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Category Archives: Reviews
The House on Sorority Row (1983)
You know you’re in good hands about five minutes into The House on Sorority Row. As Richard Band’s lush score swells, the credits unfold over a series of images that depict a girl’s “getting ready” routine with totemic importance. Shot … Continue reading
One-Eyed Jacks (1961)
While One-Eyed Jacks has the grandeur and elemental framing of a big-budget American western, its concerns and tempo feel unmistakably European. It presents itself as a revenge flick, but actually unfolds like a sweeping melodrama. This is far more interested … Continue reading
The Belko Experiment (2017)
The Belko Experiment is a film totally committed to its blunt premise. Characters are there to be killed brutally, what little story there is is only there to provide the most basic of genre frameworks. It’s exactly the film it … Continue reading
Posted in Reviews
Tagged 2017, Greg Maclean, Gregg Henry, James Gunn, Michael Rooker, Sean Gunn
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Prisoners (2013)
I remember seeing Prisoners the week of its release in 2013 and at a certain point I asked myself “Did Roger Deakins shoot this or something?” Lo and behold, as his name appeared in the credits at the end I … Continue reading
Posted in Reviews, Rewatch
Tagged 2013, Denis Villeneueve, Hugh Jackman, Jake Gyllenhaal, Maria Bello, melissa leo, Paul Dano, Roger Deakins, Terrence Howard, Viola Davis
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Before I Wake (2016)
Probably the closest Flanagan has come, so far, to making a del Toro-esque gothic fairy tale. Plays more like a dark fantasy movie than a horror film and, once you refit your expectations accordingly, is all the better for it. … Continue reading
Blade Runner 2049 (2017)
Denis Villenueve’s vaporwave remix of Ridley Scott’s seminal and divisive sci-fi classic will no doubt end up being the best looking movie I’ve seen in 2017, or any other recent year for that matter. Stunningly realised by cinematographer extraordinaire Roger … Continue reading
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Tagged 2017, Ana De Armas, Denis Villeneueve, Harrison Ford, Robin Wright, Roger Deakins, Ryan Gosling, Sylvia Hoeth
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Prom Night (1980)
I can confirm that the first murder of this 92 minute “slasher” occurs exactly 1 hour, 2 minutes and 45 seconds in. And no, this isn’t some slow cinema, arthouse take on an 80s horror flick that bubbles with unbearable … Continue reading
47 Meters Down (2017)
Honestly, this is a pretty kickass concept for a situation thriller (or a sitthrill? Remind me to stop pulling genres out of my ass). It’s as if the filmmakers saw The Shallows and were like “how about we did that … Continue reading
The Wolf Man (1941)
As soon as Claude Rains and Bela Lugosi show up in The Wolf Man, there’s no doubt that the Universal Horror movies were the original extended cinematic universe! I love all of the crazy opticals in this movie. The use … Continue reading
The Mummy (1932)
One of the things I keep experiencing with these Universal horror classics is that their imagery and ideas have been canonised and cannibalised to such a degree that expectations are quite a stone’s throw from what the films themselves are … Continue reading
"This Film Should Be Played Loud" 