Paul Schrader’s Dog Eat Dog might have one of the best openings in recent memory. Without tediously itemising the whole sequence, let’s just say it involves a totally wired Willem Dafoe armed with a large knife in a lurid suburban setting where bold neon glows battle for supremacy. It’s like Schrader ingested David Lynch, Douglas Sirk, Michael Moore […]
London Film Festival 2016: The Ghoul
You’ve may not have realised it, but you’ve probably seen Gareth Tunley plenty of times on television. He’s appeared in everything from Hustle and The Thick of It to Peep Show (memorably as “more cor anglais” Gog) in the last decade. It turns out Tunley, perpetually stuck in bit parts, has now moved behind the camera and made a curiously intense psychological […]
London Film Festival 2016: The Autopsy of Jane Doe
Like Ronseal, The Autopsy of Jane Doe does exactly what it says on the tin. Writers Ian Goldberg and Richard Naing have done their research and come back with a horror film based on the meticulous process of sleuthing through a cadaver. Of course there’s more to the film than a mere autopsy — just […]
London Film Festival 2016: Brimstone
One of cinema’s greatest characters, let alone villains, is Robert Mitchum’s insidious preacher Harry Powell in Night of the Hunter. With ‘love’ and ‘hate’ emblazoned on his knuckles, Powell stalks the Southern Gothic landscape with sinister desires and an ominous aura of dread. Mitchum’s performance is one not easily forgotten or trumped. That was until […]
High-Rise
In all the mayhem and carnage of High-Rise one scene in particular stands out. As society teeters perilously close to total collapse, we find Dr Robert Laing (Tom Hiddleston) brawling over a tin of grey paint during the looting of the supermarket. “It’s my paint!” Laing exclaims as he bludgeons a rival to a bloody […]
Movie Fail Live Tweets the 88th Academy Awards
In light of the massive controversy around #OscarsSoWhite, host Chris Rock reportedly tossed his plans for the 88th Academy Awards in favor of a brand new set of material. We’re all psyched to see what he has in store. The festivities begin at 7 pm EST on ABC (or online). The full list of 2016 Oscar […]
London Film Festival 2015: Green Room
Punk Music has always had an uneasy relationship with violence, but for all the bravado, safety pins and rioting it’s never been explicitly tied to outright murder. That was until ultra-violent thriller Green Room hit theaters. Following on from his widely praised debut, Blue Ruin, Jeremy Saulnier cranks the drama up to eleven and produces an exhilarating, albeit […]
London Film Festival 2015: The Lobster
“If you were an animal, what animal would you be?” Whether it’s the whirling infantile mind or the daydreams of a bored office worker, this thought holds a primitive interest. Clearly it’s been on Greek director Yorgos Lanthimos’ mind. The Lobster places us in a world where relationships are so important that those who haven’t found […]
London Film Festival 2015: Observance
Alfred Hitchcock, the master of the thriller film, once commented on the idea of voyeurism in a conversation with Francois Truffaut. He said, “I’ll bet you that nine out of ten people, if they see a woman across the courtyard undressing for bed, or even a man puttering around in his room… They could pull down […]
London Film Festival 2015: Anomalisa
Standing in the queue for the London Film Festival’s mysterious secret screening, all the talk was unsurprisingly concerned with what lay ahead on the mammoth screen at the Odeon in Leicester Square. Packed together like cattle, there were murmurs of The Hateful Eight or, perhaps most widely suspected, The Danish Girl. But of course you can’t second guess the […]
London Film Festival 2015: The Ones Below
Sometimes a film is intrinsically indebted to another. The Ones Below owes such gratitude to Roman Polanski’s pregnancy horror classic, Rosemary’s Baby. Building directly from another film, especially one as renowned and distinctive as Polanksi’s, adds a certain amount of pressure and expectation to a film; unfair or not, audiences expect you to either trump your predecessor or add to its legacy. […]
Straight Outta Compton
In 1988, N.W.A released the album “Straight Outta Compton.” The album’s titular first track opened with the spoken line “You are now about to witness the strength of street knowledge” and ended with the bold full stop, “Damn that sh*t was dope!” In the four minutes in between, NWA redefined more than just hip hop […]
The Vaudevillian Heroes of Silent Film
One of cinema’s most enduring and iconic images is Harold Lloyd, donning his trademark boater and circular spectacles, hanging precariously from a clock face above bustling streets below. In this timely snapshot we can see the silent era’s greatest strengths: absurdity, comedy and physicality. While trying dramas such as Birth of a Nation (1915), Sunrise (1927) and The […]
Child 44
