Sitges Rumours Part One

We’re expecting stuff to be confirmed over the next few days, but here’s the first of a couple of rumours we’ve had leaked to us recently:

dont_look_upFruit Chan’s DON’T LOOK UP is expected to be shown at this year’s festival, although as I write I’m still waiting for this to be confirmed. Our knowledge of his previous work is limited at best however a couple of years ago we managed to catch DUMPLINGS which was truly bizarre, but in a good way.

You can view the IMDB entry HERE, apparently it’s something to do with the characters in a horror movie coming to life and messing with the director?? I’ve included what I think might be the trailer below, it’s not anything I’m getting over excited about, but you’re more than welcome to try to convince me otherwise.

Tsai Ming-Liang’s “VISAGE” opens the Sitges NOVES VISIONS category.

Sitges have today announced that Tsai Ming-Liang’s VISAGE will open their NOVES VISIONS category.

Along with the news release Sitges have announced several additions to the festival’s growing program. With a little over a month until kick off we can now expect the final list of films to start taking shape fairly rapidly.

Sitges News – Timer To Premiere At Sitges

emma-caulfield-timer-movie-poster-mq-01-506c0This is something that I picked up off twitter earlier today but is unconfirmed and not officially announced by the Sitges Film Festival yet.

Apparently, Timer is getting it’s European premiere at this year’s festival. From the look of the trailer it doesn’t exactly look like a standard Sitges film, but we’re a sucker for a good rom-com and may well give it a try.

Check out the trailer at the official site below:

http://www.timerthemovie.com/

Inception…

Watching this trailer got me almost as excited as when I got my Adidas Zephyr football boots in Christmas ’83……almost.

It took me a while, but I’ve been a fan of pretty much everything DiCaprio’s done since Titanic, the high point being The Departed. To me this looks like a total home run: Written and Directed By Christopher Nolan and a stellar cast including DiCaprio, Michael Caine, Joseph Gordon-Levitt and Ellen Page amongst others. There’s not much information about the story, but who cares – it’s got a great fight in a corridor!

You can read the full information on this film here, for your watching pleasure the trailer is below:

Sitges News – Malcolm McDowell To Receive Grand Honorary Award

orange mŽcaniqueLooks like we’ll be sharing a milk with Alex this year…..

Malcolm McDowell to receive the Grand Honorary Award at the opening, which will moved up to October 1st

“Better known for his role as Alex DeLarge in A Clockwork Orange (1971), Malcom McDowell was also outstanding in the controversial Caligula (1979), in the 1982 remake of Cat People, and also in the adaptation of horror figure Michael Meyers directed by Rob Zombie, playing the child psychologist in Halloween (presented in Sitges two years ago) and the long-awaited H2: Halloween II, among others.

The Grand Honorary Award, in recognition of his career, will be given to him at the Sitges 09 opening gala, which will take place on October 1st.

The Festival is moving its opening up to October 1st, with the Spanish premiere of[REC]2, adding an extra day to the program at this year’s edition, which ends on Monday, October 12th with the mythical movie marathon. In addition to [REC]2 the Festival has already confirmed other films like Moon (Duncan Jones), Grace (Paul Solet), Kinatay (Brillante Mendoza), Thirst ( Park Chan-wook), Yatterman andCrows II (Takashi Miike), Orphan (Jaume Collet-Serra), The Countess (Julie Delpy),The Final Destination in 3D (David R. Ellis), among many others.”

Willing and Abel

So it would appear that Abel Ferrara never passes up the chance to tell an assembled audience what HE want’s them to hear.

While we were dusting off our Sitges files in preparation for this year’s festival (October 2nd) we fondly recalled last year’s encounter with Ferrara where, during the Q&A following the screening of his film CHELSEA ON THE ROCKS, he was a little feisty regarding a number of issues currently taking the froth of his cinematic pint . Perhaps just a touch of the old Dutch Courage we thought at the time.

However, having read this piece over at SPOUTBLOG, I’m now thinking Abel is just a little weary of the world he now movies in and is therefore keen to grasp every opportunity to champion the good ‘ol days he’s loved and lost.

CS

John Hughes, 1950-2009

News of the death of an actor or director can trigger that effect where images, scenes, memories and feelings, previously stored in some unconsciously categorised recess of the mind, rush forward to flood your thoughts in an instant. It happened last year on hearing the sad news of the death of Paul Newman, and again this morning on hearing John Hughes had passed.

The film that first raced to the front of my mind was, of course, FERRIS BUELLER’S DAY OFF. The film of a generation perhaps, but I say the film of any generation. On the surface for some a popcorn flick with a glut of quotable one-liners to see you through summer, but for me it was much more and on so many different subtle levels. Evidenced by the fact that an indirect reference to it now brings so many emotions flooding back.

This is a nice piece over at The Auteurs Daily, particularly where Alison Willmore talks about the “FightClub theory”, something I’d never heard associated with Ferris.

He may have been paraphrasing but I liked Ferris’ philosophical take on things and still refer to it today….

“Life moves pretty fast. You don’t stop and look around once in a while, you could miss it.”

CS

New Trailer For Nick Love’s Firm Remake

I wouldn’t say that I am the biggest fan of Nick Love’s output so far. I thought The Business was good, Football Factory was ok and Outlaw was initially a great idea, but a weak story and below-par performances made this into a Grade A stinker.

This remake of the late ’80s TV film The Firm attracted me for the same reason as The Business – it looks jam packed with quality trainers and tracksuits. The original was a gritty drama that was mainly carried by the legendary Gary Oldman’s performance, I’m not sure that this one’s going to be able to say the same. If his past films are anything to go by it’s going to be lots of sex,drugs, fighting and cockney wide-boys but very little substance.

I’ll be there in the queue just to get another glimpse of people with wedge haircuts wearing Tacchini tracksuit tops and Diadora Borg Elite trainers, but I suspect the rest of it will be dissappointing.