Principal photography has begun on UK-NZ produced western Slow West today, which stars  Michael Fassbender (who is set to blow minds in 12 Years A Slave), Kodi Smit-McPhee (Let Me In), Ben Mendelsohn (Animal Kingdom) and Caren Pistorius (The Most Fun You Can Have Dying). The film is the feature debut of John Maclean, BAFTA award-winning director of the short film Pitch Black Heist, which also starred Fassbender.

Set at the end of the 19^th Century, Slow West follows the story of 17-year-old Jay Cavendish (Smit-McPhee) as he journeys across the American Frontier in search of the woman he loves, accompanied by a mysterious traveller named Silas (Fassbender).

The film was developed by Film4 and is co-financed by Film4, the British Film Institute, the New Zealand Film Commission and Fulcrum Media Finance.

Set in Colorado and the Scottish highlands, Slow West is filming on location in New Zealand and Scotland. So if you’ve got a camera, a GPS and way too much time on your hands, you can get your Michael Fassbender stalking face on.

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Classic Films to play at Academy and Event Auckland

During this Labour weekend, Event Cinemas Queen Street is running a 24 Hour Long Weekend Marathon with films at cheap prices rolling non-stop from 10pm Friday (Oct 25) to 10am Monday (Oct 28). The line-up includes cinema classics Pulp Fiction, Dirty Dancing, Jaws and Jurassic Park 3D while recent hits Pitch Perfect, Ted, The World’s End, Pacific Rim and more will be replaying for those who missed them in their cinema run.

For the full line-up, be sure to check out the event page.

On the 31st of October, Academy Cinemas is putting on a groovy Halloween double feature for only $18.00. First up is Jaws at 8:15pm, the classic seaside suspense from Stephen Spielberg, followed by Sharknado, the crap-tastic schlock-horror from some guy you never heard of.

If this double feature sounds like you (and we think it does), grab a bunch of mates and rock on down to the Academy on the 31st. Or you can book tickets right now.

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2013’s 24 Hour Movie Marathon Announced

Penetrating the veil of secrecy which precedes and follows each year’s 24 Hour Movie Marathon may be highly hazardous to your health, but at least we have one scant piece of information – the annual event is taking place in late November. As their Facebook page announced yesterday:  “The date for the 14th Annual 24 Hour Movie Marathon is Sat Nov 30th at the Hollywood Cinema Auckland. If you could choose just one 80s horror movie to see on the big screen – what would it be?”

We like everything about this statement. Start stocking up on advance sleep. Pronto.