News from Twitch

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29 August 2008 7:10 PM, PDT

Many Brazilians of a certain age are very familiar with José Mojica Marins and his character Coffin Joe (Zé do Caixão), who first appeared in the 1963 film At Midnight I’ll Take Your Soul. Marins was an unknown quantity to most of the world until the release of his films on VHS cassettes by Something Weird in the early 1990s. The release of these films was revelatory.

The Coffin Joe character, a grave digger by trade, is some sort of Nietzsche-like misanthrope who takes delight in causing misery everywhere he goes. The early black and white films are steeped in the familiar components of early United States and European horror, including the charismatic evil doer (Coffin Joe) with a hunchback assistant (Bruno) and an endless supply of diabolical schemes. Unlike horror films from the U.S. and Europe, the Coffin Joe films have an exotic vibe. The stories are overtly anti-religious,

Rodney Perkins

29 August 2008 4:36 PM, PDT

With the North American premiere of the latest from Fabrice du Welz at te Toronto International Film Festival just a week or so away the arrival of a new clip from the film is a good thing, indeed.  Early word on this one is very strong and I’ve been hugely impressed by everything to come out from it so far.

Unable to accept the the loss of their son in the 2005 Tsunami, Jeanne and Paul Bellmer have remained in Phuket. Desperately clinging to the fact that his body was never recovered, Jeanne has convinced herself that the boy was kidnapped by traffickers in the chaos that followed the catastrophe… that her son is still alive. Paul is sceptical, but cannot bring himself to shatter his wife’s last hope. Bribing the sinister Mr Gao to take them by boat to the pirate-infested jungles of the Thai/Burmese border, the

Todd Brown

29 August 2008 12:14 PM, PDT

The Burrowers tells the story of Coffey, an Irish immigrant wants the hand of MaryAnne in marriage. One night her family’s isolated ranch is attacked. But by who? Or what? All that is left in her homestead are the bodies of her family and she is nowhere to be found. Coffey sets out with a pair of aging Indian-fighters [Clancy Brown and William Mapother], a teenage boy and an ex-slave to find his beloved MaryAnne. Expecting the offenders to be a band of fierce natives, the group prepares for a routine battle.  But they soon discover that the real enemy stalks them from below and they must unravel the mystery, ‘Who are the Burrowers’?

Mmmm ... Mack got to have an early look at Jt Petty’s The Burrowers back in early June and posted his thoughts on it here.  I’ve been anxious to see it ever since - an itch I’ll get

Todd Brown

29 August 2008 12:06 PM, PDT

Well, now ... Tomm Moore’s Brendan and the Secret of Kells is a film I’ve been aware of for quite some time but my thanks go out to regular Twitch reader The Oriental Nightfish (why don’t we have any readers called Steve?  Or Tom? Heh ...) for pointing out that there is an initial teaser for the film.  Now, director Moore has pointed out that this is not a formal trailer, per se.  There’s still a lot of compositing work to be done and the proper trailer will be much longer and a bit more polished when it arrives but this is something he knocked together to show of the look of the film.  And it looks rather good.

The film is a France / Belgium / Ireland co-production about the monk behind the famous Book of Kells and it features some very impressive artwork and a fairly unique style.

Todd Brown

29 August 2008 11:53 AM, PDT

Yes, boys and girls, there’s been a major update to the Fantastic Fest Intergalactic Trailer Force 9000!  If it’s a feature film, a trailer exists for it and it’s been announced in the first two waves of Fantastic Fest titles then I’m rather confident in saying that trailer is now in the Trailer Force.  So if you’ve a hankering to see what’s screening at Fantastic Fest 2008, this is your chance.  Get perusing.

Todd Brown

29 August 2008 9:09 AM, PDT

We posted the trailer for upcoming Thai spontaneous combustion flick Burn a couple weeks back, rather taken by the fetching images of things (by which I mean people) burning.  Yes, I like fire.  And now I have more of it to like.  A five minute promo reel from the film has arrived online and we’ve got it in the Twitch Player below the break.

Todd Brown

29 August 2008 9:04 AM, PDT

Here in Todd’s personal literary world there a few authors who rise right to the top of the heap.  I’m a big fan of Haruki Murakami.  Looking forward to the new Neal Stephenson rather a lot.  But the big three here in Todd-land are Douglas Coupland, Chuck Palahniuk and Kurt Vonnegut.  I came to Vonnegut the earliest of the three and have read every word the man ever published in his life and love just about all of them.  Vonnegut has, however, proven rather difficult to adapt to the screen.  Yes, there have been attempts, and a few of them have even been successful - I rather like the recent Breakfast of Champions - but his structural quirks and distinct voice generally make life difficult when people try to bring him to the screen.

