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5 Aug
2020 |
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| Pandemonium |
| The Long Read. Jerry Whyte reflects on the pandemic, policing and racism in the UK and US with reference to two pivotal years, 1940 and 1968, and with the unlikely assistance of J.B. Priestley’s Postcripts and Peter Whitehead’s The Fall. |
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27 Jul
2020 |
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| The documentary Donald Trump tried to block lands a worldwide release |
| A film that the Trump Organization threatened cinemas for showing, which tells the story of 96-year-old Scottish widow Molly Forbes, who lost her water supply during the construction of Trump's luxury golf course near Aberdeen, is being released digitally worldwide by Journeyman Pictures. |
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27 Jul
2020 |
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27 Jul
2020 |
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25 Jul
2020 |
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24 Jul
2020 |
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| Three Edgar Allan Poe Adaptations Starring Bela Lugosi |
| Three classic Universal horror films based on the works of Edgar Allan Poe and starring Bela Lugosi – The Murders of the Rue Morgue, The Black Cat and The Raven – have been released on Blu-ray in a superb Masters of Cinema set. Slarek hangs out with black cats, ravens and murderous gorillas. |
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23 Jul
2020 |
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21 Jul
2020 |
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15 Jul
2020 |
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14 Jul
2020 |
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13 Jul
2020 |
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| Criss Cross |
| The depths of lust are ably explored in Robert Siodmak's Criss Cross, starring Burt Lancaster and Yvonne De Carlo and out now on Blu-ray from Masters of Cinema. Wading through flashbacks, clydefro remembers why he fell in love with the darkness all over again. |
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5 Jul
2020 |
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| Misbehaviour |
| If there is a target ripe with a chance to stir the emotions more readily than most, it’s our ugly history and comparing older attitudes to today’s. Right now we may be slipping back into that past. Misbehaviour reminds us what we must never forget… Camus goes back to 1970… |
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5 Jul
2020 |
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3 Jul
2020 |
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1 Jul
2020 |
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| Britannia Hospital |
| Director Lindsay Anderson occupies a singular niche in British Cinema and Britannia Hospital is the third in his ‘Mick Travis’ trilogy after If.... and O Lucky Man!. Camus is befuddled, amused and bemused by this really odd, little science fiction film… |
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30 Jun
2020 |
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| Takeshi Kitano Collection |
| Three terrific early features by one of modern cinema's finest directors – Violent Cop, Boiling Point and Sonatine – have been given welcome Blu-ray upgrades and brought together into a single, rather lovely box set by the BFI. A very happy Slarek revisits three personal favourites. |
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23 Jun
2020 |
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| Force 10 From Navarone |
| A small team assembles to do a big job. Cinema is awash with films with such a formula. A sequel to an illustrious predecessor, Force 10 From Navarone recasts its leads and showcases the rising star of the day. Camus joins the team… |
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20 Jun
2020 |
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| The Beast Must Die |
| The werewolf movie meets Agatha Christie in Paul Annett's offbeat and entertaining 1974 blend of horror, action movie and country house mystery gets a richly featured Blu-ray release from Indicator. Slarek revisits The Beast Must Die, a curio of a film that has aged considerably better than he would have predicted. |
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4 Jun
2020 |
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| Distant Journey |
| A classic Czech film about the Holocaust, made just three years after WWII ended, that also contains some highly interesting experimental and expressionistic forays, Distant Journey finds a definitive Blu-ray edition via Second Run, reviewed here by clydefro. |
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3 Jun
2020 |
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| America as Seen by a Frenchman |
| In what may be the most unfortunately timed Blu-ray release of the year so far, French documentarian François Reichenbach's poetic love-letter to America and its culture is out this week on Arrow Academy Blu-ray. Slarek takes a trip with the director but can't get the images dominating the nightly news out of his head. |
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29 May
2020 |
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| Cisco Pike |
| Cisco Pike was a relatively unknown 1972 drama surfing the youth culture tsunami kick started by Easy Rider. It stayed that way until it was released on DVD 34 years after its all but buried cinema run. Camus samples the life of the outlaw... |
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28 May
2020 |
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| Spring Night Summer Night |
| The work of a first-time feature director and his students and finally restored to its original form, Joseph L. Anderson's Spring Night Summer Night was recently released on a typically excellent Indicator Blu-ray. Slarek takes a trip to rural Ohio and falls for this microburget neorealist gem. |
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10 May
2020 |
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| You lucky, lucky bastard |
| In a flipside follow-up to his previous blog, Slarek takes a look at a few of the positive things he will take from the current enforced lockdown and makes note of a few things he genuinely has to be grateful for. |
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17 May
2020 |
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| John Ford at Columbia 1935-1958 |
| Slarek has finally completed his inexcusably late but detailed review of John Ford at Columbia 1935-1958, a special features-packed box set from Indicator that handsomely showcases four lesser discussed films by one of America's most respected and influential filmmakers. |
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14 May
2020 |
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| The 1,000 Eyes of Dr. Mabuse |
| The belated third film in Fritz Lang's Mabuse trilogy may not reach the heights of its celebrated predecessors but it still has plenty to recommend it. Slarek revisits the film looking better than ever on this new Masters of Cinema Blu-ray from Eureka. |
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