Streaming: Operator (2015) Funded by Kickstarter, Operator was inspired by a genuine 999 call. Director/writer Caroline Bartleet heard and recognised the dramatic possibilities of giving us a brief glimpse into just one fire service phone call. Short films have to be quick and punchy and it’s rare to find a 5 minute film telling a […]
DVD/Blu-ray: The Friends of Eddie Coyle (1973) Eddie Coyle is looking at a stretch in prison and doesn’t want to leave his wife and kids reliant on welfare. He works for Jimmy Scalisi, supplying him with guns for a couple of bank jobs, but a cop named Foley is on to Eddie and he’s trying […]
Cinema: The Hateful Eight (2015) Bounty Hunter John Ruth (AKA: ‘The Hangman’ and played by Kurt Russell) heads for Red Rock with his prisoner Daisy Domergue (Jennifer Jason Leigh) through a snow clad and frozen Wyoming. On the way they come across another bounty Hunter; Major Marquis Warren (Samuel L Jackson), and the new sheriff […]
DVD: And Then There Were None (2015) To celebrate Agatha Christie’s 125th anniversary the BBC produced a new version of her novel for Christmas. The story is set in 1939, literally just before the outbreak of WW2. A group of ten strangers are invited under different pretences to an isolated Island for a weekend away. […]
Blu-ray: A New Leaf (1971) Henry Graham (Walter Matthau) a spoiled, brattish, self absorbed American ‘aristocrat’ decides on finding out that he has lost all his money, that he must marry a rich woman and kill her to inherit her assets. I must admit to having never heard of Elaine May, despite her directing Ishtar, […]
DVD: Detectorists (2014) Andy and Lance are two hapless mates who share an obsession for metal detecting. Anyone reading that would instantly think Huh? Doesn’t sound that great to me, even the fact that the amazing Toby Jones plays Lance wouldn’t make it sound any more enthralling. Written by, and starring Mackenzie Crook this ‘comedy’ […]
Blu-ray: Requiescant (1967) In Fort Hernandez, a group of Mexican villagers hoping for peace are betrayed by Commander Ferguson and his compliant Confederate Soldiers (one of them has a Union Uniform on, must have been army-confused) who machinegun the whole village, leaving only one small boy alive. Taken in by a wandering preacher and his […]
Blu-ray: Stop Making Sense (1984) I suppose the bottom line with any music video is – do you like the band? I saw David Byrne 20 years ago and wasn’t really familiar with Talking Heads, but after seeing him live, he (and Taking Heads) became a firm favorite of mine. Filmed at the great Pantages Theatre […]
DVD: ITV 60 (2015) Network may not be a name that you are are au fait with, but I have to admit that they are in my top five companies for releasing real gems, not only in film but in television too. I think I have every box set they’ve ever produced starring Oliver Tobias, and when […]
Blu-ray: Hard To Be A God (2013) This film follows the story of Anton and his fellow ‘scientists’, who are undercover operatives from the future planet Earth, on a mission to an alien planet that is populated by human beings whose society has not advanced beyond the Dark Ages. Based on the novel by legendary […]