Cigar chain-smoker and all-around war hero Winston Churchill once mused, “Russia is a riddle wrapped in a mystery inside an enigma.” While Child 44 isn’t quite that indecipherable, Churchill’s sentiments perfectly summarise the disjointed and fragmented adaptation of Tom Rob Smith’s U.S.S.R.-based novel. Director Daniel Espinosa fails to utilise the superb cinematic tools at hand—including […]
The Shining: A Vendetta Story
Over the last 35 years, humanity has achieved many great feats: the end of the Cold War, the creation of the Internet, four more identical films in the Rocky franchise. Yet one lingering mystery still plagues our species’ mere mortal brains — Stanley Kubrick’s seminal classic, The Shining. For most people, The Shining is a mildly […]
Kingsman: The Secret Service
It’s dinner time. Villain Richmond Valentine (Samuel L. Jackson), flaunting his disarming lisp, confesses his love of good old-fashioned spy movies to debonair secret agent Henry Hart (Colin Firth). At the same time, he somewhat paradoxically reassures Hart that this isn’t one of them, coming within inches of breaking the fourth wall. This odd contradiction wonderfully summarises the action packed, […]
The Theory of Everything
The “theory of everything” was the basis of world renowned English physicist Stephen Hawking’s first work in the 1960s. He believed there was one all-encompassing framework of physics that links together everything in the universe. While the “theory of everything” has yet to be proven – even Hawking himself has retracted his support for the premise – […]
Eight Alternative French Classics
Beyond venturing to and from the movies in 2014, I’ve also stumbled upon a wonderful streaming website called Mubi that’s met many of my cinematic needs. The service provides one international film every day of the year. As you might imagine, that leads to an eclectic mix of features both old and new. Mubi is a fine starting point […]
Following from a Nascent Nolan
While innovative, hugely popular big budget blockbusters are Christopher Nolan’s staple these days, life wasn’t always so glamorous for the English director. Sixteen years ago, Nolan made his foray into feature-length filmmaking with the ultra-low budget (£3,000) Following. This often forgotten gem of an independent film is unquestionably nascent Nolan. Watching Following in the context of his subsequent productions offers a fascinating insight […]
Mr. Turner
As he slumps further into his seat, a numbing chill besets a visibly drained man. His eyelids uncontrollably waver between open and closed like a ship’s bow undulating in the sea. The abject look emblazoned across his face tells a tale of defeat, hinting at the effects of a grave and strenuous ordeal. He’s had enough; surely […]
Nightcrawler
What’s the dream footage to lead local morning news? A screaming woman running down the street with her throat cut, of course. That’s according to unscrupulous news director Nina Romina (Rene Russo). Her world is controlled by ratings which are in turn driven by suburban fear mongering and perverse images of death and violence. Nightcrawler takes us […]
London Film Festival 2014: Pasolini
Pier Paolo Pasolini’s last film was the infamous, and largely banned, Salò, or the 120 Days of Sodom. The controversial 1975 picture sees four Italian libertines in the last throngs of Mussolini’s fascist wartime regime. They kidnap eighteen youthful, attractive men and woman whom they sexually abuse and torment. The degraded youths meet a horrific demise as they’re branded, hanged and […]
London Film Festival 2014: Goodbye to Language 3D
I remember stumbling across artist Marcel Duchamp’s infamous piece, “Fountain”, in the Liverpool Tate Modern art gallery a few years ago. The sculpture, if you’re audacious enough to label it as such, is simply a urinal tipped on its back. The only indication that this slab of utilitarian porcelain is in fact a piece of art […]
The Riot Club
“I’m sick to death of poor people!” the repugnant Alistair Ryle (Sam Claflin) roars to his comrades atop the opulent dinner table, sloshing his wine carelessly out of its vessel in the process. This loaded, incendiary harangue epitomises the deplorable attitude of The Riot Club. The film’s vulgar band of toffs are some of the most […]
Pride
There’s a wonderfully poignant scene in Pride where Imelda Staunton’s character, Hefina, sits with one of the elder statesmen of their small mining village buttering sandwiches. As they go about this mundane task facing the static, Ozu-esque camera, discussing their new found solidarity with gay pride, the man makes the bold admission he himself is […]
The Guest
With the door firmly closed behind him, the darkly sinister stranger has locked out any hope of escape with a stern push of the handle. Our female protagonist sits silently, frozen with fear at the thought of her imminent fate. The shady figure ahead lowers to her level and reassures the trembling girl that he’s a normal […]
