Review: Raw
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 […]
Review: The Barcelona Vampiress
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 […]
Review: He Dreams of Giants
Digital: He Dreams of Giants (2019)Terry Gilliam has long dreamed of getting his elusive passion-project of The Man Who Killed Don Quixote onto screens worldwide, but has been beset with a multitude of problems which has included, but not restricted to; freak weather cancelling filming, budgetary restrictions, many changes of actors, and a whole host of other […]
Review: Take Back
DVD & Digital: Take Back (2021)Zara (Gillian White) is a successful business owner with a loving husband and daughter.However, Zara’s life is turned upside down when her daughter is abducted by a mysterious stranger (Mickey Rourke) and forced into the seedy underground world that he he oversees.Letting nothing get in her way to save her daughter, […]
Review: The Eight Hundred
Digital, DVD & Limited Edition Blu-ray: The Eight Hundred (2020)The highest grossing film of 2020, The Eight Hundred is a visually stunning Chinese historical military drama, which tells the true story of how a few hundred Chinese soldiers hunkered down in a warehouse trying against all odds to defend it from Japanese invaders.The relentless action […]
Review: Journey to the Far Side of the Sun
DVD & Blu-ray: Journey to the Far Side of the Sun (1969)Written and produced by Gerry and Sylvia Anderson (Thunderbirds, Stingray, Captain Scarlet and the Mysterons), Journey to the Far Side of the Sun was their first major live action production. It’s 2069 and two astronauts are sent to uncover the secrets of a “duplicate” Earth on […]
Review: Crimewave
Blu-ray: Crimewave (1985)Directed by Sam Raimi (who also shares writing credits with Joel and Ethan Coen), and featuring Bruce Campbell, Brion James, Louise Lasser, Paul L. Smith, Antonio Fargas and many other of my favourite actors of that time period, you’d think that Crimewave would be one of my “go to” movies of the past 36 years.However, […]
Review: Welcome to Sudden Death
DVD: Welcome to Sudden Death (2020)Jesse Freeman (Michael Jai White) is a former special forces officer and explosives expert now working a regular job as a security guard in a state-of-the-art sports arena.Trouble begins during a basketball game at the arena, just when Jesse has taken his young son and daughter with him to work […]
Review: The Criminal Code
Blu-ray: The Criminal Code (1930)The Criminal Code, based on the play by Martin Flavin, was originally produced on Broadway in 1929, and the great Boris Karloff, who appeared in the stage play, is recast here as Galloway, giving him his first noticeable role after being mostly cast in bit parts.Notably, the film is the first of Hawks’ four […]
Review: Things Change
Written and directed by David Mamet, Things Change is one of those ‘hidden gem’ movies Powerhouse Films excel at releasing under their Indicator series of releases. Gino (Don Ameche) is a quiet, considered older Italian shoe-shiner working in a repair shop in Chicago. He’s poor, lives alone, minds his own business, and gets on with life.One […]