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CENTURION Blu-Ray Six Shooter Giveaway!
What I love about modern film distribution is that first-run films are sometimes available to see in your house before you’re able to see them in the theater. Such is the case with Neil Marshall and Michael Fassbender’s newest film, CENTURION, which is currently available on VOD, XBOX, VUDU and Amazon.com. Now, CENTURION also opens in theaters August 27, 2010 if you care to see it with a bunch of other like minded individuals but I am thrilled to see that the models of getting movies to people how they want, when they want, are evolving.
In honor of CENTURION’s recent premiere on VOD, XBOX, Playstation, VUDU and Amazon, I want to offer one of you readers a Six Shooter Blu-Ray prize pack including some of this year’s best international action releases: ONG-BAK 2, RED CLIFF and BRONSON! These independent films represent a true sampling of some of the best indie work that doesn’t involve emo introspection. It’s always a thrill to see filmmakers making their mark and these movies are no exception. Shoot me an e-mail at Christopher_Stipp@yahoo.com to get entered.
Check out CENTURION on Facebook: facebook.com/centurionmovie
Good Luck!
About the film:
117. The Roman Empire stretches from Egypt to Spain, and East as far as the Black Sea. But in northern Britain, the relentless onslaught of conquest has ground to a halt in face of the guerrilla tactics of an elusive enemy: the savage and terrifying tribes known as the Picts.
Quintus, sole survivor of a Pictish raid on a Roman frontier fort, marches north with General Virilus’ legendary NinthLegion, under orders to wipe the Picts from the face of the earth and destroy their leader Gorlacon.
But when the legion is ambushed on unfamiliar ground, and Virilus taken captive, Quintus faces a desperate struggle to keep his small platoon alive behind enemy lines, evading remorseless Pict pursuers over harsh terrain, as the band of soldiers race to rescue their General, and to reach the safety of the Roman frontier.
From writer/director, Neil Marshall, CENTURION is a gripping survival thriller set against a background of conquest and invasion; a pursuit movie in the vein of Deliverance, Last of the Mohicans and Apocalypto.
TAPPED – DVD Review
There was always the sense that leaving my plastic water bottles in the sun weren’t the best thing to do.
To say that I had concerns about the leeching of slowly cooking plastic all the time would be a lie but it wasn’t until I watched this documentary on the big business of bottled water that I changed my behavior. A film that explores, with a thundering assault of facts and figures, the correlation between nature’s most basic beverage and a litany of problems, both health and environmental, is a fabulous film.
What separates this film from any other documentary that takes a lackadaisical approach to its advocacy journalism director Stephanie Soechtig makes a bold debut in connecting the dots between political and commercial interests who want to control the manufacture and distribution of something that seems so inert. Soechtig doesn’t pull any narrative punches and essentially lays it all out for people to see how the water they are so quick to buy can sometimes have a tumultuous origin. From towns that have literally been siphoned of their water to government regulators who essentially aren’t regulating this doc is brisk and absolutely powerful.
If nothing else this film affirms my belief in switching to a reusable, aluminum container for my agua.
About the film:
Is access to clean drinking water a basic human right, or a commodity that should be bought and sold like any other article of commerce? From the producers of Who Killed the Electric Car and I.O.U.S.A, TAPPED — the feature-film debut of TV documentarian Stephanie Soechtig — is a timely, behind-the-scenes look into the unregulated and unseen world of an industry that aims to privatize and sell back the one resource that ought never to become a commodity: our water. Making its DVD debut in an extras-laden edition, TAPPED will be available to the environmentally-conscious and doc aficionados alike on August 10 for $19.98srp.
“I quit drinking bottled water years ago, but now I have the perfect teaching tool with this film to convince my friends to give up the bottle. Tapped illustrates quite clearly how we’ve been getting ‘soaked’ for years by the bottled water industry.”
— Ed Begley Jr.
