Joseph Walsh
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Film Review: ‘The Harsh Light of Day’
★★★☆☆ Oliver S. Milburn’s The Harsh Light of Day (2012) is a promising, if flawed, debut film from a clearly ambitious director which offers up a modern twist on the Faustian pact, mixed with a revenge tale. After witnessing his wife’s brutal murder at the hands of a snuff-film-making horror writer, Daniel Shergold (Dan Richardson)…
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Film Review: ‘Passport to Pimlico’
★★★★☆ Newly restored 1949 comedy classic Passport to Pimlico is a fine example of a post-war comedy produced by the renowned Ealing Studios. Written by the highly talented T.E.B Clarke, (who was responsible for another comedy classic, 1951’s The Lavender Hill Mob) and directed by Henry Cornelius, Passport to Pimlico shows a great understanding of…
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Film Review: ‘The Innkeepers’
★★★☆☆ American director Ti West returns with the entertaining, if formulaic, ghost story The Innkeepers (2011), starring Sara Paxton and Pat Healy. The Yankee Pedlar Inn is shutting down for good, but before the weekend is out, the last two remaining employees Claire (Paxton) and Luke (Healy) are determined to find evidence of the ghosts…
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Film Review: ‘A Fantastic Fear of Everything’
★★☆☆☆ A Fantastic Fear of Everything (2012) joins a growing list of disappointing Simon Pegg projects that lack the charm and wit of his early endeavours (with Edgar Wright) such as cult series Spaced and big screen outings Shaun of The Dead (2004) and Hot Fuzz (2007). This surreal comedy, written and directed by Crispin Mills…
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Film Review: ‘Ill Manors’
★★★★☆ Ben Drew, aka British rapper Plan B, has decided to turn his hand to direction in social realist drama come hip-hop opera Ill Manors (2012). With his debut film, Drew demonstrates great skill in weaving together a series of narratives surrounding a group of men and women in London’s Forest Gate area over a…
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Blu-ray Review: ‘Nightbirds’
★★☆☆☆ 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 chance encounter, come to live together in a run-down flat in…
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DVD Review: Classic Bergman collection
★★★★☆ 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 enjoy a five-disc Classic Bergman collection of some of his earliest…
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DocHouse Presents: Surviving Progress review
★★★★☆ From executive producer Martin Scorsese and screened as part of the DocHouse strand, Mathieu Roy and Harold Crooks’ documentary Surviving Progress (2011) is a fascinating and highly ambitious evaluation of ‘economic progress’, questioning whether the term always necessary means improvement in a world of rapidly evolving technologies and increasing global debt. Inspired by Ronald…
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Film Review: ‘Barbaric Genius’
★★☆☆☆ Writer and director Paul Duane turns his hand to feature documentaries with Barbaric Genius (2011), which examines the ‘colourful’ life of ex-con turned author John Healy. Born in Ireland, Healy grew up with an abusive father in a small town, later joining the army only to desert and become a homeless alcoholic in London.After…
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Film Review: ‘Tales of the Night’
★★★☆☆ Seasoned French animator Michel Ocelot returns with the charming Tales of the Night (2011), six tales of whimsy and magic set across different cultures. Those familiar with Ocelot’s work will notice numerous similarities with Princes and Princesses, released in 2000. Each tale is linked by a short introduction, set in a darkened theatre where…