This dazzling collection of the works of Belgian siblings Jean-Pierre and Luc is one of the best home entertainment releases of the year. Collating together six of their pictures, beautifully presented by distributors Artificial Eye, the box set features some of the most beautiful and honest filmmaking Europe has seen in recent times. There is…
For film lovers of my generation, the genius of Hitchcock is something we appreciate as late-comers to a wonderful party. The host has left, but the fun lives on. We earnestly immerse ourselves in his work, but we cannot recreate the sense of excitement and fascination that must have surrounded his projects when he first…
It isn’t the best film ever made, but may well be the most Christmassy. The Polar Express has been part of my Christmas tradition for years, and anyone wanting to get into the festive spirit need only put the disc into their machine and be transported to a the North Pole. The story is a…
Gregory Peck’s performance as the white lawyer determined to defend a young black man is perhaps the best of his career. I adore Harper Lee’s original novel, and read it many years before seeing the film. When I first watched it I was amazed how close his interpretation of Atticus Finch, the brave father of…
Big, moving, well-made family blockbusters don’t come along very often. But when they do, they remind us how wonderful it is to be caught up in a thumping good story with characters (including animals) we can connect with and care for. In the age of big brainless 3D franchise films (Pirates, Transformers), it is wonderful to…
Masters of Cinema have given us some of the best blu-ray releases of the year (their edition of Touch of Evil was a 100 Discs of Christmas choice recently), and the treatment they have given to Alfred Hitchcock’s Lifeboat is stunning. The film is a fascinating Second World War drama. It is entirely set on a lifeboat…
This year marks 100 years of Universal Pictures. It’s an achievement worth celebrating, and Universal are doing it in style. They have spent the past twelve months releasing sumptuously packaged new editions of their finest work, restoring the films themselves in stunning 1080p high definition. This beautiful ‘digi-book’ edition of Gladiator is one of my…
This was a film ahead of its time. It contains radical decisions in filmmaking and the story pushes aside the attitudes towards controversial topics of the time. Orson Welles contributed many things to the history of cinema, but this film is perhaps his potent contribution to the future of it. Beautifully presented in multiple editions…
It’s 1953 Los Angeles and life in the ‘City of Angels’ isn’t so great. Crime is rife whilst the LAPD has its fair share of corruption and crooked cops. A brutal and grisly murder at a local café seems like just another armed robbery gone too far to all except Lieutenants Ed Exley (Guy Pearce),…
Eli Roth’s Hostel and Hostel Part II were far from masterpieces. They did, however, influence a new wave of cinema. For better or for worse, they ignited a new hunger in mainstream audiences. People started to pay for gore; the bloodier the better. But although some of the desire is still there, the fact this…
Loosely based on writer-director Cameron Crowe’s own experiences as a Rolling Stone journalist, Almost Famous is an engaging lover letter to 1970’s rock music. Fifteen year-old William Miller manages to talk his way into writing an article on rock band ‘Stillwater’ for Rolling Stone magazine. Through his obvious passion for the band he is allowed…
Everyone loves a Dickens adaptation at Christmas, and this is one of the best every produced. Spread over fifteen compelling episodes, acclaimed screenwriter Andrew Davies superbly adapts Dickens’s huge multi-stranded novel so that it works perfectly as a mini-series. The cast list contains some of Britain’s finest actors, but for me The X Files star Gillian Anderson…
Gosling plays Stephen Meyers, the press secretary to the potential next President, governor Mike Morris (Clooney). Meyers may not be the top-dog on the campaign – that position goes to Paul (Philip Seymour Hoffman) – but he has a certain power and control that his opponents revere and envy. He knows exactly what to do,…
Weaving together the stories of American cook Julia Child (an astonishing Meryl Streep) and New York blogger Julie Powell, this is about two interesting women finding themselves through cooking. Julie Powell cooks her way through Child’s book of 500-plus recipes, giving herself a year to complete her challenge. She’s living the book, and Child, in her part…