The French Lieutenant's Woman is one of the dullest films I've ever seen, and that's saying something. Karel Reisz directs--Reisz was a decent director in the '70s, with The Gambler and Who'll Stop the Rain, but is probably best remembered in the UK for the '60s British kitchen-sink drama Saturday Night and Sunday Morning. This film is based on the novel … Continue reading The French Lieutenant’s Woman – Blu-Ray Review →

Magic is a atypical film amongst director Richard Attenborough's work, because it's essentially a psychological horror movie. Attenborough was better known as a director of prestige awards-friendly films like Gandhi, Chaplin and A Bridge Too Far, and he was a notable actor for years as well. It's based off a novel by William Goldman, who … Continue reading Magic (1978) – Blu-Ray Review →

The latest Hammer box set from Indicator should come with a warning: if your favourite Hammer movies are the horror/science fiction ones, this isn’t for you. This serves up a taste of the swashbuckling adventure movies they did. All four fit the mould of films rooted in England’s last gasp as a colonial power, with … Continue reading Hammer Volume Five: Death & Deceit – Blu-Ray Review →

This is the second volume of Buster Keaton features from Masters of Cinema, which also released a very comprehensive set of Keaton’s shorts a couple years ago. It’s a collection of films in which he was starred and directed, from the definitive period of his work in feature filmmaking. These were made in between the … Continue reading The Navigator / Seven Chances / Battling Butler – Blu-Ray Review →

This is a 1954 Vincent Price film in 3-D, made very quickly after House of Wax, the film that started the 3-D craze. Price was still a bankable star for major studios at this point, before his days of “slumming it” for Wiliam Castle and Roger Corman. Price is of course the Mad Magician of … Continue reading The Mad Magician – Blu-Ray Review →