News

Dead Man’s Shoes and This is England director Shane Meadows used his BAFTA David Lean Lecture to discuss impostor syndrome and Paddy Considine’s improvizational skills.

Talking about his 2013 music doc Stone Roses: Made of Stone, the cult indie film director said: “It’s that impostor syndrome I’ve always had — and I’ve still got it to some degree — that you’re almost like, ‘I’m not deserving of that. How could I take on a concert film?'”

In the event, Made of Stone, which followed the British band The Stone Roses reuniting after 16 years, was released to acclaim — one of several critical triumphs in Meadows’ career.

Meadows said the experience taught him that treating a major production in “those little incremental stages” was key. “It’s like this little acorn that started to blossom, and once you actually realize when you’ve got an amazing team of people,...

The series will be produced by Element Pictures.

UK filmmaker Shane Meadows is to make his first-ever BBC television drama with The Gallows Pole, produced with UK-Irish producers Element Pictures.

The series, based on the 2017 novel of the same name by Benjamin Myers, fictionalises the true story of 18th-century ironworker David Hartley and the Cragg Vale Coiners.

Scheduled to shoot later this year, The Gallows Pole will be produced by Element Pictures, and executive produced by the BBC’s director of drama Piers Wenger and head of development and drama commissioning Tom Lazenby.

Set against the backdrop of the coming industrial revolution in 18th-century Yorkshire,...

Mistaken for Strangers, the documentary about The National frontman Matt Berninger and his wayward filmmaker brother Tom, arrives in UK cinemas today (June 27), and is a reminder that siblings can sometimes make for great cinema.

Whether it's the constant squabbling of Will Ferrell and John C Reilly in Step Brothers, the epic Corleone rivalry in The Godfather or Marlon Brando and Rod Steiger in On the Waterfront, brothers can make for highly-charged drama.

The National: Matt, Tom Berninger on their rock doc Mistaken for Strangers

The National to release "huge bonus version" of Mistaken for Strangers doc

Digital Spy takes a look back at 5 movies about brothers - from entirely different genres - that are essential viewing for film fans.

Dead Ringers (1988)

A typically ambitious psychological thriller from David Cronenberg, Dead Ringers saw Jeremy Irons take on the role of Beverly and Elliot Mantle, identical twin brothers who work as...

Odd List Ryan Lambie Simon Brew 12 Dec 2013 - 05:49

The year of Baggins, Potter and Spider-Man also had a wealth of lesser-known movies. Here’s our pick of 2002's underappreciated films...

At the top of the box office tree, 2002 was dominated by fantasy and special effects. Peter Jackson's The Lord Of The Rings: The Two Towers made almost a billion dollars all by itself, with Harry Potter And The Chamber Of Secrets taking second place and Sam Raimi's Spider-Man not too far behind.

In many ways, 2002 set the tempo for the Hollywood blockbuster landscape, which has changed relatively little in the decade since. A quick look at 2013‘s top 10, for example, reveals a markedly similar mix of superhero movies, with Iron Man 3 still ruling the roost at the time of writing, followed by effects-heavy action flicks and family-friendly animated features.

As usual in these lists, we're looking...

A film director can work for decades and never make anything approaching a good film. Often within the movie industry, wannabe directors can strive for years and years and never get close to making a feature film – that’s what makes the directors on this list so extraordinary. They have been extraordinarily consistent over a substantial amount of time, never allowing the quality of their art to shrink.

Some of the very greats have made poor films. Hitchcock made numerous clangers such as Family Plot, Topaz and Lifeboat amongst his formidable filmography. Francis Ford Coppola, director of the greatest film of all time (The Godfather Part II) has not made a good film for a while now and Billy Wilder did his best to taint his legacy with his late career output of Fedora and Buddy Buddy.

I decided a certain criteria was needed for a list like this, so put simply,...

Place your bets. Which villain will he play? Vulture? Mysterio? Lizard? Carnage? I’d say the smart money’s on The Vulture. He might look like an old fogey in an fur collar, but the Vulture is a vicious enemy. Along with Electro, he once almost beat Spider-Man to death. Vulture, aka Adrian Toomes, first appeared in .Amazing Spider-Man #2″

Press release:

Rhys Ifans will play the villain, opposite Andrew Garfield as Peter Parker and Emma Stone as Gwen Stacy, in the next installment of Spider-Man from Columbia Pictures and Marvel Studios, it was announced today by Amy Pascal, co-chairman of Sony Pictures Entertainment and Matt Tolmach, president of Columbia Pictures. The film, to be directed by Marc Webb from a screenplay by James Vanderbilt and produced by Avi Arad and Laura Ziskin, will begin production in December and will be released in theaters nationwide in 3D on July 3, 2012.

Commenting on the announcement,...

