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The Bouncer (aka Lukas) (2018, France / Belgium) Review

K2

The Bouncer (aka Lukas) (2018, France / Belgium) Review

You know ’em, you love ’em; Jean-Claude Van Damme, Steven Seagal, Chuck Norris, Jackie Chan…all beloved martial arts action stars. Discovered in the 80s, all of them have had interesting and varied careers, with plenty of highs and lows. There have been the duds and there have been shining moments of celluloid (and silver screen) magic. If you’re a fan of cult classics, these names ring a special bell, one with a resounding gong. It’s interesting to note that they’ve all displayed their serious sides as well as their comedic chops…

“You do everything they tell you, eh? You’re their little doggie!”

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The Lighthouse (2019, Canada / USA) BFI London Film Festival 2019 Review

Ren Zelen

The Lighthouse (2019, Canada / USA) London Film Festival 2019 Review

There can be few things as psychologically damaging as being trapped in solitary confinement with someone you hate. For his follow-up to The Witch, Robert Eggers delivers a grim, hallucinatory story about two men shut up in a lighthouse tower, going slowly mad in their mutual loathing. Willem Dafoe and Robert Pattinson are Tom Wake and Ephraim Winslow – arriving to work for a month-long shift at a remote, rain-lashed lighthouse, somewhere off the coast of 19th century Maine. Wake is a veteran lighthouse keeper (wickie), as salty a sea dog as one might wish to meet…

“There is enchantment in the light.”

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Joker (2019, USA / Canada) Review

Peter Harper

Joker (2019, USA / Canada) Review

There’s a very poignant line given by a therapist to character Arthur Fleck in the movie Joker that basically sums up its overall message: “Nobody gives a fuck about people like you.” The character of the Joker has been featured on screen four times previously, but this is the biggest change in dynamics than ever seen before. So too is the environments those previous incarnations have played in. This time around there’s no mention of superheroes or capes. This is the most grounded, gritty and most realistic take on the character and the city of Gotham ever.

“Put on a happy face.”

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Frightmare (1983, USA) Review

Chris Barnes

Frightmare (1983, USA) Review

Conrad Radzoff is a horror icon passed his peak, consigned to resurrecting his celebrated cinematic vampire role for a tasteless advertisement for dentures. After he dies, a group of devotees break into his neon-lit, lavish mausoleum and, in a rather misguided attempt to celebrate the life of their idol, nick his body for a farewell shindig at their place – who wouldn’t?! Unfortunately for them, Radzoff was a dab hand at the ol’ black magic and rises from the dead, seeking payback on those who disturbed him.

“There was Bela Lugosi, Lon Chaney, and Conrad Ragzoff! They were all stars who lived and died. But only one returned…”

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Brick (2005, USA) Review

Ren Zelen

Brick (2005)

Rian Johnson is a director, writer and musician, but primarily one of the most unique, inventive and sometimes controversial, filmmakers currently active in both film and TV. In Brick, Johnson coaxed uniformly outstanding performances from a young cast, most obviously an assured and compelling turn from Joseph Gordon-Levitt, earmarking the young actor as one to be watched (a prediction that has since been eminently fulfilled). However, the movie’s most arresting strength is a script that reads almost like Shakespearean dialogue and sounds like music.

“A detective story.”

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Escape Plan 2 (2018, China / USA) Review

Ken Wynne

Escape Plan 2 (2018)

Five years after the nostalgia trip that was Escape Plan – a dream team of 80s action muscle; specifically Sylvester Stallone and Arnold Schwarzenegger – its sequel, imaginatively titled Escape Plan 2, replaces Schwarzenegger with former professional wrestler, Dave Bautista and Xiaoming Huang. Escape Plan 2 is a sequel that Stallone himself has called “beyond awful”, and yet I have to admit that I actually quite enjoyed watching it for the same reasons I enjoyed its predecessor: its excessive, over-the-top action; although this time there is a lot more martial artistry, courtesy of Xiaoming Huang.

