★★★★★ Cult American director John Carpenter's seminal 1978 slasher Halloween receives a timely 35th Anniversary rerelease this week in advance of its holiday namesake. Society has a penchant for masochism and craves that fear once in a while, and yet very rarely in recent years has a movie delivered anything close to that. It's with no thanks to the spew of contemporary horror that the genre still has a legacy; a legacy born out of the influence of Italian giallo directors like Dario Argento and Lucio Fulci, Hammer Horror and the visionary work of the "Master of Suspense" himself - the one and only Alfred Hitchcock.
The groundbreaking genre cinema of those who went before them was thus masterfully adopted for American audiences by the likes of Carpenter, Wes Craven and Tobe Hooper, who between them turned horror cinema into something that was far less an intangible hellish world and much more a torrid,...
The groundbreaking genre cinema of those who went before them was thus masterfully adopted for American audiences by the likes of Carpenter, Wes Craven and Tobe Hooper, who between them turned horror cinema into something that was far less an intangible hellish world and much more a torrid,...
- 10/22/2013
- by CineVue UK
- CineVue
After sampling Us writer, filmmaker and producer Nicholas Jarecki's thrilling narrative debut, Arbitrage (2012), featuring the acting talents of Richard Gere, Susan Sarandon, Brit Marling and Tim Roth, CineVue's Russell Cook had some questions for the man behind the lens (and pen, in this instance). Despite the film's serious tone concerning the global economic crisis, family betrayal and criminal deception, it turned out that Jarecki's also quite the character - making our questions about his steering of the directorial ship all the more colourful. We caught up with the inimitable Jarecki to discuss his first foray into fiction, working with legendary Hollywood stars Gere and Sarandon, and his next film, entitled Fuel.
Russell Cook: Do you have any fond memories from the making of this movie, seeing as this was your first full feature?
Nicholas Jarecki: The rehearsals actually. Richard would come over to my place everyday and...
Russell Cook: Do you have any fond memories from the making of this movie, seeing as this was your first full feature?
Nicholas Jarecki: The rehearsals actually. Richard would come over to my place everyday and...
- 7/15/2013
- by CineVue UK
- CineVue
★★☆☆☆ Spandeux Ballet star Martin Kemp's debut feature Stalker (2010) (not to be confused with the 1979 Andrey Tarkovskiy film of the same name) struggles to hide the inexperience of its director, yet his psychological thriller also demonstrates an understanding of his chosen genre by frequently doffing it's hat to Hammer horror and trademark Hitchcockian camera angles and shots selections.
Kemp's Stalker is touted as a thriller in the tradition of Single White Female (1992) and Misery (1990), and tells the tale of famous novelist Paula (Anna Brecon) struggling with writers-block, who retreats to the country to work on her new book having been menaced by a dark figure from her past. With a relatively familiar cast that includes Colin Salmon, Jane March and, most recognisably, Billy Murray, Stalker is an all-British affair that manages to at least retain audience interest until its conclusion, regardless of its predictable premise.
Shot in Suffolk on a meagre budget,...
Kemp's Stalker is touted as a thriller in the tradition of Single White Female (1992) and Misery (1990), and tells the tale of famous novelist Paula (Anna Brecon) struggling with writers-block, who retreats to the country to work on her new book having been menaced by a dark figure from her past. With a relatively familiar cast that includes Colin Salmon, Jane March and, most recognisably, Billy Murray, Stalker is an all-British affair that manages to at least retain audience interest until its conclusion, regardless of its predictable premise.
Shot in Suffolk on a meagre budget,...
- 10/19/2011
- by Daniel Green
- CineVue
The route from movie hero to Governor of California appears to be a seamless one. If you've the character and moral integrity of Detective John Kimble (Kindergarten Cop [1990]) and the paternalistic qualities of Howard Langston (Jingle All the Way [1996]), then the path from movie stardom to high profile politician seems almost inevitable.
If all of those qualities weren't enough, then let us not forget that Mr Arnold Schwarzenegger has also been The Terminator, Conan the Barbarian/Destroyer and single handedly fought off a Predator - this is a man who gets things done! If I lived in "Cali-forn-i-a", the former Governator would have gotten my vote. That’s why I could not refuse the offer of a trip to Dalston's Alibi Film Club to check out a screening of the sci-fi/action classic Total Recall (1990), featuring the man mountain himself.
