The Grandmaster - 30th March Home Entertainment Release

Hello Folks,

Jonny T here with some very exciting news that The Grandmaster is finally getting a UK DVD release! I remember reading a year or so back how great it was and have been itching to see it since that time. Directed by Wong Kar Wai who also made 2 of my favourite Asian movies Chunking Express and Saviour of the soul. Starring the brilliant Tony Chiu Wai Leung star of classics Red Cliff 1&2 and Infernal Affairs this looks cracking! Yes OK so it is another telling of the classic IP Man but anyone who has ever seen an IP Man film knows you can't get enough of him so bring on The Grandmaster!

Watch this space for my review coming very soon,

Jonny T.

METRODOME DISTRIBUTION ANNOUNCES 30th MARCH HOME ENTERTAINMENT RELEASE DATE FOR

THE GRANDMASTER

“You won’t ever see any other kung fu movie quite like it”

THE INDEPENDENT

“Wong has delivered his best film in a decade”

TOTAL FILM

A FILM BY WONG KAR WAI (IN THE MOOD FOR LOVE, CHUNGKING EXPRESS)

STARRING TONY LEUNG (INFERNAL AFFAIRS, IN THE MOOD FOR LOVE), ZIYI ZHANG (CROUCHING TIGER HIDDEN DRAGON, HOUSE OF FLYING DAGGERS) & CHANG CHEN

THE GRANDMASTER, the highly-anticipated film by acclaimed director Wong Kar Wai, will open through Metrodome on 28 November. Six years in the planning and three years in the making, THE GRANDMASTER is an epic action feature inspired by the life and times of the legendary kung fu master, Ip Man. The story spans the tumultuous Republican era that followed the fall of China’s last dynasty, a time of chaos, division and war that was also the golden age of Chinese martial arts.

Nominated for two Academy Awards, for Cinematography and Costume Design, THE GRANDMASTER features virtuoso performances from those at the film’s heart: Wong regular, Tony Leung, Ziyi Zhang (CROUCHING TIGER, HIDDEN DRAGON, HOUSE OF FLYING DAGGERS, HERO) and Chang Chen (HAPPY TOGETHER, 2046). It was filmed in a range of stunning locations that include the snow-swept landscapes of north east China and the subtropical south.

With THE GRANDMASTER, Wong Kar Wai has made a kung fu film like no other. Years of research and a virtual battalion of martial arts trainers on set ensured that THE GRANDMASTER portrays both the Chinese martial arts and the world of the martial artists with unprecedented authenticity: the fight scenes were choreographed by Yuen Wo Ping, renowned for his work on films including THE MATRIX, KILL BILL and CROUCHING TIGER, HIDDEN DRAGON; and the trio of lead actors completed several years of rigorous and challenging kung fu training for their roles.

OFFICIAL TRAILER 

Release date 30th March 2015

Certificate TBC & Running time 98 Minutes

GREATFUL DEAD - Reviewed.

Nami is a young girl who's early life is quite traumatic, She is in frequent trouble at school something her mother and father don't seem to care about and leave it to her sister to deal with, It comes to a head one day when her mother who is more obsessed with the plight of starving foreign children than her home family just up's and leaves,The father who is devastated but obviously not that much then brings home a mistress Akko Chan, who whilst Nami watches just smiles and keeps taking him into a room and needless to say what goes on in there but when he comes out he looks well and truly knackered! All the previous events happen within I would say the 1st ten minutes of the film so it's very quickly paced and reminded me a hell of a lot of the openeing to the Jean Pieere Jeunet classic Amelie both in the way the visuals are set up and the pacing.

