Tag Archives: review
Wiener-Dog – New Release Review
Wiener-Dog is a tough film to like. You certainly can’t, or maybe aren’t supposed to, love it. I’m actually pretty sure you’re just supposed to be shocked by it. It’s about a dog who gets shuffled from weirdo to weirdo who in some way or another finds their life affected by its presence. Put that […]
Assault on Precinct 13 – Blu-Ray Re-Release Review
Not John Carpenter’s début, but the first in a series of classic horror/action/fantasy B-pictures from him, Assault on Precinct 13 became a hit in Europe, though notably not in the States, and established a solid template to which he has stuck to this day. Its reputation undimmed in spite of a lacklustre 2005 remake, Assault […]
Best of 2016: Our Little Sister
An elegant ode to sororal relationships which sparkles with a quiet sensitivity, charm and poignancy… Hirokazu Koreeda’s Our Little Sister is a film in which subtle shifts within a character’s life slowly reverberate down and unearth great wells of emotional turmoil and buried conflicts. As a film it’s a triumph in the art of restraint; […]
Best of 2016: Holding the Man
Based on Tim Coniway’s 1993 memoir Holding the Man, this long-awaited Australian romantic drama doesn’t disappoint, and is in fact better than anyone could reasonably expect. In 1976, schoolboys Tim (Ryan Corr) and John (Craig Stott) discover a mutual attraction, and in no time they become a full-blown couple. Cut to the 1980s and, in […]
Best of 2016: Embrace of the Serpent
Embrace of the Serpent was Colombia’s entry into the Best Foreign Language Film category at the 88th Academy Awards, proving that for director Ciro Guerra the third time is the charm. His first unsuccessful submission happened to be his very first feature, the 2004 drama Wandering Shadows, and the second in 2009 for The Wind Journeys. Guerra […]
Best of 2016: Next to Her
A sparkling gem of a film, as richly textured as it is deftly realised… Director Asaf Korman has succeeded in crafting that rare treat; a directorial feature début which is both tight and polished enough to feel like the fifth or sixth work by an experienced director and also as powerfully emotive as to have real lasting power. Of […]
Best of 2016: Mustang
An incandescent, acutely observed portrait of defiance and sisterhood… Mustang is one of those rare pleasures which come round from time to time – a simple story richly told. The basic narrative here is straightforward; five young sisters are imprisoned within their own home after playing with boys at the local beach and supposedly tarnishing their marriageability. Their home […]
Bleed For This – New Release Review
We take a look at the Miles Teller led boxing drama Bleed For This… The boxing world, the late-80s: Vincenzo “Vinny Paz” Pazienza is fighting as a junior welterweight. He’s naturally more suited to the welterweight class, but it’s standard for boxers to engage in weight cutting; why fight as the smallest in your natural division […]
Back in Time for Brixton
To celebrate Black History Month, Brixton’s The Ritzy Picturehouse hosted a screening of the first episode of the BBC’s forthcoming two-part reality series Back in Time For Brixton. The programme follows the format that viewers of the other Back in Time For… series will by now be intimately familiar with: a family are taken through […]
Napoleon – Re-Release Review
Making one of its intermittent returns to the big screen, Abel Gance’s five-and-a-half hour (6+ with intermissions!) 1927 masterpiece Napoleon is back and better than ever. This time around, the cause for renewed celebration is the picture’s long-awaited arrival on home media formats; the BFI is also currently streaming Napoleon online. Home media is well-suited […]
Mr Rumsey's Film Related Musings 