Tipped as “London’s coolest weekly Film Club” by Time Out London,...
If all of those qualities weren't enough, then let us not forget that Mr Arnold Schwarzenegger has also been The Terminator, Conan the Barbarian/Destroyer and single handedly fought off a Predator - this is a man who gets things done! If I lived in "Cali-forn-i-a", the former Governator would have gotten my vote. That’s why I could not refuse the offer of a trip to Dalston's Alibi Film Club to check out a screening of the sci-fi/action classic Total Recall (1990), featuring the man mountain himself.
Tipped as “London’s coolest weekly Film Club” by Time Out London,...
- 3/3/2011
- by Daniel Green
- CineVue
In My Kidnapper (2010), three members of a group of eight backpackers who spent 102 days in captivity after being kidnapped in Columbia in 2003 return to the country to confront the men and women who detained them, in an attempt to finally put the most distressing experience of their lives behind them. The film plays out as an anthropological analysis of the effects of being kidnapped, and how this event has irrevocably changed the lives of those involved.
The film's main focus lies on one member of the kidnapped group, Mark Henderson (who also directs), and immediately we are invited into his mindset as he describes how hard it is to be going back there, and how the presence of a Colombian Army escort only makes matters worse.
The personal tone expressed by the opening sequence is present throughout My Kidnapper, and as we closely follow Mark’s journey it resonates profoundly...
The film's main focus lies on one member of the kidnapped group, Mark Henderson (who also directs), and immediately we are invited into his mindset as he describes how hard it is to be going back there, and how the presence of a Colombian Army escort only makes matters worse.
The personal tone expressed by the opening sequence is present throughout My Kidnapper, and as we closely follow Mark’s journey it resonates profoundly...
- 2/15/2011
- by Daniel Green
- CineVue
With its release in 1969, Henry Hathaway's original adaptation of Charles Portis' True Grit breathed new life into a tiring Western genre. The Spaghetti Westerns of Sergio Leone had stolen the interest of a culturally evolving American audience, one whose values were transforming in relation to the major changes happening in the world of pop culture, and the changing social norms. The classic Western had become dated and it was in desperate need of a great story with some real edge.
True Grit provided both, with the iconic John Wayne at its helm as the cantankerous U.S. Marshall Rooster Cogburn. Cogburn is the drunken, uncouth, and totally fearless one-eyed law man hired by the headstrong, 14 year old Mattie Ross (Kim Darby) to find the man who murdered her father. The old gunslinger learns quickly that his new employer means business when she insists on accompanying him to avenge her father’s death.
True Grit provided both, with the iconic John Wayne at its helm as the cantankerous U.S. Marshall Rooster Cogburn. Cogburn is the drunken, uncouth, and totally fearless one-eyed law man hired by the headstrong, 14 year old Mattie Ross (Kim Darby) to find the man who murdered her father. The old gunslinger learns quickly that his new employer means business when she insists on accompanying him to avenge her father’s death.
- 2/8/2011
- by Daniel Green
- CineVue
From start to finish, Bryan Forbes' Deadfall (1968) glimmers with the gloss of a 1960’s classic heist thriller, very much in the vein of Ocean's Eleven (1960) or Topkapi (1964), and presents itself as a truly attractive film with its easy-on-the-eye cast, wonderful cinematography, and classical camera work.
During a stay at a sanatorium for recovering alcoholics, cat burglar and proffesional conman Henry Stuart Clarke (Michael Caine) is approached by a mysterious and beautiful woman, Fe (Giovanna Ralli), who has a business proposition for him; her husband Richard (Eric Portman), is planning the most ingenious of robberies, and with Clarke’s ability as a thief it seems they cannot fail. Inevitably a love triangle ensues, but not in the most traditional of senses; Fe doesn’t love Richard in the same way a married woman is “supposed” to love her husband, and as the love between Fe and Clarke begins to grow,...
