Youth Of The Beast (1963)

Always great when a film from an older decade feels contemporary in its energy. Youth Of The Beast (1963; Yajū no seishun) is very snappy and vibrant, a Yazuka gangster movie about a mysterious stranger Joe (Joe Shishido – who I only discovered now had cheek implants to help his career and thus his very […]

Wheelman (2017)

If you couldn’t get enough of films about get away drivers, there’s a Netflix Original called Wheelman (2017) starring Frank Grillo. Even though it looks like Drive and feels like an 80s Michael Mann thing, it’s more like Locke in that you are stuck in a car, watching an actor negotiate over the phone while […]

Black Moon Rising (1986)

Black Moon Rising (1986) had a video cover that was always in my mind’s eye and even though it was scripted by one of my favourite directors, John Carpenter, took me a very long time to actually see what it was all about. Turns out that it’s a great Eighties super-car B-movie that has everything […]

The Hit (1984)

The Hit (1984) is an existential road movie directed by Stephen Frears and set in Spain. Starring John Hurt and a young Tim Roth as a pair of hitmen tasked with taking back a “grasser” played by the benevolent Terence Stamp. This is beautifully shot and continually tense yet imbued with a thoughtful tone. Recommended.

Band Of The Hand (1986)

Band Of The Hand (1986) is a Michael Mann produced action flick that I’d long heard about. Our heroes are five teen delinquents who are taken from juvie and thrown into the Miami swamps to learn self-value and survival skills through the tutelage of a Vietnam war vet named Joe (Stephen Lang from Don’t Breathe […]