Human Centipede 2 - Appeal press release

This is the full press release from the UK distributors Bounty Films/Eureka! Entertainment concerning the classification uproar regarding the BBFC and The Human Centipede 2 last week:
Within the last week, the BBFC (British Board of Film Classification) announced that it had rejected and was unable to classify for release on DVD, The Human Centipede II (Full Sequence). 

Bounty Films, and its UK distribution partner Eureka Entertainment Ltd., are disappointed by the decision of the BBFC to deny the film a classification certificate.  While both companies respect the authority of the board, we strongly disagree with their decision. 

In support of their decision, the BBFC issued a press release that gave an unprecedented level of detail regarding certain scenes contained within the film.  Whilst it appears customary for the BBFC to issue press releases in support of its decision making, the level of detail provided therein does seem inconsistent with previous releases where the statements have been more concise.  We are concerned this may be prejudicial to our forthcoming appeal.

The Human Centipede II (Full Sequence) is adult entertainment for fans of horror films.  If a film of this nature does not seek to push boundaries, to challenge people and their value systems or to shock, then it is not horror.  The subject matter of this film is in line with not only the genre, but other challenging entertainment choices for adult consumers.

 

We respect those who have different opinions about both the film and the genre, and whose opinions may differ to our own, but we hope that the opinions of the adults for whom this product is intended will also be considered.  The adult consumers who would watch this film fully understand that it is fictional entertainment and nothing more.

Classifying and rating product allows the public to make an informed choice about the art and media they wish to consume.   Censoring or preventing the public from obtaining material that has not been proven to be harmful or obscene, is indefensible in principle and is often counterproductive in practice.  Through their chosen course of action, the BBFC have ensured that the awareness of this film is now greater than it would otherwise have been. 

Having taken advice on these matters, and in accordance with BBFC guidelines, we will be submitting our appeal to the Video Appeals Committee in due course.

The Hangover - Drunk on success

THIS IS MY 100th BLOG, AND I HOPE IT IS A GOOD ONE. THANKS FOR READING.

Finally, you get to see the film that everyone is talking about. And much like a night out at the think everyone says is hot, it falls flat on its face and leaves a bad taste in your mouth.

Whilst the original Hangover in 2009 was a shot in the arm for American studio comedy, a resurrection of sorts after so many baffling rom-coms and Frat Pack comedies that left you speechless, this is a return to those dark days.

I remember speaking to a fellow cinephile about the release of the film in fact two weeks ago on the day of its release, and he asked me what the expectations were. I had to be honest, they were not positive. Partly, because the sequel is emblematic of too much of a good thing (look at the Pirates franchise), why ruin something that was so perfect with what will be bad from the get go.

The beauty of the original was that it was an idea for the film that should have been done years ago, so credit to the screenwriters Jon Lucas and Scott Moore who wrote it and enshrined themselves in history. Luckily, they are left laughing loudest because they did not write the script for this awfulness. That should have been an indicator, instead the script is written by the director, Todd Philips, who is a better director than writer - and taking over inherited characters and feeding them lines is not the same thing.

From the get go, it takes ages for the film to get a head of steam - it starts in LA and then they leave for Bangkok. Stuart (Ed Helms), the dentist, is getting married to American-Thai bride Lauren in her home country, so Phil (Bradley Cooper), Doug (Justin Bartha), Alan (Zach Galifinakis) and Lauren's younger brother, Teddy () are in tow on the flight.

From the initial re-introduction of Alan, there is a whiff of staleness about Alan's material - whereas two years ago his child-like naivety was whimsical and hilarious, due to Galifinakis playing the same role in Due Date, albeit effeminately, you feel as if you have been beaten to death with this schtick of a fat man-child who may or may not be gay and is the stupidest person in the room; even though he gets the two biggest laughs from me, when a ladyboy reveals her parts he turns and says 'Is this a magic show?' and when he drops anchor on a boat which is on dry land. The latter one is near the film's end, where I wanted to laugh after nearly 90 minutes of not laughing. He also leans in over peope's shoulders when in shot to get cheap laughs.

