The Wind-down Part 2 - FILMS OF 2015

FESTIVALS!

It's also been the month of FESTIVALS and QnA's! Most notably the Widescreen Weekend at the Bradford Film Museum and the big horror fest in Sheffield, Celluloid Screams!

I rocked up to the final day of the Widescreen Weekend to meet a buddy who's a regular to the festival. He was in it for the long haul and went to pretty much every screening and talk there - projectionists, award winning FX artists etc.

The big hitter was a presentation by the legendary Douglas Trumbull. If you don't know who Doug Trumbull is, get educated. '2001', 'Blade Runner', 'Close Encounters', 'Silent Running'...this guy was the FX supervisor. So yeah, he's kinda a big deal. Shit, he even turned Star Wars down (as you do). Along with the 70mm screening of '2001 A Space Odyssey', he presented a talk about his work, film in general, and what he sees the future of film as a medium.

Thoroughly fascinating in a pure nerdist sense, it was an eye opener. The man himself couldn't be a kinder gent. A class act.

Up next was the annual horror jaunt Celluloid Screams. An absolute treat of a weekend it was too. A good mix of great and not-so-great movies, shorts, and general bollocks talking over gallons of ale.

Opening night was a great night with three flicks that ranged from terrible (The Invitation), to sublime (Goodnight Mommy), to the batshit crazy (Yakuza Apocalypse). It also showcased Andy Stewart's new short film 'Remnant'. See last years BLOG on his excellent short film 'INK' just to remind you on how much of a great talent the feller is.

'Remnant' itself is a showcase of the filmmaker trying to stretch himself but still keeping a signature style. The short lingers long after it finishes and has a gritty, bile-tinted visual style that unsettles for the runtime.

Capping it all off, I got to get drunk with some good guys, hang out with the legendary Graham Humphreys, the ladies from Arrow Video. Also, a shout out to Ben Stiener and Michael Wallin (quiet Nordic nutter and FX guy).

FILMS OF THE YEAR 2015 

As for this years movie intake? Well...compared to last year, it's been poor. Check out last years blog HERE

The list of my faves is shorter, and the quality isn't as high (minus a few choice flicks), and the majority are Documentaries.

QnA for 'The Wolfpack' with director Crystal Moselle and Angulo brothers

FILMS 
Black Mass - Scott Cooper
Steve Jobs - Danny Boyke 
Yakuza Apocalypse - Takeshi Miike
Goodnight Mommy - Veronika Franz & Severin Fiala
Sicario - Denis Villeneuve
Straight Outta Compton - F. Gary Grey
The Man from U.N.C.L.E - Guy Ritchie
Maggie - Henry Hobson
Mission Impossible Rouge Nation - Chris McQuarrie
Electric Boogaloo; Story of Canon Films - Mark Hartley
Jurassic World - Colin Trevorrow
Mad Max Fury Road - George Miller 
Cobain: Montage of Heck - Brett Morgen
The Wolfpack - Crystal Moselle

Oh, no Star Wars: The Force Awakens???? Well, yeah. It wasn't the flick I signed up for if I'm honest.

Also, your Revanant's and Hateful Eight's will rock out in January, so I'll bunch them in with 2016 list.

Here's to next year. Hopefully it'll improve. I'm sure it will as a new Shane Black flick is out.

NEW MUSIC VIDEO RELEASE!!!!!

So, how do we do?

Three months since the last blog update and now I can finally show you all the new music video we've been working on for BLACK NEON KNIGHTS .

Ladies and gents....RISE UP!!!

 


I would like to thank everyone who worked on this and helped out, all listed below.  All talented folks that I'm very grateful to have met and worked with. You're all good eggs.

