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12 Jan
2021 |
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| Hoffman |
| Peter Sellers and Sinéad Cusack excel in Hoffman, an intriguing, well directed and written drama from 1970 whose suspect gender politics have aged like warm milk. Slarek is made to feel uncomfortable by a film it's worth being made to feel uncomfortable by, which has been revived and restored for Indicator's new Blu-ray. |
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12 Jan
2022 |
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7 Jan
2021 |
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| Sixteen going on seventeen: life, movies and politics in 2021 |
| A few days late after taking some much needed time out from reviewing and work in general, Slarek looks back at one of the shittiest years in living memory, wishes he’d seen more movies than he did, has his usual political moan, and picks some of his favourite films and discs from his 2021. |
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1 Jan
2021 |
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| The Brute |
| Just as powerful now, 47 years after it was made, is a film that confronts you with a graphic story of domestic violence that is not only harrowing to watch but is truly shocking. Camus catches up with the once long lost but ever-relevant, The Brute. |
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21 Dec
2021 |
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20 Dec
2021 |
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| The Blockhouse |
| Sometimes a film comes along that defies a multiverse of logic as to how it even came to exist. The true story on which it’s based is extraordinary, no question but as for its cinematic potential… Camus lights the last candle reviewing The Blockhouse… |
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20 Dec
2021 |
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| Mae West in Hollywood, 1932-1943 |
| A week late (what's new?), Slarek reviews what may be Indicator's most ambitious Blu-ray box set to date, one that brings together all ten of the films featuring overtly sensual and boundary-pushing writer and actor Mae West from her golden days as the Queen of Hollywood. |
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18 Dec
2021 |
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| Les enfants terribles |
| Les enfants terribles, written by Jean Cocteau from his novel, the second feature of Jean-Pierre Melville, is a hothouse drama of the close and eventually suffocating relationship between a brother and sister. It is released on Blu-ray by the BFI and is reviewed by Gary Couzens. |
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15 Dec
2021 |
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15 Dec
2021 |
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13 Dec
2021 |
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| West Side Story |
| Like any Shakespeare play, a classic film may warrant being reinterpreted for a different era and culture. Open mouth. Insert soap. While not equating West Side Story (based on Romeo and Juliet after all) as an evergreen text, Camus was curious what Steven Spielberg would literally make of it… |
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10 Dec
2021 |
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| The Great Silence |
| Jean-Louis Trintignant plays a mute gunfighter who avenges the moral crimes of a group of bounty hunters lead by an ice-cool Klaus Kinski in Sergio Corbucci's 1968 Italian western masterpiece. Slarek falls in love with a bleak and haunting work on Eureka's impeccable new Blu-ray. |
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9 Dec
2021 |
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9 Dec
2021 |
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| Out of the Blue |
| Dennis Hopper’s return to directing after nearly a decade, Out of the Blue captured some of the mood of the punk era and showcases a great performance from Linda Manz. It gets a two-disc Blu-ray release from the BFI, reviewed by Gary Couzens. |
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2 Dec
2021 |
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25 Nov
2021 |
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| Naked |
| Made in 1993, Naked established Mike Leigh as one of British cinema’s finest filmmakers of his time. Having had a 4K restoration and limited cinema reissue, it comes to Blu-ray from the BFI. Review by Gary Couzens. |
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23 Nov
2021 |
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| Bleak Moments |
| Fifty years after it was made, Mike Leigh’s debut feature film, Bleak Moments, has a restoration and Blu-ray release from the BFI, and is reviewed by Gary Couzens. |
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22 Nov
2021 |
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| Cinematic Vengeance: 8 Kung Fu Classics by Joseph Kuo |
| In an inescapably lengthy and delayed review, Slarek punches, jumps and kicks his way through what may be his favourite box set of the year, Eureka's marvellous old-school martial arts Blu-ray collection, Cinematic Vengeance: 8 Kung Fu Classics by Joseph Kuo. |
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21 Nov
2021 |
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| Deep Cover |
| Occasional reviewer SilverBlueSnow returns with a look at the Criterion Blu-ray of Bill Duke's 1992 crime thriller Deep Cover, and pays tribute to leading man Laurence Fishburne's performance, vocal delivery and stylish dress sense. |
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15 Nov
2021 |
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| Ingmar Bergman: Volume 2 |
| The BFI’s second of four Ingmar Bergman Blu-ray box sets, with eight films each, reaches the 1950s, the period where he made his first masterpieces and became a major figure in world cinema. Review by Gary Couzens. |
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10 Nov
2021 |
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| Celia |
| In an unforgivably late review, Slarek is transported back to the freedoms, adventures and conflicts of childhood by director Ann Turner's remarkable 1989 debut feature, Celia, which looks terrific on a splendidly featured and recently released Second Run Blu-ray. |
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3 Nov
2021 |
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| The Seventh Seal |
| The newly upgraded Slarek makes the BFI's first UHD release his first UHD review, and is delighted by how good the iconic imagery of Ingmar Berman's masterful The Seventh Seal looks in 4K HDR. But with a review of the box set Blu-ray edition also incoming, he elects to focus on a little discussed aspect of one of his favourite films. |
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2 Nov
2021 |
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| MacArthur |
| A little late (blame a certain sandy planet) Camus reviews MacArthur released on Blu-ray last week by Indicator. In the midst of war, General Douglas MacArthur was a towering figure at the height of his popularity, something presidents don’t appreciate. Camus goes back to darker times… |
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28 Oct
2021 |
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| Dune |
| Frank Herbert’s classic science fiction series of novels have defied truly satisfying screen adaptations for being too dense to easily adapt. That is until director Denis Villeneuve rolled up his sleeves. Camus is in no small awe at his astonishing Dune… |
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27 Oct
2021 |
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| Short Sharp Shocks Volume 2 |
| A year on from the BFI’s first Short Sharp Shocks collection of short films often touching on horror and the macabre, along comes Volume 2, with ten more films from the 1940s to the 1980s, reviewed by Gary Couzens. |
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26 Oct
2021 |
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| Gray Lady Down |
| Charlton Heston plays the captain of a submarine that sinks after colliding with a cargo ship in David Greene's 1978 entertaining disaster movie-tinged action-drama, newly released on Blu-ray by Indicator. Slarek dons a wetsuit and reminds himself why a career in the Navy was never on the cards. |
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