Straight To Video is THIS SATURDAY!

London's original film soundtrack night is BACK!

PHILL JUPITUS is our guest DJ and we'll bringing you the best in the music from the movies.

We're not talking any old shit, and if you're looking for Grease and Dirty Dancing, we suggest you go to a hen night, or one of the rubbish Straight To Video supermarket-own-brand immitations which have sprung up, instead.

We only bring you the the good stuff - from the obscure to the obvious. And Straight To Video is the only place you'll hear exclusive re-edits of scores and soundtracks by the mash-up maestro himself, The Freelance Hellraiser.

As if that wasn't enough, there's also 10-pin bowling, free karaoke, free badges and free popcorn.

Buy your tickets at the link below and you'll save £3 on the door price.
Saturday 28th February

The Kingpin Suite :: Bloomsbury Bowling Lanes :: London

Starring Phill Jupitus + The Freelance Hellraiser
+ The 20th Century Fox + Guests

Buy tickets for Straight To Video here:

BE THERE, OR BE SQUARE...

Straight To Video Exclusive Interview: Edgar Wright

Listen to Straight To Video's exclusive interview with director Edgar Wright (Shaun Of The Dead, Hot Fuzz) live from the Toronto set of his new film, Scott Pilgrim Vs. The World.

Find out what the new film is about, who's in it, what Edgar's got coming up (including the third instalment of the ice cream trilogy with Simon Pegg) and who he's going to be rooting for at the Oscars this Sunday.

Straight To Video does... EDGAR WRIGHT

STRAIGHT TO VIDEO - The Podcast

Ps.

We weren't wholly sold on the stripped back nature of the Oscars, although it did seem a bit pacier. But Hugh Jackman did a mighty fine job of hosting and the presenters' autocue jokes were actually quite funny (thanks to a team of writers, including Ricky Gervais).

We LOVED the traditional opening montage of the Best Pic noms, which this year was live and put together by Baz Luhrmann:

And the Musical bit was good too (even though the sight of Zac Ephron makes a bit of sick come up and Dominic Cooper and Amanda Seyfried are the spawn of the devil for their part in Mamma Mia):

It's another Straight To Video (non)Exclusive

That's right readers, we're bringing you more exclusive news (which we've seen on the telly).

Sarah Jessica Parker, Robert Downey Jr and Ron Howard told Straight To Video (Ryan Seacrest) live on the Red Carpet (inside the television) at the Oscars (on the E! channel) that the rumours are true:

• Sex & The City's sequel is currently being written by Michael Patrick King and SJP says she has no idea what the story will be yet.

• Iron Man 2 is also in the writing stages.

• And, the most exciting news, a movie version of Arrested Development, the greatest television show on Planet Earth is looking extremely likely. But Richie Cunningham wasn't allowed to give too much away.

In other news, we were flicking between Sky and E!'s coverage until we decided to stay with Seacrest. Because people actually want to talk to him - poor old Fearne Cotton was basically a commentator on who was walking straight past her. But with questions like "Do you like playing diverse roles?' to Amy Adams, who can blame them? "No Fearne, what I really want is to be typecast and pigeon-holed for the rest of my career."

Straight To Video: Watching Telly So You Don't Have To

Being AR Rahman

School children in India celebrate Slumdog Millionaire score composer AR Rahman's double-Oscar triumph yesterday by donning Being John Malkovich-esque face masks. Incidentally, 'Jai Ho' (the title of Rahman's Best Song winner) means 'may you win'. Which he did. So there you go.

And the winners are...

Sooooo... the 'leaked winners' (previous blog below) were way off the mark. In fact, Straight To Video's own predictions were more accurate. Except The Freelance Hellraiser predicted The Sun's headline would read 'Kate Wins It', but they went for 'Kate Win-A-Lot'. The Freelance Hellraiser's is loads better though isn't it. The Sun's sounds like canned dog food.

Enniooooo (that's 'anyhoo' in movie score world FYI)...

