Whilst the third act seems to position the film in an impatient race toward that (arguably predictable) final image, letting the more controlled plotting of its opening hour fall by the wayside, as an intense and routinely bloody horror experience, Talk to Me more than justifies the price of admission. It just seems to me that perhaps the film has been slightly overhyped, potentially suffering (rather than benefiting) from the adulation it has received from the likes of Peter Jackson, who has referred to it as the 'best, most intense horror movie I’ve enjoyed in years'.
Film Review: Cobweb (Bodin, 2023)
Opening with a title card reading 'One Week Before Halloween', Cobweb introduces us to a young boy named Peter. Peter is the quiet one in class; he's clearly being bullied and seems to have no friends to play with at lunchtime. A new substitute teacher, Miss Devine, tasking the kids with painting some Halloween-themed artwork, … Continue reading Film Review: Cobweb (Bodin, 2023)
Film Review: The Tunnel to Summer, the Exit of Goodbyes (Taguchi, 2023)
Adapted from the light novel of the same name (which was also adapted into manga), The Tunnel to Summer, the Exit of Goodbyes is the sweet-natured second release from industry newcomer Clap Animation Studio, following their debut Pompo the Cinephile last year. Echoing recent supernaturally infused boy-meets-girl romances, most notably Makoto Niitsu's acclaimed thematic trilogy … Continue reading Film Review: The Tunnel to Summer, the Exit of Goodbyes (Taguchi, 2023)
Film Review: Asteroid City (Anderson, 2023)
Asteroid City just seems to further the case for Anderson's artistic stagnation. Unwilling or unable to try something new, he seems to be running on autopilot, recycling his mise-en-scene, cinematography, and favourite collaborators ad nauseum.
Film Review: Surrounded (Mandler, 2023)
A young black man, stetson hat perched at an angle to conceal his face, places a candle on the altar in a small rural church. He walks out the door and down Mainstreet, little more than a silhouette against the sun setting on a typical Western landscape. Hills, mountains and dusty trails in the background … Continue reading Film Review: Surrounded (Mandler, 2023)
Film Review: Mission: Impossible: Dead Reckoning Part 1
For better or worse, Mission: Impossible has become the literal definition of set-piece cinema, with each new installment promising an even more bombastic, edge-of-your-seat stunt sequence performed by the 'one and only saviour of cinema', Tom Cruise. Whilst previous films in the series have seen Cruise's IMF agent Ethan Hunt scale the largest tower in … Continue reading Film Review: Mission: Impossible: Dead Reckoning Part 1
Film Review: Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny (Mangold, 2023)
There’s a gag in Always Sunny in Philadelphia’s 2011 episode ‘The Gang Gets Trapped’ where the main characters are discussing the merits of the Indiana Jones franchise as a whole, having decided to steal a random family’s antique vase (‘it belongs in a museum!’ the characters quip). Dennis, the group’s resident sociopath, comes to the … Continue reading Film Review: Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny (Mangold, 2023)
‘From’ and the Ghost of ‘Lost’
Harold Perrineau as Boyd in From One thing that you can always say about Lost, the J.J. Abrams-produced ABC series that aired from 2004-2010, was that it always kept you guessing. Yes, the end of the show was a disappointment, confirming (I think - it’s been a while!) that the survivors of Flight 815 had … Continue reading ‘From’ and the Ghost of ‘Lost’
Film Review: The Flash (Muschietti, 2023)
In the final moments of Warner Bros. Animation’s Justice League Dark: Apokolips War, an assortment of DC’s heroes are sat watching the sun set on their world and universe, having defeated the arch-villain Darkseid but at the cost of their own timeline and existence. Barry Allen (aka ‘The Flash’) is tasked with traveling back in … Continue reading Film Review: The Flash (Muschietti, 2023)
Film Review: Reality (Satter, 2023)
Reality stars Sydney Sweeney as the titular and perhaps ironically (if not bizarrely) named Reality Winner, a real-life NSA whistleblower who leaked information confirming Russia’s involvement in hacking and manipulation of the US presidential election back in 2016. Playing out almost in real-time, Reality is based upon the transcribed conversations between the twenty-something woman and … Continue reading Film Review: Reality (Satter, 2023)
Film Review: Skinamarink (Ball, 2023)
In Skinamarink, director Kyle Edward Ball offers an experimental riff on the haunted house story, an ambient and atmospheric experience that demands the audience’s full attention from the off. Comprised almost entirely of static shots of the interior of a family household, often framed from unconventional and almost uncanny angles (we see ceilings, banisters and … Continue reading Film Review: Skinamarink (Ball, 2023)
