DVD/Blu-Ray Review
Blu-Ray Review: Two Rode Together
Whilst the buddy movie may seem like a fairly recent phenomenon, it’s a devise which has cut through genre and era since the early days of cinema. Westerns have seen several famous double-acts over the years. Most famously Butch Cassidy & the Sundance Kid, Wyatt Earp & ‘Doc’ Holliday, ‘Wild Bill’ Hickok & ‘Calamity Jane’ …
Blu-Ray Review: The Creeping Garden
Name any subject and it’s likely that someone, somewhere, has made a documentary about it. The weird and the bizarre can often make for the most interesting and fascinating films. Topics such as sexual attraction to large objects (Married to the Eiffel Tower), competitive tickling (Tickled), eccentrics (Grey Gardens), Tiffany obsessives (I Think We’re Alone …
Film Review: The Love Witch
As any genre aficionado will attest, there’s something rather magical about finding a great low budget horror film. Whilst there’s a tendency towards gore nowadays, in the ‘60s and ‘70s the likes of Roger Corman and Italian exploitation cinema garnered a reputation for producing overly camp or hammy pictures. These films still have a cult …
Blu-ray Review: Another Woman
Whilst Woody Allen has amassed an almost unparalleled body of work, it’s fair to say that he’s probably better known for his comedies than his dramas. However, I’d argue that his best work has come from more serious subject matter. Husbands and Wives, Blue Jasmine and Match Point are up there his best. It’s also …
Blu-Ray Review: The Anderson Tapes
The Heist movie has established its very own niche somewhere between the genres of crime drama and gangster films. Whilst there are a raft of (often British) heist films every year, it’s fair to say that it’s often a case of quantity of quality. There are, however, exceptions. Rififi, Reservoir Dogs, The Usual Suspects, Heat, …
Blu-Ray Review: Bunny Lake is Missing
Whilst Otto Preminger may have had a formidable reputation of being difficult to work with, highly strung and temperamental, he was also one of the best American filmmakers of his generation. He made his name in film noir through great films such as Laura and Fallen Angel before producing more high-profile work like Anatomy of …
Blu-Ray Review: The Last Detail (Indicator)
Jack Nicholson was one the most iconic actor of the ‘70s, with many of his biggest roles coming during that decade. Roman Polanski’s Chinatown is one of the best films ever made and it rived to be Nicholson’s defining role. Milos Forman’s One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest gave him the opportunity to really let …
Blu-Ray Review: Radio Days
Before the era of moving pictures, and subsequently the television, the wireless (or radio) formed the centrepiece of most family homes. Whilst it remains a popular medium today, it no longer has the same kind of draw it once did. In Radio Days, Woody Allen amasses an ensemble cast to pay tribute to the old-time …
Blu-Ray Review: Memories of Underdevelopment
Cuban cinema has very infrequently made a dent on the world stage. Before the revolution in 1959, it was largely concerned with straightforward melodramas. The ‘Golden age’ of Cuban cinema began shortly after, and lasted for around a decade. Arguably the most prominent director of this time was Tomas Gutierrez Alea. He was an infrequent, …
Blu-Ray Review: Hannah and Her Sisters
Considered by many critics to be his best film, Hannah and Her Sisters is also one of Woody Allen’s greatest Box Office successes. As with much of his work over that period, the irrepressible optimist cast his (then) partner Mia Farrow as one of the leads. Allen himself also features in a supporting role. It …