Trailer: THE SQUARE

There is lots of talk about the Australian noir thriller THE SQUARE.  "Spring-loaded with surprises," said Andrew O'Herir in SALON.COM.

We're offering this title by download and on DVD, and wanted to call it to your attention!

Trailer: LOVELY, STILL

Martin Landau and Ellen Burstyn star in the must-see bittersweet romance LOVELY, STILL, opening nationally in September.

We thought you'd like to take a look at the trailer:

Sex, Celebrity and Politics: VIDEOCRACY

Italian television is notorious for both its skin-bearing programming and its reactionary politics.  The first is cause for amusement, the second a cause for concern, given the majority ownership interest in the Italian television industry held by Silvio Berlusconi, the country's leader.  Mass media have been central to Berlusconi's efforts reshaping Italy to his own financial and political benefit, and Erik Gandini's new documentary, VIDEOCRACY, examines the connections between the crass world of Italian television and the Prime Minister's rise.

Laemmle Theatres is hosting the release of the film in Los Angeles this week -- it's well worth a trip to the theatre.  "After watching, you realize that even a cursory look at Mr. Berlusconi is crucial to understanding an age in which celebrity is now the coin of the realm," says Manohla Dargis of the NEW YORK TIMES.

Find out where to see the film here.

Take a look at the trailer here.

What’s your favorite French film?

One of the first DVDs we bought years ago, back when DVDs were a new technology, was Jean-Luc Godard’s sci-fi film noir ALPHAVILLE from 1965. We immediately agreed this was a film we wanted to own and watch again and again – it is so unique that it had blown our minds when we each first saw it in college. We’re going to watch it again this July 14, when the French celebrate the Revolution of 1789.  Bastille Day commemorates the attack on the Bastille prison, which symbolizes the rise of the middle class against the unpopular King Louis XVI and the privileges of the aristocracy. 

We’re rather fond of the middle class here at FilmFresh, but we most certainly love French films and films about France. FilmFresh has over 100 films from France, plus plenty of great films about France and romance.  Bastille Day is a great excuse to make a date for some French culture. 

Les “musts”  --

Jean-Luc Godard’s ALPHAVILLE is a rewarding, adventurous, highly original B&W film that helped launch the French New Wave.

Another classic is Jean-Pierre Melville’s BOB LE FLAMBEUR (BOB THE GAMBLER).  This masterpiece from 1956 shows a gritty, hardboiled Paris from the vantage of Montmartre and Pigalle. 

Oscar-winning director Sofia Coppola’s MARIE ANTOINETTE, starring Kirsten Dunst, offers a deliciously revisionary look at the party scene of Louis XVI’s court, which led to the French Revolution.

Richard Linklater’s BEFORE SUNSET is a smart, contemporary film about former lovers and the ways their lives have developed without each other, all shot beautifully in Paris.  This is our favorite film of Ethan Hawke's and the always wonderful Julie Delpy.

PARIS, JE T’AIME is a truly delightful omnibus film with short masterpieces by filmmakers such as Gus Van Sant, Alexander Payne, Walter Salles and Daniela Thomas, Joel and Ethan Coen, and many more.

It’s never too early to get your kids hooked on France with RUGRATS IN PARIS: THE MOVIE (2000).

What’s your favorite film about France?  Let us know!  RSVP!

Bonne Bastille

Price reductions on Anchor Bay titles, starting at $7.99!

We just lowered prices on a large number of download titles from Anchor Bay Entertainment!
Check them out:

Now $7.99

Alice Upside Down
Dark Honeymoon (w/ Daryl Hannah, Lindy Booth)
Gettin' It
H.O.T.S.
Heavy Petting
InAlienable (w/ Walter Koenig)
Lightning Bug
Puppetmaster vs Demonic Toys (w/ Corey Feldman)
Soccer Mom (w/ Emily Osment)
The Fallen Ones
The Grand (w/ Cheryl Hines, Woody Harrelson)
The Man with the Screaming Brain (w/ Bruce Campbell, Stacy Keach)
The Quick and the Undead
The Thirst (w/ Jeremy Sisto)

Now $9.99

Blood: The Last Vampire
Children of the Corn
Dante's Inferno (animated)
Dead Space: Downfall (animated)
Grace
Lies and Illusions (w/ Cuba Gooding Jr., Christian Slater)
Lost Treasure of the Grand Canyon (w/ Shannon Doherty)
Merlin and the Book of Beasts
Red Mist
The Alphabet Killer (w/ Eliza Dushku, Cary Elwes, Timothy Hutton)
The Haunted World of El Superbeasto (animated)
Sands of Oblivion (w/ Adam Baldwin, Dan Castellaneta)
Street Fighter Alpha (animated)
Surfer, Dude (w/ Matthew McConaughey, Willie Nelson)
Walled In (w/ Mischa Barton)
While She Was Out (w/ Kim Basinger)

PIONEERING BLACK FILMS NOW ON DOWNLOAD

Charles Burnett is one of America’s finest independent directors who has been making his mark since attending UCLA film school in the 1970s.  Long before winning the MacArthur "genius" Award, Burnett made his 1977 debut with the powerful film, KILLER OF SHEEP.  Having grown up in Watts, Burnett consistently chronicles South Los Angeles and the African American families that live there, segregated by poverty, prejudice, or hardship. Burnett relies upon the gritty aesthetics of cinéma vérité and the challenging maneuvers of Third Cinema, aiming for a truth that transcends Hollywood’s crowd-pleasing tactics. We’re proud to announce our first download of this film pioneer’s striking work, TO SLEEP WITH ANGER from 1990, reflecting LA’s black neighborhoods just two years before the LA riots/rebellion. Danny Glover delivers an affecting performance as an old friend from the deep South now staying with friends in Los Angeles. His character is both a fond reminder of the past and a menace to the present. The NEW YORK TIMES calls this Burnett’s “most accomplished work to date.” Finally, finally available on download.

