What does realism mean to you? Too often, it’s discussed as if it’s self-evident: a realistic film is one that resembles reality. To say that, though, is to unconsciously admit a number of blind spots. How do we judge something to be realistic? Is it really true, or just a […]
Movies & Documentaries
Absolute Beginners (1986) More than meets the eye with added David Bowie (Review)
Alongside The Mission and Revolution, Absolute Beginners was accused of destroying the British film industry in the mid to late 1980s. It was bad luck for Goldcrest, the studio behind Julian Temple’s lavish production, as they backed-up all three films, released them at nearly the same time, and in turn, […]
Andrei Rublev (1966) One of the greatest historical epics ever made (Review)
Following on from Ivan’s Childhood, Curzon Artificial Eye continues their retrospective on Russian Grandmaster Andrei Tarkovsky with Andrei Rublev. The second feature from Russia’s most celebrated film export follows the titular fifteenth-century iconographer as he walks the lands – starting when he is young and idealistic and ending 3 hours […]
Mustang (2015) a timeless debut of rare and bullish brilliance (Review)
Prisons aren’t just buildings to house and punish those who have wronged society, they can also be a psychological and social construct, the flexibility of this notion has seen it bend and twist into one of fiction’s most well-travelled concepts. As far as cinema is concerned, the path well-travelled begins […]
Play On! Shakespeare in Silent Film (2016) Pulls off the Impossible (Review)
Silent Shakespeare? It might seem to invalidate the very reason why Shakespeare has been a cultural constant for centuries now, but it was popular in its time. When cinema was invented it was widely considered a novelty rather than a serious art form, so it was necessary to prove it could […]
Around China with a Movie Camera (2015) A Must for Film Historians (Review)
Shot between 1900 – 1948 and spanning over 100 films, Around China with a Movie Camera takes the viewer on a cinematic journey of the country in question. The film explores the sights that China has to offer, but it is not done in the traditional documentary fashion with modern-day […]
The Ox-Bow Incident (1943) Still a powerful, morality Western 75 years later (Review)
The introduction is one of the most underrated aspects of home video. One as good as Peter Stanfield provides on Arrow’s release of William A. Wellman’s The Ox-Bow Incident transforms a film – providing a context, drawing attention to details and being about the most proactive way to enhance a […]
Return of the Killer Tomatoes (1988) Self-Aware, Goofy 80s Comedy Horror Gold (Review)
Roll up! Roll up! Do you love 80’s movies? Of course, you do. Do you love incredibly ridiculous comedies that have the charm of a Zucker-Abrahams production? Then you need to sit down and watch the 1988 creature feature parody, Return of the Killer Tomatoes! Sequel to the daft Attack […]
Suture (1993) Philosophy of the self and the elephant in the room (Review)
A keen suspension of disbelief is key to enjoy genres founded on wonder, whimsy and exaggeration, not having a healthy penchant to believe the unbelievable locks swathes of the more imaginative hues of cinema behind locked doors. Curious it is then that 1993’s existentialist noir about the reconstruction of the […]
The Swinging Cheerleaders (1974) Jack Hill’s sleazy entrée into the high school comedy (Review)
1974’s The Swinging Cheerleaders, reissued on Blu-Ray by Arrow Home Video, has a script credited to Jane Witherspoon and Betty Conklin. In the same year, Conklin was also responsible for the screenplay for Act of Vengeance, a female revenge picture also released under the impeccably well-it-was-the-70s title Rape Squad. Witherspoon […]