Adam Lowes
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DVD Review: Love & Mercy
★★★★☆ There’s always a mix of excitement and trepidation when a famous musician’s life is brought to the screen. Will it result in an uncompromising examination of the artist in question or an airless hagiography? There’s certainly much dramatic mileage to be crafted from the story of Brian Wilson, the creative driving force behind the…
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Film Review: In the Heart of the Sea
★★★☆☆ Yarns don’t get more ripping than the story of Moby Dick – a fictional tale inspired by the real-life exploits of an early 19th century whaling ship which purportedly came off worst when it went up against a colossal, blubber-lined adversary in the form of a bull sperm whale. It’s this gargantuan clash which…
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DVD Review: Red Army
★★★★☆ Until now, the confluence of sport and politics during the Cold War has been portrayed in more simplistic and unambiguous terms in narrative features like Rocky IV (1985) and Miracle (2004). Premiering at last year’s Cannes Film Festival, Gabe Polsky’s immensely enjoyable documentary Red Army (2014) zeroes in on that same period of history…
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Film Review: ‘True Romance’
★★★★★ Cupid takes aim at the heart of London for the BFI’s Love season, which is showcasing a number of classic cinematic romances. A handful of these titles are also receiving a limited run in cinemas nationwide, including True Romance (1993) – a film which inexplicably failed to find much of an audience during its…
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Film Review: Love
★★★★☆ On the surface, this heady relationship drama would appear to contain the same kind of combustible elements which have helped its director, cine-provocateur Gaspar Noé, garner his celebrated notoriety. Packed with explicit, unsimulated sex scenes (with the occasional multiple coupling thrown in for good measure), Love (2015) will be misconstrued by many as a…
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Blu-ray Review: ‘The Goonies’
★★★★☆ “Goonies never say die”, the now immortal rallying cry by young adventurer Mickey (Sean Astin) to his band of fellow teen treasure hunters can’t help but echo the enduring appeal of this film. Thanks to endless Sunday afternoon television repeats and frequent appearances in pop culture, The Goonies (1985) has become something of a…
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DVD Review: ‘Manglehorn’
★★★★☆ There’s a moment near the end of David Gordon Green’s Manglehorn (2014) where the titular character sums up the kind of angry person he is, telling his would-be suitor that if he burns toast he’ll throw out the toaster. It’s a simple but revealing line about a contradictory figure, earning our sympathy one moment…
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Blu-ray Review: ‘Seconds’
★★★★☆ Although described as a sci-fi thriller in most quarters, both of these labels seem a little too disingenuous when it comes to identifying the twisted beauty of Seconds (1966). The film’s opening credits courtesy of the great Saul Bass offer an abstract and distorted reflection of a series of figures. It’s a simply-staged but…
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Film Review: ‘Mississippi Grind’
★★★★☆ With its loose road movie vibe and appealingly downtrodden turns from the two tremendous leads, Mississippi Grind (2015) certainly fits into the ‘they don’t make ’em like that anymore’ cinematic category. Writer/director duo Anna Boden and Ryan Fleck, no strangers to thoughtful character studies (Half Nelson, Sugar), are clearly more interested in spending time…
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DVD Review: ‘Turbo Kid’
★★★★☆ Like it or not, we seem to be in the midst of a mini eighties revival which has seen the decade paid homage to in slick thrillers (Cold in July, The Guest) and more obvious Troma-like, B-movie exploitation fests (Hobo with a Shotgun, Manborg). Canadian/New Zealand co-production Turbo Kid (2015) definitely resides in the…