Film Review: Poor Agnes
Historically, the horror genre has been unkind to women. They’ve been routinely painted as the victim or a damsel in distress in need of rescue. There have been huge strides forward made over the previous decade, and finally we’re seeing some kind of breakthrough in terms of female writers, director and feminism creeping into genre …
BFIs 61st London Film Festival Preview
The BFI London Film Festival is the UK’s premier showcase of the best new cinema from around the world. With a wide array of World, European and UK premieres, this year the festival boasts a line-up which contains a truly breathtaking range of films from some of the most exciting and innovative film-makers. With a …
Incoming: Blade Runner 2049
Thirty years after the events of the first film, a new blade runner, LAPD Officer K (Ryan Gosling), unearths a long-buried secret that has the potential to plunge what’s left of society into chaos. K’s discovery leads him on a quest to find Rick Deckard (Harrison Ford), a former LAPD blade runner who has been …
LFF Review: Liyana
Whether consciously or not an author’s own life experiences have a habit of creeping into their work. Heroes and villains often spring from our memories, dreams and imaginations. Early Childhood relationships can have a huge influence on what we do with our lives. Things might look grim in 2017 but it’s easy to forget how …
LFF Review: Bad Genius
The pressure to perform well at school has always been intense. However, in Asia they take it to another level. Good exam results can mean the difference between a high-flying career and being stuck in lowly bureaucratic job. Failure can lead to suicide or ostracization. The education sector is a multi-billion-dollar industry with fierce competition …
Incoming: Daphne
Daphne is a young woman negotiating the tricky business of modern life. Caught in the daily rush of her restaurant job and a nightlife kaleidoscope of new faces, she is witty, funny, the life of the party. Too busy to realise that deep down she is not happy. When she saves the life of a …
LFF Review: Jailbreak
With the emergence of the kung-fu of Bruce Lee and subsequently Jackie Chan, martial arts cinema gained a huge worldwide audience. The wuxia of Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon took matters into the realms of fantasy and sparked a whole new wave of interest. It was again grounded in the brutal and breathtaking Ong Bak, with …
DVD Review: Cardinal
Every time you look at a TV schedule there seems to be another new crime drama. The huge rise in popularity of the genre was undoubtedly sparked by the wave of Scandinavian noir. Since then, we’ve seen a wealth of crime drama from around the world. It’s fair to say that Canada has hardly been …
Incoming: Zoology
Natasha is a middle-aged admin employee at a zoo where her female co-workers take pleasure in making fun of her. She lives with her God-fearing mother and leads a dull existence without prospects, until one day she grows a tail. Medical examinations follow where she meets Peter, a young radiologist and her dreary life is …
LFF Review: Hagazussa: A Heathen’s Curse
There are many who still sniff at horror cinema and persist on trying to diminish it. Over the last couple of years, the odious term post-horror has seeped into popular culture. This expression has been used to describe films such as Get Out, Split, It Comes at Night and The Witch, which allows praise to …