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The Fallout series has delighted gaming fans for decades and, thanks to Amazon's streaming series, it has found an even larger audience. The series' mix of dark humor, 1950s aesthetics, and fun action is a combination that has proved enduring and successful for nearly a generation. Of course, with the Fallout show currently between seasons and a new game likely a long way off, many fans are looking for something else to tide them over. These fans will likely enjoy the underrated cult classic, Six-String Samurai.

Released in 1998, this martial arts film didn't feature big starts and ultimately did poorly at the box office. Despite these challenges, however, Six-String Samurai still managed to earn a small but loyal following thanks to its action, music, and style. All of these elements echo aspects of the venerable video game and TV series. While it may not be as well known as Fallout,...

YouTube sensation MrBeast has broken a record with his new show, Beast Games. Per The Wrap, Beast Games is now Prime Video’s most-watched unscripted TV show of all time, garnering 50 million worldwide viewers.

The competition reality show by MrBeast, whose real name is Jimmy Donaldson, hit the 50 million viewer mark in the first 25 days it was available on Prime Video. The show was the No. 2 most-watched series premiere of 2024 behind Fallout, starring Walton Goggins and Ella Purnell. Additionally, Beast Games brought in new subscribers to Prime Video - the most since Fallout’s premiere.

Beast Games hit the No. 1 spot on Prime Video in over 80 countries, and more than 50% of its viewers were from outside of the United States and had an “outsized performance” in India, the U.K., and Mexico, per Prime Video.

Related This 39-Year-Old Animated War Drama Is Perfect for Fallout Fans

Despite its cheerful style,...

Today, most audiences know Fallout thanks to its recent Prime Video series or modern Bethesda-backed games. However, the series’ lineage spans all the way back to 1997, when Interplay Productions released its critically acclaimed Fallout: A Post Nuclear Role Playing Game. That game’s sequel, aptly titled Fallout 2, would hit store shelves a year later. These initial titles followed a grimmer storyline akin to Obsidian’s Fallout: New Vegas, although the later iterations — including Bethesda’s critically acclaimed Fallout 3 — maintained many of the same themes.

Now, despite being a groundbreaking game, Fallout can’t claim to be the genesis of its post-apocalyptic niche. Post-apocalyptic nuclear fiction is much older than 1997, and its earliest entries began appearing in the 1950s, predictably around the time the world became aware of the atomic devastation in Japan. So, anyone looking to scratch that Fallout itch has over half a century of content to peruse.

The concept of horror on film is most often exhibited with masked killers, mutant monsters, or extraterrestrial terrors that live only in imagination. Defying that very concept, 1986s When the Wind Blows presents a true existential terror that cuts to the core of modern fears. Using a simple, yet effective style of animation, director Jimmy Murakami brought Raymond Briggs gut-wrenching graphic novel to life, depicting the real horrors of nuclear war through a childlike lens. Peggy Ashcroft and John Mills give a terribly sympathetic voice to the potential victims of such a conflict, with the characters of James and Hilda Boggs representing all innocent people who face destruction in the wake of atomic war. When the Wind Blows is one of the saddest, most terrifying visions of an apocalypse ever put on film, and no less than in decades past, it is a film that demands to be viewed and appreciated.

One of the most critically acclaimed animated war movies in history will soon stream exclusively worldwide on Netflix this fall. Grave of the Fireflies, the 1988 anime war drama by Studio Ghibli, will make its Netflix premiere on Sept. 16, 2024.

The official Netflix Anime account on X (formerly Twitter) announced it will be streaming Studio Ghiblis darkest animated movie, set during World War II in Japan. Grave of the Fireflies will stream exclusively for Netflix subscribers in mid-September. The film follows two war orphans, Seita and Setsuko, as they struggle to survive on their own in Kobe, Japan during the final months of the Pacific War.

Related Studio Ghibli Releases Almost Plain White T-Shirt, Sells Out in 24 Hours

Studio Ghibli releases a new t-shirt themed after one of its most underrated movies, with the product selling out less than a day after its launch.

Studio Ghibli's Grave of the Fireflies Arrives on...

Both "Grave of the Fireflies" and "When the Wind Blows" are anti-war films portraying innocent people suffering from the devastation of armed conflict. The movies showcase the emotional toll of survival amidst war, with characters struggling to maintain normalcy despite dire circumstances. Through national myth-making, the films highlight how governments can blind the public to the harsh realities of war and its aftermath, leading to immense suffering.

Studio Ghibli and Isao Takahata'sGrave Of The Firefliesis widely cited as one of the most harrowing films ever made. The 1988 film viscerally conveys the horrors of war and shows the suffering of the Japanese people in the final days of World War 2. However, itisn'tthe only animated film to cover these topics. Animation fans looking for a film to pair withGrave Of The Firefliesshould watchWhen the Wind Blows,as both it andGrave Of The Firefliescover similar topics from different perspectives, leading to a fascinating double feature.

