Guardian UK: Eurostar picked up the bill for Shane Meadows' new film, Somers Town. And it shows. But does it matter?

Angry, disturbing films of place and narrative journey from Ireland to Peru make for thought-provoking viewing.

David Cox writes in Guardian UK: "I'm just back from the Festival del Film Locarno 2008 and expect you're eager to know if I spotted any of those little unsung gems which your local multiplex would never show because your philistine neighbours are too brutish to appreciate them. Sure did.

Big, big Toronto: too many films, a lot of mediocrity and dreck to sift through, but there are always a few diamonds in the swamp. What world premieres should we look forward to in this year's selection? Here's some educated guesses (descriptions are from festival and PR reps): Treeless Mountain - New York filmmaker So Yong Kim's Korea-set follow-up to her Sundance award-winning In Between Days tells the intimate story of two little girls abandoned by their mother. Goodbye Solo - Ramin Bahrani (Man Push Cart, Chop Shop) follows the relationship between a Senagelese taxi driver and an older suicidal man in North Carolina. Also at Venice.

Mike Jones points to the above teaser for Tripping with Caveh, which he describes as “a nifty series in the making from I‘m a Sex Addict director Caveh Zahedi.” As the teaser explains, Tripping with Caveh did start out conceptually as the first in a series, allegedly inspired by John Lurie’s Fishing With John.

This is amazing and is part of the viral marketing for the new film, Gentlemen Broncos by Napoleon Dynamite director Jared Hess and starring Jemaine Clement (Flight of the Conchords). Can't wait for the film.

Skeptics will be pleased traditional Soderberghian themes are present: anger, betrayal, and the travails of cool, wealthy people who plan crime capers.  Humor from The Onion.

 

 

While Heath Ledger's role as Joker in The Dark Knight might go down as his last (and greatest) complete role, technically his final performance will come in Terry Gilliam's The Imaginarium of Dr. Parnassus. In a weird way it's almost fitting that Gilliam -- who's been cursed for years now -- would wind up being the filmmaker to last work with Ledger. Not only has Ledger's next-to-last film broken almost every box office record to date, but folks are so afraid of a Gilliam flick that even with the marketing machine that is the death of Heath Ledger, Hollywood still doesn't want to go near Dr. Parnassus.

A story in The Hollywood Reporter last week claims Ledger could be in a "position of having one of the biggest- grossing movies in Hollywood history out at the same time he's in a movie hunting for an domestic distribution deal." And the scary part of this is that when Ledger passed away, Hollywood heavyweights like Johnny Depp, Jude Law and Colin Farrell stepped in to finish the film for their deceased friend. With ALL THAT, it's still a risky movie to get behind. One "distribution guru" added, "For all the elements in this film, it is a Terry Gilliam picture, and as much as you want a movie of his to be good, you have to be careful." Poor Gilliam ... the guy just can't catch a break.

Well, unless you want to see Dr. Parnassus. Wouldn't it be kinda spooky if one death helped revive another's career? If we, as an audience, had the ability to choose between the doom and gloom of mourning an actor's death or the light and joy that comes with helping a beloved filmmaker get back on track?

Unfortunately, I did not manage to catch this extended TV spot for The Curious Case of Benjamin Button during NBC's Olympic coverage, though, luckily, one person did. I imagine this will eventually become the film's second trailer, and it'll hopefully arrive online in a higher quality at some point this week, but for the time being you can scope out a somewhat decent (except for the annoying beeps here and there) video of the spot above (courtesy of The Tube).

Some of what's included here is also in the film's first trailer (catch that in HD on the flick's official website), but we also have a bunch more dialogue, tons of amazing visuals and .... well, watch for yourself. While you never know what the final product will deliver, I can say this film is showing some tremendous, buzz-worthy promise right now -- especially with a director like David Fincher and a cast that includes Brad Pitt and Cate Blanchett (last time these two shared the screen, Babel was nominated for seven Oscars). Needless to say, I'm preemptively putting this on my top ten list for 2008 and crossing my fingers at the same time.

The Curious Case of Benjamin Button arrives in theaters on December 19.

All it took is one clown spouting off about a friggin’ test screening at AICN and suddenly the idea that David Fincher’s The Curious Case of Benjamin Button is too long is on its way to becoming conventional wisdom.