In Noah Baumbach and Jake Paltrow’s disarmingly forthright documentary, De Palma, its subject talks about the highs and lows of his career. In that one man and his camera documentary, there is one sentence that perfectly encapsulates how modest a man Brian De Palma is. He along with other directors do […]
Movies & Documentaries
Varieté (1925) Emil Jannings and trapeze scene that defies a century (Review)
If you type in the term “Unchained camera” into the Wikipedia search bar, you’ll come across a very brief article where it hints that F. W. Murnau, one of the finest directors to come out of the German expressionist film movement, was the creator of an innovation called the “Unchained […]
Someday My Prince Will Come (2005) / Philip and His Seven Wives (2006): Two Films by Marc Isaacs
This welcome Second Run DVD release comprises two early films from the excellent British documentary filmmaker Marc Isaacs entitled Someday My Prince Will Come (2005) and Philip and His Seven Wives (2006). On the first inspection, they could be considered strange bedfellows with very little shared between each film other […]
Bring Me the Head of Alfredo Garcia (1974) Sam Peckinpah’s favourite film he directed, us? not so much (Review)
Acclaim and success are very different beasts when considering the director, sometimes neither matter and the films they made that chimed with them the most have been overlooked or lost in the shuffle. While he has gone down in cinematic legend with the Wild Bunch and Straw Dogs, it was […]
The Glass Shield (1994) underneath the popcorn-movie surface is a nuanced, astute neo-noir (Review)
African-American cinema’s relationship to the American mainstream is kind of like Halley’s comet; it’s always there, it’s just not always visible. Charles Burnett’s career has lasted long enough to intersect with two major movements in black cinema; he may yet connect with the ongoing one. After all, a lot of the […]
The Cabinet of Dr Caligari (1920) the first horror film ever that truly chills (Review)
The film with the wonky sets? Yes, the film with the wonky sets – but Robert Wiene’s silent horror landmark has so much more to offer, and that’s never been as apparent as it will be when you watch Eureka Masters of Cinema’s new loaded-up Blu-Ray. As well as a […]
His Girl Friday (1940) One of the finest comedies ever directed (Review)
As Howard Hawk’s His Girl Friday opens, we are graced with a silent film style inter-title that announces that the following takes place in a world where Journalists have become an unscrupulous kind who care little of the people around them. What now reads as on-the-nose satire, back in 1934 […]
Call of Heroes (2016) Historical Martial Arts romp with a dark edge (review)
Hong Kong Legends was a beacon for fans of martial arts cinema, even though they focused on Golden Harvest and overlooked the Shaw Brothers, their early DVD exploits provided ample chance for us fans to see films that we wouldn’t have otherwise. With their unfortunate demise, Cine Asia rose to […]
The Man Between (1953) A tense prototype for the behind enemy lines political thriller (Review)
The cooperative forces of the internet and a golden age of home video have put the idea of filmmakers known for one film to bed. Carol Reed was one such director. He was celebrated for the Third Man but with the strength of the Blu-ray market, the likes of Fallen […]
The Emigrants (1971) / The New Land (1972) (Review)
In its native America, the Criterion Collection earned its reputation for desirable, extras-packed editions of arthouse classics over whole decades, disc by disc. When it expanded to Region 2 in April this year, it wasn’t an unknown quantity – cinephiles with region-free players had been spreading the word for years. […]