Breaking News (2004)

Director Johnnie To and his Milky Way production company set themselves a challenge with Breaking News (2004): How to restage the street shoot-out from Heat but introduce it with an unbroken seven minute shot? Opening with a showdown conveyed in that one-shot take between a heist crew (led by Richie Jen) and a squad of […]

House Of Tolerance (2011)

Languid exhaustion. Service workers at the Eyes Wide Shut orgy. Punching the clock in a 19th century bordello to pay off never-ending debts. Even the madam taking the money has to deal with rental negotiations. Sadness flows as the rot continues to set in. Well-dressed men acting the part of dilettantes, patrons and artists, using […]

Foxfur (2012)

Foxfur (2012) won me over by its title credit sequence using Tangerine Dream’s ‘Crystal Voice’ from the original Firestarter film soundtrack, trippy synth ambience over an image of outer space. This is the first film of cult director Damon Packard’s that I’ve now seen, and knowing that it was one hour long and available for […]

X: The Man With The X-Ray Eyes (1963)

You’ve gotta respect a medical scientist who lights a cigarette with a bunson burner. I remember one of my mother’s old film books featuring a black-and-white still from X: The Man With The X-Ray Eyes (1963) depicting Don Rickles pulling at Ray Milland’s arm – Milland wearing dark shades – and Rickles bearing a big smile. […]

Johnny Mnemonic (1995)

Screened at Luna Cinemas Leederville as part of the Trash Classics season programmed by VHS Tracking.“The dolphin will take you to the data.” I remember seeing Johnny Mnemonic when it first came out. I was a kid and thought any movie that I saw at the Greater Union cinemas in the Westfield shopping mall was a good movie. […]