Yesterday I awoke to a press release telling me that the BT Tower was going to be turned into a Lightsaber (and last night it came true) and this morning I get news that one of my childhood heroes, Postman Pat is going to get his own feature film! There’s a full press release from a well respected PR firm so it has to be true doesn’t it?!

The film finds Pat, everyone’s favourite postman, coming face-to-face with the temptations of money, status and a shiny new suit when he enters a national TV talent show competition that threatens to tear him away from his hometown of Greendale and the friends he loves. What happens when kindness meets selfishness?  When local fame meets global notoriety?  A nice cup of tea is kicked aside by a frappacappucino?    Pat is set to find out as he falls for the age old temptation of the grass being greener…

The animated feature movie is going to be called ‘You Know You’re the One’ and will be with us spring 2013. The voice cast lined up to star include Stephen Mangan, Jim Broadbent, Rupert Grint and David Tennan. Just as long as Jess and Mrs Goggins makes an appearance, we’re happy!

More as we get it but this sounds like a lot of fun to me! Read the full press release below which tells you much much more.

SPECIAL 30^TH BIRTHDAY DELIVERY

POSTMAN PAT’s® FIRST FEATURE FILM

“YOU KNOW YOU’RE THE ONE”

COMING TO CINEMAS SPRING 2013

 

Episodes’ Stephen Mangan, Academy Award® Winner Jim Broadbent,

Harry Potter’s Rupert Grint and Doctor Who’s David Tennant

Lead Star-Studded Voice Cast

LONDON, UK (September 16, 2011) -  Classic Media, a media company with a portfolio of some of the world’s leading family entertainment brands, and RGH Entertainment, the animation development and production unit of Rubicon Group Holding (RGH), are proud to announce that Postman Pat will be making his big screen debut in ‘Postman Pat: The Movie – You Know You’re the One’.  The announcement of the film, which will be released in CG 3-D Stereoscopic, is timed to today’s celebration of Postman Pat’s 30^th birthday.

 The renowned voice cast will be led by actor Stephen Mangan (Episodes, Green Wing, Dirk Gently) as Postman Pat. Academy Award® and BAFTA® Award Winner Jim Broadbent (Iris, Moulin Rouge!), Rupert Grint, who achieved international fame as Ron Weasley in the Harry Potter film series, and David Tennant (Doctor Who, Harry Potter) will join Stephen in bringing the world of Postman Pat to life on the big screen.

The film finds Pat, everyone’s favourite postman, coming face-to-face with the temptations of money, status and a shiny new suit when he enters a national TV talent show competition that threatens to tear him away from his hometown of Greendale and the friends he loves. What happens when kindness meets selfishness?  When local fame meets global notoriety?  A nice cup of tea is kicked aside by a frappacappucino?    Pat is set to find out as he falls for the age old temptation of the grass being greener…

The voice cast, all true Postman Pat fans, commented on working on the film.  Stephen Mangan said, “I’m absolutely thrilled to be playing the world’s best-known postman in his big screen debut – he’s an iconic British hero and it’s a great script. However when I excitedly told my 3 year old son that I was going to be Postman Pat, he said, ‘No you’re not, dad, don’t be silly.’”  Jim Broadbent noted, “I’m delighted and very excited to be involved with such an iconic figure as Postman Pat.” Rupert Grint added, “I used to watch Postman Pat when I was a small boy. My brother and sisters all did at some stage. Postman Pat is one of those British symbols, I suppose – you are totally familiar with him and his cat, Jess even if you have never watched the series.  How exciting to be part of the Postman Pat heritage.”     

‘Postman Pat: The Movie – You Know You’re the One’ will be directed by Mike Disa (Hoodwinked Too! Hood vs. Evil) from a screenplay co-written by the award-winning Kim Fuller (Spice World, High Heels & Low Lifes) and Annika Bluhm, the long-time Producer of the Postman Pat television series.  The film is being produced by RGH’s Robert Anich and Miles Horst and Classic Media’s Ceri Barnes and Annika Bluhm, with Rubicon’s Randa Ayoubi and David Corbett and Classic Media’s Eric Ellenbogen and Doug Schwalbe serving as executive producers.

