Free Fire (2016)

So, Free Fire... I like Ben Wheatley in the same way that I like Neil Marshall, I like that he's there doing his thing.  I'm a big fan of his High Rise (it's not Ballard's, which I also love) and Kill List.  His other films not so much but I'm glad someone is making them. …

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Future Shock! The Story of 2000AD

I'm massively biased in favour of Future Shock! The Story of 2000AD, I would probably like it no matter what.  2000AD is one of the biggest cultural influences I can recall.  It's found in my politics, the films and books that I like, my sense of humour, my sense of fairness.  I fell into it, …

Bushwick (2017)

Whilst not entirely successful, Bushwick is an interesting, scrappy little movie that suddenly finds itself relevant… I’ll say ‘spoilers’ at this point because, although the relevance is now the selling point, I enjoyed watching this with no knowledge of what was happening and, given the form the film takes, I imagine this was the intention. …

Dunkirk (2017)

Dunkirk is, so far, the best of this Summer’s big hitters.  Engineered to within an inch of it’s life by Nolan, the film tells three separate stories (land, sea and air, spanning one week, one day and one hour respectively) that intersect during the evacuation. The film succeeds because it tells a visual story that would …

Monkey Business

If we’re being honest, once you strip away the technical wizardry (and it really is), War for the Planet of the Apes (2017) is all rather too familiar.  It feels like a film cobbled together from parts of more energetic and original genre movies.  Its being spoken of as the antidote to the rest of …

Spider-Man: Homecoming (2017)

90 – 100 mins of Spider–Man: Homecoming (2017) are one of the best movies that Marvel has made, the remainder of the 133 min runtime is filler, most of it featuring Robert Downey Jr.  It doesn’t kill the film but it does make it drag and serves as a reminder that Marvel’s worst tendencies are …

Hidden Figures (2016)

Hidden Figures (2016) is good old fashioned Hollywood razzle-dazzle.  It takes a little known story, mixes in some smart poetic licence and instantly likeable performers, and turns out a belting piece of mainstream entertainment. There is no doubt that Hidden Figures is precision engineered to pull at your heart but it is saved from being …

Proof of Concept

I've just worked my way through the available videos in Neill Blomkamp's Oats Studio project on YouTube and I think they're really worth your time. Like his earlier short films all the videos are full of ideas and wonderful / haunting images, and their incomplete concept feel is part of the charm. Unlike his feature …

The Keep (1982) is on NetflixUK.

I noticed last night that Micheal Mann's The Keep (1983) is currently available on Netflix UK.  Despite being screened occasionally on Film4 this is welcome news for anyone still clinging onto their VHS or, like me, their poor laserdisc to DVD copy.  Unlike the Amazon rental the Netflix version retains the widescreen format even if …