Talking Show Me Shorts with festival director Gina Dellabarca

Talking Show Me Shorts with festival director Gina Dellabarca

The Show Me Shorts festival gets underway soon and is now Oscar accredited.

I caught up with Gina Dellabarca, the festival's director, who's been involved right from the get go to discuss this year's upcoming event.

            So, what’s the marketplace like at the moment for Short films?

Buzzing! The place of short films in the entertainment landscape is becoming increasingly central. Short films continue to become more accessible and more in demand. It’s exciting for those of us involved in this part of the industry.

How do you feel the creativity levels are currently?

Audiences are bored of derivative stories. They want something fresh and different. That gives short filmmakers a licence to unleash their imaginations to the full. And we are just starting to see the tip of that now. It’s only going to get better in the next couple of years. 

You’ve been with the festival since its inception – what changes have you seen?

Show Me Shorts has grown, and we’ve watched the careers of filmmakers take off. We’re still doing what we set out to do though, and that is connect New Zealanders with the very best short films. We’re just doing it in more ways now, like through our Yoobee Short Film Talks, and with the monthly online short films we post in our Screening Room (http://www.showmeshorts.co.nz/screeningroom/). 

What’s the one thing which surprises you annually?

We love discovering new talent. I’m always surprised by the scale of some of the self-funded short films that come to us though. People pour their heart and soul into these films, not to mention their life savings! It’s amazing what can be achieved when you call in all your favours and set yourself an ambitious goal.

How difficult is it to select the films which appear?

Programming the festival is a huge undertaking, but one that the team and I relish. It’s a privilege to be able to view the work of so many hundreds of entries. We have huge respect for the time and energy that has gone into making every film entered. But ultimately we can only select 40 films, so we have to be hard and cull anything that we don’t absolutely love.

Talk us through the selection process

Entries open in February and close in July. The programming team consists of about eight of the volunteers on my team and I. All people who love film and have been a part of the festival for at least two or three years. We start watching the shorts as soon as the first ones arrive, and don’t stop until August when we have to lock off our programme choices in order to meet deadlines for print and collecting screening materials.

In the first round of watching, we cut out about two thirds of the films. Anything that doesn’t meet our minimum standards of high production values and an engaging, entertaining story. The second round is much harder and involves more of the team. A film basically needs to pick up an advocate from my team who loves it and will champion it through to the final short list stage. We do a lot of arguing at this point, and I wouldn’t have it any other way. Once we have our very top picks in place, we examine those and try to look for gaps to make sure our programme is balanced in terms of types of story. We don’t want to leave audiences feeling flat or un-moved by screenings, so we look for films that we can connect together thematically and take people on a journey. It’s an art not a science and we’re always learning. Audience feedback is welcome through our surveys in cinemas or online at our website.

 Tell us about your favourite films this year – why have these made the cut?

I love actors. Some of the best films in the programme this year feature high profile acting talent such as Michael Richards (Seinfeld's Kramer), who stars in Walk the Light, as a man who works inside a ‘walk / don’t walk’ traffic signal box. A Cautionary Tail features is an award winning animation featuring the voices of Cate Blanchett and David Wenham, who tell the story of a little girl born with a tail that expresses her emotions. Closer to home, Andy Anderson gives a career highlight performance in Honk if You’re Horny, as a lascivious taxi driver telling a dirty story. Aidee Walker hits it out of the park in the award winning short film that she also directed – Friday Tigers. These films are all stand outs for me. It’s so great to see these performers nailing it. I’m proud to be presenting their work.  
Have you ever been part of a short film? If so, tell us more

I’ve worked for a film production company, film distributors, been a film publicist and a cinema manager/programmer. I learned early on how much hard work making films is. I love them, but you’ve got to play to your strengths. For me those are organisation and marketing, so I’m more of a film cheerleader than a filmmaker.

What’s your hope with the festival this year?

