Film and TV

DVD: A Bigger Splash (1973)A Bigger Splash was filmed in 1973  and is a British biographical documentary film about David Hockney’s breakup with his then partner Peter Schlesinger from 1970 to 1973. Directed by Jack Hazan, and featuring many of Hockney’s circle including designers Celia Birtwell and Ossie Clark, artist Patrick Procktor, gallery owner John Kasmin […]

DVD & Digital: The Windsors (Series 3) (2020) The Royal Family: loved by millions the world over, perhaps not so much in Britain. Obscenely wealthy, out of touch with 99.9% of people, entitled, thick as shit and all of them pointless, headed by a monarch who has never done anything of note, whose contribution to […]

Following on from Volume 1: Fear Warning, Volume 2: Criminal Intent, Volume 3: Blood & Terror, and Volume 4: Faces of Fear, it was once again an absolute pleasure to sit down with the latest Hammer Films boxset release from Powerhouse Films in their ‘Indicator’ series. The movies are: Visa To Canton (1961) Though better […]

Blu-ray: Phase IV (1974) Anyone expecting a “killer ants” movie in a similar vein to Them! will be sorely disappointed when watching Phase IV for the first time. However, what it lacks in man-eating monsters, it more than makes up for with man-hating intelligent creatures. An outer space phenomenon has affected a colony of ants […]

Blu-ray: The Lords of Flatbush (1974)Before Sylvester Stallone was “Rocky”, and before Henry Winkler was “Fonzie”, they were Stanley Rosiello and Butchey Weinstein; 2 members of “The Lords of Flatbush”: a gang of Brooklyn teenagers who spend their time chasing girls, playing pool, and hanging out at a local malt shop.The gang is completed by David […]

Blu-ray: Magic (1978) Magic is a slow paced psychological thriller with a superb central performance by Anthony Hopkins as shy and reserved magician Corky, who finds fame and fortune after being paired with a ventriloquist dummy called “Fats”. Unfortunately for Corky this fame comes at a cost, mostly to his psyche, which is split between […]

Blu-ray: The Mad Magician (1954)Don Gallico (Vincent Price) designs elaborate magical illusions, which are then passed on by his employer Mr Ormond to various magicians, the main beneficiary being Ormand’s business partner The Great Rinaldi (John Emery).As well as designing the illusions, Gallico is also a master of disguise, creating face masks that Ethan Hunt would […]

Cinema & Digital: Escape From Pretoria (2020) Based on the 2003 book Inside Out: Escape from Pretoria Prison by Tim Jenkin, this film is based on the real prison escape by three young political prisoners from an apartheid era South African jail in 1979. Daniel Radcliffe plays white ANC activist Tim Jenkin, who, along with his friend Stephen […]

Blu-ray: Spacehunter: Adventures in the Forbidden Zone (1983) While idly cruising around in his bedraggled spaceship, bounty hunter Wolff (Peter Strauss) intercepts a message offering a large sum of money for the rescue of 3 women who narrowly escaped from an exploding starliner and have crash-landed on a barren planet. Upon landing on the planet, […]

Blu-ray: Runaway (1984) Jack Ramsay (Tom Selleck) is a police officer in the near future (1991 to be precise… one of the many things you will learn via the commentary track by film critic Kevin Lyons) who specialises in cases involving malfunctioning robots, or “runaway’s” as they are known within their section of the police. […]