Category: Films

I was at university when the 1990 “original” version of Total Recall came out in cinemas, with Arnold Schwarzenegger playing a somewhat unlikely worker who had dreams of being a spy. Unless, he was a spy anyway. Over the years, the film has become something a classic – albeit a camp classic. The fact that…

There’s no Matt Damon, and importantly, there’s no Paul Greengrass is this follow up to the Bourne series of films. That doesn’t mean that they’ve recast Jason Bourne with a new actor, but it seems that Treadstone was just one part of the evil plotting going on deep within American security services. So we’re introduced…

I wrote recently about my travails in trying to pre-book a 2D screening of Prometheus. Come the release, there have been more 2D screenings made available than were listed for pre-booking. So I ended up heading over to the Hackney Picturehouse – a journey made considerably more complicated by Greater Anglia using the Jubilee Weekend…

I’ve spent a while away from the cinema recently, but the “award season” means that I have to face my hatred of multiplexes and get out to see a few films. Although with the exception of one film, I saw these films in somewhat nicer confines of Curzon and BFI cinemas. I really liked The…

Before I went to see the new film version of the Le Carré classic, I first sat down and watched – for something like the fifth time – the 1979 Alec Guinness version. I’ve seen this at least five times over the years, and together with Smiley’s People, it makes Guinness the definitive George Smiley.…

As the ads and trailers finally came to an end, the BBFC slide appeared on screen: “La Piel Que Habito – The Skin I Live In.” “So is this film in Spanish?” asked the man behind me very loudly. I tried not to laugh out loud. “Yes,” said the lady I presume was his wife,…

Last weekend I watched the Monaco Grand Prix. I wasn’t really planning to, and was going to go out, but I got caught up in it. Although I find the constant rule change over refueling or not refuelling tiresome, and the introduction of DRS seems like using some kind of turbo-boost in a video game,…

I missed Monsters in the cinema. And more fool me. It’s now out on DVD and Bluray, and it’s superb. What director, writer, and visual effects producer Gareth Edwards has managed is wonderful. This is low budget film-making without looking low budget. Andrew Kalder (Scoot McNairy) is a press photographer who’s asked to find out…

I very much enjoyed Moon, Duncan Jones debut film from 2009. Source Code is his follow up and it’s great that he’s stuck to his guns and made another film in a very similar vein. Jake Gyllenhaal plays Captain Coller Stevens, a member of the military. He suddenly finds himself in another man’s body on…

Wake Wood is one of the new breed of Hammer horror films, this one getting a direct to DVD release (as many horror films seem to do). The film that Wake Wood seemingly bases itself on is The Wicker Man. In Ireland somewhere, there’s a community of people who have some slightly unusual beliefs. But…

I’ll be honest and admit that I’m not too up on Russian cinema. Although to be fair, there’s not a great deal that makes it to the UK. What we do get tend to be the more commercial films like Nightwatch and Daywatch alongside the odd fantasy title like Wolfhound. Then there’s the odd breakthrough…

I had plenty of opportunity to book theatre tickets for Frankenstein, even going so far as to look at seats. But for whatever foolish reason, I decided against it. The production was a hit, and all the tickets sold out. So last night it was off to the Odeon Kensington – the only cinema carrying…