Slumdog Millionaire cleaned up, winning EIGHT awards.

Kate 'Wins It' Winslet won it and she gave a composed and endearing speech (we may have cried a bit on her behalf) with just the right amount of thank yous balanced with some personality, humour and emotion (people who take to the stage with bits of paper and read out boring lists- take note).

As anticipated, Heath Ledger received the Oscar for Best Supporting Actor for his inspired turn as The Joker in The Dark Knight. The only real surprise came when Sean Penn beat Mickey Rourke to the Best Actor post for his role in Milk. It was a deserved win, but Mickey had the edge if you ask us.

And finally, here at Straight To Video Towers, we've been rooting for AR Rahman and the Slumdog Millionaire music all through awards season and he got the double last night - Best Score and Best Song (for the amazing film-closer, 'Jai Ho').

An amazing night for the Brits all round... in addition to the Slumdog Sweep and Kate Winalot Prime's victory, Man On Wire took home Best Documentary and The Duchess won Best Costume design. Rule Brittania etc.

Here are the winners in full:
Best Picture - SLUMDOG MILLIONAIRE
Best Directing - DANNY BOYLE (Slumdog Millionaire)
Best Actor In A Leading Role - SEAN PENN (Milk)
Best Actress In A Leading Role - KATE WINSLET (The Reader)
Best Actor In A Supporting Role - HEATH LEDGER (The Dark Knight)
Best Actress In A Supporting Role - PENELOPE CRUZ (Vicky Cristina Barcelona)
Best Original Screenplay - MILK
Best Adapted Screenplay - SLUMDOG MILLIONAIRE
Best Cinematography - SLUMDOG MILLIONAIRE
Best Visual Effects - THE CURIOUS CASE OF BENJAMIN BUTTON
Best Art Direction - THE CURIOUS CASE OF BENJAMIN BUTTON
Best Costume Design - THE DUCHESS
Best Makeup - THE CURIOUS CASE OF BENJAMIN BUTTON
Best Film Editing - SLUMDOG MILLIONAIRE
Best Original Song - JAI HO (Slumdog Millionaire)
Best Score - SLUMDOG MILLIONAIRE
Best Sound Editing - THE DARK KNIGHT
Best Sound Mixing - SLUMDOG MILLIONAIRE
Best Animated Feature - WALL-E
Best Animated Short - LA MAISON EN PETITS CUBES
Best Documentary Feature - MAN ON WIRE
Best Documentary Short - SMILE PINKI
Best Foreign Language Film - DEPARTURES
Best Short Film - SPIELZEUGLAND (TOYLAND)

Are these really the winners?

Zane Lowe Vs James King on Radio 1

VS

Movie critic James King finally managed to get himself on a decent BBC Radio 1 show last night. Zane Lowe invited him to be his Versus guest for a movie soundtrack Oscars special. You can listen again HERE.

And here's the tracklisting (we've corrected the spelling mistakes on Radio 1's behalf - we must look into the work of 'Tarrentino' some time...):

Round 1- Songs from an 80s movie
JK - Kenny Loggins - 'Danger Zone' (Top Gun)
ZL - Yello - 'Oh Yeah' (Ferris Bueller's Day Off)

Round 2 - Song from a Tarantino movie
JK - JK - 5,6,7,8s - 'Woo Hoo' (Kill Bill)
ZL - Stealers Wheel - 'Stuck In The Middle With You' (Reservoir Dogs)

Round 3 - Tune from a comedy
JK - Dr Evil - 'Hard Knock Life' (Austin Powers)
ZL - Will Ferrell - 'Afternoon Delight' (Anchorman)

Round 4 - Song from any teen movie
JK - The White Stripes - 'We Are Gonna Be Friends' (Napoleon Dynamite)
ZL - Radiohead - 'Talk Show Host' (Romeo and Juliet)

Round 5 - Instrumental from any movie
JK - Pink Panther Theme Tune
ZL - Road To Perdition Theme

