★★★★★ Finally given the digital restoration it so thoroughly deserves (and with the personal blessing of its director), Bertrand Tavernier’s immensely prescient sci-fi parable Death Watch (Le Mort en Direct, 1980) makes its way back into select cinemas this week courtesy of a Park […]
‘Tell no one’ runs the tagline, and while the first rule of Secret Cinema is not necessarily that you do not talk about the pop-up events, they’d rather you didn’t shout the identity of the undisclosed film from the rooftops. By now surely London’s […]
★★★★☆ Sion Sono, the acclaimed director of Cold Fish (2010) and Love Exposure (2008), returns this week his latest offering Himizu (2011). The film is a deeply personal and intense cinematic reaction to the Japanese earthquake and corresponding tsunami of 2011 which sadly lead […]
★★☆☆☆ Undeniably one of this year’s most anticipated blockbusters, Ridley Scott’s Prometheus (2012) sees the British director return to the genre which brought us two of the greatest science fiction films ever made – Alien (1979) and Blade Runner (1982). Boasting an all-star cast […]
★★☆☆☆ Originally aired in the UK back in 1962 under the name ‘Boss Cat’, Hanna-Barbera’s Top Cat remains for many one of the most cherished cartoon series ever made. His latest incarnation originates from Mexico and is so far one of the country’s most […]
At a low-key press conference at the Filmhouse earlier this morning, newly-appointed artistic director Chris Fujiwara took to the podium to announce the official programme for the Edinburgh International Film Festival 2012, due to take place at venues across Edinburgh including Cineworld, Filmhouse and […]
★★★★☆ Slow cinema fans rejoice! Hungarian auteur Béla Tarr’s festival favourite The Turin Horse (A torinói ló, 2011) finally reaches UK cinemas this week courtesy of Artificial Eye, delivering an austere, monochrome tale of equine melancholy, boiled potatoes and everything in between. Maligned by […]
★★★★☆ Standing proudly as the only British film considered for the coveted Palme d’Or at this year’s 65th Cannes Film Festival, Ken Loach’s welcome return to screens, The Angels’ Share (2012), sees the veteran director in a playful mood. Alongside regular screenwriter Paul Laverty, […]
★★★☆☆ Riding into town less than two months after Tarsem Singh’s gaudy Mirror Mirror, Rupert Sanders’ Snow White and the Huntsman (2012) has been heavily marketed as a darker, grittier re-imagining of the same classic fairy tale. Starring Twilight heroine Kristen Stewart as Snow, […]
★★☆☆☆ Andy Milligan is a perplexing and difficult director to grasp, and nowhere is this more evident than in his 1970 feature Nightbirds, starring Berwick Kaler and Julie Shaw. Nightbirds undoubtedly possesses a compelling narrative centred around two young, down-and-out hippies who, through a […]
★★★★☆ New to Dual Format DVD/Blu-ray courtesy of the BFI Flipside stable, Ian Merrick’s serial killer drama The Black Panther (1977) was hounded out of cinemas upon its original release thanks to a media-driven witch hunt, appalled by the film’s non-sensationalist, clinical exploration of […]
★★★★☆ Critically acclaimed Swedish auteur Ernst Ingmar Bergman, director of such magnificent films as The Seventh Seal (1957) and Wild Strawberries (1957), is commonly regarded as one of world cinema’s greatest ever directors – and rightly so. Now, thanks to Artificial Eye, fans can […]
★★★☆☆ Peccadillo Pictures have once again compiled an eclectic mix of gritty queer shorts, with the aptly-titled collection Boys on Film: Cruel Britannia (2012). These moody meditations on young men coming to terms with their sexuality and the tribulations they encounter in the process […]
★★☆☆☆ Fans of Dwayne Johnson (and yes, there are some) do not necessarily appreciate him for his acting skills, which is just as well as there are few of those on display from him, or any of the other cast members, in Journey 2: […]
★★★☆☆ Courtesy of award-winning American actor, writer and director Lena Dunham, Tiny Furniture (2010) is a film that will bewitch some – and infuriate many. It’s an incredibly self-indulgent, self-important piece, full of kooky, neurotic characters and social awkwardness by the bucket-load, but for […]
★★★★☆ A former casting director for Michael Haneke, Markus Schleinzer’s austere debut Michael (2011) is a harrowing, yet absorbing examination of paedophilia which whilst containing numerous similarities with the great Austrian director’s detached cinematic fabric, is very much a unique and assured film of […]
★★★★☆ Responsible for introducing the wonderfully talented Elizabeth Olsen to the world, director Sean Durkin’s mesmerising feature debut Martha Marcy May Marlene (2011) makes its way to DVD and Blu-ray this week following resounding critical acclaim earlier in the year. Rumours that Durkin is […]
★★★☆☆ Ever since The Blair Witch Project (1999) electrified a staid horror landscape, the found footage aesthetic has become a staple of modern genre filmmaking. The success of 28-year-old Josh Trank’s Chronicle (2012) may mean the trend will continue, if only because of its […]
