Cinema & Digital: The Reckoning (2020)After watching the trailer for Neil Marshall’s new movie The Reckoning, I was expecting something along the lines of Hagazussa or even Robert Eggers The Witch. But alas no, the promise of witches and huge devils rampaging through the English countryside during the Plague of 1665 is trailer-only fodder. I […]
Blu-ray: Tales From the Urban Jungle – Brute Force (1947), The Naked City (1948)Tales From the Urban Jungle showcases 2 movies from writer, director, producer and actor Jules Dassin, a man who was blacklisted in the communist witch hunts of the House Un-American Activities.Brute Force stars Burt Lancaster as Joe Collins, a prisoner squeezed into an […]
Blu-ray: Clapboard Jungle (2020)Many people have watched a movie that they haven’t enjoyed and said “I can do better than that”, little knowing just how difficult it is to get a movie made in the first place.Clapboard Jungle gives you a little taste of the trials and tribulations involved, as independent filmmaker Justin McConnell chronicles 5 years […]
Blu-ray: Silent Action (1975) Various Italian government officials are seemingly committing suicide under mysterious circumstances, and it’s left to inspector Giorgio Solmi (Luc Merenda) to try and get to the bottom of what is happening. His investigations lead him to a prostitute who is linked with a murder, but he soon finds out that this […]
Blu-ray: The Head Hunter (2018)Before watching The Head Hunter I read a few reviews of this independent ‘made on a low budget’ shortish film. Clocking in at 70 minutes, a lot of comments by viewers can be condensed into ‘It’s a bit too long’ and ‘it needs to be 30 minutes long’.Hmmm I thought, this does […]
Blu-ray, DVD & Digital: Michael Palin – Travels of a Lifetime (2020) Michael Palin set a new standard for travel programmes when “Around the World in 80 Days” first aired in 1989, his affable and informal way of presenting endured him to millions of people, each of whom devoured every episode of his inaugural travels […]
Blu-ray, DVD & Digital: Wake of Death (2014)Entangled in a criminal world from which he wishes to escape, Ben Archer (Jean-Claude Van Damme) confides that he wants to retire from it all and live a peaceful life with his wife and son.Meanwhile, Ben’s wife Cynthia (Lisa King), who works for the American Immigration and Naturalization Service, […]
Blu-ray: Death Has Blue Eyes (1976) Writer/director Nico Mastorakis (Island of Death) once again takes the viewer on a wild cinematic ride in Greece. Local gigolo Chess (Chris Nomikos) meets his friend Bob (Peter Winter) at Athens airport before the pair of them begin an adventure together that involves sex, scams, some more sex, booze, a […]
Blu-ray: Raw (2016)What an amazing first feature for director Julia Ducournau. Released in 2016, Raw is one of those films that seem to be sent from movie heaven it’s that good.It’s a coming of age story about Justine (Garance Marillier), a clever and somewhat sullen and spoilt second daughter of a strict vegetarian family.Justine begins to attend the […]
The Barcelona Vampiress (2020)The Barcelona Vampiress is based on the amazingly true story of Enriqueta Martí i Ripollés (1868 – 1913) he supposed ‘Spanish child serial killer’ who kidnapped, then prostituted an unknown number of children. The film itself is extremely stylised, the set design is purposely claustrophobic and graphic comic in look and is rather Terry Gilliam-esque in […]