Film
Film Review: Rocks
Childhood is meant to be a special time. One of excitement, adventure and discovery. A period of personal and physical growth through learning and play, but also a chance to experiment and experience a range of new and exciting things. This requires an implicit trust in our parent(s) or guardian(s) to take care of the …
Blu-Ray Review: Show Boat (1936)
Whilst he was only actively making films for just over a decade, James Whale played a pivotal role in the development of genre cinema in America. Influenced by early European expressionist cinema, the West Countryman made some of the most iconic early horror films, including The Old Dark House, Frankenstein, The Bride of Frankenstein and …
Open City Docs Review: Once Upon A Youth
Whilst it might not have seemed so at the time, your teenage years are the ones which will stay with you for the rest of your life. The music you listen to, the films you watch, the books you read and the people you shared those obsessions with. It’s a time of growth. Of transition …
Film Review: Summerland
If you ask me, and no one has, one of the worst side-effects of our new technological age are dating sites and apps. Nothing sucks the life out of finding your soulmate more than reading through a list of uninspiring copied and pasted favourite books and films or swiping left on a number of staged …
Blu-Ray Review: Safety Last!
Whilst many of the films produced during the silent era may now be lost, damaged or forgotten, it was a pivotal period in cinema and established a strong bond between audiences and motion pictures. A variety of genres began to flourish during that time but it’s perhaps the American comedies which still retain the most …
Open City Docs Review: Sunless Shadows
Despite all the progress which has been made over the last few decades, we still live in a distinctly patriarchal world. Whilst it’s the case (pretty much) everywhere, in some places it seems like very little progress has been made over the last hundred years. Indeed, certain nations have regressed. These tend to be states …
Blu-Ray Review: The Deep
The seas have long been happy hunting grounds for treasure seekers and explorers. Our maritime history and a number of wars resulted in the ocean floors becoming repositories of rich bounties for enterprising buccaneers. However, whilst there’s money to be made, there’s also dangers lurking above and below the waves. Whilst these opportunities are limited …
Open City Docs Review: Victoria
One of the most fascinating aspects of town planning is the phenomenon of ghost cities. Places which have been designed and created to be bustling metropolitan centres but which end up, due to political, economic or environmental factors, empty and largely abandoned. The most famous examples are in China, but you can find many others …
Open City Docs Review: Faith
Whether you want to class them as religions or cults, there are undoubtedly a heck of a lot of them. The fact anyone can create one, is the first sign of danger. Although, it’s almost always men who start them, and ‘coincidentally’ they usually involve some form of free love/bigamy. However, most seem to be …
Film Review: Memories of Murder
When Parasite won the Best Film at the 2020 Academy Awards, it became the first non-English language film to perform this feat. However, director Bong Joon-ho has been thrilling audiences for twenty years since his feature debut, Barking Dogs Never Bite. Snowpiercer, Okja, Mother and The Host have wowed festival audiences and indie film fans. …