BURN AFTER READING, written and directed by Joel and Ethan Coen and starring George Clooney, John Malkovich, Frances McDormand, Brad Pitt and Tilda Swinton. In cinemas 17th October 2008.
CIA analyst Osbourne Cox (John Malkovich), fired and disgruntled, decides to write a memoir. His wife, disgruntled herself and secretly planning divorce, loads the manuscript along with his financial information onto a disc which is inadvertently left in the locker room at her gym.
The computer disc, with its important-sounding references to the CIA and its obscure numbers, looks like a treasure-trove of government secrets to assistant gym manager Linda Litzke (Frances McDormand), and her best friend, trainer Chad Feldheimer (Brad Pitt). They decide to sell the information to the highest bidder. Feeling the sands of time running through her sagging figure, Linda needs the money for a battery of plastic surgeries.
She becomes even more determined once she starts seeing secret service agent Harry Pfarrer (George Clooney), a man who dotes on his wife but whose sex addiction has sent him cruising the internet for dates. The compulsively womanizing Pfarrer, as it happens, is also carrying on an affair with the CIA analyst's wife. Things get complicated. The characters are only looking for love, or plastic surgery, or their manuscript back, but none of them will get what they bargained for.
Click on the link above for a featurette on Pitt's character.
Graeme Clark [28 Aug 2008 at 22:47]
Takeshi Kitano Collection on DVD
Six of the best from the cult filmmaker
One of Japan’s most well known and all encompassing entertainment personalities,Takeshi Kitano has forged a name for himself as one of his country’s most beloved and internationally renowned directors.
Second Sight is delighted to announce the release of the stunning Takeshi Kitano: Collection, a fantastic six disc box set comprising of the legendary actor/director’s first six films; Violent Cop, Boiling Point, Sonatine, Getting Any? with A Scene At The Sea and Kids Return making their UK DVD debut. The set comes with some fantastic special features including a documentary on the man himself and will be available on 6 October 2008.
Special features: 68 minute documentary ‘Takeshi Kitano – The Unpredictable’, Violent Cop and Sonatine commentaries by Chris D author of Outlaw Master Of Japanese Film.
Graeme Clark [28 Aug 2008 at 22:41]
Cassandra’s Dream on DVD
Moody Woody
Written and Directed by Woody Allen
Starring Ewan McGregor, Colin Farrell, Tom Wilkinson and Hayley Atwell
Out to own on DVD 29th September 2008
Set in contemporary London, Cassandra’s Dream is a powerful and thrilling story about two brothers who are desperate to better their troubled lives. One is a chronic gambler in debt over his head, and the other is a young man in love with a beautiful actress (newcomer Hayley Atwell, soon to be seen in Brideshead Revisited) he has recently met. Their lives gradually become entangled into a sinister situation with intense and unfortunate results. Written and directed by Woody Allen, the film also stars Tom Wilkinson and Sally Hawkins (Happy Go Lucky), with a score by Philip Glass.
Delivering non-stop action and excitement from a Super Hero who boasts not only unique powers, but also irresistible charm, penetrating intelligence and a wry wit, Marvel Studios and Paramount Pictures’ worldwide box office sensation IRON MAN soars onto DVD and Blu-ray on October 27, 2008.
Kicking off the fourth quarter with spectacular Ultimate Edition two-disc sets on both DVD and Blu-ray, as well as in a single-disc DVD, IRON MAN thrilled both critics and audiences around the world with its captivating story and stunning visual effects. Called “a true heavy metal hero” (The Sun), and “a movie to savour” (Daily Mirror), the film features an all-star cast including Academy Award® nominees Robert Downey Jr. (Zodiac, Chaplin), Jeff Bridges (The Contender) and Terrence Howard (Hustle & Flow) and Oscar® winner Gwyneth Paltrow (Shakespeare In Love) and was directed by Jon Favreau (Elf).
Earning over £17 million at the UK box office, IRON MAN lifts off with high-speed, high-flying action when jet-setting industrialist Tony Stark survives an unexpected attack in enemy territory and escapes by building a high-tech robotic suit of armour. When he uncovers a nefarious plot with global implications, he dons his powerful armour and vows to protect the world as Iron Man. Straight from the pages of the legendary comic book, IRON MAN is a hero who is built – not born – to be unlike any other!
