stomach.

What are your thoughts on the trailer for Baz’s adaptation? Too much style? Too modern? Too Tobey? Or do you think the film is going to rock your world? Leave your thoughts in the comments!

The Avengers keep on avenging, obliterating expectations and creating a perfect storm of box office success. Meanwhile, Dark Shadows, What To Expect, and Battleship have all come and gone, filling May with bombs and clearing the way for bigger fights in June and July. Whither Spider-Man? Whither the Dark Knight? Plus, Dan Harmon’s TV clustercuss, all on tonight’s brand new Mamo!

Mamo #254: Anything is Probable [ 33:20 | 0.01 MB ] Play Now | Play in Popup

To download this episode, use this URL: http://rowthree.com/audio/mamo/mamo254.mp3

Has it been five years since There Will Be Blood? Yes. Thus, with much excitement, the first footage of P.T. Anderson’s latest film, a loose adaptation of the founding of The Church of Scientology called The Master, was screened at the Cannes film festival yesterday, while the rest of us got this brief but very tantalizing teaser. I should say that it is a welcome return from one Joaquin Phoenix who seemed to take a bit of a break from conventional acting during/after the pseudo-doc, I’m Still Here. He is in very fine form indeed.

No sign of Phillip Seymour Hoffman who is (I believe) playing the L. Ron Hubbard style character. The The Master was shot on 65mm film and is scheduled to hit cinemas (IMAX? Please!) on either October 12 or some time in December of this year – I cannot seem to find a straight answer on this.

Monday, May 21

8:00pm – TCM – Norma Rae
The first of a set of Sally Field films that TCM is airing tonight is the film that brought Field her first Oscar, a drama about a labor dispute led by a young textile worker who’s also plenty busy being a single mom. TCM follows the film with her other Oscar-winning role in Places in the Heart.
1979 USA. Director: Martin Ritt. Starring: Sally Field, Beau Bridges, Ron Leibman.
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2:30am (22nd) – IFC – The Others
Creepy atmospheric horror is one of my favorite things, and The Others does that extremely well, spinning its tale of a WWII mother and children left in a lonely mansion on a British island. Add in some unique elements like the fact that the children’s rare light allergy requires the house to be always blanketed in gloom and the strange hallucinations (or are they?) that the family starts experiencing, and it only gets better. Nicole Kidman is great here, doing her best Grace Kelly imitation (at least until she plays Kelly in an upcoming film).
2001 USA. Director: Alejandro Amenabar. Starring: Nicole Kidman, Christopher Eccleston, Fionnula Flanagan.

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Well, I’ll say this: it looks a helluva lot better than Quantum of Solace. And it’s got a better title. The pulsing soundtrack thing seems to be all the rage these days in the world of movie trailers and Bond falls right onto that edge. The trailer also has a bit of mystery and intrigue about it. What is “Skyfall”? Who is involved with it (I think I glimpsed a Ralph Fiennes in there briefly)?

But most importantly, I am dying to see what a Sam Mendes James Bond is all about. The guy is pretty much batting 1.000 for me and I’m anticipating this to possibly be the best Bond ever. Take a look at the promo and see what you think. Looks dark and vengeful… so what else is new with Daniel Craig’s incarnation of Bond?

Polaroids from the set of Blade Runner: | (via)

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Consider this video review a public service. Avoid this annoying noise-maker and be a better human being.

A minimal, but quite swanky poster for the upcoming Anchorman Sequel prioritizes the importance of the returning characters by the number of legs they get to show off in the image. Either that or the sight gag here is surprisingly subtle…

[I'm reprinting this article I posted on The Frame yesterday in support of the For the Love of Film blogathon and fundraiser, which continues until tomorrow. This year, hosts Marilyn Ferdinand, Farran Smith Nehme and Roderick Heath have dedicated the week to Alfred Hitchcock, whose early (non-directorial) work The White Shadow will be the beneficiary of any money earned during the event, to support the National Film Preservation Foundation's desire to stream the film online for free. Be sure to donate so you can see this very-nearly lost film yourself!]

We excitedly gathered on the sidewalk, anticipating being let into the Academy of Motion Picture Arts & Sciences’ own screening room, the Samuel Goldwyn Theatre in Beverly Hills. VIPs slipped by, headed toward the bar or lounge in their finery, while the rest of us waited, patient but anxious to begin the evening’s entertainment. Any screening at the Samuel Goldwyn Theatre is a treat, a step into a more opulent past presented by the self-appointed guardians of Hollywood history, but this was no ordinary screening. This was the very first appearance of an early, long-thought-lost Hitchcock film pretty much since its original release in 1924. Well, technically Hitchcock was the Assistant Director on the film (and he tended to get in on every part of production he could in those early days, so likely he was doing much more), the second of two collaborations with director Graham Cutts and actress Betty Compson, apparently rushed into production to capitalize on the popularity of the first, Woman to Woman. According to producer Michael Balcon, “it was as big a flop as Woman to Woman had been a success.” But Woman to Woman remains a lost film, and in any case, The White Shadow could’ve been a terrible movie and we still would’ve been ecstatic to see it.

Our excitement was first of all out of curiosity to see if we could see any glimpses of Hitchcock in the film’s style, but also simply because here’s a film that has been thought lost for decades, turned up (partially at least) in an archive in New Zealand, along with a bunch of other long-lost films. If we can still locate treasure troves like this in 2011, what else might still be out there, waiting for intrepid archivists to find it, figure out what it is, and restore it so the world can rediscover it?

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