Horror directors in the 1970s enjoyed expressing themselves through the language of exploitation, fast forward to the 1990s and beyond and a sea change was made towards a more cynical, cheap, production line designed to make as big a profit as possible. The 1980s where an anomaly, unlikely to ever […]
Movies & Documentaries
The Squid and the Whale (2005) one of the most endearing examples of divorce-cinema (Review)
In a director interview, Noah Baumbach says of his newly issued Criterion Collection film, the Squid and the Whale, that he typically finds the writing process laborious but in the scripting of his 2005 film it was a deeply physical experience – exorcising demons that have laid dormant for years. […]
The Blue Lamp (1950) The movie that birthed the influential Dixon of Dock Green (Review)
Whether or not the name is familiar, Dixon of Dock Green is one of the most influential British television shows ever. Without it, the police procedural on both small and big screens would be a very different proposition. But before any of that, it too had its own genesis and […]
Three Wishes For Cinderella (1973) A Christmas Favourite in Mainland Europe for all the right reasons (Review)
Everyone has at least one film they watch each and every year once Christmas is on the horizon. Films like Home Alone, It’s a Wonderful Life and A Christmas Story are enjoyed by billions of people all across the world and will continue to remain popular in the future. However, […]
The Royal Tenenbaums (2001) Wes Anderson at his profoundly sad, moving and redemptive best (Review)
Reputations are a slippery thing, and directors sometimes start their career with one that completely contradicts the one they get later. The French critics who would come to damn Spielberg as the McDonalds of cinema had previously swooned over the existential spareness of Duel. Likewise, after works like O Brother, […]
The Small World of Sammy Lee (1963) A Forgotten Gem of the Wave of British Social Realism (Review)
Do you remember Ken Hughes? No? Let me jog your memory. Ken Hughes is the director behind such British films as The Trials of Oscar Wilde, Cromwell, and easily his most famous work, the children’s film Chitty Chitty Bang Bang. With the odd exceptions like Chitty and Cromwell, chances are […]
I Am Not a Serial Killer (2016) Max Powers stands out in a study of small-town evil (Review)
Based on a 2009 ‘Young Adult’ novel by Dan Wells (the first in a trilogy I believe) I Am Not a Serial Killer is a British/Irish co-production set and shot in the chilly Midwestern state of Minnesota. It is directed by Billy O’Brien and stars the seventeen-year-old Max Records, Laura […]
The Wailing (2016) Skin-Crawling Classical Horror, Korean Style (Review)
Once upon a time horror meant something. It was more of a genre than the series of boxes that need to be ticked to provoke an emotional reaction like it is now. The words “it’s terrible, wasn’t even scary”, have become an epitaph of its downfall. The decline of narrative went […]
The Hired Hand (1971) A Long Lost-Masterpiece from Peter Fonda (Review)
Following the industry-reshaping success of Easy Rider, the film’s three stars Dennis Hopper, Jack Nicholson and Peter Fonda took the opportunity to direct personal projects on a studio budget. In the end, all three of them flopped, though they each have plenty of interest for students of those actors’ screen […]
Assault on Precinct 13 (1976) The sleeper hit of John Carpenter’s Killer Run (Review)
John Carpenter’s filmography is a curious animal, subject to both wild scrutiny and glorious celebration. What’s more, his work has been remade, twisted and contorted by both genre stalwarts and studio remit with wildly different results – from the heinous [the] Fog to the solidly entertaining Assault on Precinct 13 […]