Spanish director Alberto Vazquez’s anthropomorphic animals call to mind fairy-tale illustrations and animation classics — except Vazquez’s animated unicorns and teddy bears engage in gruesome acts that reveal the worst of human nature.

“I like to inhabit this intermediate space where you don’t know if it’s for children or if it’s actually for adults—but it’s also not for all adults,” said Vazquez on a recent video call.

Vazquez’s sophomore feature, the Goya Award-winning “Unicorn Wars,” hits U.S. theaters March 10. He defines this latest brainchild as an amalgamation between “Apocalypse Now,” Disney’s “Bambi,’ and the Bible.

Read More: The 41 Best Animated Movies of the 21st Century, Ranked

The dark fantasy maps a holy war between bears and unicorns over the control of a sacred forest. At the center of the larger conflict are bear brothers Bluey and Tubby (Azulín and Gordi in...

Director and producer who supported the making of classic British films including Gregory’s Girl, Babylon and When the Wind Blows

The producer Mamoun Hassan, who has died aged 84, was a significant figure in British cinema of the 1970s and 80s, whose remarkable career, if not entirely satisfying his artistic gifts, was unusual in that it enabled so many other film-makers’ careers, and gave rise to numerous courageously non-commercial projects. What was notable was how commercial some of them turned out to be.

Although he was a talented director and screenwriter, it was in his roles as the first head of production of the British Film Institute (1971-74) and managing director of the National Film Finance Corporation that Mamoun was most influential, being instrumental in the making of such classic British films as Bill Forsyth’s Gregory’s Girl, Franco Rosso’s Babylon (both 1980) and the animated adaptation of Raymond Briggs’s When the Wind Blows,...

The author’s books inspired Channel 4’s much-loved Christmas animations.

The author and illustrator Raymond Briggs, best known for his 1978 work The Snowman, passed away yesterday, August 9, aged 88.

Briggs produced a wealth of books including an illustrated book of nursery rhymes, The Mother Goose Treasury (1966), Father Christmas (1973), Father Christmas Goes on Holiday (1975), Fungus the Bogeyman (1977), When the Wind Blows (1982) and The Tin-Pot Foreign General and the Old Iron Woman (1984).

Many of his works, which were largely based on themes of love and loss, have been adapted into films, plays and TV animations.

The producer John Coates turned his most famous work,...

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Raymond Briggs, the British writer and illustrator who delighted generations of children and adults with his beloved festive book The Snowman and many other, has died. He was 88.

His publisher Penguin Random House confirmed the news on Wednesday. “Raymond liked to act the professional curmudgeon, but we will remember him for his stories of love and of loss,” Briggs’ literary agent Hilary Delemere told The Guardian. “I know from the many letters he received how his books and animations touched people’s hearts. He kept his curiosity and sense of wonder right up to the last.”

Across a career spanning six decades, Briggs’ widely adored creations included The Snowman, which has become a festive TV tradition in Britain thanks to Channel 4’s 1982 animated version that was nominated for an Oscar, plus the green, angsty creature Fungus the Boyeyman and an exceptionally grumpy...

Raymond Briggs, who created the original picture book that became beloved Academy Award-nominated short The Snowman, has died aged 88.

Briggs’ family put out a statement via publisher Penguin Random House this morning stating that he had “lived a rich and full life” and passed away yesterday.

“He shared his love of nature with [late partner] Liz on South Downs walks and on family holidays to Scotland and Wales,” it added. “He also shared his sense of fun and craziness with his family, and with his family of artist friends — at get-togethers, fancy dress parties and summer picnics in the garden.”

Briggs was recognized for a wealth of popular picture books that included Fungus the Bogeyman and the Father Christmas series, each of which was filled with his trademark illustrative style.

He was best known for 1978’s The Snowman, a beautiful picture book that told the story of a boy who builds a...

Raymond Briggs, the British illustrator, cartoonist, graphic novelist and author best known for “The Snowman,” has died. He was 88.

“The Snowman,” a book without words and illustrated with pencil crayons, was created by Briggs in 1978. It was adapted as an animated television film for U.K. broadcaster Channel 4 in 1982, which is played on U.K. television every Christmas. It was nominated for the Academy Award for best animated short film and won a BAFTA TV Award for best children’s program.

“The Snowman” sold more than 5.5 million copies worldwide. Briggs also created evergreen children’s books “Father Christmas,” “Fungus The Bogeyman” and “When The Wind Blows.”

