Christmas is nearly upon us, my home in Toronto already covered with a blanket of snow. Which, whatever your impressions may be of Canada, is actually a rarity this early in the season. And so I come to you bearing gifts. It’s International Eye Candy time and we’ve got a baker’s dozen of the best and brightest from around the globe. You want crazy Thai people putting their lives on the line in the name of entertainment? We’ve got that. Giant squid monsters attacking the planet? We’ve got that, too. How about Udo Kier dressed up as a Space Nazi? It’s only a still, unfortunately, but you’ll find that here. Throw in John Cleese in a South African blockbuster, a bit of old school kung fu and the real life story of a terrorist attack and we’re off and running. Here we go!
We’re kicking things off with THE BLACK SKY, the latest ‘illustrated film’ from the creators of GODKILLER. They’ve teamed up with 30 DAYS OF NIGHT artist Ben Templesmith on this one and the results are pretty stunning. I’m not entirely sold on this format as a way of telling a long form story yet – the relatively static images are not particularly good at emoting – but, damn, there are some impressive images on display. Find THE BLACK SKY trailer here
We’re gonna stick with American productions for a moment longer here – hey, you guys are part of the world, too – for a peek at upcoming indie THE DAY. A post apocalyptic thriller with a bevy of interesting young stars – Dominic Monaghan, Shawn Ashmore, Ashley Bell – this one is still early in the post production process and they’re keeping the plot details under wraps but they’ve released a very impressive first teaser that’s heavy on the atmosphere. I’m loving the look and feel of this and you know the performances are going to be good with the cast they’ve got. Find THE DAY teaser here
But enough of people speaking languages I actually understand. Off we go to Norway now for the latest from TOMME TONNER 2: THE BROWN GOLD. Question of the day: Is the brown gold in question kebab or hashish? Both seem equally likely. The sequel to the successful action comedy promises more of what made the first a local hit only more and better. And that means a slick balance of action, sex appeal and comedy featuring a couple of the region’s biggest stars (Kim Bodnia and Kristoffer Joner) kicking back and clearly having a blast just being stupid for a while. Find the new TOMME TONNER trailer here
Ass monster. That’s what you really need to know about Ryan Lightbourn’s upcoming short ROID RAGE. We ran the teaser for this one earlier but it’s back now with a full trailer that promises lots of ass-bitey goodness. Find the ROID RAGE trailer here
As of the time of this writing we’re about four hours from the premiere of DIRK GENTLY’S HOLISTIC DETECTIVE AGENCY on BBC Four. Yes, someone finally realized that Douglas Adams’ other series is a whole lot easier to adapt to the screen than THE HITCHHIKERS GUIDE TO THE GALAXY ever was and went out and did it. The brilliant Stephen Mangan from GREEN WING stars as Dirk and I can’t wait. Find the DIRK GENTLY trailer here
To France now, where CHRYSALIS director Julien Leclerq is telling the real life story of the hijacking of Air France Flight 8969 in L’ASSAUT. The actual events ended with the French equivalent of a SWAT team storming the plane and killing the hijackers so expect this one to be bit more burly action film than the sad tribute that similarly themed projects in the US have been. Regardless of how he presents it, though, Leclerq is one of the finest visual directors in France and this looks amazing. Find the L’ASSAUT trailer here
We hop back to Norway now, where star Kristoffer Joner makes his second appearance in this edition of the IEC thanks to his part in prison drama KING OF DEVIL’S ISLAND. The first trailer for this one appeared a column or two back, the film impressing with its production values and the gritty edge it brings to the real life story of revolt amongst the inmates of a juvenile detention center. Expect more of the same from the second trailer, which is to say it looks every bit as fantastic as the first. And it even features English subtitles. Find the new KING OF DEVIL’S ISLAND trailer here
And now for something completely different. MONTY PYTHON star John Cleese has turned up in South Africa, of all places, playing a key role in smash hit comedy SPUD. South Africa is one of very few countries in the world not dominated by HARRY POTTER or TANGLED when that duo hit, and this movie is the reason why. Based on a popular novel, it’s a schoolboy coming of age comedy and while the first half of the trailer plays like just about every film of the type ever made Cleese shows up at the end doing what he does best. Find the SPUD trailer here
Early press screenings for Benny Chan’s SHAOLIN have begun in Hong Kong and the advance word is good. Which is not a surprise, really, given that the trailer for this one make it look like the best old-school style fight flick in a decade or so. Huge cast, huge set, fantastic martial arts. IT’s all you could ask for really. A third trailer showed up earlier this week boasting some new footage to continue stoking the fire. Find the new SHAOLIN trailer here
Chile’s Pablo Larrain burst onto the scene a few years back with TONY MANERO, the Cannes-selected story of a serial killer modelling himself after John Travolta during the Pinochet era in Chile. It’s a potent bit of work, one that Larrain followed up with a second Pinochet-set piece titled POST MORTEM. This one revolves around a mortician’s assistant, a man responsible for logging details on all the corpses passing through their doors. And in this era there were a lot of those. The film launched at the Venice film festival and with a theatrical release coming soon in France a new trailer has just arrived there. Find the new POST MORTEM trailer here
Over to Russia now where notorious cult novel THE MASTER AND MARGARITA – a rather heretical time jumping affair revolving largely around a demonic cat visiting Russia – is being turned into an animated feature. Mikhail Bulgakov’s work has had a difficult history, not being released until more than twenty years after his death and then only in heavily censored form, but it has gone on to be widely recognized as one of the great novels of the twentieth century and has received at least a couple of film and television adaptations before now. But never quite like this. Find the MASTER AND MARGARITA trailer here
Back to France now for Jerome Salle’s LARGO WINCH 2, which I’m told may be retitled THE BURMESE CONSPIRACY for international audiences who don’t know who the hell Largo Winch is. Based on a popular series of Belgian graphic novels, LARGO WINCH clearly aims to be a big, glossy, globe hopping action adventure series that European audiences can claim for their own. The cast is international – Sharon Stone appears in this one – the effects big and glossy. This could easily stand up to the best the Bruckheimers of the world have to offer. Find the LARGO WINCH trailer here
And, finally, we end in Thailand, where ONG BAK fight choreographer Panna Rittikrai is breaking people again. Rittikrai is in the director’s chair for BANGKOK KNOCKOUT, a full out martial arts stunt extravaganza built around the skills of nine of Rittikrai’s favourite stuntmen. Yep. No actors in this one, really, other than a few support roles tucked into the background. The main players are all stunt people here to show the most extreme stuff that they can do. And extreme it is. The trailer for this popped up a while back but we’ve got a crazy behind the scenes reel for it now, as well. Find the BANGKOK KNOCKOUT reel here
