Mira Nair’s Mississippi Masala, released on Blu-Ray by Criterion UK, is a nice film. Befuddlingly so, in fact. Nair’s only prior feature was Salaam Bombay! in 1988, a story of Indian street children gritty enough to have critics hailing her as the heir to Vittorio de Sica. Her second film […]
Reviews
Tangerine (2015) – a lovely LGBT-positive lo-fi Christmas romp (Blu-Ray Review)
With the festive season well underway, and Christmas itself rapidly approaching, I have no doubt that most people who celebrate will have already watched at least one classic holiday picture this month by the time this review is released. Of course, many viewers choose to deviate from the well-established Yuletide […]
Nanny (2022) Bold Debut Subverts Stereotypical Supernatural Expectations (Review)
In Nikatyu Jusu’s debut feature Nanny, motherhood, race, class and West African folklore are explored wrapped up in a fiercely smart and subtly supernatural package, that manages to subvert stereotypical expectations. Anna Diop plays Aisha, a woman who has come to the United States from Senegal, in the hopes of […]
Fall (2022) Emotionally contrived with White-Knuckle Thrills (Review)
Today the subject on the table is Fall, a tense and self-contained survival thriller directed by Scott Mann, which sees an ex-climber named Becky in a depressive episode after her husband dies in a climbing accident. In an effort to raise her spirits, her friend Hunter suggests that they both […]
The War Trilogy: Three Films by Andrzej Wajda (1955/1958) War is Hell (Review)
An impressive boxset from Second Run arrives just in time for Christmas – it’s the renowned War Trilogy from Polish director Andrzej Wajda consisting of three films – A Generation, Kanal and Ashes and Diamonds – released between 1955 and 1958 which established Wajda as a founding father of the […]
Bitch Ass (2022) Gaming gets gruesome in this familiar revenge twisted tale (Review)
Bitch Ass opens with horror icon Tony Todd (Candyman) introducing the film in a sinister manner. Referencing ‘Blackula’ and ‘Tales From The Hood’ amongst others, he tells us Bitch Ass is the ‘first black serial killer to wear a mask’. Todd sets the scene, channelling the Cryptkeeper from ‘Tales From […]
Bull (2021) Bull by name, Bull by nature (Blu-Ray Review)
Ahead of the looming release of Tangerine, Bull is the most recent release from the always-strong Second Sight Films. Paul Andrew Williams (London to Brighton, The Cottage) directs and writes Neil Maskell in the titular role, a character you could describe as a savage. The brutality of his actions is […]
Nutcracker Massacre (2022) Campy, tinsel and blood-drenched killing spree (Review)
In Nutcracker Massacre, Clara, a heartbroken romance novelist, is invited to spend Christmas with her aunt. Upon arrival, she is confronted by a life-size Nutcracker, standing guard by the Christmas tree. Quite rightly, she hates it, but is quickly distracted by the arrival of her self-obsessed, jealous brat of a […]
Rimini (2022): looking for the shaft of light in Ulrich Seidl’s sensibilities (Review)
There are countless horror movies that exploit the particular uncanniness of a holiday resort in winter, but none of them have featured a monster quite like Richie Bravo. The anti-hero of Ulrich Seidl’s latest film, Rimini, he’s a hulking, middle-aged lounge singer of limitless appetites and venality. After singing another […]
Savage Justice (2022) Justice has been served, I guess? (Review)
There is a scene in Richard Donner’s Lethal Weapon 2 when Danny Glover’s Roger Murtaugh dispatches some hoods with a nail gun, after which he quips ‘Nailed them both’. This scene contains more wit, drama, tension and filmmaking competence than the entire 101 minutes of Savage Justice, which is also […]