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Frankenstein’s unfortunate monster was put together out of offcuts and so is director Maggie Gyllenhaal’s The Bride!, a furiously eclectic assemblage of body parts. Motivating breath, alas, is there none and so the film remains on the table, lifeless, a glorious mess of gorgeous odds and sods, twitching but refusing to draw breath. To summarise … Read more
Now considered a classic by the likes of Scorsese and Tarantino, Le Doulos got a harder ride when it came out in 1962. “Talkative and tiresome,” the New York Times called it. Maybe I caught it on a bad day, but I’m inclined to agree. When it comes to Jean-Pierre Melville, give me Le Samouraï, … Read more
Busy and strange, Japanese animation ChaO imagines a world where mermaids, mermen – merpeople? – commune regularly with humans, and where a lowly designer working for a shipping company becomes the romantic focus of attention of the daughter of the king of the sea. Make sure all your wits are primed when approaching this one, … Read more
1960’s Knights of the Teutonic Order is one of the most watched movies in Poland’s history. According to some sources, almost everyone in the country saw it when it was released and it remains popular to this day. What is it about this tale of proud Poles taking arms against an order of corrupt German … Read more
Acting when there’s something to do is relatively straightforward. But what about when there’s nothing to get hold of? Father Mother Sister Brother is full of empty space, and for whole stretches of time the characters in it don’t really know how to fill the silence. They babble. They fall silent. They pick up on … Read more
Branded to Kill is a crime thriller with so much style it’s absurd. Clearly aiming for the ridiculous it is deliberately style over content. Hashed out on the hoof by eight different writers who were clearly egging each other on, it’s a mad tumble of French New Wave crash edits and film noir poses, all … Read more
Shut-ins of the world unite, you have nothing to lose but your screens. Obex is an ingenious bit of no-fi sci-fi and if you like this sort of thing – I do – then you will be hugely entertained by Albert Birney’s film folding blocky 1980s visuals and parping ancient synths into an Albert in Wonderland … Read more
One of the Three Mesquiteers series of movies – there were 51 between 1936 and 1943 – Overland Stage Raiders is that strange thing, a cowboy movie set in the modern era. It opens with a gang of bad guys on horseback chasing a bus, shooting as they go. This seems like a foolish pastime, … Read more
Not to be confused with a 2024 French black comedy also with the title How to Make a Killing (in English at least), this is the one from 2026 starring Glen Powell that’s a remake of 1949’s Kind Hearts and Coronets. It is, you know, OK, demonstrating (yet again) how good those Ealing chaps were … Read more
Let’s hear it for Plod. With a bit of bad luck, a dangerous dame and a drop of hubris thrown in for good measure, that’s the idea behind Armored Car Robbery. Detail, detail, detail is the USP. The villains may be smart but the cops have something the bad guys don’t have – persistence. They … Read more
Because it’s a Christian Petzold film, Miroirs No. 3 is an exercise in watching with the head tilted to one side. How’s he going to do it this time? “It” being either a remake of a familiar film, done with plausible deniability (the classic being Jerichow, an oblique take on The Postman Always Rings Twice). … Read more
The Falcon Takes Over could be the answer to a Trivial Pursuit question. First appearance of a Raymond Chandler story on screen? – this is it, a version of his Farewell, My Lovely, which would get a bigger-budget workthrough two years later as Murder, My Sweet, with Dick Powell in the lead. Here, it’s 1942, … Read more
