Billboard 31: releases of the week

Life's a Breeze

Life's A Breeze tells the story of a family as they search for a lost fortune around the streets of Dublin.

Saving Mr. Banks

When Walt Disney's daughters begged him to make a movie of their favorite book, PL. Travers' "Mary Poppins," he made them a promise - one that he didn't realize would take 20 years to keep. In his quest to obtain the rights, Walt comes up against a curmudgeonly, uncompromising writer who has absolutely no intention of letting her beloved magical nanny get mauled by the Hollywood machine. But, as the books stop selling and money grows short, Travers reluctantly agrees to go to Los Angeles to hear Disney's plans for the adaptation. For those two short weeks in 1961, Walt Disney pulls out all the stops. Armed with imaginative storyboards and chirpy songs from the talented Sherman brothers, Walt launches an all-out onslaught on P.L. Travers, but the prickly author doesn't budge. He soon begins to watch helplessly as Travers becomes increasingly immovable and the rights begin to move further away from his grasp. It is only when he reaches into his own childhood that Walt discovers the... Written by Walt Disney Pictures.

Day of the Flowers

Two young, strong-willed Scottish sisters, one a left-wing activist, the other a most-popular-girl-in-school type, take their late father's ashes to Cuba, the site of many family legends of his services to the REvolution. Arriving in Havana, the two women promptly lose the ashes and go through a series of misadventrues - both romantic and dangerous - to try to retrieve them. A colourful and wryly humourous tale of cross-cultural misunderstandings and lost illusions.

Gasland Part II

A documentary that declares the gas industry's portrayal of natural gas as a clean and safe alternative to oil is a myth, and that fracked wells inevitably leak over time, contaminating water and air, hurting families, and endangering the earth's climate with the potent greenhouse gas methane.

Dirty Wars

Dirty Wars follows investigative reporter Jeremy Scahill, author of the international bestseller Blackwater, into the hidden world of America's covert wars, from Afghanistan to Yemen, Somalia, and beyond. With a strong cinematic style, the film blurs the boundaries of documentary and fiction storytelling. Part action film and part detective story, Dirty Wars is a gripping journey into one of the most important and underreported stories of our time. What begins as a report on a deadly U.S. night raid in a remote corner of Afghanistan quickly turns into a global investigation of the secretive and powerful Joint Special Operations Command (JSOC). As Scahill digs deeper into the activities of JSOC, he is pulled into a world of covert operations unknown to the public and carried out across the globe by men who do not exist on paper and will never appear before Congress. In military jargon, JSOC teams "find, fix, and finish" their targets, who are selected through a secret process. No target is off limits for the "kill list," including U.S. citizens.

Style: Paul Newan, the icon of the week

Paul Newman was an American actor and film director well known for films such as Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid. He won numerous awards, including an Academy Award for best actor for his performance in the 1986 Martin Scorsese film The Color of Money.

But Newman wasn't good just acting. Paul Newman was an auto racing enthusiast and he also won several national championships as a driver in Sports Car Club of America road racing. 

It's his racing car style the one we like the most. We believe that someone has a great style if that person is able to show it in all kind of situations. Loving sports and showing so much style while practicing them, is something remarkable!

The italian shoes from De Tommaso brand remind us of Paul Newman driving cars. 

And we believe it matches perfectly with the Non Elasticated Webbing 004 belt from Hardy & Parsons.

Movember

November is a month full of social events. Halloween, Guy Fawkes... Now it's time to speak about Movember, an annual, month-long event involving the growing of moustaches during the month of November to raise awareness of men's health issues. 

The Movember Foundation (one of the top 100 NGOs) in the world runs the Movember charity event, housed at www.movember.com. The goal of Movember is to "change the face of men's health."

Below you can see a hilarious video, starring the American actor, writer, and carpenter Nick Offerman, who teaches us how to grow a mustache properly. 

For our part, we'd like to support this charity event by remembering some of the most amusing and curious mustaches. 

By the way, do you know what Beardecember means? It's the sequel to 'Movember' that already exists: grow a beard in december.

Billboard 30: releases of the week

Parkland

Parkland is the true story behind a tragic day in history you thought you knew, but didn't, and couldn't, until now... 50 years later.November 22nd, 1963 was a day that changed the world forever when young American President John F. Kennedy was assassinated in Dallas, Texas. We follow in almost real time a handful of individuals forced to make split-second decisions after this incomprehensible event that would change their lives and forever alter our worlds landscape: the young doctors and nurses at Parkland Hospital, the chief of the Dallas Secret Service, the unwitting cameraman who captured what has become the most watched and examined film in history, the FBI Agents who had gunman Lee Harvey Oswald within their grasp and Vice President Lyndon Johnson who had to take control of a country in a moments notice. Thrust into a scenario of unprecedented drama with unimaginable consequences, these key characters respond with shock, outrage, determination and courage. Woven together, their seemingly disparate perspectives make one of the most thrilling and powerful stories never told.

The Family

The Manzoni family, a notorious mafia clan, is relocated to Normandy, France under the witness protection program, where fitting in soon becomes challenging as their old habits die hard.

The Hunger Games: Catching Fire

Katniss Everdeen has returned home safe after winning the 74th Annual Hunger Games along with fellow tribute Peeta Mellark. Winning means that they must turn around and leave their family and close friends, embarking on a "Victor's Tour" of the districts. Along the way Katniss senses that a rebellion is simmering, but the Capitol is still very much in control as President Snow prepares the 75th Annual Hunger Games (The Quarter Quell) - a competition that could change Panem forever. Written by Bianca Capetillo.

