DVD/Blu-Ray Review
DVD Review: Just Jim
2015 has been a particularly sterile year for the British Film Industry. Despite the amount of films being made in this country, they typically have turned out to be bland, predicable and lacking in imagination. In simplistic terms, there’s a distinct lack of ambition and courage, producing often dour, insipid snoozefests or infant school level …
DVD Review: What Have You Done To Solange?
Giallo is probably the most visually arresting and culturally interesting horror sub genre. The mixture of slasher film with elements of mystery, crime and the supernatural is an intoxicating combination which remains popular to this day. Whilst the names Dario Argento and Mario Bava are synonymous with the genre there were many other lesser known …
DVD Review: The Czechoslovak New Wave Collection II
The Czechoslovak New Wave was one of the richest periods of cinema in the 20th Century. A mix of originality, innovation, beauty, abdusdity and political satire resulted in some of the most groundbreaking cinema. For a short period during the 1960’s, Czechoslovakia was the most vital and exciting place to be for new film-making. Pioneering …
DVD Review: A New Leaf
Whilst the hangdog appearance of Walter Matthau is easily recognisable, you may find yourself hard-pressed to name many of his films. The Odd Couple, Kotch, The Fortune Cookie, The Sunshine Boys and Hello, Dolly! Are all great films but he never seemed to fit the profile of a Hollywood leading man. In Elaine May’s directorial …
DVD Review: Ghost Story
Glossy modern horror films tend to rely on (mostly dreadful) CGI to deliver their ‘shocks’ but there was a time when terror came from the simple art of good storytelling. Anyone familiar with the stories of M.R. James will know the power that imagination and invention can have. In Ghost Story, John Irwin’s film based …
DVD Review: The Gift
Act in haste, repent at leisure. We don’t always think through the actions we take and are often blind to the hurt we cause to others (or worse, just don’t care), and more often than not they come back to haunt us. Lies and revenge are the subject of writer and director Joel Edgerton’s film …
DVD Review: All My Good Countrymen
Politics and Eastern European film-making went hand in hand for many decades. This was sometimes at the behest of the authorities but the best examples are when film makers use their voice to criticise. Often considered to be the ‘most Czech’ of his contemporaries in terms of inward focus and one of the main influences …
Blu-ray Review: The Reflecting Skin
The Reflecting Skins was originally going to be called American Gothic which would have succinctly summed-up what to expect from Philip Ridley’s film. It possesses all the strangeness, mystery and surreal elements you’d expect from that title but also the rural American backdrops and sensibility. The beautiful sun-drenched corn fields are counterpointed against the inner …
DVD Review: Closely Observed Trains
If you ask most people in this country to name a famous Czech writer it’s odds on that the response will be either Franz Kafka or Milan Kundera. However, if you were to ask the same question in Prague or Brno you’re likely to receive a different reply. There’s a good chance the response you’ll …
DVD Review: The Fallen Idol
Given it’s Noirvember, now seems the perfect time to rediscover one of cinema’s almost forgotten film noir classic. Directed by Carol Reed and adapted from his own book by Graham Greene (both were nominated for Academy Awards for their troubles), The Fallen Idol is an impressive yet simple film. The pair most famously collaborated together …