Dorian Gray, 2009. Directed by Oliver Parker. Starring Ben Barnes and Colin Firth. SYNOPSIS: Think Peter Pan meets Dr Faustus – oh, and a painting – and a lot of maggots… Another devil and soul barter! Why is this absurd premise attractive and a plot of many stories? It’s set to feature in Terry Gilliam’s […]

Synedoche, New York, 2008. Written and Directed by Charlie Kaufman. Starring Philip Seymour Hoffman, Catherine Keener, Michelle Williams, Samantha Morton, Emily Watson, Jennifer Jason Leigh, Dianne Wiest, Tom Noonan and Hope Davis. SYNOPSIS: A theater director struggles with his work, and the women in his life, as he attempts to create a life-size replica of […]

Santosh Sandhu profiles the career of silver-screen legend John Wayne and examines the influence of World War II on his body of work… John Wayne (1907-1979) was the very embodiment of everything America would like to be. Jingoistic, brave, forthright and a fierce defender of the American way of life. After shooting to fame playing […]

Santosh Sandhu discusses the Indian Film Industry… With 1 billion people, India has the world’s second largest population. The majority are very religious and music plays a strong part in Indian culture. India has 15 languages which are mainly differentiated by dialect. Hindi is the most spoken language and is used in most mainstream movies. […]

Somers Town, 2008. Directed by Shane Meadows. Starring Thomas Turgoose and Piotr Jagiello. SYNOPSIS: Tomo (Thomas Turgoose) a homeless boy from the Midlands and Marek (Piotr Jagiello) a Polish immigrant come from completely different worlds. When they forge an unlikely friendship, they discover that despite their differences, they are very much alike. Somers Town is […]

Andy Pope discusses the representation of the skinhead sub-culture in Shane Meadows’ This Is England… Shane Meadows’ recent announcement that he is currently filming a sequel to his 2006 film This is England comes as no surprise to those of us who have watched with growing interest the amount of time British television and cinema […]

Dead Man’s Shoes, 2004. Directed by Shane Meadows. Starring Paddy Considine, Gary Stretch and Toby Kebbel. SYNOPSIS: Richard, an intense loner and former soldier, returns to his native Midlands village seeking vengeance against the small-time drug dealers who cruelly bullied his mentally disabled brother Anthony while he was away on duty. Richard’s determination to achieve […]

Psycho, 1960. Directed by Alfred Hitchcock. Starring Anthony Perkins, Janet Leigh, Vera Miles and John Gavin. SYNOPSIS: After embezzling $40,000 from her employer, Phoenix office-worker Marion Crane flees the monotony of her mundane existence with dreams of starting a new life in California with her boyfriend, Sam Loomis. As night begins to fall, an exhausted […]

The 400 Blows, 1959. Directed by François Truffaut. Starring Jean-Pierre Léaud. SYNOPSIS: The 400 Blows follows normal adolescent boy Antoine Doinel as he struggles to contend with all authority figures in his life, from schoolteachers to parents. As we are invited into this character study of Antoine it becomes increasingly clear that he is already […]

In tribute to the screenwriter and playwright Horton Foote, who died yesterday March 4th aged 92, a look at the film for which he received an Academy Award for Writing Adapted Screenplay… To Kill a Mockingbird, 1962. Directed by Robert Mulligan. Starring Gregory Peck, Mary Badham, Phillip Alford, Brock Peters. SYNOPSIS: A young girl growing […]