Category Archives: Reviews

Mandy (2018)

Posted on September 15, 2018 by Ross Birks

A psychotronic potion so committed to its own combination of high/low/trash/art aesthetics, it’s no wonder us carnivorous cinephiles eat this up like a hallucinogen-tinged three course dinner. Cosmatos’ loyalty to his own metronomic sense of drone pacing might turn a … Continue reading →

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Batman (1989)

Posted on September 15, 2018 by Ross Birks

You don’t need me to tell you that comic book movies are a dime a dozen at the moment, but none of them look like Tim Burton’s Batman. Overwhelmingly physical in its environs and effects and visually uncomplicated; edited cleanly and … Continue reading →

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The Taking of Pelham One Two Three (1974)

Posted on September 14, 2018 by Ross Birks

A terrific subterranean thriller with a primo cast of shaggy dog stars, the kind who seemed to go extinct once the 70s drew to a close. Owen Roizman’s moody photography is soaked in darkness and shadow, with striking anamorphic lens … Continue reading →

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Zero Dark Thirty (2012)

Posted on September 13, 2018 by Ross Birks

This rewatch has been a long time coming. Zero Dark Thirty is one of those movies that is so dense with information that it’s difficult to penetrate and engage with, especially on first viewing. It’s a slow-burning procedural which spans a decade, … Continue reading →

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Sicario: Day of the Soldado (2018)

Posted on September 12, 2018 by Ross Birks

Nowhere near as classy or as deliberately shot as the first Sicario, which had a visual elegance to offset any iffy screenplay quibbles. In fact, that very style led it to being at the top of my favourite movies of 2015. Day … Continue reading →

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Interiors (1978)

Posted on September 11, 2018 by Ross Birks

Interiors is infamous for being a severe left turn into Bergman-esque chamber-drama for Woody Allen following the widely acclaimed Annie Hall the year before. It’s the first movie he directed he doesn’t act in, is wholly serious, thematically heavy and shot by Gordon … Continue reading →

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Predator 2 (1990)

Posted on September 11, 2018 by Ross Birks

A lurid buffet of scraps and bad habits left over from the 80s jacked up and saturated like a crazy Frank Miller splash page. The cast makes it feel like Predator 2 unfolds in some kind of Richard Donner/James Cameron shared universe … Continue reading →

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Cold Water (1994)

Posted on September 10, 2018 by Ross Birks

There’s a sequence slap bang in the middle of Cold Water that the rest of the film seems to huddle around like hands over a bonfire. It’s a sprawling house party, scored to a handful of pop songs – Credence, Dylan, Alice … Continue reading →

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Mars Attacks! (1996)

Posted on September 9, 2018 by Ross Birks

Tim Burton’s Nashville. Lovably zany, eye-poppingly colourful and animated by a pretty insane ensemble cast of 90s big hitters and Burton regulars. You even get two Jack Nicholsons for the price of one. I love all the throwback flourishes like the … Continue reading →

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The Craft (1996)

Posted on April 22, 2018 by Ross Birks

This movie is so 90s that Fairuza Balk isn’t even the most 90s thing about it. I love how it leans heavily into all that novelty shop wicca imagery with candles, pentagrams and the whole shebang. It was made at … Continue reading →

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