“Paddington in Peru” is set to hit theaters this weekend and I couldn’t be more excited. This is the third installment in what has been a delightful film series that follows the adventures of Paddington, a lovable Peruvian bear who finds a home in London with the equally lovable Brown family. Dougal Wilson takes the directing reins from Paul King to tell a story of Paddington (voiced by a returning Ben Whishaw) visiting his beloved Aunt Lucy in Peru. But upon arriving he learns that Aunt Lucy has gone missing. Good times most definitely ensues.
“Paddington in Peru” opens exclusively in theaters this weekend courtesy of Sony Pictures Releasing. To celebrate here are TEN vibrant and colorful character posters to help warm your heart and get you read for another Paddington adventure.
Channeling the hypnotic vibes of such gems as Wong Kar-wai’s “In the Mood for Love” and Richard Linklater’s “Before” trilogy, writer-director Joshua Woodcock’s “One Night in Tokyo” is an aching drama full of humanity and heart. And despite its modest budget, the film exquisitely captures the pulse of the culturally rich and vibrant city from its title.
“One Night in Tokyo” marks Woodcock’s feature film debut and from its opening few sequences you see the kind of assured hand and keen instincts usually found in the most seasoned filmmakers. What makes it even more impressive, Woodcock serves as his own cinematographer and editor, both of which prove to be among the movies many strengths.
The story starts by introducing us to a New Yorker named Sam (Reza Emamiyeh) shortly after he arrives at the Tokyo airport. He’s there for a week to spend time with his girlfriend Becca (Cailee Oliver) who has been away in Japan for six months. But he’s surprised to find that she’s not there to meet him and she’s not answering her phone, leaving Sam to feel his way around a foreign country on his own.
With the help of his phone’s GPS and the kindness of a few strangers, Sam finally makes his way to Becca’s apartment where he immediately notices something is off. Becca comes across as chilly and detached before finally telling Sam she wants to take some time apart. Perplexed and downcast, Sam leaves and wastes no time booking a next-day flight back to New York.
Sam gets a call from his local buddy Jun (Shinichiro Watanabe) who he was set to meet up with for some drinks. But Jun has to cancel after getting tied up at work. So he makes arrangements for Sam to join his girlfriend Ayaka (Tokiko Kitagawa) and her friends for some drinks. Sam doesn’t know Ayaka or her friends and doesn’t feel like socializing. And after meeting Ayaka it’s clear she isn’t happy with the arrangement either.
But Sam and Ayaka’s night together takes a number of unexpected turns starting with a shocking betrayal that leaves them both heartbroken. The two hurt and angry souls go to a bar together to drown their sorrows despite Sam not speaking Japanese and Ayaka not speaking English. But with the help of Google translator, they begin communicating. It’s the first step in what becomes a life-altering night together across Tokyo.
I don’t want to spoil where things go, but Woodcock takes his characters on an intoxicating journey full of bittersweet emotion and unvarnished humanity. Soon the two are walking the late-night streets like Linklater’s Jesse and Celine, opening themselves up through extended conversations while Tokyo provides a sparkling backdrop. Woodcock’s camera discreetly follows along in observation mode, elegantly relaying the range of feelings his characters express.
Equally important are the lead performances from the soulful Emamiyeh and the spirited Kitagawa. Individually they penetrate to the heart of their characters, patiently peeling back layers to show us who they really are. Together they share an organic chemistry, especially once the Google translator suddenly vanishes and the two begin communicating effortlessly. It’s a magical touch that allows the movie to evolve into something unexpected.
“One Night in Tokyo” is yet another example of how a filmmaker can overcome nearly any hurdle if he or she has a good story to tell and the cinematic knowhow to tell it. A healthy budget and studio support certainly helps. But nothing can top vision and talent. Woodcock possesses both as evident by this well-made and moving first feature. It’s a movie full of longing and desire yet with an impressively grounded approach to romance. It had its hooks in me from the very start. “One Night in Tokyo” releases in theaters and on VOD February 14th.
