This is Brittany Murphy’s last film and her earnest performance is just
enough to keep Abandoned bobbing at the mediocre water mark rather than
dropping to the murky depths of downright awful. Click here for full article.
Taxi Driver - 35th Anniversary May 2011
To mark the 35th anniversary of
this iconic piece of film history, Taxi Driver has been re-released with
a full makeover; a full 4k digital restoration with no cracks or
wobbles in sight. It deserves nothing less.
De Niro plays Vietnam veteran
Travis Bickle (one of the great character names of the 20th century), a
misfit loner on the edge of society. Taking a job as a taxi driver,
Bickle’s insomniac night drives around a seedy neon-lit New York City
are among the most recognisable in film history, as is Herrmann’s bluesy
accompanying saxophone score. Bickle’s unstable personality punctuates
each scene. His perception of New York as a sleazy, vice filled slum
feeds his righteous anger yet he indulges in the very thing he despises,
like being partial to the odd late night porn flick at one of the
city’s seedy cinemas. By taking his respectable girlfriend Betsy
(Shepherd) out on a date to one of these, highlights just how removed
Bickle really is from society and its conventions. Click here for full article.
A Small Act May 2011
An
official selection at the 2010 Sundance Film Festival, this charming
feature documentary tells the story of one small act and its
far-reaching consequences.
Hilde
Back is a Jewish refugee means who lost her family as a child during
WW2 before being helped into Sweden where she has lived ever since.
Hilde wanted someone else to experience the acceptance and support she
did so she decided to sponsor a Kenyan child. This decision was a
catalyst for change. The child she sponsored was Chris Mburu, a Harvard
graduate who now works as a Human Rights Lawyer for United Nations. Click here for full article.
I am Number Four cinema review March 2011
There are some powerful action sequences in this fun, if slightly daft
juvenile sci-fi thriller about a teenager’s struggle with that age old
dilemma of wanting to live an ordinary existence while under obligation
to save the World from destructive aliens.Click here for full article.
Dawn of Evil - Rise of the Reich DVD review March 2011
Based on the title alone, if you didn’t know what the film was about you
could be forgiven for anticipating a gruesome Nazi style Zombie horror.
Instead Dawn of Evil – Rise of the Reich offers a fictionalised account
of the beginnings of a very different type of terror. Click here for full article.
Open House DVD review March 2011
Open House is the directorial debut of Andrew Paquin - brother of Anna
who is given a minor role alongside her husband Stephen Moyer – who also
penned this unconvincing home invasion thriller.
Click here for full article.
Charlie St Cloud DVD review March 2011
Don’t let the title put you off, Charlie St Cloud is a watchable drama
if you are of a certain age and mind set. With Zac Efron (High School
Musical) in the lead role you don’t have to be female and 13 to enjoy it
but… it helps. Click here for full article.
Dog Pound DVD review February 2011
Dog Pound is an uncompromising prison drama set in a Youth Correctional
Centre in Montana, USA and follows the story of juveniles Butch, Davis
and Angel who are separately packed off to the facility after falling
foul of the law. Click here for full article.
Devil DVD review February 2011
Devil is the first of The Night Chronicles, a trilogy of supernatural
horror stories from Sixth Sense Producer and Writer M. Night.
Shyamalan. Devil packs an initial punch with a dramatic suicide. Then five
seemingly random people get stuck in a lift on the 21st floor of an
office block. But who’s behind it all? M. Night. Shyamalan’s stories are
known for their religious themes and this is no exception. Click here for full article.
Gulliver's Travels Cinema review January 2011
The latest adaptation of Jonathon Swift’s Eighteenth Century novel sees
Jack Black as friendly but unobtrusive mail man Lemuel Gulliver working
in the mail room of a New York newspaper company. Click here for full article.
The Illusionist Cinema Review August 2010
It
is the 1950s and Rock and Roll is taking the world by storm. Our
protagonist is Tatischeff, a conjurer who specializes in the quaint art
of rabbits-out-of-a-hat-magic and apparently an animated version of
Scriptwriter Jacques Tati himself. Click here for full article.
Merry Gentleman Cinema Review December 2009.
Escaping
a violent marriage Kate Frazier (Kelly Macdonald) heads to Chicago for a new
life and some anonymity. Before long she is fending off love interests from all
over the place, the most persistent of which is divorced alcoholic cop Dave
ably played by Tom Bastounes. Click here for full article.
New Town Killers Cinema Review June 2009
Director
Richard Jobson’s New Town Killers is a high octane hide and seek thriller set
in Edinburgh’s new town. Sean (James Anthony Pearson) lives with his sister
Alice (Liz White) in a housing estate but becomes worried when her debt spirals
out of control. To get money fast he agrees to a game of cat and mouse for
£12,000 in readies, orchestrated by wealthy bankers Alistair and Jamie. Click here for full article.
Ultra DVD Review April 2009
Now
released for the first time on DVD, Ultra is a study of fanaticism and loyalty
within a group of hardcore Italian football supporters in 1990. Recently
released from prison, Prince is the popular leader of the ‘Poison Brigade’;
hardcore AS Roma football supporters whose sole aim in life seem to be the annihilation
of their rivals. This they embrace as though a God-given right, a natural and
correct process that should not be questioned. The beautiful game becomes
incidental to the ugly drama being enacted on the peripheries.
Click here for full article.
