Archive for the ‘New Movie News’ Category

Ireland Goes Post-Apocalyptic in ‘One Hundred Mornings’

Tuesday, August 24th, 2010 by Carl Doherty under New Movie News

When you think of Ireland, your mind generally tends to conjure images of untainted green landscapes, rainy afternoons and pallid, red-headed stereotypes. Conor Horgan, Katie Holly and the cast of One Hundred Mornings, however, think the Emerald Isle could do with a bit of a post-apocalyptic makeover. The crew are bringing their Workbook Discovery and Distribution Award winning movie to Los Angeles for a week of screenings at the Downtown Independent Theatre.

Check out the trailer below:

The film definitely looks promising; a restrained, character-driven piece more similar in tone to Cormac McCarthy’s The Road than the zombie-infested/Mad Max scenarios we are so accustomed to.

The Workbook Discovery and Distribution Award is a US “social open source” initiative that’s been set up to help those in the creative industries not only fund, promote and distribute their project but make a enough profit from it to sustain subsequent endeavours. The Workbook Project was founded by independent filmmaker Lance Weiler, best known for the effective yet ultra-low budget cult horror The Last Broadcast.

So, Doomsday showed us Scotland after the fall of civilisation… now all that’s left to make my desolate life feel complete is a post-apocalypse movie set in Wales. Think of the possibilities…

Visit www.onehundredmornings.com for more on the film, or read the press release below for dates and times:

WORKBOOK PROJECT ANNOUNCES SCREENING DATES AND LOCATION FOR DISCOVERY & DISTRIBUTION AWARD-WINNER ‘ONE HUNDRED MORNINGS

(Philadelphia, PA) -- The WorkBook Project (WBP) is excited to announce the screening dates and venue for its Discovery and Distribution Award Winner, the Irish post-apocalyptic drama One Hundred Mornings.

As part of the WorkBook Project Discovery and Distribution Award, One Hundred Mornings was given a one-week theatrical release at the state of the art Downtown Independent Theater in Los Angeles. In addition, the winning filmmaker will receive a special P&A package consisting of PR, street team and social media support (provided by Culture Shock Marketing and WBPLabs). The winning filmmaker will also receive 100% of the box office receipts, providing funding for future distribution opportunities.

The Discovery & Distribution Award is made possible thanks to a number of amazing partners IndieFlix, the Slamdance Film Festival, Hammer to Nail and the Downtown Independent Theater. The screening will be co-presented and supported by local independent film groups, in an unprecedented show of unity, including Cinefist, Cinema Speakeasy, Slamdance Film Festival, the Downtown Independent Theatre, and more.

“The Discovery and Distribution award is an effort to help give a boost to exciting creative works that might otherwise not be seen. We look to leverage the creative community to help get the word out and to collectively work to make a DIY discovery and distribution effort easier” says Lance Weiler, the founder of The WorkBook Project.

What: One Hundred Mornings screening
Where: Downtown Independent Theatre, 251 South Main St., Los Angeles, CA 90012
Screenings: Opening night is Thursday September 16th at 8:00PM

Subsequent screenings:
Friday Sep 17th: 7:30, 9:30
Sat Sep 18th: 5:30, 7:30, 9:30
Sun Sep 19th: 5:30, 7:30, 9:30
Mon Sep 20th: 7:30, 9:30
Tues Sep 21st: : 7:30, 9:30
Wed Sep 22nd: 7:30, 9:30

One Hundred Mornings cast and crew Conor Horgan (writer/director), Katie Holly (producer) and Kelly Campbell (actor) will be in attendance for the opening night event.

Every night of the run other than opening night will feature an independent local short film curated by Cinefist, Cinema Speakeasy and Slamdance. Check www.downtownindependent.com/ for programming updates.

About One Hundred Mornings

www.onehundredmornings.com
(85 mins, Ireland, written and directed by Conor Horgan)

Awards include: Slamdance Special Mention, IFTA for Best Cinematography

Set in a world upended by a complete breakdown of society, two couples hide out in a lakeside cabin hoping to survive the crisis. As resources run low and external threats increase, each of them faces a critical decision they never thought they’d have to make.

About The Workbook Project Discovery and Distribution Award

The WorkBook Project Discovery and Distribution Award is part of an expanded WBP initiative to provide tangible options for those working in film, music, games, design and software to fund, create, distribute and sustain.  The award opens new channels and modes of distribution currently unavailable in the traditional system and established festival circuit. Pooling distribution channels, making them accessible, and spotlighting a featured filmmaker with theatrical run and packaged PR through secured resources, the WBP Award displaces a limited bottleneck system with an open-source, sustainability model. In addition to the winner, The WBP awarded another 20 selected filmmakers with an exclusive digital distribution access package provided by WBP Award partner IndieFlix that will place them on Hulu, iTunes, Netfilx, and variety of other outlets.