Kino Lorber Studio Classics is bringing the delightful comedy “Play It Again, Sam” to home video in a fantastic new Blu-ray edition. Released in 1972, “Play It Again, Sam” follows a neurotic and insecure film journalist and recent divorcee (played by Woody Allen) who is inspired by the ghost of Humphrey Bogart to get back into the dating game. Allen wrote the screenplay but it’s directed by Herbert Ross (“Funny Lady”, “The Turning Point”, “Footloose”, “Steel Magnolias”).
This handsomely packaged Blu-ray special edition of “Play It Again, Sam” will be available to purchase on February 11th. See below for a full synopsis of the film as well as release info including a list of special features.
About the Film:
Year: 1972
Runtime: 86 Minutes
Directors: Herbert Ross
Screenwriters: Woody Allen
Cast: Woody Allen, Diane Keaton, Tony Roberts, Jerry Lacy, Susan Anspach, Jennifer Salt, Joy Bang,
Rating: PG
Woody Allen’s wonderful comedy was his first film with Diane Keaton, a relationship that would continue to produce great films like “Sleeper”, “Love and Death”, “Annie Hall” and “Manhattan”. Allen plays Allan, a fanatical movie buff with an outrageous recurring hallucination: Humphrey Bogart (Jerry Lacy) offering tips on how to make it with the ladies. His married friends Dick and Linda (Tony Roberts and Diane Keaton) fix him up with several eligible young ladies, but his self-confidence is so weak that he’s a total failure with them all. Eventually Allan discovers that there is one woman he’s himself with: Linda, his best friend’s wife. The final scene is a terrific takeoff on Casablanca’s classical ending, complete with roaring plane propellers, heavy fog and Bogie-style trenchcoats. “Play It Again, Sam” was penned by Woody Allen, based on his own 1969 Broadway play, and directed by Herbert Ross (“The Goodbye Girl”, “California Suite”).
Special Features:
Product Extras :
Brand New HD Master – From a 4K Scan of the 35mm Original Camera Negative
NEW Audio Commentary by Screenwriter/Producer Alan Spencer and Author/Film Historian Justin Humphreys
Matthew Ninaber directs, writes, produces, and stars in “A Knight’s War”, a gritty and imaginative creation that embraces medieval action, dark fantasy, and horror. It even adds a few dashes of black comedy to lighten up what is a mostly grim and dread-driven story. Ancient prophecies, jealous gods, soulless demons, bloodthirsty witches – they all play into this twisted and forbidding world.
For an 80s kid like me, “A Knight’s War” calls back to a number of fun fantasy adventure films I grew up watching. Throughout its entertaining 104 minutes, it brought to mind such movies as “Krull”, “Conan the Barbarian”, “Beastmaster”, and “Dragonslayer” just to name a few. But what impresses most is the way Ninaber and company do so much with so little. “A Knight’s War” didn’t have the benefits of a big studio budget but it often looks like it does. The production design, costumes, makeup, visual effects – it’s all a striking testament to the vision, vehemence, and virtuosity that drives the filmmaking.
Image Courtesy of Epic Pictures
Co-written by Ninaber and his brother Jeremy, the story is soaked in original mythology that’s relayed through a healthy balance of visual and expository world-building. It begins with two brothers, Bhodie (Jeremy Ninaber) and William (Matthew Ninaber), both knights on a mission to rescue a young woman being sacrificed in a demonic ritual. The woman’s name is Avalon (Kristen Kaster) and the brothers believe her to be the key to a dark mystical prophecy.
But their rescue efforts are thwarted and Avalon is transported to a hellish realm populated by all manner of evil. Desperately clinging to the prophecy, Bhodie follows Avalon through a forbidden gate while William attempts to fend off a horde of demons. Once in the realm, Bhodie is greeted by a mysterious gatekeeper (Shane Nicely) who informs him that three evil lords possess three magical stones. If he wants to return home with Avalon he will need to defeat the lords and retrieve the stones.
