Should Johnnie To’s name hold no special meaning for you, consider correcting that immediately by introducing yourself to the veteran Chinese filmmaker’s work through Drug War. Apart from being handily available through Netflix’s Instant service, the film happens to be great, so strong in fact that it arguably holds a position of high honor in his decades-long career; it’s a combined symbol of his talent and vitality, and one of the most ruthless films of 2013 that you probably missed. (In the interest of full disclosure, I only caught up on Drug War myself following New Year’s, but man do I wish I’d seen it before December’s voting deadline.) Drug…
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G-S-T Review…Gimme Shelter
Think of Ron Krauss’ Gimme Shelter as the next phase in Vanessa Hudgen’s plan to recalibrate her career; it’s the continued tale of how she’s graduated from high school musicals and shed her Disney skin in an attempt to become a bona fide Actress. Truthfully, Hudgens doesn’t really need to tinker with her image much further following her stint in last year’s lurid Spring Breakers, Harmony Korine’s transgressive cultural commentary on disaffected youth, but she nonetheless appears to have arrived at a point in her life where she’s no longer content appearing in disposable teenage romances and terrible Twilight clones. It’s time for her to get real. Therein lies the…
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G-S-T Trailer Round Up: Sundance, Spartans, Sam Rockwell and Aussie Horror
Whether you are living the sweet life at the Sundance Film Festival or like the rest of us have day jobs and are living vicariously through critic’s tweets, January is a busy movie month. Not really for quality cinema per se but advetising of forthcoming titles as it, by way of the festival circuit and Super Bowl commercials, allows us a chance to look ahead to films just over the horizon. Things you hadn’t expected or heard of may now start popping up all over your radar. Lots of trailers hit the web this week (some immediately following purchase and plans for distribution while at Sundance) and so this catch-all…
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J.C. Chandor's 'A Most Violent Year' Set To Begin Shooting
A24, the New York-based indie distributor, has recently acquired U.S. rights to Participant Media’s A Most Violent Year, written and directed by J.C. Chandor (All is Lost, Margin Call) and starring Oscar Isaac (Inside Llewyn Davis) and two-time Academy Award nominee Jessica Chastain. The official synopsis is as follows: A Most Violent Year is a thriller set in New York City during the winter of 1981, statistically one of the most violent years in the city’s history. The film follows the lives of an immigrant and his family trying to expand their business and capitalize on opportunities as the rampant violence, decay, and corruption of the day drag them in…
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Ho-Hum Trailer…Angelina Jolie In ‘Maleficent’
In the upcoming film Maleficent The Walt Disney company is turning back the pages in their catalog to cast some light on one of their most popular, and apparently unexplored characters. Seemingly cast to perfection with Angelina Jolie this new film tells yet another untold tale of how an evil character came to be so, well, evil. Now it looks all kinds of pretty, chock full of that Disney-stylized whimsical magic, and it has an alluring factor that may or may not be completely attributed to a nostalgic factor (compounded by the shot-for-shot comparison scenes from the classic animated film) but we’ve been fooled before. Have a peek at the glitzy and…
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CONTEST CLOSED – Win A Copy of the ‘Machete Kills’ Soundtrack Autographed by Composer Carl Thiel
Attention: CONTEST IS NOW CLOSED. All winners have been notified. Thanks for your interest in MACHETE KILLS. ———————————————————————————————————————————— Robert Rodriguez’ Machete Kills hits Blu-Ray shelves this week and holy frijoles have we got something for you Grindhouse fans! Aside from insane action, physics defying stunts, gritty and over-the-top characters, Robert Rodriguez’ films have one other staple worth noting – a rocking soundtrack. Prior to its theatrical release last fall we got to speak with award-winning composer, frequent RR collaborator and Chingon band member Carl Thiel. He gave us an idea of what to expect from the film and his music (read Part I and Part II here) and per usual we were blown…
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“What’s New on Blu?” – Week of 1/20/2014
Whether you rent or buy movies, Blu-ray offers the ultimate in sight and sound. Streaming is convenient, but if you plan on watching the movie more than once, you need Blu. So, What’s New On Blu? you ask. Well, good, bad or indifferent, Go,See,Talk offers up some of the titles being released each week. Check out what’s hitting the shelves this week… ——————————————————————————————————————————— The Maersk Alabama became the first US cargo ship to be hijacked in 200 years when heavily armed Somalis boarded the vessel on the 8th of April 2009. As commander of the ship, Captain Richard Phillips inevitably found himself at the heart of events. Held hostage by the pirates…
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G-S-T Review…Jack Ryan: Shadow Recruit
As an exercise in brand resuscitation, Jack Ryan: Shadow Recruit could be worse; the film does what films of its sort must, building its titular protagonist from the ground up and establishing a potential new franchise for the character going forward. Should the stars align (literally), we could see a Jack Ryan continuance in just a couple of years’ time, assuming Chris Pine can wriggle free from Star Trek‘s grasp and Kevin Costner isn’t busy playing the wise mentor figure to another young buck trying to figure out how to be a hero. This is malleable filmmaking. It necessitates very little by way of continuity. Of course, that particular element…
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Full List of Nominations for the 86th Annual Academy Awards
Nominations for the 86th Academy Awards were announced this morning and the interweb is all a buzz either cheering or sneering at the nominees. 2013 was a strong year for film and those lucky/good enough to warrant an invite to Hollywood’s glitziest night are some truly deserving pictures and personalities. But just like film and our opinions of them, the nominations are all subjective. Most of the nominees in this the crop of Oscar hopefuls have been making waves for a while (even as far back as their respective festival runs) but some, like Lone Survivor, managed to grab a last minute nod(s) of recognition Sony’s American Hustle and Warner Bros’…
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Ohhh, Look…Images and Poster for Elijah Wood’s 'Cooties'
Let’s have a round of applause for Elijah Wood. He could have ridden out his Lord of the Rings fame and lived a healthy retired life on the paychecks/royalties from Peter Jackson’s massive adaptions…but he didn’t. Taking post Middle-Earth films like Green Street Hooligans (which is quite good – check it out), horror/thriller flicks like the remake of Maniac, absurd but successful TV projects like Wilfred, risky and against-type films like Grand Piano and Nacho Vigalondo’s Open Windows and this little late night flick are all shaping him to be a fine adult actor. Now the man’s everywhere and you’ll hear no complaints from us. So whether or not you’re heading to…