Blue is the Warmest Colour

The story of a young lesbian couple's beginning, middle and possible end.

Billboard 29: releases of the week

Don Hemingway

After spending 12 years in prison for keeping his mouth shut, notorious safe-cracker Dom Hemingway is back on the streets of London looking to collect what he's owed.

Don Jon

Jon Martello objectifies everything in his life: his apartment, his car, his family, his church, and, of course, women. His buddies even call him Don Jon because of his ability to pull "10s" every weekend without fail. Yet even the finest flings don't compare to the transcendent bliss he achieves alone in front of the computer watching pornography. Dissatisfied, he embarks on a journey to find a more gratifying sex life, but ends up learning larger lessons of life and love through relationships with two very different women.

Pandora's Promise

A feature-length documentary about the history and future of nuclear power. The film explores how and why mankind's most feared and controversial technological discovery is now passionately embraced by many of those who once led the charge against it. Operating as history, cultural meditation and contemporary exploration,Pandora's Promise aims to inspire a serious and realistic debate over what is without question the most important question of our time: how do we continue to power modern civilization without destroying it.

The Butler

Cecil Gaines was a sharecropper's son who grew up in the 1920s as a domestic servant for the white family who casually destroyed his. Eventually striking out on his own, Cecil becomes a valet of such efficiency and discreteness in the 1950s that he becomes a butler in the White House itself. There, Cecil would serve numerous US Presidents over the decades as a passive witness of history with the American Civil Movement gaining momentum even as his family has troubles of its own. As his wife, Gloria, struggles with her addictions and his defiant eldest son, Louis, strives for a just world, Cecil must decide whether he should take action in his own way.

The Counsellor

A lawyer finds himself in over his head when he gets involved in drug trafficking.

Collaboration 3: Hardy&Parsons + Country Attire

Do you remember when we talked about the collaboration between Hardy&Parsons and Stuarts London? And what about the collaboration between Hardy&Parsons and Fur Feather & Fin? Now we'd like to present you a new collaboration. This time it's Country Attire the online website where you can find Hardy&Parsons' belts. 

Country Attire offers the essence of the British attitude to style, to customers around the globe. The luxury and quality of their product range is matched by the very best of British service – attentive, thoughtful, befitting of their discerning customers. 

The belts you can find on this online store are the following: Elasticated Webbing 003, 006 and 007. 

We hope you link this online store as much as we do! 

Style: Steve McQueen, the icon of the week

Do you remember the famous The Towering Inferno movie? The main characters were played by Paul Newman (about whom we'll talk next week) and Steve McQueen, the great actor that  in 1974 became the highest-paid movie star in the world. 

We chose him as the style icon of this week, because he always knew how to look great, no matter the outfit he was wearing and the style he was showing. That's why we like him  wearing this suit...

... and we also like him wearing sporting clothes:

To look like Steve McQueen, in this sport style outfit, you can wear a Landi jacket like this one...

... and any Hardy & Parsons bredon belt, like the Elasticated Webbing 007 model:

Billboard 28: releases of the week

Gravity

A medical engineer and an astronaut work together to survive after an accident leaves them adrift in space.

Seduced and Abandoned

Seduced and Abandoned combines acting legend Alec Baldwin with director James Toback as they lead us on a troublesome and often hilarious journey of raising financing for their next feature film. Moving from director to financier to star actor, the two players provide us with a unique look behind the curtain at the world's biggest and most glamorous film festival, shining a light on the bitter-sweet relationship filmmakers have with Cannes and the film business. Featuring insights from directors Martin Scorsese, Bernando Bertolucci and Roman Polanski; actors Ryan Gosling and Jessica Chastain and a host of film distribution luminaries.

Something Ventured

Apple. Intel. Genentech. Atari. Google. Cisco. Stratospheric successes with high stakes all around. Behind some of the world's most revolutionary companies are a handful of men who (through timing, foresight, a keen ability to size up other people, and a lot of luck) saw opportunity where others did not: these are the original venture capitalists. All were backing and building companies before the term 'venture capital' had been coined: companies that led to the birth of biotechnology and the spectacular growth in microprocessors, personal computers and the web. Something Ventured uncovers the ups and downs of the building of some of the greatest companies of the twentieth century, and the hidden dramas behind some of the most famous names in business.

Utopia 

Australia's past is explored by one of its most famous - and outspoken - sons. John Pilger's film tackles his country's racially divided history and how the state, the media and corporations have played a part in a system that is regarded by many as apartheid in all but name. The film examines the exploitation of the Aboriginal population, both as a people and of the land they have lived on for centuries, and how so many institutions have profited while they have suffered.

Style: Clint Eastwood, the icon of the week

Today it is time to speak about Clint Eastwood's style. Clint Eastwood is a well known American film actor, director and producer. He rose to fame for playing spaghetti westerns during the 1960s. These roles, among others, have made him an enduring cultural icon of masculinity.

One of the most famous films where he took place was The Good, The Bad and The Ugly, where he played Blondie, The Good, a subdued, cocksure bounty hunter who teams with Tuco, and Angel Eyes temporarily, to find a buried gold.

We remember Clint Eastwood with the western style that characterized him in that movie:

This hat remind us the Full Grain Buffalo Hide hat of Jacaru, that combined with the Besford belt from Hardy&Parsons, would give us the perfect western look.

And nothing better than the magnificent soundtrack of this film, to imagine ourselves in a western movie.