All User Reviews

Made to celebrate the centenary of the Director’s Guild of America, this rather expertly edits together hundreds of short extracts from just about every significant film made in the English language during the twentieth century (so far). Just about everything from “Amadeus” to “Star Wars” and everyone of note who ever set foot on a sound stage is included. Aside from just watching this parade of stars whizz past our eyes, our ears have an opportunity to take in some of the scores and soundtracks that so often prove way more memorable than their films, and with many a genre getting a few minute…

> The lily means... The lily means, "I dare you to love me." Ageless classic lesbian romcom. We haven't had anything quite as sweet as this since, really. Singlehandedly spurred the lesbian florist stereotype. It's so nice being able to just go always back to a movie that simply focuses on the love between people and doesn't place the adversity in lesbianism itself, in coming out or homophobia or tragedy.…

I did really quite enjoy this and Gerry Mulligan’s Herb Alpert style of accompaniment, but it has nothing whatsoever to do with a snowman and instead features an executive gent (Bob Larkin) who seems content to live his life from a cast iron bathtub, in a room with no walls, somewhere off the coast of Manhattan. From what I could gather, he starts his day having a bath (fully clothed) then does some work before a cocktail with a toilet-paper mummified, martini-swilling, lady seems to scare him off. One minute he is hot, then cold, then dry then wet, then swimming before he even manages to get …

If you’ve heard The Charlie Daniels Band’s “Devil Went Down to Georgia” then you will be familiar with the plot. A none-too-perfect man and accomplished trumpeter “Jimmy” (Garland Thompson) is challenged to a contest by the devil himself (Donald Elson). Of course, nobody expects that “Jimmy” has a snowball’s chance in his foe’s fiery dominion, but in this smoky joint he accepts the wager - so let battle commence. The narration is delivered poetically, and some of that rhyming mixes menace, fantasy and even optimism quite powerfully as the jazz underscore sets up our duel. The whole production …

This film does pretty much what it says on the can, but it’s Stanley Jackson’s informatively light-hearted commentary that gives this a bit of an edge as we take an aerial travelogue across some of Canada’s almost 10 millions of square kilometres. It shows off the grandeur of a nation so vast it has just about every form of terrain save for jungle, and an huge variety of wildlife strewn across the place. It’s folks have a quirkiness to them, too, and the understated humour from the commentary reminds us of the country’s ability to self-deprecate even when celebrating it’s more significant indu…

I honestly had some high expectations going into this movie. I've grown up around FNAF theory and gaming for a long long time, and was really looking forward to all the lore-building and expansion in this movie. While I do understand that this movie takes a completely different continuity plotline to differentiate itself from the canon games, I feel like this movie tried doing too much with too little. The animatronics seemed boring and uninteresting, the dynamics of fights seemed sooo scripted I barely paid attention, and the overall pacing of everything seemed like it wasn't just right. Ever…

When a young woman stumbles upon some animations that resemble her own selfies on the web, she tries to establish their source and their meaning. With some of the imagery quite surreal, painful looking and disturbing she begins to wonder if these are as random as she initially thought, or might they even be portentous - in a Voldemort style? I found the striking drawings often quite unnerving, especially the flies and the heavily-lined facial features and the rapid-fire scenarios ask some fairly serious questions that invite responses both considered and comical, too. It’s also quite an intere…

Did you ever watch any of those 1960s American sci-fi films set in desert terrain where the female characters were always over-dressed? Well this starts off with two “VISTA” gals heading turning up to chop wood dressed in twin-set and heels. It’s that hilarious scene that rather sets the tone for this pretty condescending look at how some of the country’s poverty stricken minorities can be helped with a bit of goodwill and some cooking lessons. A sense of irony isn’t wasted as they head to help a Navajo community that would have been successfully self-sufficient until the white man invaded the…

Maybe it was the dimly lit style of photography or perhaps the elderly, bescarfed, ballet coach who could readily have been called “Madame Suzatska”, but I thought that this had the look of a communist-era Eastern European documentary to it as we follow the teenage Sonia Petrovna as she starts on her journey to physical maturity. It uses ballet lessons and some beautiful Chopin, amongst others, to illustrate the tensions of growing up, of passing and failing, of striving and of making choices that might last a lifetime all whilst unsure whether she preferred to just browse the department store…

This is a very dry docu-drama depicting the troubles of the young “Johnny” (Robert Viharo) who grew up orphaned, in the system, became a petty thief then a burglar then a prisoner. Facing a stretch of 3-10 years for burglary, a lot rests on his parole hearing but by this point it’s pretty clear that this man has little motivation. What’s obvious here are the shortcomings of the criminal prosecution processes in the USA. In many cases it’s a postcode lottery regarding how long you are on remand, the facilities provided when you are, the quality of the lawyer provided to defend you and finally t…