Interview with Andrei Konchalovsky

I did this interview back in January for Cinetalk. It was pretty daunting to meet such an acclaimed Director, but he set me at ease and was very friendly. The film I knew him best for was Runaway Train which was nominated for three Oscars and starred Jon Voight with support from Eric Roberts.

He is also pretty famous for directing Tango & Cash in his Hollywood era.

BUT, to this very day I have never seen a little film he directed in 1989 - Homer & Eddie - which stars James Belushi and Whoopi Goldberg. The guy who wrote it (Patrick Cirillo) also wrote a Bruce Willis movie I have never seen, Tears of the Sun, which I may have to watch next. AND he is the cousin of a guy that once appeared in How I Met Your Mother. I am a Whoopi fan, so I am determined to get my hands on this so I can watch and review ASAP!  

The synopsis is below:

"A retarded man gets help from a sociopathic woman when she tries to reunite him with his dying father, who years earlier disowned him." (IMDB)

I think this movie may make me cry, I can only hope.

Anyway, here is the link to the interview:

 http://www.cinetalk.tv/post/9581997546/andrei-konchalovsky

Cowboys & Aliens, Tony Todd, some 3D sex and Jim Sturgess

I fell for the Cowboys & Aliens marketing campaign, hook, line and sinker.

The tag line was cool: First Contact. Last Stand.

Harrison Ford and Sam Rockwell were in it, the posters looked great, Favreau was directing... and it was a wicked idea for a film that I thought would just be a cool, fun explosion extravaganza.

I was wrong. You can read my review in Starburst Magazine here

It is out in the UK now.

I hadn't heard much about Final Destination 5 before watching it - how much do you need to know really?? I was extremely pleased to see Tony Todd reprising his role as Bludworth and he was as creepy as usual. I liked the first few films of the franchise, and would even go so far as to say I loved the first one.  I thought the film was great fun and it is a horror film I would recommend catching in the cinema as the 3D is pretty special in some of the kill scenes.

It premiered at FrightFest last night and is on general release in the UK today.

You can read my review in Starburst Magazine here.

3D Sex & Zen: Extreme Ecstasy was one of the strangest films I have watched in a while. It started off exactly as I expected, a silly sex film, but then things got DARK and it made me feel a little sick.

It is released in the UK on 2nd September and you can read my review over on the wonderful Cinetalk here

SO... I have been harping on about this film for a long time now and I finally got to see it a couple of weeks ago thanks to the lovely people at Feref. Generally speaking, when it comes to adaptation the film is never as good as the book, so I was prepared for the inevitable tinkering of source material and for some content having to be taken out. It is a very large book. I loved the final outcome, and just from looking at the picture above I really want to go and see it again. Jim Sturgess was pretty perfect in his role and Anne Hathaway...well, you can read my review over on Cinetalk here

What can I say, I love a good romantic film! 

I also had time to watch this little gem on DVD

 that I would suggest watching if you want to be totally creeped out.

You can read my review of Lake Mungo over on Cinetalk here.

Interview with Joe Dante

It has now been over a year since I started writing about films and I have enjoyed the experience so much I thought I would revisit some of my early articles... this could be embarrassing, but everyone starts somewhere!

One of the most interesting and fun times I had was interviewing Director, Joe Dante, he was so friendly and I was really honoured to meet him. I have enjoyed nearly every single one of his long list of films that include The Howling, Innerspace, Gremlins, The Burbs, Piranha, Explorers, and Matinee to the TV show Eerie Indiana. I grew up watching these gems and hold them very dear. Meeting him was always going to be a high point and I can't believe I had the opportunity to do so at such an early point in my film writing journey.

I interviewed him for Obsessed with Film, which is now called WhatCulture! You can read the interview here! Someone called "guest" is credited for the article, and personally I think everything they have written is pretty good, for example check out their review of The Hole, what talent!

Hope you enjoy reading the interview as much as I enjoyed doing it. I have a couple of interviews set up which I am really looking forward to doing. In fact, looking to do more of this, so drop me a line if you think of anyone suitable.

Apes, Penguins and Smurfs

There are currently two films on release at the moment about apes, one is fact, one is fiction, and they  both pack an emotional punch. You can read my Rise of the Planet of the Apes review in Starburst Magazine here and my review of Project Nim on Cinetalk here

I have to admit it, I was looking forward to seeing The Smurfs movie, big time. It looked like a lot of fun and I thought they would aim it as much as the parents as the kids. I was wrong, this film is for young children with a few moments of fun thrown in for the parents (or adults who just really like smurfs). Mr Popper's Penguins was on about the same level as The Smurfs, good fun for young children, but nothing more.

Reviews here and here!

Competition Time!!!

I have 5 pairs of tickets to give away to the Friday 12th August screening of Teen Wolf that is being shown as part of the LoCo Comedy Film Festival's week of Transformations.

All you have to do is Retweet any of my tweets with #locotransformations to win.

The screening will take place at Wilton’s Music Hall, Doors @ 6pm Show starts @ 7pm.

For more information visit: http://www.wiltons.org.uk/listings/transformations.html

Winners will be notified on Thursday 11th August.