Tom Jolliffe looks at two classic crime thrillers from Akira Kurosawa, Stray Dog and High and Low… His reputation precedes him. Akira Kurosawa is one of the greatest directors of all time. A master of cinema, who took a degree of influence from old Hollywood gangster films and Westerns and refined them in his own […]
Movie Review – Legacy of Lies (2020)
Legacy of Lies, 2020. Directed by Adrian Bol. Starring Scott Adkins, Honor Kneafsey, Andrea Vasilou, Yuliia Sobol and Anna Butkevich. SYNOPSIS: An ex-MI6 agent is thrown back into the world of espionage and high stakes to uncover the shocking truth about operations conducted by unknown secret services. The main man of action, Scott Adkins, returns with […]
10 Essential Creature Features
Tom Jolliffe offers up 10 essential creature features… Who doesn’t love a good old creature feature? They still seem to be immensely popular, with recent reboots for the Jurassic Park and Godzilla franchises. That popularity in fact has been booming in the Asian markets in particular (whilst some of the recent big monster films have […]
The 2019 Movies Unfairly Overlooked During Awards Season
Tom Jolliffe takes a look back at several of last year’s films overlooked by the major award ceremonies…. As we find ourselves almost half way between the last Oscars and the next, with some uncertainty about just what we’ll see at the 2021 Academy Awards (after months of delayed films and closed cinemas), seems like […]
Cinema’s Groundbreakers – Stanley Kubrick’s 2001: A Space Odyssey
Tom Jolliffe looks back at the groundbreaking sci-fi masterpiece 2001: A Space Odyssey… There have been some key films in sci-fi cinema throughout the years. Certain films have been genre defining, or redefining. It began with Fritz Lang’s visionary masterpiece Metropolis (also a groundbreaking film), which astonished with its visual imagination and dystopian story-line. The […]
A Look Back at The Expendables Franchise (And a Look Forward…)
Ten years on from the release of the first movie, Tom Jolliffe looks back at the Expendables franchise and then looks at where it can go now (and who needs to join the crew)… When The Expendables was first announced in late 2009, my excitement levels went through the roof. Initially it was Sylvester Stallone, […]
Movie Review – Max Reload and The Nether Blasters (2020)
Max Reload and The Nether Blasters, 2020. Directed by Scott Conditt and Jeremy Tremp. Starring Tom Plumley, Hassie Harrison, Joey Morgan, Lukas Gage, Joseph D. Reitman, Richard Lippert, Greg Grunberg, Kevin Smith, Lin Shaye, Martin Kove, Jesse Kove and Wil Wheaton. SYNOPSIS: A small town video game store clerk must go from zero to hero after […]
Cinema’s Groundbreakers – Jackie Chan’s Police Story
Continuing a series on groundbreaking cinema, Tom Jolliffe takes a look at Jackie Chan’s iconic Police Story… The Criterion Collection. It’s usually a selection of key films across classic era cinema, arthouse, indie and world cinema. Some might call the selections somewhat high brow. It’s unlikely for example, that you’d see The Avengers as part […]
Guilty Pleasures: A Vintage Adam Sandler Double Bill
Tom Jolliffe delves into two guilty pleasures with a double dose of classic era Adam Sandler… We’ve all got guilty pleasures. Whether it’s music, TV, or film, some things just bring with them a general air of derision (despite their awesomeness). I mean in music terms, why does Phil Collins get a bad rap, when […]
Seven Essential Films Scored By Tangerine Dream
Tom Jolliffe looks at seven essential films, and their music from Tangerine Dream… In recent cinematic history there has been a nostalgia loaded fascination with synth scores. The kind of music that was popular through the late 70’s and 80’s, would begin to find itself increasingly used in film. After all, a few solo artists […]