To help Bhodie on his journey, the gatekeeper offers him a magical talisman that gives him one hundred lives. All he asks in return is that Bhodie brings him along when he returns to our realm. Bhodie accepts and then sets out to find Avalon. It doesn’t take him long, but convincing her to come back with him proves difficult. That’s because she’s on a mission of her own – one fueled by her own lust for revenge.
Image Courtesy of Epic Pictures
From there, the action picks up as Bhodie and Avalon, each with their own levels of distrust, face-off against forces of evil and sometimes each other. Along the way, Ninaber treats us to a strikingly creative array of sinister enemies and a series of encounters infused with deliciously gory combat. And it all plays out against a fittingly fantastical backdrop. Things can get a little too exposition-heavy in spots and the mythology doesn’t always make sense. But the film steadily moves forward, delivering one skillfully crafted sequence after another.
Admittedly there are occasions where the budget limitations can be hard to miss. You see it in a handful of stagy backgrounds and in moments where the story confusingly lurches forward to get to its next point. But those things can’t minimize what the filmmakers are able to accomplish in this well-made, incredibly efficient, and wildly entertaining fantasy adventure. “A Knight’s War” opens in select theaters on February 7th and is available on VOD February 11th.
Kino Lorber Studio Classics has released a terrific spaghetti western double feature on home video. This special edition includes Enzo G. Castellari’s “Kill Them All and Come Back Alone” and Sergio Corbucci’s “The Hellbenders”, both on 4K Ultra HD for the very first time. Kino Lorber continues to be an industry leader in the preservation of classic cinema on physical media. They prove it again with this handsomely packaged collection.
This 4K Ultra HD two-film special edition is now available to purchase. See below for a full synopsis of both films as well as release info including a list of special features.
About “Kill Them All and Come Back Alone”:
Year: 1968
Runtime: 100 Minutes
Directors: Enzo G. Castellari
Screenwriters: Tito Carpi, Francesco Scardamaglia, Joaquín Romero Marchent, Enzo G. Castellari
Cast: Chuck Conners, Frank Wolff, Franco Citti, Leo Anchóriz, Ken Wood, Alberto Dell’Acqua, Hercules Cortez
Rating: R
From Enzo G. Castellari, the legendary director of “Street Law”, “The Big Racket”, “Keoma” and “The Inglorious Bastards” comes this action-packed spaghetti western starring screen and television great Chuck Connors (“The Big Country”, TV’s “The Rifleman” and “Branded”). In 1864, a mercenary Clyde McKay (Connors) leads a squad of tough-as-nails cutthroats on a mission for the Confederate high command to infiltrate an enemy fortress and steal millions in gold from the Union Army. Frank Wolfe (“Once Upon a Time in the West”) co-stars in this fully restored first-rate tale of betrayal and revenge.
About “The Hellbenders”:
Year: 1967
Runtime: 92 Minutes
Directors: Sergio Corbucci
Screenwriters: Ugo Liberatore, José Gutiérrez Maesso, Albert Brand
Cast: Joseph Cotten, Norma Bengell, Julián Mateos, Gino Pernice, Ángel Aranda, Claudio Gora, María Martín, Aldo Sambrell, Al Mulock
Rating: NR
From Sergio Corbucci, the legendary director of “Django”, “Navajo Joe”, “The Great Silence” and “The Mercenary” comes this classic spaghetti western starring screen icon Joseph Cotten (“The Third Man”, “Duel in the Sun”) as the fanatical patriarch of a family of ex-Confederate killers who massacre an army convoy carrying millions in cash to finance an invasion of the North. But before they can re-ignite the Civil War, they’ll have to smuggle a coffin crammed with the stolen cash across a frontier enflamed by lust, violence and extreme vengeance. Aldo Sambrell (“For a Few Dollars More”) and Al Mulloch (“The Good, the Bad and the Ugly”) co-star in this fully restored western shocker. “The Hellbenders”—also known as “The Cruel Ones”, Features a rousing score renowned composer Ennio Morricone (“A Fistful of Dollars”).
