2008 Progress Report, Part 2

The next list contains the films that were above the level of "Yeah, it was fine," but not on the level of shorts-creaming. And as for Mother of Tears, I didn't feel comfortable putting it in either the best or worst category, so she's only there by default. Oh, and please excuse the horrible cropping... I was just lazy. I'll post the other 2 lists later on.

Les Autres!

The Bank Job – dir. Roger Donaldson – UK – Lionsgate – with Jason Statham, Saffron Burrows

Mother of Tears, The [La terza madre] – dir. Dario Argento – Italy/USA – Weinstein Company – with Asia Argento, Cristian Solimeno

My Blueberry Nights – dir. Wong Kar-wai – France/Hong Kong/China – Weinstein Company – with Norah Jones, Jude Law, David Strathairn, Rachel Weisz, Natalie Portman, Chan Marshall

Poultrygeist: Night of the Chicken Dead – dir. Lloyd Kaufman – USA – Troma – with Jason Yachanin, Kate Graham, Allyson Sereboff

The Ruins – dir. Carter Smith – USA – DreamWorks – with Jena Malone, Jonathan Tucker, Laura Ramsey, Shawn Ashmore, Joe Anderson

Savage Grace – dir. Tom Kalin – USA/Spain/France – IFC Films – with Julianne Moore, Eddie Redmayne, Stephen Dillane, Hugh Dancy, Elena Anaya, Unax Uglade, Belén Rueda

Shotgun Stories – dir. Jeff Nichols – USA – Liberation Entertainment – with Michael Shannon

Signal, The – dir. David Bruckner, Dan Bush, Jacob Gentry – USA – Magnet Releasing – with Anessa Ramsey, AJ Bowen, Justin Welborn, Cheri Christian

Son of Rambow – dir. Garth Jennings – UK – Paramount Vantage – with Bill Milner, Will Poulter, Ed Westwick, Jules Sitruk

Stuck – dir. Stuart Gordon – USA/Canada/UK – ThinkFilm – with Mena Suvari, Stephen Rea, Russell Hornsby

Water Lilies [Naissance des pieuvres] – dir. Céline Sciamma – France – Red Envelope Entertainment/Koch Lorber – with Pauline Acquart, Louise Blachère, Adele Haenel, Warren Jacquin

...People Fucking

Here are a few DVD announcements. Picture This! Entertainment will release the film 7 Virgins [7 vírgenes], starring Juan José Ballesta (El Bola) on 30 September. They will also release The Good Boy, or in Spanish Segundo asalto, starring Darío Grandinetti (Talk to Her), on the 16th.

Strand will release two films in September: Jacques Nolot's (Porn Theatre) Before I Forget [Avant que j'oublie] and Ferzan Ozpetek's (Steam: The Turkish Bath, Facing Windows) Saturn in Opposition [Saturno contro], starring Stefano Accorsi and Margherita Buy.

ThinkFilm is releasing Stuart Gordon's bloody comedy (?) Stuck, starring Mena Suvari and Stephen Rea, on 7 October. They will also have out the Canadian film YPF, or Young People Fucking as it was known at festivals, on the 14th. You may know Young People Fucking as being amid the Canadian government censorship case. Google it.

Facets is releasing the Bill Douglas trilogy, which consists of My Childhood, My Ain Folk and My Way Home, from 72-78, on 23 September. The set will also be released on 23 June from BFI in the UK. The Weinstein Company has Lou Reed's Berlin, a concert film directed by Julian Schnabel, on 16 September. It has to be better than any other concert film I've seen of Reed in the past.

Kino will be releasing a newly remastered version of the infamous RKO picture The Man on the Eiffel Tower, co-directed by Burgess Meredith, Irving Allen and Charles Laughton (though the latter two remained uncredited), on 16 September. The film was only previously available in a shitty transfer for cheap. BCI Eclipse will release another out-of-circulation film, Simon Heresa's A Day at the Beach, written by Roman Polanski on 9 September. The film stars Peter Sellers.

Water Bearer Films is releasing Philippe Vallois' (We Were One Man) notorious Johan, carnet intime homosexuel, or Johan, mon été 75, on 26 August. And finally, Venevision will release Antonio Chavarrías' Volverás, starring Tristan Ulloa and Unax Uglade, on 16 September.