Richard J. Moir selects his Five Essential Japanese Horrors… 5. Audition (1999, dir. Takashi Miike) Audition is a Japanese horror film but you wouldn’t think it from the opening hour. It plays as more of a romantic drama with hints of comedy (mainly coming through the actual audition scene) and leaves the audience wondering what […]
The Gay Lord of the Rings: Readings From Middle-Earth
Gary Collinson examines contemporary readings of J.R.R. Tolkien’s epic masterpiece, The Lord of the Rings… Originally published in three volumes in 1954 and 1955, The Lord of the Rings is an epic high fantasy chronicling the ‘War of the Ring’ and the end of the Third Age of ‘Middle-Earth’ – a secondary world created by […]
Seth MacFarlane Talks Family Guy Movie
Family Guy creator announces plans for a theatrical outing for the Griffin family… Seth MacFarlane, the creator of hit animated comedy shows Family Guy, American Dad, and upcoming spinoff The Cleveland Show, has been talking to Wired Magazine about his interest in bringing Peter Griffin and company to the big screen. MacFarlane, who was attending […]
British Cinema – City Rats (2009)
City Rats, 2009. Directed by Steve M. Kelly. Starring Danny Dyer, Tamer Hassan, Ray Panthaki and Susan Lynch. SYNOPSIS: A low-budget British drama focussing on eight interconnected characters who struggle to deal with their personal demons throughout the course of a single day. Looking at the DVD cover for City Rats it would be easy […]
Five Essential… Films of Takashi Miike
Gary Collinson selects Five Essential Films of Takashi Miike… Cult Japanese director Takashi Miike is one of the most prolific filmmakers working today, with over seventy credits since his debut in 1991. Miike’s body of work is often violent, sexually perverse and bizarre, mixing elements of different genres to create his own distinct style, which […]
A Terrence Malick Profile
Rory Barker profiles legendary director Terrence Malick… As a wave of great American filmmakers were unable to continue making films and the likes of Alfred Hitchcock, Howard Hawks, and John Ford were consigned to history a new, younger generation of US filmmakers emerged. Garnering the golden combination of both commercial success and critical acclaim consistently, […]
Cult Classics – Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan
Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan, 1982. Directed by Nicholas Meyer. Starring William Shatner, Leonard Nimoy, DeForest Kelley and Ricardo Montalban. SYNOPSIS: After years in exile on a barren world, a genetically-engineered superhuman warrior seeks revenge against the man who sent him there. Following the cancellation of the Star Trek television series in 1969 […]
Classic Movies – Titanic (1997)
Titanic, 1997. Directed by James Cameron. Starring Leonardo DiCaprio and Kate Winslet. SYNOPSIS: A wreck-salvaging bounty hunter finds not the Heart of the Ocean jewel but discovers an old lady, Rose (an excellent Gloria Stewart), who claims to have worn it in 1912. Through Rose’s own story of inter-class love severed by disaster, Brock connects […]
British Cinema – Naked (1993)
Naked, 1993. Directed by Mike Leigh. Starring David Thewlis, Lesley Sharp and Ewen Bremner. SYNOPSIS: Naked follows Johnny (Thewlis) a highly articulate and intelligent loner who drifts through the backstreets of London taking part in violent sex, living on the streets and eloquently engaging everyone in conversation to completely different reactions from each stranger. Naked […]
Cult Classics – Commando (1985)
Commando, 1985. Directed by Mark L. Lester. Starring Arnold Schwarzenegger, Rae Dawn Chong, Vernon Wells. SYNOPSIS: In a race against time, a retired special forces commando must track down his daughter’s kidnappers and gain revenge on the exiled dictator of a small South American country. Catapulted to stardom following the success of James Cameron’s sci-fi […]
