DVD/Blu-Ray Review
Blu-Ray Review: To Sleep So As To Dream
Japan has a rich history of oral storytelling and theatre. It’s a culture with a strong emphasis on telling yarns, whether that’s in words or song. So, when silent cinema came to their shores from Europe and America, it was obvious that the public would not be content with silence. They came up with an …
Blu-Ray Review: Boat People
People often wonder how authoritarian regimes manage to keep control, but as current events demonstrate it’s possible to brainwash the majority of a population if you control the narrative. The TV channels, the papers, access to the internet and social media. When that’s not possible or enough, there’s fear and intimidation. Portraying a false image …
Blu-ray Review: Modern Times
While he had stiff competition from Harold Lloyd and Buster Keaton, there’s no doubt that Charlie Chaplin was the king of American silent cinema. While they were all brilliant physical comedians, the Londoner had the advantage of having the ‘little tramp’ up his sleeve. His much-loved creation is undoubtedly the iconic face of the era. …
Blu-Ray Review: Pale Flower
They say that if you go looking for love you’ll never find it but it will often find you in the most unlikely places. Opposites attract or birds of a feather stick together, depending on which magazine you’re reading at the time. It’s clear though that attraction doesn’t conform to any social hierarchies or cultural …
Blu-Ray Review: The Devil’s Trap
It seems a bizarre thing to say in the third decade of the twenty-first century, but the debate between evolution and creationism still seems to tax feeble minds. The friction between religion and science has been rumbling on for centuries. The former often used as a means of social control while the latter has been …
Blu-Ray Review: Love Affair
Leo McCarey is one of those filmmakers whose name has almost been forgotten by time, even though some of his work has not. Although he only made twenty-five feature films over a period of five decades, he was involved in hundreds more. Writing, directing and producing. He’s probably best-known today for Duck Soup, making a …
Blu-Ray Review: Written on the Wind
They certainly don’t make them like Rock Hudson anymore. He was amongst the biggest heartthrobs of the Golden Age of Hollywood and became one of the most iconic stars of his generation. The man christened Roy Harold Scherer Jr. made a splash in Magnificent Obsession but it was alongside Elizabeth Taylor and James Dean in …
Blu-Ray Review: The Indian Tomb
We live in a world which is now almost devoid of mystery, and it’s not a better place for it. Gone are the days when people who were fascinated by the exotic and the mythical had to feed their obsessions vicariously, through reports from adventurers such as Marco Polo. There was a time when Europeans …
Blu-Ray Review: The Party and The Guests
They say that the pen is mightier than the sword and It’s true that, in the long run, it’s better to win hearts and minds than use intimidation, violence and fear. This is often easier said than done. The last thing oppressive regimes want is freedom of thought or expression. One of the best ways …
Blu-Ray Review: Snowtown
Much of Australia is arid, inhospitable and entirely unforgiving country. Twenty percent desert, the majority of the central belt is uninhabitable and yields little or no rewards. It’s this climate which seems to have honed much of its national cinema. A certain no-nonsense brutality and muscularity which dominates the likes of Animal Kingdom, Wake in …