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Check This...'Grave of the Fireflies'

In this edition of 'Check This' we are showcasing the late Isao Takahata's masterpiece 'Grave of the Fireflies' that was produced by Studio Ghibli. Released in 1988 the anime film based on the 1967 semi-autobiographical"Grave of the Fireflies short story of the same name by Akiyuki Nosaka.

This animated film delivers a harrowing sucker gut punch of emotion that we would defy any viewer not to react to the powerful storytelling and emotional ending of this animated war movie. It is one of the most important, stirring, haunting and genuinely great cinematic works of all time and not just animated works that encapsulates the magic and power of cinema and still resonates today. We would encourage everyone of all ages to see at least once in their lifetime.

The movie the the story of two children, 14-year-old Seita and his four-year-old sister Setsuko, who are struggling to survive in 1940s war-torn Japan where bombings by American warplanes and napalm attacks are an almost daily occurrence. When their mother is killed in an air raid, and the fate of their Naval officer father remains unknown, the children are left to fend for themselves. After a brief and uncomfortable stay with a cold and distant aunt, who makes it clear that she doesn't want to be burdened with them, they run away and set up home in an abandoned bomb shelter. For a while they find some happiness living on their own with a field of almost magical fireflies to keep them company. But as the rationing of food grows more unbearable, Seita finds it an increasing struggle to keep himself and Setsuko alive.

A hard watch but an essential watch, please if you have the time do watch it.




To view past choices we showcased click here.

Check This...'Swansong' Starring Noel Fielding

In this edition of 'Check This' Noel Fielding plays an elderly angel living out his final moments in 'Swansong' from filmmaker Joseph Lynn.

Lynn’s Swansong follows an elderly angel (Noel Fielding) on his journey through his retirement home and beyond as he lives out his final moments. The director made a statement on the project stating:

 "Swansong is my debut short film starring comedian Noel Fielding and follows an elderly angel on his final journey. The film was inspired by my Grandma and her unfaltering optimism and courage throughout her battle with cancer. The film uses movement to explore what it means to experience loss; pain, strength, fear and joy. After casting Noel Fielding to play the angel, we worked with choreographer Imogen Knight to utilise his physicality in a way mostly unseen in his own projects.

  To view past shorts we showcased click here.

Check This: 'Roddy Doyle's Star Trek The Next Generation'

In this hilarious spoof inspired by the facebook page Roddy Doyle's Star Trek and a pretty offensive (from an Irish perspective) episode of Star Trek The Next Generation involving an Irish sterotype settlement.

What would happen if Colm Meaney from the Barrytown trilogy of films (The Snapper, The Commitments and The Van) worked on the USS enterprise?

'Chief Miles O'Brien ain't happy with who Riker picks up on an excursion and Picard insits he bring them on board the enterprise!'

Enjoy.

Check This... 'Ant Head' By David Lynch

Its been quite a wait to see where David Lynch will go next, after his outstanding 'Twin Peaks: The Returns' it is unclear where he will go next? But in the mean time the master of hypnagogic hallucinations film making has made a new short... 'Ant Head'!

Lynch describes the film as a “short video featuring my friends the ants along with cheese, etc. and one-and-a-half tracks from the ‘Thought Gang’ album.”

The 'Thought Gang' is the once-lost album Lynch made with his frequent collaborator and 'Twin Peaks' composer Angelo Badalamenti in the mid-1990s, the album has a release just in time for Christmas!

Check This... Quentin Tarantino's 'My Best Friend's Birthday'

'

My Best Friend's Birthday' is a black and white amateur film written by Craig Hamann and Quentin Tarantino and directed by Quentin Tarantino, while he was working at the now shuttered Video Archives in Manhattan Beach, California.

The project started in 1984, when Hamann wrote a short 30-40 page script about a young man who continually tries to do something nice for his friend's birthday, only to have his efforts backfire.

