CONTAINS SPOILERS The shadow of Psycho looms long over many things. What would, say, the modern movie twist be without it? Rug pulls don’t come much more severe than the true nature of Mrs Norma Bates, let alone Alfred Hitchcock’s brutal decision to cut down his protagonist less than halfway through the runtime. Would […]
Pop Culture
The Beast Within (Fantasia 2024) Familial and Familiar Take on Werewolf Legend (Review)
There’s no attempt to hide what the titular Beast Within is in Alexander J. Farrell’s first horror feature (co-written with Greer Taylor Ellison), which opens with the quote “There are two wolves inside all of us … they’re always at war”, followed by the classic “lone person killed by monster” […]
Dark Match (Fantasia 2024) – A Wrestling Picture for the Old-School Fans (Review)
The inherent contradiction of the most successful movies about wrestling (The Iron Claw and The Wrestler to name just two examples), is that they tend to be high-level productions that set their sights on major awards contention, which puts them somewhat at odds with the real-life sports entertainment industry they […]
Adrianne and the Castle (Fantasia 2024): Clinging onto a Lifetime of Fantasy When Reality Takes Over (Review)
Adrianne and The Castle is a fascinating oddity of a documentary from filmmaker Shannon Welsh, a fantastical love story told from the perspective of a fairytale that is sadly over. It follows Alan St-George, an artist and entrepreneur of a world famous mascot company, responsible for numerous iconic cuddly heroes […]
Alex’s 2024 Favourites (So Far)
I set myself a challenge at the start of 2024: see as many new films as I possibly can, whether that’s in the cinema, or any new releases in streaming services. Personally, I think I’ve done pretty well in that regard: 48 films seen in the cinema, a couple more […]
Fantasia Film Festival 2024 (Curtain Raiser)
In centuries past, wealthy eccentrics would sometimes entertain, shock, and astound dinner-guests by showing them collections of intriguing, and frequently downright bizarre, items known as “Cabinet(s) of Curiosities”; these could contain anything from fragmentary relics of dead civilizations to some crude taxidermied chimera constructed by sewing the torso of a […]
One Last Trip Inside No 9 (2024) Final Series Roundup
Binge-watching Inside No. 9 last summer is one of the best viewing decisions I’ve ever made. Within just a few days, I was three series in and the show had become one of my all-time favourites and, though some episodes are weaker than others and some of their experiments feel […]
Doctor Who (2024) The Legend of Ruby Sunday & Empire of Death (Review) – It’s Certainly A Finale (SPOILERS)
So, it seems that the Doctor Who fanbase has never been unanimously happy with any Doctor Who finale since the show’s return in 2005. For every really solid finale (Parting Of The Ways, Journey’s End, and The Doctor Falls) fans still complain about deus ex machinas, plot contrivances and nonsensical […]
I Saw The TV Glow (2024) An urgent personal plea that could change the world (Review)
I Saw The TV Glow should come with a warning. It’s a film you can’t prepare for, with no easy answers other than the ones you may not want to face, a film you can’t unsee. There are few adjectives more thudding when critiquing a film than ‘important’, but it’s […]
Doctor Who (2024) Rogue – Extremely Fun Period Piece Romp Misses A Few Opportunities (Review)
Rogue is the closest thing we’ve had to a ‘normal’ Doctor Who episode all series. I’m not criticising there – I’ve loved the experimentation and the changes in format – but at the same time, a classic period romp with a big camp monster and star-studded supporting cast isn’t going […]