We've also just added another of Sidney Poitier's films, TO SIR WITH LOVE, a memorable 1967 film with Poitier as a teacher in London’s tough East End. He fights the students' prejudice and insolence, becoming a beloved mentor -- and delivering a performance that makes this film well worth watching fourty years later. The film was directed by James Cavell, the author of the popular novel, "Shogun," and director of that TV mini-series in 1980 and many other films. We also have Poitier's classic GUESS WHO'S COMING TO DINNER, which is a fun look back at racial attitudes during the civil rights movement, as well as the incomparable RAISIN IN THE SUN, a much more serious view of race relations from 1961, featuring Poitier's stunning performance as a frustrated black man in a family trying to have dignity in a white world.

FILM HISTORY'S SEXIEST FIREWORKS SCENE—Downloads for 4th of July

Fourth of July weekend means picnics and fireworks, so selecting film downloads may seem irrelevant this week. But that just isn’t so -- once the fireworks have faded from the sky, you can light up the rest of your evening with some classic films. Our first choice is TO CATCH A THIEF, Alfred Hitchcock’s delightful love story between Cary Grant and Grace Kelly, set on the French Riviera. The fireworks scene is famous for expressing the mounting love and censored sex between the two charismatic stars.  What's more, the scene reveals Hitchcock’s power as an auteur both on the screen and off, because when the Production Code Administration demanded he cut the scene, Hitchcock outright refused. You’ll see when you watch the film that this was a good decision on his part. This film will absolutely engage a crowd lingering over leftover watermelon after all the sparklers have been lit.

Perhaps you’ll be traveling this holiday weekend and need a diversion? Download the great Howard Hawks’ TWENTIETH CENTURY, a sure laugh from 1934 about an up-and-coming star (Carole Lombard) and a swiftly sinking Broadway director (John Barrymore) stuck together on the train from Hollywood to New York. These old standards are perfect for relieving the irritations of holiday travel. You’ll be the loudest one laughing on the plane, train, bus, or car.

If your kids need a download more than you do, nothing is better than ANIMAL ATLAS: PUPPY PARTY. When traveling gets to be overwelming, then you should watch this, too, and instantly get in a better mood. We’re not kidding about the better mood. 

Maybe you’re getting a bit too much family this weekend, so we suggest you sneak off and watch HOUSEKEEPING, director Bill Forsyth’s memorable and offbeat film based on Pulitzer-Prize winning Marilynne Robinson’s 1980 novel. Christine Lahti (of TV’s “Chicago Hope”) does a masterful job playing a quirky aunt who becomes guardian to her two nieces, raising them to trust their inner creativity and unique gifts. One sister can do so gracefully, the other can’t slip from the bonds of conformity that were so strong in the 1950s, when this movie was set. If you like movies about independent women, this is one you’ve truly got to see. 

Have a happy and safe holiday!

NPR and THE LIVES OF OTHERS

Recently, NPR used THE LIVES OF OTHERS in its report on Saddam Hussein’s Baath Party “spy files” to convey the surreal ways that surveillance can generate its own evidence. Under a repressive regime like the Nazis or Ba’thists, family members can be intimidated into betraying one another, providing incriminating facts -- or fictions -- when under pressure. NPR argued that THE LIVES OF OTHERS illustrates “the way a repressive spying apparatus over time eats away at the social fabric holding a community together.” Under Saddam’s reign, details of who said what were documented in literally tons of archives kept by the secret police. Many of these archives, over 3 million pages of documents, are now in the United States.The U.S.-funded Iraq Memory Foundation collected them and is in the process of digitizing them with the help of Stanford University’s Hoover Institution. 

Robert Pattinson is tired of all the attention, Edinburgh champions the Indie community, and Kenneth Turan plans out your Saturday

It's kinda difficult to feel sorry for him, isn't it?

 As hundreds of TWILIGHT fans camp out for tomorrow’s premiere of TWILIGHT SAGA: ECLIPSE in Los Angeles, heartthrob star actor Robert Pattinson is telling THE NEW YORK TIMES that he’s tired of all the attention. “I’ve learned to let it go a bit, but I’m still really bothered by it,” he said. The article explains that Pattinson “talks about a desire to play ‘characters that are not parodies,’” and to “have a career like Joaquin Phoenix, somebody who makes unorthodox roles pop" (more).
 
Edinburgh is deep in the midst of its annual International Film Festival, an event that INDIEWIRE credits for taking “considerable strides in recent years to celebrate smaller, undiscovered films.” As such, the festival’s Artistic Director, Hannah McGill, used her interview with the website as an opportunity to criticize distributors, “whether small, medium, or large”, for taking fewer and fewer risks these days. “They’re not going to take a risk a small, niche British film unless there’s some evidence that they can get an audience,” she said (more).
 
Kenneth Turan predicts that Saturday will be a perfect day in Los Angeles for “lovers of really big movies on really big screens, not to mention vintage movie theaters”, as he recommends two great moviegoing experiences. Alex Theatre in Gendale will host a 35 mm Cinemascope showing of Rodgers and Hammerstein's musical OKLAHOMA!. Later, the Orpheum will show a digital restoration of THE LEOPARD, a film that “justifiably wowed audiences at Cannes" (more).
  

Jessica Alba walks out on her own movie, Free popcorn for nerds at the LA Film Fest, and why NYC's independent filmmakers should be pissed

 
Kate Hudson and Casey Affleck in THE KILLER INSIDE ME, which comes out tomorrow.