Igor

Igor US/France (2008) Dir. Anthony Leondis This film is something of a curiosity as it is almost a decade old yet I know or recall little about it. Many CGI animated films tend to be obscured under the rather imposing shadow of the output from Pixar, Disney and to a lesser extent Dreamworks so it …

WWE – Fastlane 2015

WWE – Fastlane 2015 (Cert 15) 1 Disc Blu-ray / DVD (Distributor: Fremantle Media) Running Time: 174 minutes approx. With the decision made that the Elimination Chamber concept was no longer valid in the build to Wrestlemania now there was only one world title to contest - not to mention that the incumbent champ Brock …

Innocent Thing (Gashi)

Innocent Thing (Gashi) Korea (2014) Dir. Kim Tae-gyun With the recent spate of Korean films dealing with high school bullying, it is something of a refreshing change to watch one that covers a different subject matter. Unfortunately the subject matter of Innocent Thing isn’t exactly original either, but it is an earnest attempt at putting …

The French Connection II

The French Connection II US (1975) Dir. John Frankenheimer Four years after the multi-Oscar winning success of The French Connection, this sequel arrived and while it is a continuation of sorts of the central story from the first film, it is a non-canon work with only two returning cast members and a different director. Since …

The French Connection

The French Connection US (1971) Dir. William Friedkin I have to be honest, of all the Best Film Oscar winners The French Connection was one of those which I always felt seemed out of place alongside such revered treasures as Gone With The Wind, Casablanca, The Godfather, etc. As it stands this is a pretty …

Spring In A Small Town (Xiao cheng zhi chun)

Spring In A Small Town (Xiao cheng zhi chun) China (1948) Dir. Mu Fei Having been introduced to Chinese cinema via Bruce Lee’s martial arts classics I am rather ignorant towards the films made before 1971! Unfortunately many early Chinese films were essentially banished into the ether by the Communist regime, but thanks to BFI, …

Leap Of Faith

Leap Of Faith UK (2015) Dir. Dominic Ryan Time to indulge once again in the cinematic underworld that is the UK independent scene with the third short film from the very busy actor-writer-producer-director Dominic Ryan. Leap Of Faith is straightforward tale of not letting negative circumstances get you down and finding that catalyst to spiritual …

Sankarea – Undying Love

Sankarea - Undying Love (Cert 15) 2 Discs (Distributor: MVM) Running time: 314 minutes approx.     It’s an age old story - boy meets girl, girl dies, girl comes back to life as a zombie, boy falls in love with girl...wait, what? Let’s go back to the beginning: Chihiro Furuya is high school boy with …

My Man (Watashi no otoko)

My Man (Watashi no otoko) Japan (2014) Dir. Kazuyoshi Kumakiri In this day and age it seems that just about every taboo has been broken in film yet some still have the power to engender concern and appal. My Man is a film which explores one such taboo but manages to humanise it as much …

Branded To Kill (Koroshi no rakuin)

Branded To Kill (Koroshi no rakuin) Japan (1967) Dir. Seijun Suzuki In 1960’s Japanese cinema the resident enfant terrible was Seijin Suzuki who, despite being a prolific filmmaker for the Nikkatsu studio - forty films in eleven years - baffled audiences and critics alike with his surrealist approach eventually being fired for making films which …