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Inspired by the classic cult film How to Get Ahead in Advertising, that episode of The Office where Dwight kills Angela’s cat, and several skits their employees once wrote at summer camp, Jar Audio is at long last putting their considerable creative mojo where their mouth is… or maybe not exactly where their mouth is, because who knows where their mouth has been… but you get the picture.

The Vancouver-based branded podcasting company, started by former CBC journalist Jen Moss and Advertising veteran Roger Nairn is announcing the June 8th launch of How to Get Ahead in Podcasting, supposedly a “tell-all” about the branded podcast industry. In fact, the show is part audio advice column and part sketch comedy.

Chief Creative Officer Jen Moss says, “it will fill your head with all kinds of nonsense that you should probably ignore. Think of it as the first Canadian mockumentary about...

The movies have a long history of “How to” films including How to Murder Your Wife, How to Steal a Million, How to Lose a Guy in 10 Days, How to Marry a Millionaire, How to Stuff a Wild Bikini, How to Get Ahead in Advertising, How to Kill Your Neighbor’s Dog, even How to Train Your Dragon. But the riveting new eco-thriller How to Blow Up a Pipeline takes it to new levels of how-to consciousness with a literal approach to its title and the source material on which it is based, that being Andreas Malm’s radical manifesto of the same name.

The author of that book does not go into exact detail on exactly how you could go about blowing up a pipeline, but instead lays out the urgent necessity to do just that act of property destruction, offering up the belief that this good deed...

In “Palm Beach,” a Murderer’s Row of vintage yet durably sparkling Australian acting talent, combined with recent Oscar nominee Richard E. Grant, makes for a bright and eventful weekend in the sun at the eponymous northern Sydney enclave. The second feature-length directorial credit from actress-turned-director Rachel Ward following the resonant and well-received 2009 drama “Beautiful Kate,” this breezy yet sturdy dramatic comedy is aimed squarely at a mature demographic that will join the party both Down Under — where the film kicked off the Sydney Film Festival ahead of its Aug. 8 domestic rollout — and abroad, where older audiences are also sure to stargaze.

On the occasion of his 73rd birthday, long-marrieds Frank (Bryan Brown) and Charlotte (Greta Scacchi) are entertaining family and friends at their spectacularly airy, low-slung home perched above the stunning natural beauty of the ritzy Sydney peninsula Palm Beach. Joining them are longtime couples Leo (Sam Neill) and...

Germany's Oldenburg Film Festival will honor British cult director Bruce Robinson (Withnail & I) with a retrospective of his work.

Oldenburg will screen eight films featuring Robinson, from his early work as an actor in features such as Franco Zeffirelli's Romeo and Juliet (1968) and Francois Truffaut's The Story of Adele H (1975); to Roland Joffe's The Killing Fields (1984), for which Robinson penned the Oscar-nominated screenplay; to his four features as a director: Withnail & I (1987), How To Get Ahead in Advertising (1989), Jennifer 8 (1992) and The Rum Diary (2011).

Despite his Oscar nomination for The Killing ...

Germany's Oldenburg Film Festival will honor British cult director Bruce Robinson (Withnail & I) with a retrospective of his work.

Oldenburg will screen eight films featuring Robinson, from his early work as an actor in features such as Franco Zeffirelli's Romeo and Juliet (1968) and Francois Truffaut's The Story of Adele H (1975); to Roland Joffe's The Killing Fields (1984), for which Robinson penned the Oscar-nominated screenplay; to his four features as a director: Withnail & I (1987), How To Get Ahead in Advertising (1989), Jennifer 8 (1992) and The Rum Diary (2011).

Despite his Oscar nomination for The Killing ...

In the American version of “The Office,” Paul Lieberstein played Toby Flenderson, the world’s least competent Hr director, so ineffectual he actually wound up bearing the brunt of his colleagues’ workplace harassment. Like a human Eeyore, or the sad-sack equivalent of a giant shrug, the actor made for an amusing contribution to a well-rounded ensemble, although it’s hard to imagine Lieberstein carrying his own movie. Sure enough, even when serving as writer-director, as he does in “Song of Back and Neck,” the guy frequently seems like the least interesting character on-screen (there are entire scenes where he literally just lies there while funnier actors steal the show).

