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 Dig (2021, Netflix) Featuring Carey Mulligan, Ralph Fiennes, Lily James, Ben Chaplin and Johnny Flynn. Screenplay by Moira Buffini. Based on ‘The Dig’ by John Preston. Directed by Simon Stone. There is a certain formula to British historical dramas that make me a bit queasy. It may be the stuffiness of the characters, the … Continue reading The Two Reviews: The Dig and Ammonite
The Trial of the Chicago 7 (2020, Netflix) Featuring Eddie Redmayne, Sacha Baron Cohen, Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Jeremy Strong, Mark Rylance, Michael Keaton, Frank Langella, John Carroll Lynch, and Yahya Abdul-Mateen II. Written and directed by Aaron Sorkin. During his career, Aaron Sorkin has honed a confident style in writing screenplays for Oscar-expectant films. From A … Continue reading The Two Reviews: The Trial of the Chicago 7 and Sound of Metal
Jesus Christ could be described as the most enduring figure in human historical records, but I suppose that is very Christian-centric of me. What about Siddhārtha Gautama, one may ask? Described as ‘a first-century Jewish preacher and religious leader’ and lampoon-ishly marked as being born ‘c. 4 BC’ (BC meaning Before Christ) on Wikipedia, Jesus … Continue reading Jesus Christ Movie Star: Portrayals of the Messiah on Screen
David Byrne’s American Utopia (HBO Pictures)Choreography by Annie B Parson. Written by David Byrne. Directed by Spike Lee. And we're not little children. And we know what we want. And the future is certain. Give us time to work it out. David Byrne has always struck me as a wacky guy but with an extraordinary … Continue reading The One Review: David Byrne’s American Utopia (2020 Spike Lee)
Good documentaries are hard to come by but they are there if you look for them! Netflix have several mainstream and topical documentary series in their catalogue, and many from this year have been worth the remote control button press. The Last Dance about Michael Jordan and the Chicago Bulls is a riveting sports documentary. … Continue reading Film in 2020: Five Must-See Documentaries
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
As is often the case, I don’t always get to see the films I was recommended or wanted to see in the year that they were made and/or released. There are just too many to get to, and anyway, I don’t get paid for reviewing films. I do this stuff for my own pleasure and … Continue reading Film in 2020: Firm Favourites among Last Year’s Late Releases
The FurnaceWritten and directed by Roderick MacKayFeaturing Ahmad Malek, David Wenham, Baykali Ganambarr, Trevor Jamieson, Gary Young, Mahesh Jadu and Jay Ryan It is very encouraging that the three most critically acclaimed films to come out of Australia over the past three years have been films that tackle the brutal colonial history of the country: … Continue reading The One Review: The Furnace (2020 Roderick MacKay)
The cinematic form took on a new and exciting shape for Hollywood in the 1970s. This blog has made reference to it many times. Like the French New Wave, New American film-making borrowed from other times and places too. Home-grown directors took the reins, but sometimes their selected crew were internationally renowned and experienced. Together, … Continue reading Cinematography of the World – Part 3: Terrence Malick’s Vision of an American Heaven
