John Singleton was 21 – 21! – when he made one of the most acclaimed debuts of the 1990s, one which led to him becoming the first African-American to get a Best Director nomination at the Oscars. It would be the perfect punchline if it was bad, but annoyingly for […]
Pop Culture
Doctor Jekyll (2023): Entertaining Reinterpretation of Classic Story (Review)
The world premiere of Doctor Jekyll at Frightfest 2023 (which I was able to attend) began with director Joe Stephenson announcing he was about to go into a meeting to find out whether Hammer would still be producers on the movie. By the end of the screening, it was confirmed […]
Glasgow FrightFest 2024 (In Capsule)
FrightFest, the UK’s premier festival for horror films, takes place three times during the year. Two of these take place in London, the main festival in August and another over Halloween. But before these, the Glasgow Film Theatre plays host to FrightFest for a weekend in March. This year, The […]
Editorial: Sam Raimi Needs To Make More Films Like A Simple Plan (1998)
When I reviewed Sam Raimi’s excellent The Quick and The Dead, I knew I’d scratched an itch that was not going to subside for a while. Seeing a director like him offer his box of tricks to a genre and setting that wouldn’t normally go with his style yielded fantastic […]
20 Movies for Japanuray
Between Social Media and Marketing agencies, Japanuary is one of these traditions that happen every year, in which people portmanteau months to programme month long sessions into a particular movement – or, in this case, national cinema – into their cinematic diet. Giallo January is another common theme that people […]
Alex’s Favourite Films Of 2023: End-of-Year Roundup
2023 is quickly approaching its end, and this year has been massive for me. A-Levels and starting university in the same year is a whole new level of responsibility that I would not wish on my worst enemy. However, despite all of these mad changes and busy workloads, I’ve actually […]
Doctor Who: The Giggle (2023) – A Fantastic (for now) Collision of Past, Present and Future (Review)
After a short but sweet run of 60th anniversary specials, the era of the Fourteenth Doctor is over and Ncuti Gatwa is now officially the iconic Time Lord, though this handover process hasn’t happened in the usual way. We will get to this in due course, never fear, because there […]
Doctor Who: Wild Blue Yonder (2023) A Wacky But Wonderful Subversion of Expectations (Review)
SPOILERS AHEAD I can’t remember a Doctor Who episode like Wild Blue Yonder in my time as a fan. Perhaps the closest thing I can think of is the monumental Peter Capaldi showcase Heaven Sent, which similarly had a barebones cast in a mysterious location with something deeply sinister lurking […]
Doctor Who: The Star Beast (2023) A non-stop blast of comforting fun (Review)
Doctor Who is now officially 60 years old as of last Thursday, and after thirteen long months of no episodes and a steady news cycle, we have finally seen the first of three special episodes to celebrate this anniversary. As has been the point of much discussion in recent years, […]
The Eternal Magic of Powell and Pressburger: A Matter of Life and Death (1946)
I was introduced to the work of Michael Powell and Emeric Pressburger at university. I was eighteen, still overwhelmed by the move from Ipswich to London, and intimidated by my film school peers who spoke of film movements I’d never heard of and equipment I’d never seen. I sat in […]