Solaris (1972)

Some nights in movie-watching, I strive for a double feature or heck, even a triple feature. Other nights, you’ve gotta give that entire evening to a three hour epic arthouse classic and so it was that I finally sat down with Andrei Tarkovsky’s Solaris (1972). I liked the Soderbergh version (love the Cliff Martinez soundtrack) […]

The King Of Marvin Gardens (1972)

The post Easy Rider era of 1970s American cinema was a mythologised time when major studios produced depressing dramas about losers (though mainly white male losers). Fitting right into that sub-genre is The King Of Marvin Gardens (1972), which was director Bob Rafelson reuniting with Jack Nicholson after the success of Five Easy Pieces; I’d […]

Ace In The Hole (1951)

While it might seem quaint in comparison to today’s media landscape, Billy Wilder’s Ace In The Hole (1951; aka The Big Carnival) still bristles with cynicism. Kirk Douglas sinks his teeth (and chin cleft) into the role of Chuck Tatum, an alcoholic journalist stuck working in a small town newspaper in Albuquerque. When sent on […]

The Brood (1979)

After hearing Edgar Wright talk on a podcast about how disturbing the school teacher scene was in David Cronenberg’s The Brood (1979), I was compelled to finally watch it, which you can too if you have access to SBS OnDemand (along with another Cronenberg classic, Scanners). Fuelled by Cronenberg’s own divorce at the time, this […]

Set It Off (1996)

Going through a run of watching classic heist movies and figured it was time to Set It Off (1996). Following a quartet of friends in Los Angeles – all working as janitors with little income and different problems – they decide to rob banks to get out of their collective situation. What surprised me a […]