This is Russell’s only interesting film, and sees him applying himself to the excesses and longueurs of award-winning author and screenwriter Paddy Chayefsky’s direly introspective rumination on God, consciousness and sensory deprivation. Chayefsky famously had Russell sign an agreement that he wouldn’t change one word … Read More →
Tag Archives: hollywood
Mysterious Two (1982; dir. Gary Sherman)
As a piece of cinema, this is fucking awful. The plot not only exploits then topical fears concerning cults and alternative beliefs – including the disastrous consequences of the People’s Temple and Heaven’s Gate cults – but also insults our intelligence by suggesting that there … Read More →
The Lightship (1986; dir. Jerzy Skolimowski)
Skolimowski had previously experimented with the properties of sound in the cinema with the moody drama The Shout (1978), so it’s disturbing to see it handled so slackly here, with one of the leads dubbed completely and obviously, and an over-reliance on additional dialogue recording … Read More →
The Black Windmill (1974; dir. Don Siegel)
Siegel’s distant, relaxed compositions and evenly paced editing style here craft a well-intentioned if predictable thriller. This sense of hyper-realism, where actors are allowed to explore characters and situations in much the same way the audience’s eye is allowed to float across the frame, would … Read More →
Motel Hell (1980; dir. Kevin O’Connor)
With its surreal and disturbing images of devocalised humans buried up to their necks like rows of hissing, spitting cabbages or carrots, ready to be harvested by a deranged good ol’ boy and his obese sister, this film predates the compassion-deficit glut of unsavoury and … Read More →
Dark Angel (1990; dir. Craig R. Baxley)
Another variation on the alien-policeman-hunting-quarry-on-Earth hook that also informed The Hidden (1987; dir. Jack Sholder) and TV mini-series Something is Out There (1988; dir. Richard A. Colla). Amidst the shoot-outs, explosions and car chases, there’s some interesting character work, allowing action star Dolph Lundgren to … Read More →
Race with the Devil (1975; dir. Jack Starrett)
As previously noted on this blog (here), genre is an excuse for poor film theory, and Race with the Devil exemplifies the mindset of producers and writers who approach films with a ‘shopping list ‘of elements – garnered from the comparison of unrelated materials, and … Read More →
Halloween III: Season of the Witch (1982; dir. Tommy Lee Wallace)
The works of Manx author and screenwriter Nigel Kneale have long needed a critical reappraisal. The current view – one which sees him as “the grandfather of British science fiction” – is complimentary at best, totally misguided on further inspection. This majority opinion, endorsed by … Read More →
Get yourself patronized by an award-winning filmmaker!
Rage (2009; dir. Sally Potter) opens today in cinemas across the United Kingdom, beamed directly and simultaneously into dozens of screens around the country from the BFI Southbank in a bold and exciting technological first that could see film-making costs reduced dramatically and a potential … Read More →
I sopravvissuti della città morta (1983; dir. Antonio Margheriti)
To paraphrase Edgar Allan Poe, a film without an idea is just a film. This – another of Margheriti’s misadventures with actor David Warbeck – is a complete waste of celluloid. Without any of the care and attention he usually lavishes on his films, Margheriti … Read More →
Behind the Wall (2008; dir. Paul Schneider)
M. R. James suggested that ghost stories should have ‘a pleasing terror’ and, when handled correctly, they can be the most cinematic source material: the supernatural vision has an almost direct correlation with the projected image. This film aims for an old fashioned and restrained … Read More →
The Day of the Dolphin (1973; dir. Mike Nichols)
This film begins well but degenerates into a conventional, sentimental Hollywood narrative. Nichols and screenwriter Buck Henry gently ease the audience into the world of privately funded dolphin research, indulging in some fanciful notions that seem more Orca (1977; dir. Michael Anderson) than Le monde … Read More →