Rachelle Shaw -
https://twitter.com/RachelleShaw9
https://www.facebook.com/pages/Minnaie/556929171000215?fref=ts
http://minnaie-model.co.uk/

Jayne Hyman -
https://twitter.com/JayneHyman
http://www.jaynehyman.co.uk/
https://www.facebook.com/pages/Jayne-Hyman-SFX-Props-Creative-Services/205618286173465?fref=ts

Sarah Walker -
https://twitter.com/SarahWalkerMUA
https://www.facebook.com/SarahWalkerMakeUpArtist

Cheryl Fowler -
https://twitter.com/Chezibabe2014

Chris Earl -
https://twitter.com/Sheff_Nerd

Ed Cartledge
https://www.sortoffilms.com

Rob Speranza
https://www.syfn.org

The Slaughtered Bird (Chris Barnes)
http://theslaughteredbird.com

Had a great screening last night at the Showroom Cinema, Showroom Shorts. Looks great on a big screen to round off the night with some award winning horror short films.

I'll be venturing to this years Celluloid Screams Horror Festival (www.celluloidscreams.com) this weekend also. Should be a fun weekend to catch up with some folks, check out some flicks (GOBLIN!!!). Holla at ya boy if you're around!

See ya on the flip side...Danny

DELAYED THANK YOU'S AND SHIZ

Bonjour!

As you may have gathered, we shot a music video last Saturday!

If you follow most of my silly ramblings on social meeedjah you'll have got all kinds of teaser photos - pre-production, production, and post-production.  All of if very intriguing without giving the whole game away.

As for the shoot itself?  Couldn't have gone any smoother to be fair. From planning and casting to the actual shoot - everything went like a dream.  I'd like to put it down to my meticulous eye for detail...or maybe it was down to knowing what I could/couldn't do and what I could get my hands on. Either way, let me bask in my producer-director glory for a change you judgemental creatures.

Go check out more updates over at the FACEBOOK and INSTAGRAM page.  Maybe give them a like too.

It could also be down to the talented cast and crew who seem to feel "safe" working with me in the full understanding that what we're shooting isn't an episode of Rasta Mouse (although I could easily do a nutty version of that).

So I'd just like to say thanks to all involved. Sarah Walker, Jayne Hyman, Cheryl Fowler, Chris Earl, and Rachelle Shaw.   Go give em some love below by following or liking their pages if you'd be so kind.

Rachelle Shaw -
https://twitter.com/RachelleShaw9
https://www.facebook.com/pages/Minnaie/556929171000215?fref=ts
http://minnaie-model.co.uk/

Jayne Hyman -
https://twitter.com/JayneHyman
http://www.jaynehyman.co.uk/
https://www.facebook.com/pages/Jayne-Hyman-SFX-Props-Creative-Services/205618286173465?fref=ts

Sarah Walker -
https://twitter.com/SarahWalkerMUA
https://www.facebook.com/SarahWalkerMakeUpArtist

Cheryl Fowler -
https://twitter.com/Chezibabe2014

Chris Earl -
https://twitter.com/Sheff_Nerd

On top of this, not only did we finish a shoot earlier than expected, I happened to dive-bomb on a little get together with some top UK Horror movie-makers who had just hit Sheffield's Horrorcon this year (something I was unable to make due to said video shoot).

Ended up being a great night.  I finally got a chance to sup a few ales with ANDY STEWART, the director of the awesome body horror trilogy - Dysmorphia, Split, and INK.  As you may know, I threw INK in my top films I saw last year HERE - so it was cool to just chat the shit with him and have a bit of a chuckle. Go check out his flicks HERE or on Eli Roth's CRYPT TV pretty soon.

On top of THAT, there was a young buck named LIAM REGAN who also got a severe ear-bashing from yours truly. He's got a new flick on way called BANJO - a UK indie horror flick which is a cross between Troma (and is endorsed by Lloyd Kaufman BTW) and Frank "Basket Case/Frankenhooker" Henenlotter.  Really enjoyed talking to him as we threw our favourite Toxic Avenger 4 quotes at each other.

Check out the TRAILER and show it some love!  It's also good to see Dan Palmer pop up in a few things as I really dug his first movie "Freak Out" years ago!

In the meantime, keep your eyes peeled for updates!