Round 6 - Song from a musical
JK - John Travolta and Olivia Newton-John - 'Grease Megamix'
ZL - The Rocky Horror Show - 'The Time Warp'

Round 7 - Song from an animation
JK - Team America - 'Montage'
ZL - The Simpsons - 'Spiderpig'

Round 8 - Song from a movie you watched as a kid
JK - Bugsy Malone - 'Fat Sam's Grand Slam'
ZL - Vangelis - 'Chariots of Fire'

Round 9 - Closing track to a movie
JK - School of Rock - 'It's A Long Way To The Top'
ZL - Rage Against The Machine - 'Wake Up' (The Matrix)

The next Straight To Video night is upon us...

Saturday 28th February
The Kingpin Suite :: Bloomsbury Bowling Lanes :: London

Starring Phill Jupitus + The Freelance Hellraiser
+ The 20th Century Fox + Guests


Buy tickets for Straight To Video here:

It's someone else's score, actually

On 20th January, we Twittered this:
'would like to know why the trailer for The Curious Case Of Benjamin Button is using the score from Love Actually.'

We've also seen the trailer for Young Victoria at the cinema and they're bloody using it too. WHY?

Composer Craig Armstrong must be raking in the royalties. Especially as it's also a favourite for X Factor VTs when a contestant is playing the sympathy card and telling viewers about their dead mum/wife/hamster to cover up the fact that they have absolutely no chance of winning based on ability alone.

Ps. Twitter. Literally the most boring load of old shit ever, right?

This week's UK cinema releases

Confessions Of A Shopaholic

Chick-flick fluff by numbers starring Isla Fisher as a woman who can't stop spending. Based on the pastel-coloured chick-lit book by Sophie Kinsella, the action has moved to New York (instead of London). A lightweight, shallow story but worth watching for the strong cast, which includes John Lithgow, Lynn Redgrave and Joan Cusack. Isla Fisher's natural flair for comedy makes Shopaholic watchable, and her slightly pathetic character, likeable. Directed by Muriel's Wedding's PJ Hogan.

Anvil! The Story Of Anvil

A touching and funny story about a Canadian 80s hair metal group who won't give up. This documentary should finally give them the stardom they've craved. Featuring interviews with Slash, Lemmy and loads more.

Gran Torino

Clint Eastwood directs and stars in this gang drama, which also features his son Scott in a bit-part role while his other son, Kyle, provides the score.

Also released this week:

20th Century Boys - Japanese manga comic adaptation
Cadillac Records - musical biopic about Chess Records with Adrien Brody as the label's boss and Beyonce as Etta James
Franklyn - British film with Ryan Phillippe, Eva Green and Sam Riley (Ian Curtis in the masterpiece biopic, Control) as the leads
Push - Action film featuring characters with paranormal abilities
Che: Part Two - Second installment of Steven Soderbergh's Che Guevara biopic, starring Benicio Del Toro

Update

Last month, we told you about a movie location up for sale - Sleddale Hall from Withnail & I:
http://stvblog.blogspot.com/2009/01/location-location-location.html

Well, Kate Moss must have been reading as she reportedly tried to buy the ramshackle farmhouse, but was gazumped by local pub owner Sebastian Hindley, who bought it at an auction in the Berkeley Hotel, London, for £265,000.

So there you have it.

EDGAR WRIGHT :: Straight To Video Exclusive Interview

Listen to Straight To Video's exclusive interview with director Edgar Wright (Shaun Of The Dead, Hot Fuzz) live from the Toronto set of his new film, Scott Pilgrim Vs. The World.

Find out what the new film is about, who's in it, what Edgar's got coming up (including the third instalment of the ice cream trilogy with Simon Pegg) and who he's going to be rooting for at the Oscars this Sunday.

Peter Gabriel Pulls Oscar Show

Peter Gabriel has pulled out of performing his Oscar-nominated track from Wall-E at the ceremony next Sunday, after his stage time was cut to 65 seconds.

