COUNT FOSCO: 03/01/2007

Sunday, March 11, 2007

DVD INCOMING

The Departed (R1, 2-disc Special Edition, Warner Bros) and A Blade in the Dark/Macabre (R0, Double Feature Edition, Anchor Bay) arrived from DVD Pacific yesterday. I haven't had time to take a look at either of the discs yet but I intend to sit down and watch The Departed this week. I was delighted Martin Scorsese, one of my favourite living directors, received his much belated Oscar for Best Director. Having not seen Infernal Affairs, the Hong Kong crime thriller upon which The Departed is based, I can approach to this film without any preconceived ideas of how or to what degree this American remake is better or worse than the source material. I'll post my thoughts at some point in the future.

I ordered A Blade in the Dark and Macabre primarily to bring my order at DVD Pacific close to my preferred £18 spend (£18 is the sum total in British pounds sterling that you can import goods for from outside the EU without having to incur HM Customs chargers. This figure rises to approx £32 if you can get the package to be identified as a gift). However, A Blade in the Dark has been on my 'too watch' list for some time and being a massive Mario Bava fan, I am keen to see how his offspring's efforts compare. More comments on these Lamberto Bava features to follow.

(*) HANNIBAL *****

UK/USA: Ridley Scott, 2001

Format: SD DVD
Region: 2 (UK)
DVD Distributor: Columbia Tristar Home Entertainment

IMDB reference

(*) THE SILENCE OF THE LAMBS *****

USA: Jonathan Demme, 1991

Format: SD DVD
Region: 2 (UK)
DVD Distributor: MGM

IMDB reference

Thursday, March 08, 2007

50 GREATEST TV DRAMA

Aired on Channel 4 recently, I sat down and watched the show this afternoon.

For my part I am pleased to see The Sopranos get the industry recognition it deserves and look at Twin Peaks riding high at 9th. I think Shooting the Past should have been much higher but then again I am a massive Poliakoff fan. Good to see Sex Traffic and other contemporary drama such as 24 and Band of Brothers being picked out for praise. No surprises that pieces like This Life, Queer As Folk and the 'Dennis Potter' canon were all present. However, there were also some really got nods to less fashionable pieces such as Heimat, Talking to a Stranger and Threads. I'll definitely be looking into getting my hands on these to watch for the first time.

The final line-up:

1. The Sopranos
2. Boys From The Blackstuff
3. Edge Of Darkness
4. The Singing Detective
5. Cathy Come Home
6. The West Wing
7. Cracker
8. Our Friends In The North
9. Twin Peaks
10. Heimat
11. Prime Suspect
12. Pennies From Heaven
13. Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy
14. I Claudius
15. Das Boot
16. A Very British Coup
17. This Life
18. Abigail's Party
19. Hill Street Blues
20. Queer As Folk
21. Sex Traffic
22. Bleak House (2005)
23. House Of Cards
24. Shameless
25. Talking To A Stranger
26. Doctor Who
27. 24
28. Scum
29. Brideshead Revisited
30. Traffik
31. Blue Remembered Hills
32. Warriors
33. The Naked Civil Servant
34. Bloody Sunday
35. Auf Wiedersehen Pet
36. Talking Heads
37. Hillsborough
38. The Prisoner
39. Shooting The Past
40. Pride And Prejudice (1995)
41. GBH
42. Made In Britain
43. The Jewel In The Crown
44. Threads
45. Z Cars
46. Caught On A Train
47. Upstairs Downstairs
48. State Of Play
49. Roots
50. Band Of Brothers

Also if anyone else caught the show, do you know what song was used for the intros and then played again throughout the show? The almost haunting if indecipherable lyrics sound familiar but I can't seem to place the piece of music or remember the band.

Wednesday, March 07, 2007

YMDB HAS MOVED!

Having checked a few of my links due to my inactivity in posting new material (this is dictated by time constraints unfortunately) I discovered Your Movie Database has moved location.

Your Movie Database is a cool website that allows you to compile a list of your Top 20 films of all time. Your list is then viewable to other users and you can leave comment on each other's lists. Any tool that can allow for discussion of these films and provide recommendations to further your own viewing is good in my book.

YMDB can now be found at here. Go make that list!

Check out my list here and leave a comment on this post or on the YMDB website.

A LOAD OF LYNCH

Back in September I picked up Lynch on Lynch from the Faber and Faber series of career length interviews with celebrated film directors. Having only recently found the time to sit down and begin to delve into the book, I decided to accompany my reading by ordering three films by David Lynch from Amazon UK.

As luck would have it Amazon UK are having something of a Lynch sale with selected titles going for £6.97 each. I ordered Twin Peaks: Fire Walk With Me, The Elephant Man and Lost Highway. Out of the three films I have only seen Lost Highway and it is a personal favourite of mine, included in my Top 20 films of all time. I did catch part of Twin Peaks: Fire Walk With Me when it was broadcast on Film Four a few years ago. However, having never seen Twin Peaks the television series I didn't want to expose myself to potential spoilers so I switched channels. Finally, The Elephant Man is a film I have been meaning to see for some time. I have a particular curiosity for the Victorian Era and am fascinated to see how that very distinctly British world is interpreted by an American artist such as Lynch.

This trio of Lynch titles will supplement my other (relatively) recent Lynch purchases Blue Velvet (R0, 2-disc Special Edition, Sanctuary Visual Entertainment) and Dune (R0, 2-disc Special Edition, Sanctuary Visual Entertainment). Both of which I picked up on a shopping spree in Northampton whilst visiting family over the Christmas period.

Monday, March 05, 2007

HOW TO LOSE A GUY IN 10 DAYS **

USA/GERMANY: Donald Petrie, 2003

Format: SD DVD
Region: 2 (UK)
DVD Distributor: Paramount

Being left in a room with nothing but your girlfriend's DVD collection can do weird things to you. This 'battle-of-the-sexes' rom-com is certainly not my typical night's viewing, however, much like the curiosity that teenage girl magazines evoked in me during my puberty I couldn't resist taking a peek. Actually, How To Lose A Guy In 10 Days was far better than I was expecting and at the end of a long day, I did find myself in the right frame of mind to giggling along with the easy, unchallenging humour.

As far as the story goes it is pretty familiar stuff with two supposedly ambitious and calculating young professionals courting each other in the name of a bet, only to realise by the end that in fact they have fallen in love for real. Okay so the film is rather superficial and lacks any real emotional pull (the tissues were left untouched on the bedside table) but in Matthew McConaughey and especially Kate Hudson it does feature two likeable leads. Indeed, Kate Hudson in particular impressed me by her comedic assurance (no doubt picked up from parents Kurt Russell and Goldie Hawn) and her disarmingly natural on screen presence. For those who haven't yet seen it I would strongly recommend watching Hudson's engaging performance in effective chiller The Skeleton Key.

IMDB reference