Marmite. Garlic. Brussels Sprouts. Don’t worry, you’re in the right place; this is a film review. Why the hell has it began with a list of disgusting foods you ask? Well, that’s the point; to many people, they’re actually delicious. You simply either love ’em or hate ’em. Which brings us to Chronicle. First-time director…
A film about a sex addict in New York sounds like a banal rom-com starring some A-list heartthrob like Ashton Kutcher or Gerard Butler. Well, Steve McQueen’s Shame couldn’t be further from that stomach-churning premise. The British director’s sombre morality play about a sex pest in the city is a bleak and intriguing affair; an unflinching…
As much as I try to go into each film I see with as little prejudice as possible, the advertising campaign for Alexander Payne’s new movie The Descendants had convinced me I wasn’t going to like it. The trailer had an incredibly annoying tone to it, as if it was saying ‘Look! This movie is kooky! Slightly…
A modern-day spin on one of Shakespeare’s lesser known plays, Coriolanus is an ambitious and lyrical Greek tragedy that has everything you’d expect from the mind of the Bard; betrayal, revenge, pride, conflict, monologues, dilemmas, death- it’s all in there. The only thing missing is a star-crossed lover or two. Both its star and director,…
As a cinephile and complete HD-whore, I spend most of my free time watching old films from yesteryear that have been remastered in high definition. I am also a horror fan, so Arrow Video’s expertly curated selection of old horror movies – which ranges from genre classics to little-known masterpieces to low-budget trash – is…
I am a fan of Tobe Hooper. Anyone who makes a film as astonishingly effective as The Texas Chainsaw Massacre deserves a level of respect. My love of that film has lead to me exploring his other works, but sadly the new blu-ray release his 1981 film The Funhouse left me cold and disappointed. The…
This year marks the 100th anniversary of Universal Pictures, one of Hollywood’s oldest and most successful movie studios. To celebrate this, Universal are remastering a selection of their most iconic and famous films and releasing them on blu-ray and DVD. One of these releases is Robert Mulligan’s 1962 picture To Kill a Mockingbird, an adaptation…
“Growing up we all wanted to know who the toughest kid in the neighbourhood was right? I wanna know who the toughest man on the planet is. That’s what we’re gonna find out.” Set around the father Paddy (Nick Nolte) and his two estranged sons, Warrior follows their battles with each other, money, their pasts…
This film is too small, sensitive and understated to get much mainstream attention, but it was very well received by both audiences and critics when it was released in cinemas last year. It looks at the subject of gender identity by observing a sweet family drama, played from the point of view of a ten-year-old…
Ken Russell sadly died November last year, and The Devils is a work that haunted him throughout the last forty years of his life. It’s had a troubled history, with censors enforcing cuts upon it. Russell was pressured into reducing and changing certain scenes so as to avoid the film falling foul of the laws and…
Coming hot on the heels of last year’s Contagion, Steven Soderbergh’s Haywire is the astoundingly prolific director’s first proper foray into the action genre. Soderbergh has never struggled with making genres his own, leaving an obvious authorial signature on each film despite his extensive back catalogue, and Haywire is no exception. The essence of this…
Joel Schumacher, known for his destruction of the Batman film franchise prior to Nolan’s adaption, returns with what can only be described as a below-average popcorn flick.It follows a clichéd rich family (Nicole Kidman, Nicholas Cage and Liana Liberato) as they are trapped and taken hostage within their own private domain after a group of…
Two Mexican-American sisters (Alex Vega and Camilla Belle) who have lost their mother suddenly become orphans when their father dies. They have lived comfortably all their lives in a beautiful mansion, but it turns out their dad was in debt and they have no choice but let the house go. They move to a dodgy…
The moment the Risky Business-style retro pink credits appear above a glittering night-time Los Angeles pulsing with ‘80s-inspired synth-pop, you know this film is going to be stylised. Drive‘s music is of particular note: tracks such as ‘Night Call’ and ‘A Real Hero’, by Kavinsky and College respectively, provide a phenomenal soundtrack of moody electro-pop – seemingly…