Tarantino became attached to the project as co-writer and director, and he and Hamann expanded the short script into an 80 page script. On an estimated budget of $5,000, they shot the film on 16mm over the course of the next four years. Hamann and Tarantino starred in the film, along with several video store and acting class buddies.

The original cut was about 70 minutes long but due to a fire only 36 minutes of the film survived.

Check This... is a feature showcasing what we at Flicks News consider essential short films to watch!

To view past shorts we showcased click here.

Check This... Neill Blomkamp’s 'Zygote'

Neill Blomkamp and his Oats Studios have released the third short film from their volume one batch of content.

Starring Dakota Fanning and Jose Pablo Cantillo, Zygote focuses on two lone survivors stranded in an Arctic mine who are forced to fight for their lives, evading and hiding from a new kind of terror.

The previous films are 'Rakka' and 'Firebase' 

Check This... Tim Burton's 'Hansel and Gretel'

As the countdown to Halloween begins, we thought for this edition of "Check this...' we would showcase one of Tim Burton early short films 'Hansel and Gretel.'  Its the classic Grimm fairytale retold in a way only Tim Burton could deliver! 

The short was aired originally on The Disney Channel on Halloween night in 1983, Disney Channel execs were so distraught by the frightening subject matter the film as cast into the Disney Vault after its only airing never to be seen again! Until the Tim Burton retrospective at the Museum of Modern Art in New York City, and the Tim Burton L'Exposition at the Cinémathèque Française in Paris.

Check This... The Saga Of Biorn

On this Check This... is the animated short film 'The Saga Of Biorn' from The Animation Workshop.

Biôrn, an old Viking, is determined to reach Valhalla, the warrior's afterlife full of excessive drinking and debauchery. To gain entry he has to die honorably in battle, but he discovers that the right death isn't so easy.

Credits: A film by: Benjamin J. Kousholt, Daniel D. Christensen, Mads Lundgaard Christensen, Jesper A. Jensen, Jonas K. Doctor, Steffen Lyhne, Pernille Ørum-Nielsen, Frederik Bjerre-Poulsen, Jonas Georgakakis.




Making of:

Check This... is a feature showcasing what we at Flicks News consider essential short films to watch!


To view past shorts we showcased click here.

Check this... Pixar's 'La Luna'

On this check this... is the pixar short 'La Luna' directed and written by Enrico Casarosa. The short was shown before Pixar's 'Brave.'

'La Luna' is the timeless fable of a young boy who is coming of age in the most peculiar of circumstances. Tonight is the very first time his Papa and Grandpa are taking him to work. In an old wooden boat they row far out to sea, and with no land in sight, they stop and wait. A big surprise awaits the little boy as he discovers his family’s most unusual line of work. Should he follow the example of his Papa, or his Grandpa? Will he be able to find his own way in the midst of their conflicting opinions and timeworn traditions?"

Check This... 'Regenerative Being'

For the latest check this... we have the animated short 'Regenerative Being' by Stas Santimov with music by Eluvium.

The short feature details one man's train journey which descents into a dark, nightmarish, twisted, surreal world he may never escape from! The animation is very much in the style of David Lynch and Stanley Kubrick. We at flicknews.net consider this a must watch!

 

Check This 'The Maker'

On this Check This is the stop motion animated film 'The Maker' by Los Angeles production team Christopher and Christine Kezelos of Zealous Creative.

'The Maker' tells the tale of a strange creature races against time to make the most important and beautiful creation of his life.

Director Christopher Bezels had this to say on the short:

“The Maker explores the preciousness of our moments on earth, the short time we have with loved ones and the enjoyment of ones life’s work and purpose. In their fleeting existence our characters experience joy, love, hard work, purpose, loss and loneliness. As the tagline suggests, ‘life is what you make it’ and we are all makers in this world”.

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Check This.... 'The Phantom of the Opera' Re-scored

The silent horror masterpiece 'The Phantom of the Opera' just get a 21st century makeover courtesy of The Laze!

First released in 1921 throughout the decades that followed many composers and artists worldwide took up the task to write fresh new scores for this iconic picture, the latest instalment in this tradition with a brand new modern re-score composed & performed by The Laze.