Rhys Ifans (Anonymous), who will next be seen as Xenophilius Lovegood in Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 1 has signed on to play the villain, opposite Andrew Garfield (The Social Network) as Peter Parker/Spider-Man and Emma Stone (Easy A, Zombieland) as Gwen Stacy, in director Marc Webb‘s as yet Untitled Spider-Man Reboot.

Check out the official press release below for all the details.

Culver City, Calif., October 11, 2010 – Rhys Ifans will play the villain, opposite Andrew Garfield as Peter Parker and Emma Stone as Gwen Stacy, in the next installment of Spider-Man from Columbia Pictures and Marvel Studios, it was announced today by Amy Pascal, co-chairman of Sony Pictures Entertainment and Matt Tolmach, president of Columbia Pictures. The film, to be directed by Marc Webb from a screenplay by James Vanderbilt and produced by Avi Arad and Laura Ziskin, will begin production in December and will be...

Welsh thesp Rhys Ifans has finally joined the Hollywood big league after landing the lead villain in Marc Webb’s Spider-Man reboot. Of course there’s no word who’ll he be playing but it is surprising news to say the least.

Ifans is currently buying up all copies of Little Nicky on DVD and videotape before studios execs see his interpretation of villainy*.

The Notting Hill actor will be joining the ace Andrew Garfield as Peter Parker/Spider-Dude and Emma Stone, who has been cast as Gwen Stacy. Below is the official studio press release. Expect internet sites to be speculating like lunatics over who’ll Ifans will play.

“Culver City, Calif., October 11, 2010 – Rhys Ifans will play the villain, opposite Andrew Garfield as Peter Parker and Emma Stone as Gwen Stacy, in the next installment of Spider-Man from Columbia Pictures and Marvel Studios, it was announced today by Amy Pascal,...

With the announcement of Andrew Garfield as Peter Parker in Sony’s reboot of Spider-Man we were left with the vacancies for female lead and the main villain of the piece.

Emma Stone was recently confirmed as Gwen Stacey and now we have news that Rhys Ifans will be playing the villain, though they are not saying which of the many bad guys he will be playing.

There were reports that Philip Seymour Hoffman was talking to Columbia about playing Venom but strong indications say that Marc Webb and co. are not looking to Venom or Hoffman for their Spidey-reboot, and now with Ifans in the frame the internet is sure to whizz into a frenzy as to the identity of the villain he will play.

Director Marc Webb is quoted as saying that Ifans is capable of displaying the ‘warmth and rage’ of the villain in question, and there...

Philip French speaks to Ridley Scott, Ken Russell, Gurinder Chadha, Shane Meadows and Stephen Frears about their debut pictures and detects the styles of the then-fledgling auteurs

Do artists discover a personal style and develop their themes gradually or are these to be found in embryonic form in their earliest works? There's no easy answer to this dual question. Take, for example, Ken Russell's Amelia and the Angel (1957), Ridley Scott's Boy and Bicycle (1965), Stephen Frears's The Burning (1967), Gurinder Chadha's I'm British But… (1989) and Shane Meadows's Where's the Money, Ronnie? (1995). All were made on shoestring budgets and each lasts less than half an hour.

First, presented with the directors' names and the credits concealed, would you be able to match up film and film-maker? I think most moviegoers could, which suggests there is something in these first movies that we would now recognise as characteristic. Second,...

From 6 September seven individual titles and three fantastic box sets will be available to own; ranging from black comedies to heart-wrenching dramas and incredible documentaries, there’s something for everyone in this superb collection, and Pure Movies is giving away three copies of each! The very best of British is on offer with The Ploughman’s Lunch starring Jonathan Price and Tim Curry; the heart warming Purely Belter; inspirational Alive & Kicking with Jason Flemyng and Sister My Sister starring Joely Richardson and Jodhi May. Australian film Proof delivers black comedy while slapstick Death to Smoochy showcases hilarious performances from Edward Norton and Robin Williams and finally Next Stop Wonderland is the perfect date DVD. The Brit Indie Collection box set and the Great Brit Flick box sets are exceptional collections of the finest in British Filmmaking, both packed with incredible extras, they are essential buys for all lovers of quality British cinema.

This is another one of those competitions that I wish I could enter! We’re giving three lucky people the chance to win one copy of each of the following box set meaning each winner will add 11 of the greatest Film4 movies ever made to their collection!

Titles include:

Brit Indie Collection 4 disc DVD and Blu-ray boxset

Trainspotting, Shallow Grave, Sexy Beast, Gangster No. 1.

Great Brit Flicks 4 disc boxset

Once Upon A Time In The Midlands, Brassed Off, Fever Pitch, Local Hero

True Inspiration 3 disc DVD and Blu-ray boxset

In The Shadow Of The Moon, The Motorcycle Diaries, Touching The Void

These box sets include the Brit Indie Collection 4 disc DVD and Blu-ray boxset, Great Brit Flicks 4 disc boxset and True Inspiration 3 disc DVD and Blu-ray boxset are out and available to own on Monday 6th September 2010 from 4Dvd.