‘Postman Pat: The Movie – You Know You’re the One’ begins production this month and heads to cinemas Spring 2013.   Ralph Kamp’s Timeless Films is managing worldwide sales with Icon Film Distribution releasing the film in the UK and Eire.

Chilling, and Inventive

Austin, TX – James Wan’s latest film, ‘Insidious’ managed to shock, scare and amuse the SXSW film festival audience during a midnight screening at Alamo South Lamar theatre.

The story of a family, who begin to experience paranormal activity in their new home, may seem like your typical horror film setup, but if anything ‘Insidious’ is a refreshing take on the ghost thriller genre, reminiscent of movies like Poltergeist, and the work of cult horror king Sam Raimi. The creepy visuals also call to mind the work of Guillermo del Toro. Together those inspirations create an entertaining film experience unlike anything currently out there.

Josh (Patrick Wilson), a school teacher, his wife Renai (Rose Byrne), find themselves dealing with the unexpected coma of their son, Dalton. They soon learn that their son is not in a coma but rather, his spirit has travelled through the astral plane, leaving his body as a shell to be invaded by wandering entities.

The film deviates from the religious concept of ‘Hell’, instead referring to the dark realm as ‘The Further’, and using the idea of astral planes for the out of body experience.

With this, you get a film that doesn’t play to what audiences would expect most of the time, but something different, and yet familiar; a film that is not so much about exorcism, or holy water, but dreamscapes in the vein of Friday the 13th.

Ty Simpkins as Dalton in 'Insidious'

Going in to the movie with little knowledge about the film definitely added to the thrills. During the screening I attended, there was a guy sitting next to me, who would literally flail his arms each time there was as a scare in the film. The visual, and audio impact are pretty effective, and the payoff is worth the suspense, even the most macho movie-goer would jump in their seat.

Though the family dynamic between the husband and wife characters Josh and Renai is mostly flat, and  may not be the most convincing with dialogue that is mostly predictable, the film still stays on course to entertain the audience with a number of supporting characters, and visuals.

‘Insidious’ is a little bit of everything that horror filmmakers James Wan, and Leigh Whannell took inspiration from. They succeed in making a unique film that provides the goods, surely to be a favourite for anyone looking for a few chills, and thrills.

[Rating 4/5]

The City Dark Illuminates, Could Shine Brighter.

Austin, TX – The City Dark, recently had its world premiere in the Documentary  Feature competition at this year’s SXSW film festival.

The environmental film explores the issue of light pollution, and the disappearance of starlight in the urban sprawl of industrialized nations.

Directed and narrated by filmmaker Ian Cheney (King Corn), the film follows his personal quest to answer the question, “What do we lose, when we lose the night.” By interviewing various astronomers, biologists, historians, photographers, and even boy scouts, we  learn that there is quite a lot at stake in the ‘open 24/7’ culture of the world, and what better starting point for Cheney’s journey than in the city that never sleeps.

Moving from the natural beauty of Maine, to the concrete jungle of New York City, he soon discovers that his childhood fascination with observing stars becomes difficult amid the glowing city lights that block out the night sky.

Cheney, an astrophotographer himself  uses the missing stars as a catalyst for the documentary. We follow his travels around the globe as he documents the quality of sky using his own method of judging the night, through a letter grading scale, A to F. As you would expect some areas are far worse than others, but the impact that major cities have on the surrounding areas, is surprising, stretching for miles in all directions.

Witnessing the affect of artificial lights on nature through disoriented sea turtles on a beach in Miami, is a heartfelt moment in the film. And the death of birds who collide with buildings in Chicago, gives viewers a sense of the harsh reality urban growth has caused.

The correlation of health hazards of late-night shift work, cancer and melatonin regulation in the body, are intriguing, and something I wish the filmmakers had explored more in depth, rather than focusing on the, “if and when” a killer asteroid would hit the earth.

While the film drifts between interviews, and Cheney’s own memories of childhood star-observing, with a sort of dreamlike calm, The City Dark at times feels as if the important subject matter is something to be taken lightly. The music in the film for example, and Cheney’s soft, almost sleepy narration add to the nonchalant, pedestrian pace. For an issue as serious as this, there does not seem to be a sense of urgency with the energy of the film falling relatively flat.

