One of Arrow’s unsung strengths is their championing of worldwide genre cinema, and much as Tartan had done with J-Horror in the early 2000s, it’s thanks to their efforts that films like Jesus Shows You the Way to the Highway, Hounds of Love and Harpoon were all brought to our […]
Reviews
What Remains (2022) A Bummer Scandi-noir from the Skarsgårds (Review)
At the height of a glorious summer I’m sure many people are thinking “You know what? I’m really in the mood to see a brooding, muted, Scandinavian true crime drama about a serial child-killer that’s set in the dead of winter”, and would you believe it? Icon Films have us […]
Kill (2024) In the Action Tradition of The Raid, Only Lesser (Review)
One dude progressing through an enclosed location killing many other dudes in quick succession has long been one of cinema’s greatest pleasures. It’s a simple premise, a simple action, a base repetition. At its best, this elevator pitch has produced films such as Gareth Evans’ tower block extravaganza The Raid. […]
Night of the Eagle (1962) Behind Every Great Man Is A Magical Woman (Review)
Norman Taylor is the envy of every man on Hempnell Medical College’s campus, and the darling of every teenage girl. He’s young and dynamic, with high grades that make him a shoo-in for tenure, and he’s got the tremendously sexy Tansy waiting at home. He seems to have it all, […]
The Agitator: Three Provocations from the Wild World of Jean-Pierre Mocky (1982-1987)(Review)
Say “Jean-Pierre Mocky” to even the most avid of French film fans on this side of the channel and you’re likely to receive little more than a shrug, but the iconoclastic writer/director/actor/cinema owner was a cult figure in his homeland, winning praise from no less than Jean-Luc Godard over a […]
Kinds of Kindness (2024) A Sandbox for Dramatic Discovery and Play (Review)
With Kinds of Kindness, mild-mannered Greek enfant terrible Yorgos Lanthimos has finally returned home to his long-time writing partner Efthimis Filippou (Dogtooth, The Lobster, The Killing of a Sacred Deer) after an extended vacation with screenwriter Tony McNamara (The Favourite, Poor Things). Or perhaps this is the vacation. With a […]
Rose (2022): Sofie Gråbøl Shines in this Study of Schizophrenia (Review)
Made in 2022, the Danish film Rose has finally made its long-anticipated way to our shores, becoming available in select cinemas and on demand from Friday, June 28th. The popularity of Danish or Scandinavian film and television has risen in recent years, thanks to their many crime dramas that continue […]
The Dead Don’t Hurt (2023) Classic Western Fare with a Wistful Edge (Review)
To paraphrase Bob Marley: “who shot the western?” There are a number of smoking guns when it comes to this particular murder. Was it Michael Cimino, the megalomaniacal visionary behind Heaven’s Gate, an epic so wildly out of control that it killed an entire film studio? Was it the audience […]
Poolman (2023): it’s not Chris Pine’s The Big Lebowski, but it’s not bad either (Review)
The first thing we hear is the distant barking of dogs, and the wolves have certainly been out for Chris Pine’s directorial debut since it premiered at the 2023 Toronto International Film Festival. Before the event began, the idea of Best Chris giving his variant on the Dude archetype in […]
The Miracle Fighters (1982) Lost Under the Weight of Yuen Woo Ping’s Many Classics (Review)
Yuen Woo Ping. One of the few names that has transcended the films he worked on and become synonymous with top quality fights. Thanks to his work on films such as The Matrix, Kill Bill and arguably the one that put his name on the global cinematic map, Crouching Tiger, […]