Blu-ray: The Pillow Book (1996)Peter Greenaway is well known as a golden director of languid art house movies that enrapture the viewer with their colour, emotion and exceptional mise en scène. The Pillow Book tells the story of Nagiko (Vivian Wu) who becomes obsessed with writing in all its forms after her father (Ken Ogata) […]
When ‘Pills an’ Thrills and Bellyaches’ came out in 1990, I was living in Los Angeles writing about whatever new thrash group was around, so the Manchester (“Madchester”) scene with its new wave of music totally passed me by. It was on my return to Wales and seeing my younger brother and sister in dayglow […]
DVD & Digital: The Trial of Christine Keeler (2019)Most people under 50 will have no idea what the ‘Profumo Affair’ was, so the BBC making a series about it was surprising, but then in an age where no one really knows for sure how many children our Prime Minister Boris Johnson has with various concubines, […]
Blu-ray, DVD & Digital: The Peanut Butter Falcon (2019) Boy do I love a feel-good film. Unfortunately there’s a fine line between feel-good and sloppy, where overly emotional histrionics ruin the story. Thankfully The Peanut Butter Falcon only has a few small hokey hiccups, but it is overwhelmingly a feel-good movie…emphasis on GOOD. I like Shia […]
DVD & Digital Download: Primal (2019) Frank Walsh (Nicolas Cage) is a hunter of exotic animals, he catches them then sells them to the highest bidder. On one hunt he unexpectedly (using a knock out potion of his own invention) catches an ultra-rare albino jaguar. He excitedly returns to the remote Brazilian village ready to […]
Blu-ray & DVD: Judy (2019)Fat (not fat), insanely talented and mother-controlled Frances Gumm had her name changed by the studio she was signed to as a nemesis to Shirley Temple. Possessing a singing voice that soared and big brown eyes that could wring you dry, she was a gold mine for Louis B. Mayer. Forced to […]
Blu-Ray: Under The Shadow (2016) Great films normally reflect the time and occurrences of what’s going on at that time, and Under the Shadow is a perfect example of this. It’s Tehran in the late 80’s and Shideh (Narges Rashidi) isn’t allowed to return to university to train as a doctor after the revolution because […]
Blu-ray: Winter Kills (1979)Based on the novel of the same name by Richard Condon, Winter Kills is one of those films that Indicator excel in: a ‘lost’ film, unfamiliar yet on watching you can’t believe you’ve never seen it before.I suppose you could describe it as a black comedy about the fictional assassination of Jeff […]
Blu-ray: Orphans (1998) What a massive balls-up Film Four made by refusing to release Peter Mullan’s film Orphans in 1998. To add to that insult they took all of Mullan’s outtakes and…burned them. Wow! What a shame, and what a loss to the UK film industry because Orphans is a true work of genius, a […]
Blu-ray: The Exorcist III (1990) The Exorcist III is based on William Peter Blatty\’s 1983 novel \’Legion\’, and stars George C. Scott, Ed Flanders, Jason Miller, Scott Wilson and Brad Dourif. Set 17 years after the original film, it follows a character from the first film: Lieutenant Kinderman. Kinderman is investigating a series of murders in […]