The film then jumps to when Nami turns 20, By this time her father has committed suicide and she has inherited a substantial amount from his death.She now also has a new hobby, Watching people through her binoculars but not just anybody she watches people she calls "Solatarians" who she describes as people who have gone mad through loneliness.She explains the 5 different types of Solitarians she follows and mentions on guy called Mr Inexhaustable who's house she finds and creeps through the door only  to be hit by a rancid stench and various adult magazines scattered aboutthe floor, Then she spots Mr Inexhaustable lying face down on the floor, Rather than being shocked by the sight of a corpse she seems more elated, She flips him over and laughs out loud as she looks down and see that the corpse haS an erection, Still laughing she poses for a "Selfie" with stiffer in more ways than one Mr Inexhaustable!
Nami decides to sit and watch another one of her Solatarians, The one people call The Loon of Central Park who happily ballet dances around the park with a plastic bag full of popcorn flinging it through the air for the pigeons, He doesn't bother anybody but one day whilst being watched by Nami a group of teenagers decide to pick on him, at first he is beaten but then gets a pitbull like grip with his teeth on the back of one of the teenagers hands and will NOT let go resulting in a big chunk of flesh being bitten from the bullies hand, He screams and runs off with the group whilst The Loon of Central Park just picks it out of his teeth and carries on with his day, Once again much to the delight of Nami!

Nami bumps into her sister after several years of not seeing her and her sister explains to her how she really does "Like The Ordinary" and from what iv'e said so far you can obviously tell that Nami is the exact opposite of her sister!
All of the above happens within the 1st 40 minutes of the film which brings me again to the pacing of it again, it's constant and never drags at any point, Brilliantly filmed, Doesn't in anyway shy away from the violence. So in summing up I would highly recommend Greatful Dead, Very funny in places but always with extremely dark undertones right until the very last frame, Asian cinema at it's finest.
8/10
Jonny T.

Available on DVD and Blu-Ray from Monday January 26th 2014

ORDER HERE! --- http://astore.amazon.co.uk/thiwinfil-21/

THIRD WINDOW FILMS OFFICIAL YOUTUBE SITE

https://www.youtube.com/user/thirdwindowfilms/videos

THIRD WINDOW FILMS OFFICIAL SITE

http://thirdwindowfilms.com/

THE AVENGERS - The Complete Series 4 - First time on Blu-ray - 23 February

Hello Folks,

Jonny T here today with the news of The Avengers Season 4 is coming to Blu-Ray for the 1st time. It has to be one of my favourite all time TV shows and although released on DVD way back and now out of print but this version is looking brilliant. Just look at the list of amazing extras to see what I mean! Watch this space for a review coming very soon,

Enjoy,

Jonny T.

STARRING

DIANA RIGG & PATRICK MACNEE

RELEASED FOR THE FIRST TIME ON BLU-RAY ON 23RD FEBRUARY 2015

“SEXIER THAN DOCTOR WHO, WITTIER THAN THE PRISONER, CLASSIER THAN THE SAINT”     EMPIRE

Extraordinary crimes against the people and the state have to be avenged by agents extraordinary. Two such people are madcap agent John Steed (Patrick Macnee), top professional, and his glamorous partner, Emma Peel (Diana Rigg), talented amateur. Otherwise known as The Avengers.

THE AVENGERS: THE COMPLETE SERIES 4 was a defining series for many reasons; the production budget increased with location shoots being favored over the original studio setting, it was the last of the series to be shot in black and white, as well as the first to be shot on film, allowing multiple camera angles.

A cult classic, this seven disc boxset includes the complete and uncut Series 4, on Blu-ray™ for the first time, jam packed with over six hours of special features, THE AVENGERS: THE COMPLETE SERIES 4 is not to be missed when released this February.

Extras

            • Exclusive audio commentaries with: director Roy Ward Baker and scriptwriter/producer Brian Clemens on The Town of No Return, scriptwriter      Robert Banks Stewart on The Master Minds, scriptwriter Roger Marshall on Dial             A Deadly Number, director Gerry O’Hara on The Hour That Never Was and director Don Leaver on The House That Jack Built.

