Adam Lowes
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DVD Review: The Glass Shield
★★☆☆☆ Director Charles Burnett made perhaps one of the greatest cinematic accounts of marginalised black lives with his 1978 classic Killer of Sheep – a film which was offered a thoroughly deserving retrospective and re-release by the BFI a few years back. Made almost two decades after his breakthrough feature, The Glass Shield is certainly…
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DVD Review: Roxanne
★★★☆☆ Cast your mind back to a time when Steve Martin assumed the mantle of comedic king of the box office, sharing the title with the likes of Chevy Chase, John Candy and Eddie Murphy. Amongst the more inherently zany, audience-pleasers of that era like The Jerk and The Man with Two Brains, Roxanne marked…
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DVD Review: The World of Kanako
★★☆☆☆ Punctuated with kind of casual bursts of grim violence which will be familiar to anyone versed in Asian extreme cinema, The World of Kanako is a mixed bag of cinematic influences and styles. With opening titles that wouldn’t look out of place in a low-rent 1960s US action TV show, what initially starts out…
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Film Review: Train to Busan
★★★★☆ If you want to see the beautiful and highly improbable spectacle of your nearest and dearest in floods of tears at the end of a zombie film, Train to Busan is your ticket. While Sang-ho Yeon’s film doesn’t do anything particularly radical with the rulebook in a way which Danny Boyle’s 28 Days Later…
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DVD Review: Paris Blues
★★★★☆ Much like the multitude of heady jazz numbers that flow throughout the film, Paris Blues is a cool, breezy and laid-back character-led romantic drama with strong turns by the four likable leads, not least the late, great Paul Newman, effortlessly exuding that trademark piercing blue-eyed intensity and magnetism. The second of five memorable collaborations…
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DVD Review: Odds Against Tomorrow
★★★★☆ Now available on DVD and Blu-ray, Odds Against Tomorrow is also another welcome addition to the BFI’s Black Star slate. One of the most striking things upon viewing this admirably dark and gritty crime yarn is the realisation that the filmmaker behind it is the same person who unleashed a singing nun and seven…
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DVD Review: Highlander
★★★★☆ “There can be only one” is the catchphrase uttered by centuries-straddling, sword-wielding immortals once they have despatched their competition through beheading. That motto could easily be applicable to the quality control of a film series which spawned a deeply inferior, needlessly retconned sequel, further lacklustre follow ups, a bizarre kids cartoon series and two…
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DVD Review: Hail, Caesar!
★★★☆☆ The arrival of a new Coen brothers film is invariably met with wild excitement by their fervent fan base, and rightly so. The duo’s talent is such that a new release can justifiably find itself being hailed as an instant classic in some quarters, which was the case with their previous feature, Inside Llewyn…
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Film Review: Everybody Wants Some!!
★★★★☆ Richard Linklater once again casts his outwardly laid-back yet deceptively astute gaze on those loitering around the edge of adulthood with Everybody Wants Some!! – a joyous and often uproarious portrayal of college-age adolescence and the alluring freedom that brings. Much like the frosty and subdued welcome the film’s central character receives when first…
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Interview: Tyler Hoechlin on Everybody Wants Some!!
With his reoccurring role in the dark TV reboot of Teen Wolf, Tyler Hoechlin is one of the more recognisable faces in Richard Linklater’s new 1980s-set college campus comedy, Everybody Wants Some!! As the ridiculously competitive slugger Glen McReynolds, Hoechlin puts in a memorable performance in a large ensemble of equally unforgettable characters. Alongside Linklater’s…