We’ve already had some big wins this year with our Academy Awards accreditation meaning our Rush Munro’s Best Film winner qualifies for entry to the Oscars. The announcement of our ambassadors was a highlight for me, especially having the iconic Sir Richard Taylor publicly endorse Show Me Shorts. I was also invited by the German Federal Foreign Office to attend the Berlin International Film Festival in February, which allowed me to also attend the largest short film festival in the world (Clermont-Ferrand). What a great year, right!

I can’t ask for anything more than for people to come along and check out the short films that my team and I have curated for you all.
How do you plan to evolve this festival in the ever-changing cinematic landscape for next year?

We have a million ideas for ways we can show more short films, in new and different ways. Next year we’re announcing an exciting new award category, that I can’t wait to share. But you’ll have to wait until February to find out about that. In the meantime, we are programming some of our back catalogue of great short films for Art in the Dark festival (7-9 November) and Silo Cinema outdoor screenings all summer long.
What’s the one short film nobody should miss this year – and why?

Ooh good question! If you like zombie movies (and I do) Here Be Monsters is frick-tastic. Simple film, great premise, well executed. A man returns home from the front fighting in the zombie wars, to his wife and child. He’s been bitten and has a timer ready to go off for when he will turn, but can spend his last few human hours with his family. This film is in the ‘Through the Looking Glass’ section. Don’t miss it!

Storage Wars: Collection Five: DVD Review

Storage Wars: Collection Five: DVD Review

Rating: PG
Released by Magna Home Entertainment

The auction bidders return in this latest collection of 17 episodes.

If you're not familiar with the format, it's real simple - a group of guys (and one gal) blind bid on a storage unit based only on what they see at the front of it. If they win, they get to keep it and examine the treasures within. If not, then that's when resentments build...

This latest collection sees the format starting to take a bit of a stretch to be honest, with the auctions and consequent results starting to feel a little forced. Dave Hester, the guy who winds so many of the group up with his attitude is in it less after a dispute with the producers; and Barry Weiss, the oldest member of the gang seems to have been reduced to mere comic effect throughout and has become the class clown.

Thankfully, an episode where they bid on 100 units ramps up some of the waning interest and an introduction of a new bidder who believes the auctioneer is favouring some of the original bidders certainly spices a few things up.

Overall, Storage Wars remains fun, but with Barry Weiss leaving and Dave Hester out, maybe it's time to give this a rest. It's still watchable, but it's not as essential as it was in its first three years.

Rating:

The Counselor: Movie Review

The Counselor: Movie Review

Cast: Michael Fassbender, Cameron Diaz, Javier Bardem, Brad Pitt, Penelope Cruz
Director: Ridley Scott

Based on an original screenplay by No Country for Old Men and The Road author Cormac McCarthy, The Counselor dives deeply into the world of drug trafficking.

Fassbender is the Counselor to Javier Bardem's spiky-haired, lurid-shirted Reiner. He's a relatively happy man, soon to be engaged to his girlfriend Laura (Penelope Cruz) and quite happy to skirt the moral boundaries with the criminal element. But a chance comment from Reiner about how he could make more money sets the Counselor on a new path.

Given the chance to make some money from an apparently no-fail drug deal with Brad Pitt's cowboy hat wearing Westray, the Counselor gets involved in a drug-trafficking scheme. However, a twist soon puts him squarely in the sights of the drug cartels and he's running for his life, as well as his bride-to-be.

"You don't know someone until you know what they want" is one of the lines nihilistically intoned by a character in The Counselor.

There's plenty of foreshadowing in this good-vs-evil piece; everyone's warning about the potentially bad outcomes and quite frankly, in among some truly terrible dialogue, it certainly adds up to a emotionless cinematic experience.

Perhaps the worst character is Cameron Diaz's Malkina, supposed ice queen and beau to Bardem's Reiner, who sports a terrible dye job and some truly tight trashy dresses. In among some leopard tattoos, dusky eye shadow and a permanent scowl, she delivers a truly divisive performance which has to be seen to be believed. And not simply because in one sequence, you can see Cameron Diaz making love to a car. She's supposed to be the hidden predator in the piece but a lack of any menace or emotion whatsoever means she turns in a performance that is devoid of anything other than shallow button pressing.

