AUGUST 2011

AUGUST PRESS ROOM BULLETIN

We seem to be obsessed with literature of late. Fresh from the release of HOWL – the part-biopic, part-dramatisation of Allen Ginsberg’s formative years – comes WILLIAM S. BURROUGHS – A MAN WITHIN. One of Ginsberg’s closest friends and confidants, William S. Burroughs’ contribution to and subsequent influence on 20th century literature – and furthermore music, art and film – cannot be understated. Nor can his persistence in courting dangerous behaviour for that matter. It is, quite simply, a miracle that Burroughs lived as long as he did.

This month also sees the release of Rowan Joffe’s stylish reimagining of Graham Greene’s much-loved novel, BRIGHTON ROCK. A chronological departure from the original ’30s setting, this version shifts to the early 1960s, where gang warfare between the Mods and the Rockers was in full swing. The reimagining of iconic stories such as this can sometimes be controversial, however BRIGHTON ROCK retains all the essential noir and thriller elements of the original story and presents a lavish and authentic experience.

What better way to gain insight into the writing process than guidance from the authors themselves? Utilising extremely rare and candid interviews, recordings and other archive materials, IN THEIR OWN WORDS: BRITISH NOVELISTS provides fascinating insights into the mindset and motivation of some of the finest writers of our time – from Arthur Conan Doyle through to Salman Rushdie.

Elsewhere this month, we have the Academy Award®-nominated BIUTIFUL starring Javier Bardem and the wild, raunchy and (quite literally) tongue-in-cheek SEX AND ZEN: EXTREME ECSTASY. After solving 231 murders in the sleepy county of Midsomer, John Nettles hangs up his badge for his last ever season in MIDSOMER MURDERS Season 13 Part 2. And finally, do we feel a disturbance in The Force? ROBOT CHICKEN STAR WARS 3 must be coming…

BRIGHTON ROCK

Starring the luminous Helen Mirren (THE LONG GOOD FRIDAY), rising star Andrea Riseborough (NEVER LET ME GO) and CONTROL‘s Sam Riley, BRIGHTON ROCK is a tense and moody thriller based on Graham Greene’s 1938 novel of the same name.

Brighton, 1964. Ambitious young gangster Pinkie Brown (Riley) is determined to stop other gangs taking over his patch, but when he knifes a rival, vital evidence falls into the innocent hands of Rose (Riseborough), an impressionable young waitress. Pinkie romances Rose to keep her quiet, but her employer Ida (Mirren) is increasingly suspicious. Can Pinkie trust Rose not to betray him? And can Rose trust Pinkie not to make her his next victim?

Release Date: 17th August, 2011

BIUTIFUL

Javier Bardem plays Uxbal in Alejandro González Iñárritu’s BIUTIFUL, delivering an astonishing performance that won him a Cannes Best Actor award and for which he was nominated for an Oscar®.

Uxbal’s time is running out. Recently diagnosed with terminal cancer, he chooses to keep his prognosis to himself so that he can continue caring for his children, manage his bootleg apparel company and deal with his bi-polar wife. On top of it all, Uxbal is able to communicate with the dead, and must cope with the enormous burden of this gift.

Release Date: 10th August, 2011

HOW I ENDED THIS SUMMER

Located in the sparsely beautiful frozen wasteland of the Russian Arctic, HOW I ENDED THIS SUMMER is a tense and atmospheric thriller.

When young graduate Pavel takes a post at a remote meteorological station over the arctic summer, he is unprepared for the isolation and loneliness that comes with the job. His only colleague is Sergei, a gruff uncommunicative man who despairs of Pavel’s youthful complacency. When Pavel receives a gravely urgent message for Sergei and he fails to pass it on out of fear, he triggers a series of events that will affect both of their lives forever.

Release Date: 10th August, 2011

SEX AND ZEN: EXTREME ECSTASY

A new chapter in the legendary 90s Hong Kong cinema staple, this raunchy romp hit $1 million at the Aussie box office on extremely limited release, and smashed sales records in Hong Kong, knocking AVATAR out of the park. Clearly, sex still sells!

As a conceited scholar of the Ming Dynasty, Wei Yangsheng believes that life is short, and that it should be centred on pursuing the ultimate sexual pleasure . One day, Yangsheng encounters Tie Yuxiang, the daughter of a Tao priest, and it’s love at first sight. However, it doesn’t take long for Yangsheng to discover that his performance is extremely “premature”. Thus begins his quest to become the ultimate lover…

Release Date: 10th August, 2011

A CAT IN PARIS

From the creators of THE TRIPLETS OF BELLEVILLE comes this delightful French animation, which was the most popular film at the Alliance Française French Film Festival this year.