Special Features:
Product Extras :
2020 UHD SDR Masters by StudioCanal
Includes Both the 99-Minute English and 100-Minute Italian Cuts of KILL THEM ALL AND COME BACK ALONE
Audio Commentaries (Both Films) by Filmmaker Alex Cox, Author of 10,000 Ways to Die: A Director’s Take on the Italian Western
For those moviegoers worried that we’re running short of psychopathic masked serial killers, fear not. “Heart Eyes” is here, a wild genre hybrid that mixes ingredients from sappy romantic comedies and blood-saturated slasher movies. It’s a gleefully self-aware date night cocktail that derives much of its enjoyment through its giddy embrace of numerous genre tropes. To put it simply, director Josh Ruben knows and delivers on his assignment.
Ruben, along with screenwriters Phillip Murphy, Christopher Landon and Michael Kennedy, fashion a movie so in tune with its own silliness that you can’t help but get onboard. You’ll laugh at the goofy gags and abject absurdity as much as you’ll recoil at the jolting violence and gruesome gore. But most surprising is how a movie that is both a romcom parody and a shameless splatterfest can be this shrewdly scripted and devilishly charming.
Olivia Holt is sturdy and committed playing Ally, a twenty-something former med student who now works as a Seattle marketing executive. Things aren’t going well at work following a bad ad pitch and now her tyrannical boss (Michaela Watkins) is threatening to fire her. Meanwhile her love life isn’t much better. Ally recently broke up with her boyfriend, but she can’t quite stalking his social media accounts.
Image Courtesy of Sony Pictures Releasing
Elsewhere, news reports tell of a bloodthirsting maniac on the loose in Seattle. The media has dubbed him the “Heart Eyes Killer” and for obvious reasons – he wears a crude leather mask with two hearts for eyeholes. He targets random cities for his annual Valentine’s Day killing sprees, hunting and slaughtering romantic couples for reasons that (of course) will eventually come to light in the final act. First it was Boston, then Philly, and now it’s Seattle.
Ally’s boss demands she redo her ad campaign and pairs her with a hunky hotshot named Jay (Mason Gooding). Following a rather unpleasant working dinner, Ally spots her former beau outside of the restaurant with his new girlfriend. In an impulsive move, she plants a kiss on Jay in hopes of making her ex jealous. But she inadvertently gets the attention of Heart Eyes who’s watching from the bushes.
The killer mistakes Ally and Jay for a couple and makes them the focus of his Valentine’s evening festivities, chasing the two around the city and butchering anyone who happens to get in his way. One of my favorite running gags involve the two repeatedly trying to convince Heart Eyes that they are not together. Yet in classic romcom fashion, that changes over the course of the night as Ally and Jay get a little closer with every near-death encounter.
Image Courtesy of Sony Pictures Releasing
As you watch “Heart Eyes”, romcom and slasher tropes are scattered like Easter eggs and spotting them is a big part of the fun. The swell of sappy love songs, the aggressively awkward meet-cute, the jabbering best friend (Gigi Zumbado). On the other side you get the slow walking but always present killer, an array of hapless victims, bumbling police officers (played by Jordana Brewster and Devon Sawa) who are no help at all. This just scratches the surface of what you’ll find.
“Heart Eyes” is a mashup in its truest form. It artfully combines the well established frameworks of romantic comedies and slasher movies into one wildly entertaining confection. To no surprise its story is a little shallow, and the end reveal isn’t all that satisfying. But Holt and Gooding make for a likable and root-worthy duo while Heart Eyes is an especially brutal killer, using a variety of weaponry to deliver some truly creative carnage.
Again, the filmmakers know what kind of movie they’re making. Ruben and company have clearly watched a number of romcoms and they possess an obvious love the slasher genre. Now sprinkle in an assortment of well-timed and genuinely funny jokes and you have “Heart Eyes”, a movie that knows its target audience and is happy to feed them exactly what they’re hungry for. “Heart Eyes” opens in theaters today.
