DVD & Blu-ray: Curse of the Golden Flower (2006)Curse of the Golden Flower was China’s most expensive film to date (2006) at $45 million. And you can tell. To say its opulent is an understatement.On first getting this for review I have to admit I didn’t want to watch it, as I thought it was […]
Blu-ray: A Soldier’s Story (1984)A Soldier’s Story is an odd film. Based on the Pulitzer Prize-winning Broadway production of the same name, it features a largely black cast and tells the story of the murder of Vernon Waters, a master sergeant in charge of a company of black soldiers in southern America in 1944.A black military officer who is […]
Blu-ray & UHD 4K Blu-ray: Crash (1996)Ah the infamous Crash, made in 1996, directed by David Cronenberg, and based on J. G. Ballard’s London based 1973 novel of the same name, it follows a ‘gang’ of symphorophiliacs, that is people who are aroused by car crashes.Arrow’s new 4k release of this film breathes new life into this classic, by […]
Blu-ray: Devil in a Blue Dress (1995)Devil in a Blue Dress is an odd film of sorts; a snappy whodunnit made in 1995 but based in 1948, with a largely black American cast and directed by Carl Franklin, a black director. It also has to be the most colourful Noir I’ve seen!Based on Walter Mosley’s novel of the same name, it features Denzel […]
DVD & Blu-ray: Born on the 4th of July (1989)Based on Ron Kovic’s bio of the same name, and directed by Oliver Stone, Born on the 4th of July is the film that really made Tom Cruise a ‘star’ and the movie where he finally got to act. The film depicts the life of Kovic over […]
Blu-ray: Buffalo Bill and the Indians, or Sitting Bull’s History Lesson (1976)Buffalo Bill and the Indians is one of the most ‘Robert Altman’ films I’ve seen. A revisionist western by Altman with a barrage of stars and snappy dialogue that Quentin Tarantino would die for.Based on the play ‘Indians’ by Arthur Kopit, Paul Newman is William F. Cody, also known […]
DVD & Blu-ray: Cape Fear (1991)This 1991 Cape Fear is a remake of the 1962 film of the same name, which was based on John D. MacDonald’s 1957 novel, The Executioners.Starring Robert De Niro as Max Cady, Nick Nolte as Sam Bowden, Jessica Lange as Sam’s wife Leigh, and Juliette Lewis as their daughter Danielle. It also features some the stars from the original […]
Blu-ray: The Night Porter (1974)I was about 9 when The Night Porter came out, so missed the furore surrounding its release, and I’ve read that around the time it came out Hollywood had produced a few Pseudo-psycho-sexual Nazi-ish films (The Damned 1969, Cabaret ’72, Salo ’75) sort of looking at the Third Reich in a […]
Cinema & Digital: Host (2020)How do you make a successful film, on a low budget, during a global pandemic, coupled with a lockdown on movement? Ask director Rob Savage because he has nailed it. Starring Haley Bishop, Jemma Moore, Emma Louise Webb, Radina Drandova, and Caroline Ward, Host tells the story of a group of friends meeting […]
UHD 4K Blu-ray: King of New York (1990)King of New York, often described as a noir (mmm I don’t think so…) is a film very much of its time. The 90’s.It tells the tale of Frank White (Christopher Walken) a drug lord, recently released from what appears to be a long stretch in prison into the […]
