DVD Review: Le Jour se lève
Considered by some to be one of the greatest films ever made, Le Jour se lève is definitly the most famous example of poetic realism movement. Marcel Carné’s film was praised upon its release in France in 1939 but was quickly suppressed by the Vichy government less than a year later. After the war it …
Incoming: Serena
North Carolina mountains at the end of the 1920s – George and Serena Pemberton, love-struck newly-weds, begin to build a timber empire. Serena soon proves herself to be equal to any man: overseeing loggers, hunting rattle-snakes, even saving a man’s life in the wilderness. With power and influence now in their hands, the Pembertons refuse …
DVD Review: The Visitor
Italy has produced some great film directors and cinema. Fellini, Argento, Leone, Antonioni and Zefferelli were all considered masters of their oeuvres. There was a lot of Italian money floating around horror and science fiction films during the ’70s and ’80s, and let’s just say the quality control wasn’t always what it should have been. …
Film Review: Citizenfour
Unless you’ve been living on a remote mountaintop for the last few years, the names Julian Assange, Bradley Manning, Wikileaks and Edward Snowden will be very familiar to you. There’s always been conspiracy theories about the power and influence of secret government organisations, shadowy groups and nameless individuals but the publication of documents charting the …
Film Review: Northern Soul
Being a Northerner, I’ve heard many tales about Northern Soul over the years. I’ve known many people who were really into that scene and its garnered almost a cult status as the years have gone by. There seems to be a resurgence of the scene over the last couple of years around the North of …
Film Review – Björk: Biophilia Live
Björk is no stranger to film. She most notably starred in Lars Von Trier’s musical Dancer in the Dark but also in Matthew Barney’s Drawing Restraint 9. There have also been numerous concert films throughout her career, not to mention recently teamed up with David Attenborough for the TV documentary When Björk Met Attenborough. The …
Incoming: Cathedrals of Culture
“If buildings could talk, what would they say about us?” Cathedrals of Culture offers six startling responses. This 3D film project about the soul of buildings allows six iconic and very different buildings to speak for themselves, examining human life from the unblinking perspective of a manmade structure. Six acclaimed filmmakers bring their own visual …
DVD Review: Filmed in Supermarionation
Several generations of children have had the joy of growing up with Thunderbirds, Joe 90, Stingray and (the frankly at times terrifying) Captain Scarlet. Their special magic came from the inspired vision of Gerry & Sylvia Anderson whose pioneering supermarionation techniques for filming puppets revolutionised TV in the 1960s and paved the way for the …
DVD Review: Zombeavers
There have been some bizarre monster movies over the years. Older classics include The Sea Bat, Attack of the Giant Leaches, The Killer Shrews, and Attack of the Crab Monsters. The last decade has seen a resurgence in interest in the genre, mainly due to the SFX channel which has helped introduce the world to …
Film Review: ’71
There have been many films about “The Troubles” over the years. Some of the most famous are In the Name of the Father, Hunger, Bloody Sunday and The Crying Game. Whilst ’71 is set in Belfast in 1971 (unsurprisingly), it’s more of a straight thriller/action movie than one which has much to say about the …