Posted in Interview

Writer-Director Peyv Raz Talks Film Debut With 'Clarity'

From joy to despair in a matter of seconds as a family congratulatory gathering becomes a tense affair in a hospital waiting room. A life…

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Posted in Director Masterpiece

Masterpiece Memo: Le salaire de la peur (Wages of Fear)

The Fifties, that squeaky-clean decade of that saw the birth of the suburbs, strict morality and, the McCarthy era, also had the misfortune to precede…

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Posted in Director

3 Fantastic Henri-Georges Clouzot Films And Where To Find Them

Several people I spoke to very recently were open about not only their lack of knowledge of French film-maker Henri-Georges Clouzot, but also that they…

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Posted in Links

Reading, Writing, Arithmetic #31

The long overdue, and overly neglected, links series on the site returns to pay respect to just some of the fine, informative, intriguing writing on…

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Posted in Festival Review

NZIFF Review: The Lost City of Z

The Christchurch leg of the New Zealand International Film Festival is creeping ever closer to the final few days; but there are still magnificent films…

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Posted in Festival Review

NZIFF Review: 6 Days

In April 1980, armed gunmen infiltrate the Iranian Embassy in London. What followed would not only set the template for the British response to terrorist…

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Posted in Festival Review

NZIFF Review: The Killing of a Sacred Deer

  One of the benefits of film festivals like NZIFF is that cinephiles have the opportunity to sample some very different fare from what is…

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Posted in Genre

Genre Blast: The Play’s the Thing – From Stage to Screen

When a powerful play is adapted to incorporate some of the technical features possible with film, the end result can be transporting. A savvy director and crew will mine the dramatic work for opportunities to maneuver the camera in such a way as to take the audience out of their seats and place them in the middle of the action (just as one would with any other film genre). The playwright’s words should not be treated as a wall that defines the boundaries of the film, but as a door that opens into another medium of expression.

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Posted in Festival Review

NZIFF Review: Spookers

Confession: I didn’t expect to come out of Florian Habicht’s Spookers feeling as buoyant as I did. While the trailer for the film had utterly…

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Posted in Review

Indie Feature 'She Rises' Echoes Lynchian Nightmares

She Rises, which had its world premier at the Ireland Horrorthon Film Festival, is a mystery-comedy-horror hybrid of sorts, pulling some impressive, if ridiculously oddball,…

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Posted in Film Honors

Film Honors: 1962

My own personal choices for the year. They reflect not just necessarily what I think is the best or essential cinema, but perhaps resonate with…

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Posted in Director

Vote: The 10 Best From Pedro Almodóvar

#DirectorsWeekend – #PedroAlmodovar – Friday August 11th – Sunday August 13h I’m not sure where to start with Pedro Almodóvar – in thought, in admiration, what…

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Posted in Podcast

Woo L.A. Podcast # 7 – Dunkirk: From The Beach To The Oscars

In this edition of the Woo L.A. Podcast, Al Robinson and Robin Write are joined once again by Daniel Smith-Rowsey, and first-timer in these parts…

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Posted in Director Movies

Directors' Weekend: The 10 Best Tim Burton Films

So here are the 10 Best Tim Burton films according to the collective bunch of you that voted. And a huge thank you very much indeed…

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