It’s the time of year when the summer blockbusters that filled the cinemas begin to fill the DVD shelves instead. In Special Edition # 27, Laurence Boyce looks at one of the biggest hits of the summer alongside some cinematic classics, some laughs and a few TV staples. I've also been watching films with a lot of porn in them, but as its work then it’s allowed. You know, I…

Those who know the work of illustrator Dave Shrigley will understand how easy it is to fall into cliché when describing his work. Words such as ‘twisted’, ‘dark’ and ‘disturbing’ seem inadequate to express his truly warped view of the world and the people who inhabit it. Now, with the aid of Chris Shepherd who directed the wonderful short film Dad’…

I marched thru the night, looking up to the snow kissed trees, and arrived too late for Cloud Atlas. Half an hour later a film I didn’t know, beyond reading that it was about a student dropout in Berlin, and was Black and White. I dashed back across the road for a thai curry, laden with mushrooms, which I left. I returned in time to get a seat and a small bag of popcorn, hoping this would not be…

    Future Shorts, the film label behind Rock'n' Roll Cinema and Secret Cinema , as well as global distributor of short films, has released its first DVD, a bit of a greatest hits called Adventures in Short Film - Volume 1. They chose well for their inaugural compilation.   As with a short story, short films can do great things with a hint of strangen…

This documentary, made by renowned [some might say notorious] left-wing journalist John Pilger, is out on DVD on 4th February. The film uses the USA's treatment of Latin America over the second half of the 20th century as evidence that the US is fighting a war against democracy in the region known as "America's backyard." His film shows us the flipside of Bush's "War on Terror,&q…

Come on the long days! Laurence Boyce has been stuck in front of a computer for the past few weeks, watching many, many films and currently needs a tanning machine to ensure his skin resembles the colour of porridge. Thankfully, the stuff that he’s been watching for Special Edition # 38 means that Laurence Boyce has at least got to enjoy some really good films and TV shows. But, for the love of h…

Since fully entering the London rat race I have come across a number of 30-somethings that appear to feel rather bitter about being around 20-somethings, much to the bewilderment of the latter.  It is these people that will perhaps scoff at the idea that there is a big leap between being 21 and 24, crying that it is all within the same degree of naivety, but I can vouch for this leap when…

Francois Truffaut memorably said that there was “… a certain incompatibility between the words ‘cinema’ and ‘Britain’.” Stephen Frears had an equally memorable retort, stunning in its simplicity and epic in its sentiments: “Bollocks to Truffaut.” Yet aside from certainly glorious moments – the Free Cinema movement, the Swinging Sixties…

Now, as the holiday season has come to an end, it’s come to that time of year when you have loads of vouchers to spend (“Oh, thanks for that Auntie. A voucher I can spend in a specific shop, as opposed to money which I can spend – you know – anywhere”) and DVD’s to exchange for something better. So Special Edition # 36 is here to point you in the right direction as Laurence Boyce examines some of…

When David Lynch calls a film "simultaneously horrific, erotic and funny," and master surrealist Luis Buñuel says that it is "exceptional," you know it's probably not an easy watch. Martin Scorcese, Francis Ford Coppola, along with Grateful Dead guitarist Jerry Garcia, helped to finance a new print of the film, that's how much they love it. First released in De…

It’s looking like a pretty quiet summer for blockbusters. Harry Potter has caused a stir but seems somehow slight, Transformers 2 has distinguished itself by being absolutely diabolical and Star Trek seems like ages ago. So, if you’re not fancying your local multiplex then Special Edition # 31 would seem to be the perfect option for all your film watching needs. Laurence Boyce leads y…

Now available to buy on DVD, September remains one of the most affecting and beautiful British short films of the past few years. The film beat off stiff competition from the likes Sam Taylor Wood’s passionate and impressive Love You More to walk away with the 2009 BAFTA Award for Best Short Film (Live Action) to add to its numerous other awards and accolades. The film tells the story of Marvin…

Sicko was shown at the London Film Festival last week. It is Michael Moore's latest effort, looking at the mess that is America's privatised healthcare system, relying as it does upon insurance claims to pay medical bills.  As Moore's average, middle-class, insured subjects show us, though, having the insurance may still not be enough. The industry does all it can to avoid payouts, d…

