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DVD Review: ‘Zonad’
★☆☆☆☆ What is there to say about Zonad (2009)? It’s a bizarre comedy from the shores of Ireland by writer and director brothers John and Kieran Carney, which tells the story of Liam Murphy – a recovering alcoholic who escapes from rehab to the local town of Ballymoran. While there, for one reason or another,…
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DVD Review: ‘Altitude’
What intrigued me about Altitude (2010) was that the film was being promoted to fans of Donnie Darko (2001) and classic sci-fi show The Twilight Zone. I may not be the biggest fan of Donnie Darko – though I do applaud it for its ingenious and intriguing storytelling, compelling characters and fantastic soundtrack. I am, however, a…
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DVD Review: ‘Songs From The Second Floor’
★★★★☆ Roughly 50 minutes into Songs From the Second Floor (2000), director Roy Andersson decides to move the camera. Pulling slowly back, the shot moves only enough to accommodate the rather large figure of Kalle (Lars Nordh), who could very loosely be considered our protagonist, as he is slowly followed by…
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DVD Review: ‘Let Me In’
★★★☆☆ One of the most talked about horror films of last year was Let Me In (2010) an American restructuring of the flawless Swedish vampire smash Let the Right One (2009), which brought to life John Ajvide Lindqvist’s haunting, romantic novel to achingly beautiful effect.The story follows a bullied twelve year old boy who forms…
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National Theatre: Danny Boyle’s ‘Frankenstein’
In 2009 the National Theatre launched NT Live, a project to broadcast their plays live to cinemas in the UK and around the world via satellite. The initiative has been a huge success, and next to reach cinemas is Academy Award winner Danny Boyle’s much-lauded production of Frankenstein, which is playing at the National Theatre…
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DVD Review: ‘Taxi Zum Klo’
★★★☆☆ During one scene from Frank Ripploh’s semi-autobiographical tale of a sex-obsessed, German school teacher Taxi Zum Klo (1980) we witness a man lying on a bed being sprayed in the face with urine. For ten, maybe fifteen seconds, all we are shown is the increasingly soaked and excited gent and a stream of the…
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DVD Review: ‘Sharktopus’
★☆☆☆☆ Why can’t people make decent monster movies? There has been a recent trend towards making really cheap monster movies with ridiculous titles that are high on digital effects and low on pretty much everything else. I first encountered this phenomenon when viewing Mega Shark vs. Giant Octopus (2009); I was expecting to get some…
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Film Review: ‘Unknown’
★★☆☆☆ Continuing to reinvent himself as an ageing hard man, as witnessed in performances such as the wronged father in Taken (2008) and the cigar chomping Colonel Hannibal Smith in the recent big screen rehash of The A-Team (2010), Liam Neeson’s latest film Unknown (2011) sees the mature actioner subjected to a perplexing bout of…
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DVD Review: ‘A Swedish Love Story’
★★★★★ Roy Andersson’s debut feature A Swedish Love Story (1970) is an atypically naturalistic piece, balancing the austerity of later films with a touching and beautifully realised romanticism that captures the first stirrings of young love with an honesty that no other film has impinged upon. Superficial comparison would place the film in the same company…
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DVD Releases: ‘The Beyond’
★★★★☆ A frequent topper of ‘goriest moments’ lists, Italian splatter merchant Lucio Fulci is rarely treated with much critical regard. Probably best known for eye-gouging Dawn of the Dead (1978) rip-off Zombie Flesh Eaters (1979), Fulci, often overlooked in favour of arch Giallo stylist Dario Argento, is seen as less of an artist and more of…
EIFF 2026