There was a time in my life when wrestling was more important to me than film or football. Before my discovery of Mike Leigh, or the emergence of Gareth Bale, there was Rob Van Dam. Before The Apartment moved me to tears, or Lucas Moura set me into delirium, there […]
Movies & Documentaries
A Bittersweet Life (2005) & The Chaser (2008) Two Korean New Wave Classics (Review)
Two South Korean films that straddle one of the most important events in Korean cinema in the 21st century. One by an established director of TV and Film whose name would be placed next to the modern greats like Park Chan-wook and Bong Joon-Ho, the other by a new up […]
Shadow of Fire (2023)Tsukamoto At His Most… Hopeful? (Review)
While he doesn’t have the same cut-through of his halycon days with Tetsuo, Bullet Ballet or A Snake of June, Shinya Tsukamoto is undoubtedly one of the more consistent filmmakers in Japan. This is partly due to that movie industry not being as buoyant as it once was, but also because he’s a director […]
Hamlet (2024): Age cannot wither McKellen’s Great Dane (Review)
To quote that great authority on Shakespearian acting, Withnail’s Uncle Monty, “it is the most devastating moment in a young man’s life when he quite reasonably says to himself ‘I shall never play the Dane!’” Shakespeare might have ascribed seven ages to man in As You Like It, but as […]
Concrete Utopia (2023) Bleak and Brutal But Riveting Modern Dystopia (Review)
Dystopian stories come in a variety of different forms, and we’ve been treated to many examples of them in recent years. There’s the YA dystopias such as The Hunger Games and Maze Runner that explore systemic oppression in fantastical societies, the more relatable urban dystopias such as Daniel Kaluuya and […]
You’ll Never Find Me (2024): Visually Ambitious Slow-Burn Aussie Horror (Review)
After receiving a lot of buzz from festival circuit, You’ll Never Find Me, the debut feature from Josiah Allen and Indianna Bell arrives on Shudder. It’s a natural home for an indie horror with big ambitions and promising great things in the future for the directing duo. Set almost entirely […]
Possessor (2020): Prestige Treatment for Gory Modern Classic (Review)
Hearing Brandon Cronenberg and various crew members discuss the production process of Possessor across the numerous features on this release, it is a miracle that the film got made and that the final result is so memorably weird and unique. Its release in 2020 during the height of Covid lockdowns […]
The Origin of Evil (2022) Two Thirds of a Fascinating Familial Thriller (Review)
We open with a steady tracking shot that moves through a room of women changing, until the camera settles on one of them. From this deliberate opening, director Sébastien Marnier maintains a careful delivery of information, guiding the viewer through a handsomely staged and often twisty thriller. These twists and reveals make […]
Swordsman of all Swordsmen (1968) Essential Viewing for Fans of East Asian Action (Review)
It cannot be understated just how dominant the Shaw Brothers studio was in the late 60s and early 70s. If you wanted to have any traction in the Chinese market then you had to go through Run Run Shaw and his studio. They had a stranglehold on the theatres (due […]
Three films by Jerzy Skolimowski: Walkover, Barrier and Dialogue 20-40-60 (1965-68) (Blu-Ray Review)
Jerzy Skolimowski’s film Barrier, the second in this Blu-Ray set of three early features from Second Run, begins with a manifesto. A youthful man is complaining that the young are always expected to make sacrifices while the old simply accumulate wealth, and questions why it can’t be him in the […]