Tom Jolliffe looks back at a couple of video era films about nefarious hitchhikers, The Nature of The Beast and Midnight Ride… ‘My mother told me never to do this.’ Words of wisdom foolishly ignored by Jim Halsey (C. Thomas Howell) in the 1986 Rutger Hauer classic, The Hitcher. Halsey picked up a hitchhiker and […]
2021 Sundance Film Festival Review – Mass
Mass, 2021. Written and directed by Fran Kranz. Starring Jason Isaacs, Ann Dowd, Martha Plimpton, and Reed Birney. SYNOPSIS: Years after a tragic shooting, the parents of both the victim and the perpetrator meet face-to-face. In the wake of any tragedy, those affected scramble to make some sense of what’s happened in order to move on […]
2021 Sundance Film Festival Review – Ailey
Ailey, 2021. Directed by Jamila Wignot. SYNOPSIS: A feature-length portrait of the life and work of dancer and choreographer Alvin Ailey. “Sometimes your name becomes bigger than yourself.” A single line from Ailey sums up the enigmatic figure at the center of this new documentary. That’s not to say the iconic dancer and choreographer wasn’t […]
2021 Sundance Film Festival Review – Marvelous and the Black Hole
Marvelous and the Black Hole, 2020. Written and directed by Kate Tsang. Starring Miya Cech, Rhea Perlman, Leonardo Nam, Kannon Omachi, Paulina Lule, and Keith Powell. SYNOPSIS: A teenage delinquent teams up with a surly children’s party magician to navigate her dysfunctional family and inner demons. As a coming-of-age comedy with a quirky title, Marvelous […]
Ethan Hawke reuniting with Sinister director Scott Derrickson on Blumhouse’s The Black Phone
Blumhouse has announced that Ethan Hawke is set to reunite with Sinister director Scott Derrickson on The Black Phone, the upcoming adaptation of the horror short story by Joe Hill. As per THR, The Black Phone follows a “kidnapped kid who finds himself in a soundproof basement surrounded by the remains of other victims. When […]
2021 Sundance Film Festival Review – Wild Indian
Wild Indian, 2021. Written and directed by Lyle Mitchell Corbine Jr. Starring Michael Greyeyes, Chaske Spencer, Jesse Eisenberg, Kate Bosworth, Phoenix Wilson, and Julian Gopal. SYNOPSIS: Two men learn to confront a traumatic secret they share involving the savage murder of a schoolmate. If the joy of film festivals often lies in witnessing the emergence of […]
2021 Sundance Film Festival Review – The Cursed
The Cursed, 2021. Directed by Sean Ellis. Starring Boyd Holbrook, Kelly Reilly, Alistair Petrie, Roxane Duran, and Áine Rose Daly. SYNOPSIS: In the French countryside during the 1800s, John McBride, a pathologist tasked with determining whether the body of a young boy found in the works was the work of man or beast. After the […]
Armie Hammer exits The Offer as fallout from ‘cannibal’ scandal continues
Having been set to sink his teeth into the role of producer Al Ruddy, Deadline is reporting that Armie Hammer has now exited The Offer, the upcoming Paramount+ series about the making of Francis Ford Coppola’s The Godfather, as the fallout from his recent controversy continues. Earlier this month, explicit social media messages said to […]
Muscle and the Best Roles of Craig Fairbrass
Most film fans know British actor Craig Fairbrass for a wide range of commanding roles, playing both violent anti-heroes and merciless villains in a successful career on the big and small screen. Not forgetting his memorable TV parts in the likes of Prime Suspect, Duck Patrol and Eastenders, we’ll focus on his film work here. […]
2021 Sundance Film Festival Review – Passing
Passing, 2021. Written and directed by Rebecca Hall. Starring Tessa Thompson, Ruth Negga, André Holland, Alexander Skarsgård, and Bill Camp. SYNOPSIS: Follows the unexpected reunion of two high school friends, whose renewed acquaintance ignites a mutual obsession that threatens both of their carefully constructed realities. Rebecca Hall makes a bold feature debut with this adaptation […]
