Enemy, 2013.Directed by Denis Villeneuve. Starring Jake Gyllenhaal, Mélanie Laurent, Sarah Gadon and Isabella Rossellini.SYNOPSIS:A university lecturer seeks out his exact double after seeing him in a movie.Taking its cue from a José Saramago novel, Enemy is a film that further displays evidence of Denis Villeneuve’s extraordinary ability to tackle essential psychological and philosophical concepts […]
DVD Review – Amour Fou (2014)
Amour Fou, 2014.Written and Directed by Jessica Hausner. Starring Christian Friedel, Birte Schnoeink, Stephan Grossmann and Katharina Schuttler.SYNOPSIS:Berlin, the Romantic Era. Young poet Heinrich wishes to conquer the inevitability of death through love. After initially being refused to form a suicide pact with his cousin, he meets the young and impressionable romantic Henriette, the wife […]
Blu-ray Review – The Killers (1946)
The Killers, 1946.Directed by Robert Siodmak. Starring Burt Lancaster, Ava Gardner, Edmund O’Brien, Albert Dekker, Sam Levene and Jack Lamberto SYNOPSIS:A pair of hit-men carry out the murder of an unresisting victim. A partnership of insurance investigator and police detective try to establish the facts surrounding the crime.Taking a classic Ernest Hemingway short story and […]
Movie Review – The Grandmaster (2013)
The Grandmaster, 2013.Directed by Wong Kar Wai. Tony Leung, Ziyi Zhang, Chang Chen, Quinxiang Wang, Hye-Kyo Song, Shun Lao, Hoi Pang-Lo, Xiaofei Zhou and Benshan Zhao. SYNOPSIS:The poetically charged biographical story of Ip-Man, the martial arts expert and teacher , who went on to train Bruce Lee…Wong Kar Wai is a film-maker gifted with a […]
Blu-ray Review – The Girl Who Knew Too Much (1963)
The Girl Who Knew Too Much, 1963.Directed by Mario Bava. Starring Letícia Román, John Saxon, Gianni De Benedetto, Valentina Cortese, Titti Tomaino, Luigi Bonos and Robert Buchanan. SYNOPSIS: A young American witnesses a murder while visiting Rome and inadvertently stumbles upon a serial killer nicknamed the ABC murderer – and her name begins with a D! Part […]
Blu-ray Review – Stations of the Cross (2014)
Stations of the Cross (Kreuzweg), 2014.Directed by Dietrich Brüggemann. Starring Lea van Acken, Moritz Knapp, Lucie Aron, Florian Stetter, Anna Brüggemann and Franziska Weisz.SYNOPSIS:The fourteen-year-old Maria is part of an extreme Roman Catholic community. Devoted to the idea of becoming as like Jesus as possible, she prescribes herself a spiritual course of action that clashes with her everyday […]
Blu-ray Review – Rabid Dogs (1974)
Rabid Dogs (aka Cani arrabbiati), 1974.Directed by Mario Bava. Starring Ricardo Cucciolla, Lea Leander, Maurice Poli, George Eastman, Don Backy, Maria Fabbri and Erika Dario.SYNOPSIS:A ruthless Roman gang conducts a violent kidnapping and car-jacking after a botched robbery leaves death and destruction in their wake… Rabid Dogs, or Cani Arrabbiati in the original Italian, is a […]
Blu-ray Review – Six Gothic Tales
Robert W Monk reviews Six Gothic Tales, a Blu-ray collection of the Roger Corman directed and produced adaptations of the Edgar Allen Poe stories The Fall of the House of Usher, The Pit and the Pendulum, Tales of Terror, The Raven, The Haunted Palace, The Tomb of Ligeia, starring Vincent Price, Barbara Steele, Peter Lorre, […]
Movie Review – Sanctuary (2016)
Sanctuary, 2016.Directed by Len Collin. Starring Kieran Coppinger, Charlene Kelly, Robert Doherty, and Amy-Joyce Hastings.SYNOPSIS:Two people engage in a romantic tryst, despite the watchful and disapproving eyes of society and the legal system.Sophie (Charlene Kelly) and Larry (Kieran Coppinger) are two people in love in this funny and moving Irish comedy drama. Based on a stage play […]
Movie Review – The Third Murder (2017)
The Third Murder, 2017.Written and directed by Hirokazu Koreeda. Starring Masaharu Fukuyama, Kôji Yakusho, Suzu Hirose, Shinnosuke Mitsushima, Mikako Ichikawa, and Izumi Matsuoka.SYNOPSIS:A leading attorney takes on the defense of a murder-robbery suspect who was convicted for another murder 30 years ago. The chances of winning the case seem low – the client freely admits his guilt, despite facing the death […]
