Category Archives: Reviews

The Fortune (1975)

Posted on March 30, 2018 by Ross Birks

Nichols’ flair for busy anamorphic master shots is well suited to screwball, letting his actors interact in prolonged stretches and allowing the physical gags to unfold naturally in tandem with the camera, but ultimately The Fortune just doesn’t work. Both Beatty and … Continue reading →

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Ready Player One (2018)

Posted on March 29, 2018 by Ross Birks

The Spielberg this most reminds me of is 1941. Like that film it’s absolutely choc-a-bloc with visual information and infinite content to the point where you just end up glazing over and unplugging from the action, barely engaging with it beyond … Continue reading →

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Leatherface: The Texas Chainsaw Massacre III (1990)

Posted on March 27, 2018 by Ross Birks

This spends a lot of its meandering running time avoiding being a TCM movie altogether. There’s so much ambling around in the woods which never seem as expansive or cavernous enough to justify all the characters constantly splitting apart and … Continue reading →

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Messiah of Evil (1973)

Posted on March 26, 2018 by Ross Birks

A neglected mood shocker that occasionally feels like the true successor to Carnival of Souls. Written and directed by William Huyck and Gloria Katz, a husband and wife team who would go on to work on some of the most iconic … Continue reading →

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The Passenger (1975)

Posted on March 23, 2018 by Ross Birks

A purgatorial dirge for a character who is not dead, but choses to be regarded as such. The last major Antonioni I had to check off and a remarkably spare contemplation on life’s dead ends. Feels like a desolate funeral … Continue reading →

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Trash Humpers (2009)

Posted on March 22, 2018 by Ross Birks

Harmony Korine’s Trash Humpers is a calculated annoyance. Seemingly amateur in presentation, juvenile and crude in its humour and utterly headache-inducing in its aesthetics (the hazy image combined with a soundtrack built almost exclusively from a cacophony of screeching voices and madcap … Continue reading →

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Gentlemen Broncos (2009)

Posted on March 22, 2018 by Ross Birks

Extremely un-deserving of the critical battering it received and its subsequent reputation as a major turkey, Gentlemen Broncos is an inventive, unique and meticulously designed comedy. Jared Hess and co-writer/wife Jerusha, find laughs and sweetness in various un-expected places and materials. The … Continue reading →

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Alice Sweet Alice (1976)

Posted on March 21, 2018 by Ross Birks

Quite a complex horror-drama masquerading as an ugly slasher joint. Some impressive performances from the young actresses (including a nine year old Brooke Shields) who are thrown into a lot of distressing and uncomfortable sequences. The heavy presence of Catholic … Continue reading →

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Stigmata (1999)

Posted on March 21, 2018 by Ross Birks

I always remember this haunting the shelves of video shops alongside End of Days at the turn of the millennium so there was certainly a twinge of VHS nostalgia pulsing through my veins upon hitting play. Stigmata is a stimulating visual experience, though dated … Continue reading →

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The Master (2012)

Posted on March 20, 2018 by Ross Birks

“You can’t take this life straight can you?” This time around (my fifth? sixth?) I really latched onto the movie as a rumination on performance and specifically its contrasting of acting styles. Phoenix represents the angry, visceral, tormented style birthed in … Continue reading →

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