Though the film lacks the production values of BBC’s Planet Earth series, and the narrative skill of David Suzuki, The City Dark still manages to highlight an easily overlooked problem of industrial progress, through breathtaking time lapse photography, and charming cartoon animation throughout the film.

It doesn’t delve deep into solutions, or new technologies that would help reverse the damage made, nor does it highlight any large political efforts in major urban areas where the biggest light pollution offences exist.

The City Dark does however call attention to an important issue, and serves as a poignant reminder that the earth is not the center of the universe. The message to preserve the natural night sky, is one that should resonate with city dwellers and non-urban dwellers, alike.

SXSW 2011 Screenings

Sunday March 13, Alamo Lamar South
Friday March 18, Alamo Lamar South

The City Dark

SXSW 2011 Premiere – Documentary Competition

Director: Ian Cheney
Producer: Ian Cheney
Cinematographer: Taylor Gentry
Editor: Ian Cheney, Frederick Shanahan
Music: The Fishermen Three, Ben Fries

www.thecitydark.com/

Do we need the darkness of the night sky, and the light from the stars above?

The City Dark, a documentary in competition at the SXSW 2011 film festival, sets out to answer that question. Following the journey of filmmaker Ian Cheaney, the environmental documentary features  interviews with astronomers, and scientists who share their view on the darkness, starlight, and the dangers of light pollution from the urban landscape.

Growing up in the natural beauty of Maine, Cheaney moves to New York City, only to discover the stars in the night sky are wiped out by the lights of the city. This compels him to learn more about the missing stars and the issues surrounding it.

SCREENINGS

7 pm Saturday, March 12th, Vimeo Theater – Austin Conv. Center

11:15am, Sunday, March 13th, Alamo Lamar South

4:30pm, Friday, March 18th, Alamo Lamar South

PRESS RELEASE

World Premiere of THE CITY DARK at SXSW film festival a new feature documentary from the co-creator of KING CORN
Austin, TX — THE CITY DARK, a new feature documentary by Peabody Award-winning filmmaker Ian Cheney, premieres Saturday, March 12th in the Documentary Feature Competition at the South by Southwest Film Festival. The film chronicles the disappearance of darkness, revealing the surprising impact of light pollution on human health, the environment, and our culture’s relationship to the night sky.
Many Americans are familiar with the bright orange glow that floats above every city at night; it’s estimated that 2/3 of all Americans cannot see the Milky Way from their own backyards, and across the world, 2/3 of all humans live under skies polluted by artificial light. But might we be losing more than our view of the stars?

THE CITY DARK follows filmmaker Ian Cheney, who grew up an amateur astronomer in Maine but moves to New York City and discovers skies awash in electric light. Posing a deceptively simple question, “What do we lose, when we lose the night?” the film leads viewers on a quest to understand what is lost in the glare of city lights. Astronomers atop Haleakala in Hawaii lament the city lights fogging their newest observatory, designed to detect killer asteroids headed for earth. Biologists along the Florida coast trace the death of thousands of hatching sea turtles to their disorientation by Miami’s lights. In Chicago, viewers learn that migratory birds, accustomed to navigating by the stars, are colliding by the millions into brightly lit office buildings all across the US. Cancer researchers at Harvard and the University of Pennsylvania unravel the shocking relationship between exposure to light at night and the risk of breast cancer in shift workers. Each visit deepens viewers’ understanding of both the measurable and intangible benefits of darkness, while asking us to pause and consider whether darkness is a natural resource — an overlooked part of the wilderness needing our protection. A cast of quirky characters includes luminaries like astrophysicist Neil deGRasse Tyson and author Ann Druyan alongside volunteer bird-rescuers and sidewalk stargazers. Blending a humorous tone with majestic footage of the night sky, what unravels is an introduction to the science of the dark, and an exploration of the human relationship to the stars.

