British Film Institute (BFI) Discussion Thread

[CelestialAgent]

Originally Posted by Foggy

Not only that, it looks like pretty much all cinemas are showing 20th Anniversary screenings of Harry Potter more times a day this weekend than any of the actual new releases.

Poor Antlers, my local Vue doesn’t appear to be screening it, ODEON are only giving it evening showings, and Chuck Steel isn’t until 11pm! And the Blade reissue is at an inconvenient 9pm showing. Meanwhile Picturehouse are just giving more showings to No Time to Die, The French Dispatch, Dune, but aren’t showing new releases that should be right up their alley like Azor and even Last Night in Soho isn’t in every venue.

Even if I didn’t dislike Rowling (so dissuaded from going), I would rather see what the extended cut is like than rewatching the theatrical cut yet again.

[rapta]

Originally Posted by CelestialAgent

Poor Antlers, my local Vue doesn’t appear to be screening it, ODEON are only giving it evening showings, and Chuck Steel isn’t until 11pm! And the Blade reissue is at an inconvenient 9pm showing. Meanwhile Picturehouse are just giving more showings to No Time to Die, The French Dispatch, Dune, but aren’t showing new releases that should be right up their alley like Azor and even Last Night in Soho isn’t in every venue.

Even if I didn’t dislike Rowling (so dissuaded from going), I would rather see what the extended cut is like than rewatching the theatrical cut yet again.

I’m patiently waiting for one of my locals to start showing The Last Duel, but it seems they’re all just showing Dune and No Time to Die (both of which I’ve already seen). Might go to see a Kurosawa if I can though, pretty much guaranteed to have a blast whichever one I chose to see. I also noticed a couple of Ozu are screening near me too!

[CelestialAgent]

That’s a shame about The Last Duel as it really deserves to be seen on the big screen. Either gone from most places now, or relegated to the graveyard slot. Once it hits Disney+/HBO Max people are going to be exclaiming but why didn’t I hear about this before?

[Aclea]

Too early for Oscar season attention (as a major flop it won't be getting any real For Your Consideration campaign beyond the contractual bare minimum) and, as a film that skews to an older audience, for the waiting for their booster jab crowd, though I get the impression that Disney wrote this off a year ago and probably only made because the pay or play deals from before the Fox merger made it too expensive to cancel.

[BluBonnet]

Originally Posted by CelestialAgent

That’s a shame about The Last Duel as it really deserves to be seen on the big screen. Either gone from most places now, or relegated to the graveyard slot. Once it hits Disney+/HBO Max people are going to be exclaiming but why didn’t I hear about this before?

Yeah, I feel very lucky to have caught it in the cinema, though it would have been even better in Dolby Cinema.

[Danse Macabre]

Originally Posted by Danse Macabre

I've been going through Short Sharp Shocks Vol 2 and I've got to say I'm really disappointed. With the exception of the Dumb Waiter which is a decent thriller and The Three Children/Jack The Ripper which are nice short palette cleansers, everything else is genuinely awful.
I've still yet to see the longest of the films: Face of Darkness, so perhaps that will be substantial enough to make up for it.
The first volume had its fair share of stinkers but it had Twenty Nine, The Errand and the incredible The Lake, which made it a worthwhile purchase.
I was hoping that with the first volume they'd had learnt from their mistakes, but it seems they're desperate for content, hence why they've included a health and safety video.

Watched Face of Darkness. I thought I would have trouble dissociating Lennard Pearce with his role as Granddad, but he is actually effective and very convincing - I never once thought of Only Fools. As such the strongest part is the beginning where we see his character's political machinations, and the occult mixed with the political create a very eerie atmosphere, with the verdant English garden as the setting, it has a folk horror vibe.
However, once he revives the medieval spirit and the focus changes, the film becomes dull and silly. That therapy scene, which feels like half the film, is a struggle.

[CelestialAgent]

Fun City release of Radio On features some unique extras

Audio commentary with filmmaker and historian Kier-La Janisse
Audio interview with director Chris Petit
Archival video interview with director Chris Petit and producer Keith Griffiths
“Before the Explosion of the Image Bank," a new video interview with director Chris Petit
“Radio On (Remix)," Chris Petit's follow-up digital video essay
Booklet with essays, stills and cast / crew information
Image Gallery
Original theatrical trailer

Unique to BFI:

"Cinematic Windscreen" interview with Jason Wood
Coping with Cupid 1991 short
On the Road shorts: L for Logic (1972), The Motorway File (1975)

[James78]

Released on 2-disc Limited Edition Blu-ray, iTunes and Amazon Prime on 29th November 2021