'Down To Earth', co-written by Thomas Newman, is nominated in the Best Song category and will be one of three shortlisted songs to be performed as part of a medley at the Kodak Theatre.

Gabriel, who was hoping to perform the track in full, said, 'It's a bit unfortunate', before adding he's 'an old fart' who can afford to 'make a little protest'.

And the world shrugs in unison.

This week's UK cinema releases

Happy Friday 13th everybody

Here's the 411 on what hits the screens this weekend...

Friday 13th

Pretty people being terrorised by a man in a hockey mask. The director of the Texas Chainsaw Massacre remake brings you a fourth instalment of the slasher franchise.

Bolt

Hmmmmmm... Monsters Vs. Aliens looks WAY better. And even though it's just her voice, and not her chipmunk teeth, we can't stomach Miley Cyrus in anything.

Hotel For Dogs

Unsubscribe x1 billion.

Notorious

This is the story of Notorious B.I.G. Only in this version, Biggie isn't a crack-dealing, gun-toting gangster. A glorified TV movie which belongs on Channel 5.

Pink Panther 2

"The world's greatest detective isn't what he used to be."
i.e. Funny. Oh Steve Martin, why would you do this? And why would you do this twice?

Vicky Cristina Barcelona

Fiiiiinally, something actually worth seeing this week. I don't like Woody Allen films as a rule... I know this is tantamount to sacrilege, especially on a movie blog, but this one gets off to a good start by not having Woody Allen in front of the camera. Instead, there's a very pretty ensemble of Javier Bardem, Penelope Cruz, Scarlett Johansson and Brit newcomer Rebecca Hall sharing the screen with an equally pretty Spanish setting and soundtrack.

Also released today:
Ayan
Billo Barber
Moscow, Belgium
F*CK
Three Monkeys
Tyson

Meanwhile... Across the pond

A little thing called the Grammys, where they give 110 (!) awards, took place.

Best Soundtrack went to Juno, which was up against American Gangster, August Rush, Mamma Mia and Sweeney Todd - The Demon Barber Of Fleet Street.

Best Score was awarded to James Newton Howard & Hans Zimmer for The Dark Knight. They beat John Williams (on his birthday) who was in the running for Indiana Jones & The Kingdom Of The Crystal Skull as well as Iron Man (Ramin Djawadi), There Will Be Blood (Jonny Greenwood) and Wall-E (Thomas Newman).

'Canciones De Amor' by Mariachi Divas won Best Regional Mexican Album and Best Hawaiian Music Album was 'Ikena' by Tia Carrere and Daniel Ho.

It's a Slumdog Sweep

The BAFTAs took place in a very rainy Londontown yesterday evening and we're pleased to report that it was a Slumdog Millionaire's night.

Danny Boyle's harrowing and heartwarming rags to riches tale took home seven statues, including the cherry-on-top award, Best Film. Deservedly so.

Acting nods went to Kate Winslet for The Reader, Mickey Rourke for The Wrestler, Penelope Cruz for Vicky Cristina Barcelona and the late Heath Ledger for his formidable Joker in The Dark Knight.

Kylie Minouge was taken out of her cryogenic chamber and defrosted in time to present AR Rahman with the Music Award for Slumdog Millionaire (our (Sound)Track Of The Week a couple of weeks ago).

The BAFTAs are a good indication of what's to come in the Oscars in a fortnight's time, as many of the voters are in both academies. Allow for a little less Brit patriotism, but Kate Winslet should be on course for her first nod. And it's about bleedin' time.

Meanwhile... Angelina Jolie took time out of her busy world-saving schedule to look smug and humourless. We think she may actually be a fembot. Unconfirmed reports suggest she's looking into adopting Dev Patel.