SXSW screenings

Saturday, March 12th, 7pm, Vimeo Theater – Austin Convention Center*
Sunday, March 13th, 11.15am, Alamo Lamar South
Friday, March 18th, 4.30pm, Alamo Lamar South

(*Screening followed by sidewalk stargazing with local astronomers)

About the director

Ian Cheney is a Brooklyn-based documentary filmmaker. He grew up in New England and earned his Bachelor’s and Master’s degrees at Yale. After graduate school he co-created and starred in the Peabody Award-winning theatrical hit and PBS documentary King Corn (2007), directed the Sundance Channel documentary The Greening of Southie (2008), and co-produced the Planet Green documentary Big River (2019). Ian also maintains a 1/1000th acre farm in the back of his ’86 Dodge pickup, which is at the center of his recent 1-hour film Truck Farm (2010). An avid astrophotographer, he travels frequently to show his films, lead discussions and give talks about sustainability, agriculture, and the human relationship to the natural world.

Continuing our pioneering look at movies from reality’s underside, HUG once again connects to her sister site in a parallel universe to bring you the kind of lowdown that would never make it to a hard copy publication on quality control grounds.

It’s a place where Western Culture has evolved to allow women to walk around bare breasted, where each and every human impulse is catered for in safe booths; there are ones for masturbation, suicide and the consumption of Dan Brown’s novels and in which film history reads differently. To our eyes it would look like the inane etchings of a bored and socially dysfunctional film journalist. You’re invented to be more thorough in your analysis.

In our reality the Star Wars series was dealt a fatal blow by its own creator with the interminable photo-chemical faecal matter known to some as The Phantom Menace (1999). Lucas’ prequel read like a tabloid horror story in which a kind and loving father had snapped and taken a claw hammer to his family as they slept. No-one could understand why he did it. Millions took to the Skywalker Ranch in Marin County to cry in solidarity and hold up placards with the word “why?” scrawled across them. But in a galaxy far far away, the series turned a lot earlier. In 1982 Lucas invited maverick director and neo-noir maremaker David Lynch to helm the final movie in the trilogy, Return of the Jedi. He accepted. What happened next killed a franchise. Now read on for our transdimensional sister site’s review from the archives.

Review: Return of the Jedi (David Lynch, 1983)

Star Wars provided the revenue for George Lucas to fund an empire. With the second movie, The Empire Strikes Back, he built it. As a sat in the Ziegfeld Theater on New York’s West 54th Street watching David Lynch’s conclusion I was a witness to the last days of Rome and that’s not just a comment on the narrative, because in handing this piece to the Eraserhead Director, Lucas might have made the biggest mistake of his life.

As the now familiar chords of John William’s bombastic score sung over the end credits and the title “directed by David Lynch” appeared, almost like a taunt ““ imagine your rapist handing you their business card afterwards, one was struck by the deathly silence in the theater. Three years ago, following the revelation that Darth Vader had spawned weasel voiced Mark Hamill, there had been deafening applause from the Lucasfilm faithful. They whooped, they hollered, they threw Polaroids of their naked partners at the screen ““ the partners moved quickly to retrieve them and on it went. This time however, there was nothing. As a critic I hadn’t seen anything like this since the intermission for Michael Cimino’s Heaven’s Gate; the “End of Part I” announcement after a half day of movie prompting two patron’s to kill themselves and third to kill two patrons.

The Director’s recent Oscar nomination for the Elephant Man brought him to Lucas’ attention but the Star Wars creator was warned that Lynch would insist on full creative control, something he was initially reluctant to cede to another filmmaker. Negotiations between the two men were fraught. Lynch would respond to Lucas’ frequent phone calls by answering in a series of foreign accents, sometimes pretending he couldn’t speak English at all. Consequently Lucas couldn’t be sure who he was talking to and was forced to leave numerous messages which Lynch would later pretend he hadn’t received. Lucas, progressively disillusioned by the lack of progress, was gearing up to hire the pliable membranes belonging to Richard Marquand when a breakthrough occurred. Lynch would settle the matter using the ATARI game based on the original Star Wars picture. If he successfully destroyed the Death Star on a single credit, Lucas would be forced to sign a legal agreement that signed across both creative control and final cut to the maverick filmmaker. If Lynch failed, he’d direct an adaptation of Frank Herbert’s Dune instead. Given the finished product, Lucas will be kicking himself that it didn’t go the other way.

