DVD/Blu-Ray Review
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 …
DVD Review: Our Vinyl Weighs a Ton
Stones Throw Records was founded by Chris Manak (Peanut Butter Wolf). Based in Los Angeles, California, the avant-garde independent record label is run with the ethos that if Wolf likes it, they’ll release it. Since its inception in 1996, and building a reputation largely around hip hop until fairly recently, Stones Throw have released music …
DVD Review: Inside Llewyn Davis
The idea behind Inside Llewyn Davis began with a single premise: Suppose Dave Van Ronk got beat up outside of Gerde’s Folk City in Greenwich Village. Taking that as their starting point, and basing the titular character very loosely on Van Ronk himself, the Coen Brothers wanted to make a film that was set just …
DVD Review: Man of Marble
Andrzej Wajda is a leading light of the Polish Film School and the most prominent Polish filmmaker. He’s received Academy Award Nominations for Best Foreign Language Film for The Promised Land, The Maids of Wilko, Man of Iron, and Katyn, and was awarded an Honorary Oscar 1999. Man of Marble, and its sequel Man of …
DVD Review: The Incident
The Incident is not a film you’re likely to be familiar with: Odds on you’ve never heard of it before. Starring a young Martin Sheen in his first film role, Larry Peerce’s film is an edgy look at the state of a crumbling society in the US in the late ‘60s which seemed to almost …
DVD Review – An Inspector Calls: 60th Anniversary Edition
Whilst An Inspector Calls began life as a play, it translates seamlessly onto film. Written by J.B. Priestly in the 1940s, it’s widely considered one of the classics of English mid-20th century theatre. Due to a strong writing, universal themes and a successful revival s by Stephen Daldry in the 1990s, it’s still touring and …
DVD Review: Hobson’s Choice
David Lean is one of the greatest film directors this country has ever produced. When it comes to period dramas, Oliver Twist and Great Expectations normally take the plaudits, but as far as I’m concerned, I think Hobson’s Choice is his best. To celebrate its 60th anniversary of this wonderful film, Studio Canal are releasing …
DVD Review: Sisters
Brian de Palma is a director who wears his influences on his sleeve. Many of his later movies were influenced by the work of Alfred Hitchcock, but Sisters was the first of his films to obviously embody this imitation. Drawing heavily on Hitchcock’s Psycho and Rear Window, Sisters is by no means a mere copy, …
DVD Review: Wrinkles
Based on the award-winning comic by Paco Roca, Wrinkles is a very unique kind of European animated film. It reminds me in tone and structure of the wonderful When the Wind Blows, and left me feeling equally melancholy. The Spanish film is possibly the closest a Western animation has come to capturing the magic and …
DVD Review: Ace in the Hole (Masters of Cinema)
Masters of Cinema’s beautiful new transfer of Billy Wilder’s superb Ace in the Hole is an absolute treat. Whilst Wilder, one of the best directors of his generation, is better known for Some Like it Hot, The Apartment, Double Indemnity, The Seven Year Itch and Sunset Boulevard, he always considered Ace in the Hole to …