Mick Jagger defied the ancient laws of the autocue by actually being funny. Even Angelina (who only seems to have two facial expressions: 'I'm too good for this' or Tyra Banks' 'smile with your eyes' look from America's Next Top Model) managed to crack a laugh. Mickey Rourke also brought some colour (and colourful language) to speech proceedings... Why don't more people say how they feel about winning the award, instead of reading out a boring list of names no-one cares about? They didn't win it, YOU did.

Jonathan Ross was back where he belongs and on form. We've missed you JR. Or @Wossy as you're now known in Twitterworld (he and Stephen Fry are the only ones who make that website tolerable).

Thandie Newton looked like a toothpick with the face of a ventriloquist's dummy as usual. Fortunately, we weren't subjected to any of her 'acting'.

We can't be bothered to type out all the winners, we'd much rather look at photos of all the ladies in their pretty dresses. If this displeases you, follow this link: BAFTA Winners - full list

Happy Birthday

Today is John Williams' big day. The man who composed instantly recognisable film scores, such as Star Wars, Jaws and Superman, was born 77 years ago in New York. In his time he's won 20 Grammys, seven BAFTAs, five Oscars, four Golden Globes. What a showboat.

Williams recently completed the score for Harry Potter And The Half-Blood Prince and his next project will be Bryan Singer's Superman Returns follow-up.

The STV Bullet-Point News

• Slumdog Millionaire is No.1 in the UK Box Office Charts
• The BAFTAs are this Sunday
• The big UK releases this weekend are: The Curious Case Of Benjamin Button and He's Just Not That Into You
• The Sex & The City sequel has been confirmed (you heard it here third, remember?)
• Christian Bale is a twat

This week's UK cinema releases (6 Feb)

Doubt



Amy Adams and Meryl Streep (with Philip Seymour Hoffman) and their Oscar nom-worthy performances. It looks good (Meryl, if you're reading this, which you probably are, this had better make up for the execrable HRT explosion that was Mamma Mia) but I think I'll wait for the DVD - it's no popcorn event.

The Curious Case Of Benjamin Button

The most highly-anticipated release of the year so far. We'll be checking if it's worth its 13 Oscar noms this weekend.

He's Just Not That Into You

We're donning our Marc Jacobs wellies and heading through the snowflakes to the multiplex for this delightful fluff later on today.

Who Killed Nancy?

Well-timed as we've recently been undergoing a morbid fascination with Sid and Nancy... We'll wait for the DVD though as it's a The Future Is Unwritten: Joe Strummer-style doc. Lets hope it's better that that pile of shit 1986 Gary Oldman effort.

Punisher: War Zone

Unsubscribe.

The Good The Bad The Weird

It's a Western. A Korean Western. A.Maze.Ing.

The Secret Of Moonacre

We're sure it's good, if you like that sort of thing (I don't FYI). I'm no psychic, but I predict I'll be watching this in pyjamas on BBC1 on Boxing Day afternoon in a couple of years' time, drifting in and out of consciousness.

And that, as they say, is that.

Amazing tracks which appear on trailers and not in the film

This happens all the time and it's rubbish. A bit like when L'Oreal advertise mascara and put false eyelashes on the model. It's all lies, lies, lies.

I have no desire to see Frost/Nixon, largely due to the fact that Michael Sheen makes me feel uncomfortable. I think it's his nostrils. But the clever trailer put-togetherers almost fooled me into seeing it by including one of The Most Amazing Songs Ever Written - 'Baba O'Riley' by The Who. Luckily, I know their game and I just twizzled the wheel of my iPod until the synths-on-speed intro reached my ears.

Revolutionary Road uses a beautiful Nina Simone track called 'Wild Is The Wind' for its trailer and, again, it doesn't appear in the film. But it should. If you're dying to see a film containing 'Wild Is The Wind', and your life won't be fulfilled until you do, add Kinky Boots to your LoveFilm rental queue because it does indeed feature this song. And that is a Straight To Video exclusive.

Buy Baba O'Riley by The Who here: (you really should)
Buy 'Wild Is The Wind' by Nina Simone here: