The Cannes film festival is over for another year and as many attendees reflect on what was yet again a stellar year for the festival, it’s easy to identify a number of films which will be making different sized waves at the UK box office and awards ceremonies over the coming months.
It may seem obvious but for any film fan Cannes is a wonderful place to watch films. The cinemas are comfortable, with huge screens the width of the room. The audience are respectful, almost to the point of reverence and the films are more often than not of an extremely high quality, and even when they’re not you can witness a spectacular failure. Here’s a selection of some of the highlights which we can expect to see in UK cinemas over the next year. Read more
With both The Proposition and The Road, John Hillcoat has made quite a name for himself making brutal, bleak and masculine dramas. Based on the novel ‘The Wettest County In The World’, Lawless once again very much fits this description and features a stellar cast, including Tom Hardy, Guy Pearce, Gary Oldman, Jessica Chastain and Shia LaBeouf.
The film tells the tale of the notorious bootlegging Bondurant family, who during prohibition era America make their living producing Moonshine for the residents of Franklin County, Virginia. Their comfortable existence is threatened when a corrupt county attorney mayor decides he wants a slice of the pie. Naturally this doesn’t go down too well and before long a vicious, sadistic FBI agent Charlie Rakes (Pearce) is sent in to get the brothers to play along. Tensions rise further when the ambitious younger Bondurant (LaBeouf) ramps up the moonshine production and run-ins with Rakes get more fractious and violent. Read more
Despite having the accompaniment of a certain DCMer by the name of David Fitzgerald forced upon me for the evening, I was committed to deflecting my mind’s attention away from the strains of unsought companionship to focus on the delights of Charlize Theron (and the Snow White and the Huntsman premiere).
The fever-pitched frenzy of fans was in earnest as the main event began, with crowds of people animated in their excitement. Beautifully captured, elegant, breath-taking and striking are all words that could easily encapsulate it…Charlize was truly majestic as she walked down the red carpet. Some men became instantly enchanted, some even shied away with a sheepish unworthy glance. I was simply grateful that I’d spent that extra five minutes before we left looking in the Mirror Mirror. Read more
Digital Cinema Media (DCM) sent a traditional British treat in the form of fish and chip vans to MGOMD, M2M, Carat, OMD and PHD last week to raise awareness for their Best of British film packages in cinema.
The activity was well received by all the agencies, receiving twitter and Facebook coverage, with Anna Fitzgerald, Cinema Co-ordinator at PHD, commenting on the day "Thanks DCM for the lunchtime treat. Looking forward to all the great British films coming out this year, especially Bond and to running my brands alongside this wealth of British talent in cinema!"
The activity received positive press coverage in Media Week’s ‘Out & About’ feature on the 30 March and across the 3 days DCM treated 4 agencies, over 550 agency contacts, one tea lady and a road cleaner to approx. 600 portions of chips.
@lauralouisetait
@DCM_cinema_news lovely free fish 'n' chips at @OMDUK today!
@misslaurendyer
Free Fish and Chips outside the studio today, nice one @DCM_cinema_News #bestofbritish #yum
@TaraNarain
Free Fish&Chips for lunch! thanks @DCM_cinema_news #yummy
@dyl
free fish and chi ps van courtesy of @dcm_cinema_news outside the office #getinmybelly
@tomcarter89
Thanks @DCM_cinema_news for bringing some Fish & Chips to @caratuk to celebrate Best of British in Cinema #tasty
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[embed width=550]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x-ynprkRhEI[/embed] Read more
Digital Cinema Media’s recent 'Introduction to Cinema' event brought new starters at media agencies and the next generation of media talent up to speed on all aspects of the cinema industry, from the cinema buying marketplace to the highly targeted audiences and creative solutions it can deliver.
The course is a free training event held twice a year in April and November. Three training sessions of its kind have taken place to date and the last event in April hosted 90 attendees from agencies such as Carat, Mediacom, Zenith, PHD, Maxus, Leo Burnet and Mindshare. Read more
Last Wednesday was similar to how I spend all my Wednesday nights - quick drink then off to see a film with my best mates Jay Z, Nicole Scherzinger and Lewis Hamilton. Well not quite.
I was lucky enough to attend the Men in Black 3 3D Premiere and at last proved that I was no longer cool in anyway shape or form as I shamelessly gasped and pointed at celebrities throughout the opening 10 minutes of the film. Read more
This weeks film schedule updates:
Red Lights now opens 15 June 2012 Read more
The world's most prestigious film festival is currently taking place in Cannes and as usual, it would appear that most of London's Soho has decamped to the south of France to talk shop, watch films and soak up the sun. The only problem is the sun has been conspicuous by its absence. This isn't usually an issue but when you are in possession of a bog standard festival badge, getting to see any of the big name films tends to involve a lot of queuing outside. As a consequence most of the first three days of my festival experience were characterised by wet feet.
Luckily, as is usually the case, the films on offer have been of an exceptionally high standard and make the potential onset of trench foot well worthwhile. Last year the two big hits that arose from the festival were Nicolas Winding Refn's stylish thriller Drive and the Oscar winning silent marvel, The Artist. A lot of talk has been around what could potentially be this year's similar break out hits. Read more
Following his red-carpet antics at this year's Academy Awards, there was huge anticipation around the kind of stunt Sacha Baron Cohen might pull-off at the World Premiere of his latest movie, The Dictator, in London last night. And his latest incarnation AKA the Wadiyan Dictator General Aladeen did not disappoint, rolling up at the star studded Royal Festival Hall in a tow truck after his bright orange sports car was clamped. It seems that even the last remaining Dictator is subject to London's parking restrictions and diplomatic immunity isn't granted to international criminals.
He might be ruthless and cold blooded, but you can't help but like the world's cruelest, most bigoted, most deluded yet most affable Dictator. Put a foot wrong in Wadiya and you could find yourself condemned to decapitation at the autocrat's whim. Not surprising the resistance movement, masterminded by Aladeen's right hand man Tamir (Sir Ben Kingsley) is planning a coup to oust the bearded leader and a New York state visit to address the United Nations provides the opportunity. A switched identity with one of his lookalike bodyguards, however, sees the General down and out in the Big Apple while the simpleton and malleable doppelgänger takes his place in international politics, a puppet manipulated by Tamir. Read more
It’s difficult to watch any new Mel Gibson film without thinking about his very chequered recent past and with the release of his last film, The Beaver, it would appear that most people chose not to watch it all. However, with the release of his latest attempt to get back into the big time, How I Spent My Summer Vacation, regardless of what you may think of Gibson, it is still apparent that there are few actors in the world today who can carry a film as well as him.
How I Spent My Summer Vacation utilises Gibson’s charms as both an action star and a knowing, mischievous screen presence. It won’t win any prizes for originality but it’s a lean, efficient thriller that like the recent Safe, doesn’t over-reach. The majority of the film takes place in a Mexican jail where it seems that absolutely anything goes and Gibson, who’s sent inside for stealing a considerable amount of money, wastes little time in manipulating the many unsavoury inmates to his whims. The lean, nasty plot has shades of an Elmore Leonard novel as Gibson plays different groups off each other in an attempt to gain his freedom. Read more
This weeks film schedule updates:
Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter 3D now opens 20 June 2012 Read more
The Avengers Assemble 3D juggernaut shows little signs of slowing down as another mammoth weekend sees the film cross the £30m barrier. A further £8.1m from Friday to Sunday and £3.5m on Monday takes the film to £33.4m, a figure that would have placed it fourth on 2011’s list of highest grossing films. Although it has some way to go to eclipse 2011’s second place film, The King’s Speech, you wouldn’t bet against it passing that film’s final total of £45.7m. It goes without saying that Avengers Assemble 3D is now near the very top of the list of most successful comic book films with only The Dark Knight (£49.1m) ahead of it.
On a weekend with a large number of new releases, it was clear that the UK public are still open to another helping of American Pie. A £4.5m Friday to Sunday opening for American Pie: Reunion compares favourably with the last theatrically released American Pie film’s debut (The Wedding - £4.2m) but its someway short of American Pie 2’s £5.5m opening. With a cume total of £7.8m including previews and bank holiday Monday, the film is already over half way to overtaking the first American Pie’s final total of £14m. Read more
