The classic horror set-up of a group of strangers finding themselves stranded together on a dark and stormy night at a spooky gothic mansion is one as old as the genre itself. A staple of the stage and screen, the concept of the “old dark house” has endured for over […]
Hollywood
Written on the Wind (1956) Sirk’s most chaotically lush melodrama (Review)
Merrily We Go to Hell (1932): a devil of a time with a future star (Review)
Iceman: The Time Traveller (2018) Bewildering Blockbusters And The Cost Of Globalisation (Review)
Agatha Christie: Nice Mysteries, Shame About the Prejudice
Agatha Christie has a certain reputation. If you’ve never read her books, you might associate her with twee, cozy, country mysteries featuring genteel and civilised murderers who delicately despatch their victims, perhaps a body in a library, the kind of coffee-table read favoured by older ladies as they sip their […]
Mulholland Drive (2001) It’s no wonder David Lynch’s work inspires such devotion (Review)
“Nah, you’re not thinkin’. You’re too busy being a smart-alec to be thinkin’” The Cowboy If you’ve never seen David Lynch’s 2001 Cannes Best Director winner Mulholland Drive, it’s probably worth stopping reading and buying Studio Canal’s new Blu-Ray restoration right now. That’s normally the kind of recommendation critics save […]
Why Modern Hollywood Hates Plot Twists
[WARNING: this article contains spoilers for Guardians of the Galaxy: Vol. 2, Captain America: The Winter Soldier, all three Iron Man films, most of the Christopher Nolan Batman films, and, y’know, everything else.] Sitting down to watch Park Chan-Wook’s The Handmaiden recently, I experienced a pleasure I’d almost forgotten about; […]
Hollywood’s Greatest Underdog
The French film Elle, recently selected for the Best Foreign Language Film Oscar nomination, is soon to be released next month in America, bringing the name Verhoeven back into the limelight — although, perhaps not in the way that we might expect. Paul Verhoeven elicits controversy. His films are rarely without contention, […]
The Cold Day in the Park (1969) The Lonely, Strange years of Altman, one for the hardcore fans (Review)
Robert Altman is one of Cinema’s most interesting voices, with his dense overlapping dialogue, compelling female leads, ensemble casts etc; of course, many would group these trademarks with his 70s productions. Through Nashville, M*A*S*H and McCabe and Mrs Miller, Altman was pivotal in defining the tone and outlook of Hollywood’s last golden age. Before and […]
Only Angels Have Wings (1939) Towering achievement from one of the Greatest Ever Directors (Review)
For many film fans in the UK, the Criterion Collection has been locked behind region codes, therefore, the highest-profile of all boutique labels choosing 2016 to migrate to these shores is the best news in years. Their opening salvo of titles represents the eclectic mix that saw the New York-based […]