UK Criterion
Blu-Ray Review: The Infernal Affairs Trilogy
While Hong Kong is geographically small, it has always punched well above its weight. It became one of the biggest financial centres in the world. Space is at a premium and it can feel like they built upwards towards the stars; which can be a dizzying experience. Its status has sadly changed since the Chinese …
Blu-Ray Review: Eve’s Bayou
Some people seem to have the ideal life. The big house, the great job, the beautiful partner and children. Popular, with a large number of glamorous friends and associates. Everyone wants to know and be seen with them. Courts their favour. However, looks can be deceiving and when you peek behind the curtain there’s often …
Blu-Ray Review: Lost Highway
There’s nothing quite like a David Lynch mystery to get the old grey matter working. There’s no one quite like him in modern cinema and, despite some obvious influences and recurring themes, his reluctance to explain anything ensures the mystique endures. So many column inches have been dedicated to attempting to decode the inner meaning …
Blu-Ray Review: Take Out
Sean Baker has been one of the more interesting independent filmmakers to break through into mainstream cinema in the last few years. He has built a career around capturing the stories of marginalised groups within the USA. While Red Rocket, The Florida Project and his breakthrough Tangerines have put him on the map, he’d been …
Blu-Ray Review: Hearts and Minds
The Vietnam War was one of the lowest points in post-war US history, and there is stiff competition for that title. The USSR and America spent almost twenty years waging a proxy war in south east Asia. For a country renowned for its patriotism and nationalism, it proved to be a highly contentious conflict at …
Blu-Ray Review: The Great Dictator
Hindsight is a wonderful thing. Today, if you watch any of the rallies Hitler addressed it’s easy to see how dangerous he was or would become. At the same time, he comes across as a raving madman. He exhibited a style of delivery and a espoused a form of dogma which characterises most despots. It …
Blu-Ray Review: The Big Chill
Lawrence Kasdan was undoubtedly one of the most influential voices in the American film industry during the 1980s and 1990s. He’s probably best known as a screenwriter, working on the likes of The Empire Strikes Back, Raiders of the Lost Ark, Return of the Jedi and The Bodyguard. However, he has also adapted a number …
Blu-Ray Review: The Breaking Point
While Ernest Hemingway may have only published seven novels during his lifetime, his writing style had a profound influence on American literature. An author whose work was very much shaped by his experiences, themes such as love, travel and loss punctuated a lively creativity. His novels have been adapted for the big screen many times. …
Blu-Ray Review: Shaft
Hollywood has always been a very white place. Whilst some purposeful steps have been made this century, at least in front of the camera, there is still a long way to go. When black people appeared on screen in the early 1970s, they were usually the bad guy or, at best, a sidekick. There were …
Blu-Ray Review: Black Girl
While you might think that domestic servitude is a thing of the past, it’s alive and kicking in many parts of the world. While it’s rife in regions such as the Indian Subcontinent, Middle-East, South-East Asia and many parts of Africa, that doesn’t mean to say it doesn’t still happen in Europe. While the colonial …