Dino is a common house cat who lives a double life. He’s the loyal pet of Zoe, a lonely little girl who lives with her busy single mother Jeanne, a police officer. But after sundown, he clambers over the rooftops of Paris in the company of Nico, a skilled thief with a big heart. Eventually, Zoe discovers what Dino is up to and becomes drawn into a thrilling adventure involving jewels, gangsters and capital-T Trouble!

Release Date: 10th August, 2011

HIS & HERS

How does she feel about her dad, her boyfriend, her husband, her son? How does she let him know that he is special, worthy, loved? HIS & HERS discovers the extraordinary in the ordinary, comedy in the mundane, tragedy in the profound, and provides an original insight into a life. The hallways, living rooms and kitchens of Ireland are used as the canvas for the film’s rich tapestry of female characters.

Release Date: 10th August, 2011

WILLIAM S. BURROUGHS: A MAN WITHIN

One in the triumvirate of influential Beat generation authors that also included Jack Kerouac and Allen Ginsberg, William S. Burroughs was mad, bad and dangerous to know, but he also influenced the work of artists spanning many generations, from John Waters to David Cronenberg, Iggy Pop to Patti Smith and more.

In the 1950s, William S. Burroughs broke boundaries by addressing America’s queer and drug cultures. His novel ‘Naked Lunch’ is one of the most recognised and respected literary works of the 20th Century and has influenced generations of artists. This intimate documentary breaks the surface of the troubled and brilliant world of one of America’s greatest authors.

Release Date: 10th August, 2011

MIDSOMER MURDERS – SEASON 13 (PART 2)

It’s the end of an era. After 13 years and 231 grizzly murders in the ‘The Deadliest County in England’, the Barnaby we know and love (played by BERGERAC‘s steely-eyed John Nettles) is hanging up his badge for good. It’s a sad day for MIDSOMER MURDERS fans, so to help ease the pain, we have collected DCI Tom Barnaby’s final four cases here, with plenty of special features to give him an apt send-off.

Just as an aside, did you know that when Nettles’ final MIDSOMER MURDERS jaunt aired in the UK more than 8 million Britons tuned in? Just sayin’ – he’s popular!

Release Date: 3rd August, 2011

THE SHERLOCK HOLMES COLLECTION

Sherlock Holmes has had a 21st century makeover recently, but nothing beats the original. Acclaimed by Holmes enthusiasts as the most faithful adaptations of the original novels, this BBC version of the world’s most famous detective – starring Peter Cushing as the titular hero – has been remastered, and for the first time, all 5 surviving stories from the BBC series are collected here on DVD.

Peter Cushing had previously starred as Sherlock Holmes in Hammer’s movie THE HOUND OF THE BASKERVILLES when, in 1968, he took on the TV portrayal of Conan Doyle’s famous detective and was immediately credited with bringing a great authenticity to the role.

Release Date: 3rd August, 2011

DAD – THE COMPLETE FIRST COLLECTION

Released perfectly in time for Father’s Day, DAD stars the brilliant George Cole (MINDER) in a superbly annoying performance.

Brian Hook is an archetypal dad, blissfully unaware of how easily he can drive his middle-aged son, Alan, to distraction and frustration. Alan, in turn, desperately wants to be a cool dad and communicate with his own teenage son, Vincent – determined that Vincent doesn’t suffer the same childhood embarrassments he remembers so vividly. Inevitably he tries too hard and his attempts to communicate often end in disaster.

Release Date: 3rd August, 2011

IN THEIR OWN WORDS

This is the story of the 20th Century novel, told by the authors themselves, featuring great novelists talking candidly about their life and work. IN THEIR OWN WORDS includes Arthur Conan Doyle, HG Wells and EM Forster through to Salman Rushdie, Jeanette Winterson, Martin Amis, Kazuo Ishiguro and Hilary Mantel. The series provides fascinating insights into what mattered to writers about the times in which they lived, and includes the only recording of Virginia Woolf in existence and William Golding explaining LORD OF THE FLIES to a room of young school pupils.