His 1988 graphic novel “Ethel & Ernest,” which tells the story of the lives of Briggs’ parents from their first meeting in 1928 to their deaths in 1971, was adapted by British animation studio as an animated feature in 2016 that won awards at several animation festivals around the world.

In “Silent Night,” first-time writer-director Camille Griffin wickedly weaves together holiday-movie and end-of-the-world–movie tropes, but once the shock of that juxtaposition wears off, we’re left with a slightly underboiled pudding, despite a sharp ensemble’s most valiant efforts.

Part “When the Wind Blows” (the grim 1986 animated feature about Brits keeping calm and carrying on in the face of nuclear disaster) and part “Peter’s Friends” (Kenneth Branagh’s 1992 comedy about school chums gathering in a big house for the holidays to drink too much and open old wounds), “Silent Night” assembles a group of family and friends to celebrate Christmas — only at midnight, Santa isn’t coming. Instead, the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse are scheduled.

Nell (Keira Knightley) and Simon (Matthew Goode) are hosting Christmas in their charming country home, and as usual they’ve invited their closest friends: upper-class twits Tony and Sandra, abrasive Bella and her soft-spoken girlfriend Alex,...

On April 21st, Severin Kids returns to market with a plan to help today’s young people survive the impending nuclear apocalypse. The 1986 animated masterpiece When the Wind Blows is hitting Blu-Ray just in time to get a copy inside […]

The post End-Of-The-World Animated Classic When The Wind Blows Returns To Devastate A New Generation appeared first on Dread Central.

Freshly divorced from American-International Pictures, Roger Corman leaps into the filmic mainstream with a fairly large-scale World War One aviation picture. He competes with the big studios but retains his nonconformist attitude: his retelling of the story of the Red Baron fixates on the theme of the death of chivalry in combat. For his star player Corman picks John Phillip Law, whose on-screen persona is a good fit for one of the first warrior aces of the sky.

Von Richthofen and Brown

Blu-ray

Kl Studio Classics

1971 / Color / 1:85 widescreen / 97 min. / Street Date May 21, 2019 / available through Kino Lorber / 29.95

Starring: John Phillip Law, Don Stroud, Barry Primus, Corin Redgrave, Stephen McHattie, Hurd Hatfield

Robert La Tourneaux, Ferdy Mayne, Peter Masterson, Clint Kimbrough, George Armitage.

Cinematography: Michael Reed

Film Editor: Alan Collins

Original Music: Hugo Friedhofer

Written by John William Corrington, Joyce H. Corrington

Produced by Gene Corman, Jimmy T. Murakami

Directed by...

Producer Camilla Deakin remembers ”considerate, collaborative and respectful” animator.

Roger Mainwood, the UK filmmaker and animator, has died after an illness at the age of 65.

His credits included the feature animation Ethel & Ernest, which chronicles the lives of the parents of The Snowman illustrator Raymond Briggs. It was nominated for mutiple awards including best animated feaure at the European Film Awards in 2017.

The film was a passion project for Mainwood, who spent eight years developing it, adapting the screenplay from Briggs’ own graphic novel and drawing the majority of the storyboard himself. He then spent a further two years...

UK animation outfit strikes two-picture deal.

London-based production and sales outfit Gfm Animation has unveiled two new projects on the eve of Toronto.

A Greyhound Of A Girl is based on the novel by Booker Prize-winning author Roddy Doyle. It will be directed by Italian director Enzo D’Alo (Pinocchio) and is produced by Paul Thiltges Distributions, in association with the Luxembourg Film Fund, Aliante and The Illuminated Film Company. The ghost story follows four generations of women travelling on a midnight car journey.

Production on this animated feature film will commence in Q2 2019 after eight months of storyboarding and character designs.

Parlophone Records announced Wednesday that “David Bowie: Loving the Alien 1983-1988,” the fourth in its series of boxed sets compiling the late artist’s work from 1969, will be released on Oct. 12. The era was Bowie’s most commercially successful period and includes the hit albums “Let’s Dance” and “Tonight.”

The 11 CD/15 LP set follows the formidable collections “Five Years (1969-1973),” “Who Can I Be Now? (1974-1976),” and “A New Career in a New Town (1977-1982).”

It also includes a near-complete re-recording of Bowie’s 1987 album “Never Let Me Down,” which he’d often said he wanted to re-do, overseen by producer / engineer Mario McNulty with new instrumentation by longtime Bowie collaborators Reeves Gabrels (guitar), David Torn (guitar), Sterling Campbell (drums), and Tim Lefebvre (bass), as well as string quartet with arrangements by Nico Muhly and a guest cameo by Laurie Anderson on “Shining Star (Makin’ My Love).”

It...

David Bowie‘s mid-Eighties career will be explored in the new box set Loving the Alien (1983-1988), a massive collection that gathers the late icon’s albums, live LPs and more from the era.