Lynch’s sequel finds the principles in an altogether different league of dire straits, which makes the ending to Empire Strikes Back look happy and confected by comparison. Lucas’ original treatment imagined space gangster Jabba the Hut as a giant slug but Lynch’s conception casts Dennis Hopper as a sadistic, space ore dependent serial womaniser whose palatial den looks suspiciously like an intergalactic harem. Leia (a returning and uncomfortable looking Carrie Fisher), is Hut’s sex slave and the abuse she receives is vastly out of step with the child friendly space operatics of the first two films. She’s obliged to lick Hopper’s face, rest her head in his crotch and beg to be clothed while a manic hopper tosses scraps of meat at her from his throne.

Lynch’s twist on the Star Wars universe is to show the Empire’s rule as a force for perfidiousness in the collective moral psyche. This is a disgusting universe in which cruelty in very much in vogue. If Lucas imagined the Empire as a relatively benign fascist allegory ““ cartoon Nazism, then Lynch is obsessed with the detail of that setup; absurd decadence and sexual violence. When we last saw Harrison Ford’s Han Solo he was encased in space concrete and sent off to Hut as an ornament. Here, that would be an easy let off. Knowing that Leia desires Solo but is repelled by him, Hutt teases the princess with the threat of her lover’s death. Solo is momentarily unthawed, given a drug to induce arousal and re-set. Each time Leia repels Hopper’s increasingly grotesque advances, one part of Solo’s anatomy is blasted off. The climax of this sequence has the unhinged gangster snapping off Solo’s engorged genitals, prompting Leia to grab the carbonite phallus in a fit of intense grief and beat Hutt to death with it. This is a dream for psychoanalysts but a nightmare for Star Wars fans who must contend with the emasculation and death of one of their heroes and the psychological retardation of another in the same scene.

If Lynch wants to unsettle his audience and remind them that no one is safe in his version of the Star Wars universe then he succeeds magnificently. By the time the action shifts to Luke’s encounter with Daddy Vader and oedipal gigantism, we’ve endured the defenestration of Yoda by an angry Luke, an Obi-Wan turned insane in the Jedi afterlife who tells Skywalker the younger that “the stars don’t know shit” and a three minute conversation between space fleas on the floor plate of the Millennium Falcon. The climatic showdown between Skywalker, Vader and his Emperor is unsettling, not least because Luke is converted to the dark side of the force and slaughters his father to become the Dark Lord’s new apprentice. It’s a curious payoff for the millions who’ve made the first two movies in this trilogy box office champions, but that’s Lynch ““ unapologetically unconventional, more concerned with the dark underbelly of human nature than tidy endings and fearless. The movie may bomb, and early figures suggest it will do just that but as I was reminded on the way out by one optimistic fan, it could have been so much worse. “Lucas was going to have a planet of teddy bears in his version” he told me. Just imagine it.

Key scene (screenplay by David Lynch and Lawrence Kasdan):

INT. JABBA’S PALACE – DAY

Jabba is tugging hard on the chain affixed to Leia’s neck.

HUTT

Woah, now now little lady, don’t you be tryin’ to go someplace. Remember, I own you, I own your fucking head, legs, tits, the lot ““ you got that? I’m the overlord of you.

He inhales another line of space ore from the arm of his throne.

LEIA

I have powerful friends Jabba, you may not live to regret this.

HUTT

Oh, you’ve got powerful friends? Powerful friends huh, listen ““ I chewed off a Rancor’s balls this morning. That was breakfast. Do you understand? I don’t do fear. I hand it out, I’ve got the motherload. You think this is hell? This isn’t hell my sweet, hell is what happens when you don’t do exactly what I say. You want me to destroy you? I’ll fucking destroy you. I’ll annihilate your space atoms and suck them up with my ass.

LEIA

I’ll enjoy watching you die.

HUTT

Ho ho ho. Listen sugar tits, I’ll tell you when its time to die. We can all enjoy the moment. Maybe you’ll be nesting on my space wang when it happens, know what I mean?

(Goes on a similar vein for 10 minutes).

Next Week: Michael Bay’s Schindler’s List!

Ten years ago, the Wachowski brothers, little known at the time, released their second movie as directors, The Matrix. A product of their love of Hong Kong action movies and Manga, it became huge. The mix of stylish action and spiritual introspection struck a chord, particularly with teenage boys searching for an identity. Two inferior sequels followed, but they did’nt diminish the cultural impact the first movie made, and the Wachowskis were set – they could write their own cheques.

