Podcast: Edinburgh International Film Festival Round-Up

Mark Davidson, Laura Croft, Steve O’Hara and Dave Wark review all the best films from this year’s Edinburgh International Film Festival (15th – 26th June 2011)

As well as giving their opinion on how this year’s cash-strapped festival compared to previous years, they also give their own Pick of the Fest. Dave also starts singing; it made everybody feel all warm and bright.

Observealot11.mp3
To save onto your computer, right click the above link and go to “Save Target As..”

You can contact the podcast via observealot(at)gmail(dot)com

The Podcast is sponsored by LoveFilm: a DVD and BluRay rental service.
To get your 30 day free trial go to:
http://bit.ly/lovefilmtrial

Edinburgh International Film Festival: Albatross

This review comes courtesy of fellow podcast presenter, Laura Croft, who has been covering the Edinburgh International Film Festival for this site.

I first encountered Albatross a while back through some gentle murmurs and whispers online. However little information was available, and with no chance of a trailer the film was relegated to the back of my mind until further notice.

So when it came to the hungry, violent, page-turning motion of the first flick-through of the Edinburgh Film Festival Programme, much happiness ensued when I discovered that it was included in the line-up.

Edinburgh International Film Festival: The Guard

Wednesday Night (17th June) saw the launch of the Edinburgh International Film Festival with the screening of The Guard at The Festival Theatre. So, just how good a choice was this dark Irish comedy for the Festival’s opening night?

Brendan Gleeson’s almost made a career of making scene-stealing performances in the scores of movies, both big and small, he’s starred in. Whether playing the sidekick in Braveheart, Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire, or In Bruges, there’s something inexplicably appealing about the mixture of authority and charm he brings.

Despite this, he has few starring roles in films, at least big ones. Thankfully, The Guard‘s writer and director John Michael McDonagh (brother of In Bruges writer Martin McDonagh), saw fit to cast him as the film’s central character, Sergeant Gerry Boyle, a small town police officer on the West Coast of Ireland.

Podcast: Edinburgh International Film Festival 2011 Preview

Mark Davidson, Laura Croft, Steve O’Hara and Dave Wark preview the fast approaching Edinburgh Film Festival, which this year will be running from 15 to 26 June 2011.

The four hosts recommend eight films with enough diversity to give every type of film fan something to get excited about.

They also discuss their opinions on how this year’s programme compares to previous years, and whether all the controversial changes will be a good thing for the fest or not. They also talk about apes.

Observealot10.mp3
To save onto your computer, right click the above link and go to “Save Target As..”

You can contact the podcast via observealot(at)gmail(dot)com

The Podcast is sponsored by LoveFilm: a DVD and BluRay rental service.
To get your 30 day free trial go to:
http://bit.ly/lovefilmtrial

Edinburgh International Film Festival Launches Programme

Tuesday finally saw the launch of this year’s EIFF programme. It’s been a long, and somewhat rocky road to reach this point: one festival director leaving; a replacement not being found for four months; artistic advisors whose roles we were never quite sure of; and having to cope with a significant amount of funding being lost from the now defunct UK Film Council. With all that in mind, how does the 65th EIFF programme hold up?