The 11-cd or 15-lp Loving the Alien, due out October 12th, features three Bowie studio albums – 1983’s Let’s Dance, 1984’s Tonight and 1987’s Never Let Me Down – alongside a pair of first-time-on-vinyl live albums – Serious Moonlight (Live ’83) and Glass Spider (Live Montreal ’87) – and the newly assembled compilation Dance, which collects 12 contemporaneous remixes from the era.

This quintessential New World picture from producer Roger Corman features a jaw-dropping array of behind-the-scenes talent including a score from James Horner, a script from John Sayles and art direction from James Cameron. Starring Richard Thomas, the supporting cast is equally impressive, including turns from Sam Jaffe, George Peppard, John Saxon and Robert Vaughn. Directed by Jimmy T. Murakami who went on to helm animated classics like When the Wind Blows and The Snowman.

We’re not saying they all should be, but they could.

This week, Disney releases another live-action remake of one of their animated classics. And they have many more planned for the future. But they aren’t the only ones attempting to adapt animated works into flesh and blood. The Ghost in the Shell joins Beauty and the Beast in theaters later this month, and other anime remakes, such as Akira, are in development.

It is surprising that more studios aren’t trying to copy Disney with the idea, though. Is it because so few non-Disney features involve human characters or because those that do aren’t that interesting? Below I’ve selected some that could work just fine. Some of them maybe should be done. If you have any other ideas, be our guest and share them in a response.

Little Nemo: Adventures in Slumberland (1989)

As I’m not a fan of redundant literal adaptations, I...

The screen version of Raymond Briggs’s affectionate tribute to his parents fails to beguile like The Snowman or When the Wind Blows

Based on Raymond Briggs’s graphic novel about his parents, this hand-drawn animation looks at some of the major events of the 20th century through the eyes of a couple of ordinary Londoners. It’s affectionate and nostalgic, all tea and crumpets, net curtains and scrubbed doorsteps. But the sweetly soft-focus approach, which involves Ernest reading headlines detailing various global news events and Ethel fretting about her soft covers and social standing, is ultimately a little unsatisfying. The animation style is appealing and unthreatening, but the film lacks the beguiling magic of The Snowman or the thematic potency of When the Wind Blows.

Continue reading...

The second feature animation from the When the Wind Blows author tells the charming story of his parents’ marriage

Raymond Briggs’s graphic-novel tribute to his parents Ethel and Ernest, and their long, happy marriage has been lovingly turned into a feature animation that exactly reproduces the detail and the simplicity of his hand-drawn style. It is gentle and charming, with an unbearably moving ending, though I confess I’m not sure what to think about its essentially placid quality. Brenda Blethyn and Jim Broadbent are the voices: a little old for the characters in their 1920s youth, but perhaps people looked and behaved a bit older in those days.

Ethel was a lady’s maid, Ernest a cheeky milkman who liked the look of the new Labour party. They had just one child, Raymond, having bought a terraced south London house in 1930. (Let’s see a young couple buy the same house today.

Wil Jones Oct 25, 2016

The Walking Dead has nothing on The Animals Of Farthing Wood when it comes to traumatic deaths. Revisit if you dare...

Looking back at the media you loved as a kid and realising that there was loads flying over your head is a milestone of becoming an adult. Maybe it was the barely-concealed sexual innuendo of the pop songs you used to sing along to on the radio. Maybe it was the references to Alfred Hitchcock movies in The Simpsons. For me, it happened recently, when I suddenly realised how violent and generally depressing The Animals Of Farthing Wood was.

See related The Missing series 2 episode 2 review: The Turtle And The Stick The Missing series 2 episode 1 review: Come Home The women taking over TV crime drama One Of Us episode 1 review

The Animals Of Farthing Wood started out as a series of children’s novels written by English author Colin Dann,...

This quintessential New World picture from producer Roger Corman features a jaw-dropping array of behind-the-scenes talent, including a score by James Horner, a script by John Sayles, and art direction by James Cameron. Starring Richard Thomas, the supporting cast is equally impressive, including turns from Sam Jaffe, George Peppard, John Saxon, and Robert Vaughn. Directed by Jimmy T. Murakami, who went on to helm animated classics like "When the Wind Blows" and "The Snowman."...

We look at how director Tomm Moore created the Oscar-nominated animation Song Of The Sea, and how the Irish landscape inspired it...

Walking along Ventry beach in south west island, it's easy to see how a filmmaker might be inspired by the spectacular landscape: the rolling hills and craggy rocks, the overwhelming air of tranquillity. But the inspiration for animator Tomm Moore's new film, the Oscar-nominated Song Of The Sea, was inspired by a less than tranquil experience.

