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17 May
2022 |
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| Revolver |
| Oliver Reed is at his restrained best as a prison warden forced to facilitate a jailbreak in order to save his wife in Revolver, Sergio Sollima’s rivetingly handled 1973 crime drama. Slarek explores the film on Eureka’s new Blu-ray, and adds another favourite to an increasingly long list. |
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17 May
2022 |
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17 May
2022 |
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12 May
2022 |
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12 May
2022 |
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7 May
2022 |
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4 May
2022 |
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| One for the Road |
| Four men on an alcohol awareness course drink and delude themselves in Chris Cooke’s perceptive, energetic and darkly amusing debut feature, One for the Road. Slarek revisits a fondly remembered film whose deliberately unpolished aesthetic is something to be treasured in the era of antiseptic HD. |
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4 May
2022 |
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| Getting my teeth stuck into delayed reviews |
| In his first blog in three months, Slarek outlines in unnecessarily unpleasant detail just why some reviews that were due to be posted recently have been so delayed and why things should soon be back to normal on that front. |
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4 May
2022 |
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1 May
2022 |
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| The Wrong Arm of the Law |
| Peter Sellers plays the head of a crime syndicate whose operatives are being robbed of their spoils by a trio of conmen posing as policemen in The Wrong Arm of the Law, one of the best British comedies of the post Ealing period. Slarek takes a trip back to early 1960s London to revisit a personal favourite on Studiocanal’s new Vintage Classics Blu-ray. |
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1 May
2022 |
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| A Tribute to Gavin Millar |
| When an important broadcaster and critic and took an interest in your adolescent career goals, it mattered. It really mattered. To a 17 year old, having the attention and support of the BBC’s Arena Cinema’s host was like a golden ticket to Wonka’s Chocolate factory… Camus plays tribute to mentor Gavin Millar. |
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30 Apr
2022 |
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| Enzo G. Castellari and Walter Hill on StudioCanal Blu-ray in June |
| StudioCanal has announced the three new Blu-ray titles for June, with two from legendary director Enzo G. Castellari – the Poliziotteschi crime thriller High Crime and the iconic Spaghetti Western Kill Them All and Come Back Alone – and Walter Hill's action thriller Extreme Prejudice. |
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29 Apr
2022 |
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| Play for Today: Volume Three |
| Six more Plays for Today have been released in a Blu-ray box set by the BFI, including such classics as Edna the Inebriate Woman and Bar Mitzvah Boy. The set is reviewed by Gary Couzens. |
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29 Apr
2022 |
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28 Apr
2022 |
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25 Apr
2022 |
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| Jules et Jim |
| François Truffaut's third feature, Jules et Jim, remains one of his best. It is released on Blu-ray by the BFI and is reviewed by Gary Couzens. |
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28 Apr
2022 |
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24 Apr
2022 |
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| Vampyr |
| Carl Theodor Dreyer’s poetic, surrealistic and haunting Vampyr may be less widely seen than its genre-defining contemporary, Dracula, but as an artistic achievement it leaves that simultaneously produced Universal vampire movie in the dust. Slarek revisits one of the great works of early horror cinema in a new restoration on a superb Masters of Cinema Blu-ray. |
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24 Apr
2022 |
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| The 400 Blows |
| François Truffaut’s debut feature, The 400 Blows [Les quatres cents coups] kickstarted not just his own career but also the French New Wave. It is released on Blu-ray by the BFI and is reviewed by Gary Couzens. |
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20 Apr
2022 |
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| Three Monster Tales of Sci-Fi Terror |
| In a late review, Slarek takes an enthusiastic trip back to the 1940s and 50s for three horror-laced science fiction works from Universal’s second wave, each built around very different threats and all handsomely presented in Three Monster Tales of Sci-Fi Terror, a delicious 2-disc Blu-ray set from Eureka. |
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15 Apr
2022 |
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| Faithless |
| Faithless, directed by Liv Ullmann from an Ingmar Bergman script, is a powerful drama of infidelity and its consequences. The BFI’s Blu-ray release is reviewed by Gary Couzens. |
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13 Apr
2022 |
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| Nineteen Eighty-Four (1954) |
| George Orwell’s novel Nineteen Eighty-Four has become a key work of twentieth-century literature, its themes as relevant as ever, much of its iconography having passed into the language. This 1954 BBC adaptation, highly controversial in its day, is a television landmark and is now released in dual-format by the BFI. Reviewed by Gary Couzens. |
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11 Apr
2022 |
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| Coach to Vienna |
| In WW2 Czechoslovakia, two German soldiers order a woman to transport them to the Austrian border, unaware that her husband was killed by their comrades the previous day. Slarek is utterly gripped by Coach to Vienna [Kočár do Vídně], director Karel Kachyňa’s impeccably handled wartime drama, which is splendidly served by Second Run’s impressive Blu-ray. |
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7 Apr
2022 |
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| Shoot the Messenger |
| Shoot the Messenger, starring David Oyelowo and directed by Ngozi Onwurah, was controversial on its broadcast in 2006 in its look at a black teacher and his attempts to look out for black boys in education. It's released on Blu-ray by the BFI and is reviewed by Gary Couzens. |
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3 Apr
2022 |
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| The Camera is Ours: Britain’s Women Documentary Makers |
| There was a golden age of British documentaries, but the women who contributed to it have often been neglected or overlooked. The Camera is Ours: Britain’s Women Documentary Makers showcases ten films made by women directors from the 1930s to the 1960s, on a two-disc DVD release. Review by Gary Couzens. |
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31 Mar
2022 |
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| A Time for Dying |
| The final fictional feature from western legends Budd Boetticher and Audie Murphy, the 1969 A Time for Dying was born out of slump in the careers of both men. It sometimes feels like an oddly incomplete blueprint for a more ambitious work, but a second viewing of Indicator's recently released Blu-ray enabled Slarek to more fully appreciate its offbeat merits. |
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27 Mar
2022 |
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| Mothering Sunday |
| Mothering Sunday, adapted for the screen by Alice Birch from Graham Swift’s short novel and directed by Eva Husson, comes to Blu-ray from Lionsgate and is reviewed for Mother's Day by Gary Couzens. |
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21 Mar
2022 |
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| The Phantom of the Monastery |
| The second Mexican horror film of the early sound era may well be the best, a richly atmospheric, compellingly made and acted other-worldly chiller from director and co-writer Fernando de Fuentes. Slarek finds much to love about The Phantom of the Monastery and Indicator’s new Blu-ray, including a belter of a restoration and some excellent special features.. |
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18 Mar
2022 |
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| La Llorona |
| The legend of The Wailing Woman is the basis for the first Mexican horror film of the sound era, director Ramón Peón’s 1933 La Llorona. Slarek is intrigued by a film that tackles adult themes more openly than its Hollywood equivalent of the day, and salutes the restoration and special features on Indicator’s Blu-ray. |
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