Films That Matter
Night Terrors
Unlike most other memorable Hammer horror movies, the 1964 mystery thriller Nightmare, directed by Freddie Francis (perhaps better known as the cinematographer of films like David Lynch’s The Elephant Man and Martin Scorsese’s Cape Fear) eliminates all of the monsters for an old fashioned quasi ghost story... the piece deserving to be remembered up there with those Hammer horror films centered on vampires, resurrected corpses, and lycanthropes. Shot in shadowy black and white, the story follows struggling seventeen year old Janet (Jennie Linden), who is currently away from home living at a finishing school for girls.
-
Star Pick with Doug MacLeod
Beating the BluesRockyMarch 28, 2017Recently, I was fortunate enough to sit down with blues legend Doug MacLeod. A one man show, the acoustic maestro does it all while on stage; not only does he sing, play the guitar and stomp, but he also throws out important life lessons, tells jokes, and regales his audience with engaging stories – making him just as much a philosopher (see him live to learn of his bucket theory), storyteller, motivational speaker and stand-up comedian (though as the blues man quite cleverly pointed out, he is actually a sit-down comic – as he performs while seated). The winner of countless awards for his craft, the last few years should provide you with a good idea of his pedigree: in 2013, he took home Male Blues Artist of the Year at the Blues Blast Music Awards. Then in 2014, MacLeod won both Acoustic Artist and Acoustic Album of the Year at the Blues Music Awards, once again claiming the top prize of Acoustic Artist of the Year in 2016. This year, he has been honored with a nomination for his most recent album "Doug MacLeod – Live in Europe" – which is up for Best Historical Album, while also looking for a third win in the Acoustic Artist category. He has released an impressive 24 albums over the past thirty plus years.
-
Not Your Everyday Mechanic
The MechanicMarch 5, 2017Alfred Hitchcock once said "if it’s a good movie, the sound could go off and the audience would still have a perfectly clear idea of what was going on". A perfect example of this is the first sixteen minutes of the 1972 action film The Mechanic. Directed by Michael Winner and starring Charles Bronson (the pair, who had made one film previously, would go on to make a total of six together), the plot follows an aging hit-man in Los Angeles. The opening sixteen minutes is a masterclass in patience, restraint and telling a visual story, without any dialogue. We watch as the man, named Arthur Bishop, intricately plans his next kill. No dialogue is needed to make this an effective scene, as it captures a tense atmosphere and places us in the mind set of our lead, as we now know that he has a deft touch at killing and is not to be messed with. It is a bold choice to open a movie and it is all the richer for it.
-
Star Pick with Hayley Atwell
Garden State of MindBeing ThereFebruary 14, 2017Perhaps more relevant today than it was when it was released, Hal Ashby’s 1979 feature film Being There, based on Jerzy Kosinski’s 1970 novel of the same name (he also wrote the screenplay), speaks to the fickleness of fame – how, by random happenstance, one can be projected into a position of power and ‘celebrity’. Some time back, I spoke to actress Hayley Atwell. A major player in the Marvel universe, she has starred as Peggy Carter in four films, including Captain America: The First Avenger and its 2014 sequel. This spawned the critically acclaimed series Agent Carter, which sadly got cancelled after two seasons. Currently starring on the ABC show Conviction, the British star has also appeared in excellent smaller movies like 2012's The Sweeney and 2008's The Duchess, as well as the entertaining mini-series The Pillars of the Earth. When I posed my favourite question to her (i.e. her favourite film), she had two prompt responses. Speaking of her love of Bette Davis, it is fitting that one of her top films was All About Eve, mostly due to the superb performance from the iconic actress. Secondly, she spoke of the above mentioned Being There. Stating that she loved the book, she originally knew nothing about there being a movie. When she finally saw it, like the novel, it stuck with her, including Peter Sellers’ amazing portrayal as the lead character, making it one of her all-time favourites.
-
Take the Long Way Home
LionFebruary 8, 2017A little ragamuffin – strong willed, feisty and wily, finds himself waking up on a bench at a train station with his older brother nowhere in sight. With his mother at home, he shouts for his missing brother, but nothing comes of it. He searches an abandoned train, only to fall asleep sometime in the night. When he wakes, the still empty train is moving. When it finally stops, he finds himself in Calcutta, nearly two thousand miles away from his hometown, not knowing the Bengali language or having anywhere to turn. It is this bizarre and unfortunate circumstance that is the genesis and heart of the story Lion, first time filmmaker Garth Davis’ moving drama. The young boy is Saroo (Sunny Pawar), his fatherly older brother is Guddu (Abhishek Bharate), and his caring impoverished mother is Kamla (Priyanka Bose). Though theirs is a tough life in a rural Indian town, filled with hardship and many struggles, love permeates their family.
-
Blood Simple. . . Anything But
Blood Simple.February 3, 2017With two feet firmly planted in the historic noir genre of the 1940s and 50s, Joel and Ethan Coen went about making their first feature film, Blood Simple.. Though it was not, by any means, that ‘simple’. Creating a trailer long before production (it has Bruce Campbell in it – who never appears in the final motion picture), strangely enough, it does not feel entirely compatible with their final product, but somewhat like a distant relation to the iconic cult horror classic Evil Dead. On the advice of Sam Raimi (director of the above mentioned movie – who helped advise the brothers), the Coen’s went door to door with a projector and their trailer, seeking out investors. Think of it as the original GoFundMe. In just over a year, they raised the needed capital and got to work on their film – which, in case you thought that I made a mistake up above, contains a period after ‘Simple.’. A striking neo-noir, the title comes from an old Dashiell Hammett novel, "Red Harvest", a term that highlights the muddled, jittery and anxious mindset of people who have had a protracted immersion in violent affairs.
-
Star Pick with Sally Kellerman
Rebel With a CauseViva Zapata!January 31, 2017There is a scene about a quarter of the way into Elia Kazan’s Viva Zapata! where our protagonist, Emiliano Zapata (Marlon Brando), has been arrested for attempting to save the life of a peasant who has been unlawfully arrested. Failing, a number of the impoverished, who witnessed the attempt, plead for Zapata to hide in one of their homes. Moving on, he is soon arrested, and the villagers clap with whatever they have in their reach; working tools, rocks or any other implements, as a way to show their support for the hero as he is ushered away. As the officers transport the man through the wilderness, people pour out of the mountainous forest – soon, droves are leading, following and walking beside the police procession. Eventually overwhelmed by the masses, they free the man, aware that they will never be able to manage the united crowd. It is this scene that perhaps best exemplifies the film. A heartfelt sequence, it shows that solidarity in the face of oppression, that boldly standing up for what is right, is a righteous, albeit difficult stance.