About a decade ago, Moore was staying on holiday in the nearby town of Dingle, and visited Ventry beach with his 10-year-old son. To their horror, they found the beach littered with the bodies of dead grey seals. Reports at the time suggested that local fishermen, who blamed the seals for dwindling fish stocks, were responsible for the cull.

"I was talking to a local lady, and we were disturbed by...

Born an American of Japanese decent and soon quarantined to the Tule Lake War Relocation Center in northern California after the bombing of Pearl Harbor as child, Jimmy Teru Murakami was permanently scarred by the experiences he and his family endured during the war. Decades later, after he had been nominated for a pair of Academy Awards for his shorts The Magic Pear Tree and The Snowman, as well as having collaborated with Roger Corman on the sci-fi feature Battle Beyond the Stars, Murakami confronted the realities of nuclear war by stretching the boundaries of traditional animation with his bracing blacker-than-black satirical comedy, When The Wind Blows.

Based on Raymond Briggs’ brutal graphic novel of the same name, the tale follows a senior couple who lived through World War II as part of the British army and fought the good fight, now elderly, living rurally and long out of the loop of real world politics.

Departure Day: When it comes to TV, is closure important?

If you happen to follow a decent number of TV critics on Twitter, you may have noticed a minor eruption of late. A schism has emerged, prompted by accounts like The Cancellation Bear, which concerns itself solely with the topic of whether or not series are likely to survive based on current ratings patterns. That may sound perfectly innocent on its own, but quite a few admirers have expressed the notion that they refuse to dive into a series if they get the sense that it will come to a premature end, thereby robbing them of closure. This idea has, naturally, left many critics incensed: isn’t TV a medium founded on chaos, on the thrill of working within limitations and at the whims of fickle audiences? Moreover, isn’t it silly to always want tidy resolution in the context...

Giovanni’s Island

Written by Shigemichi Sugita and Yoshiki Sakurai

Directed by Mizuho Nishikubo

Japan, 2014

In its frequently sorrowful tale of young Japanese siblings struggling through the tail end or immediate aftermath of World War II, anime Giovanni’s Island faces seemingly inevitable comparisons to both Grave of the Fireflies and the Barefoot Gen features. Mizuho Nishikubo’s film, however, has a spirit all of its own, even if you can trace in it bits of those other films’ DNA, as well as notorious British anti-war animation When the Wind Blows, whose art style it resembles more than the likes of Studio Ghibli. It stands apart in offering a look at an aspect of Japanese history rarely explored in any art form to date, that of the Russian occupation of the island of Shikotan after Japan’s defeat in 1945, as seen through the eyes of two Japanese children among the...

Blu-ray Release Date: Nov. 11, 2014

Price: Blu-ray $29.95

Studio: Twilight Time

The 1986 animated film When the Wind Blows is a dark comedy-drama directed by veteran Japanese-American animator Jimmy Murakami, who passed away this year at the age of 80.

Jim and Hilda Bloggs (voiced by legendary English actors Peggy Ashcroft and John Mills), a middle-class, elderly British couple who, with the help of government-issued pamphlets, build a shelter and prepare for an impending nuclear attack, unaware that times and the nature of war have changed from their romantic memories of World War II. There home is hit indirectly by a Soviet nuclear bomb, leaving it in ashes and barely standing, with the couple surviving by ducking behind a door that Jim set up as an inner refuge. But barely surviving the attack is not enough, as they steadily fall prey to lethal radiation sickness…

A well-regarded Britsh cult entry (and a sad one!

Already one of music's finest storytellers, Belle and Sebastian frontman Stuart Murdoch's move into directing with "God Help The Girl" made natural sense. That it was a musical, also made sense. Unfortunately, the resulting film got a mixed reception at Sundance (our review), but there's always the music. "God Help The Girl" finds the cast of Emily Browning, Olly Alexander and Hannah Murray doing the songs from Murdoch's 2009 album of the same, with three new tunes in the mix as well: "Pretty When the Wind Blows," "I Dumped You First," and "I'm Not Rich." And you can get a flavor of it with the title track sung by Browning and co. and yeah, it's totally Murdoch-esque and if you're been a fan of Belle and Sebastian, this will be right up your alley of twee (but not overly so) pop. "God Help The Girl" opens in the UK on August 16th,...

Destination Outer Space! continues over at Trailers from Hell, with director Neil Marshall introducing "Battle Beyond the Stars."This quintessential New World picture from producer Roger Corman features a jaw-dropping array of behind-the-scenes talent including a score from James Horner, a script from John Sayles and art direction from James Cameron. Starring Richard Thomas, the supporting cast is equally impressive, including turns from Sam Jaffe, George Peppard, John Saxon and Robert Vaughn. Directed by Jimmy T. Murakami and an uncredited Corman. Sadly, Murakami, director of animated classics like When the Wind Blows and The Snowman, passed away on February 16 at age 80. )...

