DVD/Blu-Ray Review
DVD Review: I Am Belfast
Mark Cousins’ love and devotion to film is unquestionable. Cinephile, film maker and occasional critic’s, his greatest work to date is the 15-hour opus The Story of Film: An Odyssey. Subsequently, he’s been involved with several other low budget projects with The Story of Children and Film being the most commercially, and critically, successful. In …
DVD Review: Heart of a Dog
Since the late 1960s Laurie Anderson has been busily creating and crafting her performance art and experimental music. The electronic pioneer is probably still best known for her single O Superman which brought her chart success in 1981. However, she’s been active across the cultural spectrum, from film-making to music and art. She’s remained prolific …
Blu-ray Review: Here Comes Mr Jordan (Criterion Collection)
The story of defying death and getting the chance to start over is one which has fascinated audiences since the introduction of talking films. Whilst the subject has been covered extensively, most notably in A Matter of Life and Death and Heaven Can Wait, the first film to consider this storyline was released by Columbia …
DVD Review: That Cold Day in the Park (Masters of Cinema)
Whilst Robert Altman has built himself a reputation as one of the greatest modern American directors it took a lot of toil and frustration before he got into the film industry. Whilst he’s best known for the likes of Nashville, McCabe & Mrs. Miller, The Player or M.A.S.H, he spent years working in TV and …
DVD Review: Too Late for Tears
Throughout history there have been stories of people whose lives have been blighted by an obsession with being rich. As the popular saying goes, money is the route to all evil. Cinema is littered with tales of those whose insatiable need to accumulate more and more money drives them to increasingly desperate lengths. In Byron …
DVD Review: Edvard Munch (Masters of Cinema)
Norwegian expressionism may not be at the top of your list when discussing art but it’s likely you’ll have seen at least one of Edvard Munch’s paintings. Indeed, I’d wager that The Scream would be up there with the most well-known paintings. He’s arguably the first Expressionist painter, alongside Gustav Klimt, and had a profound …
DVD Review: Woman on the Run
The portrayal of women in American films during the ’40s and ’50s usually mimicked the conservative norm. They were submissive, needed to be rescued, devoted to a man or overly emotional. If they didn’t love their man they were depicted as evil and manipulative. This didn’t reflect the post-war reality in America where couples often …
DVD Review: Concussion
Will Smith first came to prominence in hip hop duo DJ Jazzy Jeff & The Fresh Prince, but it wasn’t until he moved to Bel-Air that he became a household name. Despite punching an alien, his film career didn’t get off to the most auspicious start. Turning down the role of Neo in The Matrix …
DVD Review: Overlord (Criterion Collection)
World War II has been depicted on screen in many ways. Often the most affecting images are ones which appear in documentaries such as Night and Fog and Night Will Fall. However, they don’t always have the lasting emotional impact of narrative features like Come and See, The Thin Red Line or Saving Private Ryan. …
DVD Review: Moonwalkers
There have been no shortage of conspiracy theories about the moon landings over the years. Ever since Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin set foot on the lunar surface, there’s have been rumours and hearsay about a hoax. These were re-ignited when the internet came into being. In Antoine Bardou-Jacquet’s directorial debut Moonwalkers, the American government …