Okay, I’m not going to lie.

I downloaded this little gem illegally.

But..

My downloading it, has led to quite a bit of good.

Jia Zhang Ke’s 2006 film ‘Sanxia Haoren’ (English title ‘Still Life’) opened events for Dublin’s Chinese New Year celebrations. The sleeper winner of the Golden Lion Award for Best Film at the Venice Film Festival that year, it is a film that deserved more than the limited release it received.

The revenge movie, in its proper subgenre setting of harrowing gritty violence, I had thought to be a thing dead. Consigned to the video nasties of the 70s and 80s. Though briefly and occasionally resurrected for some brief gasps during the 90s. Gone were the days when you could find a movie about a man or woman who had just been pushed too far. Where there was no A-team like arsenal or some insane Seagal Hollywood-ed up ninja doing mental things with pressure points. Rather instead; some crazy fucker with a sock full of quarters beating people to death or a guy with a supped up blowtorch burning people for their crimes.

Stardust is not a bad film. In fact, it’s a rather good film, in the vein of Willow and Labyrinth. The problem is that to anyone who has read the book, it plays rather like J.S. Bach as interpreted by Ritchie Blackmore; while the experience is enjoyable in itself, you can’t help but wince as the complexity of the original is mangle…

Apparently, this is Sweden’s first vampire movie and based on what I’ve seen, I can only hope they keep making them. Anders Banke is a man with talent and one to watch.

Released on the 27th of July 2006, this South Korean blockbuster had already been seen by over six million people by the morning of August the 6th 2006. By the 10th of September 2006 Bong Joon-Ho’s ‘The Host’ had been seen by over twelve and a half million people in Korea alone. Making it the highest grossing film in South Korean cinematic history.