Film reviews and more
If there was any ounce of nagging doubt concerning the health of modern British cinema, it was completely irradiated today with the announcement of the Moët British Independent Film Awards (BIFA) nominees for 2011. Amongst the names were some of the UK’s finest directorial talent including Lynne Ramsay and Steve McQueen, mixing it […]
★★★★☆ The Princess of Montpensier (2010) is a captivating historical drama with modern sensibilities from auteur director Bertrand Tavernier, starring Mélanie Thierry and Lambert Wilson. Tavernier is well known for historical narrative driven films, and The Princess of Montpensier is no disappointment.Set during the ‘War of Religions’, Marie (Thierry) becomes engaged to the […]
★★★★☆ An unconventional, surreal comedy set in the suburbs of Glasgow, Orphans (1998) is Peter Mullan’s first film behind the camera. Best known for his role as a recovering alcoholic in Ken Loach’s My Name Is Joe (1998) and currently seen in Paddy Considine’s Tyrannosaur (2011), Mullan’s acting career has seen him working […]
★★★☆☆ Reeling from the commercial failure of 1982’s One from the Heart and perhaps wary of his growing reputation as an obsessive monomaniac, in 1983 Francis Ford Coppola decided on The Outsiders – starring Tom Cruise, Matt Dillon, Rob Lowe and Patrick Swayze – as a self-consciously small project. The idea was suggested […]
★★★★☆ Francis Ford Coppola’s The Conversation (1974) – which stars Gene Hackman, John Cazale, Robert Duvall, Teri Garr, Harrison Ford, and Frederic Forrest – has taken on something of a cult status since its release almost 38 years ago. Having been shot between two Godfathers, and with Apocalypse Now (1979) making its appearance […]
★☆☆☆☆ If you manage to make it to the end of Ruggero Deodato’s controversial thriller The House on the Edge of the Park (1980), the overriding question you’ll probably be left asking is “Why would someone want to make such a film”, and “Why would anyone want to watch it?” David Hess, of […]
The films of cult Dutch director Dick Maas are as notorious for their difficulty to see as for their often graphic depictions of murder and mayhem. Released today on DVD, his latest effort Saint (2010) – starring Huub Stapel, Bert Luppes and Egbert Jan Weeber – gives a new and murderous twist to […]
★★★★☆ If you have any experience of Dutch director Dick Maas’ previous work, you will most likely have been eagerly anticipating his latest schlocker Saint (2010). If, however, this is the first time you have heard his name, his homage to 1980s slasher films – starring Huub Stapel, Bert Luppes and Egbert Jan […]
★★★☆☆ Loosely based on a short story by Raymond Carver, Dan Rush’s Everything Must Go (2010) follows the fortunes of an alcoholic salesman, Nick Halsey (Will Ferrell), who loses both his job and his wife on the same day. Nick is a high-powered salesman but his frequent lapses, drunken antics, and the weeks […]