Russian cinema is certainly one for its figureheads. Sergei Eisenstein was instrumental in many theories that would go on to establish the cinematic language. Andrei Tarkovsky established and nigh on perfected the arthouse. And since his passing there wasn’t really much of a centrepiece for Russian cinema, as such, it […]
Rob Simpson
Chief Editor
Host of the Uncut Network. With a love of movies kicked off by Hong Kong Action and Claymation Monsters, Rob has forever been cradled in the bosom of Cinema. Rob has his hands in many a pie, including no budget film making. Filthy
The Grifters (1990) Punk-ish Neo-Noir that kick-started one of the best eras of crime cinema (Review)
101 films co-produced a new making-of documentary for Stephen Frears’ The Grifters. In which, a producer states that Martin Scorsese believed Jim Thompson’s novel of the same name was among the best crime novels that hadn’t been adapted and so sought to amend that fact. With the legendary Taxi Driver […]
Youth (2017) Part political treatise, part dance movie, and part horror of War movie (Review)
Back to 1942 is one of the bleakest movies of recent years, Feng Xiaogang directed a horrifying presentation on the human cost of war. The 2012 movie showed an invading army turning their weapons on civilians, people selling their children just so said offspring can eat and enough self-sacrifice to […]
Cure (1997) Modern Horror Masterpiece about Evil’s absolute power to indoctrinate
In 1999, Hideo Nakata’s gloomy horror masterwork, Ring, popularised a wave of horror films from Japan that took the world by storm under the banner of J-Horror. J-Horror, like any genre or movement, has its line-up of standards and tropes, with the harsh digital look of muted Green, Grey and […]
ReBorn (2016) Tak Sakaguchi’s return is a case of mixed blessings (Review)
Tak Sakaguchi retiring was a bit of a running joke once upon a time, with news reports flipping sides on a near-daily basis. “Today he isn’t retiring, tomorrow he is”. Unfortunately, the ‘speed master’, friend of Sion Sono, and surprisingly good actor within the martial arts community faded from our […]
The Gate (1987) One of the finest gateway movies into horror fandom (Review)
Laika films have a remarkable position in modern cinema, not only are they keeping the wonder of stop-motion animation alive for the next generation, but they are also a flag bearer for gateway horror. Between Paranorman, Coraline, and, to a lesser extent, the Boxtrolls, they are providing that same generation […]
The Final Master (2015) Lost between martial arts classics and Hollywood fuzz (Review)
In interviews, Jackie Chan has admitted again and again that he prefers working in Hong Kong over America. He has stated that in his native Hong Kong the camera is an observer in any action scene, watching the events take place, allowing the performers to ply their artistry. It’s a […]
Sword of Doom (1966) one of the highest watermarks in Samurai cinema (Review)
The title of any given movie is supremely important, as many adage’s state first impressions matter and for any film that title is where we make that impression. Looking at the UK catalogue of Criterion, we can separate a movie title into two camps – we have the abstract, like […]
A Touch of Sin (2013) few filmmakers have their finger on the pulse of the developing Chinese identity like Jia Zhangke (Review)
For the longest of times, the idea of Chinese film didn’t really stretch past the borders of Hong Kong and its legendary action cinema. It’s only been in recent years that mainland China has found its way onto the global market, for a country with such a complex modern political […]
Phenomena (1985) Dario Argento side steps the Giallo to bring the wildest and most fun horror of his career (Review)
Whether or not he was the best director remains to be seen, when the topic of the Giallo comes up one of the first names to come up is Dario Argento. Even if his career took a near-legendary nosedive in the early 1990s, his peak stands among the best runs […]