The chances are that you’ve heard of the video nasties panic that gripped the UK during the 1980’s. 72 films were prosecuted by the British government for corrupting public morals, because one of the principal causes of violence and perversion in society are films. At least, that was the theory. […]
Reviews
Midnight Cowboy (1969) the most risqué film to possibly ever win Best Picture (Review)
Hey! I’m walking here! I’m walking here!” And thus one of the most iconic moments of improvisational acting was born. 1969’s ‘Midnight Cowboy’ is home to this scene where Dustin Hoffman nearly gets run over by a cab who cuts a red light. However, outside of Hoffman’s memorable piece of […]
The Grifters (1990) Punk-ish Neo-Noir that kick-started one of the best eras of crime cinema (Review)
101 films co-produced a new making-of documentary for Stephen Frears’ The Grifters. In which, a producer states that Martin Scorsese believed Jim Thompson’s novel of the same name was among the best crime novels that hadn’t been adapted and so sought to amend that fact. With the legendary Taxi Driver […]
Inherit the Wind (1960) “something to believe in – which is not always the same as the truth” (Review)
In the mid 1950s, at the height of Joseph McCarthy’s anti-Communist campaign of political repression, a bold new courtroom drama opened on Broadway that allegorised a dire incident from America’s Christian fundamentalist history to excoriate the current climate of fear and repression. The play’s impact on the culture of America […]
Allure (2017) A modern equivalent to ’90s psychological thrillers like Single White Female (Review)
It’s way, way down the list of the important consequences of #MeToo, but the fact that so many actresses are now also prominent activists is having a subtle effect on the way we interpret film authorship. In the traditional auteurist sense, Allure is un film de Carlos and Jason Sanchez, […]
Breakheart Pass (1975) The Bronson Western that ran alongside New Hollywood (Review)
A train is bound for Fort Humboldt, a snowcapped US Army frontier outpost where an outbreak of fatal diphtheria has decimated the regiment leaving the fort vulnerable and open to attack. Onboard the train is a detachment of soldiers set to relieve the sick and deceased, a doctor, a preacher, […]
Youth (2017) Part political treatise, part dance movie, and part horror of War movie (Review)
Back to 1942 is one of the bleakest movies of recent years, Feng Xiaogang directed a horrifying presentation on the human cost of war. The 2012 movie showed an invading army turning their weapons on civilians, people selling their children just so said offspring can eat and enough self-sacrifice to […]
Metropolitan (1990) Whit Stillman’s Comedy of High Society Manners (Review)
It’s always a risk for a film to give you too many pointers about how to read it; most people like to work that out for themselves. But I was very charmed by a moment about halfway into Whit Stillman’s 1990 debut Metropolitan – reissued on Region 2 Blu-Ray by […]
Intimate Lighting (1965) Czech New Wave as a light, comedic, endless rewatchable delight (Review)
After their great re-release of Juraj Herz’s ‘The Cremator’ on Blu-Ray late last year, Second Run have kindly followed that up by restoring another fan favourite Czech title – Ivan Passer’s ‘Intimate Lighting’. Like his close friend and collaborator, the late Miloš Forman, Passer is uninterested in creating a melodramatic […]
St Valentine’s Day Massacre (1967) Roger Corman extends himself beyond horror and exploitation with interesting results (Review)
There are a lot of people who found success in their mid 20s, and I am usually jealous of them. But even I draw the line at Al Capone, despite admiring how he rose to the top of Chicago’s busiest criminal enterprise by age 26. Something about him holds me […]