If this were Tom Cruise we were talking about, that would be a crippling flaw, but Lieberstein designs his eccentric little debut along the lines of “Being John Malkovich,” in which John Cusack and Cameron Diaz had their star power stripped...

With a seemingly endless amount of streaming options — not only the titles at our disposal, but services themselves — we’ve taken it upon ourselves to highlight the titles that have recently hit platforms. Every week, one will be able to see the cream of the crop (or perhaps some simply interesting picks) of streaming titles (new and old) across platforms such as Netflix, iTunes, Amazon, and more (note: U.S. only). Check out our rundown for this week’s selections below.

Berlin Syndrome (Cate Shortland)

While the recent 10 Cloverfield Lane and Room told stories of captivity with various hooks — science-fiction and the process of healing, respectively — Cate Shortland’s approach in her latest, harrowing drama Berlin Syndrome makes room for more nuance and depth. Locked in a Berlin apartment, there is little hope for our protagonist for nearly the entire runtime. And while some of the story’s turns can feel overtly manipulative,...

Each month, the fine folks at FilmStruck and the Criterion Collection spend countless hours crafting their channels to highlight the many different types of films that they have in their streaming library. This August will feature an exciting assortment of films, as noted below.

To sign up for a free two-week trial here.

Tuesday, August 1

Tuesday’s Short + Feature: These Boots and Mystery Train

Music is at the heart of this program, which pairs a zany music video by Finnish master Aki Kaurismäki with a tune-filled career highlight from American independent-film pioneer Jim Jarmusch. In the 1993 These Boots, Kaurismäki’s band of pompadoured “Finnish Elvis” rockers, the Leningrad Cowboys, cover a Nancy Sinatra classic in their signature deadpan style. It’s the perfect prelude to Jarmusch’s 1989 Mystery Train, a homage to the King of Rock ‘n’ Roll and the musical legacy of Memphis, featuring appearances by Screamin’ Jay Hawkins and Joe Strummer.

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Need a good laugh, but only got an hour and a half? Might we recommend this little lot...

I’m of the firm belief that films work most effectively when their runtime is 90 minutes or less. It forces an economy of story and dialogue which propels the film into its best self. No bloated middle, extended ending, or wasted stories here. This goes double for comedies. They should never outstay their welcome. But they seem to be getting longer, as we recently pointed out here.

So to refresh your movie comedy palette, here are 25 films that are 90 minutes or under. I’ve tried to avoid the more obvious ones, and shine a light on those comedies which might have gone a bit unappreciated over the years, but are well worth a hour and a half of your time. This lean runtime isn’t a guarantee of greatness of course,...

Stars: Richard E. Grant, Paul McGann, Richard Griffiths, Ralph Brown, Michael Elphick | Written and Directed by Bruce Robinson

I have a list of films inside my head that are ones that I haven’t seen yet, and each time I watch one of them I can tick them off. Some of these sit there for years but deserve to be seen, and some I consider as a crime against my geekhood that I’ve not seen them yet. One these is Withnail and I but the good news is that now that Arrow Video have released their limited edition of the film I’ve finally managed to see it, and it has become one of my favourite films.

Seen as a cult favourite popular with students, it tells the tale of Withnail (Richard E. Grant) and Marwood (the “and I” of the title, portrayed by Paul McGann). Two unemployed actors...

Former British prime minister Margaret Thatcher, who died Monday at 87, had a much greater impact on the world of film than just inspiring an Oscar-winning role for Meryl Streep in 2011's "The Iron Lady." The woman who led Great Britain from 1979 to 1990 cast a long shadow over filmmaking in her country during her time in office, inspiring much reaction (pro and con) among filmmakers, inspiring some classic movies, and unwittingly giving major career boosts to some of our era's greatest movie talents. The conventional wisdom about Thatcher's impact on pop culture was that performing artists, being a lefty, proletarian bunch, hated her with a passion. Certainly the British musicians of the '80s, from Billy Bragg to Pink Floyd, composed numerous bitter protest anthems condemning her as a war-mongering tyrant who was strangling the working class. But the movies British filmmakers created during her three terms in office were a lot more ambivalent,...