A couple of eye-opening facts about the business of water in our country: each year, Americans buy 29 billion single-serve bottles of water. To transport that water, we use over 18 million barrels of oil. And, in 2007, water was an $11.5 billion business. From the production of petrochemical-based plastics to the fragile ocean in which so many of these bottles end up, this inspiring – and often shocking — documentary trails the path of the bottled water industry and the communities which were the unwitting chips on the table. A powerful and highly compelling portrait of the lives affected by the bottled water industry, this revelatory film features those caught at the intersection of big business and the public’s right to water.
A multiple award-winner including “Best of Fest†at the Colorado Environmental Film Festival, an IndieFest Award of Excellence and “Gold Kahuna Award Winner†at the 2010 Honolulu International Film Festival, TAPPED, presented by Disinformation in widescreen (1.78:1), is overflowing with bonus features including the additional featurettes: “Central Valley and Agricultureâ€, “Chemicals in the Waterâ€, “Infrastructureâ€, “OC Waterâ€, “Oil and Waterâ€, “Privatization†and “World Water Crisisâ€.
VINCERE – DVD Review
So, how would you explain why anyone should be interested in a movie about a woman who once bedded fascist Benito Mussolini, had a kid by him, and then was ditched as the madman gained prominence in Italy? “Just see it” would be my refrain.
The film is a moving and stirring story of a relationship that is beset with so much grief you can’t help but be moved by the passion that is displayed between actors Giovanna Mezzogiorno and Filippo Timi as the couple that just would not fizzle. What is most interesting about the film isn’t so much that we get to see what Mussolini was like before he became the tyrannical madman we’ve all come to know in the history books but it’s that we get to see a side of him that is at once exactly what we thought and nothing what we expect.
Director Marco Bellocchio brilliantly avoids the traps usually associated with period pieces that want to capture the reality of the time, Bellocchio captures the essence of the time between these two people. While a story between a man and a woman, the woman who should have known to pull back a little bit in order to avoid being snuffed out entirely, that seemed doomed from the beginning doesn’t seem all that compelling I assure you that it is. The lengths that Mussolini goes in order to deal with this entire situation is worth the price of purchase alone. The historical context we’re given, honestly, is a bit thin seeing how much information we’re not really given about a truly historical figure but it’s the relationship, the story of these two, that makes this film entirely worth watching.
About the film:
A cinematic tour-de-force, VINCERE is the story of the passion and power that consumed Italian dictator Benito Mussolini’s personal life, directed by Italian master Marco Bellocchio (FISTS IN THE POCKET, MY MOTHER’S SMILE, GOOD MORNING NIGHT).
Since debuting to overwhelming praise in Competition at the Cannes Film Festival and a hit at the box office in Italy, VINCERE has been one of the most buzzed about films including screening in several prestigious festivals: the New York Film Festival; the Toronto Film Festival; the Telluride Film Festival; the AFI Festival; and the Chicago International Film Festival, where it received the Silver Hugo Jury Award for Best Director, Best Actress for Giovanna Mezzogiorno, Best Actor for Filippo Timi and Best Cinematography for Daniele Cipri. In addition, Filippo Timi recently received a European Film Award nomination for Best European Actor.
A vivid full-blooded political melodrama, VINCERE chronicles the largely unknown story of the secret marriage of Mussolini (Filippo Timi) to Ida Dalser (Giovanna Mezzogiorno), a woman whom Il Duce met when he was a rising star in the Socialist movement. Inspired by the intensity of his beliefs and the ferocious attraction between them, Dalser sells off all of her belongings to fund the newspaper that would eventually launch his political career. After bearing him a son, Dalser discovers to her horror, that Mussolini already has another family — and he will do anything in his power to keep her away from them.
Written and Directed by Marco Bellocchio, VINCERE stars Giovanna Mezzogiorno and Filippo Timi. The film is produced by Mario Gianani, Christian Baute, and Hengameh Panahi, and executive produced by Olivia Sleiter.
ART OF THE STEAL – DVD Review
Quick, what’s the Barnes Foundation?
One of the things you will learn about an art collection that is valued well over $25 billion is that it is one of the biggest art collections the world you’ve never heard of. From sculptures to paintings the Foundation houses some of the most priceless pieces of work from artists like Renoir and Picasso. You can hardly believe that this was in control of one man who explicitly detailed his wishes for the collection to stay out of the hands of the hoi-polloi, art snobs in Philadelphia who would have no doubt wanted this to become a part of the city’s artistic offerings when Albert Barnes himself passed. Well, he did pass, and his will was pretty specific that his wishes for this collection of art be left alone where it was.