During a stay at a sanatorium for recovering alcoholics, cat burglar and proffesional conman Henry Stuart Clarke (Michael Caine) is approached by a mysterious and beautiful woman, Fe (Giovanna Ralli), who has a business proposition for him; her husband Richard (Eric Portman), is planning the most ingenious of robberies, and with Clarke’s ability as a thief it seems they cannot fail. Inevitably a love triangle ensues, but not in the most traditional of senses; Fe doesn’t love Richard in the same way a married woman is “supposed” to love her husband, and as the love between Fe and Clarke begins to grow,...
- 2/1/2011
- by Cine-Vue
- CineVue
Black Swan (2010) is a work of chilling beauty. Its excellent cinematography, dance, and music - all accompanied by the performance of an exciting cast - makes it a delicacy for the eyes and ears. But much like any other Darren Aronofsky film, it requires some unravelling and consideration.
Black Swan has a narrative that works on a number of levels. Firstly it is about Nina (Natalie Portman), an aspiring young ballet dancer and the desire that she has to perform the role of the ‘Swan Queen’ in the Tchaikovsky ballet Swan Lake, but as she fights for the part the narrative becomes more intricate. Her innocent and sweet demeanour give her the qualities required to perform the ‘White Swan’ aspect of the character, but to perform the role of the 'Black Swan' to full affect she must embrace a much darker side of her personality.
Embracing such inner...
Black Swan has a narrative that works on a number of levels. Firstly it is about Nina (Natalie Portman), an aspiring young ballet dancer and the desire that she has to perform the role of the ‘Swan Queen’ in the Tchaikovsky ballet Swan Lake, but as she fights for the part the narrative becomes more intricate. Her innocent and sweet demeanour give her the qualities required to perform the ‘White Swan’ aspect of the character, but to perform the role of the 'Black Swan' to full affect she must embrace a much darker side of her personality.
Embracing such inner...
- 1/21/2011
- by Daniel Green
- CineVue
On Tuesday night at London’s Empire Cinema in Leicester Square, Sky treated the film press to a two episode taster of Boardwalk Empire, the latest endeavour from The Sopranos' writer Terence Winter. The new show is also set to be the headline act at the launch of Sky's new channel, Sky Atlantic, on Tuesday 1 February. Heralding itself as the new “Home of HBO”, Sky Atlantic has a lot to live up too, but with Martin Scorsese in the director's seat for Boardwalk's pilot episode - and complemented by a fantastic, A-list cast - it really would have to go out of its way not to succeed.
Set in Atlantic City in the midst of the "Roaring Twenties" - and, crucially, at the introduction of Prohibition - Boardwalk Empire features the acting talents of Steve Buscemi (The Big Lebowski [1998]), Michael Pitt (Last Days [2005]), the superb Michael Shannon (My Son,...
Set in Atlantic City in the midst of the "Roaring Twenties" - and, crucially, at the introduction of Prohibition - Boardwalk Empire features the acting talents of Steve Buscemi (The Big Lebowski [1998]), Michael Pitt (Last Days [2005]), the superb Michael Shannon (My Son,...
- 1/20/2011
- by Cine-Vue
- CineVue
The King's Speech (2010) delves deep into the relationship between two men - one a common man and the other a royal - by exploring the romance of true friendship and asks us to invest ourselves emotionally in such a relationship. The film traces the turbulent and painful accession to the throne of King George VI (Colin Firth) or "Bertie" as his speech therapist Lionel Logue (Geoffrey Rush) so fondly referred to him, and reveals the difficult decisions and moments he faced on that journey.
We are introduced to Bertie as he gives a nervous, stammer filled speech at Wembley stadium. on behalf of his father King George V, at the closing of the British Empire Exhibition on October the 31st, 1925. After trying to cure his stammer through a number of ridiculous methods, his wife Elizabeth (Helena Bonham Carter) introduces him to Logue, a speech therapist known for producing great results.
We are introduced to Bertie as he gives a nervous, stammer filled speech at Wembley stadium. on behalf of his father King George V, at the closing of the British Empire Exhibition on October the 31st, 1925. After trying to cure his stammer through a number of ridiculous methods, his wife Elizabeth (Helena Bonham Carter) introduces him to Logue, a speech therapist known for producing great results.
- 1/12/2011
- by Cine-Vue
- CineVue
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