We return with the latest edition of the Indie Spotlight, highlighting recent independent horror news sent our way. Today’s feature includes details on a new comic series from Titan Comics, a trailer for Wesley Snipes’ Gallowwalkers, and more:

Gallowwalkers Trailer: “A mysterious gunman, Aman (Snipes), is the son of a nun who breaks her covenant with God to ensure his survival. This act brings a curse upon Aman – all those that die by his gun will return. Soon, he is hunted by a gang of his undead former victims, led by the vicious Kansa. Aman enlists Fabulos, a new young warrior, to fight by his side.”

Gallowwalkers was directed by Andrew Goth and stars Wesley Snipes, Tanit Phoenix, Riley Smith, Kevin Howarth, and Patrick Bergin. The movie has been finished for over five years, but Vmi Worldwide recently picked up sales rights to the movie and we should see...

Oh, Steven Moffat, you magnificent bastard. The return of a villain before it and The Doctor have ever met, a reunion with a character The Doctor’s never actually met, the team-up of three characters, one of whom died in the far future, and a couple of surprise guests. A nice little Christmas present, and what’s Christmas without…

The Snowmen

By Steven Moffat

Directed by Saul Metzstein

A young boy is met by a talking snowman, one who promises he can help him. Fifty years later, and Dr. Walter Simeon has become quite a successful man, head of a prestigious institute, and still working with the sentient snowstorm to prepare for a coming assault on the earth. Madame Vastra and Jenny are curious as to Dr. Simeon’s plans, but get nowhere. Meanwhile, a young barmaid named Clara has noticed a snowman pop up out of nowhere, and though...

The prequel and trailer for the Doctor Who Christmas Special has just been posted via the BBC, hot off its appearance on the Children In Need annual appeal.

As reported earlier in the week, the BBC continues its tradition of presenting an exclusive clip for the charity’s annual telethon. The clips have varied from trailers, exclusive scenes, and special greetings from the cast.

This year’s trailer offers a few tidbits both new and confirmed, including the name of the new Companion (Clara, as was rumored), a look at this year’s holiday-themed monster (snowmen, tho not apparently the Abominable variety so many of us were hoping for) and a peek at returning aliens Strax the Sontaran nurse (Dan Starkey) and sword-wielding reptilian lesbian Vastra (Neve McIntosh), and the presumptive baddie, played by Richard E. Grant (Hudson Hawk, How to Get Ahead In Advertising).

Click here to view the embedded video.

Director: Bruce Robinson Writers: Bruce Robinson, Hunter S. Thompson (novel) Starring: Johnny Depp, Aaron Eckhart, Michael Rispoli, Amber Heard, Richard Jenkins, Giovanni Ribisi Hunter S. Thompson was a mere 22-years old when, in 1961, he penned the novel The Rum Diary. His second novel -- preceded only by the yet-to-be-published Prince Jellyfish -- The Rum Diary was not published until 1998 (by no small coincidence, that is the same year Terry Gilliam's Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas was released). To be perfectly honest, I have never read The Rum Diary and I suspect that could be because somewhere deep down in my subconscious, pre-lsd and/or pre-Gonzo Thompson is...well...not very appealing to me... Not very appealing to me... That pretty much sums up my thoughts when I heard that Bruce Robinson was attached to write and direct The Rum Diary. I am still not quite sure how Withnail...

"Johnny Depp's quasi-filial bromance with Hunter S Thompson has now extended well beyond the celebrated gonzo journalist's death," writes Salon's Andrew O'Hehir, "with consequences that are a lot like the relationship itself: Strange, endearing and a little bit embarrassing. Depp personally financed and supervised the firing of Thompson's earthly remains out of a cannon at the writer's 2005 funeral, an event captured in Alex Gibney's documentary Gonzo: The Life and Work of Dr Hunter S Thompson (narrated, of course, by Johnny Depp). Having played Thompson's most famous alter ego, Raoul Duke, in Terry Gilliam's psychotronic 1998 version of Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas — a flawed film, but very much worth a second look in its recent Criterion release — Depp now returns to the Thompson well of booze and acid for a second dip."