What happened after the corpse got cold is insanely curious. From all kinds of intrigue of politicians doing their best to move the collection, hucksters vying for the opportunity to wrest it away from the pastoral location it’s currently residing in (you would be surprised where $25 plus billion dollars worth of art is sitting at the moment) you see how some people will do anything they can to get what they want and not care who gets in their way to do it. It outrages you, it asks great questions about ownership of a collection this size and what it means to those who could benefit from enjoying it, but it also entertains. As a documentary this film lets you form your own opinion on a story that doesn’t seem like it would be all that interesting but when we think of all the films about art thieves I bet you never thought you would see one where the thieves are hiding in plain sight.
Do not miss this one. If the premise alone isn’t enough for you to buy it go and rent it tonight. It’ll change the way you think about what ownership really means.
About the film:
The Intriguing and Provocative Behind-the-Scenes Story of the Battle for Some of the World’s Greatest Paintings Arrives on DVD This July
It may be unknown to most people, but in the art world, the Barnes Foundation is a legendary repository of some of the finest paintings ever produced. The documentary THE ART OF THE STEAL tells how the private museum’s holdings have become the focus of a bitter, decades-long battle involving artists, politicians and powerful philanthropists. THE ART OF THE STEAL reveals how this private collection of paintings became the envy of the Louvre, the Metropolitan Museum of Art and other major institutions – and the prize in a battle between one man’s vision and the forces of commerce and politics.
THE GOOD, THE BAD, THE WEIRD – DVD Review
Absolutely, one of the most entertaining films I’ve seen all year.
Director Kim Ji-Woon may not be a name everyone is familiar with but the Korean filmmaker has crafted a movie that’s straight out of the 1800’s, absolutely aping the style of Sergio Leone but with a playful twist, this movie about a treasure map and the lengths the three main players involved will go to secure it is nothing but unbridled fun that’s set in the Manchurian Desert sometime in the 1930’s.
What made this such an enjoyable experience is Ji-Woon’s cinematic style. Wanting to capture the majesty of the desert, saturating the screen with some of the loveliest blues you’ll ever see, incorporating some truly gonzo gun battles that defy any and all logic, this film can be seen as a cinematic homage to movies that simply aren’t made anymore. You have serious action packed in with Three Stooges-like slapstick, all the while keeping you solidly connected to what’s happening.
Ji-Woon can take a wide, panoramic vantage point of a desert that seems endless but he also knows how to get in close, literally, to the players who we have to care about in some fashion, otherwise this becomes another film with gun play and obnoxiousness. That’s avoided completely with the film just being true all the way though with the way it has decided to capture the story. It’s one that we think we’ve seen before but it’s conveyed through fresh eyes and a lens that lovingly recreates in the 2000’s that film lovers loved when Leone did it decades ago. It’s just bringing a different aesthetic to the table and in a land cluttered with warmed over retreads I welcome any originality. See this film.
About the film:
FROM GENRE MASTER KIM JI-WOON COMES THE WILD KOREAN WESTERN/MARTIAL ARTS ACTION COMEDY THAT TAKES NO PRISONERS
Imagine an action adventure about Chinese bandits directed in the superheated spaghetti Western style of Sergio Leone and you have THE GOOD, THE BAD, THE WEIRD, a breathtakingly exciting spectacle from South Korea.
Director Kim Ji-woon, a master of modern horror thanks to A Tale of Two Sisters and 3 Extremes II, turns to pure, high-octane thrills in this wild take on Leone’s Clint Eastwood classic The Good, The Bad and the Ugly. One of the most expensive films ever made in South Korea, critics worldwide have been blown away by this outlandishly thrilling spectacle. A treat for fans of everything from action Westerns to Korean cinema to Tarantino-style bravado, it comes to Blu-ray and DVD from IFC Films and MPI Media Group on August 17, 2010.
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