Special features

• Audio commentary with Dennis Hopper, producer Paul Lewis and distributor John Alan Simon (2000)
• New commentaries by Kate Rennebohm and Kat Ellinger
• Dennis Hopper interviewed by Tony Watts (1984, 97 mins)
• Screen Guardian Talk: Dennis Hopper (1990, 91 mins, audio only): the filmmaker talks to Derek Malcolm
• Subverting Normality: Linda Manz Comes from Out of the Blue (2021, 18 mins): a new video essay by Amanda Reyes and Chris O’Neill
• Remembering Out of the Blue (2021, 174 mins): nine new interviews with cast & crew
• Me & Dennis (2021, 95 mins): four new interviews with Hopper’s friends and colleagues featuring Ethan Hawke, Richard Linklater, Julian Schnabel and Philippe Mora
• Alex Cox Recalls Out of the Blue (2021, 13 mins)
• Montclair Film Festival Q&A (2020, 30 mins): John Alan Simon and Elizabeth Karr discuss the history and restoration of the film
• A selection of complementary archive shorts – Morecambe and Wise – Be Wise Don’t Drink and Drive (1963, 1 min), Drink Drive Office Party Cartoon (1964, 1 min), A Girl’s Own Story (Jane Campion, 1983, 27 mins); Girl (Carol Morley, 1993, 7 mins)
• Jack Nicholson radio spot (1982, 1 min)
• Trailers
• ***First pressing only*** Illustrated booklet with essays by Sheila O’Malley and Vic Pratt; an extract from ‘Dennis Hopper: how far to the Last Movie?’, originally published in the Monthly Film Bulletin, October, 1982; two reviews from 1981 and notes on the special features.

Product details
RRP: £24.99 / Cat. no. BFIB1442 / 15 / Canada / 1980 / colour / 96 mins / English language, with optional subtitles for the Deaf and partial hearing / original aspect ratio 1.85:1 / Disc 1: BD50, 1080p, 24fps, LPCM 2.0 mono audio (48kHz/24-bit) / Disc 2: BD50, 1080p, Dolby Digital 2.0

[CelestialAgent]

Ben Stoddart in the Facebook group:

**NOTICE** The first pressing with booklet of Invasion of the Body Snatchers is disappearing fast from warehouse. 4,000 run, 500 units left in stock. A lot of the units have been snapped up by Amazon so they are out there and available. Just trying to avoid people being disappointed down the line.

Might have to pop into HMV!

[Si Parallel Universe]

Originally Posted by CelestialAgent

Ben Stoddart in the Facebook group:



Might have to pop into HMV!

Invasion of the Booklet Snatchers!

I really enjoyed viewing IOTBS by the way it looks and sounds brilliant. The short on Fungi is an interesting little piece too.

As regards Short Sharp Shocks Volume 2. The only thing I found a bit daft were the Murder Quiz shorts but they are very much of their time and I found the rest of the content very watchable.

[James78]

Naked (trailer) - in UK cinemas and on BFI Blu-ray November 2021 | BFI - YouTube

Released on Blu-ray and digitally, including BFI Player, on 29 November 2021

Special features

• Newly remastered in 4K by the BFI National Archive under the supervision of cinematographer Dick Pope and approved by Mike Leigh
• Audio commentary with Mike Leigh, David Thewlis and Katrin Cartlidge
• The Short & Curlies (1987, 18 mins): Mike Leigh’s short film starring Alison Steadman and David Thewlis centres on a hairdresser and her daughter and the romance between a woman who works in a chemist and a man who mainly communicates through jokes
• Mike Leigh and Dick Pope on Naked (2021, 26 mins): newly recorded interview with Mike Leigh and his long-time cinematographer
• The Guardian Interview: Mike Leigh (2002, 45 mins): the director is interviewed by film critic Derek Malcolm at the National Film Theatre
• Image gallery
• Trailer (2021)
• ***First pressing only*** Illustrated booklet with new writing on the film by Caitlin Quinlan and Lou Thomas and notes on the special features.

Product details
RRP: £19.99 / Cat. no. BFIB1432 / 18 / UK / 1993 / 131 mins / English language, with optional subtitles for the Deaf and partial hearing, and audio description / aspect ratio 1.66:1 // BD50: 1080p, 24fps, PCM 2.0 stereo audio (48kHz/24-bit), 5.1 DTS-HD Master Audio (48kHz/24-bit)

[BarnDoor]

Ben Stoddart has said that new announcements will now be made on Friday.

[ravenus]

Ordered a few BFI titles going for reasonable prices at Zavvi, including a PO for Targets (which has a release date of June 2022, that seems awfully far off for something available to PO). I have only seen Wages of Fear among these, and while I (sacrilege!) prefer Sorcerer, this is still a pretty good movie and this edition is jam-packed with extras (though I can't count on a booklet, I guess).

