Part Deux of the Audrey Hepburn recap/retroactive crush. In Paris When it Sizzles, we get typist Gabrielle Simpson (one of those high-low name pairings that just doesn't work) and William Holden as screenwriter Richard Benson – together in a penthouse apartment with a looming script deadline to meet. They get on swimmingly. Conceptually, you can picture this as being a sort of Twelve Angry Men, only with a boy, girl and stack of blank paper, shot from a thousand different angles in pseudo-realtime. But dang, it's also one of those films-within-a-film, carved out entirely from the contrived fictional prose of a stumped-for-ideas Benson and his inspiration-for-the-weekend Gabby.

Scenes from a marriage. In twilight sixties form, Stanley Donen directs in a triple threat: himself, master of wit, rhythm and all that jazz; Henry Mancini on the keys; the incandescent Audrey Hepburn winging it in about a thousand different outfits. That's she's lovely is no less than a cinematic truism, but what really makes this is the wry, monotone outbursts of Albert Finney that has both him and her bouncing off the walls with considerable, considerable zing.

Negotiating the pitch, kangaroo, and the Adelaide Film Festival among other things, SÁNDOR LAU recalls his journey across the Tasman in pursuit of documentary success.

Wes Anderson may have single-handedly brought back interior design (look closely enough and you’ll notice that the lamp fixtures in The Royal Tenenbaums incline at an angle equivalent to that of Owen Wilson’s nose), but Powell and Pressburger will always be masters of the dollhouse as far as I’m concerned.

Don't know if it should be considered either obligatory or stupid to tolerate the interruptus of ad breaks every 8 minutes, but there's something about one-off screenings on television of long-lost movies – or just anything of demanding, pertinent interest – that possess(es) an urgency different from if you noticed the same title(s) at your local video store. So the fact that it's scheduled, like a festival screening, is one obvious explanation, but I'm also a sucker for free shit, and will endure the clockwork stoppages if it means saving the price of a rental, the fare of a return bus trip, and the getting-off-my-ass. It's true; I'm lazy and weak.

Short films tend to rely heavily on clever ideas and small budgets, but more so on the sort of 'Damn, wish I'd thought of that' feeling. This feeling, dear readers, is a rare and painfully exotic one to those generally attending film school short fests. I am qualified to make this damning statement because I was in film school for a year and have sat through many, many said student film fests. In fact we can safely say (or should I say I can safely say because this is my review, not yours) that having a solid script and then skillfully crafting it into a nimble little film is similar to an endangered species. It's like the Giant Panda of the film world. That said, I can safely report that my evening at Elam Past and Present was like seeing a whole herd of Giant Pandas.

Reviewed by Jacob Powell

WE'RE IN Germany, it’s dark, snowing and the stink of death is in the air. Kyle (Jodie Foster) is a mother on edge with grief, trying to hold it together for her daughter’s sake. As grieved mother and daughter board the monolithic, winged beast that is to be their transport home you begin to wonder what might, no, what will go wrong. As time (and clouds) fly by, you discover that it is, unfortunately, the film.

Tucked away between the folds and creases of the 9th Wellington International Jazz Festival programme is, pleasantly, a brief section riffing the sounds of jazz on the celluloid of film. Projected performances include Jammin' the Blues (feat. Lester Young, Charlie Parker and Miles Davis) and The Sound of Jazz (with Billie Holiday, Lester Young, Thelonious Monk, Jimme Giuffe and others...), plus a series of lunchtime screenings of shorter jazz documentaries (Wed-Fri @ 12.15pm). The festival itself runs from October 26-30, with film screenings at The Film Archive. For essential dates and times for said films + actual live jazz, click jazzfestival.co.nz.

Martin Scorsese/USA/1985; R4
Warner Bros, NZ$19.95 | Reviewed by John Spry

ANOTHER Martin Scorsese film has been released on DVD and contains an excellent picture with many extras that cineastes will love. Like most recent Scorsese DVD releases, this is a must-own and will fit nicely alongside other titles available.

Reviewed by John Spry

THERE IS nothing new in Hollywood remaking already-produced and successful films: the motives are obvious and one reasoning is that if one film was a hit, then redoing it should also mean a hit. This logic however does not always follow for a variety of reasons – altered story-lines or even altered endings, for instance – that made the original so popular in the first place.

Wellingtonians game for some "genetic free" (as in free entry) cinema should divert themselves this weekend to Te Papa for the Incredibly Genetic Film Festival. Screening over the 15th and 16th of October at the Soundings Theatre (Level 2) are six films: The Nightwatchman, The Future of Food, Lifting of the Makutu (Saturday), The Neglected Miracle, Gattaca, and After Darwin (Sunday). With a mixture of short films, documentaries (some, former NZIFF selections) and full length features, there's something for everyone (as the cliche goes). Visit tepapa.govt.nz for film descriptions and screening times.

In Black Looks, bell hooks said that American audiences tend to resist the idea that images have an ideological component. Well certainly, but shit works both ways lady, and sometimes the picture can get a little fuzzy once you start fine-combing in the interests of an agenda. Not only does it deny art the part-autonomy it thrives on, but it also turns critics into bloated activists, bent on unearthing the great big “system of oppression” at work in our lives – because everyone’s a trophy-suspect, waiting to be mounted on some wall and exposed for the disposable fraud that they really are.

I fear that die-hards are going go out into the night looking to make up for lack of fluid spilled here: Blame the screenwriters, dude’s moms, Deleuze or whatever, but the Farrellies have spitshone their vomit-encrusted hearts, warmly declaring that love isn’t all about the stuff that comes out of your body.

Via the navigation bar above, or if you're lazy, here. Includes local calendar of selected events; upcoming theatrical film releases + notable rental releases (according to us, that is); film society listings for the remainder of the year; plus monthly DVD picks for both the region 4 and international markets. Film and DVD distributors that do not already have us on their mailing lists should email – along with those publicists and/or organisers with upcoming events of interest – any schedules or announcements for consideration to [here]

Media Release | 10 October, 2005
95BFM and Radio Active Present The 2005 Annual 24Hr V Movie Marathon: An annual celebration of all things celluloid. A twenty four hour non-stop movie marathon that celebrates the very best and the very not-best of cinema.

Update in brief: all film logs (capsules) and dvd reviews from the old site have been added, with film reviews and features to follow. Calendar and Links + Resources sections to be functional soon. ish.

Media Release | 4 October, 2005
A collection of award-winning short films was launched by Film Commission Chief, Ruth Harley, at the National Association of Media Educators (NAME) conference in Wellington today.

<-- Okay, so not quite the same degree of torture, but you get the idea. Even so, if you're obsessive enough to try and ride out an entire day and night of non-stop reel changes, then a pincers-around-the-eyelids device won't go astray while attending The 5th Annual 24 Hour V Movie Marathon. Fresh premieres spliced with B-to-Z grade pulp makes up the 24 hour programme – screening first in Auckland (Hollywood Cinema; Sat Oct 29th, 6pm), and then Wellington (Paramount Theatre; Sat Nov 5th, 6pm) – most of which is deliberately left unannounced and up to chance.

Officially online from October 1st, The Festival Reader still requires further refurbishment as far as shifting old content goes (all TNZIFF logs have been relocated, although there's still a largely unaccounted for inventory of festival features and reviews to make their way over yet), but is otherwise up and running – give or take the odd glitch or two. Feedback welcomed (if you can be arsed).