Flamboyant British filmmaker Ken Russell has passed away in his sleep on Sunday evening, aged 84. Born in Southampton in 1927, Russell started his career in the industry as a photographer and independent documentary filmmaker after spells in the Merchant Navy and Royal Air Force. His attention turned to the small screen in 1959 when […]

Magic Trip, 2011. Directed by Alex Gibney and Alison Ellwood. SYNOPSIS: A documentary following famed author Ken Kesey and ‘The Merry Band of Pranksters’ on their acid-fuelled cross-country road trip across America to the 1964 New York World’s Fair. This documentary of novelist Ken Kesey (One Flew Over The Cuckoo’s Nest) and his band of […]

D.J. Haza presents the next entry in his series of films to watch before you die… Battle Royale, 2000. Directed by Kinji Fukasaku. Starring Kenta Fukasaku and Takeshi Kitano. Battle Royale is a Japanese horror film based on the novel of the same name written by Koushun Takami. It follows a class of children who […]

The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn – Part 1, 2011. Directed by Bill Condon. Starring Kristen Stewart, Robert Pattinson, Taylor Lautner, Nikki Reed, Kellan Lutz, Peter Facinelli, Elizabeth Reaser, Ashley Greene, Jackson Rathbone, Julia Jones, Billy Burke, Maggie Grace and Michael Sheen. SYNOPSIS: The new-found married bliss of Bella Swan and vampire Edward Cullen is cut […]

Commenting on the critics with Simon Columb… Alex von Tunzelmann writes in The Guardian about accuracy of My Week with Marilyn: “Historically, the film’s main problem is that its source for the alleged Clark-Monroe liaison is Clark’s diary. In the film’s key sequence, Monroe takes too many pills, locks herself in her bedroom, and collapses. […]

Following on from his interview last week, Tom Jolliffe selects his Five Essential Gary Daniels films… When a plethora of martial art specialists were foist upon audiences in the late 80s and early 90s, there were a few who managed to find an audience and maintain lengthy careers in the video realm. One such star […]

Presenting our weekly round-up of the biggest news stories from the world of movie superheroes… Despite the filming stage of The Dark Knight Rises drawing to a close a couple of weeks back, the hype surrounding Christopher Nolan’s third and final Batman feature shows no sign of slowing down. Indeed, if the past week is […]

The Searchers, 1956. Directed by John Ford. Starring John Wayne, Jeffrey Hunter, Vera Miles, Ward Bond and Natalie Wood. SYNOPSIS: Returning to his brother’s family three years after the end of the civil war, Ethan Edwards (John Wayne) is a bitter and resentful war veteran. Soon after his return, a Comanche attack his leaves his […]

D.J. Haza presents the next entry in his series of films to watch before you die… Friday, 1995. Directed by F. Gary Gray. Starring Ice Cube, Chris Tucker, Nia Long, Faizon Love, Tommy Lister Jnr, John Witherspoon, Regina King and Bernie Mac. It’s Friday and Craig (Ice Cube) and Smokey (Chris Tucker) have until 10 […]

Jessica Lomax on the influence of the Billy Wilder classic The Apartment on the British comedy How to Lose Friends & Alienate People… One film cover stated that ‘movie-wise there has never been anything like “The Apartment”, love-wise, laugh-wise or other-wise!’ This was undoubtedly true of Billy Wilder’s film when it was released in 1960, […]