The Hitch-Hiker (1953)

It’s all a matter of time. You hear about a film, you see it pop up (particularly if it’s in the public domain – so everywhere, public access TV, crappy DVDs, free on YouTube), and know that at some point you’ll eventually see it. The Hitch-Hiker (1953) was always beckoning on the side of the […]

Galveston (2018)

I’m an easy mark for a neo-noir thriller and Galveston (2018) intrigued me because it was directed by Melanie Laurent. Best known as Shosanna in Inglorious Basterds, Laurent has directed several films in France and this is her only English-language American film (so far), an adaptation of a novel by Nic Pizzolatto, the creator of […]

Darkman (1990)

There’s a scene in Darkman (1990) that had me pumping my fist in giddy delight. Liam Neeson plays Peyton Westlake, a dashing scientist who is trying to crack the code of developing synthetic skin for grafts, and whose experiments have been failing, the cells breaking apart. When the power goes out in Westlake’s home laboratory […]

Demonlover (2002)

demonlover (2002) is like later period William Gibson: it’s not about putting on the goggles and jacking into the cyberspace, but more about corporate espionage. I love French director Olivier Assayas in this mode – post-Irma Vep genre studies of women at work and under duress (see also: Boarding Gate and Personal Shopper) in a […]

Strange Days (1995)

Prowling through the dangerous streets of Los Angeles in the dead of night, sidewalks vibrating with people, partying, violence, confetti and smoke, Lenny Nero (Ralph Fiennes) changes the radio station of his BMW, bouncing across music styles and radio chatter – everything is played out and already been done. An ex-cop turned drug dealer, Nero’s […]