Other being released that day are: The Ploughman’s Lunch,...

[With Shane Meadows' Le Donknow seems a good time to re-post our earlier review of the film.] about to screen at SXSW 2010 - and having just screened as part of Canadian Music Week -

Roadie. Washout. Reluctant father. Meet Le Donk, self styled music industry maven - his hopes pinned to the skills of chunky Midlands rapper Scor-Zay-Zee and a hail-Mary plan to somehow squeeze his young prodigy on to the lineup of a massive Arctic Monkeys outdoor gig that he's working in Manchester.  The mad thing is it just might work.

The product of a long running collaboration between actor Paddy Considine and director Shane Meadows, Le Donk and Scor-Zay-Zee is the sort of film that could only have been created by close friends in an incredibly trusting environment.  The Le Donk character is one originally created by Considine and Meadows when the duo collaborated back in 2002 on Meadows' Once Upon A Time In The Midlands, the burned out roadie first appearing in an accompanying short film.

While many critics are rolling out or have rolled out their Top 10 movies of the year or even the decade, I found myself devising my own and realizing that they seem to be more or less similar to others'. Where the Wild Things Are, Inglourious Basterds, Up, The Hurt Locker, A Serious Man... These are great, great movies that have gotten their dose of attention, thanks to the names behind them. So what are the ones left in the dust?

The following movies are all considered 2009 movies by their Us theatrical date. All of them, however, received only limited releases and never went wide. These are my favorites of the year that, if you haven't heard of them or was never given the chance to see them, I highly recommend hunting down on DVD. They are absolutely worth it.

• • •

Top Ten:

1. Medicine for Melancholy

Using the Before Sunrise model of...

Roadie. Washout. Reluctant father. Meet Le Donk, self styled music industry maven - his hopes pinned to the skills of chunky Midlands rapper Scor-Zay-Zee and a hail-Mary plan to somehow squeeze his young prodigy on to the lineup of a massive Arctic Monkeys outdoor gig that he's working in Manchester.  The mad thing is it just might work.

The product of a long running collaboration between actor Paddy Considine and director Shane Meadows, Le Donk and Scor-Zay-Zee is the sort of film that could only have been created by close friends in an incredibly trusting environment.  The Le Donk character is one originally created by Considine and Meadows when the duo collaborated back in 2002 on Meadows' Once Upon A Time In The Midlands, the burned out roadie first appearing in an accompanying short film.  There have been rumors of a feature dedicated to the character ever since, at one point...

Somers Town was written by Paul Fraser (Heartlands) and directed by Shane Meadows (This Is England). Both also worked together on Once Upon A Time In The Midlands, returning to bring this coming of age story to the screen. The film follows two young teenage boys from different backgrounds who happen upon each other and become an awkward sort of best mates. Somers Town is a tale of friendship that circumvents social barriers and obstacles.

Tomo (Thomas Turgoose) is a redheaded boy from East Midlands in England, having arrived in London on his own account with no place to go and no one to call his friend. He’s quickly preyed upon by a small gang of teenage hoodlums who take what little possessions he has. Tomo now must fend for himself without food, clothes or money and ultimately begins to employ some of the same traits as the boys...

Talk about a long time coming ... created jointly by Brit director Shane Meadows (This Is England) and actor Paddy Considine (Dead Mans Shoes), the character of Le Donk first appeared in a short film way, way back when Meadows and Considine worked together on Meadows’ feature Once Upon A Time In The Midlands and the rumors of an eventual Le Donk feature have been circling about ever since. A couple years back word was out that Le Donk was next on the slate for Meadows but it ended up being bumped for a different project, which initially was rather upsetting to fans who wanted to see it butturned out to be rather alright when the other project turned out to be the brilliant This Is England.

So. Last night I finally had a chance to check out Somers Town - the latest from Meadows and yet another stellar piece of...

Pathe Entertainment, the French-owned and London-based movie sales, distribution, production and financing company, sealed a deal Monday with FilmFour, the stand-alone film arm of U.K. broadcaster Channel Four, for distribution and sales duties on 11 titles. The wide-ranging agreement includes Gus Van Sant's Gerry and It's All About Love, directed by Thomas Vinterberg. The other nine titles under the agreement are Bodysong, Emperor's New Clothes, Miranda, Motorcycle Diaries, Once Upon a Time in the Midlands, Principles of Lust, Touching the Void, Cypher and To Kill a King. Under the deal, Pathe will distribute theatrically the 11 titles and will deduct an undisclosed fee from revenue generated. Free and pay TV rights to the titles are retained by Channel Four, while video and DVD sell-through rights remain with VCL in the United Kingdom.