 Their follow up movie, Speed Racer, got very mixed reviews. They did, however, unearth a very talented young martial arts actor, Rain. Another young man, by the name of James McTeigue, had worked as a second unit director on all three Matrix movies. Having learnt his trade from the talented brothers, McTeigue made his directorial debut with 2006′s V for Vendetta. The Wachowski, along with their Matrix producer Joel Silver, brought these two talented men together for a project, Ninja Assassin.

 Rain plays Raizo, one of the world’s deadliest assassins. He learnt his trade from the shadowy Ozunu Clan, having been abducted by them as a small boy. Rain, from South Korea, is better known as a singer than an actor. Also a talented dancer and designer, his only movie credit before Speed Racer was 2006 Korean film I’m a Cyborg, But That’s OK. A friend of Raizo is executed by his clan, causing him to question his loyalty to them. He decides he can no longer work for them, and disappears. In hiding, he awaits the right time to wreak revenge on his former ‘family’.

 Actress Naomie Harris plays Mika Coretti, a Europol agent. She is following a money trail picked up during an investigation into a chain of political assassinations. Harris is probably best known for the part of Tia Dalma in the Pirates of the Caribbean movies, and is something of an up and coming star. Coretti’s investigation leads her too close to the Ozunu Clan, and she becomes a mark.

 The clan’s team of killers is led by Takeshi, played by Rick Yune. Yune is an actor and writer. He featured in 2002′s Tomorrow Never Dies, and more recently in 2008′s The Fifth Commandment, which he also wrote, and Alone in the Dark II. Inevitably, Raizo and Coretti join forces after the former assassin saves the agent’s life, and together they hatch a plan to shut down the Clan’s operations for good.

 Australian director James McTeigue is well positioned to helm this action thriller, having learnt the art of stylistic martial arts and gun play from the two brothers, working alongside them during filming of their revolutionary trilogy. In the past he also worked as second assistant director on the Street Fighter movie. Like the Wachowskis, McTeigue too has an interest in manga and anime. His debut V for Vendetta, also produced by the Wachowskis, featured just a little of their favoured martial arts action. Though containing some good ideas, the story unfortunately was a bit of a mess. V had been called ‘unfilmable’ in the past, and that assertion was proven correct. To hear what McTeigue has to say about Ninja Assassin go here.

 The script for Ninja Assassin however should be good, despite the cliched synopsis. Legendary screenwriter J Michael Straczynski re-drafted the script at the producers’ request, as they were not completely happy with it. Stracynski is best known for his ground breaking TV series Babylon 5, highly regarded as one of the best space-set television series of all time by science fiction fans. He worked as show runner on that series. He is also responsible for writing the adaptation of the Max Brooks novel World War Z for Brad Pitt’s production company Plan B, along with a screenplay for a potential Silver Surfer movie.

 Based on the trailer (which you can see here), the fight scenes in Ninja Assassin are awesome. The kung fu is fast, the gun play well choreographed. With the influence of The Matrix looming large, the movie is bound to be stylish, possibly to the detriment of it’s substance. Unlike The Matrix, the scenes on show are very darkly lit. Partly a product of it’s shadowy subject matter, but also presumably indicative of it’s lower budget.

 With 2012 still at the beginning of it’s run, and Twilight: New Moon having just opened yesterday, Ninja Assassin may struggle at the box office. An unknown star and director mean there is little name value attached, other than the Wachowskis as producers. This movie’s audience is going to be young men, teens and early twenties, searching for a remedy to Twilight fever. Nevertheless, with some great, talented people involved, Ninja Assassin could be one of the best kung fu action movies produced in the west.

 Ninja Assassin opens in the US next Friday 27th November. It does not reach the UK until 8th January.

Bazmann - You can now follow me on Twitter at www.twitter.com/baz_mann

In 2001, Richard Kelly’s Donnie Darko opened in theatres. With only a limited release, just 58 screens across the US it wasn’t able to set the box office alight, with a domestic gross of around $520,000, and $4.1M worldwide. When it came to DVD, however, it found a new lease of life. With some interesting extras on the disc, and the release of The Donnie Darko book which included pages from ‘The Philosophy of Time Travel’, we could delve deeper into the mythos of the movie.