About the Downtown Independent

Downtown Independent is the hub for independent film in Los Angeles. The state-of-the-art facility houses a 222 seat auditorium capable of screening films in any format from 35mm to digital 3D. Located at 251 South Main Street in Downtown Los Angeles the theater provides easy access for independent productions to reach a live audience. Downtown Independent is the space for intrepid Angelenos to enjoy the latest independent films as well as classics, new music and art.

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Secret Cinema Announces “Most Ambitious Event to Date”

Tuesday, August 10th, 2010 by Carl Doherty under New Movie News

Wow. Secret Cinema continues to grow, in the face of fears that cinema attendance will eventually succumb to cheaper DVDs and internet piracy. It’s a phenomenon that seems to have spread from word of mouth and movie mag mentions to national media attention in just over a year.

I for one am not surprised. Not only does Secret Cinema’s “live cinema” have the potential to make moviegoing an event once more, but the evenings are clearly aimed at those with a genuine love for the movies – as opposed to those stumped for something better to do on a Sunday night. Furthermore, it’s always great to see such classics as Blade Runner, Ghostbusters and The Warriors as God intended.

So what is this most ambitious event, then? An entire weekend, from the 3rd to the 5th of September. And the films they’ll be showing are as always anyone’s guess; previous movies have included Aliens, Anvil! The Story of Anvil and the gruesome pie-in-face-fest that is Bugsy Malone.

The last show saw Canary Wharf transformed into a cyberpunk dystopia for a showing of Blade Runner to an audience of 7,000. Check the video below:

Tickets are available at www.secretcinema.org priced at £27.50 (£23.50 for students). But be warned: these shows sell out quickly.

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From the press release:

SECRET CINEMA, THE PIONEER OF LIVE CINEMA, ANNOUNCE THEIR MOST AMBITIOUS EVENT TO DATE. BE PART OF THE REVOLUTION.

3-5 SEPTEMBER 2010

In Partnership with Windows® Phone

Secret Cinema is looking for the adventurous, the valiant, the stalwart and the brave to venture with them on their most incredible journey yet.

Taking place from 3rd to 5th September, in partnership with Windows® Phone, Secret Cinema continues its revolution in creating an alternative to the traditional cinema-going experience with its biggest show to date.

With audience figures rising and tickets selling out in record time due to popular demand be sure to get yours here: www.secretcinema.org.

Since its conception in December 2007 when 400 people came together under London Bridge for Gus Van Saint’s Paranoid Park, Secret Cinema has continued to push the boundaries of how audiences experience film. In June 2010, 7000 people descended upon Canary Wharf for SC’s 11th outing to discover the world of Los Angeles 2019 and to enjoy an immersive experience of Ridley Scott’s sci-fi classic Blade Runner. A vast abandoned warehouse was transformed into the brave new world with littered alleyways, live bands, DJs and over 100 actors, climaxing in a live aerial recreation of the film’s famous final scene.

‘Secret Cinema is looking to grow the experience and community with every event. Our huge growth in numbers is a protest from our audience to bring the magic back to cinema. Our partnership with Windows Phone has blossomed over the past few events and we are very happy to be continuing to work together.’

Founder and creative director, Fabien Riggall

Secret Cinema is revolutionising the traditional cinematic experience, the secret venue will be revealed a few days before the event. The film is revealed upon arrival. Secret Cinema screen all genres and eras, cult classics, golden oldies and exclusive preview screenings of eagerly anticipated upcoming releases. Surprising site-specific locations from five-star hotel car parks to working city farms are commandeered to evoke the spirit of the secret movie.

Audiences interact with the experience by joining up to Secret Cinema’s Facebook and Twitter, where the first seeds of the film’s identity begin to be sown in the weeks ahead of the events. Join the nearly 50,000 friends of Secret Cinema on Facebook

www.facebook.com/pages/Secret-Cinema/46896241052 or on Twitter @secretcinema.

September’s Secret Cinema marks a renewed partnership with Windows Phone, who over the next year will bring even more connectivity and interactivity to the Secret experience.

“We’re thrilled to be continuing our partnership with Secret Cinema,” said Alex Reeve, Director, Mobile Business Group, Microsoft UK. “Windows Phone aims to help amplify the cinematic experience that Secret Cinema brings to its fan base, who are connecting and sharing their experiences every day via the web and mobile.”