            • The Series of No Return - Exclusive audio interview with Elizabeth Shepherd

            • Armchair Theatre – The Hothouse (starring Diana Rigg)

            • USA Chessboard opening sequence

            • Strange Case of the Missing Corpse promotional trailer

            • Alternative end tag from Death At Bargain Prices

            • Episode reconstructions for series 1 scripts Kill The King and Dead of Winter

            • Colourised test footage from Death At Bargain Prices and A Touch of       Brimstone

            • Reconstructed ‘The Avengers are back’ John Stamp trailer

            • Alternative UK opening and closing credits

            • Alternative UK animated bumpers

            • UK animated bumper

            • Variant opening title credits for The Gravediggers

            • French opening credits

            • German opening credits

            • ITN Newsreel footage

            • Stills galleries

PRE-ORDER HERE > www.amazon.co.uk/The-Avengers-Series-4-Blu-ray

Blu-ray tech specs: Cert: PG / Combined running Time: 1352 mins approx / Black and white / Feature Aspect Ratio: 1:33:1 / 2.0 Mono CPCM / Region B / English language. HOH Subtitles

Rabies (Kalevet) reviewed

From Israel 2010 comes the 1st film of writers/Directors Aharon Keshales and Navot Papushado who later went on to direct the rather excellent Big Bad Wolves.

The film opens up with a girl trapped down a hole put there by some psychopath and her bother desperately trying to rescue her. He tries and tries but to no avail, He runs to get help and she hears what sounds like screaming. Now on to a park ranger, his lady and their dog who are just wondering through the woods, have a little conversation and she decides to go for a walk, Next up we see a car with 4 tennis players, 2 boys, 2 girls.They stop when one of the girls has to take a pee in the woods then drive on hitting the brother that is looking for help.

 In the meantime the psychopath returns to get the girl out of the hole when he see's the rangers dog, He coxes it over to him only to slit the poor dogs throat. The ranger notices his dog missing so goes looking only to find is dead dog then spots the psychopath walking away with the girl over his shoulder, he takes aim with his tranquilliser gun and shoots twice, Once hitting the girl then hitting the psychopath who still  managers to run off.

Back to the 4 in the car and the brother who they think they have killed but he comes around and tells them about his sister, so one of the girl calls the police whilst the boys go off to find his sister, when the cops arrive the are not the nicest of people to say the very least! They don't believe a word the girls are saying as one of them are covered in blood from the brother that they hit, so what is going on?...............

To be honest I wasn't too sure but I sure did like it, It has no straight formulaic story and you can never really tell what will happen next or who will be killed next and who will be left at the end.The way the story brings all the characters together is excellent and all the characters themselves are brilliantly played, For a début it's brilliant as was their next film Big Bad Wolves, so in summing up if you've not yet seen either films I would definitely recommend you do as soon as possible!

Rabies 8/10

Jonny T.

OFFICIAL TRAILER.

Starry Eyes - 16th March Home Entertainment Release

Hello Folks,

Jonny T here with some great news that Starry Eyes gets a well deserved DVD release on 16th March. I was fortunate enough to see Starry Eyes at last years MAYHEM festival and it was brilliant, The lead actress Alex Essoe is mesmerising and definitely an actress to keep your eye an as are directors Kevin Kolsh & Dennis Widmyer. Now I said a little about Starry Eyes in my review of MAYHEM but watch this space for a full in depth review coming very soon,

Jonny T.

METRODOME DISTRIBUTION ANNOUNCES 16th MARCH HOME ENTERTAINMENT RELEASE DATE FOR

STARRY EYES

“A knockout performance by Alex Essoe”

VARIETY

“Horror fans should keep their eyes on the filmmakers and Essoe, who gives a star-making performance”

ENTERTAINMENT WEEKLY

“A mumblegore Mulholland Drive”

GROLSCH FILM WORKS

A FILM BY KEVIN KOLSCH & DENNIS WIDMYER

STARRING ALEX ESSOE, AMANDA FULLER & NOAH SEGAN

Determined to make it as an actress in Hollywood, Sarah Walker spends her days working a dead-end job, enduring petty friendships and going on countless casting calls in hopes of catching her big break. 

After a series of strange auditions, Sarah lands the leading role in a new film from a mysterious production company. But with this opportunity comes bizarre ramifications that will transform her both mentally and physically into something beautiful... and all together terrifying. 

From the producer of Cheap Thrills and Jodorowsky’s Dune, Dennis Widmyer & Kevin Kolsch's STARRY EYES is an occult tale of ambition, possession, and the true cost of fame.

Release date 16th March 2015

Certificate TBC & Running time 98 Minutes

DVD RRP / £14.99

Unfriended - Trailer, looks shit!

Unfriended made by MTV and touted as a new genre to horror hits theatres in April 2015. Now you've had you fill of found footage by now surely and I may be sounding cynical but from the trailer you have 6 screens of found footage a one time to sit through and you know for a fact that you will sit there for at least an hour be for anything remotely interesting will happen then it will all happen in the last 15 minutes without any real conclusion, Now that's just my guess and slap me if i'm wrong but seeing the trailer  I am not holey convinced by the looks of it. But then again it's probably not aimed at me but aimed at teenagers who will be scared shitless by someone screaming on a webcam. It probably cost fuck all to make and will make a shit load of money money money , Ah the state of horror!

Erm, Rant over,

Enjoy,

Jonny T.

Dogwoof presents Manakamana on DVD and VOD 9 February 2015

"One of 2014's best films...how easy and instantly enriching the film is" ★★★★★

Little White Lies

MANAKAMANA

On DVD and VOD 9 February 2015

"You could hardly ask for a more beautiful vision of souls in transit" ★★★★★

Time Out

"The must-see cinematic experience of the year" ★★★★★

Indiewire

Lauded by critics as film of the year, Manakamana is a stunningly original and breathtaking cinematic experience. The film follows pilgrims as they make an ancient journey by cable car to worship high above a jungle in Nepal and makes its home entertainment debut on DVD and VOD courtesy of Dogwoof on 9 February 2015.

The Hindu Manakamana Temple is almost a mile above sea level, instead of a lengthy journey on foot, worshippers can now take a 10-minute cable car journey up in to the mountains to pray at this sacred place. Using a 16mm camera co-directors Stephanie Spray and Pacho Velez  join a varied mix of subjects on their pilgrimage.

The scenery is mesmerising, as are the characters - a diverse mix of commuters - from a group of old women discussing how much things have changed, a group of young men taking selfies, an elderly man and his grandson, a mother and daughter eating ice-creams, a married couple and their chicken and a herd of goats. Every shot follows a different set of passengers as we learn about them and their lives.

http://dogwoof.com/

In Order Of Disappearance - 2nd February Home Entertainment Release

IN ORDER OF DISAPPEARANCE

“A Norwegian TAKEN”

SHORTLIST

‘A Spurting bloodfest of dark humour’

Kate Muir, THE TIMES

‘’a blackly hilarious rampage of revenge’

INDIE WIRE

A hugely enjoyable, gruesome, ingenious, brilliantly-cast, pitch-black comedy set against the hugely cinematic white landscape of a rural Norwegian winter. Like Death Wish set in Fargo, but funnier … and bloodier!

THE LIST

A FILM BY HANS PETTER MOLAND (A SOMEWHAT GENTLE MAN)

STARRING STELLAN SKARSGARD (NYMPHOMANIAC, THE AVENGERS), BRUNO GANZ (DOWNFALL), KRISTOFFER HIVJU (GAME OF THRONES) & BIRGITTE HJORT SORENSEN (BORGEN)

Introverted and hard-working snow plow driver Nils (Stellan Skarsgard) has just been named citizen of the year, when he receives news that his son has died of a heroin overdose.

Disbelieving the official report, Nils soon uncovers evidence of the young man’s murder—a victim in a turf war between the local crime boss, known as “The Count,” and his Serbian rivals.  Armed with heavy machinery and a good dose of beginner’s luck, Nils embarks upon a quest for revenge that soon escalates into a full-blown underworld gang war, with the body count spiraling ever higher and higher.

Release date 2nd February 2015

Certificate TBC & Running time 115 Minutes

DVD RRP / £14.99

ZOMBIE 4 -AFTER DEATH - REVIEWED

A woman goes back to the island where her parents were killed. They had been working on a cure for cancer and accidentally raised the dead by angering a voodoo priest. With the woman is a group of mercenaries and they meet up with some other researchers. They raise the dead again and all hell breaks loose.