Be sure to relive this horror classic with a outstanding new score.

Trailer 

Full Feature 

Check This: Studio Ghibli Animates The World's Oldest Manga

It seems there is life yet in Studio Ghibli, while it is still a bit of a wait for their next feature 'The Red Turtle.'  The studio was commissioned by Japanese energy company Marubeni Shin Denryoku to animate a 12th century picture scroll Choju Jinbutsu Giga.

The scroll is considered the earliest records of Japanese manga and depicts various animals (frogs, rabbits and monkeys) frolicking as if they were human.

Check This... 'Arcade Fire : Money + Love'

Arcade Fire and the Everything Now corporation have released ‘Money + Love’ which is adouble promo/ short. The video is directed by David Wilson who collaborated with the band before on some past promos. The songs ‘Put Your Money On Me’ and ‘We Don’t Deserve Love’, both from the album ‘Everything Now’ feature. The video stars the Win Butler, Regine Chassagne, Richard Reed Parry, Will Butler, Tim Kingsbury & Jeremy Gara as ARCADE FIRE with Toni Colette.


Check it out below:

Check This... Park Chan Wook's iPhone Short Film 'Night Fishing'

'Night Fishing' is the experimental South Korean fantasy-horror short film directed, produced, written Park Chan-wook and his brother Park Chan-kyong under the name PARKing CHANce. The short was shot entirely on the Apple iPhone 4 and went on to win the Golden Bear for Best Short Film at the 61st Berlin International Film Festival.

A man casually sets up for a fishing trip at the water's edge. Evening comes and a tug on his line presents him with the body of a woman. While he tries to disentangle himself from the fishing lines, she comes alive. The scene changes and the woman is now a shaman priestess in a funeral ritual for a man who drowned in a river. He speaks through her to his relatives, asking for forgiveness.

Check This... 'Windy City Heat'

For the latest check this... we have the hilarious 'Windy City Heat' below to view!

Perry Caravello believes he has been given a chance to star in a movie called Windy City Heat, a crime film about a "sports private eye" named Stone Fury. However, there is no such film, as the entire project is an elaborate prank played on him by Don Barris and Mole with the help of producers Jimmy Kimmel and Adam Carolla and real celebrity cameos including Carson Daly, Dane Cook, Tammy Faye Bakker, and William "The Refrigerator" Perry.

Check This... Nick Park's 'Creature Comforts'

The oscar winning Aardman animation 'Creature Comforts' is your Check This.

Created by Nick Park as part of 'Lip Synch' for Channel 4 the mockumentary short matched animated zoo animals with a soundtrack of people talking about their homes, making it appear as if the animals were being interviewed about their living conditions.

Wildely successful and hilarious the short went on to become a series of advertisements for electricity boards' "Heat Electric" and eventually became its own series in 2003.

Short Film


Electricity ads

Pet Hates (from the series)

Check This: If Rocky 4 Happened For Real

Brought to you by the good folks at college humour comes the 'check this' What if Rocky 4 Happened for Real.

Balboa Ends the Cold War:

The year is 1985 and the world is torn in two from the power struggle between Russia and America.  It was a cold war expect in the ring, Russia unleashed their greatest weapon The Siberian Bull Ivan Drago to do battle with Americans finest The Count of Monte Fisto Apollo Creed.

Apollo did not survive, reeling from their defeat the fate of the world rested on one man shoulders, the embodiment of American ideals, that man was Rocky Balboa! But he was retired after slaying the beast that was Clubber Lang, he decided to call time on his career to spend time with his family and Robot like a normal guy.

This is the not so true story of how the cold war ended not with a bang but with a KO!

Check This... Leningrad 'Tattoo Artist' Music Video

Be sure to check out this absolutely awesome (and gory) Russian music video for Leningrad's Tattoo Artist, it was directed by 'Hardcore Henry' Ilya Naishuller.

There is not much more to say than to just watch the insanity unfold!

Chronological Order