The performances are not great, as I have stated with Galifinakis - Cooper seems bored and looks destined to befall the career of second generation McConaughey, eye candy with a good delivery of a line; Bartha might as well not be there, Teddy is a red herring to the proceedings and almost forgotten about a few times. Only Helms as the constantly put upon Stu is the one who comes out with any credit, as he embraces his demon (or is it semen)inside him. Even Chow (Ken Jeong) returns and he chews up the scenery with relish but annoying degree of sanity.

My other initial acknowledgement of this film being a failure, was that it was set in Thailand. Knowing how easily American comedies are racist all is apparent here as we have ladyboys, the language difficulty -not one American even attempts to speak the local dialect and a monkey (always a bad sign when a sequel introduces an animal to the cast) that stimulates masturbation on a Buddhist monk. Alan says masturbation is funny and universal, no it is tasteless and lowest common denominator comedy.

The whole production feels like it was rushed with a script that the original scriptwriters had now say in and would have refused had they seen it; hence their absence. I hope this is the end and we do not see a film to complete a trilogy, although again money talks and the initial box-office receipts are positive, although that is because the original was so adored people cared about these characters and wanted to see what happened next. Now I am not so sure that investment will carry over to a third film.

There was a reason why there was no sequel to Animal House, you can have too much of a good thing. In this case, we have had too much of a bad thing and like any old Hangover that takes place in a foreign country - it is best to keep it to yourself, forget it and never bring it up again.

James Patterson 'London Private'

In this ever decreasing global community, things seem to be moving at quite a pace. Nevermore so in evidence, than the work of James Patterson, celebrated creator of the Alex Cross character immortalised by Morgan Freeman in the films Kiss The Girls and Along Came A Spider.

Patterson, a long term advocate for literacy (especially in children) has used his muscle as a best-seller to collaborate with up and coming authors in dual efforts. This means Patterson can keep releasing books under his marquee name whilst maintaining his work to get children reading from an early age.

Private London  is a spin off of a new franchise Patterson created with Maxine Paetro, on this occasion his co-author is Mark Pearson - it tells the tale of a private detective agency in London, a spin-off of the Los Angeles agency set up by the erstwhile Jack Morgan. In London, the head of Private is former Royal Military Police Sergeant Dan Carter, imagine Jason Statham but with an ability to string a sentence together without a grunt or monosyllabic shrug

The book revolves around two kidnappings, involving the same family, the Shapiros from Los Angeles. We flashback initially to a date in 2003, when Hannah Shapiro's mother is kidnapped, held for ransom, raped in front of her and the ransom is never paid by her billionaire father, Harlan. Flash forward to 2010, and Hannah is about to start studying Psychiatry at Chancellors in London, Morgan contacts Carter to be Hannah's personal protection during her stay in our homeland.

Then to the relative present day, and another kidnapping takes place this time with Hannah the target. However, with this being a Patterson thriller, nothing or anyone is ever what they seem - with the threat of crosses, double crosses and triple crosses always in place.

Carter and his team are on the case, but Carter has his own backstory with his ex-wife DI Kirsty Webb on the case from the legitimate standpoint for the Police; it is never made out that Private are secret just a private detective agency with unlimited financial resources that put the Metropolitan Police in the shade.

There is a common theory regarding the success of Dan Brown's Da Vinci Code - not that it was about the conspiracy theory, but because the chapters were short and punchy. Four to five pages that were of narrative significance and sustained a sense of purpose by including a moment of incidence or thrill. Private London puts Brown's books to shame, chapters of sometimes two pages in length means there is always something to keep you gripped. This novel was swallowed up in two days of page turning wonderment.

Whilst an American writer taking on London is not out of place, you need only look at Jeffrey Deaver's recent Bond novel, you can see why Mark Pearson was required. Pearson must have helped with the geographical element of locations from the difference of Metropolitan and Jubilee Line to identifying Amersham in Buckinghamshire.

The dialogue is the key to the page-turning, snappy and in combination with constant action and violence; however it never gets to the stage of parodying itself, although characters do refer to watching television programmes and it being nothing like the real thing. Characters are also self-knowing of what to say next,( 'Ready?' he asked. I nodded, resisting the impulse to say I was born ready.) straight talking guys who get to the point.

The only drawback was the other case revolving missing fingers in the book, whilst dealt with care and suggestion, that plotline gets kind of forgotten about once the kidnapping of an American princess takes centre stage. Patterson has that ability to render your full attention in what he exactly thinks you should pay attention to.

For fans of Patterson's novels, of which there are 1,698,671 on Facebook at last count, this is a definite positive addition to his back catalogue and the enticing anticipation of a sequel with a brilliantly constructed reunion at the end means Private London is open for business and it is booming

Private London is released on Thursday 9th June in Hardback by Century Publishing for £18.99 and is 368pages.

Become a fan of James Patterson on Facebook,.

The Brothers - DVD review

Released on DVD for the first time by Park Circus Films - tells the story of Mary (Patricia Roc), who raised in a convent leaves for the Isle of Skye to serve an old man.  Whilst there she works hard for the old fiend, who reminds her constantly at how lucky she is to have a roof over her head; while also deflecting advances from the men folk of the island.  She works for the Macraes, a family who have a long rivalry with the McFarishes.  Mary's arrival provokes latent sexual urges in the young men of the families, the rivalry reaching boiling point on certain occasions.

Melodramatic by genre, but not a women's picture as Ms.Roc portrays Mary as a woman far from vulnerable who can fend for herself as she has to resist physical advances on more than one occasion.  The film is quite suggestive, unlike the fiercely proud and distinctly British fare of the era from Powell and Pressburger, and earlier works of David Lean in his collaborations with Noel Coward.

The otherness of the region and distinct air of non-Englishness on display helps proceedings, as you treat it as something altogether different from that which you are used to.  The scenery is shot beautifully, giving the highlands a sense of dread as this omnipresent character.

The night scenes when Mary is either out with Fergus (Maxwell Reed), John (Duncan Macrae) or at a social event, Roc is shot with her hair down and suddenly the Scottish landscape is like Brigadoon with Northern lights beaming in the background, so there is a hint of fantasy and even, magical realism taking place.

Featuring John Laurie (of Dad's Army fame) in a supporting role with his wild eyes acting for him, this film has more redeeming features for you to watch than for you to turn off.  Even if it does feature one of the most ludicrous fist fights between Fergus and John which peeters out in a waterfall, and the first (and only) example of death by goose.

Surprisingly suggestive for its time in the immediate years following World War II, the film is pleasantly entertaining and at times a tense viewing but that is credit to the director David MacDonald, who directs with vigour and assurance, and he is himself helped by a brilliant leading performance from Roc as the feisty and irresistible Mary, and it is a shame that Roc never reached the exalted heights of her contemporaries, Margaret Lockwood and Vivian Leigh.

Available for the first time on DVD, The Brothers is out on Monday 6th June from Park Circus films for £15.99RRP

The Mechanic - Review

Jason Statham returns on DVD with another action film with lots of violence, lots of shooting, lots of gun and not a lot of dialogue or theoretical expansion of the geo-political spectrum of arms trafficking.  No, this is a Statham film, he is the good guy who shoots the bad guy(s) ad nauseum.

Statham, is the Mechanic, Arthur Bishop (a remake of the 1971 original starring Charles Bronson) an agency assassin who handles and eliminates targets with ruthless aggression and emotional detachment.  He is mentored by Harry McKenna (Donald Sutherland), who treats Arthur as more of a son than the disappointment of his actual blood son, Steve (Ben Foster).

After completing his most recent target in Mexico, Arthur returns and finds that his new target is Harry.  After meeting his boss, played with atypical malevolence by Tony Goldwyn, who confirms that Harry is the next target due to some embezzling of company funds; Arthur takes it upon himself to seek out why Harry has been set up.

This sort of narrative structure and plot points are by the by on occasion, and once Steve arrives wanting to learn the tricks of Arthur's trade and make his father proud of him.  Foster, for so long a bit part player and excellent in The Messengers (with Woody Harrelson), is himself not the most handsome or as muscle bound as Statham, luckily though he can deliver a line - something Statham unfortunately cannot.

