DVD Review: Pulp: A Film about Life, Death and Supermarkets
Whilst most of the band prefer shopping at Waitrose, Pulp: A Film about Life, Death and Supermarkets feels more like Morrisons fayre than its up-market sibling. Florian Habicht’s film is perfectly affable and enjoyable to a point, but suffers from having an identity crisis; caught between a concert film and straight documentary. It ends up …
Blu-ray Review: Absentia
There are a depressingly large amount of uninspiring, lazy and just plain bad horror films made. The proliferation of cheap technology has made it progressively easier for anyone to have a go at making films on a small budget. Absentia was funded though Kickstarter and cost a mere $70,000, and whilst there’s some interesting ideas …
Film Season Preview: The Cinema of Childhood
The Cinema of Childhood comes to the Showroom Cinema in Sheffield in July. Curated by eminent film scholar and filmmaker Mark Cousins, the season will be touring around the UK until the end of the year. It’s a unique opportunity to see wonderful films about childhood which have rarely or never been seen in the …
DVD Review: The Night is Young
With the release of Mauvais Sang (oddly named The Night is Young for English speaking audiences), Leos Carax confirmed his place as one of France’s most inventive and creative young directors, and a leading light in the Cinema du look movement. It’s beautifully inventive and creative, moving away from the imitation of Boy Meets Girl …
Film Festival Preview: Sheffield Doc/Fest – Part 3
Sheffield Doc/Fest is the premiere event in the Sheffield calendar. Taking place between 7-12 June, it’s one of the biggest and most renowned documentary film festivals in the world. Along with some of the best new documentaries expect live music, outdoor screenings and many accompanying events and talks. The last part of our preview focuses …
DVD Review: Generation Iron
Sometimes, from seemingly out of nowhere, a documentary really takes me by surprise. I’m really not a fan of bodybuilding and quite frankly can’t fathom why people would want to do it. Back in 1977 Pumping Iron first shed light on the world of bodybuilding and was the first glimpse the world had of a …
DVD Review: Hari-Kiri: Death of a Samurai
In 1963 Masaki Kobayashi won the Special Jury Prize at Cannes for his film Harakiri. There’s nothing quite like the word “remake” to send a wave of fear through your average film obsessive, but nothing much phases Takashi Miike. After building a reputation in extreme Asian cinema, the prolific director has settled down over the …
Incoming: Omar
A tense, gripping thriller about betrayal, suspected and real, in the Occupied Territories. Omar (Adam Bakri) is a Palestinian baker who routinely climbs over the separation wall to meet up with his girl Nadja (Leem Lubany). By night, he’s ready to risk his life to strike at the Israeli military with his childhood friends Tarek …
DVD Review: The Chris Marker Collection
Cast you mind back to a time before the internet. One of the only ways to discover what wonders the world held in store was through the medium of documentary. Writer, photographer, documentary film maker, multimedia artist and film essayist, Chris Marker was a man of many talents. Associated with the Left Bank Cinema movement, …
DVD Review: The Armstong Lie
Lance Armstrong is probably the most famous cyclist in the world, if not sportsperson. Between 1999 and 2005 he won the Tour de France a record breaking seven times consecutively, after having successfully recovered from testicular cancer. However, he’s always been dogged by rumour and speculation that he was doping in order to achieve his …