BEST OF 2022
For me, 2022 was a year of prioritising the new films, filmmakers and national cinemas. I tried to forego all cinematic prejudices, approaching films and genres without any preconceived expectations. I viewed multiplex blockbusters and art house indies as equal partners, two sides of the same coin, a coin we call cinema. According to my … Continue reading BEST OF 2022
TV Review: 1899 (Netflix, 2022)
If asked what television show from the past few years I would recommend to the sci-fi fanatic in search of their new obsession, my instant response would have been Dark, the German-language mystery-thriller that centres around the suspicious disappearances of local children in an isolated town. The Netflix-distributed show, which ran for three brilliant and … Continue reading TV Review: 1899 (Netflix, 2022)
Black Panther and the Loss of a Hero
Since the tragic passing of Chadwick Boseman in 2020, fans of the actor and his performance as the MCU's iteration of T'Challa (AKA, Black Panther) have been waiting with bated breath in nervous anticipation of how this would affect the character and the larger franchise going forward. Would T'Challa be recast? Would Marvel produce a … Continue reading Black Panther and the Loss of a Hero
4 Essential Resources for Cinephiles
Being a film fan is easy. Keeping track of your passion for cinema and all of the great stuff you've been meaning to watch can be a bit more difficult. Similarly, with all of the variety of films out there, not just in the cinema but on countless streaming services, each with ever-increasing lists of new releases and recommendations, I thought it might be useful to share some of my personal recommendations for keeping up-to-date, tracking down and watching films.
Film Review: Aftersun (Wells, 2022)
Charlotte Wells' Aftersun begins with pixelated DV camera footage of a father and daughter, Calum and Sophie, on holiday in the sun, a picturesque escape from the everyday and mundane lives of our straight-talking Scottish protagonists. Spooling out upon both our cinema screens and the now adult Sophie's home television, we are given glimpses of … Continue reading Film Review: Aftersun (Wells, 2022)
TV Review: Andor, Episodes 8-9 (Disney +)
Episodes 8 and 9 of Andor see the titular character endure the authoritarian restraints of an ISB prison, having been sentenced to six years for non-existent crimes against the Empire in Episode 7. The clinically white institution tethers its inmates to the ground by means of an electrified floor that prisoners are forced to walk … Continue reading TV Review: Andor, Episodes 8-9 (Disney +)
Film Review: Neptune Frost (Williams, 2021)
Set in the near future, Neptune Frost tells the story of an intersex runaway named Neptune (Cheryl Isheja) and a disillusioned coltan miner called Matalusa (Bertrand Ninteretse), two strangers who share a prophetic dream of a radical communal utopia that dares to confront the international oppression and exploitation of the African continent and its people. … Continue reading Film Review: Neptune Frost (Williams, 2021)
TV Review: Andor, Episode 7 (Disney+)
Episode seven of Andor - 'The Announcement' - marks a moment of reflection for our key characters. Having lost the majority of the rebel crew that undertook the heist on Aldhani, Cassian returns to his adoptive mother Maarva (Fiona Shaw) on Ferrix to find his local community broken and oppressed by the freshly entrenched Imperial … Continue reading TV Review: Andor, Episode 7 (Disney+)
Film Review: Black Adam (2022)
Dwayne Johnson as 'Teth-Adam', AKA Black Adam Dwayne Johnson's long-awaited turn as fan-favourite Teth-Adam (AKA Black Adam), a former slave turned super-anti-hero, hits most of the right notes for a comic book origin story, a film that comes across as a familiar but comfortable melody, one that you have heard many times before - enjoyable, … Continue reading Film Review: Black Adam (2022)
TV Review: Andor, Episode 6 (Disney+)
***Spoiler Warning*** In just a few short episodes, Andor has introduced us to a band of rebel characters, fleshed them out into complicated and psychologically-defined heroes, and made me (and a whole host of other fans) fall in love with them and their cause. Episode six of Andor, titled 'The Eye', finds the rebel group … Continue reading TV Review: Andor, Episode 6 (Disney+)
TV Review: Andor, Episode 5 (Disney+)
Andor (Luna) and Nemik (Lawther) Episode five of Andor - 'The Axe Forgets' - seemingly marks the calm before the storm; a moment's breath before the rebel heist spearheaded by Skarsgård's Luthen, but executed by the undercover rebels we met for the first time alongside Cassian last week. In disguise as 'Clem', Cassian integrates himself … Continue reading TV Review: Andor, Episode 5 (Disney+)