See ya on the flip side...Danny

Year in Review...PART TWO: ELECTRIC BOOGALOO

Films of the year 2014. (Part One in review is HERE)

I have to say, this year has been an absolute stunner.  Compared to last years HERE, the quality, variety, and balls of some mainstream and indie movies has been outstanding (complete with some guilty pleasures).  Every week something came along and sucker punched me in the chops.

Again no real order.  If you ain't checked them out...what are you waiting for?

The Raid 2 - Gareth Evans
How to Train Your Dragon 2 - Dean DeBlois
Under The Skin - Jonathan Glazer
Nightcrawler - Dan Gilroy
The Babadook - Jennifer Kent
Gone Girl - David Fincher
Snowpiercer - Bong Joon-Ho
Interstellar - Christopher Nolan
Housebound - Gerard Johnstone
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles - Jonathan Liebesman
Dawn of the Planet of The Apes - Matt Reeves
Maps to The Stars - David Cronenberg
The Guest - Adam Wingard
Guardians of The Galaxy - James Gunn
Cold in July - Jim Mickle
Edge of Tomorrow - Doug Liman
Joe - David Gordon Green
Godzilla - Gareth Edwards

Honourable mentions -
The Machine - Caradog W. James (someone to watch out for)
Dom Hemingway - Richard Shepard (Jude Law turned into a real man's man actor)

Adding to this was Celluloid Screams Horror Festival 2014.  Which I have to say had more variety, surprises, and quality than previous years.  Here's what went off -

The Canadian Troma-esque troop Astron 6 ('Manborg', 'Fathers Day') were there with their new flick 'The Editor' - a Giallo (Italian slasher/horror films from the 70's and 80's) piss take. Fair play to them, they were at every screening over the entire weekend.  I would've buggered off after the film, but no, they stayed and met with lots of fans.  Good guys.

They also brought Lawrence Harvey who pops up in the 'The Editor'.  Really nice bloke.  However, seeing him just standing there after you've left the toilet did make me have a sleepless night.  If you don't know who he is, go see The Human Centipede 2.

Yeah, he's that guy.

Anyway - the biggy was meeting the big man below - Brian Yuzna.  Director of 'Society' and 'Return of The Living Dead III', as well as writer of 'Re-Animator', 'From Beyond', and...'Honey I Shrunk The Kids'.

The man is an absolute legend and also the nicest bloke you'll ever meet.  All he wanted to do was talk movies.  Had the pleasure of a brief chat with him after the QnA over ran - could easily have spent hours talking over his films.

Another fanboy moment was getting to meet Graham Humphrey.  "Who the fuck?"  You ask.  Here the fuck...

Go re-educate yourself when you see the art the man has created HERE.  When you've created iconic posters like the one above, you'll pay respect where its due.

As for the movies?  Well apart from seeing an all time fave 'Society' in a 35mm print, only two really stood out that I saw.

The first was 'Housebound'.  A New Zealand effort from director Gerard Johnstone.  Apart from thinking that the only thing New Zealand churned out were films about sheep and Hobbits, this little gem pops up.  Like a laid back version of 'The Burbs' meets 'People Under the Stairs' the film was funny, clever, witty, and had enough invention to set it above the usual horror fodder.

The 2nd impressive movie was actually a short film called 'Ink' which had its première.  While I find 98% of short films nowadays either a drawn out scene or FX reel, the short by Glasgow filmmaker Andy Stewart gave everyone a slap across the arse and made people take notice.

The short is a final film in a body-horror trilogy he's made, each with a similar theme but with noticeably bigger budgets.  However, its the overall craft of tension building coupled with the what-to-show-and-what-not-to-show-nature of each film stays constant and what makes it stand out.  It's one of the best shorts I've seen.

Go check out his first flick HERE.  His website HERE.  And follow the chunt on twatter HERE.  He's gained a fan from moi and you should like it too.

So that's that.  A list of great flicks, fun flicks, and ones to make you say "you liked that shite?".
  
See ya on the flip side in 2015, Danny.