Saturday 2 September 2017

S&S: October 2017




Sight & Sound
October 2017
Vol. 27 No. 10

Ak-Nyeo
[see: Villainess, The]

Almost Heaven
UK - 2017 - 72m - col
Rocksalt (12A)
D: Carol Salter
Audio: Stereo

Atomic Blonde
USA - 2017 - 115m - col / scope
Universal (15)
D: David Leitch
D-Cinema and IMAX-D/L release prints.
Dolby Atmos / DTS:X / IMAX 12-track

Back to Burgundy
Ce quis nous lie
Fr - 2016 - 113m - col / scope
Studio Canal (15)
D: Cédric Klapisch
Audio: 5.1

Bar Bahar
[see: Bar Bahar: In Between]

Bar Bahar: In Between
לא פה, לא שם
Israel/Fr - 2016 - 103m - col / scope
Peccadillo (15)
D: Maysaloun Hamoud
Audio: 5.1

Bending the Arc
USA - 2017 - 102m - col
DocHouse
D: Kief Davidson, Pedro Kos
Audio: Stereo

Brimstone
Neth/Ger/Belg/Fr/Swd/UK - 2016 - 148m - col / scope
Thunderbird (18)
D: Martin Koolhoven
Audio: 5.1

Bushwick
USA/UK - 2016 - 94m - col / scope
Kaleidoscope (15)
D: Cary Murnion, Jonathan Milott
Audio: 5.1

 Daphne
UK - 2016 - 88m - col / scope
Altitude (15)
D: Peter Mackie Burns
Audio: 5.1

The Dark Tower
USA - 2017 - 94m - col / scope
Sony (12A)
D: Nikolaj Arcel
Dolby Atmos / DTS:X / Auro 11.1

Elementary
[see: Primaire]

The Emoji Movie
USA - 2017 - 86m - col / scope / 3-D
Sony (U)
D: Tony Leondis
Audio: 5.1

The Glass Castle
USA - 2017 - 127m - col / scope
Lionsgate (12A)
D: Destin Daniel Cretton
Audio: 5.1

 Home Again
USA - 2017 - 97m - col
STX (12A)
D: Hallie Meyers-Shyer
Audio: 5.1

An Inconvenient Sequel: Truth to Power
USA - 2017 - 98m - col
Paramount (PG)
D: Bonni Cohen, Jon Shenk
Series: An Inconvenient Truth (2006, Sep/2006).
Audio: 5.1

In Between
[see: Bar Bahar: In Between]

Insyriated
Belg/Fr/Leb/Ger - 2017 - 86m - col
Curzon Artificial Eye (15)
D: Philippe Van Leeuw
Audio: 5.1

In the Last Days of the City
آخر أيام المدينة
Egypt/Ger/UK/UAE/Leb/USA/Fr/It/Neth/Tun/Cyprus - 2016 - 118m - col
ICA
D: Tamer El Said
Audio: 5.1

Journey Through French Cinema
Voyage à travers le cinéma français
Fr - 2016 - 201m - col and bw
Studio Canal (12A)
D: Bertrand Tavernier, Thierry Frémaux, Jean Ollé-Laprune, Stéphane Lerouge
Audio: 5.1

Kills on Wheels
Tiszta szívvel
Hung - 2016 - 103m - col / scope
Eureka (15)
D: Attila Till
Audio: 5.1

The Limehouse Golem
UK - 2016 - 109m - col / scope
Lionsgate (15)
D: Juan Carlos Medina
Audio: 5.1

Lo Po Vi Lo Sham
[see: Bar Bahar: In Between]

Métamorphoses
Fr - 2014 - 102m - col / scope
Monument (15)
D: Christophe Honoré
Audio: 5.1


The Night is Short, Walk On Girl
夜は短し歩けよ乙女
Jpn - 2017 - 91m - col
National Amusements (15)
D: Yuasa Masaki
Audio: 5.1

On Body and Soul
Testről és lélekről
Hung/Ger - 2017 - 116m - col / scope
Mubi (18)
D: Ildikó Enyedi
Audio: 5.1

On the Road
UK - 2016 - 112m - col / scope
Lorton (18)
D: Michael Winterbottom
Audio: 5.1

Primaire
Fr - 2016 - 105m - col
Studio Canal (12A)
D: Hélène Angel
Audio: 5.1

Rabih
[see: Tramontane]

The Reagan Show
USA - 2017 - 74m - col
Dogwoof
D: Pacho Velez, Sierra Pettengill
Audio: Stereo

The Road to Mandalay
再見瓦城
Tai/Myanmar/Fr/Thai/India/Ger/S.Korea/Neth - 2016 - 108m - col
Day for Night (15)
D: Midi Z
Audio: 5.1

Shin Godzilla
シン・ゴジラ
(aka: Godzilla: Resurgence)
Jpn - 2016 - 120m - col / scope
National Amusements (12A)
D: Anno Hideaki
D-Cinema and IMAX-D/L release prints.
Series: Godzilla (1954, Feb/1957).
Audio: 3.1

