by Michelle Le Blanc and Colin Odell | Jun 28, 2021 | Film and DVD Review
To celebrate the 90th year of the birth of mangaka Osamu Tezuka a live action adaptation of Barbara (1973) by his son, film director Macoto Tezka, has been released. A very adult fantasy about strange love, romance and spiritual witchcraft, this contemporary and... »
by Michelle Le Blanc and Colin Odell | May 28, 2021 | Film and DVD Review
Sometimes the dead don’t die. Sometimes they don’t even stay at home. And so modern one-take budget wonder One Cut of the Dead sees a sequel to its gore drenched comedy success. Cut Of The Dead: In Hollywood sees the zombie horror move from Japan to… Hollywood.... »
by Michelle Le Blanc and Colin Odell | Jan 23, 2021 | Film and DVD Review
Strange, deranged and unlike anything you’ve seen before, the blu-ray release of Violence Voyager and The Burning Buddha Man is helpfully titled The Weird and Wonderful World of Ujicha. Director Ujicha creates his marvellous distinctive works using Gekimation... »
by Michelle Le Blanc and Colin Odell | Oct 4, 2020 | Film and DVD Review
Katsuhito Ishii’s delightfully odd tale of family life in a countryside house is at times hilarious and at times surreal in its exploration of relationships and growing up. Charming and strange and unlike anything you’ve seen before this is reality turned... »
by Michelle Le Blanc and Colin Odell | Sep 11, 2020 | Film and DVD Review
The end of the world is nigh! No, really. Earth faces imminent destruction as an approaching meteor about to collide with it. The only opportunity to save the world could lie with punk rock, as told in the strange and tight multi-decade history Fish Story, which is... »
by Michelle Le Blanc and Colin Odell | Sep 5, 2020 | Film and DVD Review
An unexpected blend of crime, drama, romance and humour can be found in the delicately paced character driven black-comedy marking the debut of writer/director Seiji Tanaka. Having graduated from Tokyo University and therefore expected to achieve in life, particularly... »
by Michelle Le Blanc and Colin Odell | Aug 30, 2020 | Film and DVD Review
Nicolas Roeg’s stunningly shot journey through the Australian outback has been remastered to enhance the cinematography that embraces the environment and the creatures who dominate it over the humans that traverse its wide expanses. A journey for both the camera... »
by Michelle Le Blanc and Colin Odell | Apr 25, 2020 | Film and DVD Review
Three films from the inventive mind of Shinya Tsukamoto are released on blu-ray and each showcase his distinctive style and imagination (often with a fair amount of viscera) in a variety of contexts. Killing (2018) marks the director’s first foray into Jidaigeki... »
by Michelle Le Blanc and Colin Odell | Feb 16, 2020 | Film and DVD Review
After 35 years the hugely enjoyable Japanese comedy musical, The Legend Of The Stardust Brothers, is now available again for your viewing pleasure. With songs, costumes and choreography that scream ‘cult classic’ at you, it’s a welcome re-release for a film that... »
by Michelle Le Blanc and Colin Odell | Feb 2, 2020 | Film and DVD Review
Themes that combine the horrors of war with supernatural forces are central to Babak Anvari’s wonderfully chilling drama as a mother and daughter face multiple adversaries that are physical, psychological and social. Under the Shadow is not just full of scares... »
by Michelle Le Blanc and Colin Odell | Sep 16, 2019 | Film and DVD Review
Middle-aged melancholy turns to environmental activism in Benedikt Erlingsson’s remarkable second feature, the story of a political eco-warrior. Be prepared to laugh, cry and be consistently surprised as our protagonist Halla (Halldóra Geirharðsdóttir, who also plays... »
by Michelle Le Blanc and Colin Odell | Jan 28, 2019 | Film and DVD Review
A post-modern zombie comedy which makes for bloody good viewing, One Cut of the Dead is clever, original, intelligent and just plain entertaining. Made for a budget that wouldn’t cover the catering costs for a typical TV episode it offers imagination above... »
by Michelle Le Blanc and Colin Odell | Nov 17, 2018 | Film and DVD Review
King of the road-movie, Wim Wenders’ classic 1975 epic about a journey across Germany has been restored in its black and white glory to drive back into your consciousness and Blu-ray collection. A welcome trip back in time to a world where travel and cinema... »
by Michelle Le Blanc and Colin Odell | Oct 19, 2018 | Film and DVD Review
“It’s gonna be a long road and we gotta take it.” Wim Wenders’ film The American Friend, adapted from Patricia Highsmith’s Ripley’s Game, is re-released in a loving 4K restoration from the original negative and sound tapes allowing you to... »
by Michelle Le Blanc and Colin Odell | Jun 17, 2018 | Film and DVD Review
Third Window Films are releasing two feature length anime films by Mushi Productions, the animation studio founded by Osamu Tezuka, the “Godfather of Manga”, nearly 50 years after they were made. Mushi Productions short films and TV series led to Animerama –... »
by Michelle Le Blanc and Colin Odell | May 28, 2018 | Film and DVD Review
Wim Wenders’ debut commercial feature film gets a crisp restoration and reissue after many decades in legal limbo. A welcome start to the career of the “king of the road (movie)” with its combination of abstract characters and understated... »
by Michelle Le Blanc and Colin Odell | Mar 24, 2018 | Film and DVD Review
Themes of teenage angst, abuse, cult indoctrination and loss of personal identity prevail in Eiji Uchida’s latest film which follows Lowlife Love (2015). It doesn’t sound like the premise for a bizarre and compelling romantic comedy with a unique blend of... »
by Michelle Le Blanc and Colin Odell | Dec 4, 2017 | Book Review
The timeless, seminal and iconic television series The Prisoner is ‘pushed, filed, stamped, indexed, briefed, debriefed and numbered’ by Alex Cox in this fascinating examination of the intensely discussed cult classic. Cox originally watched all the... »
by Michelle Le Blanc and Colin Odell | Nov 19, 2017 | Film and DVD Review
The fabulous films of Finnish director Aki Kaurismäki receive an exemplary release in a bulky box set of cinematic joy. Ten discs take you from the first feature to the proposed final film from the master of droll, dark humour which depicts the under-represented lives... »
by Michelle Le Blanc and Colin Odell | Nov 14, 2017 | Film and DVD Review
“We are all courageous.” A moving and unflinching examination of the horrors of war to the civilians trapped in their own house, Insyriated offers an exceptional and harrowing commentary on the Syrian conflict for those caught up in events but without weapons or... »
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