The best horrors seem to imitate the fragile, visceral quality of your worst nightmares, some of which were spawned in your youth; transcending reality and making us feel like no other genre does. And ‘the scary place’ plays into that fear brilliantly.Film Critic Mark Kermode The place that Kermode refers to here can come in … Continue reading Horror in Store, Part 2: The Art of Terror
With a mocking smile, he placed one hand upon my shoulder and, holding me tight, bared my throat with the other, saying as he did so: 'First, a little refreshment to reward my exertions...' And oh, my God, my God, pity me! He placed his reeking lips upon my throat!Mina Harker narrates in Bram Stoker’s … Continue reading Horror in Store, Part 1: Dracula’s Influence
The film year during Covid began with a gawk-inducing attempt by Wonder Woman Gal Gadot to bring sunshine into people’s lives affected by lockdown by assembling a star-studded line-up to collectively sing John Lennon’s ‘Imagine’, and it ended with Tom Cruise giving a foul-mouthed tirade to a few people who stood too close to each … Continue reading Film in 2020: Best and Worst in a Year of Few
Win Win (2011, Tom McCarthy) – From the director of the wonderful The Station Agent from a few years previously (the first time I delighted in Peter Dinklage's talent), this was a perfectly adjudged comedy drama focusing on the evolving relationship between a troubled kid (Alex Shaffer) and a struggling lawyer/part-time wrestling coach (Paul Giamatti). … Continue reading The Most Underrated Films of the Past Decade 2010-19
Middling films of the year There were three particular movies from three acclaimed and barrier-breaking directors that I believe could have done more than they did this year. Alfonso Cuaron’s Roma was beautiful, affecting and imbued with symbolism, but it lacked the magic of some of his earlier stuff. The Favourite by Yorgos Lanthimos was … Continue reading Review of the Year 2019 in Film
“In the movies, I always played the heroic types. But when the stage lights went out, it was time for drugs and stupidity, and the coveting of women. Now it's time. Time to be a little of what I had always fantasised of being: a hero.” Bubba Ho-Tep is not only the best film with … Continue reading Midnight Movies, Part 4 – The King is Alive in Bubba Ho-Tep
Ophelia (2018, IFC Films) Directed by Claire McCarthy. Screenplay by Semi Chellas. Featuring Daisy Ridley, Naomi Watts, Clive Owen and George MacKay. Ophelia is a retelling of the classic Shakespearean romantic tragedy Hamlet from the perspective of Ophelia, one of the most iconic tragic female figures in literature. But this is a retelling of her … Continue reading The Two Reviews: Ophelia and Midsommar
On a rainy Saturday afternoon what do you do if you want to watch something like Blade Runner but with a little more gore and, if possible, a British setting? The answer to that question is easy. You watch Split Second (1992). Have you ever seen those Photoshop images of what London would look like … Continue reading Saturday Afternoon Movies, Part 3 – Split Second (1992) and Deep Rising (1998)
Many of my favorite horror or supernatural movies have been inspired by Stephen King, so I thought it was fitting to take a look at the role and influence that the 'King of Horror' has had on cinema. King has published a plethora of novels and short stories in the horror, fantasy, supernatural, science fiction … Continue reading A short look into Stephen King’s influence on cinema
Us (2019, Monkeypaw Productions and Blumhouse Productions) Written and directed by Jordan Peele. Music by Michael Abels. Featuring Lupita Nyong'o, Winston Duke, Elisabeth Moss, Shahadi Wright Joseph, Evan Alex, and Tim Heidecker. The brilliant Jordan Peele returns to the director’s chair with another horror film. This time about a family holidaying in Santa Cruz, California … Continue reading The Two Reviews: Us and The Ballad of Buster Scruggs
Momentary Cinema 