Friday Night (2002)

I remember SBS programming Friday Night (2002; Vendredi soir) when I was younger and I was intrigued to see it even though, at the time, I didn’t have much awareness of who director Claire Denis was (or had to see Beau Travail at the very least). The sound of the plot – two people meeting […]

The Clockmaker Of St. Paul (1974)

When French director Bertrand Tavernier passed away recently, I was ashamed to say I’d not seen any of his movies. A number of them are on the Criterion Channel until the end of June, which gave me a timeline to at least see a few. I started with his first film, The Clockmaker Of St. […]

8 Million Ways To Die (1986)

I really wanted to see 8 Million Ways To Die (1986) because of the posters: it basically looked like a very Eighties neo-noir action thriller which is a sub-genre that I love. It was a commercial flop at the time and has a creaky reputation due to being the last film of director Hal Ashby […]

White Heat (1949)

Tracking down the titles that I haven’t seen from Danny Peary’s Cult Movies 2 book has included a lot of Hollywood classics like White Heat (1949) directed by Raoul Walsh and starring James Cagney, which was a critical and commercial success upon release. Nowadays, its known more for its a heavily referenced iconic closing line, […]

All-American Murder (1991)

“Any more surprises? Before I open the oven and find my Aunt Harriet?” I distinctly remember hearing that line from Christopher Walken’s character, detective Decker, in the video ads for All-American Murder (1991), a direct-to-video thriller that soon became a cult favourite to me for only one scene. That scene is when Walken’s character is […]