"To get to the heart of the mess that is The Rum Diary," writes Gustavo Turner in the La Weekly,...

The Withnail director is returning to the movies with Johnny Depp. But first there's a meal with Euan Ferguson to negotiate, oysters to eat, red wine to drink and waitresses to charm

I am apologising, as we take our first seats behind a big slab of a secret wooden door that must outweigh the All Black front row. It is a truly magic door, like something invented by Roald Dahl, just for children who drink – and lets us slip into a cool, smart hideaway in Soho; and I'm apologising to Bruce Robinson for not being one of this mag's usual stock of clever cheekboned women over-infused with vivre, panache, esprit and other words unacquaintanced in English.

But, then again, so is every female inside Mark Hix's establishment – not necessarily in words, but certainly with eyes and body language. It is astonishing how some people – this man is now 65 – still, somehow,...

New TV spots for The Rum Diary, starring Johnny Depp, Amber Heard, Aaron Eckhart, Giovanni Ribisi and Richard Jenkins. After seeing these new spots, I'm super-keen to catch the FilmDistrict adventure drama helmed by Bruce Robinson, who scripts from the novel by Hunter S. Thompson. It's been so long since Robinson took the wheel, almost twenty years actually. His last time at the helm was 1992's Jennifer Eight, starring Andy Garcia, Uma Thurman, Lance Henriksen and John Malkovich. Prior to that, Robinson directed How to Get Ahead in Advertising with Richard E. Grant and Rachel Ward starring.

New TV spots for The Rum Diary, starring Johnny Depp, Amber Heard, Aaron Eckhart, Giovanni Ribisi and Richard Jenkins. After seeing these new spots, I'm super-keen to catch the FilmDistrict adventure drama helmed by Bruce Robinson, who scripts from the novel by Hunter S. Thompson. It's been so long since Robinson took the wheel, almost twenty years actually. His last time at the helm was 1992's Jennifer Eight, starring Andy Garcia, Uma Thurman, Lance Henriksen and John Malkovich. Prior to that, Robinson directed How to Get Ahead in Advertising with Richard E. Grant and Rachel Ward starring.

In 2009, after spending several years in development hell, a film based upon the early Hunter S. Thomson novel The Rum Diary (a book not published until the late '90s) went before cameras with Bruce Robinson (Withnail & I, How to Get Ahead in Advertising) directing from his own script, and Johnny Depp, Amber Heard, Aaron Eckhart and Richard Jenkins starring. The movie took months to film, and then many more months to secure distribution. It was only in February of this year that FilmDistrict stepped in to release the movie. The trailer [1] -- a lively, sometimes frantic, and fairly entertaining collection of footage -- dropped not long ago. Now check out a poster for the film in which Johnny Depp essentially reprises his role as Thompson. The Rum Diary arrives on October 28, as the poster proclaims. [2] Tiring of the noise and madness of New York and the crushing conventions of late Eisenhower-era America,...

Bruce Robinson is bringing Hunter S Thompson's The Rum Diary to the big screen, with the help of Johnny Depp. Here's the poster to prove it...

For his next movie, Johnny Depp is heading back to ground he previously trod in Fear And Loathing In Las Vegas, the Terry Gilliam film in which he portrayed author Hunter S Thompson.

With The Rum Diary, Depp is now appearing in a film based on a Thompson book, and what’s particularly interesting about this one is the man who’s directing.

That man is Bruce Robinson, who brought us Withnail And I and How To Get Ahead In Advertising. It’s Robinson’s first directorial effort since Jennifer 8, way back in 1992, and The Rum Diary was actually shot back in 2009.

The movie co-stars Aaron Eckhart and Richard Jenkins, and is arriving in Us cinemas next month. With that in mind, here...

