Stuff: Newspaper films

Well, I'm writing again, first time since May, oh well.

The other week I went in a charity shop and looked through one of those boxes of free newspaper discs they always have and found a childhood classic; Flight of the Navigator. It was 25p and so I bought it. A few days later i went to another and sifted through an even bigger jumble of discs and snapped these films:

Ashanti
The Big Sleep
Buster
The Cannonball Run
Carry on Up the Khyber
Carry On Camping
Educating Rita
The Fourth Protocol
Fried Green Tomatos At The Whistle Stop Cafe
The Ipcress File / Brief Encounter
The Killing Fields
Kiss of the Spider Woman
The Missionary
Prizzi's Honour
Return From the River Kwai
Sophie's Choice
Take the Money and Run
Under Suspicion
Up Pompeii
Zulu Dawn

The total cost was £5, 25p each.Whether these films are good or not I'll have to wait and see, but there's a few such as the Killing Fields and the Carry On films that I have been wanting to see for a while.

Charity shops can be great for bargains if you know where to look, these newspaper discs included as being extremely cheap ways for seeing some classics. FND (Free Newspaper Discs), have become a bit of a problem for charity shops, they get so many of them. On the discs they range from including song compilations, PC software, select episodes / clips from TV shows and even full movies. But as i say charity shops get so many, that it outweighs the amount of demand for them that most are just chucked straight in the bin. In fact most shops i go to don't bother to sell them anymore. But those that do sell them for anything between 10 - 35p, sometimes even just literally giving them away for free.

Most of the selection is trash but there are a lot of great films to be had such as:

- Cinema Paradiso
- In the Mood For Love
- My Life as a Dog
- Godzilla
- Wickerman
- More Carry On films (looks like all of them)
- Death of a Salesman
- Rita, Sue and Bob Too
- Rebbecca
- Notorious
- Donnie Darko
- Last Emperor
- Metropolis
- Paris, Texas
- East is East
- Cabaret
- African Queen

The downside is the discs are bare bones, featuring no extras and usually slightly lower quality then full prices issues, possibly because they are put of DVD-5 instead of 9s. Another problem I found when I watched the first film in the list Ashanti is that you never know what version you are getting. In this case what appeared to be a TV edit, cropped to 4:3 and cut for violence.

However on the plus sides,, the discs are cheap and disposable, just pass them on to someone else or back to a charity shop. Being mostly packaged in slip cases they are easy to store and they outweigh all other reasons for otherwise renting, cost wise and the fact it's a keep copy. The only cheaper alternative is waiting for it to come on tv or downloading, but this way you can watch when you want and not be restricted to a computer. And lastly its a great way to give a bit of money to a good cause.

Right I have a lot of films to get through now, some good, perhaps a lot bad, a lot more films to hunt for! Happy hunting to us all!

WarGames: Special Edition DVD

It's been a long time posting but here's some exciting news. WarGames is to get a special edition re-release:



Extras include:

- Commentary by Director John Badham and Writers Lawrence Lasker and Walter F. Parkes
- ”Loading WarGames” documentary (NEW)
- ”Attack of the Hackers” featurette (NEW)
- ”Inside NORAD: Cold War Fortress” featurette (NEW)
- ”Tic Tac Toe: A True Story” featurette
- Menu-driven interactive superpower weapons briefing gallery
- Theatrical trailer

Also to be released on DVD is the follow up Dead Code which i admit i never knew existed. Either way i am glad that i held off getting the bare bones edition for so long!

Source: http://www.dvdtimes.co.uk/content.php?contentid=67742


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Ok so i looked up WarGames: The Dead Code and it appears to be a brand new sequel made this year probably straight to video. Judging by the trailer it has little to be with the original other then following the same storyline



And just for comparison, heres the original:

Oh Brother!

New to the collection, a set of German lobby cards for Kitano Takeshi's Brother:






Photos taken on phone camera as my digital camera needs new batteries.

Little Nemo Test clip

Cartoon Brew has posted a very rare test clip for the film Little Nemo in Slumberland, the greatest part? It's by Whisper of Heart director Yoshifumi Kondo, check it out:

http://www.cartoonbrew.com/anime/little-nemo-test-film%3Cbr%3E

Ratatouille (2007)

A rat with a keen sense of taste and smell finds himself in Paris where he helps a restaurant garage boy become an expect chef.

Of all the animation mediums CG is one of my least favourites but I still admire Pixar greatly for it high standards in film quality. That said there are still a lot of there films that I haven't seen but Ratatouille is one i did get excited about, if only because it's directed and written by Brad Bird. One of Brad Bird earliest works that i was exposed to was this screenplay for the sci-fi *batteries not included a film i would always watch when growing up. There after his filmography is primary directing in animation such as on The Simpsons, the Family Dog pilot and The Iron Giant.

I found Ratatouille to be a delightful and very funny movie.

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Lately I've been a little lazy with these film reviews, so here's two more I saw recently:

Amadeus - Directors Cut (1984)
A film i've been meaning to see for a while, i liked it.

For Your Consideration (2006)
Christopher Guests latest mostly improvised film. This time taking place on a film set. Not actually done as a documentary like his previous but probably would of improved it. Completely forgot that Ricky Gervais was in it even after his appearance. It has its moments.

Film: Bartleby (2001)

A new boss at a public records firm decides to hire a new employee to help handle the work load. In enters Bartleby, the only man who applied for the job. At first he's a model employee but then trouble starts when he refuses to work simply uttering 'I would prefer not to'.

A very funny yet bleak film that captures the true essence of 'quirky'. The tagline will probably go down as one of my favourite things to say.

From the DVD theres a few notable extras, an interview with Crispin Glover and the 11 minutes or so mini commentary. Overall the video quality of the actual film leaves a lot to be desired.

Cinema: Persepolis (2007)

An autobiographical film of a girl growing up in Iran.

This film is superb, animated brilliantly and contains the right balance of humour and drama. Persepolis is also the final showing at my local art cinema until summer time as it's in the process of relocation. Being the last for a while, the screening (which i believe is also an advance showing) was free, with free drink and a small free raffle.