CLOUD ATLAS and SILENT HILL: REVELATION 3D: CFQ Spotlight Podcast 3:43

Doona Bae (left) and Jim Sturgess confront a dehumanizing future as two participants of the vast canvas that is CLOUD ATLAS.
Doona Bae (left) and Jim Sturgess confront a dehumanizing future as two participants of the vast canvas that is CLOUD ATLAS.

Who knew that a movie based on an “unfilmable” literary property with a complex story structure — even with an all-star cast — could be this dynamic, this moving, this, yes, fun? CLOUD ATLAS encompasses stories spanning five-hundred years — going all the way from the historical tale of a young traveler (Jim Sturgess) enduring treachery on a sailing vessel to the futuristic story of a clone (Doona Bae) awakening to her own existence and the even-further-future adventure of a member of an endangered elite (Halle Berry) reaching out to a humble farmer (Tom Hanks) to help in the survival of her kind — and the film is as nimble-footed and riveting as any produced by its three directors, Lana and Andy Wachowski and Tom Tykwer.
In this deluxe-sized episode (and, trust us, we could’ve gone on much longer), beabetterbooktalker.com‘s Andrea Lipinski joins Cinefantastique Online’s Steve Biodrowski, Lawrence French, and Dan Persons to look deeply into the film, how it lives up to David Mitchell’s original book, how its daring structure explores the concept of narrative storytelling, and where, if anywhere, this experiment falters. Then, Steve and Dan take a capsule look at the new horror film SILENT HILL: REVELATION 3D, and Dan gives his verdict on the Cronenbergian horror film, GUT. Plus: What’s coming to theaters next week.

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Michael J. Bassett on SILENT HILL: REVELATION 3D: Cinefantastique’s New York Comic Con 2012

Adelaide Clemens endures an unhappy reunion in SILENT HILL: REVELATION 3D.
Adelaide Clemens endures an unhappy reunion in SILENT HILL: REVELATION 3D.

Turns out that Hell is a small, American mining town. Which is how you lose Ohio, but also how you build a video-game-based horror franchise that crosses creeping dread and surreal imagery. Continuing the storyline started in the 2006 original, SILENT HILL: REVELATION 3D takes a young woman (Adelaide Clemens) back to her hometown, an abandoned mining town subsumed in evil. Working with 3D for the first time, director Michael J. Bassett loads the film with much what-is-reality? weirdness, including a spider made of mannequin limbs and homicidal clockwork operating room nurses (and how would you like to have seen the casting call for that role?).
I was able to net an exclusive sit-down with Bassett while he attended New York Comic Con. Click the player to hear the conversation.

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Silent Hill Revelation 3D: in theatres October 26

Open Road Films releases this sequel, based on the videogame. This time, Michael J. Bassett writes and directs. Radha Mitchell, Sean Bean, and Deborah Kara Unger reprise their roles from the 2006 SILENT HILL (which was not so well received that you would have expected a sequel; a reboot seemed more likely). Along for the ride are Adelaide Clemens, Kit Harington, Carrie-Anne Moss, Malcolm McDowell, and Martin Donovan. Running time 94 minutes. Rated R.
Release Date: Friday, October 26, 2012
Silent Hill Revelation 3d poster