Director: Claudio Fragasso (as Clyde Anderson)
Writers: Rossella Drudi (screenplay), Rossella Drudi (story)
Stars: Jeff Stryker, Candice Daly, Massimo Vanni

You know what it's like when you randomly buy a film and it sits on your shelf for well over a year then one day you notice it and think to yourself I'll watch that,That was the case with me and Zombie 4:After Death. So i stuck it on not knowing anything about it apart from the fact that it was one of those cheap and cheesy 80's Zombie movies.I knew it wouldn't be a masterpiece but bloody Nora!
Film opens up with the usual scenario of people on a remote island on the hunt for the voodoo witch doctor.They eventually find him after we see him condemning his wife to hell to return to kill the living.She dances around like Flowella Benjamin on acid followed by her spitting out mouthfuls of green Tiswas style muck before being sucked in to hell just as the search party arrives.There is a stand off where the witch doctor blames them for causing his daughter to die and them explain they were only there to cure cancer,They don't believe him,He don't believe them so they shoot him.Up from the bowels of hell pops up Flowella now looking like a cheap version of a demon from Demons,Starts again spewing green gunk and proceeds to rip off faces,Pull out eyeballs and all round random flesh tearing until they are all dead.Nice!

We then see a couple and small child trying to escape the undead on foot running through endless forest.Zombies appear from the woods killing the father just leaving the mother and young daughter to fend for themselves.The mother makes the decision to give her daughter a necklace and tells her to run as fast as she can leaving the mother to seal her fate at the rotting teeth of hoodie type zombies.Flash forward to 20 years where the girl and some friends have hitched a ride on a speedboat with some mercenaries that just happen to be passing the remote island where then run out of petrol and have to go ashore.I know its sounds ludicrous and it is!
The film goes along at a decent pace with terrible dubbing, lots of gore and a synth filled 80's soundtrack. It basically ends up Night of the living dead style where the are trapped in a house.The zombies are odd to day the least,All seemed to have been to the same back hoodie shop,All spew green gunk endlessly and there is even a Mr vampire style way of stopping them in their tracks by lighting a circle of candles for Satan and placing the girls necklace in the centre.Non of it sounds like it makes much sense and it didn't!Cant really say if i loved it or hated it,All i can say it was definitely worth a one time watch but not sure I'd ever return to it!
Jonny T.

Here is the trailer, You have been warned!

The Cat (2011) - Reviewed.

So-yeun gets stuck with a Persian cat when its owner dies. From then on, she is haunted by a girl with green cat-like eyes.

Director: Seung-wook Byeon
Writer: Seung-wook Byeon
Stars: Min-Young Park, Dong-wook Kim, Ye-ron Kim


The cat from 2011 is a film I have been trying get for a while now and it finally turned up as an Xmas present for Emma,How did that happen??
It tells the story of a lonely Japanese lady that takes in a cat and weird things start happening.The 1st of these happens when the cat disappears under the bed then when she finally retrieves it she notices in the dark behind the cat a pair of green eyes staring back at her,Another cat?Nope its your usual J-horror creepy kid!A small girl that looks like she's slowly decomposing and it's a great look.The basic premise of the story is that through her cat and other cats it seems that she is trying to be told something by them and the dead girl.It's pretty much your standard J-horror/Mystery film but with some great scares and unexpected twists.One thing as well,The ending is very grim and sad to say the very least!
Well worth checking out.Short,Scary and a great story.
7.5/10

GREATFUL DEAD on DVD/BLU-RAY January 26th

Is pleased to announce the DVD & BLU-RAY release of

GREATFUL DEAD

A film by Eiji Uchida (Dead Banging, The Last Days of the World)

Happy New Year folks!

And what better way to start the year than news of a slice of insanity from Japan!

Greatful Dead is coming to DVD/BLU-RAY on January 26th and it looks insane.I can't really say what it's about I think I'll just let the synopsis below do that! 

Third Window films released some great titles last year one of my personal favourites was Takashi Miike's Lesson Of Evil and it certainly looks like they are starting the year with more great titles, I've put all the details below and watch his space for a review coming very soon,

Jonny T.

http://thirdwindowfilms.com/

Synopsis 

Nami (Kumi Takiuchi) is a young woman with numerous hangups sprouting from a dysfunctional childhood. She inherits a small fortune that allows her to pursue various interests, many of which are highly abnormal. For example, Nami loves to spy on people who, not unlike herself, have gone crazy from loneliness. She calls these people "solitarians.” Perhaps due to a father fixation, her favourite spying targets are old men with stiff boners. One fateful day, Nami spies on an elderly gentleman (Takashi Sasano) watching porn DVDs at home. She soon transitions from a peeping tom into a full-fledged stalker.