Step
USA - 2017 - 83m - col
20th Century Fox (PG)
D: Amanda Lipitz
Audio: 5.1

 Tramontane
ربيع
Leb/Fr/Ger/UAE/Qatar/USA/It/Jordan - 2016 - 105m - col / scope
Arrow (U)
D: Vatche Boulghourjian
Audio: 5.1

The Vault
USA/UK - 2017 - 91m - col / scope
Content (15)
D: Dan Bush
Audio: 5.1

The Villainess
악녀
S.Korea - 2017 - 123m - col / scope
Arrow (18)
D: Jung Byung-gil
Audio: 5.1

 Wind River
USA/UK/Fr - 2016 - 107m - col / scope
STX (15)
D: Taylor Sheridan
Audio: 5.1

Wolf Warrior 2
戰狼II
China - 2017 - 126m - col / scope / 3-D
Trinity (15)
D: Jacky Wu Jing
D-Cinema, IMAX-D/L and China Film Giant Screen release prints.
Series: Wolf Warrior (2015).
Dolby Atmos / DTS:X / IMAX 12-track / CFGS: 11.1

The Work
Can - 2017 - 89m - col
Dogwoof (15)
D: Jairus McLeary
Audio: 5.1

Yoru wa Mijikashi Aruke yo Otome
[see: Night is Short, Walk On Girl, The]

Zhan lang II
[see: Wolf Warrior 2]

Zoologiya
[see: Zoology]

Zoology
Зоология
Russia/Fr/Ger - 2016 - 91m - col
Arrow (15)
D: Ivan I. Tverdovsky
Audio: 5.1

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9 comments:

  1. George White2 October 2017 at 07:03

    Excuse me, do you know how in the 60s/70s/80s/90s, how the listings were compiled? Trade shows? Distribution guilds? I know the BBFC had no involvement.

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  2. Libretio2 October 2017 at 08:40

    Like similar magazines of the period, it's likely the MFB derived the vast majority of their reviews from trade show screenings. Then, as now, they didn't include everything. When I started this Index, I believed the hype that MFB and S&S were/are the 'journals of record' for UK film releases, but that turns out to be a myth: Hundreds of films are MIA from both publications, mostly B movies at the lower end of the budgetary scale. If you want a really complete listing from the period, one of the few reliable sources was "Kine Weekly", which ran from 1899 to 1971 and appears to have reviewed virtually everything released in UK cinemas during that time, including all the 'pleb' stuff that the snooty MFB wouldn't touch with a bargepole...

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  3. George White5 October 2017 at 11:14

    Yes, but one thing I notice is that it lists all the major distributors and minor distributors, and I think there's only a few titles I came across on BBFC that are not on here, mostly porn (any ones you can think of that are not the MFB 'base) and there's quite a few on here that are not on the BBFC website, i.e. Felicity.

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    Replies
    1. Libretio6 October 2017 at 04:44

      As far as adult films are concerned, there are no reviews for HOT FANTASIES, CONFESSIONS OF A LESBOS HONEY, CONFESSIONS OF A YOUNG AMERICAN HOUSEWIFE, WHITE FLESH IS WEAK, THE SEX SEEKERS, THE SEX ARTIST, EUROPEAN STRIPTEASE, TIFFANY and (my favourite title) THE BEST BIT OF CRUMPET IN DENMARK. If THESE are missing, you can bet there are many others just like 'em.

      (By the way, FELICITY *is* in the BBFC database, at www.bbfc.co.uk/releases/felicity-1979. Sometimes, when I log back onto the Internet and access the BBFC website, I have to re-check the box 'Enable adult content'. Perhaps that's why you weren't able to find it? Or am I thinking of the wrong FELICITY?!).

      It's no different for current releases. In the September 2017 issue of S&S, a letter was posted from someone enquiring about the absence of reviews of many popular releases, citing POWER RANGERS, GOING IN STYLE, UNFORGETTABLE, SPARK, THE SHACK and THE LAST FACE as evidence of this oversight.

      Looking back over the complete Index, I checked the films under 'S' and discovered 84 titles dating between the 1930's and 50's which were listed in MFB but not reviewed. And that's out of ONE alphabetical listing of every film in the Index! You'll find no review of THE GHOST AND MRS. MUIR in MFB, though I imagine the absence of such a high profile film was an oversight. Or maybe it wasn't considered 'high profile' at the time?

      Add to all of this, readers who subscribe to nothing more than S&S and the likes of 'Empire' will have no idea that Bollywood cinema is a small but potent part of the UK film scene. These aren't Art-house movies, by any stretch of the imagination! Massive commercial blockbusters (in their native India) like BAJIRAO MASTANI, LOOTERA and DISHOOM are all missing in action. Many of them end up in the top 10 or 15 releases, and multiplexes around the country are finding space for them in their schedule. How they FIND an audience defeats me, since they aren't widely advertised at all. Or maybe I'm just looking in the wrong places?

      Nick James' assertion that the amount of new releases has outstripped the ability of print media to cover them doesn't ring true to me at all. A magazine like S&S, operating from within the nation's capital (the heart of the UK film industry), should have no trouble covering everything that needs to be covered. If not, I'd like to know why not. Those long-gone trade papers managed to do it, week in and week out. Six reviewers covering 8 to 12 weekly releases is not beyond the ability of a magazine like S&S. Or any such magazine which enjoys a reputation as a 'journal of record'.

      Nope, that reputation does NOT stand up to scrutiny. In my research to Index EVERY UK cinema release since 1927, I'm currently working on the releases for 2014. In the first six months of that year, there were 84 films which didn't make it into the S&S review section. For a magazine with such a reputation, that is literally unconscionable.

      In fact, I'm so alarmed by the lack of full coverage, the magazine's un-earned reputation, and by the excuses which have used to rationalise what really amounts to snobbery (ie. they're only really interested in what they consider to be 'highbrow' stuff), I'll be dropping my subscription after the December 2017 issue and this Index will come to an end. I started it thinking it would provide full coverage of the UK movie scene, but that's a myth. Only the trade papers like "Kine Weekly" and "CinemaTV Today" did that, and their like have not been seen in this country for many decades.

      Some may argue that the Internet makes such coverage redundant, but Id argue to the contrary. A single source - whether online or physical publication - covering ALL new releases in a fair and equitable manner, is much needed. As far as I can see, no such source exists, though I'd be happy to be proved wrong on that point.

      Delete
  4. George White6 October 2017 at 05:24

    There is a snobbishness towards Bollywood stuff,
    Those titles you mention were 80s porn. Though Hot Fantasies and Tiffany were apparently Cannon, Lesbos Honey Tigon offshoot Jay Jay, Joe Sarno's Confessions of a young American Housewife old Grand National, the Sex Seekers good old Fancey/SF/New Realm/Small Film/DUK/Border/Watchgrove, the Sex Artist and European Striptease Butcher's, so all recognised distributors, while White Flesh is Weak and Crumpet in Denmark by porno specialist Monitor, who have no releases listed on MFB, though they did re-release the Erotic Adventures of Zorro, which MFB do list, albeit on its original UK release through Grand National, so they may have been a Fancey-like secret porn vendor side for GN.



    Judging by bbfc.co.uk and the great monthlyfilmbulletinindex.blogspot.com, Distributors seem to have different trading names i.e. Transit/Interocean, Archway/Black Cat/Premier/Supreme/Productions Associates/Pethurst/Saga/Paladin who also have associations with Nationwide, A. Balch films and Castle video, possibly Curzon films too.

    there's also Monarch/Crispin,
    Some releases have different distributors listed, like Supersonic Man, an Inter-Ocean release is listed as being from Lazer films. Mistake? Trading names? Other Inter-Ocean releases are listed as Inter-Ocean. I'd love to know more about the distributors.
    Yes, it's the right Felicity.

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  5. George White13 October 2017 at 04:31

    Looking at Tom Chantrell's posters - Find the Lady and Treasure of Doom/Treasure of the Amazon not listed on MFB.

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    Replies
    1. Libretio14 October 2017 at 04:31

      Many thanks for that! I haven't gotten as far back as those titles, but I'm sure there's PLENTY more where they came from!!

      Thinking back on what I'd written in reponse to your enquiries, it became clear to me there are two other areas of UK cinema history which need to be addressed: The films which played in private cinema clubs until the law was changed in the 1980's, effectively outlawing the distribution of uncertificated material, and feature films on home video.

      The latter is extremely important, because thousands of films have been released on UK video which bypassed cinema altogether, many of which have been largely forgotten because video is widely viewed as a 'second class' medium (it's always been regarded as highly profitable, but films on video are perhaps viewed as the paperback version of a prestige hardback, if you see what I mean). I've always believed that DTV films are every bit the equal of their theatrical counterparts, and worthy of their place in 'cinema' history, especially since many of them have had very successful runs in their home country. The variety of films being released on disc on a weekly basis - mainstream, arthouse and independent commercial - mirrors the kind of range we saw in UK cinemas throughout the 60's and 70's. By comparison, today's cinema releases tend to be either mainstream or arthouse, with very few independent COMMERCIAL (as opposed to 'quirky') films in the mix, and those lower-budget commercial films which DO get a release tend to play in an extremely limited number of venues and suffer accordingly.

      As for the private cinema clubs, I've tried researching them and immediately stumbled across a number of titles which I was unable to identify AT ALL, which suggests any serious attempt to cover this area will need a great deal more expertise than I'm currently capable of mustering...

      Delete
  6. George White24 November 2017 at 03:09

    Pre-cert.co.uk has covered the pre-1984 vhs releases in detail, great detail.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Libretio24 November 2017 at 04:47

      Indeed they have, and constitutes a MAJOR online resource in this area.

      Delete

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