This quintessential New World picture from producer Roger Corman features a jaw-dropping array of behind-the-scenes talent including a score from James Horner, a script from John Sayles and art direction from James Cameron. Starring Richard Thomas, the supporting cast is equally impressive, including turns from Sam Jaffe, George Peppard, John Saxon and Robert Vaughn. Directed by Jimmy T. Murakami and an uncredited Corman. Sadly, Murakami, director of animated classics like When the Wind Blows and The Snowman, passed away on February 16 at age 80.

The post Battle Beyond the Stars appeared first on Trailers From Hell.

★★☆☆☆ Apocalyptic teen angst is the order of the day in Kevin Macdonald's limp and languid How I Live Now (2013), a functional - if uninspiring - adaptation of the 2004 Meg Rosoff novel of the same name. Starring Saoirse Ronan as the American relative of a rurally-situated British family, the film sees our green and pleasant land under attack from an unknown foe, commencing with a catastrophic nuclear strike on London. Though such subject matter may sound provocative on paper (indeed, Rosoff's text is highly regarded), Macdonald's big screen translation is too dour and generic to ever truly capture the imagination.

Kitted out in leather and shades, Daisy (Ronan) arrives in the UK at a time of unclarified unrest. Picked up from the airport by 14-year-old Isaac (Tom Holland), she's soon introduced to her English aunt (Anna Chancellor) and fellow cousins, including Edmond (George MacKay, seen again this week in two...

Top 10 Ryan Lambie 17 Sep 2013 - 05:58

What can videogames tell us about the volatile east-west relations in the 1980s? Ryan takes a look at 10 unique titles from the Cold War...

Videogames are often talked about in terms of nostalgia or their pioneering place in the medium’s evolution, but how often are they described as social or historical documents? The spread of videogaming’s broader popularity in the 70s to the golden age of arcades in the 1980s took place within the shadow of the Cold War’s final years, so it’s only logical that their content reflects that period in history.

After World War II rumbled to a close in 1945, the post-war period brought with it not an era of unprecedented peace, but one of anxiety and distrust; the Us and the Ussr were two superpowers locked in a state of terse rivalry, and the threat of nuclear...

Kevin Macdonald has teenagers in the crosshairs with this post-nuclear puppy love story

When the voices in Daisy's head aren't calling her a fucking loser, they're reciting hackneyed pop wisdom ("If you don't give up, you can't fail") or ticking her off about skin care and hydration. Daisy (Saoirse Ronan) is your catalogue order troubled teen, re-located from California to spend a summer with her cousins in their charming English farmhouse. The cousins are cheeky Isaac (Tom Holland), sweet-natured Piper (Harley Bird) and big, brooding Edmond (George MacKay), a cow-whispering hottie with mud on his boots and sex on the brain. Daisy's aunt (Anna Chancellor) is too preoccupied with work to pay their rough and tumble much attention. So the kids play tag, fly hawks, go swimming. Daisy sits moodily to one side, addled by inner demons.

Still, nothing clears the mind like armageddon. World war three hits the Blyton-esque brood just after sandwiches.

Open thread: What public service announcements would you like to see developed into full-length movies?

Werner Herzog has made a new documentary, One Second To The Next, highlighting the potential repercussions of texting while driving.

Deadline reports that the director decided to make the film after producing a 30 second ad for the "It Can Wait" public safety campaign.

Which, obviously, begs the question: are there any other public information films you'd like to see extended into full-length features? Here's a few suggestions to get the ball rolling – let us know yours in the thread below.

1. Charley Says

A lonely boy's efforts to make friends are apparently usurped by Charley, his pet cat, who only he can understand. As the film goes on the boy becomes increasingly isolated, Charley's warnings ever more paranoid, insistent and, ultimately, threatening.

Ideal director: David Lynch

2. Lonely Water

Reading on mobile? Watch the clip on YouTube...

Justin Bieber's highly anticipated new album Believe Acoustic doesn't drop until next Tuesday, Jan. 29, but three new songs have leaked early.

Yesterday, his breakup ballad "Nothing Like Us" hit the web, and today two more—"I Would" and "Yellow Raincoat"—were found on YouTube. They all seem to tell the story of his his brutal breakup with Selena Gomez.

Listen to the songs below and check out the lyrics! Tell us what you think.

"I Would"

If I could take away the pain and put a smile on your face

Baby I would, baby I would

If I could make a better way, so you could see a better day

Baby I would, baby I would, I would

Baby do it to the sky and lend you the keys,

Let you know that you're always welcomed so that you never leave

Why you owe those fancy things that you only see on tv,...

