Despite being very divisive Michael Mann’s globetrotting techno thriller Blackhat has found its fair share of dedicated fans (so large that the decision to include the director’s cut was made by large scale demand) who act as a solid rebuttal to the tepid critical reception it got on its initial […]
Reviews
Jet Li: Heroes and Villains (95/96/98) Even middling Jet Li is very entertaining (Review)
Born Li Lianjie in Beijing 1963, Jet Li was always going to be a star. Showing to have a natural talent for the traditional performance martial art Wushu, from as early as the age of 8, he would dominate the sport between 1974 and 1979, winning the Men’s All-Around National […]
The Royal Tramp Collection (1992) Stephen Chow delivering laughs whilst he finds his voice (Review)
The early 90s were huge for Stephen Chow. Having stepped out of the shadow of Chow Yun Fat in 1990’s All for the Winner, he would set his unique brand of mo lei tau and leave an indelible mark on the Hong Kong film industry with Gordon Chan’s Fight back […]
Give Me Pity! (2022) – Fear and loathing rolled in glitter (Review)
Amanda Kramer’s new reverie Give me Pity! is a strange and unsettling affair. At once a parody and an ode to 70s and 80s TV variety shows, the film – on its glitzy surface at least – focuses on Sissy St Claire (played by U.S. actress and daughter of Bette […]
One False Move (1992) – A cyclical tale of lingering violence [Review]
![One False Move (1992) – A cyclical tale of lingering violence [Review]](https://i0.wp.com/thegeekshow.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2023/11/6GCD8UkTiZGu2h5pBFdGueAalcL.jpg?fit=640%2C360&ssl=1)
The 1990s is home to a ridicuolous number of crime classics, so much so that new ones are constantly being rediscovered – one of the latest is One False Move. Which also has recieved a newly minted Criterion Collection treatment. Arriving at a friend’s house in the middle of the […]
The Jester (2023) The killer clown genre pratfalls its way to a sorry end (Review)
It’s official: cinema has ruined clowns. Which particular make-up-caked straw broke the camel’s back is up for debate, however; from The Man Who Laughs to Terrifier, it’s currently hard to imagine when the garishly-dressed grinning maniacs were more funny than scary. Yet audiences are forever drawn to the freaky little […]
A Forgotten Man (2022) The Seperation of Established History from Story (Review)
First things first. A Forgotten Man, despite its stage inspirations (Thomas Hürlimann’s Der Gesandte [The Envoy]), is a film made by a cinephile. The clue is the use of black-and-white, in most films now shot in monochrome, the art is often that of a below-average collagist. The awkward and unintended incongruity of […]
The Ginger Snaps Trilogy (2000-2004) Important piece of Disruptive Art, vital as Teen Horror icon (Review)
Somewhere between the meta-cinematic knowingness of Scream and the self-contained irony of Jennifer’s Body sits Ginger Snaps, a smart, sassy, trilogy of teenage girls dealing with lycanthropy. Or are they really dealing with teenage problems? Menstruation and other signs of puberty; sexuality and relationships; addiction and self-harm; colonialism and manifest […]
Door / Door 2 (1988/1991): the high art of gut-level sleaze (Review)
What kind of films would be produced by a production house called the Directors Company? In a Western context, you could hazard a guess: serious-minded auteur films, unblemished by the crudities of genre, devoted to an artist’s personal vision. The Directors Company that existed in Japan from 1982 to 1992 […]
Pandora’s Box (1929) Dare You Open, or Will You Pabst? (Review)
Achieving its UK Blu-ray debut this week courtesy of Eureka Entertainment’s “Masters of Cinema” series is G.W. Pabst’s 1929 classic Pandora’s Box. Arguably one of Weimer German cinema’s – if not silent cinema in general’s – greatest masterpieces, Pandora’s Box is the film that catapulted the Kansas-born, twenty-two-year-old, one-time chorus […]