But you do not buy or pay a ticket for a Statham actioner for him to talk, you pay for him to kick butt.  He has worked very hard on his career, making familiar and generic actioners with homophobic tendencies and a regrettable body count.  You could even say that the film is misogynistic, as the only woman in the film is a prostitute who is paid by Arthur, a prostitute who does not even know his name.  Cleverly, she asks him for his name and in his rich thick cockney accent, Statham replies, 'Aaar-fur'.  She replies, 'No, you look more like a David or a Brad.  I will see you around Brad.'  Statham smiles that Bruce Willis smile like he does after he says 'Yippee-kayee'. 

Statham is the model 21st century actor, he is an amalgamation of other actors - Willis, Stallone, Caine and Bronson - and in this day and age, in this global culture of various cultural icons; Statham is the actor that is both nostalgic, making you yearn for glories and pictures of old - with an embracing of the new and violent world we live in.  Statham and Foster put so many bullets into some goon at the end, you think is there much purpose to that or is it just how things are handled; and then there is the cod slow-mo at the end to hark back to the epitaph of Bonnie and Clyde, that started this whole slow-mo gunplay.

Watching The Mechanic on DVD is a better way to watch it, I would have been disappointed to pay to see this film at the cinema as the ending is a little bit cod but it ends with Statham jumping into a new car and driving off into the sunset to his next role of similarity. 

Much like that other B-movie star, Randolph Scott, a star who was eclipsed by contemporaries like John Wayne and Henry Fonda; Statham is like that Scott character - an outlaw who does his business in a city or town, and then leaves to pop up in another city or town playing the same role.

Yet the reason a film like this, with its $40m budget, is produced and with technical sheen is because Statham is a DVD icon - guys love to buy the films, watch it with a beer and a smile as those memories of Rambo and Commando reappear on the brain. 

Is it worth reviewing a Statham film, when you know what you are going to get.  This is not his best film, that remains Chaos; but this is a worthy second thanks in part to the continual growth and aura of Statham on film and the excellent support of Foster.

The Mechanic is released on Monday 6th June by Momentum Pictures and is available at £15.99(DVD) and £19.99(RRP), check out the website http://www.themechanicmovie.co.uk/ for more details on the title.

BUG: Moby Special - review

Wednesday 1st June, first day of a new month, my first time at BUG! a bi-monthly showcase for new music videos of both mainstream and indie acts and shown on a big screen at the BFI Southbank.  Tonight in a special edition, hosted by Adam Buxton (of Adam & Joe fame and 6Music DJ), is a retrospective of one of the most iconic and noticeable music video artists over the last 20 years.

Moby, who rose to prominence with his second single, Go (Ondrej Rudavsky) in 1991 with a video that was hypnotic and a hallucinatory fit set to three minutes.  Moby was marked as an artist who knew what he wanted to do with his videos, and how they were an important outlet for his artistic and polemical outlet.

Moby will forever be remembered for the 1999 album Play, one of the biggest selling albums of that decade and a seminal work, which thanks to every track being available for licensed use in advertising, TV or films made the album ubiquitous and landed Moby some notierity for his wish to make as much money as possible.  In the interview with Buxton, Moby quoted that the reason he did that was because the album was initially not a success and landed him some awful reviews, his only regret was he wish he did not allow the licensing in the UK and left it only to non-English speaking territories like Japan and Portugal, for example.

Watching the music videos there is a recurring theme of morose mortality, death is a common thread in certain videos; the allure of celebrity and the use of famous actresses (Christina Ricci in Natural Blues (David La Chappelle, 2000) and Heather Graham in The Day (Evan Bernard, 2011) are most memorable, and now even Moby himself or thelittleidiot character of his is itself a character.

In the interview with the ever entertaining Buxton, who bought a lightness and touch to proceedings making an audience laugh when commentating on the comments left on YouTube for three videos, Moby touched upon his collaborations with David Lynch, his input into the videos - stating that he leaves the creative process to the creative minds, except for In This World, which was his idea initially and the work of mobygratis.com; a new venture that allows non-profit organisations and independent filmmakers to use his exclusive work and tracks for use in their films.  Another capitalist venture? Moby stated that if profit was made, a portion of profits must be paid to the Humane Society, so he cannot make money even if he tried.

