Tag Archives: film review
Four Silent Shorts: Lot in Sodom (1933), L’Etoile De Mer (1928), The Life and Death of 9413: A Hollywood Extra (1928), Le Retour à la Raison (1923).
Something a bit different for today. After watching Häxan (1922), my passion for silent film has been rekindled. I’ve been watching a lot of short silent films, so I thought I’d post quick paragraph reviews for four that I’ve most recently watched.
Angels & Demons (2009): “Vatican City will be consumed by light.”
Consumed by light? More like consumed by trite… storylines. That’s right, I went there. Ron Howard’s Angels & Demons (2009) is the second film that follows the adventures of Robert Langdon (Tom Hanks), a professor of ‘symbology’ from Harvard University. In this film, Langdon is brought to the Vatican to solve a mysterious mystery that […]
Dogtooth (2009): Quick-shot review!
Dogtooth, or Kynodontas (2009), is a Greek language drama film directed by Yorgos Lanthimos. It focuses on a very strange family where the father and mother choose to keep their children ignorant of the outside world, even as they grow into adulthood. The father goes to great lengths to ensure that his children never learn […]
Häxan (1922): “Get thee behind me, Satan!”
Häxan, or, Witchcraft Through the Ages, is a Swedish/Danish silent film from 1922, directed by Benjamin Christensen. The film is structured into seven chapters of “moving pictures” – informing viewers about witchcraft and the occult through history and art, and through a variety of case studies. This is a beautiful silent film that is often […]
2013 in review…
Welcome to 2014 everyone! I hope you all had some amazing new year celebrations and that everyone has been recovering nicely. Today I’ve been reflecting on 2013 in film, and have chosen some favourites (and disappointments) of the past year, plus some sneaky television picks. 2013 had a lot of highs, but a bunch of […]
Pledge This! (2006): A zero star review.
“Hey, check this out. Everywhere I go, people totally lose it.” Thus begins the magnum opus that is National Lampoon’s Pledge This! (2006); a film so filled with sexism, racism, homophobia and general stupidity that I’m surprised it was even made in the first place. Paris Hilton plays ‘sorority princess of South Beach University’ Victoria […]
The Conjuring (2013): “There is something horrible happening in my house.”
Horror movie maestro James Wan’s The Conjuring (2013) is apparently based on true events. This film centres on a particular case study from the work of ‘demonologist’ couple Ed (Patrick Wilson) and Lorraine (Vera Farmiga) Warren, whose job it is to investigate and analyse paranormal phenomena. Ed and Lorraine are invited to inspect a house […]
Dead Snow (2009): Quick-shot review!
Combining two of the scariest concepts known to human civilisation (Nazism and zombies), Dead Snow (2009, dir. Tommy Wirkola) is a Norwegian horror film that isn’t afraid to poke fun at itself. A group of spirited young people travel to a cabin in the mountains in order to spend their holiday skiing in the beautiful […]
This Is England (2006): Quick-shot review!
Having since inspired two television sequels, This Is England (2006) focuses on the lives of a group of young skinheads in England in 1983. The divisive Margaret Thatcher is in power, and the Falklands War is fresh on everyone’s minds; especially that of Shaun (Thomas Turgoose). Shaun is 12, and gets picked on at school. […]
Spring Breakers (2012): “Act like you’re in a movie or something.”
Spriiiing Breeeaaakkkk fo’ everrrrrr. Spring Breakers (2012) is one of those films that pans out pretty differently to how you anticipate it, whilst simultaneously being a pretty standard ‘alternative crime’ thriller. Four college girls (Selena Gomez, Vanessa Hudgens, Ashley Benson, and Rachel Korine) really want to go to spring break in Florida, but being students, […]
FILM GRIMOIRE 