TCMFF 2021: Humphrey Bogart and Jimmy Stewart in early Anti-Fascist Works
Black Legion (1937) and The Mortal Storm (1940) It is always fascinating and astonishing to look at works of art that come out of war time or political turmoil while the events are still ongoing. If you look at the war films made during World War…
INTERVIEW: ‘What Lies West’ Writer & Director Jessica Ellis
[This interview originally featured in Issue #1 of our magazine which celebrated directorial debuts] Jessica Ellis is a writer based in Los Angeles, mainly working with her writing partner Nick Sinnott. What Lies West is her feature film debut, a personal story based where she…
TV REVIEW: Shrill Season 3 (2021)
Shrill felt like it was a groundbreaking show when its first season launched in March 2019, with the Fat Babe Pool Party in particular, causing a stir on social media. The talk surrounding season two was much more muted and there hasn’t been much hype…
It’s Called Fashion, Look it Up!
As today is the first Monday in May, we should be enjoying the red carpet photographs from the Met Gala, one of the biggest fashion events of the year. Unfortunately last year’s event, which had one of the most exciting sounding concepts in years –…
REVIEW: Things Heard & Seen (2021)
As soon as there is a whiff of a period Gothic-inspired horror on the horizon, I’m gonna come running straight toward that haunted house, instead of away from it. So, you could say that I’m the target audience for Netflix’s latest, Things Heard & Seen,…
How We Made True History of the Kelly Gang
After premiering at Toronto International Film Festival in September 2019 and moving onto Glasgow Film Festival in February 2020, True History of the Kelly Gang was finally released in the US on April 24, 2020 (exactly a year ago). Unfortunately this release was on VOD…
REVIEW: Boys From County Hell (2021)
British and Irish genre comedies are going to be under the shadow of Edgar Wright’s seminal rom-zom-com Shaun of the Dead (2004) for some time to come, even though we’re approaching that film’s *cough* twentieth anniversary (I’m sorry). Joe Cornish’s less well-known Attack the Block…
TV REVIEW: Shadow and Bone (2021)
Leigh Bardugo’s beloved Grishaverse series, which started with the Shadow and Bone Trilogy (published 2012-2014) and continued with the paired books Six of Crows (2015)/Crooked Kingdom (2016) and King of Scars (2019)/Rule of Wolves (2021) has now been adapted into a big-budget Netflix show, hoping…
REVIEW: Monday (2021)
Modern romantic dramas are few and far between, so I tend to lap each one up like John Mills drinking the beer at the end of Ice Cold in Alex. I prefer romantic dramas to rom-coms, but we don’t get many and those we do get…
REVIEW: The Banishing (2021)
Borley Rectory is a name that lives in infamy in the UK and has birthed countless books and films, after being given the moniker of The Most Haunted House in England by ‘psychic researcher’ Harry Price. Price becomes the character Harry Reed (Sean Harris) in…
INTERVIEW: Director and Star of ‘The Last Right’
The Last Right is an Irish comedy written and directed by Aoife Crehan, starring Michiel Huisman and Niamh Algar, as well as rising star Samuel Bottomley, as autistic teenager Louis. Bradford-born Samuel Bottomley appeared in Paddy Considine’s film Tyrannosaur (2011), Private Peaceful (2012), TV show…
REVIEW: The Last Right (2019)
Ireland has a rich tradition of finding humour in both Catholicism and death – even better if it’s both. From the great playwrights Beckett, Behan, Synge, Friel and O’Casey, through to novelist/screenwriter Roddy Doyle (best-known for The Commitments) and onto the London-born McDonagh brothers taking…
REVIEW: Undine (2021)
Water-based myths and folklore have long been mined for film, ranging from mainstream – Splash, Aquaman, Percy Jackson, Harry Potter (mainly Goblet of Fire) and the upcoming live-action The Little Mermaid to the tiny and independent – Evolution (France, 2015), 80s-mermaid-musical-horror The Lure (Poland, 2017,…
