First Reformed (2018)

Paul Schrader has been in the direct-to-video weeds for a few movies with mixed results (I disliked The Canyons but quite enjoyed the gonzo-noir of Dog Eat Dog). Even though critics praised First Reformed (2018) as a return to form, there was no cinema release for West Australian audiences – Schrader was still direct-to-digital; it’s […]

Girlfriends (1978)

Girlfriends (1978) is a buried treasure of independent cinema whose influence was touted awhile back by Lena Dunham (who held a revival screening and hired director Claudia Weill to helm an episode of Girls). It also feels like the inspiration to filmmakers like Nicole Holofcener, Noah Baumbach and Greta Gerwig, etc as it is about […]

Performance (1970)

Continuing to backtrack through the work of director Nicolas Roeg, and I didn’t realise he co-directed Performance (1970) with its writer Donald Cammell. First, I was surprised to see the typically urbane and upper crust James Fox convincingly play a cockney gangster, a real sadistic rotter who gets into a bit of sticky bother with […]

The Friends Of Eddie Coyle (1973)

I remember the first time I watched The Friends Of Eddie Coyle (1973), I taped it off TV after hearing it talked up in a few movie books my Mum owned. I think I was a bit young because I felt underwhelmed – it wasn’t as epic as The Godfather or had amazing stunt work […]

The King Of Marvin Gardens (1972)

The post Easy Rider era of 1970s American cinema was a mythologised time when major studios produced depressing dramas about losers (though mainly white male losers). Fitting right into that sub-genre is The King Of Marvin Gardens (1972), which was director Bob Rafelson reuniting with Jack Nicholson after the success of Five Easy Pieces; I’d […]