 Word spread, DVD’s began to fly off the shelves, and people found a place in their hearts for Kelly’s masterpiece. It provoked discussion, it divided opinions. Most of all, it made people think. Donnie Darko became a cult classic, it made a star of lead actor Jake Gyllenhall, and it catapulted it’s talented director into the public consciousness. Donnie Darko was Kelly’s first feature. He had made Darko on a low budget of less than $5m, and it was the story and thought provoking narrative that made Darko such a popular film.

 The eventual success of the movie meant that Kelly was afforded a higher budget for his highly anticipated follow up, around $17M. Southland Tales was to be an epic story, with some big names attached. Casting and early details about the plot raised some eyebrows. An ex-wrestler, a pop star and Buffy the Vampire Slayer in a tale about an apocalypse, and the end of the world? Trust was put in Kelly by his fans however, after all, Donnie Darko wouldn’t have looked so hot on paper either.

 The movie debuted to an icy reception at the Cannes Film Festival. Following rumours of re-shoots and extensive re-editing, Southland Tales was heavily delayed. A graphic novel series meant to lead in to it’s release was reduced in size, due to Kelly’s struggles with the film. Any name value Kelly had with mainstream movie goers was gone, and it was only the internet fans still waiting for Kelly’s epic. Eventually, Southland was given a very limited release, at just 63 theatres, and grossed just $366,000 worldwide.

 Kelly didn’t get to make the movie he wanted. His real vision had been for a four hour epic, a dream that inevitably had to be compromised. Would Southland Tales have been a better movie if Kelly had had his way? Possibly not. Southland was intrinsically flawed, an over indulgent, over ambitious hodge podge of great ideas and poor execution. Unfortunately, unlike Donnie Darko, Southland did not get a new lease of life on DVD either. There was really not much positive buzz about it even from a lot of the directors staunchest fans.

 Kelly acquiesced to the Hollywood system for his third film, and opted for a more mainstream studio picture. Moreover, his movie The Box would not be based on one of his own original ideas, but on the Richard Matheson shoort story Button, Button. He was compromising his creative vision for a fair budget, and a nationwide theatrical release. The source material was however open to interpretation, and the director was able to put his own creative spin and unique ideas to the story. With a couple of A-list, though not overly expensive stars, The Box was a very conservative project in contrast to his last movie.

 Kelly is a very talented film maker, and internet movie fans were looking forward to his next work. The problem is, the general public, the cinema patrons that push a good opening up to a big opening, don’t know who Kelly is. With limited theatrical runs for Darko and Tales, he has never really hit the headlines. Coupled with the lack of real star power in the movie, and a cerebral storyline that is difficult to convey in a trailer, it was always going to struggle at the box office. And it has, having made just $13.5M in it’s first two weeks, against a production budget of $30M. Worldwide, it will make a profit by the end of it’s run, but only a small one.

 Kelly continues to complement his movies with extra content, in the case of The Box it’s another book, that features in the movie, and is available online. His movies work best backed up by internet material, and insider information. That’s why the failure of Southland Tales and The Box might not necessarily be a bad thing, for fans of the film maker at least. Tales was over indulgent, The Box too much of a compromise. Kelly’s films, his stories and ideas, are just not meant for mainstream audiences.

 If he is forced to go back to basics, with a low budget film and intelligent storyline, it may result in another great film like Donnie Darko. With his ambitions reigned in, and no studio execs looking over his shoulder, Kelly could once again show what a great artist he is. It’s most director’s dream to be able to make the films they want with the financial backing and clout of a major hollywood studio. But the truth is, Kelly is an auteur, and much better off working completely independently. I’m looking forward to his next project, whatever it may be, as it may just be the best film he ever makes.

Bazmann – You can now follow me on Twitter at www.twitter.com/baz_mann

I have been lentil-lovingly vegetarian for over twenty years, yet eighty minutes into a screening at Sony last week I was hit with the alarming and overwhelming urge to see a roast duck dismembered. What fresh madness was this? The power of film my friends. Essential to the climax of Julie & Julia (reviewed here) is the ability of blogger Julie Powell to bone, wrap, cook, carve and serve a duck. You never see her carve the duck ““ maddening! For this reason, and to coincide with the Friday release of the film, I give you my Top 5 fluffy-but-satisfying foodie movies.