Director, Eiji Uchida Biography

Eiji Uchida was born in Rio de Janeiro in Brazil which has continued to be an influence even after going back to Japan. In his twenties he worked as a journalist for Playboy magazine. After leaving that job he started working as a scriptwriter.

Statement

There are many works dealing with religion. The idea to start creating "GREATFUL DEAD" was difficult as movies with the theme of a religion are unpopular in Japan. However, Takashi Sasano, who is a very famous actor representing Japan in many internationally acclaimed films such as ‘Departures’ was happy with the script and chose to be in the film which allowed the film to progress to what it is today.

[Selected Filmography]

■2004 GACHAPON

■2005 SHIAWASE NARA TE WO TATAKOU

■2008 TOPLESS

■2008 SISTERHOOD

■2011 BLACK ANGELS

■2011 THE LAST DAYS OF THE WORLD

■2013 DEAD BANGING

  

Staff

Director - Eiji Uchida

Screenwriter - Etsuro Hiratani, Eiji Uchida

DoP - Shinya Kimura

Lighting - Koji Tanimoto

Sound - Tetsuya Kaida

Sound Effects - Mizuki Ito

Editor - Eiji Uchida

Assistant Director - Kentaro Shimazaki

Producer - Tomoharu Kusunoki, Houka Kinoshita

Production Company - Ark Entertainment

The Hobbit:The Battle of the five armies - Reviewed.

So finally the final Hobbit film from the Hobbit book prequels to lord of the rings type things, Well it was said with the announcement  of the first Hobbit movie how will they stretch such a short book out into three movies? And unfortunately this movie proved that The Hobbit : The battle of the five armies was a Hobbit movie too far, In my opinion.Frustrating is a word I would use at the end of last film when you finally got to see Smaug awaken and fly full in fiery effect towards the town to destroy it and all who lived there only after 2hrs 45min and that climax building it finished! 

So having to wait a whole year was a little bit of a piss take but was it worth it?

Well for me it really wasn't, Probably the best part of the film for me comes within the 1st 15 minutes with Smaug attacking the town, but of course he gets defeated and all is supposedly return to normal or is it? No, Greedy Dwarves that's the problem, Mostly Thorin the Dwarf king who with Smaug out of the way wants to take back the mountain of gold (or whatever it's called) Get the heart of the mountain back that is a jewel that lays somewhere amongst the treasure and place it back above the throne and he will rule all kingdoms and be rich you know how it goes. But he like his father is blinded by greed and wants everything and not to share one coin with anyone else, So obviously after all fighting together to defeat Smaug this pisses of the Elves and all others, We also have approaching a massive army of Orcs who don't get on with anyone so when the arrive there will definately be no sharing! 

The whole of the 1st half of the film builds up to the huge battle between all the five armies as well as little nod's to The Lord Of The Rings Films with a great scene with Christopher Lee and Cate Blanchet helping Gandalf and setting up the 1st of those movies, But although it was a great scene it happens way too much for my liking, although on one hand yes of course it needs to be in there but on the other hand it kind of left me feeling a bit flat because by this stage you obviously know what will ultimately happen, Bilbo the main Hobbit is in many life threatening situations but you know he isn't going to die, Gandalf seems to play second fiddle to whatever is happening and unfortunately for me it just didn't work. I think in any franchise although there are not that many with 6 to it's name its difficult to maintain a great standard throughout. Now what I am saying is not that it looks poor, Badly made, Badly directed and badly acted, Not by any means, It looks incredible as all the films do I think the thing for me was that we have seen all the Giants, Orcs, Eagles and pretty much everything else on screen so many times before that for me personally the wow factor had long gone. 

So in summing up it is worth seeing and I did purely go based  on the fact that I had seen all previous 5 films at the cinema so I couldn't not see the final one, For me at least it left a flat feeling to a great franchise.

6/10

Jonny T.

OFFICIAL TRAILER.