DVD/Blu-Ray Review
Blu-Ray Review – Mechanic: Resurrection
American cinemagoers love an action hero. With the likes of Arnold Schwarzenegger, Sly Stallone, Chuck Norris and Harrison Ford, the 1980s was a fertile period for muscle and bullets. We Brits tend to carry out our business a bit more quietly, most notably through the tailored suits and the Oxbridge English of James Bond. Jason …
DVD Review: Happy Birthday To Me
Teenage girls have it rough. Not only are their bodies undergoing a series of strange and unsettling changes, there’s the added media pressure of body image and (often unwanted) attention from boys. By far the scariest challenge is their peers. Cinema has tackled this is many way, most memorably in Mean Girls, Carrie, and The …
Blu-Ray Review: Lords of Dogtown
In 2001 Stacy Peralta made the documentary Dogtown and the Z-Boys. It was a very personal film for Peralta as he was one of the leading lights of the Zephyr skateboarding team. A team which took the sport of skateboarding by storm, against the backdrop of the poverty of ‘Dogtown’. Taking their influences from surfing …
Blu-ray Review: Lo and Behold, Reveries of the Connected World
There are few people in the world today like Werner Herzog, let alone film directors. Whilst he made his name with early films such as Aguirre, the Wrath of God, The Enigma of Kaspar Hauser and Fitzcarraldo, it has been documentary film-making which he returns to again and again. It’s also a medium where he …
Blu-Ray Review: The Squid and the Whale (Criterion Collection)
When it comes to telling contemporary stories of New York life there’s no one better than Brooklynite Noah Baumbach. His debut, Kicking and Screaming is a semi-biographical account of his time at colleague. Despite a sojourn in LA where he notably made Greenberg, the Big Apple has been a vibrant backdrop for films such as …
Blu-ray Review: The Royal Tenenbaums (Criterion Collection)
There are few, if any, living directors who have such a large cult fanbase as Wes Anderson. His work is epitomised by its unique visual style, unusual plotting, and recurring cast members. The big breakthrough came with Rushmore, but he subsequently received widespread praise for The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou, Moonrise Kingdom and The …
Blu-Ray Review: Jinnah
Biographical films have always been good box office. Often huge undertakings, in terms of cost and size of cast, they’ve proved to be popular both critically and with cinemagoers. They range from epics such as Gandhi, Lawrence of Arabia and Braveheart to the more intimate affairs of American Splendour and Ed Wood. Whilst Jamil Dehlavi’s …
Blu-Ray Review: Assault on Precinct 13
In general, remakes are a blight on cinema. Probably due to his original films being low-budget and acquiring such a cult status, John Carpenter finds his work keenly coveted for new versions. With Starman and Big Trouble in Little China being in the pipeline, directors and producers never learn that his films are too unique …
DVD Review: Tickled
Anyone who’s been to a documentary film festival knows it can often turn into a bit of an endurance event. Whilst mostly fascinating, it’s a genre which can take a lot out of you. So, when a light-hearted film comes along, it can be a blessed relief. That’s what David Farrier and Dylan Reeve thought …
DVD Review: The Lovers and the Despot
As one of the few remaining ‘closed’ countries in the world, North Korea has continued to fascinate, bemuse, bewilder and scare much of the free world since the Korean War over sixty years ago. In terms of cinema, many documentarians have struggled over the years to steal a peek behind the curtain. The most notable …