FIlm Review
Blu-Ray Review: Bloody Spear at Mount Fuji
Whilst the country found itself in a deep depression after defeat in World War II and subsequent occupation, the 1950s is considered to be the golden age of Japanese cinema. Three of the greatest films of all time (Rashomon and Seven Samurai – Akira Kurosawa and Tokyo Story – Yasujirō Ozu) were released that decade, …
Blu-ray Review: Custody
Divorce or separation is never an easy time for those involved but it’s often the children who suffer the most. It’s all too common for adults to get caught-up in their own personal conflicts and not realise the impact their animosity is having on their loved ones. This is the subject of actor turned director …
Film Review: The Man from Mo’Wax
In 1992, James Lavelle founded Mo’Wax Records and revolutionised the British music industry. Along with Tim Goldsworthy, the teenager, who had been DJing since the age of 14, brought a new wave of musical creativity to an unsuspecting public. Focussing on trip hop, hip hop and breaks, Mo’ Wax released records by the likes of …
Blu-Ray Review: I Vitelloni
Federico Fellini was one of the greatest directors and screenwriters ever to work in Italian cinema. Films such as 8 ½, La Dolce Vita, La Strada and The Night of Cabaria still regularly feature in ‘best-of’ lists and grace special screenings and retrospectives around the world. After beginning his career as an assistant and writer …
Film Review – The Strangers: Prey at Night
Horror is a genre which loves its franchises, but the success of a film doesn’t necessarily guarantee money will be invested in a sequel. Even when it is, the results tend to be less than pretty and often become a pale shadow of the original. Conversely, given the low budgets often involved, a bad film …
DVD Review: The Night Eats The World
Zombies have become big business over the last couple of decades. They seem to have seeped into every nook and cranny of popular culture. Whilst the success of The Walking Dead is possibly partly to blame, that doesn’t really explain the sudden proliferation of films since the turn of the century. The likes of (the) …
Film Review: The King
Elvis Aaron Presley was the greatest entertainer who ever lived. Despite not being able to read or write music, he became a household name around the world. Even his decline and death still fascinates and resonates. What made him so successful was a mixture of extreme raw talent, the visionary and authoritarian management of Colonel …
Blu-Ray Review: The Crime of Monsieur Lange
Jean Renoir was undoubtedly one of the greats of early cinema and amongst the most influential directors in the history of French film-making. Indeed, two films he made during the 1930s (La Grande Illusion and The Rules of the Game) are often cited in lists of the greatest works of the period. Renoir was one …
Blu-ray Review: Missing
Most of the history taught in schools around the Cold War centres on tensions between the USA and the USSR and nuclear proliferation. However, the biggest destructive impact of this period was in the proxy wars fought in countries across the globe. Whilst Vietnam and Korea are the most famous examples, both sides were (often …
DVD Review: The Last Warrior
Over the last decade or so Russia has begun to re-position itself on the world stage as a cinematic competitor to China and America. In a similar vein to the Chinese experience, it has found that many things its citizens find commonplace are often viewed as unusual outside its borders. However, that is slowly changing. …