2011
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BFI London Film Festival 2011: ‘Dragonslayer’
★★★☆☆ Director Tristan Patterson’s award-winning documentary Dragonslayer (2011) (SXSW Grand Jury Prize for best documentary feature) documents the life of Josh ‘Skreech’ Sandoval, a jaded skateboarding veteran living in the sun-drenched, extreme sports-loving town of Fullerton, California.Skreech’s skateboarding career has almost grounded to a complete halt and despite his local fame his sponsorship deals have…
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BFI London Film Festival 2011: ‘Headhunters’
★★☆☆☆ Adapted from Jo Nesbø’s international bestselling novel Headhunters (2011), director Morten Tyldum’s third full length feature is a taut Norwegian thriller, full of Scandinavian humour that’s already lined up for an invertible Hollywood remake.Despite his diminutive stature, Roger (Aksel Hennie) is a corporate recruiter who seems to have it all. He dresses in the…
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BFI London Film Festival 2011: ‘Return’
★★☆☆☆ Following the recent influx of anti-war films with a more inwardly-looking perspective, Liza Johnson’s debut feature Return (2011) – which screens at this year’s 55th BFI London Film Festival – stars Linda Cardellini as a female officer unable to reintegrate into society after the horrors she witnessed in Afghanistan, alongside Michael Shannon and John…
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BFI London Film Festival 2011: ‘The Ides of March’
★★★☆☆ One of the big-hitters of the 55th BFI London Film Festival and starring and directed by George Clooney, The Ides of March (2011) is a political drama with actor of the moment Ryan Gosling, Paul Giamatti, Philip Seymour Hoffman and Evan Rachel Wood. Clooney’s latest is adapted from the play Farragut North by Beau…
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Barbican Film: Mark Gatiss and Jonathan Rigby ScreenTalk
On 11 October, Halloween began early at the Barbican Centre with a screen talk by Mark Gatiss and film critic Jonathan Rigby, followed by a screening of Harry Kümel’s Belgian vampire film Daughters of Darkness (1971). The hour-long discussion covered much the same ground as Gatiss’ BBC4 series A History of Horror – on which…
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Blu-ray Review: ‘Empire of Passion’
★★★☆☆ Nagisa Ôshima is no stranger to controversial topics and challenging conflicts, mixing life, death, love, sex and passion into ultimately powerful experiences. He does this once again in Empire of Passion (1978), which follows his borderline sexually-graphic In the Realm of the Senses (1976) with the steps of a younger, less-confident and less-passionate sibling.The…
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Blu-ray Review: ‘In the Realm of the Senses’
★★★★☆ Claimed by many to be a film that blurs the boundaries between art and pornography, Nagisa Ôshima’s In the Realm of the Senses (1976) – starring Tatsuya Fuji, Eiko Matsuda and Aoi Nakajima – is certainly a piece of cinema that presents the viewer with a visual and emotional challenge, pushing the limits of…
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DVD Review: ‘Shiver’ (2008)
★★★★☆ If, like me, you felt modern horror movies had lost the plot, Shiver (2008) – a wonderfully stylish chiller from Spain – may just be enough to restore your faltering faith. Director Isidro Ortiz, the man behind Fausto 5.0 (2001) and Alvaro Augustin, producer of Pan’s Labyrinth (2006) and The Orphanage (2007), pit Julio…
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DVD Review: ‘The Guardian’ (1990)
★★☆☆☆ No, this is not an in-depth look at the daily running of one of Britain’s top broadsheets, though that may have been more satisfying than The Guardian (1990), The Exorcist (1973) director William Friedkin’s demonic take on Mary Poppins. Starring that most British of actresses Jenny Seagrove as the nanny from hell, with Dwier…
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DVD Review: ‘The Devil’s Kiss’
★☆☆☆☆ You know those films which are so bad they’re good? Well, unfortunately The Devil’s Kiss (1975) isn’t one. This (apparent) ‘Euro-terror’ classic from director Jordi Gigó – who gave us Porno Girls (1977) – is just plain bad. Featuring Silvia Solar, Olivier Mathot and Jose Nieto – all three of whom also starred in that…