BFI, retail Night and the City is the stand-out title here, a top-quality example of the genre with the unusual feature that the mean streets through which smalltime hustler Richard Widmark plies his trade are the still-familiar ones of postwar London. Like his lead character, Jules Dassin, whose direction is exhilarating, was on the run – from the McCarthy witchhunt in Hollywood. He’s best …
Anchor Bay, rental and retail Produced largely by the same team as the delightful Little Miss Sunshine, this is never as successful or as funny as that surprise hit, but does have the performances of Amy Adams and Emily Blunt to commend it. Not only are these strong and empathetic, but they are playing very much against type: the usually imperious Blunt is the family screw-up, while Adams, sunny …
Senior Sky Movies executive’s comments follow Ofcom’s warning not to overestimate VOD operators’ importance The UK pay-TV market for films has changed dramatically since Ofcom began its inquiry into BSkyB’s dominance of the sector in 2010, a senior Sky Movies executive has said. Simon Rexworthy, the Sky Movies controller of acquisitions and on demand, co-hosting a London event to publicise …
Articifial Eye, retail, cert U More of a starter than a main course, Mid-August Lunch has the following plot: a middle-aged Italian caring for his mother, has three other elderly women to look after for a couple of days.
Horror movies divide into several very different categories: slasher, zombie, vampire, mainstream horror, Asian horror and revolting Eli Roth films. Devotees of one category often have no interest in the others, a fact that is incomprehensible to snooty types who cavalierly make no distinctions. All of these subgenres rely on worthy, battle-tested cliches that appear again and again
In horror films, old dark houses have their place, but as hell is other people apartments are far spookier In Dream Home, the owners of the flat on which Josie Ho is about to exchange contracts suddenly jack the price up beyond her reach, so she goes on a killing spree in the apartment block. Who can blame her
If I can sit through the Saw movies or The Human Centipede without my pulse missing a beat, it just means the tipping points have shifted Back in 1976, when Taxi Driver first opened, I trotted off to see it with no idea what I was in for. Imagine that.
Struggling US video and DVD rental firm expects to emerge swiftly with help from investor Carl Icahn Blockbuster, the loss-making DVD rental chain, has filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in the US, after being hammered by online rental film services such as Netflix, and DVD mail order companies. But the company should swiftly re-emerge after a restructuring deal was agreed with creditors …
Doctor Who: Spearhead From Space | Robot & Frank | Arbitrage | Castle Freak | The Car Doctor Who: Spearhead From Space Jon Pertwee’s first outing as the Doctor – and the first time his adventures were shown in colour – is something of an oddity in the show’s long run. Due to industrial action in the BBC studios, this one was filmed largely on location and, unique for old Who, shot entirely on …
The prices plummeted this year, so Blu-ray players are likely to be under plenty of Christmas trees. Phelim O’Neill advises what to play on them BLOCKBUSTERS JJ Abrams’s rebooted Star Trek (Paramount) was not only the sole moment of unbridled fun in this year’s blockbuster season but the best, full bells and whistles Blu-ray issue, too.