Reviews
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DVD Review: ‘The Flying Scotsman’
★★★★☆ Last year, Optimum Releasing’s remastered versions of The Railway Children (1970), Breathless (1960) and Peeping Tom (1960) were released as part of their continuing efforts to preserve a vast catalogue of classic titles. Castleton Knight’s The Flying Scotsman (1929) is the latest feature to receive extensive digital restoration and is now available to own…
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DVD Releases: ‘Damned by Dawn’
If you want to make a horror movie, start with a good idea from which to develop your script – something which is uncanny, creepy, or downright terrifying (added points if this something is rumoured to have happened in real life). Brett Anstey’s Dawned by Dawn (2009) has a very good central idea to start with:…
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DVD Review: ‘Cuckoo’
★★☆☆☆ Richard E. Grant stars in Cuckoo (2010), a dull, one-note psychological thriller from Richard Bracewell, whose marginally superior debut The Gigolos (2006) was a similarly throwaway medley of over-obvious stylistic debt and self conscious construction. Cuckoo concerns the supposed mental disintegration of Polly (Laura Fraser), a talented student under Grant’s leery Professor Greengrass. Landing an…
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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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Film Review: ‘Bedevilled’
★★★☆☆ Chul-soo Yang’s Bedevilled (2010) is a slow burning South Korean psychological thriller that hits hard at the end, which is the reason why it wouldn’t be categorised as a film for the faint hearted. In fact, it is somewhat difficult to categorise it in a genre altogether. It would probably be wrong to call…
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DVD Releases: ‘Cyrus’
Charming, witty, and quintessentially quirky, Cyrus (2010) is a slice of well-worked comedy from plucky lo-fi indie brothers, Jay and Mark Duplass. John C. Reilly plays John, a divorced down-and-out schlub who meanders through life alone and somewhat desperate. Upon the persistent demands from his ex-wife/best-friend (Catherine Keener) to shape-up and move on with his life…
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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 Review: ‘Due Date’
★★☆☆☆ When it came to co-writing his latest comedy, Due Date (2010), The Hangover (2009) director Todd Phillips took more than a few leaves out of Planes, Trains & Automobiles’ (1987) unblemished book. Perhaps Due Date is a loving homage to that John Hughes classic (which also happens to be one of my favourite films),…
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DVD Releases: ‘Another Year’
Disappointment and regret loom large in Mike Leigh’s latest film, Another Year (2010). From the opening shots of Janet’s (Imelda Staunton) pained expression as she desperately tries to recall a happy moment from her past, you know Leigh will be revisiting familiar territory.As with Leigh’s previous efforts, Another Year once again serves as a showcase for the…
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Italian Film Festival 2011: Preview
In keeping with the current turmoil and unrest running amok in the world, Italy finds itself in a very confused state. Partly resigned, partly in denial, Italians have looked on as the recent recession has made worse what was a “not-really-thriving” situation already in terms of occupation, education reforms, and the political landscape in general.…