Films, films and more films. And some TV shows. Yes, Special Edition# 34 has plenty of fun things for you this time around. It’s a good job the clocks went back or Laurence Boyce wouldn't know where to find the time…. It seems that all our directors have decided to have a laugh: after Mike Leigh decided to head down the comedy route in Happy-Go-Lucky and some would say that Guy Ritchie has been…

As the  50th London Film Festival begins today, here's a third update from Suchandrika Chakrabarti, with previews of Infamous, a Truman Capote biopic, Who Loves the Sun, a Canadian indie feature and Shut Up & Sing, a Dixie Chicks documentary.     Infamous (dir. Douglas McGrath, USA, 2006)     Brit Toby Jones gives the…

As always, the summer becomes a time when the focus is on the spectacle of cinema-going with movies such as Inception and Toy Story 3 packing them in. So, Special Edition # 41 will show you that it’s excellent time to chill out and enjoy some low key delights as they hit the shelves. Laurence Boyce finds some excellent films that have proved wildly popular on the festival circuit and a choice sel…

Ahead of the London Film Festival's opening night tomorrow, here's a round-up of some highlights from Suchandrika Chakrabarti. The LFF's press screenings begin before the festival begins, and carry on during it, with the previews of the big gala films, like the opening night's Fantastic Mr Fox (gosh, they do love a bit of Wes Anderson) and the George Clooney-starring The Men Who Stare at Goats…

The first post-war film from Iraq - shot by British filmmakers - makes its UK debut in Leeds ahead of a Foreign Language Oscar campaign Ahlaam, which means dreams or utopia, made it's British premiere in Leeds last night, and is a dazzling display of world class filmmaking using guerilla techniques. Producer-writer-director Mohamed al Daradji, formerly of Leeds Met film school…

Morgan Spurlock’s POM Wonderful Presents: The Greatest Movie Ever Sold officially opened the 18th Sheffield Documentary Film Festival on Wednesday evening, also providing the doc with its European premiering slot. Product placement and chasing sponsorship lolly was the film’s raison d’être, and as I write this I’m drinking a bottle of POM Wonderful itself, dished out free in the delegate centre…

Page to Screen # 2, Laurence Boyce’s newest column that takes a look at some of the best books related to cinema, TV and anything else that he thinks fits in, returns with a look at some of the latest titles from Wallflower Press, Faber & Faber, Kamera and – in a tradition brought over from Special Edition – there are even few Doctor Who books in here as well. Firstly…

"I'd like to finish with a word of warning. You may have started something. The British are coming." If that statement, made by Colin Welland during his 1981 Oscar acceptance speech for Chariots Of Fire, is true then the British have been taking their bloody time. More than 25 years on, it's only now that British cinema seems to be at the beginnings of resurgence that could pu…

  It seems that DVD companies have decided to educate us in cinema history as they’ve gone ‘auteur crazy’ with a number of box sets and new releases containing the greatest work of some of the most famous and influential directors of the past hundred years. So if your DVD collection is mostly populated by the films of Steve Guttenberg and Pauly Shore, then you&rsq…

This book’s subtitle is The Power of Color in Visual Storytellling, but it’s also something of a tribute to the power of a good title. I would defy anyone to spot this in a bookshop and not have their curiosity aroused. Publisher: Focal Press ISBN: 0-240-80688-3 Published date: Current Country of origin: US Subject area: Colour in Film Design price: £24.99 Personally, I’ve know all about the i…

  Wes Anderson's Fantastic Mr Fox will have its world premiere at the London Film Festival's opening gala tonight. Suchandrika Chakrabarti reviews. In case you don't know (shame on you if you don't), Fantastic Mr Fox is a 1970 children's novel by Roald Dahl. The film fleshes out the original storyline, which sees Mr Fox outsmarting the local triumvirate of mean farmers - Boggis, Bunce and…

It’s a chock full column this time around as some of the biggest blockbusters of last year find their way onto DVD. So join Special Edition # 16 as Laurence Boyce reviews the re-invention of one of Britain’s cinematic icons, the re-release of one of the most famous films of the 90s and – just so we don’t start getting too serious – some classic cartoons that a genera…