Criterion Collection
Blu-Ray Review: The Music Room (Criterion Collection)
Whilst Bollywood dominates the Indian film industry, there’s much more to Bharata’s cinema than merely the conveyor belt of love, loss, song and satire. The greatest Indian film-maker of all time, is without doubt, Satyajit Ray. His masterpiece is indubitably The Apu Trilogy. The story of a young Bengali boy growing up in the early …
Blu-Ray Review: Stalker (Criterion Collection)
In today’s effect driven film market, most science fiction cinema is reliant on green screens and CGI. However, as films such as Primer and Coherence demonstrate, more cerebral fare can be done well without relying on visual effects. Many consider Stanley Kubrick’s 2001: A Space Odyssey as the greatest sci-fi film ever made. However, a …
Blu-Ray Review: The Fisher King (Criterion Collection)
As a society, we finally seem to be starting to have long overdue conversations about mental health. However, the stigma still remains. Tragically, this has all come too late for Robin Williams. The actor, who had struggled with mental health for decades, seems to have finally been bested by dementia. In The Fisher King, writer …
Blu-Ray Review: Diabolique
In today’s cinema, M. Night Shyamalan is synonymous with plot twists. It has become expected. So much so, that it often detracts from the film itself with audiences trying to figure it out instead of enjoying the entertainment. The past master was of course the late great Alfred Hitchcock. However, Hitchcock knew how to mic …
Blu-Ray Review: 12 Angry Men (Criterion Collection)
What is the best film of all time? It’s a question liable to cause heated debate and end in arguments. Traditionally, Citizen Kane has tended to top these lists, but they were often English-language centric. No more so than the IMDB top 250, which Shawshank Redemption has been sat at the top of for years …
Blu-Ray Review: Tampopo (Criterion Collection)
The Japanese have a very special relationship with food. Often bathed in tradition and ceremony, food and drink are oft en as much about spirituality or religion than fulfilling a natural function. And as Naomi Kawase’s Sweat Bean (An) adeptly demonstrated last year, for the chef the pursuit of perfection is almost as important as …
Blu-Ray Review: The Life of Oharu (Criterion Collection)
There have been many films made about prostitutes, courtesans and concubines, but in Kenji Mizoguchi 1952 film The Life of Oharu the principal is all three. However, it’s more in the territory of Raise the Red Lantern or Farewell My Concubine than Pretty Woman. Whilst prostitutes tend to be gin-soaked cockneys in British period dramas, …
Film Review: Lone Wolf and Cub (Criterion Collection)
Manga plays a significant role in Japanese culture, which is difficult for outsiders to fully grasp. Several series have managed to embed themselves into the public consciousness, along with TV spinoffs and film franchises (not to mention an eclectic array of merchandise). Lone Wolf and Cub is one of the most famous. The first two …
Blu-Ray Review: Multiple Maniacs (Criterion Collection)
In a day and age where the term ‘pioneer’ is often loosely thrown around, there are very few, if any, who deserve the accolade more than John Waters. His early films were transgressive, awarding him a cult status and becoming the defining focus of the LGBT community in the 1970s. Multiple Maniacs, his second feature …
Blu-Ray Review: Cul-De-Sac (Criterion Collection)
Controversy over his personal life aside, there are few directors with a record of accomplishment over the last six decades as strong as Roman Polanski. Chinatown is one of the best films ever made. Rosemary’s Baby regularly features at the top of horror lists. Then there’s The Tenant, Repulsion, The Pianist, Macbeth and many more. …