After spending years attempting, and ultimately deciding against – the making of a Holocaust movie, Kubrick stumbled into another dark corner of human history and found the Vietnam war, by adapting Gustav Hasford’s The Short-Timers into a movie. The result – 1987’s Full Metal Jacket – was Kubrick’s penultimate film, and it’s a strange film … Continue reading
Eyes Wide Shut received a lot of attention upon its release. Kubrick’s bizarre sex odyssey was separated from the rest of his filmography by a 12 year gap – the director hadn’t made a movie since Full Metal Jacket in 1987, and critics were keen to see what had brought the reclusive Kubrick out of hibernation. This focus was further … Continue reading
There have been many classic movies about the Vietnam war – The Deer Hunter, Platoon, Full Metal Jacket – but it is Francis Ford Coppola’s 1979 Apocalypse Now, the first of the Vietnam movies, which remains the definitive film of the era. It was the first American movie to deal with the war, made when … Continue reading
A Clockwork Orange has an infamous history. Anthony Burgess wrote the original novel back in 1962, over a three week period in order to beat a terminal brain-tumour which never quite lived up to it’s promise. The novel was unusual – a dystopian fiction detailing the life of a rapist and murderer and told in … Continue reading
Fight Club has an interesting backstory. Its author, Chuck Palahniuk, had previously written Invisible Monsters, which was deemed too disturbing by his publishers, who subsequently rejected it. Having something of a dark sense of humour, Palahniuk decided to write an even more disturbing novel, a novel which could never be published, and Fight Club was born. The idea came … Continue reading
Nicolas Winding Refn’s and Ryan Gosling’s previous collaboration, Drive, was a great critical success and has in the years since its release developed a vast cult following. The appeal of that movie hangs primarily on its mixing of genres, with Refn treating B-movie material with an A-movie focus and pushing style, atmosphere and emotion through fantastic, … Continue reading
Martin Scorsese remains one of cinema’s strongest filmmakers, best known for classics such as Goodfellas, Raging Bull, and Mean Streets, with Taxi Driver standing out as the high point of his career. Taxi Driver, directed by Scorsese but written by Paul Schrader, is a phenomenal movie, often found at the top end of greatest ever lists, and with good reason … Continue reading
The 90s were a remarkable time for movies – the rise of indie studios like Miramax, New Line and Lions Gate lead for a new cinematic wave, with numerous original, intelligent and very well made movies gracing the screen. The decade has a lot in common with the 70s – the pre-Star Wars years, before the … Continue reading
David Lynch is one of the world’s most unique filmmakers, crafting unusual, dream-like movies, heavy on symbolism and atmosphere. Mulholland Drive is perhaps his greatest movie, second only to Blue Velvet; it’s a tormented, erotic, neo-noir fantasy, and it’s fascinating to watch. The movie actually started life as a television show – ABC wanted another Twin Peaks, and commissioned Lynch … Continue reading
What sets Ang Lee apart from most modern directors is his versatility – over the past couple of decades, the man has worked across a number of different genres and delivered great results each time. From Austen adaptation Sense and Sensibility, to interesting comic-book failure Hulk, action-wuxia classic Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon and gay romantic drama in Brokeback Mountain, there’s … Continue reading