[The Hornets]

If you read back in the thread it is commented that Targets has been repeatedly delayed and now a big push back until mid 2022 waiting for the new restored master to be available.

Makes sense to me as people would only whinge if the BFI had released the old one and then a year later this comes out in the US with a new master.

[ravenus]

Ah okay, IIRC Wages of Fear also had similar delays waiting for a new master. All for the better, then.

[manicsounds]

Originally Posted by ravenus

Ordered a few BFI titles going for reasonable prices at Zavvi, including a PO for Targets (which has a release date of June 2022, that seems awfully far off for something available to PO). I have only seen Wages of Fear among these, and while I (sacrilege!) prefer Sorcerer, this is still a pretty good movie and this edition is jam-packed with extras (though I can't count on a booklet, I guess).

As I recall the first pressing booklets only was a decision made much later than Wages of Fear being released, so I assume a booklet would be included.

I once had an unusual issue with an Arrow release. I got a late pressing of a title without a booklet, but strangely it was also missing disc one from a two disc set, and this was bought from Arrow directly. I asked for a new disc one, but instead they sent me a whole new unopened set, and this time it also included a booklet. Lucky!

[BarnDoor]

Not having much luck with the rest but I found this on Amazon: South & The Heroic Age of Antarctic Exploration on Film (22nd February)

South & The Heroic Age of Antarctic Exploration on Film (DVD +Blu-ray)
Director: Frank Hurley

Photographed by Frank Hurley, South is the film record of Sir Ernest Shackleton’s heroic but ill-starred attempt to cross Antarctica in 1914-16. It is both a unique historical document, and a tribute to the indomitable courage of a small party of men who set out on a voyage of discovery that turned into an epic struggle for survival. Restored by the BFI National Archive from a wide range of materials, tinting and toning was applied to match the original prints and has produced this handsome and richly coloured testament to a remarkable episode in the history of exploration. It is presented with an extensive collection of films (many previously unseen) from around the world, highlighting various expeditions from the Heroic Age of Exploration.

The Films & Special features

Limited edition 3-disc set presented in High Definition and Standard Definition
Newly recorded score for South by Neil Brand
Audio commentary on South by Luke McKernan
Shackleton’s Funeral (1922, 4 mins)
Southward on the ‘Quest’ (1922): a record of the Shackleton-Rowett Antarctic expedition of 1921. Sir Ernest Shackleton’s fourth and final voyage to Antarctica which marked the end of the ‘Heroic Age’
<i<On the High Seas (footage from Southward on the 'Quest'
Ross Sea Party (9 mins, silent with commentary by Kelly Tyler)
Additional footage from South (17 mins)
Shackleton Speaks (1909, 1 min)
Roald Amundsens Sydpolsferd 1910-12 (1912, 17 mins)
Departure of the British Antarctic expedition from Lyttelton NZ (1908, 2 mins)
Home of the Blizzard (1913, 67 mins): the official film by Frank Hurley of the Mawson Australasian Antarctic expedition
El Homenaje del Uruguay a los Restos de Sir Ernest Shackleton (1922, 10 mins): the lying in state of the body of Sir Ernest Shackleton in Montevideo, Uruguay, and its transfer to ship for burial on the island of South Georgia
Shackleton’s Home Movies (1913)
Shackleton South Georgia Birds (1922, 13 mins): wildlife in the remote South Atlantic, captured during the ill-fated Shackleton-Rowett expedition
Other films TBC
**FIRST PRESSING ONLY** Fully illustrated booklet featuring new writing on South, and extensive notes on the supporting films

[Olmo]

Originally Posted by CelestialAgent

Fun City release of Radio On features some unique extras

Audio commentary with filmmaker and historian Kier-La Janisse
Audio interview with director Chris Petit
Archival video interview with director Chris Petit and producer Keith Griffiths
“Before the Explosion of the Image Bank," a new video interview with director Chris Petit
“Radio On (Remix)," Chris Petit's follow-up digital video essay
Booklet with essays, stills and cast / crew information
Image Gallery
Original theatrical trailer

Unique to BFI:

"Cinematic Windscreen" interview with Jason Wood
Coping with Cupid 1991 short
On the Road shorts: L for Logic (1972), The Motorway File (1975)

The packaging alone means I double-dip.

[CelestialAgent]

Originally Posted by BarnDoor

Not having much luck with the rest but I found this on Amazon: South & The Heroic Age of Antarctic Exploration on Film (22nd February)

Guess I'm selling my DVD then!

Wild Strawberries also gets a barebones release on 17th January

https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B09KNGJVHB/

[Gacivory]

Any chance that Wild Strawberries listing could be a misprint and actually be a 4K?