Saturday 26 April 2008

RENDITION ***

USA: Gavin Hood, 2007

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THE BLACK DAHLIA **½

Germany/USA: Brian De Palma, 2006

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RUN FAT BOY RUN **

UK/USA: David Schwimmer, 2007

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DVD COLLECTION # ??

Mother of Tears (2007)
Original Title: La Terza Madre
SD DVD

Director: Dario Argento
DVD Release: 21/4/2008
Region: 2 (UK)
Label: Optimum

Friday 25 April 2008

DVD IMPULSE

This evening my girlfriend embarked on one of her impulse buys and brought home the UK release of Rendition.

Saturday 19 April 2008

BLACK BOOK ****½

Original Title: Zwartboek
Netherlands/Germany/Belgium: Paul Verhoeven, 2006

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FAMILY BUSINESS **

USA: Sidney Lumet, 1989

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DVD DEBACLE

Received Apocalypto and Runaway Jury, Family Business and A Class Act in post.

Friday 18 April 2008

THE FANTASIST **½

Ireland: Robin Hardy, 1986

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DVD GOODIES AHOY!

Arrivals today are The Ultimate Bourne Collection Boxset, Once courtesy of HMV online and my final disc from eBay Black Book.

Thursday 17 April 2008

Wednesday 16 April 2008

SUPER SIZE ME ***

USA: Morgan Spurlock, 2004

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CLOVERFIELD ***½

USA: Matt Reeves, 2008

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DVD INCOMING... AGAIN!

Two more DVDs arrived in the post this morning following my latest shopping spree over at eBay. The bargains I managed to snag that are ready and waiting to be watched on my shelves are Metrodome's UK release of The Counterfeiters directed by Stefan Ruzowitzky (winner of the Best Foreign Language Film at the recent Oscars back in February) and Pathé's UK release of David Cronenberg's Eastern Promises. The first is a blind buy and one that I'm very keen to watch, based perhaps erroneously on how much I enjoyed the previous Best Foreign Language Film winner The Lives of Others. As for Eastern Promises it is a film I've watched once before but that was not a perfect experience due to an absence of subtitles. However, I certainly saw enough to know this was another solid thriller from one of my favourite directors, can't wait to see that naked bathhouse fight sequence again.

More DVDs goodies still to come...

Tuesday 15 April 2008

SUPERBAD ***

USA: Greg Mottola, 2007

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DVD INCOMING

Recently, I took a quick look around eBay and I won auctions for a number of DVDs. The first of which arrived promptly this morning and it is Entertainment In Video's UK release of Brian De Palma's The Black Dahlia. This film seems to have been largely panned on its theatrical release and is often accused of being rather too much surface over substance. Sounds like a Brian De Palma film to me and for my money I'm still willing to give the disc a spin as any recent Brian De Palma film is better than most of the uninspired trite served up by the mainstream Hollywood studios.

I'll post my thoughts on the film once I've had a chance to take a look at the disc properly.

GREAT EXPECTATIONS ****

UK: David Lean, 1946

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SCORSESE ON SCORSESE

Late last night I finished reading the revised edition of Scorsese On Scorsese. One the very best releases in the Faber and Faber Directors series. Scorsese was one of the first directors I took note of back in the day when I was starting to understand the role of a film director. His films have given me countless hours of entertainment and contemplation. Thankfully, as he is such a prolific director I still have several of his films to see in the years to come.

Score: 9/10

Monday 14 April 2008

THE SOPRANOS - SEASON 5

USA: Various Directors, 2004 (David Chase)

Another superb season of this excellent familial drama.

Score: 10/10

GOOD LUCK CHUCK *½

USA/Canada: Mark Helfrich, 2007

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BACK TO 1979!

This morning I settled down and watched the 51st Academy Awards.

THE MIST ***

USA: Frank Darabont, 2007

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Saturday 12 April 2008

SYMPATHY FOR LADY VENGEANCE ***

Original Title: Chinjeolhan geumjassi
South Korea: Chan-wook Park, 2005

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Friday 11 April 2008

(*) THE GODFATHER: PART III ****

USA: Francis Ford Coppola, 1990

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THE BURNING ***

USA/Canada: Tony Maylam, 1981

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DVD DEBACLE

My day began with a brisk walk to the local Royal Mail depot to collect a package. The goods in question were my latest purchases on DVD courtesy of DVD Pacific in the US. Sensing an eighties style horror kick a few weeks back, I splashed out on the very reasonably priced Region 1 releases of THE PROWLER and THE BURNING from Blue Underground and MGM respectively. To complete my order I also picked up Anchor Bay's 2-disc edition of RE-ANIMATOR.

Unfortunately, upon arriving at the depot I had to pay a rather hefty customs charge (£8.00 of which was the Royal Mail's own handling charge) and am therefore feeling what once was a bargain has been scuppered unnecessarily. You see the total cost of the DVDs are under £18 and should therefore be eligible for import into the EU without any customs charges. This is beginning to be a rather annoying pattern as at least 3 other orders from DVD Pacific I've received in recent months have been similarly charged incorrectly. I can only imagine the total amount in dollars written on the box is conveniently being read as pounds by the customs people. Anyway, this time I'm not going to write of the charge as a loss, so I'm off to post a letter to HMS Customs to try and reclaim my cash. Fingers crossed I am successful.

Otherwise can anyone suggest another online DVD retailer in the States that they have imported DVDs from without this problem.

*Update, April 4th, 2008 13:23pm*: After checking the maths involved with my purchase I've discovered an interesting discrepancy. When I placed my order with DVD Pacific back on March 14th the total cost of my order was under £18. However, when my card was charged and the discs shipped, a mere four days later on the 18th, the prices had been subject to a slight but significant increase. This increase pushed the combined total of the order above £18 and thus the danger of incurring an expensive customs charge was realised. This leaves me baffled as to whether the increase occurred due to fluctuations in the conversion rate between the pound and the dollar or more likely that DVD Pacific often up prices in the interim between order and shipment. Basically, I'm left in a position where I'm unable to reclaim the money I've had to fork out for the charge and I'll have to be more vigilant of this practice in the future.

Thursday 10 April 2008

(*) THE GODFATHER: PART II *****

USA: Francis Ford Coppola, 1974

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SYMPATHY FOR MR. VENGEANCE ***

Original Title: Boksuneun naui geot
South Korea: Chan-wook Park, 2002

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Wednesday 9 April 2008

Sunday 6 April 2008

GOING TO THE SEASIDE!

Road trip to Dorset beckons as the good lady and I set off for a few days break.

Saturday 5 April 2008