Like last year, I have tried to keep up with enough new releases to eventually have something say at the end of the year. And exactly like last year, I have virtually failed to see ten new releases that I’ve actually enjoyed. I quietly accepted once again that, with some notable exceptions, new digital films are not especially for me and require a huge crossover … Continue reading 2017 Review
New releases As often stated at the beginning of my end of year reviews, I’ve struggled to keep up with the year’s new releases. Every year, so much more new cinema is put out there for consideration that I doubt keeping track is financially viable or creatively of point; the huge shift in quantity, over the last five years especially, most definitely has not lead … Continue reading 2015 Top 10 (New Releases and First Time Viewings).
Forever a cinematic alchemist – a sage that conjured and devoured celluloid before the eventual ritualistic sacrifice- Derek Jarman is the perfect suitor to Shakespeare’s The Tempest (1979); a play whose heart is bathed in the tragedy and power of magic. Of course Jarman isn’t the only person from the Brit-pack of avant-garde directors to remould the work but his is the most natural. Peter … Continue reading Alchemical Magic in Derek Jarman’s The Tempest (1979).
Director Digby Rumsey sees his BFI DVD debut this month on the Flipside release of Leslie Megahey’s Schalcken the Painter. Rumsey is a traditional BFI director, coming from the same ranks as Terence Davies, Bill Douglas and Peter Greenaway. His work in Gothic short films, especially adaptations of work by Lord Dunsany, places him firmly in the British Gothic traditions of directors such as Jonathan … Continue reading Interview With Digby Rumsey (BFI Flipside, The Pledge).
Celluloid Wicker Man 