Fassbender manages a little better, imbuing his gradually unravelling counselor with the greed and avarice that signals his spiral down - but in a film which continually bangs on about the menace of women and over emphasises predator imagery that's nothing spectacular to write home about. Particularly given that there's little reason given for the Counselor suddenly needing to be part of a major drug deal and score some big cash.

Sure, Scott brings a lurid take on McCarthy's relatively poorly written script, but even he can't bring to life dialogue which belongs more on a page than in characters' mouth on a big screen. Even the threat of beheadings and violence of Biblical proportions (although one character is despatched so ruthlessly on a street that it's actually shocking) can't resuscitate the overall feeling.

Admittedly, in parts, it's a unique take on the drugs' world in terms of being OTT, but with missing elements of suspense and tension as the stakes are raised, The Counselor is a frustrating and often muddled film, filled with cod philosophical debate that offers no psychological insights into these potentially vivid characters.

Rating:

The Day of The Doctor trailer is here

The Day of The Doctor trailer is here

This morning, the BBC has launched the latest Day of The Doctor trailer, to tease the 50th anniversary of Doctor Who on November 23rd.

It's the second The Day of The Doctor trailer to be released...

Warning - some spoilers ahead.



The Doctor Who 50th Anniversary trailer is finally here.

To celebrate the upcoming 50th anniversary of Doctor Who, the BBC's released a new trailer teasing The Day of The Doctor episode which will air on November the 23rd.

They've also released an image of all 11 of the Doctors in readiness for the celebration of the Time Lord.

The Wolverine: Blu Ray Review

The Wolverine: Blu Ray Review

Rating: M
Released by 20th Century Fox Home Entertainment

Hugh Jackman returns as The Wolverine.

In the latest, Logan's living rough in the Canadian wilds, bedraggled and uninterested in life as a mutant or as Wolverine after the death of Famke Janssen's Jean Grey in X Men: Last Stand. But, years ago at Nagasaki, he saved the life of a man known as Yashida when the bomb's dropped and now as the ultra-rich Yashida nears the end of his life, he wants to repay the debt to Logan.

So, escorted to Japan by the red-haired Yukio (Fukushima), Logan meets with Yashida as requested. However, after he's asked to look after Yashida's grand-daughter Mariko (Okamato), things start to go awry - a scientist named Viper appears to attack him in his sleep and suddenly, the once invulnerable Logan is now facing mortality, questions about his own life and a very uncertain future. Bound by his word, Logan's thrown into a war against the Yakuza, aimed at bringing down the Yashida empire and Mariko as he tries to work out what exactly is happening to him...

The Wolverine is a different X Men movie to any that have gone before it.

It's a more considered, more introspective piece which favours smarts and story over all action set pieces. It's by no means yet another origin story for Wolverine, but is in fact, an adventure of Logan's from 1982 and one of the first he had as a solo character which has been a much-heralded comic arc for Wolvy. Jackman is at his vulnerable best when Logan's trying to work out what's going on - both in modern day Japan and also in his own life. He brings an understated downplaying of the role this time around (no cigar-chomping here, bub) and it makes Wolverine a lot more realistic as he goes on his journey, faces his lack of immortality and takes on his demons.

Fuelling a feeling of a drifter film, a Ronin (samurai without a master), this Logan's a more melancholy and maudlin character in this latest outing - and while there are some incredible bursts of action (a sequence aboard a bullet train stands out), the overall feeling is muted and not what you'd expect from the sixth outing of the X Men favourite. Swathes of the film pass without any real action or spills and thrills, and it teeters precariously on the dull in places - but the story telling's key here and Mangold's certainly given that the time to breathe and depth to a character that you thought you already knew. It's this side of the film which is infinitely more interesting than the rest of what transpires towards the end - because it forgoes its original path for a finale which is generic, boring and simply a "battle the boss" end. It's almost as if Hollywood's come in and commanded an action beat down ending to provide a blockbuster pay off.

