Sin Nombre, 2009. Directed by Cary Joji Fukunaga. Starring Édgar Flores, Paulina Gaitán, Kristyan Ferrer and Tenoch Huerta. SYNOPSIS: A Honduran girl and a Mexican gang-banger undertake a perilous trek towards a new life across the border in the United States. The feature debut of American cinematographer Cary Joji Fukunaga, Sin Nombre presents a bleak […]

Trevor Hogg profiles the career of visionary director Robert Zemeckis in the first of a three part feature… “In my family there was no art,” revealed Chicago-born filmmaker Robert Zemeckis. “There was no music, there were no books, there was no theatre. I grew up in a very working class, lower middle class, blue collar […]

Superman II: The Richard Donner Cut, 2006. Directed by Richard Donner. Starring Christopher Reeve, Margot Kidder and Gene Hackman. SYNOPSIS: The 1980 classic is reedited to its original director’s vision. Having heard of this film’s very existence when it was released in 2006, I found myself longing to own a copy of it. A fan […]

Jon Dudley explores the notion of national cinema… Although cinema is a worldwide spectacle that can be enjoyed by billions of people, there seems to be a way to define a films origins and values, and who or where it represents. It would be all too easy to walk into any cinema and identify the […]

Trevor Hogg profiles the career of filmmaker and Academy Award-winning screenwriter Jane Campion in the second of a two part feature… read part one. In 1981, Jane Campion watched a teenager perform at the Phillip Street Theatre in Sydney, Australia; the director immediately wanted to cast the young actress in her graduation film. Unfortunately, the […]

Gary Collinson selects his Five Essential New Directors of the 21st Century… In thinking of an article to mark the end of the decade a number of ideas passed through my mind – best movies (too common), worst movies (where to begin?), best directors (possibly), best directorial debuts (getting there) – before finally settling upon […]

Jon Dudley compares Hollywood to the British film industry… “…the American hegemony over cinema in Britain has frequently been blamed for preventing the development of an authentically indigenous cinema” – Tom Ryall American films have dominated global cinema for many decades now. Such is the high number of Hollywood productions being shown in cinemas across […]

Trevor Hogg profiles the career of filmmaker and Academy Award-winning screenwriter Jane Campion in the first of a two part feature… The daughter of Richard Campion, theatre director and co-founder of the New Zealand Players Company, and stage actress Edith Armstrong, Jane Campion was raised in the world of the dramatic arts. The acclaimed filmmaker […]

Actress passes away aged 32… Brittany Murphy has died of natural causes in Los Angeles yesterday, Sunday 20th December. The 32 year old actress reportedly went into cardiac arrest at her home and was taken to the Cedars-Sinai Medical Centre near Beverly Hills where she was pronounced dead on arrival. She is survived by her […]

In which Gerry Hayes makes Bob Cratchett type up his latest filmy polemic while he amuses himself kicking Tiny Tim’s crutch from under him. Filthy urchin. Something a little different this week. Given it’s the season to be jolly and all, I’ve decided I could be considerably more jolly by not doing much work for […]