Tag: remote

Heart of the Beast

Heart of the Beast

Director – David Ayer – 2026 – US – Cert. 12a – 100m

*****

A heart attack and his plane’s crash landing force a pilot and his dog to cross the Alaskan wilderness on foot – out in UK cinemas on Wednesday, September 23rd

In a framing device that opens and closes the narrative, a woman (Anna Lambe) is driving her car along a road in Alaska in the middle of nowhere. She is forced to stop by a dog standing facing towards her in the middle of the road. As if it were trying to tell her something…

Some days earlier, retired, special forces soldier James Belmont (Brad Pitt) and his former combat dog Odin are travelling around Alaska by Cessna seaplane. They land on an unspoiled lake. Odin has a prosthetic leg. They pitch tent on the beach, then go exploring in the nearby woods where they are surprised to run across another human being.

There shouldn’t be anyone else around these parts, and the suspicious James reverts to combat mode, deploying his gun in readiness. However, the stranger (J.K. Simmons) turns out to be friendly, simply another person enjoying the solitude of the place, who tells them he’s pitched his own tent next to theirs.… Read the rest

Features Live Action Movies

The Wicker Man:
The Final Cut

Post author By Jeremy Clarke
Post date September 27 2013
No Comments on The Wicker Man:
The Final Cut

Director – Robin Hardy – 1973 – UK – Cert. 15 – 94m

*****

A Christian police sergeant investigating a missing child on a remote Scottish island meets a terrible fate – out as a Collector’s Edition UHD / Blu-ray /DVD from Monday, September 25th following its release in UK cinemas in a 4K restoration from Wednesday, June 21st, 2023

(Originally reviewed for cinema release in a 2K restoration on Friday, September 27th, 2013)

Originally released forty years ago in the UK in a cut down version its director disliked, The Wicker Man now reaches our cinema screens in a longer, restored version which he says fulfils his original vision. Its plot is deceptively simple. A Christian police sergeant flies to a remote Scottish island in response to a letter about a missing child. But when he arrives on Summerisle, no-one seems to have heard of that child. It gradually emerges that the policeman has stumbled into an intricate web of lies and deceit wherein a terrible fate awaits him….

Using material from a recently discovered, longer US release print – rechristened The Final Cut by Hardy who assembled this cut in 1979 – it’s a provocative work on a number of levels.… Read the rest

Tags angel, Britt Ekland, cavort, celebration, charismatic leader, child, child sex abuse, Christ, Christian, Christian faith, Christianity, Christopher Lee, community, country matters, daughter, deceit, dogma, drinking song, Edward Woodward, engaged, estate, evening meal, faith, filth, folk song, grounds, indigenous, island, islanders, isolated, landlord, law, lies, life, Lord, mainland, May Day, maypole, missing, missing child, missionaries, naked, outsider, Pagan, phallic symbol, police, police sergeant, profession, pub, religious cult, remote, resurrection, ritual, Robin Hardy, scandal, scapegoat, schoolchildren, Scottish, seasons, sergeant, sex before marriage, sexual mores, socio-cultural model, Sodom, song, Teeside, traditional, UK, Victorian, visitor

Features Live Action Movies

Godland
(Vanskabte Land)

Director – Hlynur Pálmason – 2022 – Denmark, Iceland – Cert. 12a – 138m

***1/2

Winter is coming. In the late nineteenth century, a Danish priest who is also an amateur photographer travels to an Icelandic island to oversee the construction of a church before Winter comes – out to rent on Amazon Video, Sky Store, Chili, Rakuten TV, BFI Player and Curzon Home Cinema from Friday, May 5th

The late nineteenth century. Lutheran priest Lucas (Elliott Crosset Hove) meets with his Church of Denmark bishop regarding his forthcoming ministry to a remote village in Iceland where he is to oversee the construction of a church building before the harsh winter sets in. While that’s his official, designated task, the young man being something of an enthusiast for the newly emerging art of photography decides to take a camera and tripod with him to document his journey, and to this end, rather than take the simplest, safest and quickest route to his destination, he resolves to travel cross-country. (Although the film is a work of fiction, it was inspired by an actual series of photographs taken on a similar journey around this period.) He is allocated an Icelandic guide Ragnar (Ingvar Sigurðsson) to accompany him.… Read the rest

Features Live Action Movies

Lunana:
a Yak in the Classroom
(ལུང་ནག་ན)

Post author By Jeremy Clarke
Post date March 9 2023
No Comments on Lunana:
a Yak in the Classroom
(ལུང་ནག་ན)

Director – Pawo Choyning Dorji – 2022 – Bhutan – Cert. PG – 109m

****

A young man trapped in and frustrated with a teaching career is sent to a remote village, which turns out to be the best thing that’s ever happened to him – 2022 Oscar-nominated film for Best International Feature is out in UK cinemas on Friday, March 10th

Bhutan operates a system of National Service, and for Ugyen (Sherab Dorji) this means five years working in education. His heart was never in it, and he finds it something of an ordeal. His grandmother (Tsheri Zom) constantly berates him for not getting up early enough, while the State education system is less than impressed with his record. If he had his own way, he’d give it all up, take his guitar and go to Australia to try and set himself up as a singer. He’s still required to finish his five years first, though.

That’s bad enough, but then this die-in-the-wool urbanite addicted to his mobile phone and music listening on headphones finds that the system is so fed up with him, it sends him to an unexpected Autumn term teaching placement he’s in no position to refuse, much as he might wish to do so.… Read the rest