The Drop (2014)

I don’t think Tom Hardy can ever play a normal guy – he’s one of those actors who always has to do something, some bit of business to make it interesting for him. On the surface, he seems to be playing an ordinary joe in The Drop (2014), a Noo Yawk neo-noir in the downbeat […]

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 […]

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 […]