There is a lot to be said for simplicity in a film. Sure, a complex, surprising plot is always the most rewarding in a film but sometimes a straightforward good versus bad punch up is just what you’re after. And if that is what you’re after then 13 Assassins may well be for you. This also helps if you’re not a fan of reading subtitles because you...

I’m a huge fan of the Chinese historical epic. Whether it is the fly about the sky on wires of Crouching Tiger or the more grounded Red Cliff, the size, style and colour of the cinema is always a treat, especially in Blu-Ray. So, I turned out all the lights, grabbed a bar of chocolate and sat down to watch Warlords with some degree of excitement. A sweeping war...

As I start this review, I know from the outset that I will almost certainly fail to convey what it is like to watch or, indeed, why you should watch it. I could fall back on something straight forward like “if you like Kaufman’s other work, you should watch this“. There is another lazy option which goes “if you haven’t seen any Kaufman,...

There are people who will say that I watch so many foreign films to appear cool. Well, I’ve got a beard, how much cooler do I need to be? No, I watch foreign films in a quest to find something different. I read Empire magazine every month in a quest to find Hollywood movies that are in any way interesting. I never find too many. I find a lot of style over...

Love or hate her voice, you can’t deny that Edith Piaf had quite a rollercoaster of a short life. Unlike many biopics, La Vie En Rose doesn’t have to struggle to find entertaining events to portray. So varied are they that you may be that they wouldn’t be out of place in a dramatic work of fiction. Whilst some biopics simply hope to trade on the...

It has taken me too long to see Micmacs. As a self-confessed Jeunet fanboy I should have seen this in the cinema but it passed me by. Glad I finally got round to getting the Blu-ray. Let’s run through the Jeunet checklist: Quirky characters and plot ✔ Great and varied cast ✔ Imagination in spades ✔ Looks beautiful ✔ Not Alien Resurrection ✔ Yellow...

It has blockbuster written all over it. Black and white, in German set just before the start of the First World War. Hand me the popcorn, I’m set. Although, being a Michael Haneke film it is about as far from Hollywood as you are likely to get. Despite being the second Blu-Ray review I’ve done of a Haneke film ( check out the Caché review here )...

I pre-ordered the A Serious Man Blu-Ray as soon as it was available. Having seen it in the cinema I was very keen to watch it again and, amazingly, it arrived two days before the announced release date. Being a big Coens fan, I’m never really going to have a bad word to say but unlike, say, Intolerable Cruelty or The Ladykillers, I only have the most excellent...

I saw this film a few years ago on DVD and, after seeing it listed on BBC Four this week, I went in search of a Blu-Ray version. Currently a snip at £8. The film itself is not the usual French style-fest, with a complex plot and a lot of action it more resembles a Hollywood movie in it’s style and delivery. Unsurprisingly, it looks like an remake is on the...

They don’t make them like this any more. Except, they do. Well, Woo does. Epic is perhaps slightly overused when it comes to films. You can’t argue if it is applied here. Everything is on a huge scale, not least the 293 minute running time across the two halves. Red Cliff is actually two films that were originally released 6 months apart. We’ll...