Hollywood
DVD/Blu-ray: DementiaTuesday, 03 November 2020
The cheaply made experimental exploitation indie Dementia (1955) is one of those footnotes in movie history that makes cultists salivate. And with good reason – it’s a wry blend of film noir and horror that makes you wonder if it was a... Read more... |
Blu-ray: IvansxtcTuesday, 13 October 2020
“Every cliché about Hollywood is true,” director Bernard Rose remarked in 2018, at the screening Q&A of the restored version of his 1999 Ivansxtc that appears as an extra on this Arrow release – and, post-#MeToo, the film’s satire of that milieu... Read more... |
The Movies: The Seventies review - a mirror on malaiseWednesday, 23 September 2020
Sky’s 12-part documentary series The Movies is an unabashed celebration of American cinema. Barrages of clips make it an entertaining survey of Hollywood (and occasionally Off-Hollywood) through the years. Downplaying film as art, and scarcely... Read more... |
Blu-ray: Safety Last!Sunday, 30 August 2020
Comparing Harold Lloyd with Keaton and Chaplin is difficult. Though the input he brought to his films was crucial, Lloyd didn’t write or direct, and there’s much discussion as to whether he was a genuine comedian or a straight actor playing the part... Read more... |
Women Make Film: Part Two review - two steps forward, one step backFriday, 22 May 2020
The second half of Mark Cousins’ documentary on films by women filmmakers starts with religion; it ends with song and dance. This is a second seven-hour journey through cinema. It reconfirms Women Make Film as a remarkable feat of excavation and... Read more... |
Reborn review - horror on the Hollywood skidsSaturday, 16 May 2020
The Frankenstein-style, electrical storm-sparked resurrection of a dead baby in a hospital morgue, and her theft by its creepy attendant, is followed by a homage to Stephen King’s supernaturally potent teenagers, from Carrie to Firestarter, in a... Read more... |
Hollywood, Netflix review - rosy escapism serving good causesThursday, 14 May 2020
If you're catering for wish fulfilment, you might as well go the whole hog. Some say that Ryan Murphy and Ian Brennan, in their latest peachy extravaganza, aim no higher than the cheesier fantasies of the late 1940s Hollywood they take into... Read more... |
Blu-ray: Fuller at FoxTuesday, 29 October 2019
This new Eureka! boxset of 4K and 2K restorations provides ample evidence as to why Samuel Fuller was venerated by such a wide range of film-makers, including Godard, Wenders, Scorsese and Tarantino. Often characterised as a purveyor of pulp... Read more... |
Dark Money, BBC One review - powerful idea poorly executedTuesday, 09 July 2019
It’s a topical idea, at least. Isaac Mensah, a child actor from a working-class family in London, has been cast in a Hollywood sci-fi blockbuster, and when he returns home his family and friends are agog to find out what his amazing movie experience... Read more... |
Bitter Wheat, Garrick Theatre review - Malkovich monologue is more chaff than wheatThursday, 20 June 2019
John Malkovich is back in town - and he's starring in the most controversial play of the year. Trouble is, it might well also be the worst. When the subject of veteran American playwright David Mamet's new drama was announced as being about a... Read more... |
Classical CDs Weekly: Christian Lindberg, John Williams, Alexandra DariescuSaturday, 01 June 2019
Christian Lindberg: Steppenwolf – Viola Concerto, Tales of Galamanta, Peking Twilight Rafael Altino (viola), Odense Symphony Orchestra/Christian Lindberg (BIS)“I do not write in any style whatsoever! I just listen to what my brain and my soul... Read more... |
Destination Wedding review - a misanthropic modern-day romanceSaturday, 11 May 2019
Recently, Keanu Reeves and Winona Ryder have found themselves in a career renaissance. Reeves has made a remarkable comeback as the dog-loving action-hero John Wick, while Ryder won audiences over as the grief-stricken mother, Joyce Byers, in... Read more... |
