Short Reviews

Dark Star

After watching Prince of Darkness last night, my girlfriend demanded I show her more John Carpenter. Fortunately she has seen most of the director’s better films like Halloween, The Thing… Read More
Die Hard 2: Die Harder

When reviewing A Good Day to Die Hard last week I stated that I had never understood the hate for Die Hard 2 and that it remained my favourite of… Read More
Prince of Darkness

John Carpenter had a fantastic run of form, from his debut Dark Star in 1974, up until They Live in 1988. Just before that sci-fi action classic he made this… Read More
Identification of a Woman

While I wouldn’t class myself as much of a fan of Michelangelo Antonioni, I have enjoyed all of his films that I have seen. However, until today that consists solely… Read More
Yi Yi

One of the founding members of the New Taiwanese Cinema movement that sprung up on the island in the early 1980s, Edward Yang was responsible for some of the best… Read More
Oedipus Rex

Pier Paolo Pasolini’s retelling of Sophocles’ classical tragedy is a typically vivid and visually arresting affair, featuring bold performances from Franco Citti and Silvana Mangano, outrageous costumes and stunning photography.… Read More
Goke, Body Snatcher From Hell

The second title from Criterion’s Eclipse series When Horror Came to Shochiku is a step up from the first film in the four-disc set, but not by much. A plane… Read More
Batman: The Dark Knight Returns Part 2

The second part of Jay Oliva’s animated adaptation of Frank Miller’s landmark comic continues on apace, introducing a number of familiar characters from the DC Universe, including The Joker, Superman… Read More
The Sword of Doom

This fantastic samurai thriller from Okamoto Kihachi stars Nakadai Tatsuya (Harakiri) as a merciless, amoral samurai, who wanders the land murdering and taking advantage of almost everyone he meets, while… Read More
The X From Outer Space

The first film from Criterion’s Eclipse series, When Horror Came To Shochiku, is a retro sci-fi 60s adventure following an international crew who venture to Mars, only to bring back… Read More
The Grey

Liam Neeson gives one his best performances in recent years as a toughened, grizzled hunter working in Alaska as a security guard for a team of roughnecks. When their plane… Read More
A Good Day to Die Hard

Bruce Willis returns as NYC cop John McClane for a fifth time, this time heading to Moscow to team up with his CIA agent son (Jai Courtney) to take on… Read More
Journey to the West: Conquering the Demons

I had little interest or faith in Stephen Chow’s latest retelling of the classic Chinese fantasy, but there is some enjoyment to be had. The story, which is essentially the… Read More
Zero Dark Thirty

Jessica Chastain is terrific as the single-minded, obsessive CIA agent who spearheads the decade-long search for Osama Bin Laden in Kathryn Bigelow’s rivetting thriller. From the secret torture camps to… Read More
Warm Bodies

Hugely entertaining adaptation of Isaac Marion’s novel about a lovestruck zombie called R (Nicholas Hoult) who falls for Julie (Teresa Palmer), a beautiful girl, whose father is leading the human… Read More
Flight

Denzel Washington is great playing a commercial pilot who’s got what it takes to fly a broken plane upside down, but can’t keep his drink and drug habit under control.… Read More
Searching For Sugar Man

The favourite to win Best Documentary at the Oscars later this month is a fantastic piece of investigative journalism into what became of the folk singer Rodriguez. A Mexican-born Detroit… Read More
Once Upon a Time in the West

After completing his “Dollars Trilogy”, Sergio Leone was done with the Western, until Paramount offered him a huge budget and the opportunity to work with his favourite actor, Henry Fonda.… Read More