The other excellent venture of the evening was the opportunity to focus on new videos for new Moby material from the new album Destroyed; sanctioned by Moby, BUG, Saatchi & Saatchi and Vimeo to search for new directorial talent - the 'Hello, Future' Music Video Challenge showed three videos selected for the final. The winner to be selected at the New Director Showcase at the Cannes International Festival of Creativity on June 23rd. 

Two videos for Be The One were shown, the better being the animated version by Roland Wittl of Germany, incorporating the littleidiot character in an animation video that was indicative of past work and recurring themes.  However, the best one in my opinion, was After directed by Alberto Gomez of Mexico; an intoxicating and mysterious and at times terrifying video that was spellbinding in its editing and getting great performances from a young cast.  Again, this showed the global reach of Moby as an artist whose work can reach all corners of the globe without pandering to different nationalities; the work can speak for itself.

For more on BUG at the BFI go to http://www.bugmusicvideos.com/ for details the next night is on July 13th/14th at the BFISouthbank. Or follow on twitter @BUGmusicvideos or on Facebook; bugvideos.
For more on Moby go to http://www.moby.com/ and http://www.mobygratis.com/

Twenty8k - a bold future for British filmmaking

A couple of weeks ago, I had the pleasure of attending in Newham the set of a new and exciting British production, Twenty8k. Co-directed by David Kew and Neil Thompson, produced by Martin Carr and starring Parminder Nagra, Stephen Dillane, Jonas Armstrong and Kierson Wareing; in a script written by Jimmy Dowdall and Paul Abbott. It tells the story of a young woman, Deeva, a fashion executive in Paris who returns home to East London to defend the name of her brother who has been arrested for murder, but as she seeks to uncover the truth, lies and conspiracy come to the fore with twists aplenty.

Firstly, upon my arrival on set I was allowed an in-depth sit down with Martin Carr, a passionate man who described the film as a 'woman in peril thriller', a rare beast for these times and one for which they always had the acclaimed Nagra in mind for. As we arrive on set, they are in the last week or so of major shooting, due to Parminder's busy schedule in line with her work on J.J.Abram's new TV pilot Alcatraz; this has been a busy five weeks and hectic for the still young actress - who is back in England for the first time in years.

Nagra, is the cornerstone of the film, and in some exclusive reel footage we were shown; we see a scene of her crying in her brother's bedroom as she sees the only contact with which she had with him; a postcard from her home in Paris where she was working as a fashion executive, she breaks down in tears as this postcard is the only link she had with her brother, the tears expressing guilt and regret over the greater distance she had withdrawn from family life.

Mr.Carr went on about the gruelling schedule of shooting, days shoots running from 7am to 5pm, and then sometimes a night shoots going from 5pm to 7am, sometimes straight after, which has been hard on the 40 strong crew, but the professionalism on display has been all apparent.

As the money man, he was not shy to state how the budget at £1.4m is very good for a British film of this stature - but with its presence as the marquee British release of the early spring after the Oscar rush of films, the film could be the first thing of London in 2012 before 'the big sporting event' appears on the horizon in late July. Yet Mr.Carr made the point, 'that filmgoers pay £8 or whatever it is, for a big Hollywood blockbuster and the same for a small British film, so why can we not offer the British film fan the same sort of sheen and look as a Hollywood film.'

Asking about the script, a first draft was written in 2008 but following a creative difference with the original author, mostly about the omnipresent c-word in British pictures; Carr approached Paul Abbott (Shameless, State of Play) who said no but came back and did a draft and the beauty of Abbott's work, 'is that in two lines he gets the audience to ask 30 questions'.

Carr hopes that along with such films like Enemy of the State and the Bourne franchise, 'there will be a sense of immediacy with the work and that the preparation will pay off. And that there will be an international reach for this film even though it has a low budget, but this has class and we are using London as an asset and character in proceedings. And in Deeva (Nagra), we have a character who is a strong yet vulnerable girl, using her skill set and intelligence - allowing us a greater demographic due to her everyman quality.'