Fans are anxiously awaiting the arrival of Justin Bieber’s new album ‘Believe Acoustic’ on Jan. 29, but on Jan. 23, a new track about Selena Gomez leaked!

Justin Bieber’s song “Yellow Raincoat” is one of the few new tracks on his upcoming album Believe Acoustic, and it’s reportedly about his ex Selena Gomez! Lyrics such as, “Cause the fame, and the money, and the girl will drive you crazy,” hint at his tumultuous relationship with Selena.

The Lyrics To ‘Yellow Raincoat’:

Guess i’ll put on my raincoat, my yellow raincoat

Baby it’s keeping me fright

I put on my raincoat, my yellow raincoat

You know exactly why

When the wind blows, and the sun goes away

And the sand fall, storming me dead, it’s a destroyer, this is for you

And as it pours down, the water sprinkles off my chest, it’s destroyer, it...

Editor’s Note: This review appeared as part of our coverage of the 11th Annual New York Asian Film Festival, and we’re bringing it back to be part of our Fantastic Fest coverage. Animated films are traditionally the home of kiddie fare and pure entertainment, but on rare occasions filmmakers use the format to tell decidedly adult stories. Heavy Metal is probably the most notorious example, but even rarer are the animated films that attempt to tell truly dramatic tales about more than big boobed space warriors and horny robots. The Plague Dogs and When the Wind Blows are two fantastic examples of serious films with serious themes being told by way of animation. And now one more bleak, occasionally stunning and depressing as hell cartoon can be added to that short list. Kyung-min stands naked in the shower as his recently deceased wife sits dead at the kitchen table. Jong-suk...

Apocalypse is an ever-popular idea in cinema. After all, what could be more dramatic than the possibility -- or even the actuality -- of the end of everyone and everything that you've ever known. It's an all purpose metaphor, and can be used to tell all kinds of stories, in all kinds of tones, as highlighted by this weekend's comedy-drama "Seeking A Friend For The End Of The World," which sees Steve Carell and Keira Knightley brought together by the impending end of civilization.

The film's only semi-successful at melding romantic comedy with the end of days, as you'll find from our review, but there's plenty in the film to recommend it as well. And if you're still looking for a little more end-of-the-world drama, we've picked out five lesser-known examples that are worth seeking out Asap. Check out our selections below, and let us know your own favorites in the comments section.

Catch up with the last seven days in the world of film

The big story

Sequels, prequels, reboots, remakes … some weeks you could almost be forgiven for thinking Hollywood had given up on finding new stories to tell.

The most anticpated reboot at the moment is surely The Amazing Spiderman, which will see Andrew Garfield stepping into Tobey Maguire's shoes as web-slinger Peter Parker. It opens on July 3, but you can read an early review from Andrew Pulver right here.

Elsewhere this week other mooted franchise extensions have been put on the back burner. Plans for a controversial retelling of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles story have been dropped due to script issues, while speculation that the Twilight saga was due for a reboot has been denied by the studio.

One sequel that pretty much no-one was expecting, or even hoping for, is a follow-up to Raging Bull – but...

Director: Yuya Ishii. Review: Adam Wing. “When the wind blows your way, go with it.” Mitsuko Delivers is the new film from Yuya Ishii (Sawako Decides), starring Riisa Naka (Love Strikes!), Aoi Nakamura (Quirky Guys & Gals) and Ryo Ishibashi (Audition). Yuya Ishii is certainly making a name for himself; Sawako Decides won the Best Director accolade at the Blue Ribbon Awards, and the Best New Director Award at the Yokohama Film Festival. Hikari Mitsushima led an impressive cast in an enjoyable comedy drama that encouraged you to embrace the mediocrity of life and overcome it. Flawed yet fruitful, Sawako Decides was overlong and inconsequential, but it was also blessed with enough quirky charm to see it through. His latest release, Mitsuko Delivers, takes similar themes and waltzes amongst the clouds with them. Mitsuko (Riisa Naka) is in the closing stages of her pregnancy to an African American guy she met in California.

The Divide

Stars: Lauren German, Michael Biehn, Milo Ventimiglia, Courtney B. Vance, Rosanna Arquette, Michael Eklund| Written by Karl Mueller, Eron Sheean | Directed by Xavier Gens

I have an interest in nuclear war. Well, I have an interest in stories about nuclear war, to be more precise. I’m a big fan of films such as When the Wind Blows and television such as Threads. One of the books I’m currently reading is a biography of Robert Oppenheimer. So when I read the synopsis of The Divide, I was immediately interested. In the film, nuclear warheads are dropped on New York City and a handful of people manage to take shelter in the basement of a tower block, a sanctuary that becomes a prison and then a madhouse, as Very Bad Things unfold.

The nuclear war aspect is really just a hook on which to hang the real focus...

Damnation Alley - is one of the most sought after post-apocalyptic cult relics of the 70's that, believe it or not, is only now making it's way onto DVD and Blu-ray in an official release. So basically, it's a red letter day for Pa junkies and I'm off to pick this bad boy up as soon as I post this. It's also based on a book from 1967 by Roger Zelazny (who hated this film).

Insidious - is the best film from James Wan since the original Saw and one hell of a haunting flick. I loved this film far more than the glut haunted house films we've been getting recently like Haunting in Connecticut. Perhaps it had something to do with Rose Byrne being in the film? Whatever it was, this was a great flick that's made better by the subtleties and unanswered oddities in it - like what relevance...

A new documentary, Countdown to Zero, highlights the many reasons why nuclear annihilation remains our biggest threat

We never loved the bomb, but we did at least learn to stop worrying about it. According to new documentary Countdown to Zero, though, we shouldn't have. As Lucy Walker's film details, there's even more to worry about today: terrorists seeking to acquire nuclear materials, former Soviet countries trying to sell them, nuclear stockpiles, the club of nuclear-capable countries expanding to include states such as North Korea, Iran and Pakistan. Countdown to Zero has been described as the Inconvenient Truth of nukes, though judging by its terrifying revelations, our species is destined to destroy itself by nuclear means long before climate change gets a chance.

"Unfortunately, there's nothing I learned making this film that made me less worried," says Walker. Like most British children of the 1980s, she remembers what it was...

Total Film have long been champions of the Cbm, and always give(I find anyway) pretty accurate and fair reviews and ratings. I find them to be a lot more consistent that some other movie magazines at least. So I was very interested in seeing the top 50 movies they chose to stand as their greatest CBMs of all time. Below are their top 10, for the full list click the link at the bottom of the article.. #10) Kick-Ass What they say: The Comic Book: Mark Millar’s semi-autobiographical ‘what if?’ reverie about his childhood dreams of fighting crime. The Movie: Matthew Vaughn’s hyperactive action-comedy about an ordinary kid (Aaron Johnson) who decides to become a superhero. The Comic-Book Movie: Developed in parallel, comic and movie share a taste for bubblegum ultra-violence, sick laughs and unstoppable entertainment. #9) When The Wind Blows The Comic Book: A graphic novel by Raymond Briggs, of The Snowman fame.

Year: 2011

Directors: Xavier Gens

Writers: Karl Mueller / Eron Sheean

IMDb: link

Trailer: link

Review by: rochefort

Rating: 9 out of 10

In the opening minutes of the latest film by Xavier Gens, missiles hit the ground in New York, prompting mass panic and a gripping riot scene that culminates with Mickey (Michael Biehn) slamming the door of his personal fallout shelter, shutting himself inside along with a small handful of additional survivors that include Lauren German's and Ivan Gonzalez's estranged couple and half-brothers Milo Ventimiglia and Ashton Holmes. As the days pass, the group contends with mutual distrust, paranoia, and the very real possibility that no one is coming to their aid, which in turn sets them on a rapid decline into dementia and savagery.

Be warned: Gens' mode here is most definitely not that of "Hitman", the video game adaptation he made under intense studio scrutiny. This is the...

Sylvain Chomet’s animated feature The Illusionist barely made any impact at all in cinemas. Here’s why the film deserves your attention on DVD and Blu-ray...

The care and attention that went into Sylvain Chomet's The Illusionist is evident in every frame. A gentle, melancholy tale of an ageing French magician, every moment is filled with character and rich detail. Following the critical success of Belleville Rendez-Vous, which won the Best Animated Feature Oscar in 2003, Chomet embarked on The Illusionist, adapted from an unfilmed script written by the late French mime artist, actor and director, Jacques Tati.

Eating up a considerably larger budget than Belleville Rendez-Vous (The Illusionist cost around $11 million to make, versus the more modest $8 million of Belleville), Chomet spared no effort in bringing Tati's distinctive persona to life, using a mixture of hand-drawn and computer-generated techniques.

Sadly, the commercial response to The Illusionist was muted,...

Raymond Briggs will forever be linked with the annual walk in the wintry air with The Snowman and now news comes to us of a new animated feature of the 1998 graphic novel based on the lives of his parents, Ethel & Ernest.

Fans of Briggs’ work may remember the last time a feature length film was made of one of his works, When the Wind Blows, which as a child of the 80s I had played to me at school and it did as much as Terminator 2 to convince me that nuclear war was not a great way to go about things.

Back to Ethel & Ernest, and here’s the good stuff.

Jim Broadbent and Brenda Blethyn are to lend their voices to the eponymous couple in the film which tells the entire story of their life, from the first days together until their deaths.

Immediately I thought of the pair’s work with Mike Leigh,...