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6 Jun
2023 |
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2 Jun
2023 |
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30 May
2023 |
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| La règle du jeu |
| As copper-bottomed a classic film as there is, Jean Renoir’s La règle du jeu was a flop on release and was later banned but soon became a perennial of Greatest of All Time lists. Gary Couzens pays a visit to the countryside for the weekend. |
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29 May
2023 |
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| The Conquest of Everest |
| A 1953 documentary record of the first successful ascent of the world’s highest peak, The Conquest of Everest has been restored and released on Blu-ray by Studiocanal. A height-phobic Slarek is impressed with the upgrade from the 2007 DVD, and salutes those bold enough to make such a climb. |
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28 May
2023 |
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| Two Orphan Vampires |
| 1997 saw director Jean Rollin return to a genre in which he made his name with Two Orphan Vampires [Les deux orphelines vampires], a more personal and character-centric work that disappointed some but had Slarek captivated, and is splendidly showcased on Indicator’s new UHD and Blu-ray editions. |
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26 May
2023 |
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25 May
2023 |
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18 May
2023 |
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| A second Jean Rollin double on 4K UHD from Indicator in August |
| Indicator has revealed that it's next two 4K UHD releases of films by European horror auteur Jean Rollin will be released in August, which will be his controversial first feature, The Rape of the Vampire, and a lesser-known gem, The Night of the Hunted. |
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17 May
2023 |
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| The Shiver of the Vampires |
| Indicator takes its first steps into the UHD format with two simultaneously released titles by cult French filmmaker Jean Rollin. In the first of two (late) reviews, Slarek is captivated by the psychedelia and the games played with the genre in Rollin’s third feature, The Shiver of the Vampires [Le frisson des vampires]. |
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16 May
2023 |
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14 May
2023 |
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| Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 |
| Disney Marvel, according to all reputable sources (is YouTube reputable?), seems to be taking a hammering. Some of its ‘Phase 4’ TV and film offerings have underachieved and been met with fan indifference. So how was director James Gunn going to stoke the fires anew? Camus was surprised at the emotional tug of Guardians of the Galaxy Volume 3… |
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13 May
2023 |
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| Enys Men |
| Enys Men is Cornish writer-director-cinematographer Mark Jenkin’s follow-up to the successful Bait, and incorporates folk-horror elements into his lo-fi hand-crafted methods. Gary Couzens takes a trip to an isolated island with this BFI dual-format release. |
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11 May
2023 |
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| Full Circle: The Haunting of Julia |
| The BFI's excellent Flipside strand takes its first step into 4K UHD with Richard Loncraine's semi-supernatural psychological drama Full Circle, also known as The Haunting of Julia. Slarek is bewitched by this impressively understated gem. |
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9 May
2023 |
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8 May
2023 |
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| The Three Musketeers & The Four Musketeers |
| One of the most-read novels in history has been the basis for a fair few films, but none quite capture the essence of Alexandre Dumas better than Richard Lester’s The Three Musketeers and The Four Musketeers. Slarek revisits two old favourites in their first 4K UHD incarnation, courtesy of Studiocanal. |
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8 May
2023 |
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| The Unlikely Pilgrimage of Harold Fry |
| The Unlikely Pilgrimage of Harold Fry should be anything but cinematic. How director Hettie Macdonald makes a man walking for two months exquisitely just so is a miracle of sorts. Camus walks on by (ba ba-ba, ba-ba)… |
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6 May
2023 |
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| Freud |
| Freud was a long-standing passion project of John Huston’s. Released in 1962, it is released on a Blu-ray from Indicator, reviewed by Gary Couzens. |
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1 May
2023 |
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| Morgiana |
| Slarek fell in love with the trippy gothic delights and dark folktale aesthetic of Juraj Herz’s 1972 Morgiana when it was released on DVD back in 2010, and is every bit as bewitched as it returns with an HD upgrade and a new commentary track on Second Run’s new Blu-ray. |
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25 Apr
2023 |
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| Creeping Horror |
| Creeping Horror is the latest quartet of horror-themed mystery thrillers to be released on Blu-ray by Eureka, and it's one of the best yet. A still slow-moving Slarek finds oodles to enjoy and admire here, and all these years later remains startled by a pre-Code opening sequence that haunted his younger years. |
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25 Apr
2023 |
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| Two Films by Jerzy Skolimowski |
| Two of Jerzy Skolimowski's early Polish films, his debut feature Identification Marks: None and his once-banned fourth film Hands Up!, are released in a two-disc Blu-ray set from the BFI and are reviewed by Gary Couzens. |
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17 Apr
2023 |
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| Broken Lullaby |
| A French soldier tortured by the memory of a young man he killed during WWI seeks to make reparation by visiting the boy's family in Germany in a compellingly handled but atypical film from the master of sophisticated romantic-comedy, Ernst Lubitsch. Slarek gets up to speed after his holiday with a late review of another fine Blu-ray from Indicator. |
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4 Apr
2023 |
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| EO |
| Jerzy Skolimowski's tale of a donkey's life, EO, is released on dual-format by the BFI and is reviewed by Gary Couzens. |
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31 Mar
2023 |
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| Kamikaze Hearts |
| Juliet Bashore's quasi-documentary Kamikaze Hearts is a landmark queer film, portraying its lead actors' love affair against a background of the US porn industry. The BFI's Blu-ray release is reviewed by Gary Couzens. |
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29 Mar
2023 |
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| The Kiss Before the Mirror |
| A rarely discussed drama that was made slap bang in the middle of director James Whale's run of horror masterworks and is now available on Blu-ray with a restored transfer from Indicator. Slarek has issues with the archaic patriarchal morality at its centre but is otherwise seriously impressed by the craft of what unfolds. |
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28 Mar
2023 |
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| Remember the Night |
| Remember the Night, a romantic comedy and several other things, was the first teaming of Barbara Stanwyck and Fred MacMurray, directed by Mitchell Leisen from a script by Preston Sturges, out on Blu-ray from Indicator. Gary Couzens heads off home for Christmas. |
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23 Mar
2023 |
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| Dance Craze |
| Dance Craze is a concert movie showcasing the then-current two-tone scene, released by the BFI. Gary Couzens heads down to the dance hall. |
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10 Mar
2023 |
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| Reviews and news coverage in the coming month |
| In a rare blog not cataloguing his latest disaster, Slarek reveals why the posting of new reviews may or may not be a little spotty in the coming weeks, and reflects on how being a bad traveller and an accidental isolationist can cause you to fret over the smallest things. |
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3 Mar
2023 |
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| Violent Streets |
| A nightclub owner with a criminal past finds himself pulled into a gangland turf war in Gosha Hideo’s engrossing 1974 yakuza thriller, Violent Streets [Bōryoku gai]. A week before he heads back to a law-abiding Japan for his first visit in four years, Slarek immerses himself in the Tōkyō underworld on Eureka’s typically strong Masters of Cinema Blu-ray. |
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