Film Review: My Best Friend’s Exorcism (Thomas, 2022)
I really wish I liked this more. As a huge fan of Grady Hendrix's original book, I was looking forward to My Best Friend's Exorcism, but the film, directed by Damon Thomas, really struggles to nail the tone of the novel or find its own voice. The closing credits - an 80s freeze frame montage … Continue reading Film Review: My Best Friend’s Exorcism (Thomas, 2022)
TV Review: Andor, Episode 4 (Disney+)
Diego Luna as Cassian Andor In episode four of Andor, titled 'Aldhani', we delve further into the company of the fledgling rebellion, a disparate but radicalised group of individuals who have taken it upon themselves to frustrate and dismantle the operational stability of the ever-growing Empire. Having fled from the Pre-Mor's 'corpo' forces on Ferrix, … Continue reading TV Review: Andor, Episode 4 (Disney+)
News: BBC Radio Devon Interview (26 Sep 2022) on Cinema on the Front Line
https://youtu.be/6Ir5ZfOmz74 Had the chance to talk about Cinema on the Front Line and the Theatre Library Association Award with Pippa Quelch on BBC Radio Devon.
TV Review: Andor, Episodes 1-3 (Disney +)
Cassian Andor (Diego Luna) and Luthen Rael (Stellan Skarsgård) In the concluding moments of its third episode, Andor gives us a time-jumping montage that effortlessly sets the stage for the show and its key characters: alongside Cassian Andor himself, we see Stellan Skarsgård's mysterious off-worlder Luthen Rael, proto-fascist Inspector Syril Karn (Kyle Soller), Andor's adoptive … Continue reading TV Review: Andor, Episodes 1-3 (Disney +)
Film Review: Drifting Home (Ishida, 2022)
Introducing young friends Kōsuke and Natsume in a beautiful opening credit montage that sees the pair playing freely amongst their once shining but now dilapidated and abandoned housing project, Drifting Home weaves an otherworldy coming-of-age story set against the backdrop of suburban redevelopment and changing times. Flash forward several years into the future, Kōsuke and … Continue reading Film Review: Drifting Home (Ishida, 2022)
Film Review: Saloum (Herbulot, 2021)
On its surface, Congolese director Jean Luc Herbulot's Saloum is an amalgamation of various cinematic influences and iconography, combining Action, Horror and (Spaggetti) Western genre elements to form a rather unique 90-minute thriller concerning a trio of mysterious Senegalese mercenaries whose vigilante exploits take them into the dark heart of the African landscape and its … Continue reading Film Review: Saloum (Herbulot, 2021)
Film Review: Clerks III (Smith, 2022)
In interviews and on his podcast, Kevin Smith has openly discussed how, as a 'middle-aged' stoner, practically anything nowadays can make him emotional, including the trailer for Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker, the loss of Stan Lee, or even a meme about his friend and frequent collaborator Sadfleck (sad Ben Affleck), which left the … Continue reading Film Review: Clerks III (Smith, 2022)
News: Theatre Library Association Prize
Very pleased to announce that my book - Cinema on the Front Line: British Soldiers and Cinema in the First World War - has won the 2021 Theatre Library Association Richard Wall memorial award for exemplary work in the field of recorded performance! Reading through the list of past winners (the award started in 1974) … Continue reading News: Theatre Library Association Prize
Film Review: Hatching (Bergholm, 2022)
In the dead of night, a young girl is awoken by the terrifying screams of a creature in the woods. Journeying from the safety of her picture-perfect family home, Tinja, described as a 'princess' by her two-faced mother, finds a wounded crow that ultimately succumbs to its wounds but leaves behind a delicate egg in … Continue reading Film Review: Hatching (Bergholm, 2022)
Film Review: Funny Pages (Kline, 2022)
Robert (Daniel Zolghadri) in Funny Pages In his feature film debut, Owen Kline replicates the gritty, lo-fi sentiment of the 1960s/70s 'underground comix' writers and artists that his central, incredibly arrogant protagonist, Robert (Daniel Zolghadri) loves and aspires to rival. Funny Pages is a warts-and-all slice of Americana predicated upon a male juvenile obsession with … Continue reading Film Review: Funny Pages (Kline, 2022)
Film Review: Glorious (McKendry, 2022)
Wes (Ryan Kwanten) jolts awake from a nightmare whilst driving on a quiet country backroad. Taking the sensible decision to pull over and try to rouse himself for the journey ahead, the exhausted forty-something parks his car at an isolated rest-stop, apparently ignorant of a whole cinematic history warning against this exact situation (see: Psycho, … Continue reading Film Review: Glorious (McKendry, 2022)
Jordan Peele: Auteur or Metteur en scène?