Enter 2081, a new feature based on Vonnegut’s short Harrison Bergeron.  It’s the

Todd Brown

29 August 2008 8:55 AM, PDT

Sigh.  I want to like this film, I really do.  The source material is fascinating stuff and I consider myself a fan of director Yukihiko Tsutsumi.  But a teaser and two full trailers into the marketing of this first installment, with theatrical release in Japan due for tomorrow, I just can’t get enthused.  This is strongly visual material and Tsutsumi’s handling of it just looks bland as bland can be.  Man, I really, really hope these are just bad trailers ... you’ll find ‘em below the break in the Twitch Player.

Todd Brown

29 August 2008 6:57 AM, PDT

And now I think we can finally put the very strange saga of Tony Jaa’s directorial debut behind us.  Thai media are reporting that Tony Jaa is back on set of Ong Bak 2 and production has resumed on the very troubled film, shut down recently for two solid months when Jaa simply disappeared - apparently having crumbled under the stress of directing a big budget film.

The interesting wrinkle here because nothing is ever straight forward with this film, it seems - is that Jaa has returned as star only.  Sahamongkol Film have apparently done the sensible thing and bounced Jaa out of the director’s chair, replacing him with his mentor, Born To Fight director Panna Rittikrai.  Now this, to me, seems like the best possible outcome for this.  From Sahamongkol’s perspective they now have a director in place with a proven track record of turning in good work cheap.

Todd Brown

29 August 2008 6:17 AM, PDT

Many thanks to regular reader Raku for spotting this one and loading it into the Twitch Player ...

We’ve been greatly anticipating the arrival of Shimako Sato’s K-20 since first catching wind of it a good while back and the full theatrical trailer has just arrived.  The verdict?  Looking great.  The film is set in an alternate future and revolves around a somewhat modified take on classic Edogawa Rampo character, the Fiend With Twenty Faces.  Takeshi Kaneshiro stars as a gymnast police believe is the notorious Fiend who must catch the real fiend to prove his own innocence.  Always director Takashi Yamazaki provides all the special effects in this one and the footage in the trailer looks every bit as impressive as you’d expect from Yamazaki.

Set in an alternate world where ninety percent of Japan’s wealth is controlled by a small sliver of the aristocracy, the

Todd Brown

29 August 2008 6:12 AM, PDT

Argentina is the up and coming nation of South American film these days, producing not only a huge volume of genre film these days but also a good amount of serious drama thanks to a growing indie scene.  And coming out of that scene is Liliana Paolinelli’s Proper Eyes, an intimate drama revolving around a group of college women shooting a documentary film about prisoner’s wives.  The trailer looks to be exceptionally well shot, very intimate stuff with a strong cast.  Very nice.  Check it below the break.

Todd Brown

29 August 2008 6:04 AM, PDT

We’ve been following the work of indie director Micah Moore in these pages for a good while now, ever since he was turning out his goofy cult title Ninjas Versus Pirates.  Moore’s latest effort is the feature length Dogs of Chinatown, a micro-budgeted martial arts noir that has been in the works for a solid year or so now.  The film has just completed post production and to celebrate Moore has passed us a collection of exclusive clips from the picture.  The budget limits are visible in spots but so are Moore’s visual creativity and the martial arts skills of San Francisco’s Stunt People.  Very nice.  Check the clips and the official trailer in the Twitch Player below the break.

Todd Brown

29 August 2008 5:43 AM, PDT

With Marcel Sarmien and Gadi Harel’s DeadGirl soon to take a bow at the upcoming Toronto International Film Festival the first batch of stills from the picture have been circulating from the picture. Thing is, though, that the festival sites hosting them have been hosting fairly small versions of the images.  But we’ve got bigger versions for your perusal here.  Tasty.

A horror/thriller about two teenagers who make a shocking discovery that not only threatens their friendship but also their lives. In a forgotten room of an abandoned asylum, they find a beautiful woman tied to a bed, and soon come to realize she is anything but dead.

Todd Brown

29 August 2008 5:31 AM, PDT

I don’t think it’s any exaggeration at all to say that Dave McKean is a legendary figure in certain circles, his illustration work on Sandman alone would be enough to guarantee that.  The man is one of the most distinctive visual artists in the world whether his work is presented on the page or, increasingly, the screen.  And so when the news broke a good while back that McKean was preparing a DVD release of his early and seldom seen short films it was met with great excitement.  The project was titled simply Keanoshow and while it was fraught with delays and, sadly, could not be cleared for release in America, the DVD has now arrived and McKean was gracious enough to sit and talk with us.  The following interview was conducted by good friend to the site Don Hill.