A fantastic final tease sequence sets up X Men: Days of Future Past thrillingly so make sure you stay on for the credits - it's a magnetic piece which concentrates on the three main players of the X Men movies and has got this geek salivating for the sequel.

Extras: Alternate ending, path of a Ronin, and set tour of X Men: Days of Future Past.
Rating:

ZB Movie Review - The Butler, Thanks for sharing

ZB Movie Review - The Butler, Thanks for sharing

http://www.newstalkzb.co.nz/auckland/player/ondemand/2028596221-darren-bevan-at-the-movies---the-butler-

Man of Steel: Blu Ray Review

Man of Steel: Blu Ray Review

Rating: M
Released by Warner Home Video

Sucker Punch, Watchmen and 300 director Zack Snyder is the latest to dip his toes into the mythology of the red and blue caped crusader for justice - and relative unknown Henry Cavill is the latest actor to don the cape and giant S and stand for truth, justice and the American way.

As the film opens, we're transported to the world of Krypton, a planet about to fall thanks to the greed of its leaders who have mined the core for their own progress. Opposed to them but opting for a peaceful solution is Russell Crowe's haughty Jor-El; also opposed to them but via a diametrically opposed and violent solution is General Zod (a vicious Michael Shannon).

Realising their planet's number is up, Jor-El sends his only son to Earth to save him; but it's too late. Krypton is destroyed, Zod is banished and Kal-El is a loner, drifting from town to town, doing good deeds and hoping to go unnoticed. One plucky reporter, Lois Lane starts connecting the dots though...and things get worse when Zod escapes and turns up on Earth demanding Kal-El.

Threatening destruction of the world he now calls home, Superman has no choice but to reveal himself.

Man of Steel is brash, loud, epic, big, noisy and blockbuster in many ways.

It starts with nothing short of bold and big with the fight on Krypton (which looks stunning and sets out Snyder's visual flair with some considerable aplomb) - though Snyder does his best to give the prelude something of a heart and soul as Jor-El and Lyra mourn the loss of their son but face the potential of the saviour of their race. In amongst the FX and wonderfully realised technology, there sorely needs to be some quieter moments brought to the fore for the benefit of the movie itself and to allow the audience to catch their breath. Henry Cavill is a commendable Superman (with one military type at the end commenting on how his cheekbones and steely jaw are "hot") but he never fully imbues his character with the humanity and potential moral turmoil that he really needs. Sure, he drifts from one place to the next, but could do with a little more humour and warmth as he does so. The brief moments when that does begin to shine through (such as his first flight through the clouds where he smiles with giddy joy) are sorely missed throughout as they bring soul to the piece which is occasionally bordering on the bloated.

But Snyder and the writers are to be commended in how they have executed the comic's 75 year history.

It's a Superman film which is completely respectful of the legend - iconic moments within the character's history are gracefully woven into the narrative via flashbacks here and there; and a future nemesis is glimpsed in a blink and miss it moment involving some tankers in the final showdown between Supes and Zod. The story blends in elements of Superman and Superman IIwith nary a care in the world - or a chance to stop and admire the view.Perhaps, though, it's a touch too much - particularly during the final showdown sequences with General Zod, which see infinitely more destruction than the Avengers did, with very little consequence. It's a little too much smashing, bashing, flying and fighting as Snyder layers level on level of action that's almost constricting. This is a Superman where clearly the S is not meaning subtle. It could have used a few more moments to pause and reflect.

And an ending which has sent parts of the internet into meltdown with its moral dilemmas is to be commended for bringing a level of danger to Supes that has been missing from his do-gooder image for many years.

All in all, Man Of Steel is an epic blockbuster ride. Sure, it could do with easing off once in a while and stopping to take in some of the view but it's a breathless and creatively solid re-imagining of the Superman legend - with a sequel due next year, you'll believe a man can fly once again.

Extras: Explore the characters of Superman, Krypton tech and the action scenes

Rating: