Arrow Academy
Blu-Ray Review: The Apartment
For more than five decades Jack Lemmon was a familiar face on big screens and a much-loved actor. He won an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor for Mister Roberts in 1955 and made over fifty films before he reprised his most famous double act with Walter Matthau in The Odd Couple II in 1998. …
Film Review: Lost in Paris
The art of the cinema clown has its roots in the role played by court jesters in Medieval history. In the silent era, they were the biggest names in film. Charlie Chaplin, Buster Keaton and Laurel & Hardy wowed and amazed audiences with their wit, physical acting and daring escapades. Whilst the tradition has continued, …
Blu-Ray Review: Four Film Noir Classics
Between the beginning of the 1940s and end of the 1950s, the most exciting genre in American cinema was undoubtedly film noir. With its mix of stylistic black and white (often experimental) visuals, hard-nosed protagonists and femme fatales, it still remains influential on modern cinema. The likes of D.O.A., The Big Heat, Double Indemnity, In …
Blu-Ray Review: Zoology
Individualism isn’t a characteristic necessarily valued in many societies. Indeed, people who are considered different are often viewed as strange, outsiders, weirdos, perverts or troublemakers. The rise of nationalism around the world has led to a rise in conformity. This is especially the case in Russia. With Vladimir Putin (in all but name) controlling most …
Blu-Ray Review: Le Plaisir
Some celluloid experiences are just pure pleasure. Aptly named, Le Plaisir is one such film. Based on a triptych of tales by Guy de Maupassant, Max Ophuls brings the bewildering decadence of late 19th century France to life on the screen. His camera roams around luxurious ballrooms, high class brothels and artist studios, dazzling and …
Blu-Ray Review: The Legend of the Holy Drinker
Whilst he’s best known for playing a replicant in Blade Runner or a mysterious black knight in Ladyhawke, Rutger Hauer has had an eclectic and highly durable career in front of the camera. Whether playing a psychopath in The Hitcher, a Concentration Camp prisoner in Escape from Sobibor or a mercenary captain in Flesh and …
Blu-Ray Review: The Tree of Wooden Clogs
The golden age of Italian cinema coincided with the emergence of neorealism within the country’s film-making. In a movement characterised by the use of non-professional actors, filming on location and focussing on the poor, the Italians were king. In 1978, Ermanno Olmi took inspiration from this movement, along with an emphasis on studying family which …
Blu-Ray Review: The Big Knife
Narcissism and film-making are often happy bedfellows. Indeed, the theme of Hollywood and the film industry have proved to be fertile ground for screenwriters, directors and producers. There has been a lot of hatred and bile aimed squarely at the studio system. Great directors such as David Lynch (Mulholland Drive), David Cronenberg (Map to the …
Film Review: The Untamed
Thanks to Guillermo del Toro, Mexican horror cinema is firmly on the map. However, it’s a country with a rich tradition of genre cinema. Mexican director Amat Escalante caused a stir in 2013 when his brutal, gritty and earthy Heli wowed and stunned audiences on the festival circuit. For his latest film, Escalante follows in …
Blu-Ray Review: Clash
There’s been extensive media coverage of the ‘Arab Spring’, with much of the focus falling on Egypt. And whilst the country came together to help bring down President Hosni Mubarak in 2011, Egypt is not, and never will be, a united country. It’s a subject which has fascinated documentary film-makers. In his debut film, 678, …