Flick

Flick UK (2008) Dir. David Howard “From the Special Effects team that brought you Creep and Lord Of The Rings: The Two Towers” is the proud proclamation on the DVD cover of this low budget British horror. While some may be encouraged by this endorsement, the result is that unless the film has the budget …

The Tribe (Plemya)

The Tribe (Plemya) Ukraine (2014) Dir. Miroslav Slaboshpitsky A familiar story can be told in many ways but sometimes it can take just that one particular little twist to make the experience feel unique and completely original. This is the case with Miroslav Slaboshpitsky’s feature length debut, a brave film that barely accommodates the audience …

Dragonball Z Kai Season 3

Dragonball Z Kai Season 3 (Episodes 53-77) (Cert 12) 4 Discs (Distributor: Manga Entertainment) Running time: 577 minutes approx. While for many of you this release simply furthers the retelling of the epic Dragonball Z saga, for yours truly, this marks first time entry into unchartered territory as I missed out on the corresponding volume …

Mr. Holmes

Mr. Holmes (Cert PG) 1 Disc (Distributor: Entertainment One) Running Time: 104 minutes approx. Sir Ian McKellen is one of our greatest theatre actors yet he rarely gets that elusive lead role on the big screen, providing often scene-stealing support to the overrated Hollywood star instead. So, it is perhaps with some irony that Sir …

Flowers Of Evil

Flowers Of Evil (Cert 12) 3 Discs (Distributor: MVM) Running time: 340 minutes approx. Bookworm Takao Kasuga inadvertently leaves his favourite tome, Les Fleurs du mal (The Flowers Of Evil) by Charles Baudelaire, at school one day. Upon returning to retrieve it, he accidentally discovers the gym bag of fellow classmate Nanako Saeki, the girl …

Funny Games

Funny Games Austria (1997) Dir. Michael Haneke Before he became an Oscar nominated darling of the arthouse film fan with such sublime works as Hidden, The White Ribbon and Amour, Michael Haneke was something of an enfant terrible of European cinema with low budget affairs like this psychological shocker, which he later remade for Hollywood …

The Phantom Carriage (Körkarlen)

The Phantom Carriage (Körkarlen) Sweden (1921) Dir. Victor Sjöström One of Swedish cinema’s founding fathers and biggest influence on Ingmar Bergman, Victor Sjöström, is a name that deserves greater recognition today. Sjöström was one the most successful filmmakers in early Swedish cinema who also crossed over to Hollywood, most notably for 1928’s The Wind with …

The Gold Rush

The Gold Rush US (1925/1942) Dir. Charlie Chaplin Before I proceed with this review I should point out that it is based on the 1942 “remix” of the 1925 silent classic by Chaplin himself, predating George Lucas’s fiddling with his works by some fifty years. Here Chaplin added a new musical score, sound effects, narration …

Girlhood (Bande de filles)

Girlhood (Bande de filles) France (2014) Dir. Céline Sciamma Having already challenged two social conventions with lesbianism (Water Lillies) and gender confusion (Tomboy) in her first two films, Céline Sciamma sets her sights on the French black community for her third film Girlhood - not a female companion piece to the Oscar nominated Boyhood as …

Outbreak Company

Outbreak Company (Cert 15) 2 Discs (Distributor: MVM) Running time: 276 minutes approx. You can just imagine writer Ichirō Sakaki trying to come up with an idea for a light novel series and running through all the concepts which have already been covered - harem, fantasy, fan service, alternate worlds, magic, maids, furry girls, etc. …