There has been a long tradition of Tokusatsu (特撮 – “Special Photography”) in Japanese cinema. With greats like Ishiro Honda and Eiji Tsuburaya unleashing on an unsuspecting world the most they Gojira/Godzilla in 1954, Science Fiction would never be the same again in Japan. Eiji Tsuburaya in particular created many […]
Reviews
Love Hotel (1985) – Comfort found within neon-lit heartbreak (Review)
The latest addition to Third Window Films directors company series, Love Hotel, opens in a neon-lit room at a salacious hotel, where Tetsuro Muraki (Minori Terada) lays on the bed as he waits for somebody to arrive. What may seem like a casual hook-up is instead a moment of despair, […]
A Bittersweet Life (2005) One of the Many Guiding Lights of the Korean Golden Age (Review)
The South Korean New Wave of the late 1990s to mid 2000s shone a light onto a country whose films were reserved for the arthouse cinemas and festival circuits, with directors such as Im Kwan Taek and Lee Chang-dong telling beautiful stories of Korean people and the loss of their […]
The Landlord (1970) Raising Laughs and Awareness not Rent (Review)
Released by Radiance this week is The Landlord, Hal Ashby’s 1970 directorial debut. As a movie, The Landlord may have some of the rough edges of a first effort, but it also has the distinctive offbeat talent and approach that the inimitable Ashby would bring to his successive ventures. Specifically […]
Blow Out 4K (1981): A Taut, Tense and Involving Thriller (Review)
The poster for Blow Out – a stark picture of John Travolta’s face screaming from within a void of blackness – has been staring at me ever since I first noticed it in my dad’s movie collection as a little kid. I never knew what it was about, who was […]
The Double Crossers (1976) Kung Fu Meets Poliziotteschi (Review)
It can’t be stated enough just how much the release of King Boxer (aka Five Fingers Of Death) in North America changed the landscape of this very regional film industry. Suddenly the largest film market in the world was available and a flood of Kung Fu movies would find their […]
Creation of the Gods I: Kingdom of Storms (2023) Ancient Chinese Folktale with Spectacle as Epic as Lord of the Rings (Review)
I can see the quotes now, “The Chinese Lord Of The Rings” they’ll call it, and whilst that isn’t a wild and inaccurate statement (and genuinely meant as a compliment), it does undermine the cultural significance of Creation of the Gods’ story and how only now is it possible to […]
Lisa Frankenstein (2024): Quirky Throwback Comedy Horror Lacks Spark (Review)
Fifteen years after the release of Jennifer’s Body, now firmly considered a cult horror hit, Diablo Cody makes a highly anticipated return to the genre. Interestingly, it is also her return to teen centred horror even though it feels closer to noughties teen life than teens today. Its retro eighties […]
In a Violent Nature (2024): A New Breed of Post-Slasher Horror (Review)
One of the year’s most extraordinary filmgoing experiences must surely go to Chris Nash’s In a Violent Nature. Taking the basic premise of “Friday the 13th seen from Jason’s perspective”, this unique slasher turns the entire genre on its head, and has more to say between the long stalking shots […]
Soldier Blue (1970): Vietnam Allegory Via Violent Revisionist Western (Review)
“I saw the bodies of those lying there cut all to pieces, worse mutilated than any I ever saw before; the women cut all to pieces … With knives; scalped; their brains knocked out; children two or three months old; all ages lying there, from sucking infants up to warriors […]