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As a taster for those interested in more info for Avatar, here is a collection of special behind the scene video clips to whet your appetite.

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Due to the recent death of a close family member, updates to FilmGuide will be intermittent over the next week or so.

What If The Stories You Told Magically Came To Life?

Hotel handyman Skeeter Bronson’s life is going nowhere, until his sister needs him to look after her two kids. Having to work in the day, Skeeter just has to do the night shift, which includes putting them to bed and reading them bedtime stories. Fortunately, the books that have been left foe them by their mother fail to impress Skeeter, and so he has to make up the bedtime stories.

The kids however are never satisfied with Skeeter’s direction and are constantly adding their own little events to the stories. These events however have a habit o coming true the next day, giving Skeeter an idea on how he can easily improve his life. Read the rest of this entry »

Mike Tyson’s early record was extraordinary. At 20 in 1985 he was heavyweight champion of the world, a feared, worshipped, highly profitable icon of pugilistic brutality and speed. His fall from the throne was spectacular. A rape conviction in 1992 saw him serve three years in prison. On release his vicious comeback match with Evander Holyfield cemented his disgrace. Utilising fight clips, archival news and blazingly frank new interviews with Tyson himself, director James Toback throws new light on his successes and excesses and his current bid to find something resembling inner peace. — BG

“Tyson is a documentary… but it is a heart song, too, as Tyson talks about a life of near constant abuse and humiliation. And as he talks, so his innate violence becomes clearer. Tyson is not an apology or an apologia, but a piercing insight into how our society creates its villains and then despises them for behaving badly. Whatever you think of Mike Tyson now… we guarantee your mind will be changed.” — David Thomson, San Francisco Film Festival.

The Baader Meinhof Complex is the major German film of the year. A bold mixture of action thriller and historical reconstruction, it traces the lifespan of the violent terrorist group that called itself the Red Army Faction and from 1968 into the 90s repeatedly attacked the German establishment. Disaffected children of the post-Nazi generation, they saw the US actions in Vietnam, the Middle East and the Third World as a new fascism. Their targets were big business and the pro-government media, and their spectacular tactics established a large fan base among the young, radical left. The film is based on the highly regarded book by the investigative reporter Stefan Aust, who from his student days knew many of the people involved. Moritz Bleibtreu as the charismatic, possibly psychopathic Andreas Baader and Martina Gedeck as theorist and writer Ulrike Meinhof lead an exceptional cast of young actors iconic status among young Germans today evokes the outlaw glamour of the Red Army Faction’s star performers then. Bruno Ganz is reliably strong as the head of police with the wherewithal to bring the Faction to justice. While never stinting on adrenaline thrills, director Uli Edel remains coolly observant of the contradictions inherent in the mix of idealism, frustration and personal grievance that drove the group to murder their fellow citizens in the name of democracy and justice. — BG

“A powerful movie… The Baader Meinhof Complex brings back the terrible events in the Germany of the 1960s and 1970s in a manner that clears and focuses the mind.” — Philip French, The Observer.

This movingly dramatised, beautifully mounted portrait of the French ‘naïve’ painter Séraphine de Senlis (1864–1942) was the deserved winner at France’s César Awards this February, sweeping up the prizes for Best Film, Actress, Original Screenplay, Photography, Score, Costumes and Production Design. The marvellous Belgian actress Yolande Moreau vanishes into the role of the awkward small town housemaid who believed God had told her to paint. We first encounter her furtively gathering soil, animal’s blood and the run-off oil from church candles to mix the paints she has invented for herself. She’s like a pagan spirit, trapped in her heavy body and the cumbersome skirts of a century ago. But when she paints, that spirit flies free in ecstatic celebration of flowers, fruit and fertility itself. The intensity of these paintings, now considered masterpieces of modern primitivism, can still be experienced in galleries around the world.

Martin Provost’s film focuses on her relationship with her ‘discoverer’, the German art critic Wilhelm Uhde, who was a friend of her employer. His patronage saved her life but also catapulted her to an art world prominence she was ill-equipped to handle. Ulrich Tukur is excellent as the conscientious Uhde, enthralled by the wild talent of his protégée, intent on realising the monetary value of her work and frightfully aware of her unworldliness. — BG

“Provost’s fictionalized portrait of this forgotten painter is a revelation… A testament to creativity and the resilience of one woman’s spirit, Séraphine is a marvel – a celebration of art and nature and an acknowledgment of the costs involved.” — Piers Handling, Toronto Film Festival

Departures, winner of this year’s Oscar for Best Foreign Film, is a beautifully performed character study of a man who finds fulfilment and a depth of human connection in the most unlikely profession. Daigo, a cellist, is laid off from his orchestra and moves with his wife back to his small hometown where the living is cheaper. Thinking he’s applying for a job at a travel agency he finds he’s being interviewed for work with departures of a more permanent nature – as an undertaker’s assistant. Little by little he warms to his new profession, endowing the elaborate funeral ceremonies with grace and humanity. Director Takita, whose origins are in much more commercially robust territory, brings good humour to the social awkwardness his protagonist encounters and to his struggle to win round his mortified wife. Motoki Masahiro’s delicately shaded entrancement in the lead role enacts the rituals of farewell with an eloquence that crosses cultures. — BG

Guerrilla filmmaking on an epic scale, Steven Soderbergh’s painstakingly authentic Che takes a remarkably dispassionate look at the iconic revolutionary hero. Shot in rugged locations in Mexico, Spain and Puerto Rico, the film provides breathtaking evidence of the widescreen brilliance and expressive power of the new Red digital camera. Panoramic historical spectacle is no longer the exclusive domain of the military industrial complex! Che is in fact two films which we will be showing, at the filmmaker’s request, as a single presentation. Part One, The Argentine, depicts the 1956–58 Cuban campaign and ends in glory with Che and Fidel en route to Havana. Part Two, Guerrilla, follows Che’s disastrous attempt to repeat the Cuban strategy in Bolivia. — BG

“No one who cares about organic film acting (the opposite of showing off) will want to miss Benicio Del Toro’s magnificent performance, his hooded eyes reflecting wells of idealism and torment… Diving into the movie’s riches is an experience you won’t forget or regret… Soderbergh says he was drawn to what goes into ‘implementing any large-scale political idea’ – a challenge that seems timelier than ever.” — Peter Travers, Rolling Stone

“Soderbergh’s cinematography and Juan Pedro de Gaspar’s art direction create a superbly persuasive sense of mood, time and place… Che is an adventure: massively serious and ambitious… It is far from being a biopic, more a cinematic extrapolation of Che’s iconic status, and by that token it may exasperate some. Others will be engrossed by this flawed, sprawling, intriguing movie.” — Peter Bradshaw, The Guardian

“Che places Soderbergh in the ranks of the masters.” — Amy Taubin, Film Comment