Daniel Gumble
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Special Feature: Fantastic Factory Presents
For cult fans, this month sees the release of an exclusive four disc box set from the Fantastic Factory label, which is bound to draw a fair amount of interest and attention. ‘The Fantastic Factory presents’ compiles four of the labels most successful films: Beyond Re-Animator (2003), Arachnid (2001), Faust: Love of the Damned (2000)…
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Film Review: Cold Fish
★★☆☆☆ Whenever a film feels the need to sell itself on its controversial or shocking nature, you can usually be certain of a few things: tackiness, puerile shock tactics and, above all else, a director at the helm with an overwhelming ineptitude for storytelling. It may come as no surprise to hear that Shion Sono’s…
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DVD Review: ‘My Soul to Take’
★☆☆☆☆ Few would argue Wes Craven’s credentials as one of horror’s most influential, iconic and all round well loved filmmakers. Ever since his directorial debut, the hugely controversial and groundbreaking The Last House on the Left (1972) he has provided some of the genre’s most famous and memorable moments. Whether it be the disturbing image…
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Film Review: ‘Sucker Punch’
★★☆☆☆ Zack Snyder is not a director who does things by halves. One needs look no further than his previous three offerings, 300 (2006), Watchmen (2009) and Legend of the Guardians: The Owls of Ga’Hoole (2010) to see the kind of visual ambition he brings to each and every one of his films. Even if…
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DVD Releases: ‘Skyline’
Having prepared myself for a huge budget, Hollywood-friendly, man vs. aliens epic, I found myself somewhat dumbfounded at the bizarre results offered up by the Brothers Strause’s Skyline (2010). On one hand, it is not only derivative of just about every major film of this kind to have emerged over the past 20 years; it’s…
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DVD Releases: ‘Brighton Rock’ (1947)
The British gangster genre is not one which I have ever afforded much time. Whilst Hollywood has led the way in regards to gangster movies with classics such as The Godfather Trilogy, Goodfellas (1990) and Casino (1995), the UK has conjured up Guy Ritchie – a director of such dire ineptitude as to have single-handedly…
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DVD Review: ‘Leap Year’
★☆☆☆☆ A depiction of intense loneliness and psychosexual torture, Michael Rowe’s minimalist debut feature Leap Year (Año bisiesto, 2010) raises many a difficult question with regards to its seemingly complex gender politics. It follows the life of Laura, played with vulnerable perfection by Monica Del Carmen, a lonely freelance journalist who lives alone in a small Mexican apartment.…
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DVD Releases: ‘Despicable Me’
In an attempt to establish themselves as genuine rivals to the sublime Pixar, Universal Pictures offers up its debut 3D animation in the form of Despicable Me (2010), directed by Pierre Coffin and Chris Renaud.With an output of unprecedented consistency and visual resplendence over recent years, it may seem an almost impossible task to take…
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DVD Review: ‘Mary and Max’
★★★★★ In recent years, the output of clay animation films has been somewhat disappointing given the enormous increase in CGI animation films from Hollywood. The huge success of Disney Pixar titles such as WALL-E (2008), Up (2009) and Toy Story 3 (2010) appear to have put an unfortunate end to the clay animation style, which…
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DVD Releases: ‘Black Dynamite’
Ever since Scary Movie was released back in 2000, the art of “spoof” has taken a brutal and savage mauling. Having set in motion a chain of unspeakably bad, not to mention painfully unfunny follow ups to his original film, director Keenen Wayans also paved the way for the likes of Epic Movie (2007), Meet…