(Before you ask The Cook, the Thief, His Wife & Her Lover never made the cut because, though brilliant, like Soylent Green it’s people, people. Not appetising.)

5. The Last Supper: (No not that one). “The conservatives are effective. They do things. All we do is buy animal-friendly mascara.” Five graduates host lively debates over dinner with “˜alternative’ guests and deadly conversation after Bill Paxton’s surprise visit challenges their liberal consciences. Vile guests, deep black comedy, tips for growing luscious tomatoes and an early appearance by Cameron Diaz; The Last Supper is a treat for anyone who ever wished their dining companions would hurry up and leave the table.

4. Goodfellas: Trust me on this. You may think you know Goodfellas inside out, I’m sure it’s already in your DVD collection, hell, you may even have upgraded to the Blu-ray already, still”¦you don’t know Goodfellas. This gangster classic is, as every great Italian story ever told, all about food. Consider Paul Sorvino in a prison cell, going to work with his blade: “He was in a year for contempt and he had this wonderful system for doing the garlic. He used a razor and he used to slice it so thin that it used to liquefy in the pan with just a little oil. It was a very good system.” Henry and Tommy sitting down to have a little bite with Tommy’s Mama after “˜work’. Or a tomato sauce bubbling on a stove as the FBI close in: “Keep an eye on the tomato sauce and watch the helicopters”. Goodfellas = good food.

3. Simply Irresistible: “I love dessert, it’s the whole point of the meal.” I make no excuses for my love of this film. It is sillier than a very silly thing but, somehow, it is also slightly brilliant. Sarah Michelle (Buffy) Gellar, a hopeless chef on the verge of losing her beloved late Mother’s restaurant, finds love, luck and cooking know how with the help of a magic crab. There is hypnotic vanilla fog, dreadful dialogue and a dining scene so ridiculous you may think I have irrevocably lost my mind but”¦the food. Sometimes it is just nice to lose yourself in a little stupidity and have a damned good excuse to eat a box of éclairs. This film is that excuse, enjoy it with my blessing!

2. Waitress: “Pregnant Miserable Self Pitying Loser Pie… Lumpy oatmeal with fruitcake mashed in. Flambé of course.”Adrienne Shelly’s Waitress is perfect. It is a gem of a film and it makes me smile whenever I see it. Waitress tells the bittersweet story of Jenna (Keri Russell), a small town girl who’d like only to live a quiet life, make pies and maybe win the state pie contest. She is handicapped in this quest by her horrible husband Earl and her accidental pregnancy. (A pregnancy that occurred when she accidentally had sex with her horrible husband Earl.) Her hopes, fears, anger and secrets are all baked into outrageously appetising dishes ““ plain old apple pie will never look the same to you again after viewing this scrumptious movie.

1. Moonstruck: “La bella luna! The moon brings the woman to the man. Capice?” Do you remember what I said about Italian movies? They are like Italian families – food is at the heart of them all. Moonstruck may be the greatest illustration of this I have ever seen. When Loretta Castorini (Cher) visits a Brooklyn bakery to tell her fiancé’s estranged brother the news of their upcoming marriage she loses her heart and changes her fate ““ much to her disgust! Swooningly romantic, this is one of my favourite films of all time as well as being my top foodie movie. Olympia Dukakis’ dignity as Loretta’s Mother Rose, dining alone at a neighbourhood restaurant in the face of her husband’s affair, her razor sharp wit and threat to kick her Father-in-law to death for feeding her food to his dogs. Cher rowing with Nic for his stubborn pride five minutes after they meet as she sizzles a steak on the stove “bloody to feed your blood”. The morning after in the Castorini kitchen with a furious Rose fixing oatmeal for the family and Loretta hiding from her intended in a closet. Messy, complicated and brilliant, Moonstruck is all about appetite, for life, for food and for love. It has opera, it has Cher, it has passion, and it has Nicolas Cage ““ what more could you ask?