Buzzard (2014)

Heavy metal music blaring and a freak out over a busted Nintendo power glove, this is the first scene of dark indie comedy, Buzzard (2014), one of the several collaborations between Michigan based director Joel Potrykus and star Joshua Burge. I loved their last film together from 2018, the surreal Relaxer, and I was keen […]

Sullivan’s Travels (1941)

Another classic film watch based on crossing off the titles listed in Danny Peary’s Cult Movies 2, his selections that I had not seen. Sullivan’s Travels (1941) was always something I’d heard was good – directed and written by the screwball comedy master Preston Sturges (I’ve only seen The Lady Eve and that is one […]

Dead Pigeon On Beethoven Street (1972)

I always loved the use of Can’s ‘Vitamin C’ in Paul Thomas Anderson’s Inherent Vice, but you know who used it first in a private eye flick way back in the 1970s? Samuel Fuller did, shooting an episode of a German crime TV anthology in West Germany (called Tartot) and spinning that into his own […]

To Be Or Not To Be (1942)

A very influential book for me about movies growing up was Danny Peary’s Cult Movies 2, which I found a graffitied copy of in the school library. In it, Peary writes about fifty cult movies, the images of which I couldn’t forget from the book and led me to seeking out absolute favourites (The American […]

You, The Living (2007)

My first Roy Andersson movie was A Pigeon Sat On A Branch Reflecting On Existence, which I loved, though when I reflect upon it, I can think of certain moments and scenes but not the experience as a whole. Maybe that’s because of Andersson’s particular style, his movies consist of surreal, deadpan tableaus, one after […]