Todd Brown

29 August 2008 4:38 AM, PDT

The history of 한성별곡-正 (Conspiracy in the Court), as you can read, was filled with interesting events, making what came before and after the drama just as special as what happened in between. For instance, without the passion shown by the DC Inside Conspiracy in the Court Gallery, there certainly would be no Director’s Cut DVD available to buy now, as they were the ones who fought for its release up until the end, even sending the money in advance to convince Kbs this masterpiece was worth selling – just as much as the unwatchable crap which often gets quick releases thanks to the Hallyu. If it weren’t for their efforts, those few lucky hundreds wouldn’t even have dreamed of being able to read and collect what is one of the nicest pieces of fan appreciation you’ll ever see, the Conspiracy in the Court review book, full of reviews,

X

28 August 2008 7:49 PM, PDT

My thanks goes to “Innocent_Eyes” from the Astro Boy Online forum for uncovering some images from Imagi’s upcoming CG animated feature film Astro Boy.  In the forum is a snapshots of the character model of Astro and some concept art which were perhaps photograph from either Comic-con or Siggraph 2008. I have taken the liberty of enhancing and rescaling the snapshots with Photoshop for a clearer view.  There is a few slight difference I notice from this one and the work-in-progress screenshot from a year ago but nothing too drastic.  Other than that, the CG model is staying true to the original design by Osamu Tezuka.  So what do you think of this interpretation of Astro?

Al Young

28 August 2008 4:43 PM, PDT

The violent elegance of the brush, moving frenetically across the hanji, like a sword penetrating a river; the red paint flowing like an ocean of future tears and blood, drawing the most nefarious and tempting eleven strokes known to man: 殺, to kill. Add another three characters to that maxim, and you’ll explain a good portion of history: 殺而求國, killing others to save your country. Emphasis on your country. It wasn’t always a physical death, like sending an army to face your neighboring enemy, and protect your homeland; it could have been the invisible hands of censorship and their bastard, ugly offspring called self-censorship, strangling any dissenting voice; or maybe using culture as the flagbearer of your new age imperialism, starting from the disruption of local markets to the invasion of the fries. Whichever wild metaphor you wish to choose, history, particularly when it comes to Korea, has always been written by strife,

X

28 August 2008 4:35 PM, PDT

Pardon my execrable vernacular but.... holy shit. That’s pretty.

We’re quite close to the start of this year’s most awaited sageuk, 바람의 나라 (Kingdom of the Wind), adapted from an insanely popular Kim Jin manhwa, and telling the story of Muhyul, who would later become King Daemushin. But that’s just history we can talk about later. The bone of contention is… these are the guys who made 해신 (Emperor of the Sea), and it will look good. Preliminary shoot in China will probably look a lot better, pump on the battles (I’ve heard 800 extras) to bring up the ratings, and then probably settle down. But, hey, I’ll take that over 식객 (Gourmet) any day, thanks. Visuals look a bit on the 卧薪尝胆 (The Great Revival) side, which is a nice sign, and there’s really nothing to worry about in the acting front, with Song Il-Guk,

X

28 August 2008 3:55 PM, PDT

Continues From Part 1

Twitch- We could start with the novelty of Myeong-Ok (Park Min-Young) being the youngest out of all the “foxes with nine tails,” but this was the first time a Gumiho went beyond the ghost story symbolism, and was humanized. She wasn’t just the scary perpetrator hiding her identity, but she changed into an innocent victim, which was also quite fresh. Just like you focused on characters completely different from the sageuk canon in Conspiracy, was the reason you chose an illustrious subject like Fox with Nine Tails to once again break from tradition?

Kwak- I should probably start by mentioning it wasn’t really my intention to choose Fox with Nine Tails. An older colleague of mine who was working on this had to step out, so it was a project I inherited from him. Because of the symbolic value it carries, we couldn’t leave

X

28 August 2008 3:27 PM, PDT

Reminder: Hayao Miyazaki’s Ponyo On The Cliff will be screening at the 65th Venice International Film Festival on August 31st (event listing). From all accounts so far of the film it seems Miyazaki explores new ground this time around with details so intricate and dense that anything less than seeing it on film on the big screen would be a crying shame. It even lead to a member of KineJapan wondering if even Blu-Ray would be able to represent its multitude of details and artistic touches. At the moment from everything I’m hearing, Summer 2009 would be the earliest Disney would release it in the Us. Some additional images for Ponyo at the link below.

Synopsis:

This is the story of Ponyo, a little fish from the sea who struggles to realize her dream of living with a boy named Sosuke. It also tells of how five-year old Sosuke

Blake

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