Tom Jolliffe with a selection of 10 delightful films that can’t fail to brighten your day… Well ladies and gents, it looks like we’re still in the midst of some kind of biblical meltdown. Between a virus that’s spread the world, to political discord, societal discord, things are bad and all the while every app […]
10 Essential Revenge Films
Tom Jolliffe offers up ten essential revenge films… A dish best served cold. The humble revenge film. It’s a long tried and tested formula which still proves immensely popular. There have been innumerable films but that overriding quest for vengeance is always there. Picking 10 essential films in such a wide and all encompassing genre […]
Money to Burn: When Hollywood Spending Gets Silly
Tom Jolliffe on when spending in Hollywood gets out of hand… Money is great isn’t it? It makes the world go round, and since the birth of the studio system in Hollywood, a lot of money has been thrown into creating movies. Even making films deemed lower budget can be deemed a costly exercise. Actors […]
Revisiting Assassins at 25
Tom Jolliffe looks back at the Sylvester Stallone and Antonio Banderas action vehicle Assassins as it turns 25… Starring action titan, Sylvester Stallone and Antonio Banderas hot off Desperado hitting big, came a film written by the Wachowski’s (pre fame), produced by Joel Silver and directed by Richard Donner (Lethal Weapon franchise). Every hallmark in […]
Commando at 35: Revisiting the Arnold Schwarzenegger Action Classic
Tom Jolliffe revisits the Schwarzenegger classic Commando, which recently turned 35… It pains me to think a seminal film from my childhood has now turned 35. I probably first saw Commando some 30(ish) years ago. That would make me? Urgh, like the old Knight Harrison Ford stumbles on in The Last Crusade probably. Or at […]
What is the Most Iconic Image in Horror Cinema?
Tom Jolliffe looks over some of the most iconic images in horror… Cinema is full of iconic films and iconic images within those. A moment of hope in Rocky personified by his mangled post fight face screaming ‘Adrian!’ or even in the same film, his victorious beating of those famous steps, holding his arms aloft […]
Let The Right One In: A Masterpiece of Poetic Horror
Tom Jolliffe looks back at the seminal vampire film and why it remains one of the best movies of this century… The memory of seeing this for the first time still feels fresh, but Let The Right One In, is now as old as its central protagonist Oskar (12 years old). I hadn’t caught it […]
Jean-Claude Van Damme at 60
As Jean-Claude Van Damme celebrates a milestone birthday, Tom Jolliffe looks back at a career that has seen box office success, and flirtation with a comeback as a critically acclaimed actor… If you even have a passing appreciation of late 20th century action cinema, you’ll know very well who Jean-Claude Van Damme is. You’ll probably […]
The Alternative Halloween Viewing List
Tom Jolliffe offers up a selection of non-horror films to watch this Halloween season, which might just be prescient enough to be horrific… Halloween’s just for horror right? Well what if we’re not watching horror? What if we’re watching action or sci-fi or comedy? It may just be that some of these films have a […]
What Makes a Great Horror Concept?
Tom Jolliffe on what makes a great horror concept… No doubt many film fans will be having a particular focus on the horror genre right as we work our way to Halloween. The genre is loaded with the great, and the not so great (and everything in between). The key to horror has always been […]
