★★★☆☆ American writer and director Rian Johnson – best-known for his neo-noir debut Brick (2005), less-known for his ensemble piece The Brothers Bloom (2008) – steps into high concept sci-fi territory for his latest feature, Looper (2012). Seemingly filling the gap between Duncan Jones projects (Jones has already illustrated his Continue Reading
★★★★☆ Loosely based on Jacques Tourneur’s I Walked With a Zombie (1943), Pedro Costa’s 1994 effort Casa de Lava (oddly titled Down To Earth for its US release) is undoubtedly a demanding film – but then Costa’s cinema has always been a challenge. What the Portuguese director demands of his Continue Reading
★★★★★ Despite often being cited as one of the most important early Soviet filmmakers – primarily for his Soviet montage theory – the name Alexander Dovzhenko has failed to garner the same critical acclaim in the west as his contemporaries. However, thanks to Mr Bongo, his most revered and respected Continue Reading
★★★☆☆ French New Wave director Claude Chabrol’s latter career is rarely admired and often seen as his weaker period, yet with Rien Ne Va Plus (The Swindle, 1997) all the tell-tell signs of what made the late director great, are present. As an auteur he was always indebted to Hitchcock Continue Reading
★★★★☆ Eureka Entertainment kick off a busy fourth quarter of business this week with the rerelease of three classic cinematic treats on Dual Format DVD and Blu-ray, courtesy of their acclaimed Masters of Cinema label. Restored gems include Cecil B. DeMille’s hammy-yet-enjoyable epic rough diamond Cleopatra (1934), German auteur Fritz Continue Reading
★☆☆☆☆ In 2007, Jon Sanders and Nora Hoppe wrote The Belgrade Manifesto, lamenting the stagnation of cinematic language and encouraging other directors to embrace the digital revolution. This all sounds exciting and with filmmakers such as Aki Kaurismäki, Gareth Evans, and Alexander Sokurov signing it, one would think it would Continue Reading