Paul Risker looks at Starz’s Spartacus and its place amongst the historical epics of the big and small screen… By the time Steven S. DeKnight brought his vision of Spartacus: Blood and Sand to the small screen in January of 2010, the story of Spartacus’ revolt against the might of the Roman Empire and its […]

White Tiger (Russian: Belyy tigr), 2012. Directed Karen Shakhnazarov.Starring Aleksey Vertkov, Vitaliy Kishchenko, Valeriy Grishko, Dmitriy Bykovskiy-Romashov, Gerasim Arkhipov and Aleksandr Vakhov. SYNOPSIS: After barely surviving a battle with a mysterious, ghostly-white Tiger tank, Red Army Sergeant Ivan Naydenov becomes obsessed with its destruction. From the looks of the DVD packaging and a brilliantly hammy […]

Sleepwalk with Me, 2012Directed by Mike Birbiglia and Seth BarrishWritten by Mike Birbiglia, Ira Glass, Joe Birbiglia and Seth BarrishStarring Mike Birbiglia, Lauren Ambrose, JamesRebhorn and Carol KaneSYNOPSIS:A burgeoning stand-up comedian struggles with the stress of a stalled career, a stale relationship, and the wild spurts of severe sleepwalking he is desperate to ignore.As someone […]

The Collection, 2012. Directed by Marcus Dunstan.Starring Josh Stewart, Emma Fitzpatrick, Christopher McDonald, Lee Tergesen, Tim Griffin, Andre Royo and Randall Archer. SYNOPSIS: A traumatized man forced to help rescue a beautiful woman who has become the latest obsession of a crazed killer who collects humans in a booby-trapped house of horrors. Another day, another […]

You Will Be My Son (French: Tu seras mon fils), 2011  Directed by Gilles Legrand.Starring Niels Arestrup, Lorant Deutsch, Patrick Chesnais, Anne Marivan, Nicolas Bridet and Valerie Mairesse.SYNOPSIS:Paul de Marseul (Arestrup) is a prestigious but aging wine-maker whose son Martin (Deutsch) lacks talent or indeed the will to succeed him. When Philippe (Bridet) returns to […]

A few months back Guillermo del Toro appeared to be turning his eye towards the long-rumoured third instalment in the Hellboy franchise as a follow-up to the upcoming Pacific Rim, but after failing to secure financing for the threequel, it seems he’s now busying himself with his multitude of other projects, which includes the likes […]

Having taken time out to direct his ‘dream project’, the bodybuilding crime caper Pain & Gain – which is currently sitting atop the North American box office with a projected opening weekend of around $20 million – Michael Bay is turning his attention back to blockbuster filmmaking next year with two 80s toy adaptations, directing […]

Commenting on the Critics with Simon Columb… Claire O’Connor writes for Forbes about a research paper connecting episode-marathons with obesity…“Harvard Medical School instructor Dr. Rumi Chunara published a study showing that areas with a high proportion of Facebookers with “sedentary-related interests” based around the television — say, box-set DVDs or episode marathons — generally have […]

A.C.O.D, 2013 Directed by Stu ZichermanWritten by Stu Zicherman and Ben KarlinStarring Adam Scott, Mary Elizabeth Winstead, Richard Jenkins, Catherine O’Hara, Clark Duke, Amy Poehler, Jessica Alba and Jane Lynch SYNOPSIS: A grown man is still caught in the crossfire of his parents 15 year divorce. He discovers he was unknowingly part of a study […]

In Fear, 2013Directed by Jeremy LoveringStarring Iain De Caestecker, Alice Englert and Allen LeechSYNOPSIS:Driving, lost and tormented in the night, primal fears of the dark and the unknown give way to fear that you have let the evil in, or that it is already there.As I left the screening with co-editor Oli Davis, we spoke […]