When Liverpudlian Billy Moore travelled to Thailand in 2005 it was with a making view to a fresh start away from the life of crime that had led him to various prison sentences and a crippling drug addiction. Initially, it seemed to work. By day he secured jobs that ranged from […]
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 St Helens, he is an occasional contributor to Arrow DVD, writing booklet inlay essays on a variety of titles, including Children of Men and The Great Escape. He is a reviewer with IndieMDB and has also written a chapter for Ste Brotherstone and Dave Lawrence's book, Scarred For Life Vol II. Other sites he has written for include We Are Cult, Horrified, and America's left-leaning news outlet ZNetwork. Publications he has written articles for include Stat Magazine and the fanzine Undefined Boundary: The Journal of Psychick Albion. He is also a regular contributor to the Geek Show's podcasts, including Pop Screen and the Uncut series, and he can be found on Letterboxd.
The Comfort of Strangers (1990) High-Art Horror? Erotica Thriller? or Both? (Review)
Paul Schrader’s 1990 film, The Comfort of Strangers, is an adaptation of Ian McEwan’s 1981 novel of the same name and boasts a screenplay by Harold Pinter. It tells the story of an attractive, middle-class British couple named Mary and Colin (Natasha Richardson and Rupert Everett) who have arrived in […]
Last Year at Marienbad (1961) … and the mystery of movie watching (Review)
Alan Resnais’ Last Year at Marienbad is a film that poses many questions and offers very little answers. Having watched it, it seems only fitting therefore that I’m left with a question of my own (well two if you include ‘can I write a review about it without sounding pretentious?’) and […]
Salvador (1986) Fear & Loathing in Central America (Review)
Between 1980 and 1992, El Salvador was ravaged by a civil war between left-wing guerrilla groups and a right-wing military administration supported by the US government of the newly elected president, Ronald Reagan. Fearful that left-wing prominence would ensure the spread of Communism into North America, Reaganite foreign policy sanctioned […]
How to Talk to Girls at Parties (2018) less “Croydon, 1977” and more “Instagram, 1977” (Review)
“Ever get the feeling you’ve been cheated?” Thus said Johnny Rotten in January, 1978 at the conclusion of the Sex Pistols’ one and only US tour. A weary, wounded rhetorical question that served as the condemnation from within of the punk movement. Three days later and the band were no more. […]
The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society (2018) a must for period drama fans, an easy skip for everyone else (Review)
Based on the bestselling 2008 novel by Mary Ann Shaffer and Annie Barrows, The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society stars Lily James as Juliet Ashton, a free-spirited young woman in immediate post-war London who seems to have the world at her feet, thanks to her penning a bestselling book […]
Crowhurst (2017) if you prefer your biopics a little more obscure and experimental (Review)
In October 1968, a weekend sailor and engineer attempted to sail into the history books with one of the last great adventures of the twentieth century and the new Elizabethan age, the race to circumnavigate the globe single-handed and without any stops. That man was Donald Crowhurst and although he […]
Yellow Submarine
It was fifty years ago today… On Sunday 8th July, cinemas up and down the land screened the Beatles animated musical fantasy Yellow Submarine to mark the 50th anniversary of its release in July, 1968. Remastered and restored for the celebration (for the first time since the thirtieth anniversary in 1998) […]
The Loneliness of a Long Distance Runner (1962) one of the greatest endings to a film ever (Review)
Based on Alan Sillitoe’s 1959 first-person short story of the same name, The Loneliness of the Long Distance Runner was an obvious choice for Woodfall Films following the success they had had with a previous adaptation of a Sillitoe novel; Saturday Night and Sunday Morning. It tells the story of […]
Saturday Night and Sunday Morning (1960) Just as relevant 60 years later (Review)
There comes a point in the life of a teenager when you have to leave the books of your childhood behind and venture into the great unknown of adult literature. It’s a big move, as the books and authors you find there could not only become lifelong companions, but they […]