Smalltime / Where's the Money Ronnie?

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antnield
Joined: Tue Jun 28, 2005 1:59 pm
Location: Cheltenham, England

Smalltime / Where's the Money Ronnie?

#1 Post by antnield » Sat Aug 21, 2010 11:47 am

Shane Meadows double bill - his first 'feature' (only 60 mins in length) and accompanying short as per the old UK VHS release - up for pre-order at MovieMail. Release date is given at 18th October, by which time the folks at MovieMail might want to correct the title of the Where's the Money Ronnie?...
Last edited by antnield on Tue Aug 24, 2010 5:46 am, edited 1 time in total.

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colinr0380
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Location: Chapel-en-le-Frith, Derbyshire, UK

Re: Smalltime / Where's the Money Ronnie?

#2 Post by colinr0380 » Sat Aug 21, 2010 4:06 pm

Brilliant - I can retire my twelve year old recorded-from-Channel 4 cassettes of these two. From my vague memories of last seeing them I seem to remember preferring the pacy black and white Where's The Money, Ronnie? to the longer, colour Smalltime, which felt a little too drawn out and broadly played at moments (mostly when Meadows himself was doing some 'gangster' acting). But the obvious eagerness and excitement that comes across is enough to carry them over some slightly bumpy patches.

I also seem to remember them wearing the Tarantino influence (albeit with a Midlands inflection!) quite strongly too, though these were made a few years before that "Lock, Stock" wave of British gangster films of the late 90s overran the cinema, by which time Meadows had moved on to more interesting territory with films like A Room For Romeo Brass (still my favourite of his films, though Dead Man's Shoes comes a close second). However there are lots of elements that show Meadows' obvious talent, even if I cannot really remember there being any kids in major roles, almost a Meadows motif by now, in them!

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antnield
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Re: Smalltime / Where's the Money Ronnie?

#3 Post by antnield » Tue Aug 24, 2010 5:47 am

Cover art:

Image

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MichaelB
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Re: Smalltime / Where's the Money Ronnie?

#4 Post by MichaelB » Fri Sep 10, 2010 6:49 am

Full specs announced:
Small Time / Where’s the Money Ronnie!
Two films by Shane Meadows


Coinciding with the release of Shane Meadows’ TV debut, This is England ’86, the BFI is making his 1996 debut feature Small Time and the short film Where’s the Money Ronnie? available on DVD for the first time.

British director Shane Meadows’ (This is England, Dead Man’s Shoes) assured and impressive debut feature Small Time is a tale of petty crime in the suburbs of Nottingham. Meadows himself stars as Jumbo, leader of a ragtag band of small time crooks specialising in dog food heists and the sale of Eastern bloc trainers, empty suitcases and non-existent musical instruments.
Featuring energetic handheld camera work, brilliant comic dialogue and a host of ironic film references, Small Time clearly reveals Meadows’ flair for larger-than-life characters and ability to extract accomplished, semi-improvised performances from talented non-professionals.

Also included is Where’s the Money Ronnie!, Shane Meadows’ short film homage to Kurosawa’s Rashomon that explores the aftermath of a robbery. Four suspects recall their version of events in police interviews but what really happened and who has the money?

This release will be on sale with an RRP of just £12.99.

Special features

- Where’s the Money Ronnie! (1996, 12 mins)
- Film notes and credits

Release date: 11 October 2010
RRP: £12.99 / cat. no. BFIVD908 / cert 18
UK / 1996 / colour and black & white / English, optional subtitles for the hearing-impaired / 71 mins / aspect ratio 16:9 / region 0

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MichaelB
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Re: Smalltime / Where's the Money Ronnie?

#5 Post by MichaelB » Mon Oct 04, 2010 5:42 pm

DVD Outsider.

And no, there won't be a Blu-ray!
Meadows' early films were shot on miniscule budgets on low-band digital video, possibly Hi-8 or at a pinch mini-DV, though I strongly suspect the former. The sort of format that we have to make excuses for when transferred to DVD, particularly in the days when 42" has become the new standard TV screen size. But despite some expected resolution limitations, the BFI have done a remarkable job with the transfer here and made the film look not only as good as it probably ever has, but better than some later Meadows films do on disc.

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MichaelB
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Re: Smalltime / Where's the Money Ronnie?

#6 Post by MichaelB » Sun Oct 24, 2010 7:39 am

The Digital Fix (our very own GaryC).

A little addendum to his comment about it being a barebones release without even a booklet (though it has a short essay inside the cover): this is true, but Gary doesn't mention that a side-effect of this is that it's going for a much lower RRP than a typical BFI release. Officially, it's £12.99, but in practice you'll be able to get it for well under a tenner - I've seen it going for £7.99.

The upcoming Silent Scream is in the same category, and more will doubtless follow.

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MichaelB
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Re: Smalltime / Where's the Money Ronnie?

#7 Post by MichaelB » Tue Nov 09, 2010 12:10 pm


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