Recent Secret Cinema events in partnership with Windows Phone have included a mind blowing new world of visual delights in an epic recreation of Ridley Scott’s Blade Runner and an amazing re-creation of post-war and modern Berlin, for Wings Of Desire in February earlier this year.

Do you want to be part of the uprising? Let us be great again…

About Secret Cinema

SECRET CINEMA, which launched in December 2007, has already captured the imagination of those looking for a stimulating night of alternative entertainment. Previous Secret Cinema Events include:

Blade Runner, Wood Wharf, Canary Wharf, June 2010
Wings Of Desire, The Shepherd’s Bush Pavilion, February 2010
Bugsy Malone, The Troxy, November 2009
Alien, Shoreditch warehouse, October 2009
The Warriors, London Fields, September 2009
The Harder They Come, Coronet Theatre, June 2009
Anvil! The Story of Anvil (UK Premiere), Shepherd’s Bush Empire, February 2009
Ghostbusters, Royal Horticultural Halls and the Corn Exchange, Brighton, Nov 2008
A Night at the Opera, Hackney Empire, October 2008
If… Dulwich College, London, and Clifton College, Bristol, June 2008
Funny Face, The Royal Academy of Arts, February 2008
Paranoid Park (UK Premiere), A disused railway tunnel in South London, December 2007

About Future Cinema

FUTURE CINEMA, the creators of Secret Cinema, creates large scale cinematic experiences, fusing feature film with music, theatre and live performance. The company is famed for taking audiences on multi-sensory rides that have become genuine ‘Don’t Miss’ events. Future Cinema also operates as an agency, bringing talent to creative projects and developing innovative experiential campaigns for brands, new releases and other third parties. For more information: www.futurecinema.co.uk

Secret Cinema In Partnership with Windows® Phone

Secret Cinema In Partnership with Windows® Phone

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Eisenberg Reunites with Zombieland Director

Thursday, May 27th, 2010 by Richard Fitch under New Movie News

Adventureland star Jesse Eisenberg will reunite with Zombieland director Ruben Fleischer for 30 Minutes or Less, according to The Hollywood Reporter.

The action comedy will see Eisenberg and Parks & Recreation’s Aziz Ansari play a hapless pizza delivery boy and a high school history teacher, respectively, who are forced to carry out a bank heist by aspiring criminal mastermind Danny McBride.

The hook? Eisenberg and Ansari have a mere half-hour to pull the robbery off, when one of the duo is strapped into a bomb vest.

30 Minutes or Less will go into production this Summer, from a script by Michael Diliberti and Matthew Sullivan, and is scheduled for an August 2011 release.

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Solomon Kane Movie Adaptation Competition – 3 Copies to Give Away

Friday, February 19th, 2010 by Carl Doherty under New Movie News

Those kind folks at Titan Books have provided shelfabuse.com with 3 copies of the novelization of the new Solomon Kane movie, by horror writer Ramsey Campbell. The movie is out today in the UK, is directed by Michael J. Bassett, and stars James Purefoy as the eponymous bloke-in-trenchcoat-seeking-redemption.

Solomon Kane Movie Adaptation

Solomon Kane Movie Adaptation

For those who’ve yet to be exposed to the promotional material and TV commercials, Solomon Kane is a 16th Century puritan from the pulp stories by Robert E. Howard, creator of the enduring Conan the Barbarian… and the similar buy lesser-known Kull. Older comic readers may remember Kane from the Marvel series of the 70s and 80s, which I’m assuming wasn’t as popular as its Conan counterpart (which Kane did also guest star in).

Synopsis:

Solomon Kane is a sixteenth century adventurer and mercenary; but when Kane meets the Devil’s Reaper, he postpones his fate by renouncing violence  and takes up life as a Puritan. But his vow is soon tested by the forces of evil, and Kane once again straps on his weapons to embark on an epic journey of redemption.  Written by master horror and fantasy author Ramsey Campbell, this official novelization gives readers the full story of the film and more, with extra scenes not featured on screen.

To win a copy of the book, simply email us your name here (subject: ‘Solomon Kane comp’). No question (or answer)  required this time.

The competition will end midnight Sunday 14th March, and winners will be notified soon after. Please note that this competition is only open to residents of the United Kingdom. Apologies to the rest of the world.

UPDATE: The Competition has now ended.

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G.I. Joe: Make the Grade Quiz Game

Friday, July 10th, 2009 by Carl Doherty under New Movie News

For the casual cinemagoer with a nostalgic affection for action figures, it’s looking to be a great year for movies, with Stephen Sommer’s G.I. Joe: The rise of Cobra hoping to ride on Transformers 2’s wave of hype. Sure, people love to see things blow up, but it’ll be interesting to see how the film fares in Britain (released August 6th) as the characters are practically unknown over here.