“This isn’t a prison. It’s a machine.”

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Escape Plan (2013, USA) Review

Ken Wynne

Escape Plan (2013)

Directed by Mikael Håfström, and written by Miles Chapman and Jason Keller, Escape Plan is a prison break thriller starring Sylvester Stallone as Ray Breslin; a former criminal prosecutor turned prison security expert. As co-owner of Breslin-Clark, Breslin specialises in testing the reliability of maximum security prisons. The weaknesses that are uncovered by Breslin-Clark can then be eliminated. Straight away Escape Plan presents Ray Breslin as a sort of quagmire; a former prosecutor turned security expert AND businessman, with expert knowledge of structural engineering.

“No one breaks out alone.”

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Child’s Play (2019, USA) Review

Jon Britton

Child's Play (2019)

It’s been thirty-one years since the release of Tom Holland and Don Mancini’s original Child’s Play, the notorious slasher-horror-comedy hybrid with an avid cult following. After six sequels under the Child’s Play and Chucky titles, director Lars Klevberg and screenwriter Tyler Burton-Smith have delivered a complete re-imagining of the original, set in the modern day. The question that comes up is “is this necessary?”, a fair inquiry, as some may consider the franchise to be over-saturated. However, it’s important to say that I’ve never seen any of the previous films, including the 1988 original…

“More than a toy… he’s your best friend.”

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Species (1995, USA) Review

Ken Wynne

Species (1995)

I adored Species as a teenager, having persuaded my parents to rent it on VHS back in 1998/99. They trusted me with the horror genre, and I doubt they realised how sexually charged this genre flick actually was. Yeah, the VHS cover featured Natasha Henstridge in a state of seductive transformation – a extraterrestrial-human hybrid – but it also featured headshots of Forest Whitaker, Alfred Molina, Michael Madsen, and the Academy award-winning Ben Kingsley! How were they supposed to know that they had just rented their thirteen-year-old son smut!

“Be Intrigued. Be Seduced. Be Warned.”

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The Nightingale (2018, Australia) Sundance London 2019 Review

Jon Britton

The Nightingale (2018)

The Nightingale follows Clare, an Irish convict who is regularly abused by vile British officer Hawkins, eventually resulting in her husband and new-born infant being murdered in front of her while she is being gang raped in an excruciatingly long and graphic scene. When Hawkins abandons his post due to the drunkenness of his men and journeys up north to apply for another post, Clare sets out to exact her own revenge. She brings along a native guide named Billy, who she treats unfairly. Billy is the only character who prevents this film from being a period based I Spit on Your Grave…

“Her song will not be silenced.”

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Genre Movies That Changed Film-Making: The Matrix (1999) Re-Examined on its 20th Anniversary

Ren Zelen

Genre Movies That Changed Film-Making: The Matrix (1999) Re-Examined on its 20th Anniversary

It’s a truth universally acknowledged that The Matrix is a great science-fiction movie, but there is more to it than that. For its 20th anniversary I’m going to take a look at all the elements that made The Wachowski’s movie such a cinematic milestone and how it raised the bar for all subsequent genre movies. When The Matrix was released in 1999 it opened up new vistas of imagination in screen science-fiction – a domain of cyber existence that no film had yet explored. It was a sci-fi movie that changed the genre. It was, in fact, a movie that changed film-making in general.

The fight for the future begins.”

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A Nightmare on Elm Street (2010, USA) Review

Rik Jackson

A Nightmare on Elm Street (2010)

I don’t do New Year’s resolutions. However, I decided I’d take the opportunity to look back at some movies that didn’t particularly float my boat and see if I can find some good points in them. With the best intentions in mind, I picked the 2010 remake of A Nightmare on Elm Street as the first movie to give a second watch. I was aghast when I heard this movie was being made. But, I like to have an opinion about things so, I gave it a watch. On that first go I was just as disappointed as I expected to be. Let’s face it, the original film is a genre defining classic…

“Welcome to your new nightmare.”

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