Auteur (noun): a filmmaker whose individual style and complete control over all elements of production give a film its personal and unique stamp. Metteur en scene (noun): a director who has technical competence when it comes to film directing, but does not add personal style to the aesthetic of the film. Watching Jordan Peele's new … Continue reading Jordan Peele: Auteur or Metteur en scène?
The Sandman, Seriality (Cereality?) and the Value of Truly Episodic Television
A key reason I love Neil Gaiman's Sandman comics is that with each new issue, you never know exactly when, where and with whom you might find yourself. One chapter might play out like a video-nasty nightmare ('24 Hours'), another a treatise upon the nature of storytelling's relationship to 'truth' ('A Midsummer Night's Dream'), or … Continue reading The Sandman, Seriality (Cereality?) and the Value of Truly Episodic Television
Film Review: Hit the Road (Panahi, 2021)
Mom is singing along to the car radio, whilst Dad (Khosro) and his boisterous younger son are dancing along in the back seat. Dad's leg is broken, his cast a collage of the son's drawings and doodles. The elder brother and driver, Farid, solemnly casts his gaze toward the open road. Echoing modern Iranian masterpieces … Continue reading Film Review: Hit the Road (Panahi, 2021)
Incantation (2022), Active Spectatorship and Optical Illusions
Netflix's found-footage Taiwanese horror film Incantation (Ko, 2022) offers something unique in a quite tired genre. Whilst falling into the usual tropes of found footage films - the shaky POV shots of shadowy rooms keeping us on our toes, static CCTV footage demanding our close scrutiny, pixelated social media posts fragmenting into digital debris before … Continue reading Incantation (2022), Active Spectatorship and Optical Illusions
Film Review: The Feast (Haven Jones, 2022)
In The Feast, Lee Haven Jones offers an atmospheric eco-horror that forefronts slow but effective unease in anticipation of the final act's body horror lashings to the benefit of this short and sharp feature debut. At once both novel and yet somehow familiar (it does feel reminiscent of recent British folk horror films such as … Continue reading Film Review: The Feast (Haven Jones, 2022)
Film Review: Lingui, The Sacred Bonds (Haroun, 2021)
Lingui, The Sacred Bonds is a powerful abortion drama reminiscent of films like the recent American indie Never, Rarely, Sometimes, Always,as well as the 2007 Palme d’Or winner 4 Months, 3 Weeks and 2 Days. But with its Chad setting and a third act ‘twist’, Lingui packs a very emotive (and from my standpoint, unfamiliar) … Continue reading Film Review: Lingui, The Sacred Bonds (Haroun, 2021)
Film Review: Mad God (Tippett, 2021)
Phil Tippett’s Mad God opens with a passage from Leviticus. It closes with a monstrous cuckoo clock chiming the hour. In between, this stop-motion oddity features a world of dreams and nightmares highlighting a clear craftsman at work. It’s difficult to articulate what exactly Mad God is about, the film lacking a coherent or detailed … Continue reading Film Review: Mad God (Tippett, 2021)
Film Review: Hive (Basholli, 2021)
In a handful of Hive's quieter moments, main character Fahrije (Yllka Gashi) brushes up against an inverted version of her own existence: her son and father-in-law discuss the risk of losing the Queen piece in a game of chess; Fahrije’s homegrown business depends upon the matriarchal hierarchy of the bee colony that affords her some … Continue reading Film Review: Hive (Basholli, 2021)
Film Review: Ultrasound (Schroeder, 2022)
Rob Schroeder’s Ultrasound opens with thirty-something Glen experiencing a car crash on his way back from a friend’s wedding. In the pouring rain and with no other option, he knocks on the door of married couple Art and Cindi in search of help. There’s a noticeable age gap between Art and Cindi, and a baffled … Continue reading Film Review: Ultrasound (Schroeder, 2022)
