★★☆☆☆ The found footage formula – much like the recent trend of big budget, 3D filmmaking – appears to have just as many detractors as it does enthusiasts. The Paranormal Activity money train keeps trundling mercilessly on, and the occasional exorcist mockumentary will still manage to take the US box Continue Reading
★★★☆☆ It’s Oscar season and the film on everyone’s mind is Michel Hazanavicius’ directorial triumph The Artist (2011), starring Jean Dujardin in the lead role. The exciting buzz around Dujardin may explain the delayed DVD release date of Éric Besnard’s Cash, which originally hit cinemas in 2008 and also featured Continue Reading
★★★☆☆ Marketed as something of a forgotten gem of British comedy by distributors StudioCanal and available for the first time ever on DVD to commemorate its 50th anniversary, Michael Truman’s Go to Blazes (1962) is a charmingly light, cheerfully petite film about a trio of motley amateurs and their attempts Continue Reading
★★★☆☆ When a film is unavailable to the public due to censorship or distribution issues, film geeks will always get sweaty with excitement at the thought of getting their filthy hands on an illicit copy. Although John Flynn’s Rolling Thunder (1977) was freely available on VHS, its rarity – and Continue Reading
★★★★☆ There are two distinct camps (no pun intended) within the genre of gay cinema – those which cater for the physical elements and those, like Sasha (2010), which approach from an emotional angle. Starring Sasha Kekez, Tim Bergmann and Yvonne Yung Hee, the latest film from writer/director Dennis Todorovic Continue Reading
★★★☆☆ The BFI reissue of Jack Hazan’s fascinating 1974 docudrama A Bigger Splash exploring David Hockney’s life between 1971-3 – after he separated from partner Peter Schlesinger – could not be more timely as it coincides with the opening of his new show at the Royal Academy of Arts, entitled Continue Reading