DVD/Blu-Ray Review
Blu-Ray Review – Austin Powers: International Man of Mystery
There’s something very British about James Bond. It’s a franchise which has captured the heart of many throughout the nation, and across the world, with its stereotypical portrayal of many clichéd and archaic elements of London society. Whilst this has changed, somewhat, with the Daniel Craig era, there’s still much which remains the same. It’s …
Blu-Ray Review: Silent Action
Of all the countries in Western Europe, it is perhaps Italy which has the worst reputation (whether deserved or not) for corruption, crime and bribery. Much of this can be attributed to the Sicilian Mafia, undoubtedly the most famous illegal organisation in modern history. Political and criminal subterfuge played a large role in Italian cinema …
Blu-Ray Review: Tales From the Urban Jungle
During the 1940s, Jules Dassin was somewhat of an underrated powerhouse within Hollywood. However, like so many he fell foul of the blacklist which decimated the US entertainment industry at the beginning of the Cold War. Barred from fully completing post-production on Night and the City, he had no option but to flee to Europe. …
Blu-Ray Review: The Frightened City
Sean Connery has been one of the most iconic faces of British cinema for decades. The passionate Scotsman started picking up film roles in the late 1950s but it wasn’t until he played James Bond in 1962 that he made a major breakthrough. It’s a role which made him a star, a household name and …
Blu-Ray Review: Charulata
Indian cinema is often dismissed, on the world stage, as nothing more than simply Bollywood. This does a huge disservice to a diverse and rich film industry which caters for millions of people, spanning serval languages across the country, and beyond. The great Bengali filmmaker Satyajit Ray is considered by most to be the nation’s …
Blu-Ray Review: Defending Your Life
As humans, we spend a disproportionate amount of time contemplating our own mortality. Sometimes at the expense of actually ‘living’. This inquisitiveness often centres on what happens after we depart this mortal coil. Is that it or is there something else? Life after death. Reincarnation. Heaven and Hell. Indeed, the concept of an eternal life …
Blu-Ray Review: Lost in America
Most of us spend much of our lives working, often in grey office blocks in some soulless and essentially pointless white-collar profession. Doing much the same thing, day in, day out. Never really making enough money to do much more than take a holiday every year. Maybe buy a house, start a family. Some people …
Blu-Ray Review: The Black Windmill
It must be strange to be born to a generation which doesn’t remember ‘domestic’ terrorism in the UK. Whilst ‘the Troubles’ cast a shadow over Northern Ireland for three decades, the spectre of the IRA was a constant threat in mainland Britain. Indeed, we seem to be heading in that direction again. Long before Islamic …
Blu-Ray Review: Russian Raid
Russia is unquestionably a highly complex country full of contradictions and battles between tradition and progression. One of the greatest upheavals of the last few decades was the conversion from communism to capitalism. It’s a transition which has been choppy, to say the least. Resulting in a number of extremely rich oligarchs left to get …
Blu-Ray Review: The Invisible Man Appears/ The Invisible Man Vs. The Human Fly
Since featuring as the protagonist in the H. G. Wells’ novel, first serialised in 1897, the eponymous Invisible Man has been a frequent figure in popular culture. However, the idea of invisibility is a concept which harks back to Greek and Roman legend, and beyond. The fascination with this character or idea is not merely …