Stars At Noon (2022)

One thing I love about Claire Denis as a director is her relationship with the band Tindersticks – they score most of her movies. To the point that the two movies she directed in 2022 – Stars At Noon and Both Sides Of The Blade – both featured a similar moment in their trailers where […]

Radioactive Dreams (1985)

1980s VHS were a wasteland of ‘wasteland’ post-apocalyptic movies, particularly after the success of the Mad Max movies. Actors stumbling around desert locations, lonely roads and abandoned factories in countries near and far, standing in for the Year 3000 or whenever. Radioactive Dreams (1985) is a post-apocalyptic flick but straddling several other genres, namely film […]

Heartbreakers (1984)

With its Tangerine Dream synth-wave score and gliding Michael Ballhaus cinematography, Heartbreakers (1984) exudes considerable neon-noir energy. Yet the movie has nothing to do with the crime or thriller genre. Instead, all that neon and energy is just the palpable aesthetic for a drama about male friendships. The film’s title card frames the two men […]

Scarlet Street (1945)

When a movie is in the public domain and is available everywhere, I often think that makes people less likely to check it out, particularly when there are some shocking versions in poor quality or if its a black-and-white movie that’s been colourised. Scarlet Street (1945) is in the public domain and I was also […]

The Tingler (1959)

I grew up with a copy of the Cinemania 97 CD-ROM as a kid, which featured a John Waters commentary all about 1950s filmmaker William Castle who was a great influence on Waters and other filmmakers (including Joe Dante who made a fictional tribute to the guy in the John Goodman comedy, Matinee). A sort […]