If you're tired of seeing Johnny Depp sell his soul for virtually every Disney blockbuster in development nowadays, you just might be interested in the very first trailer for The Rum Diary, which finds him returning to '90s territory to star in another Hunter S. Thompson adaptation. The Rum Diary was known for many years as Thompson's "long lost" novel until it was finally published in 1998. It is another pseudo-autobiographical tale of sex, booze and violence about a journalist who moves from New York to Puerto Rico to write for a run-down newspaper. Although technically this is a different character, Depp is clearly reprising his manic role from Terry Gilliam's Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas, which is a lot of fun to watch. While this might not be another instant classic without someone like Gilliam at the helm, Bruce Robinson previously directed Withnail & I and How to Get Ahead in Advertising...

Check out the new trailer for Johnny Depp’s The Rum Diary, due in theaters October 28.

Johnny Depp is a machine, an unnaturally youthful and nearly infallible creative machine. The Rum Diary is his newest starring vehicle, a long time gestated, adapted from Hunter S. Thompson’s book of the same name. From the trailer, the film looks fun and features a respectable cast including Amber Heard, Aaron Eckhart, Giovanni Ribisi and Richard Jenkins.

As if the cast wasn’t enough to justify seeing The Rum Diary, the film was written and directed by Bruce Robinson… wait, what? Ok, I didn’t just hear you say “the guy who made Jennifer 8,” because (while that’s a modestly decent film) the man was a cultural filmmaking icon of the ’80s! For those of you unfamiliar with his early work, go out this weekend and track down Withnail & I (1987) and How To Get Ahead In Advertising...

We've been waiting quite some time to see anything besides still photos from The Rum Diary, in which Johnny Depp stars as Paul Kemp, essentially a stand-in for Hunter S. Thompson as seen in Thompson's early novel The Rum Diary. The film went into development quite some time ago and shot in 2009. It won't hit the festival circuit this fall, but it will hit some theaters in October and you can see a trailer below. In addition to Depp, Richard Jenkins features as Kemp's editor, with whom he has a contentious relationship, and Amber Heard plays Chenault, the partner (more or less) of Sanderson (Aaron Eckhart), both of whom he meets while spending some time in the Caribbean. The great Bruce Robinson (Withnail & I, How to Get Ahead in Advertising) wrote and directed. Check out the trailer below. Yahoo [1] now has the HD version. Tiring of the noise and madness...

Gk Films has released a new photo from their long-awaited Hunter S. Thompson adaptation The Rum Diary , depicting Johnny Depp as journalist Paul Kemp and Amber Heard as Chenault. Directed by Bruce Robinson ( How to Get Ahead in Advertising , Withnail and I ), the film allows Depp to again play a literary alter ego of Dr. Thompson, as he did in 1998's Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas . Though it was Thompson's first novel, The Rum Diary wasn't published until the Terry Gilliam film was released. It tells of the young reporter, Kemp, who travels to San Juan, Puerto Rico to work at a newspaper in the 1950's. The film version also stars Aaron Eckhart, Michael Rispoli, Richard Jenkins, Giovanni Ribisi and Marshall Bell and is planned for a limited release on October 28th.

Putney Swope

Directed by Robert Downey

United States, 1969

Don’t you wish there were more films like Putney Swope? It’s . It’s William Klein meets Melvin van Peebles. It’s satire that’s garnered nods from the likes of Bamboozled, How to Get Ahead in Advertising and Network.

When the executive at a major advertising firm dies unexpectedly the lone black employee, Putney Swope (Arnold Johnson), is accidentally voted into power. Putney wastes no time: he renames the firm “Truth and Soul, Inc”, fires much of the white staff and takes the marketing world by storm with his unique and absurd ads.

It’s easy to write Putney Swope off as another manic brainchild of director Robert Downey Sr., but unlike his earlier, less successful films – Sweet Smell of Sex, Chafed Elbows – this one has real direction. It’s an out-and-out takedown of Madison Ave-style politics, including a complete...

Bruce Robinson’s attempt at a Hollywood thriller, Jennifer Eight, was given a lukewarm reception in 1992. Zoë looks back at one of the writer/director’s less appreciated films...

Bruce Robinson is the director of cult classic, Withnail And I, and the hero of the upraised gems of British cinema and Hollywood. Not the most likely combination in the world. However, it created one of the best thrillers ever to come out of the film factory during the thriller boom of the 1990s.

