-
Special Feature: The Japanese gender issue
The celebration of the female director has become paramount to film festivals globally. This years, The Japan Foundation dedicated their annual touring film program to the rise of involvement for women in the film industry, entitled ‘Girls on Film: Females in Japanese Film industry‘.Whilst there is no denying that the global film industry is still considerably male…
-
DVD Review: ‘Resurrecting the Street Walker’
★★☆☆☆ Much like his debut film’s aspiring intern protagonist James Parker (James Powell), British director Ozgur Uyanik struggles to reign in his ambitious, yet ultimately flawed first feature, Resurrecting the Street Walker (2009), which wears its influences very visibly on its sleeve.Utilizing the tried and tested ‘mockumentary’ format, echoing recent horror mock-docs such as The Last…
-
DVD Releases: ‘The Princess and the Frog’
Starring the voice talents of Anika Noni Rose, best known for her role as Lorrell Robinson in 2006’s Dreamgirls and Bruno Campos, a regular on our TV screens having featured in ER and CSI: Crime Scene Investigation, Disney’s latest animated picture The Princess and the Frog (2009) is in many ways a nostalgic step back into the…
-
DVD Releases: ‘The Wolfman’
After the death of his brother, Shakespearean actor Lawrence Talbot (Benicio del Toro) returns to the family stately home in Blackmoor. His father John (Anthony Hopkins) and brother’s fiancee Gwen (Emily Blunt) wait for him there. Gruesome killings start to take place, tracked by Scotland Yard Inspector Abberline (Hugo Weaving). The main problem with The Wolfman…
-
Theatrical Releases: ‘The Brothers Bloom’
In his first feature movie Brick (2005), writer-director Rian Johnson created a self-contained world of noir double-crosses, femme-fatales and hardboiled dialogue, and set it all in the microcosm of a Californian high school. For The Brothers Bloom (2008), his second film, Johnson takes the same interest in the intricacies of language and story-telling, and takes…
-
Theatrical Releases: ‘Sex and the City 2’
There is no doubt that the Sex and the City franchise is one of the most successful in television history. The series is popular with teenagers and women alike, and its stars have become style icons for fans to the point where many have dressed for theatre showings in attire that wouldn’t seem out of place…
-
Special Feature: Studio Ghibli – the Japanese Disney?
In 2002, the Japanese animation company Studio Ghibli won the Oscar for Best Animated Feature with the seminal Spirited Away (2001). To this day, it has been the only Japanese anime to win this prestigious award. Whilst Spirited Away arguably garnered the most critical acclaim and international interest, there remains an established and devoted fan-base for the films…
-
DVD Review: ‘Ponyo’
★★★★☆ There is no doubt that we are in the middle of an animation boom, a ‘silver age’ of animation if you will. The contemporary film market is saturated with computer-animated films. This year so far has seen the rerelease of Disney Pixar’s Toy Story (1995) and Toy Story 2 (1999) on Disney DVD and…
-
DVD Releases: ’44 Inch Chest’
WARNING: Contains spoilers The front cover of the 44 Inch Chest DVD is littered with four star reviews. Unfortunately, not one of them comes from a particularly reputable source, unless you turn to Nuts, Loaded or Bizarre for views and opinions on the latest releases.Admittedly, perhaps aside from Sight & Sound’s Ben Walters, more respected critics…
-
Film Review: ‘Hot Tub Time Machine’
★★★☆☆ With such a ridiculous title, it would be unwise to go into Hot Tub Time Machine (2010) with the preconception that what you are about to see is anything but lavishly ludicrous. The plot fails to stretch far beyond the fact that four guys hop into a hot tub, only to find when they…
EIFF 2026