http://filmjournal.net/john Ramblings, rants and something else beginning with 'r'... Sat, 05 Jul 2008 15:04:42 +0000 http://backend.userland.com/rss092 en Showing Soon has been in stasis, mutely twiddling his thumbs while the rest of the world fizzed and zoomed around him; then, shrugging off the stifling torpor and with one mighty bound - he was free! Time to play catch-up; first with a focus on BFI releases of the recent past, present and near future: In ... http://filmjournal.net/john/2008/07/04/showing-soon-a-bfi-special/ Following up the Westerns Weekend and the British B Movies Week (more of a long weekend, I suppose, than a week, but let's not nitpick), BBC 4 continues its summer films season with two more helpings. This weekend the digital channel plumps for a Courtroom Dramas Weekend, the three - count 'em - movie ... http://filmjournal.net/john/2008/06/26/square-eyes-two-more-short-films-seasons-from-the-beeb/ How The West Was Lost  Rich Hall's BBC 4 documentary How The West Was Lost, screened as part of the digital channel's recent Westerns Weekend, was, despite my earlier - and as it turns out totally unfounded - fears, really very good. The American comedian's take on the western was perceptive, intelligent, ... http://filmjournal.net/john/2008/06/23/how-the-west-was-hijacked/ BBC 4 follows up last week's Westerns Weekend with British B Movie Week starting next Saturday, June 21, featuring a number of movies rarely aired on British television and none of them available on DVD, to my knowledge, this side of The Pond. Author and film historian Matthew Sweet introduces the films and hosts a new ... http://filmjournal.net/john/2008/06/16/square-eyes-british-b-movie-week-on-bbc-4/ For digitally equipped UK based telly viewers, there's a feast of westerns on BBC 4 this weekend that you might like to take note of. As well as two-thirds of the 'Cavalry Trilogy' and two of the very finest John Ford / John Wayne collaborations (as I write that, I'm mindful that Ford would ... http://filmjournal.net/john/2008/06/13/showing-very-soon/ More news of upcoming home entertainment classics in the U.K.... Are Second Sight going to give us the definitive DVD version of Peter Weir's ethereal Picnic at Hanging Rock? It certainly looks so... On Saturday 14th February 1900 a party of schoolgirls from Appleyard College took a trip to Hanging Rock near Mt. Macedon in ... http://filmjournal.net/john/2008/04/17/showing-soon-picnic-at-hanging-rock-the-bill-douglas-trilogy-and-bond-is-back/ More news of shiny digital discs on their way to fans of classic film and TV in the U.K....  Several etailers now have a list of the extras for the upcoming Godfather Trilogy Remastered. There appear to be some new extras, but be aware that a few may be renamed 'carry overs' from the ... http://filmjournal.net/john/2008/04/07/showing-soon-coppola-winner-a-bloodbath-visual-poetry-from-the-bfi/ More upcoming classic film and TV titles set for release in the U.K.  Scratch another Ernst Lubitsch title; his final film, the 1946 romantic comedy Cluny Brown is added to the BFI's slate in May: "Combining elegance and wit, Lubitsch's last film, set in 1938 London, is one of the most engaging ... http://filmjournal.net/john/2008/04/01/showing-soon-bfi-showcases-lubitsch-huston-petit-asquith-in-may/ Showing Soon in R2  More of what's upcoming for U.K. home entertainment fans in the world of (mostly) classic film and television... Not the most reliable of sources I know, however, for what it's worth, a poster on IMDB claims that the 1970 sci-fi classic Colossus; The Forbin Project - released by Universal to howls of ... http://filmjournal.net/john/2008/03/19/showing-soon-high-noon-again-bette-davis-on-tour/ Showing Soon in R2 More DVD news of (mostly older) film and TV titles in the U.K. Following the good (then the not so good) news of ITVDVD's Margaret Lockwood Collection, in a previous Showing Soon, the BBFC has just passed a 20 minute extra for the box set: British Cinema - ... http://filmjournal.net/john/2008/03/12/showing-soon-jarmusch-ray-niven-boxes-godfather-restored/