Comic Book films, Martin Scorsese and the ‘Footballification’ of Film Culture
Listeners of James O'Brien's LBC show will be familiar with a term popularised, if not coined, by the radio host to account for the political divide of post-Brexit Britain. Describing the stubborn bi-partisanship of contemporary politics, O'Brien likened the right/left divide in political life to rival football teams and their fans. 'We’re completely immersed in … Continue reading Comic Book films, Martin Scorsese and the ‘Footballification’ of Film Culture
Film Review: Vicious Fun (Calahan, 2020)
A love-letter to/comedy send-up of slasher films of the 1980s, Cody Calahan's Vicious Fun covers similar ground to classic meta-horror films like Cabin in the Woods and Scream, tipping its hat toward the genre's tropes and conventions in a charming manner, although without offering much in the way that's new to the formula of self-aware … Continue reading Film Review: Vicious Fun (Calahan, 2020)
Film Review: In the Earth (Wheatley, 2021)
With In the Earth, Ben Wheatley returns to his gritty horror genre roots following his lavish if underwhelming adaptation of Rebecca for Netflix, a return which is admirable for its mid-lockdown guerrilla approach to filmmaking (shooting between UK lockdowns in late 2020) if not entirely successful in the final verdict. Joel Fry plays Martin Lowery, … Continue reading Film Review: In the Earth (Wheatley, 2021)
Film Review: The Strange House (Prochaska, 2020)
Stranger Things meets Scooby Doo in this instantaneously forgettable fantasy-horror flick from Austrian director Daniel Prochaska, exhibiting none of the former television show's bite and little of the latter's cheesy charm. From its almost laughably generic title - marketed as both The Strange House and The Scary House, as if this minor tweak could make … Continue reading Film Review: The Strange House (Prochaska, 2020)
Film Review: Justice Society: World War II (Wamester, 2021)
Superheroes beating up Nazis. What's not to like?When you get down to it, the answer is about 50% of Justice Society: World War II, the latest instalment in the DC animated universe. Illustrated in the same heavy-lined style that has become Warner Bros. Animation's aesthetic of choice since the soft reboot of the DCAU in … Continue reading Film Review: Justice Society: World War II (Wamester, 2021)
Film Review: Monster (Mandler, 2018)
Promoted under the banner of Black Lives Matter by Netflix, Anthony Mandler's directorial debut follows in the footsteps of recent courtroom dramas including Steve McQueen's Mangrove and Ava DuVernay's mini-series When They See Us, productions which document with often heart-breaking precision the inequalities and prejudices faced by Black individuals when confronted by systems of law … Continue reading Film Review: Monster (Mandler, 2018)
Film Review: Palm Springs (Barbakow, 2020)
Director Max Barbakow mines some of the more nihilistic implications of the perennial 90s classic Groundhog Day (Ramis, 1993) for bittersweet laughs in this time-looping romantic comedy starring Lonely Island's Andy Samberg and Cristin Milioti of How I Met Your Mother fame. Waking up in Palm Springs on the day of her half-sister's wedding, Milioti's … Continue reading Film Review: Palm Springs (Barbakow, 2020)
Film Review: Sound of Metal (Marder, 2019)
Following his fantastic starring role in Mogul Mowgli (2020), Riz Ahmed gives a career-defining performance as Ruben Stone, another musician devastated by a failing body in Sound of Metal, this time playing a heavy metal drummer whose sudden loss of hearing leaves himself afloat in a world for which he has to find new ways … Continue reading Film Review: Sound of Metal (Marder, 2019)
Notes from the Multiplex 