Jennifer Eight was released in 1992. Starring Andy Garcia and Uma Thurman, it told the story of a serial killer who specialised in blind victims. Written and directed by Bruce Robinson, it was his attempt at commercial cinema, but was it to be a cinematic revolution?

Jennifer Eight is set in the small town of Eureka. Eureka was a quiet and extremely rainy little town until John Berlin arrived.

Says The Film Has "De-Innoculated" Him From Directorial Retirement Apparently, Bruce Robinson not only gave up his filmmaking retirement to tackle an adaptation of Hunter S. Thompson's "The Rum Diary" at Johnny Depp's request, he also gave up his sobriety. The British writer-director of such films as "Withnail & I" and "How To Get Ahead In Advertising" had all but given up on filmmaking before Depp--fulfilling a promise he had made to the legendary Thompson while alive--approached him with the project, based on the Thompson's own experiences as a young journalist in Puerto Rico in 1960. Once everything had come…...

Bruce Robinson’s follow-up to Withnail And I was the less acclaimed How To Get Ahead In Advertising. Zoe looks back at an underappreciated British comedy...

What do you get if you mix Richard E Grant with two heads, madness, paranoia, anti-commercialism and a lot of swearing? A Bruce Robinson film, of course.

Introducing How To Get Ahead In Advertising, then. No doubt you've heard of the cult classic, Withnail And I, the story of two actors who go on holiday by mistake. A flop when first released, the film gained cult status after being rediscovered on video many years later. And now with the recent DVD release of this 80s classic, I think it is about time How To Get Ahead In Advertising got the praise it deserves.

The plot is very simple. Advertising executive, Denis Bagley, played by Richard E Grant, is finding it difficult to create an advertising campaign for boils.

Your Weekly Source for Blu-Ray and DVD Release News Blu-Ray for Tuesday, Jan. 11, 2011

David Fincher’s Best Picture contender The Social Network hits store shelves today. Two modern classics — Kevin Costner’s western Dances With Wolves and Martin Scorsese’s Raging Bull, adapted from Jake La Matta’s memoir — receive special anniversary special editions. Criterion Collection releases two classic films on Blu-Ray: John-Pierre Melville’s Army Of Shadows — a WWII story about the French Resistance, set in 1942 and thick with realism — and Byron Haskin’s Robinson Crusoe On Mars — a fascinating sci-fi story about an astronaut stranded on Mars with only a monkey as his companion, he must find someway to survive with limited water and oxygen.

Army Of Shadows: Criterion Collection (1969) Dances With Wolves: 20th Anniversary Edition (1990) Endless Summer (1966) The Great Debaters (2007) Once Upon A Time In America (1984) Piranha (1978) Raging Bull: 30th Anniversary Edition (1980) Rob Roy...

Late Beatle George Harrison may no longer be with us, but his film production work lives on thanks to indie home entertainment giant, Image. The company has announced the acquisition of Harrison's Handmade Films library, a collection of titles produced by the rock icon which showcases a wide range of movies covering multiple genres. The DVD/Blu-ray and electronic debuts are set for undisclosed times. The label's first theatrical release is the seminal Terry Gilliam flick, Time Bandits, which was one of several of Handmade's titles under threat of a remake several years ago, but nothing has come of it to date.

The fantasy adventure tale about a young boy who befriends a group of time-traveling dwarves isn't the only hit to Harrison's credit. "The Handmade library contains some of the greatest and most influential films of the past thirty years," said Ted Green, chairman and CEO of Image. "Their...

Chatsworth-based home entertainment distributor Image Entertainment has licensed the 30-plus-title Handmade Films library, which includes such movies as "Time Bandits," "The Long Good Friday" and "Mona Lisa."

Handmade was created in 1978 by former Beatle George Harrison and producer Denis O'Brien. The label's first theatrical release was Terry Gilliam's 1981 "Time Bandits." Other titles include "Withnail and I," "How To Get Ahead In Advertising," "A Private Function” and “Water."

"The Handmade Films library contains some of the greatest and most influential films of the past thirty years. We look forward to making these classics available for the first time on Blu-ray and digital download for a new generation of fans," Image chairman and CEO Ted Green said.