With a mishmash of tight close-ups, long wide shots, and careful lighting, Tod Browning’s Dracula (1931) is far more cinematographically complex than what you might expect from a ‘30s monster movie. The start in a long line of movies adapted from Bram Stoker’s famous novel of the same name, Browning’s film was first released in… Read More Review: Dracula (1931)
In a previous cover story I wrote about Woody Allen’s career I mentioned how Allen’s films had gotten me through a post-collegiate quarter-life crisis. Artsy intellectuals struggling to find meaning in their work and personal relationships was something that resounded with me at the time, in a big way. I needed cinematic reassurance that I was… Read More Review: Hannah and Her Sisters (1986)
Bottle Rocket (1996) is the feature length debut from indie director, Wes Anderson. Teaming up with his college friend, Anderson and Owen Wilson wrote and directed a short film titled Bottle Rocket (1994). Shot in black and white, Anderson would later develop this into his feature length debut. Starring brothers Owen and Luke Wilson in… Read More Review: Bottle Rocket (1996)
Remember in the 90s when nosferatu were scary and menacing, before Twilight (2008) and The Vampire Diaries (2009)? Works of art like Coppola’s Dracula (1992) paid tribute to the gothic tradition of 1930s Universal monster movies. Bloodthirsty creatures of the night weren’t played out yet on every media platform. This was an era when hardcore fans kept… Read More Review: From Dusk Till Dawn (1996)
Released on this day, 6 January, 2016, back in 2006, Eli Roth’s Hostel, along with 2004’s Saw was the latter in the one-two punch of releases that would kick off the subgenre known as ‘Torture Porn’. This was considered a new breed of horror films though they drew significantly from the ‘video nasties’ like I… Read More Review: Hostel (2005)
High Sierra, Raoul Walsh’s trailblazing noir thriller is now 75 years old. The film was released on the 25 January, 1941. Today, in most contemporary crime films we are subject to high concept plot devices and explosive special effects sequences. Such is the preponderance of these common techniques that we often left underwhelmed in the face… Read More Review: High Sierra (1941)
Michael Mann’s Heat has not aged a day since 1995 because it has the realism absent from many other crime drama films. Our two leads, played by Al Pacino and Robert De Niro, were based on actual people in Chicago – Lt. Vincent Hanna (Pacino) was inspired by Mann’s detective friend, whilst Neil McCauley (De… Read More Review: Heat (1995)
In cinematic circles there has long been a tradition of appropriating, re-imagining and expanding on the work of revered French essayist, Chris Marker. His influence is such that ripples of his identity still appear throughout contemporary science fiction, documentary, drama, and romance cinema, regardless of whether or not the director or writer intended them to.… Read More Review: Twelve Monkeys (1995)
The year 2015 has been widely touted as a “Year of the Woman” for cinema, perhaps for good reason. Films as diverse as George Miller’s adrenaline-fueled Mad Max: Fury Road, Hou Hsiao-hsien’s poetic The Assassin, and Judd Apatow’s raunchy Trainwreck, though all directed by men, have advanced the state of women in film by yielding… Read More Review: Claire’s Knee (1970)
The most unsettling effect of a hallucinogenic drug is often not a result of the initial trip, rather it is the sensations found in the return to normality that reveal the most vivid and intricate functions of the human mind. As jarring and as drastic the transition from reality to narcotic excursion can be, it… Read More Review: Jacob’s Ladder (1990)
After the end of the Cold War, and the following crumbling of the Soviet Union, many politicians, historians and intellectuals discussed the possibilities of a future without a bipolar struggle between Communism and Capitalism. Who would fill the power vacuum left in Eastern Europe? What will happen to the multitude of Soviet satellite states? How… Read More Review: Rocky IV (1985)
Stephen King is one of the best-selling authors of all time with an estimated 350 million books sold worldwide. Many of King’s books have been made into movies, television shows, and plays, with some of these being a big hit and others a miss. November 30, 1990 saw the release of Misery, the film adaption… Read More Review: Misery (1990)
The question I always end up asking myself after viewing a Billy Wilder film is whether he is a better director or writer. The Lost Weekend (1945) is a fitting case that he is equally brilliant in both departments. The screenplay, adapted from Charles R. Jackson’s novel, tells the harsh story of a man crippled and… Read More Review: The Lost Weekend (1945)
Reviewing a film outside its time of release can be a difficult thing. Analysing a film 50 years after it came out is very difficult, but Jean-Luc Godard’s movie, Pierrot le Fou, released 5 November, 1965 seems to transcend time. The film oozes cool and rebellion so much so that the images and stills of the… Read More Review: Pierrot le Fou (1965)
It is often what you don’t see in a horror film that is the most frightening. Alfred Hitchcock’s subversive thrillers proved time and time again that “there is no terror in the bang, only in the anticipation of it.” A sinister pupil of this cinematic school of thought, Michael Haneke—director of Caché, released 10 years… Read More Review: Caché (2005)
Was it ever going to be easy following up the widely critically adored sleeper hit Clerks (1994)? Was Kevin Smith’s task doomed from the start? With his debut, the young director had sent sizeable waves through the briefly intersecting independent and studio circles, showcasing a sense of originality and a streak of raw innovation that seemed… Read More Review: Mallrats (1995)
Today, 27 October, 2015, marks the 20-year anniversary of Mike Figgis’ critically acclaimed tragic romance known as Leaving Las Vegas (1995). Now, Leaving Las Vegas is a film I hadn’t seen in many years. The first time I watched it, I remember being very impressed by an leading man who is frequently bashed by critics for… Read More Review: Leaving Las Vegas (1995)
In the winter of 1948, Vittorio De Sica’s The Bicycle Thief ushered in the celebrated period of Italian neorealist cinema, signalling a move away from the ‘white telephone’ films that had previously dominated the market and drawing the gaze of the spectator to more universal themes and ideas. Gone were the elegant but flawed melodramas… Read More Review: The Conformist (1970)
If you were making a checklist of what makes a great cult horror film then Re-Animator (1985) would meet them all. The film is a unique combination of science-fiction, horror, and comedy that is based on the H.P. Lovecraft story ‘Herbert West-Reanimator’. The film stars Jeffery Combs as Herbert West and also includes in its cast… Read More Review: Re-Animator (1985)
During the late 1980s the Hong Kong second wave film movement emerged, introducing a sense of style and modernity to the cinema of the territory. With more focus placed on the urban space as opposed to the ultra rich and prosperous, the international film community was shown a dimension of Hong Kong that few, save… Read More Review: Fallen Angels (1995)
A Film History Magazine 