Edinburgh International Film Festival - My Top Five Picks

Yesterday the schedule for The Edinburgh International Film Festival was announced. We already knew The Illusionist, from the creators of Belleville Rendez-vous, was going to open the event and that Toy Story 3 would play in Edinburgh the day after its world premiere on 18th June.

However, yesterday was the day we found out about the other 131 movies that will feature at this year's festival. Tickets go on sale on 3rd June at 12 noon. I've picked out five I think you should look out for:

Mr Nice
Directed by Bernard Rose

Based on Howard Marks' autobigraphy, Mr Nice tells the tale of the Oxford graduate turned drugs smuggler, played by Rhys Ifans. Along the way he gets involved with the IRA, Mafia and wanted by the DEA. Expect a mix of comedy and action as we see the enigmatic Marks talk his way in and out of perilous situations:


Mr Nice Trailer

The Secret in Their Eyes
Directed by Juan José Campanella

From Argentina comes the winner of this year's "Best Foreign Language Film" at the oscars. It's set in 1999, but features flashbacks to 25 years earlier, as our protagonist tries to piece together a case that has haunted him for decades: the rape and murder of a young woman in 1974. Pitched as part murder-mystery, part romance, this one is definitely a must see for any film aficionado.


My Son, My Son, What Have Ye Done?
Directed by Werner Herzog

"Produced by David Lynch and Directed by Werner Herzog" should be enough to convince most film fans to go and see this one. Marketed as "Inspired by a true story" (the most misleading statement known to man BTW - what film is not inspired by at least one true story?), Herzog describes it as "a horror film without the blood, chainsaws and gore". Although certainly from the trailer, it looks more like a psychological thriller than a fright-fest....


My Son, My Son, What Have Ye Done Trailer


The Extra Man
Directed by Shari Springer Berman and Robert Pulcini

Possibly the most star-studded of this year's films, The Extra Man sees Paul Dano, John C. Reilly, Katie Holmes and Kevin Kline join directors Berman and Pulicini (American Splendour) for a film that sees Kline take young playwright Dano under his wing. It seems this has the type of indie sense of humour one might associate with Wes Anderson, and its unsurprising that this made its debut at Sundance: a festival renowned for such quirky indie hits. I for one am a huge fan of movies of this ilk, and can't wait to see Dano in a role supposedly markedly different from both There Will Be Blood and Little Miss Sunshine.


Third Star
Directed by Hattie Dalton

Rounding off this year's fest comes Third Star, a British bromance/road-trip movie. Combining the type of comedy and emotion of something like Cemetery Junction, it features four friends going on what they hope will be a relaxing trip away, but practical difficulties and emotional revelations inevitably get in the way of such notions. The festival has put a lot of confidence in the movie by putting putting it in as the closing night gala, here's hoping its World Premiere doesn't disappoint.

The Edinburgh Film Festival runs from 16th until 27th June. Tickets can be booked in advance on the website: http://www.edfilmfest.org.uk/

New Treme Trailer (From Creators of The Wire)

A few months ago I featured the teaser trailer for Treme, the new show based in New Orleans, from the creators of The Wire.

Since then, they've released this trailer, which gives us a much better idea of what to expect from the show:

"Do You Wanna" Clip Trailer: Day

You'll notice in the trailer, we get John Goodman bookending the footage, talking about what's great about New Orleans: the music, the food, the people.

It seems like this show will do for that city, what The Wire did for Baltimore. Although, the trailer at least, makes it seem more like a love letter than The Wire's warts and all depiction of The City That Bleeds. Nevertheless, given David Simon's history of creating realistic depictions of people, places and events, I don't think the show will match this tone as it progresses.

The characters are what we'd expect from the talent involved. Wendell Pierce (aka Bunk) is a talented but drunken musician , Steve Zahn is loveable mess of a DJ, Clarke Peters (aka Lester) is a stubborn man, determined to live in what remains of his house.

Finally, it's clear that the gap between the federal government's aid and what the people actually need will be a clear theme in the first season. A stand-out line for me was:

"Still got a lot of water?"
"Oh not much... less than a foot."

That and the 'foreign' interviewer implication that New Orleans is no longer a great city, no longer a city worth saving seems to be the lens through which this story will be told.

Treme debuts on HBO in America this Sunday 11th April . No word yet on any UK networks buying the show.

Scott Pilgrim Trailer: Frame by Frame Analysis

Regular readers of this blog will know how much I'm looking forward to the Scott Pilgrim movie - it was my top pick in my Top 5 Most Anticipated Movies of 2010.

So imagine my excitement on Thursday, when its director Edgar Wright (Shaun of the Dead, Hot Fuzz) tweeted a link to the teaser trailer. I've embedded said trailer here for you in all its high-def glory:



If you're a fan of the comic, or were in any way impressed with the trailer, the following is also worth a look. It's a frame-by-frame analysis that explains a few more of the plot details and characters in the kind of awesome detail I could only dream of doing:



Anyway, colour me excited. I'd strongly advise reading the comics before you see the film, since the series is one of the most enjoyable and engaging stories I've read in a while: full of humour, geeky references and even a few tears. I've included the first four pages of volume 1 below to give you a wee taster. If you like what you see, why not buy it at amazon now?

If you're having trouble reading the images below, just right click and go to 'View Image' to see a nice big, readable version.

"Scott Pilgrim is dating a high-schooler?!"



.

Toy Story 3 Trailer

The new trailer for Toy Story 3 came out yesterday, if you haven't see all 150 seconds of it. Here's your chance now:


Toy Story 3 Trailer 2 in HD

Trailer Park Movies | MySpace Video

I think it does a good job of getting across the basic story, without spoiling too much of the plot. The toys arrive at Day Care, they want to be with Andy. Some of the other toys don't like them.

Finally it's great to see so many new, and unique looking characters with the type of attention to detail we've come to expect from Pixar (notice how each of them moves in entirely different ways).

The movie's release date in the UK is 23rd July 2010. Can't wait.

Trailer for "Treme" - New TV Show By Creator Of The Wire

Treme is the new show from David Simon, creator of The Wire. It's set in New Orleans in the weeks and months following Katrina, and will star The Wire's Wendell Pierce (Bunk) & Clarke Peters (Freamon), as well as John Goodman and Steve Zahn. The show will be based around the jazz routes of the city, as you'll get a flavour of in the teaser trailer below:



The show will debut in April in the US. For UK viewers, hopefully that'll mean the DVDs are available by the end of the year.

Top 5 Most Anticipated Movies of 2010

Another day, another top five. This time it's about movies not yet released. This list, unlike the others, is very much my inner fanboy coming out to play. I have no idea what the quality of these movies will be, but I do know the excitement I feel when thinking about their release.

5. Inception
This film is directed by Christopher Nolan (Dark Knight, Prestige, Memento) so it makes the list for that reason alone. The plot isn't that clear as yet, but its tagline: "Your Mind is the Scene of the Crime" implies this will be a psychological thriller where it's not always clear what reality is. It also makes me think Nolan will also exploring the true intent of his characters' actions: the strongest theme in his work to date.
I'll let you try and make sense of the trailer:



4. Kick Ass
Directed by Matthew Vaughn, who worked with Guy Ritchie on Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels then Snatch before going on to direct Layer Cake and the excellent Stardust by himself. Kick-Ass concerns a group of have-a-go-superheroes without any actual superpowers. Among them is the incredibly violent Hit-Girl: played by twelve-year old Chloe Moretz. I think you get a good sense of the mix of violence and humour from the pre-watershed trailer:



As well as the 18-rated post-watershed trailer which introduces you to Hit-Girl, and as such contains very strong language, so NSFW:

3. Up in The Air
I spoke last week about my love for the trailer of this movie. Having listened to the film's director Jason Reitman (Thank You For Smoking, Juno) talk about this project, as well as film critics in America, I can't wait to see it. George Clooney plays a character who's job it is to fire people. He spends most of his life in hotel rooms and airports doing his best to make connections, so long as they aren't human. Zing! - One day I will write trailer monologues:

In a world of connections, Ryan is doing his make to make some - cut to him making a flight - and avoid others - cut to him making excuse after leaving a woman in a hotel room.

Thankfully they didn't hire me to do the trailer, and made this wonderful one instead:



2. Toy Story 3
I've heard Toy Story 1 & 2 described as "The Godfather" of animated movies: an amazing first feature followed by an even better sequel. Here's hoping the third one doesn't turn out to be like the ill-judged Godfather Part 3 then. The film opens with Andy going off to college, so the toys are taken to a day-care centre. Once there, the unbridled chaos of dozens of little toddlers leads them to plot their escape. Pixar's last three movies have all been in my top five of their respective years. They've succeeded, because unlike the Shreks of the animated world, they realise that making adult-friendly films goes beyond making smutty jokes that go over kids heads (Do you think he's maybe compensating for something?). It's about story. Here's the trailer:

1. Scott Pilgrim Vs. The World
Scott Pilgrim is based on a comic book series by Bryan Lee O'Malley and directed by Edgar Wright (Spaced, Shaun of the Dead, Hot Fuzz). It tells the story of 23-year-old Scott Pilgrim who's in the post-uni, pre-work stage of life. His life changes when he meets Ramona Flowers, literally the girl of his dreams. Mixing action, music and pop-culture references, this is one of my favourite comics ever. I'm super-excited about seeing the film, which stars Michael Cera as the lead, and also includes a grown-up Kieran Culkin as his totally platonic gay-bedmate.
There's no trailer for the movie yet, so you'll have to make do with Edgar Wright's description of the film, interspersed with sword-fighting from the cast:

Favourite Trailer of the Year: Up In The Air

Yesterday I promised to do a write-up on Paul Thomas Anderson.  However, since I've got a flight to catch today I'll be unable to do the blog entry justice in the time available.
Instead, in keeping with my theme of "Top Fives of the Year" I'm giving you my number one trailer from last year: "Up In The Air"



There's a number of reasons this trailer works. However, the reason it's my favourite is thatit works as a piece of entertainment in its own right. The monologue doesn't actually need a movie to exist: it works on its own terms. I've heard a lot of good things about the movie, but regardless of its quality this trailer should be appreciated as a two-minute piece of art.

Trailer for Inception (Christopher Nolan's New Movie)

In line with my Top 5 Directors post, here's the new teaser trailer for Inception: brought to you by none other than my number 1 director of the decade, Christopher Nolan: