DVD/Blu-Ray Review
Blu-Ray Review: See No Evil (Indicator Series)
The loss of a sense is an obviously devastating and life changing experience. Whilst the body and mind can gradually adjust, there’s a period where every day becomes a new learning experience. Sigh, is arguably the most important sense. If the lights go out, the world can become a very strange and scary place. In …
Blu-Ray Review: A Fish Called Wanda
It’s arguable that the greatest British post-war comedy came from the minds of the members of Monty Python’s Flying Circus. Cleese, Idle, Chapman, Palin, Jones and Gilliam transformed the face of comedy forever. However, they were building on the foundations laid during the post-war period. Principally, by the Ealing Comedies. In A Fish Called Wanda, …
Blu-Ray Review Journey to the Centre of the Earth
Along with H.G. Wells, Jules Verne was a pioneer in science fiction writing. Both men were active in the late 19th Century and their books have been widely adapted to film. Due to the expiration of copyright on his work, Verne’s novels were regularly brought to the big screen as part of the huge burst …
Blu-Ray Review: Fires on the Plain
You can probably count the number of genuinely good remakes which are better than the originals on the digits of two hands. It’s safe to say that they’re mostly reinterpretations of old films (The Thing, The Man Who Knew Too Much, The Maltese Falcon, Little Shop of Horrors etc). This is precisely what Shin’ya Tsukamoto …
Blu-Ray Review: Kill, Baby Kill
When it comes to the pantheon of Italian horror film directors, there’s perhaps only Dario Argento and Lucio Fulci who are above Mario Bava. Bava, whose renowned as a director, screenwriter, cinematographer and special effects artists, is very much an all-rounder. Prolific during the ‘60s and ‘70s, he worked in cinema for over four decades. …
Blu-Ray Review: The Tree of Wooden Clogs
The golden age of Italian cinema coincided with the emergence of neorealism within the country’s film-making. In a movement characterised by the use of non-professional actors, filming on location and focussing on the poor, the Italians were king. In 1978, Ermanno Olmi took inspiration from this movement, along with an emphasis on studying family which …
Blu-Ray Review: The Big Knife
Narcissism and film-making are often happy bedfellows. Indeed, the theme of Hollywood and the film industry have proved to be fertile ground for screenwriters, directors and producers. There has been a lot of hatred and bile aimed squarely at the studio system. Great directors such as David Lynch (Mulholland Drive), David Cronenberg (Map to the …
Blu-Ray Review: Lord of the Flies (Criterion Collection)
One of the most perverse aspects of the National Curriculum is the fact that generations of children throughout the UK grew up reading many of the same books. Animal Farm, An Inspector Calls and Blood Brothers have proved popular, but it’s probably William Golding’s Lord of the Flies which has had the most resonance. In …
Blu-Ray Review: Casque d’Or
Cinema loves a good romance. Even better when this includes a large slice of tragedy, murder, betrayal and melodrama. However, there’s nothing quite so compelling as a big screen love-triangle. Whether it’s in classics such as Casablanca, Jules et Jim or Gone with the Wind or more modern young adult films such as Twilight and …