Release Date: 3rd August, 2011

AMERICA’S HARDEST PRISONS – GANG CENTRAL

The world is drawn to prison stories. From the small-screen hits of OZ to the silver screen’s SHAWSHANK REDEMPTION, life behind bars is something no one aspires to…but is nevertheless the source of endless fascination.

In this unflinching expose, we plunge headlong into the gritty world of America’s toughest prisons. Here, the strong prey on the weak and corrections officers fight to keep the inmates in check. At the same time, prisons struggle to provide new programs to help stop inmates re-offending when they return to the streets. Be right there, in the middle of this real-life warzone where every day is a battle for control.

Release Date: 3rd August, 2011

THE LIFE AND TIMES OF JUNIPER LEE

THE LIFE AND TIMES OF JUNIPER LEE is a Cartoon Network original series in the tradition of COW AND CHICKEN, I AM WEASEL and DEXTER’S LABORATORY, which mixes one part BEN 10 to three parts BUFFY THE VAMPIRE SLAYER and shakes them up for maximum fun!

Juniper Lee leads a pretty normal life. She gets good marks, hangs out with friends and has to deal with an overzealous younger brother. But on top of the everyday pre-teen escapades, Juniper is the Te-zuan-ze (the ‘Protector’). For generations, a member of her family has had both the honour and burden of keeping the balance between the real and magical world. Now it’s Juniper’s turn, and it’s not easy. Regardless of what Juniper is busy doing, she might have to suddenly skip out to smack down an unruly magical creature. But Juniper is equipped with the strength of 10 people and highly skilled in magic, so a little monster butt-kicking is no match for her. The real challenge of being the Te-zuan-ze is balancing her normal pre-teen life with her secret role as Protector.

Release Date: 17th August, 2011

ROBOT CHICKEN STAR WARS 3

They’re baaaaawk! With a few new voice actors chucked in for good measure – FAMILY GUY creator Seth MacFarlane as Emperor Palpatine and the dreamy Zac Efron as the dim-witted Anakin Skywalker just to name a few – the Emmy Award-winning ROBOT CHICKEN returns to DVD with its third send-up of the STAR WARS universe.

In this all-new special, four very different characters – Emperor Palpatine, Darth Vader, Boba Fett and, uh, Gary the Stormtrooper – reveal untold stories that weave and interconnect throughout all six STAR WARS films. Set your phasers to “fun”! Oh wait, wrong franchise…

Release Date: 3rd August, 2011

ASSY MCGEE

Bringing all new meaning to the phrase “buns of steel”, Assy McGee is a hard-hitting super cop who never turns the other cheek. Assy is a renegade police sniper with no patience for criminals or the so-called “justice” system that coddles them. And he happens to look like a huge ass. Notorious for his propensity to take whatever action necessary to keep crime at bay, all he needs is his bolt-action SKS assault weapon and his ever-present toothpick.

Release Date: 3rd August, 2011

HIGH SCHOOL OF THE DEAD

Zombies, fan service and excessive gore combine in the delightfully entertaining HIGH SCHOOL OF THE DEAD, which is adapted from the highly successful manga of the same name.

A deadly new disease is ravaging the world, turning the populace into mindless zombies, and the number of infected is skyrocketing by the second. As their fellow classmates and teachers succumb to the infection around them, a small group of students at Fujimi High School are fighting for their lives after surviving the initial outbreak. It is up to Takashi Komuro to unite the group of weary survivors and try to escape the horrors that surround them. In this new world of the living dead…will they escape?

Release Date: 17th August, 2011

TO (2001 NIGHTS)

Created by the producers of APPLESEED and VEXILLE, TO (2001 NIGHTS) is comprised of two hard-hitting science fiction stories: Elliptical Orbit and Symbiotic Planet. With stunning CG animation, alien lifeforms, deep space travel and galactic terrorists, TO (2001 NIGHTS) will delight and fascinate fans of anime and science fiction alike.

Release Date: 17th August, 2011

DIGIMON DATA SQUAD COLLECTION 1

Lovers of DIGIMON rejoice: the long-awaited original series, and most-requested title from fans, is finally available on DVD!

With cute characters sure to rival the critters in POKEMON, DIGIMON focuses on seven kids at summer camp who are mysteriously transported to another reality. In this parallel universe they are befriended by a group of strange creatures who call themselves “Digimon”, Digital Monsters. The seven children are now dubbed as the DigiDestined, tasked with protecting the Digital World from evil Digimon-like Devilmon. Can they save the Digital World and find a way back home?

Release Date: 17th August, 2011

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