BURN AFTER READING, written and directed by Joel and Ethan Coen and starring George Clooney, John Malkovich, Frances McDormand, Brad Pitt and Tilda Swinton. In cinemas 17th October 2008
At the headquarters of the Central Intelligence Agency in Arlington, Va., analyst Osborne Cox (John Malkovich) arrives for a top-secret meeting. Unfortunately for Cox, the secret is soon out: he is being ousted. Cox does not take the news particularly well and returns to his Georgetown home to work on his memoirs and his drinking, not necessarily in that order. His wife Katie (Tilda Swinton) is dismayed, though not particularly surprised; she is already well into an illicit affair with Harry Pfarrer (George Clooney), a married federal marshal, and sets about making plans to leave Cox for Harry.
Elsewhere in the Washington, D.C. suburbs, and seemingly worlds apart, Hardbodies Fitness Centers employee Linda Litzke (Frances McDormand) can barely concentrate on her work. She is consumed with her life plan for extensive cosmetic surgery, and confides her mission to can-do colleague Chad Feldheimer (Brad Pitt). Linda is all but oblivious to the fact that the gym’s manager Ted Treffon (Richard Jenkins) pines for her even as she arranges dates via the Internet with other men.
When a computer disc containing material for the CIA analyst’s memoirs accidentally falls into the hands of Linda and Chad, the duo are intent on exploiting their find. As Ted frets, “No good can come of this,” events spiral out of everyone’s and anyone’s control, in a cascading series of darkly hilarious encounters.
Click on the link above for the trailer.
Graeme Clark [16 Aug 2008 at 18:19]
Caligula on DVD
Soon to be uncut and widely avaiable in the UK
In a shock decision by the BBFC, the uncut version of the notorious and ludicrously opulent multi-million dollar 'porn epic' CALIGULA has been granted an 18 Certificate for its forthcoming DVD release, thereby allowing it to be readily available in stores on every high street in the UK.
Notable for being the only major motion picture ever to star esteemed British actors of the calibre of Malcolm McDowell, Sir John Gielgud, Peter O'Toole and Helen Mirren alongside scenes of extreme violence and explicit hardcore sex, CALIGULA infamously sees them being outrageously upstaged by graphic sequences involving anal fisting, explicit lesbian trysts, orgies and blow jobs (among other things). A true 'porn epic', the film in its uncut version is a veritable catalogue of depravity the likes of which have never been seen in one single film before or since.
CALIGULA: THE IMPERIAL EDITION comes as a four-disc set that features three separate versions of the film including the complete, fully uncut and uncensored version that sealed this demented film's reputation as one of the most controversial in cinema history.
CALIGULA: THE IMPERIAL EDITION (cert. 18) will be released on DVD (£24.99) by Arrow Films on 29th September 2008.
Graeme Clark [16 Aug 2008 at 18:14]
Tales from the Riverbank
Where's Johnny Morris when you need him?
DVD Release date: 29th September 2008
Running time: 90 mins approx
RRP: £12.99
Cert: U
From director John Henderson, and featuring the voices of Stephen Fry, Steve Coogan, Ardal O’Hanlon and Jim Broadbent.
TALES OF THE RIVERBANK tells the story of three friends – Hammy Hamster (Ardal O’Hanlon), Roderick Rat (Steve Coogan) and GP the Guinea Pig (Jim Broadbent) – who, having been swept down-river in a violent storm, embark on an epic journey in search of their lost homes. Their journey, full of comic incident and dramatic danger, becomes even more precarious when, as they are about to reach their destination, they discover that the whole riverbank is threatened by a Waffle, Marmalade and Doughnut factory owned by the evil Fat Cats, which is polluting the countryside with increasingly dangerous emissions…the Big Dirt! Presiding over the story is Owl (Stephen Fry) – an amusingly impressive narrator.
Academy Award winner® Rachel Weisz (The Constant Gardener), Academy Award® winner Adrien Brody (The Pianist), Mark Ruffalo (Zodiac), and Academy Award® nominee Rinko Kikuchi (Babel) star in The Brothers Bloom, a globe-trotting comedy about the last great adventure of the world’s best con men.
Welcome to the world of The Brothers Bloom, where deception is an art and nothing is as it seems. The brothers have perfected the art of swindling fortunes through years of fraternal teamwork. Now they've decided to take on one last spectacular job—luring a beautiful and eccentric heiress into an elaborate plot that takes them around the world.
For as long as they can remember, the Brothers Bloom have had only each other to depend on. From their childhood in a long series of gloomy foster homes to their highflying lives as international con artists, Stephen (Mark Ruffalo) and Bloom (Adrien Brody) have shared everything. Stephen brilliantly concocts intricate stories that the brothers live out, but he’s still searching for the perfect con, the one where “everyone gets what they want.” Meanwhile, Bloom yearns for “an unwritten life”—a real adventure, one not dreamed up by his old brother.
Summit Entertainment presents “The BROTHERS BLOOM” in theatres October 24th.
