It’s opening night at the end of the world, and rehearsals for the final curtain are getting shaky, much as they were in Joshua Oppenheimer’s unforgettably bold documentary features. His startling Indonesian genocide diptych (The Act of Killing and The Look of Silence) depicted some alarming remembrances of one of […]
Reviews
A Samurai in Time (2023) (Japan Foundation Touring Film Programme 2025)
Is there such a thing as a timeless genre? The interest of an audience in a particular mode of storytelling always has a shelf life, fickly ebbing and flowing once a saturation point is reached. But what does that moment look like, where tastes change and affection for times gone […]
Godzilla vs. Biollante (1989) Kaiju Carnage with an Ecological message
Across its 70+ year run, the Godzilla franchise has been through numerous reinventions to keep the series alive. The Heisei era is considered the most adult oriented period, as it used the single continuous timeline to bring the titular creature back to its roots as a destructive force feared by […]
The Daredevils (1979) & Ode To Gallantry (1982) Venom Mob Mayhem: Late Era Shaw Brothers Action at Its Best
Having made his first feature in 1949, at the slender age of 25, it wasn’t until he was taken in by the production line studio, Shaw Brothers, that Chang Cheh’s star would really begin to shine. Making early movies such as Tiger Boy (1966), Magnificent Trio (1966) and The Trail […]
Scanners (1981) A Subversively Interior Body Horror Lacking Cronenbergian Dread
David Cronenberg’s films usually feature hyperviolence that manifests on the outside of the body. Think of the birthing sacs pulsating on Nola Carveth (Samantha Eggar) in The Brood or the vaginal cavern on Max Renn’s (James Woods) chest in Videodrome. Next to these grisly visions, Scanners stands out as a […]
Shaolin Boxers (1974) A Forgotten Knockout or Just Another Throwaway Brawler?
The influence of 1970’s The Chinese Boxer, a Shaw Brothers movie written, directed by, and starring the one-(armed)-man phenomenon that was Jimmy Wang Yu, can never be understated. It influenced a shift in Chinese/Taiwanese cinema, moving away from long-haired heroes in bad wigs, flowing gowns, and swishy swords to something […]
Hardboiled: Three Pulp Thrillers by Alain Corneau (1976-81)
The thing about Alain Corneau’s crime thrillers is, for all they take their time telling a story, they let you know what they’re really about straight away. Each of the three titles collected in this Radiance Films Blu-Ray set kicks off with a sequence or shot that immediately flags up […]
Rulers of the City (1976) Light-Hearted Revenge Based Eurocrime
Released on Blu-ray this week by Radiance and Raro Video is Rulers of the City – an Italian Euro Crime/Poliziotteschi offering from 1976 by director Fernando Di Leo. The filmmaker had already provided the genre with staples such as Caliber 9 (1972), The Italian Connection (1972), The Boss (1973), and […]
The Barnabáš Kos Case (1965) Triangle of Madness
Without doubt the greatest film ever made about a triangle player in a symphony orchestra, Second Run’s Blu-Ray release of The Barnabáš Kos Case sees them returning to the work of the Slovakian director Peter Solan. Previously, they’d released the other film the busy director made in 1965, Before Tonight […]
What Happened Was… (1994) Worst first date ever, or worst date EVER?
The hulking figure of Tom Noonan casts a deceptive shadow. The gangly character actor who found fame in films by Michaels Cimino and Mann (most notably the latter in Manhunter) is a distinctive yet understated presence, sizing up at an impressive 6ft 5in and possessing some memorably melancholy eyes; even from […]