Flickering Myth

Geek Culture | Movies, TV, Comic Books & Video Games

Ten Essential Films of the 2010s

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Tom Jolliffe offers 10 essential films from the past decade… As a miserablist of impending middle age, I’ve often joked with friends my age (and perhaps with a demi-truth belief) that music died in 1994. On the subject of cinema, I’ve increasingly found in opining (the increasingly difficult task of selecting personal favourites, or creating […]

Are we at risk of Batman fatigue?

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Tom Jolliffe on whether an overabundance of the Dark Knight could lead to Batman fatigue… How many Batman’s does it take to change a lightbulb? No I’m not the Riddler, before you ask. So in case you’re behind the times, there is a new Batman film in the works. Production was well underway before being […]

The Definitive Thanksgiving Film: Planes, Trains and Automobiles

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Tom Jolliffe takes a look back at Planes, Trains and Automobiles, the definitive Thanksgiving film… Thanksgiving is upon our American cousins. Just in case any of you celebrating with a nicely bronzed Turkey are wondering about the definitive film accompaniment for such a day, then a Brit is here, with his monocle on, cup of […]

Babylon: A Dazzling Throwback to Classic Cinema?

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Tom Jolliffe looks ahead to Babylon, the star-studded upcoming film from Damien Chazelle, and wonders if it might be a movie like they used to make… When Martin Scorsese bemoaned an evolution in cinema that was leading to a dearth in the cinematic style of old, he caused something of an uproar. Increasingly, others have […]

1930’s-50’s: The Golden Age of Mystery Films

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Tom Jolliffe on why the 30’s to 50’s were a golden age for mystery films… Whether it’s a murder mystery, or a cat and mouse quest to uncover a mystery, the 1930’s, up until the end of the 1950’s saw a prolific output of mystery films. Across world cinema, from Britain, to Hollywood to Europe […]

Die Hard with Stallone, Seagal and Van Damme

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Tom Jolliffe ventures back to the 90’s, when three action icons made Die Hard riffs… It’s often said that the buff action specialists of the 80’s, who were larger than life and almost comically unstoppable were slowly pushed out of the forefront of the market by more every man heroes. Die Hard is often pinpointed […]

An Undeniable Action Classic: Road House

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Tom Jolliffe looks back at the glorious action gem Road House… To quote movie aficionado Gordy LaSure (aka Richard Ayoade) from his book The Grip of Film (excellent read I shall add); “In the opening shot of Rowdy Herrington’s 1989 magnum opus about the secret world of security guards, the camera frames a pair of […]

Cinema’s Groundbreakers – Akira Kurosawa’s Rashomon

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Continuing a look back at some of the most ground-breaking films in cinema, Tom Jolliffe takes a look at Rashomon… When looking back through the work of Akira Kurosawa, it would be difficult to pinpoint only one film as particularly ground-breaking. The truth his, through his early career in a post-war boom for Japanese cinema […]

The Defining Works of Takeshi Kitano

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Tom Jolliffe looks at the career defining works of legendary Japanese auteur Takeshi Kitano… Fans of Japanese cinema will no doubt be familiar with the iconic Takeshi name. Sometimes billed by nickname as Beat Takeshi, or more retrospectively now as Takeshi Kitano, this actor and comedian (most notable during the late 80’s for the oddball […]