Tenebrae

Tenebrae

I had always harboured fond memories of Dario Argento’s 1982 slasher flick, as it was the very first of his films I ever saw. I had not rewatched it until now, and must confess I remembered precious little about it save for John Saxon and the famous arm-slicing scene. The sad truth is that the […] Read more »

Simon Killer

Simon Killer

A strange little film from US director Antonio Campos that sees Simon, and American uni grad head off to Paris after a messy break-up with his girlfriend. While there he struggles to make any meaningful relationships, and after befriending a prostitute, events spiral into increasingly grim territory. Honestly, the film didn’t make much of an […] Read more »

The Grandmaster

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A re-watch of Wong Kar Wai’s beautiful meditation on martial arts and heroism, shot through with his perennial preoccupations of time, aging and fading memories. Tony Leung and Zhang Ziyi steam up the screen as the rivals who struggle to resist the undercurrent of attraction between them. Read my full review here Read more »

City of Women

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This late colour entry from Federico Fellini sees Marcello Mastroianni play a philandering womaniser who follows hs latest conquest off a train and into a dreamworld populated solely by women. What at first seems like the ultimate indulgent fantasy quickly turns against him and he is eventually brought to trial to answer for his perceived […] Read more »

Koyaanisqatsi

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One of the finest – and certainly my favourite – non-narrative films ever made, Godfrey Reggio’s beautiful work examines mankind’s relationship with the natural world through a kaleidoscope of juxtaposed images, edited into a grand visual opera and accompanied by a majestic score from minimalist composer, Phillip Glass. From deserted, crumbling cities to exploding rockets, […] Read more »

Live And Let Die

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You never need an excuse to rewatch a James Bond film, even a middling entry like Guy Hamilton’s Live And Let Die, but this time I was attentively revisiting the film in preparation for my appearance on podcast The Auteur Cast. I was a guest on the show a year or so ago when they […] Read more »

The Fog

The Fog

Right in the middle of his golden period, John Carpenter gave us this entertaining ghost story about a small coastal town founded atop a leper colony that is enveloped in a chilling fog that brings with it the malevolent souls of dead pirates. Adrienne Barbeau is the town’s late night radio DJ, while scream queen […] Read more »

Seconds

Seconds

Rock Hudson stars as Tony Wilson, the newly rejuvenated version of tired businessman Arthur Hamilton, who enlisted the services of a secret organisation to give him a “second chance” at life. No sooner did he make the decision, however, “the company” becomes increasingly manipulative and controlling, while Tony finds his new life, friends, home and […] Read more »

Safety Last!

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An undisputed classic of American Silent Cinema and one of the very best examples of physical comedy committed to screen, Safety Last! remains the best-known film of Harold Lloyd, despite the fact he made many more than his contemporaries Charlie Chaplin and Buster Keaton. Essentially the story of a simple country boy looking for love […] Read more »

The Testament of Dr. Mabuse

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Fritz Lang’s excellent sequel to his silent epic Dr. Mabuse The Gambler (which I’ve not yet seen) sees the eponymous master criminal incarcerated in a mental asylum, where he perpetually scribbles plans for further crimes. When these crimes begin to come true, an assortment of doctors, detectives and professors attempt to solve the riddle. A […] Read more »

The Tarnished Angels

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My first daliance with Douglas Sirk saw me inadvertently stumble onto a classic. Rock Hudson plays an ambitious journalist, who bumbles into the world of daredevil stunt pilots and gatecrashes an already-fractuous love triangle. Beautiful photography, great performances and some wonderfully scripted dialogue made this an absolute delight. The new Masters of Cinema Blu-ray is […] Read more »

Possession

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A pinnacle of sorts in the world of bizarro Euro-horror that manages to stand alone as a singular work of such courage, confidence and baffling derangement that once seen it is not easily forgotten. Sam Neill stars as a paranoid husband who sets out to follow his wife (Isabelle Adjani), who is behaving increasingly strangely […] Read more »

Wake in Fright

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Quintessentially Australian, yet wholly unique, Wake in Fright was directed by Canadian Ted Kotcheff (First Blood) and stars British actors Donald Pleasence and Gary Bond, as the school teacher with a gambling problem who finds himself trapped in the Outback. His Odyssey quickly spirals out of control into a maelstrom of machismo, overbearing heat, kangaroo […] Read more »

The Canterbury Tales

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Pasolini’s films are challenging but I like to challenge myself from time to time, and his body of work has become one of my go-to selections when I’m looking to push myself outside of my comfort zone. That said, his adaptation of Geoffrey Chaucer’s The Canterbury Tales is probably the most fun and unreservedly entertaining […] Read more »

Sparrow

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While a somewhat minor entry in Johnnie To’s prolific canon of work, there is no denying this lighthearted tale of pickpockets has become something of a fan favourite. The cast of Milky Way stalwarts, including Simon Yam, Gordon Lam and Lo Hoi Pang do great work, as does Kelly Lin as a mysterious beauty who […] Read more »

Runaway Train

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Settling in for a solid slice of 80s Cannon Film fare, nothing could have prepared me for the quality, intensity or profundity of Andrei Konchalovsky’s Runaway Train. Jon Voight, in one of his best, most-underappreciated roles, plays a violent and notorious criminal, who escapes from a maximum security prison with the help of a hot-headed, […] Read more »

Harold And Maude

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One of the most eccentric and distinctive voices of the New Hollywood movement, Hal Ashby created some of the most interesting and unique American films of the period. None more so than Harold and Maue, the hilarious, shocking, bizarre yet somehow rather beautiful story of a young disillusioned man’s relationship with an elderly woman clinging […] Read more »

The Howling

The Howling

While certainly entertaining, I’m baffled that some people hold Joe Dante’s film in the same high regard as John Landis’ An American Werewolf in London, or contend that the make up and transformation sequences are in any way comporable. For me, Landis’ film is such an incredible film on so many levels that I was […] Read more »

Foxy Brown

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I’m not hugely familiar with blaxploitation films, but I was a little underwhlemed by Jack Hill’s Foxy Brown when I finally cauht up with it. There’s no denying that Pam Grier in her prime is a sight to behold onscreen and more than holds her own opposite an incredible array of nasty guys – not […] Read more »