By the late 1940s, it seemed that Charles Laughton, that great Scarborough-born star of the silver screen, was losing interest in acting. Believing his performances in films like The Private Life of Henry VIII (1933), Mutiny on the Bounty (1935), Rembrandt (1936) and The Hunchback of Notre Dame (1939) were […]
Mark Cunliffe
Senior Contributor
Mark's first cinematic experience was watching the Cannon and Ball vehicle, The Boys in Blue. He hasn't looked back since. Hailing from Lancashire, he is an occasional contributor to Arrow DVD, writing booklet inlay essays on a variety of titles, including Children of Men and The Day of the Jackal. He has also written a chapter for Ste Brotherstone and Dave Lawrence's book, Scarred For Life Vol II. He is often found on Letterboxd, has appeared on the Talking Pictures podcast and also writes for We Are Cult, Horrified and America's left-leaning news outlet ZNetwork. He is also a regular contributor to the Geek Show's podcasts, including Pop Screen and the Uncut series.
Before Tonight is Over (1965) “Someone Will Die” (Review)
Released to Second Run Blu-ray this week, Peter Solan’s 1965 film Before Tonight is Over is a real hidden gem waiting to be discovered by all like-minded fans of the Czech New Wave movement. It tells the story of an evening in a nightclub in the Slovak mountain resort of […]
Fast Times at Ridgemont High (1982); So Fast Even Modern Hollywood Hasn’t Caught Up With it Yet (Review)
Released to Criterion Blu-ray this week is the perennial favourite of the American high school teen comedy, 1982’s Fast Times at Ridgemont High. A film of debuts – it was the directorial debut of Amy Heckerling, the scriptwriting debut of Cameron Crowe and inevitably launched the careers of many young […]
Secrets & Lies (1996) The Other Big British Film of 1996 (Review)
Britain in the 1990s. What a time to be alive. We had Britpop, we had the dawn of a new era in terms of New Labour, we had great fashions, we had great art, and we almost, almost, had football coming home. We also had some great movies too. When […]
The Frightened City (1961) Connery on the Cusp (Review)
Released to StudioCanal’s Vintage Classics Collection this week, The Frightened City is a 1961 British noir from Canadian-born director John Lemont about protection rackets in London’s West End. It’s a solid, if fairly unremarkable gangland thriller, one which would perhaps be lost to the mists of time were it not […]
The Ascent (1977) The Greatest Anti-War Film You Haven’t Seen (Review)
Released on Blu-ray this week via the Criterion label comes arguably the best war, or rather anti-war film, you’ve never seen. What’s that at the back? You’ve seen Melville’s Army of Shadows already? Well that’s OK, because I’m not talking about that. I’m talking about Larisa Shepitko’s stunning 1977 Golden […]
The Tin Drum (1979) He Bangs the Drum (Review)
I guess there’s something symbiotic in the fact that, in the month in which Donald Trump’s presidency ends in acrimony, scandalous insurrection and a historic second impeachment, the two reviews I have been asked to write here at The Geek Show have been The Don is Dead and The Tin […]
The Don is Dead (1973) Donsploitation! (Review)
TV. It’s all the same isn’t it? Switch on the gogglebox at any point and you’re basically confronted with the same show in various guises. Singing contests, dancing contests, afternoon quizzes. They’re all the same. It’s like there’s only three original shows out there and everything else that fills up […]
Waxworks (1924): An Iconic Display of German Expressionism (Review)
Released to Blu-ray by the Eureka Masters of Cinema label last month, Waxworks aka Das Wachsfigurenkabinett was the final film that director Paul Leni made in his native Germany, before forging an illustrious career in Hollywood with films such as The Cat and the Canary, The Man Who Laughs and […]
The Times of Harvey Milk (1984): You Can Kill the Man, But You Cannot Kill the Spirit (Review)
Released on Criterion Blu-ray this week is the Oscar-winning The Times of Harvey Milk, filmmaker Roger Epstein’s 1984 documentary about a true, political trailblazer, Harvey Milk. For many people, and certainly those of us on this side of the pond, Harvey Milk only really came to our attention thanks to […]