Being the geekiest kid in school I naturally read the 80s Marvel series, and remember Storm Shadow, Snake Eyes, Destro and company with a fondness even greater than my love for transforming robots. Still, I’m gonna wait for the reviews on this one before getting all carried away. I managed to resist Transformers 2 last week, and watched Coraline instead – and I don’t regret a thing. But whether my cultured tastes will be able to stand firm against super ninjas and Christopher Eccleston in a steel mask is another matter entirely.

Anyway, to promote the film, Team Rubber have released this fun little game to test your knowledge on both the upcoming movie and some of the world’s most covert military hardware:

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Transformers Augmented Reality: Much More Than Meets The Eye

Monday, June 29th, 2009 by Carl Doherty under New Movie News

The invisible devil and angel that reside on my left and right shoulders, respectively, have been having a bit of a row. Lil’ Angel tells me not to bother spending my cash on Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen. It’ll only make Michael Bay richer, me poorer, and encourage more similarly mindless blockbusters in the near future, he says. Lil’ Devil, however, assures me that there will be countless scenes in which elaborately designed (translation: preposterous) robots punch the crap out of each other.

Either way, there are some undeniably cool web promotions going on.

Most interesting is the Transformers “Augmented Reality” experience at www.weareautobots.com/uk/, which defies all description, really. With but a printer and a webcam, you are able to manipulate rendered objects as if they’re actually in your hands. You, yes you! can be Optimus Prime! I’d already seen videos of similar technology used to promote an upcoming Metal Gear game, and was initially suspicion that it was a hoax. Nice to be proven wrong. It’s like living in the multi-layered reality Philip K. Dick envisioned, or summink!

Transformers 2: Revenge of the Fallen

Transformers 2: Revenge of the Fallen

Elsewhere, there’s also this equally bizarre application at www.transformersmovie.com/intl/robotize_me/uk which allows you to create your own Autobot from composite parts and then past your face on it. Quite why you’d want to is beyond me, but I guess we’re not all quite as hideous and reticent as I.

Transformers 2: Revenge of the Fallen

Transformers 2: Revenge of the Fallen

Lastly, there’s a more conventional flash game in which you take the role of everyone’s favourite backstabbing Decepticon Starscream as he roars through the sky as a plane and, um, runs along the ground in bipedal form. That can be found here.

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Coraline Movie Trailer

Friday, November 21st, 2008 by Carl Doherty under New Movie News

The official full length trailer from the Neil Gaiman children’s novel (also adapted into a graphic novel by P. Craig Russell) has been doing the rounds for the past few days. Directed by Henry Selick, who was responsible for The Nightmare Before Christmas -- which was based on a picture book by Tim Burton, but not, as often assumed, directed by him. Coraline has clearly retained the art style that defined that film and James and the Giant Peach.

Kooky, spooky, and downright creepy, Coraline definitely looks promising. Though the first half of the trailer is standard kid’s fare – and there’s nothing wrong with that – the second half is decidedly darker. There’s something seriously unnerving about such cute little models having buttons sown over their eyes. And about buttons being sown over eyes in general.

Oh, and it’ll be the first three-dimensional stop-motion animation movie. Ever. Which has to be worth something, right? Right?

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Warner Brothers Survey Capcom’s Lost Planet

Wednesday, July 16th, 2008 by Carl Doherty under New Movie News

Sub-zero sci-fi coming to the big screen

Despite Iron Man, Hellboy 2 and The Dark Knight all extending beyond the salivating fanboy demographic and enjoying mainstream attention, Hollywood is arguably at risk of running the comic book repository dry. The solution? Resume drilling, with Daniel Plainview fortitude, into that other bottomless source of inspiration: the video game industry.

Against solid statistical evidence that 97% of all game to film adaptations are cinematic misdemeanours, Warner Brothers are bravely ploughing the planes of Lost Planet, according to Variety. The film will be scripted by Solid Snake himself, David Hayter, and produced by Avi Arad, Ari Arad and Steven Paul through the recently formed Seaside Entertainment.

An early Xbox 360 bestseller, Lost Planet’s space opera followed amnesiac Wayne Holden’s struggle against snow pirates and giant bugs on the ice planet Hoth (or someplace similar) in search of a renewable heat sourc

The good news – yes, there is some – is that developer Capcom will co-finance the movie, presumably having peeped over Marvel’s shoulder during franchise building lessons. And that it features giant bugs. Big ones, with glowing bits.

The bad? The original game’s plot was an incomprehensible, unintelligible mess. Still, big bugs…

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