Out Now – 19th October 2012

Frankenweenie
Tim Burton returns to the territory that brought us his greatest film; gothic sop-motion animation about a male with a dead dog. Young Victor Frankenstein brings his dead pet back to life much to the horror of the neighbourhood. PG horror fun.

Paranormal Activity 4
I have a bit of a soft spot for the Paranormal Activity series. They’re harmless fun and always manage to unsettle me with their lazy but effective use of endless inactivity followed by a loud burst of action. After the first film we have had one prequel and one parallelogram (or something) with 4 being the first proper sequel. Can’t bloody wait.

Madagascar 3: Europe’s Most Wanted
A snippet from Stephen’s review: “Rarely ceases its onslaught of kinetic chase sequences, lively dance scenes and other nonsensical montages. On top of that the enormous detail that goes into every one of these is unimaginable. And to keep those viewers that don’t have ADD (ie: anyone over the age of 14) engaged, barely a scene goes by without a subtly hidden adult joke or background gag that would make the Zucker brothers proud.”

BB King: The Life of Riley (limited release)
Two hour documentary about B.B. King. If you’re into that sort of thing.

The Rolling Stones: Crossfire Hurricane (limited release)
Two hour documentary about The Rolling Stones. If you’re into that sort of thing.

Beasts of the Southern Wild (limited release)
“Faced with both her hot-tempered father’s fading health and melting ice-caps that flood her ramshackle bayou community and unleash ancient aurochs, six-year-old Hushpuppy must learn the ways of courage and love.” Anyone who can offer advice in the ways of either courage or love please leave them in the comments below.

Ginger & Rosa (limited release)
A ginger girl called Ginger and a rosa girl called Rosa are friends with an unclear plot in 1960s London. Still trying to figure out what rosa is as an adjective for the purposes of this joke. Urban Dictionary says “The most beautiful girl in the entire world”. Steady on now Urban Dictionary.

5 Broken Cameras (limited release)
“A documentary on a Palestinian farmer’s chronicle of his nonviolent resistance to the actions of the Israeli army.”

Flying Swords of Dragon Gate (limited release)
I’m wary enough about travelling to somewhere called Dragon Gate but now I know that there are flying swords involved I’m out.

56th BFI London Film Festival Line-up Announced

It’s that time of year again. Yesterday was the line-up for the 56th BFI London Film Festival was announced. The festival runs from 10th – 21st October 2012 and we will be covering it more than you could possibly want. I will be trying to beat my personal record of 20 festival films and living off Starbucks and quiet cinema snacks for a week.

The full list of films can be seen on the BFI website but who needs that when below is my initial pick of films that might be worth a look along with a five word summary for each. It may not be comprehensive but this list is at least alphabetical:

The Body Corpse goes missing. Hitchcockian thriller

Celeste and Jesse Forever Can exes become best friends?

Frankenweenie Tim Burton animation – re-animated dog

Hyde Park on Hudson Bill Murray is Franklin Roosevelt

Kelly + Victor Passionate and transgressive love affair

Kiss of the Damned Estranged contemporary vampire sisters reunite

Love Story Documentary/fiction blur for love

My Amityville Horror Exploring the truth about Amityville

Paradise: Love Middle-aged sex tourism in Kenya

The Pervert’s Guide to Ideology Documentary essay on cinema’s ideologies

The Road: A Story of Life and Death Stories of London’s many immigrants

Robot and Frank Jewel thief and robot butler

Room 237 What does The Shining mean?

The Sessions Iron lung hires sex surrogate

Seven Psychopaths In Bruges in Los Angeles

Sightseers Perfect holiday: caravanning and murder

West of Memphis Documentary about teens killing kids

Frankenweenie – Trailer

Remember the time before Tim Burton was inappropriately touching your favourite childhood films? The time before Charlie and the Chocolate Factory and Alice in Wonderland? The time when he made an amazing stop-motion animation with a gothic feel? No, not Corpse Bride. Idiot. Remember The Nightmare Before Christmas; the handmade charm, the dark edge, and the dead dog?

Well if you do you’ll be excited to see that Burton is back with a new gothic stop-motion animation called Frankenweenie; a film about a young boy who reanimates his dead dog. The film isn’t out until October but the first trailer is embedded below. It’s even shot in black and white, which (thanks to The Artist) is the new black.

The Best is Yet to Come: 2012

As much as we are obliged to look back over the year just gone, we are obliged to look ahead at the year just beginning. It’s always exciting to look at the next twelve months and all the exciting treats that are coming to our screens. Below are my personal picks of the films worth seeing in 2012, and I’m hoping there will be many more besides, a few gems I haven’t even heard of yet.