Film Reviews
Megalopolis (2024) – A Future in Latin
Editor Jacob Calta takes on Francis Ford Coppola’s latter-day sci-fi epic and tries to articulate what it is that made this such a fascinating and powerful watch.
Furiosa (2024) – A “Mad Max” Saga?
Critic David Alkhed returns to the Wastes once more to review George Miller’s prequel to the 2015 action juggernaut “Mad Max: Fury Road” starring Anya Taylor-Joy as Furiosa.
Rock Odyssey (1987) – When America’s Fun Factory Went Glam
Editor Jacob Calta dives deep into the vaults to review a bizarre 1987 Hanna-Barbera pop fantasia. Not a set of words you see everyday!
Civil War (2024) – Chaos at The End of a Lens
Critic Amos Lamb dives headlong into the controversial A24 photojournalist war drama, the latest from author-turned-filmmaker Alex Garland.
Oliver Stone’s Last Year in Viet Nam (1971)
When I was younger, I was very taken with the films of Oliver Stone. I would go so far as to say his films have had a tremendous impact on my attitudes towards cinema, politics, and life itself. I saw Platoon after having seen other Vietnam War-films like Apocalypse Now and Full Metal Jacket, and…
Oldboy (2003) – “Revenge is good for your health, but pain will find you again”
I’ve written about a number of Korean films on this site over the years. I believe the first one was Bong Joon-ho’s Memories of Murder, which was followed by a number of films from Kim Jee-woon (who has a new film coming fairly soon titled Cobweb which I’m looking forward to), but to my surprise…
Dune: Part Two (2024) – The Beginning of a Delicate Time
Know then that it is the year 2024, and not only is it exactly forty years since the release of David Lynch’s admirable but unsuccessful adaptation, we have now finally returned to Denis Villeneuve’s vision of Frank Herbert’s classic science fiction novel Dune in the latest chapter of his adaptation. The film covers more or…
The Iron Claw (2023), A Family’s Bloodsport
What non-wrestling fans can never seem to grasp about the appeal of wrestling is that at its core, all it is is storytelling. The wrestlers tell stories in the ring, and in the kayfabe world outside of the ring. But every now and then the real-life story collided with the made up reality of wrestling…
Mr Bates vs The Post Office (2024) – Firebrand Television
It’s quite incredible when art and media actually has an effect. It’s very easy at the minute to treat art, especially the motion picture arts, as essentially a frivolity. I think, especially in the UK at the moment, people in power do not want to think about movies and television. We live in an age,…
Mean Girls (2024) – As Plastic as Ever
The story of Mean Girls follows Cady Heron. Although born in America she has spent much of her childhood with her parents in Kenya being homeschooled. But now they return to the states and like a fish out of water Cady is thrust into the world of high school drama, getting herself mixed up with…
The Killer (2023) – Sigma Grindset Scuppered
David Fincher over a career spanning four decades has set himself out to be one of the most enigmatic directors working. His films often play directly to the public’s appetite for popcorn thrills while serving them exploitation violence with films that often wriggle under inspection and deny any obvious moral stance. As a filmmaker he…
Gangs of New York (2002) – The Hands That Built America
In 1977, following the critical and commercial success of his previous three films Mean Streets, Alice Doesn’t Live Here Anymore and the Palme d’Or-winning Taxi Driver, a 35-year old Martin Scorsese announced the title of his next project: Gangs of New York, a historical epic about his hometown, New York City and the Five Points…
Five Nights at Freddy’s (2023): A big old “meh” of a film
So let’s get this right out of the way: I have never played a single game in the Five Nights at Freddy’s franchise in my life whatsoever. The few video games I have played have mostly been first-person shooters, L.A. Noire or borrowing my brother’s Grand Theft Auto 5 just to drive cars like a…
The Boy and The Heron (2023) – A Whimsical Meditation on Grief
In the year 2023; the guys had Oppenheimer, the girls had Barbie, and the weebs have The Boy and The Heron. Miyazaki’s return to directing (not including his short films) after a 10 year absence, and his third “final” film (which yet again he has U-turned on with the announcement of a new project). But…
Killers of the Flower Moon (2023) – Monumental Martin Scorcese
The new film by acclaimed American filmmaker Martin Scorcese is in cinemas, rejoice! If the point of a review is to tell if you should spend your £15 to go see a movie it should really end there. The new film by Martin Scorcese is a grown up, three and a half hour epic that…
The Caine Mutiny Court-Martial: A Conflicted if Sturdy Swansong
On the 7th of August 2023, as of writing almost two months ago, the great American filmmaker William Friedkin passed away. Traditionally in criticism, films, and works of art more broadly, should stand on their own divorced from context but there are exceptions, and anyone who tells you that their opinion of The Caine Mutiny…
The Hell is a Barbenheimer? Reviewing Two of 2023’s Hottest Blockbusters
Critics Amos Lamb and David Alkhed take on the films behind the strange internet phenomenon: Greta Gerwig’s fantasy comedy “Barbie” and Christopher Nolan’s epic biopic “Oppenheimer”
The Untouchables (1987) – Blood, Booze & Bullets
Critic David Alkhed reviews Brian De Palma’s modern American classic set against the backdrop of gangland Chicago in the 1930s.
Asteroid City (2023) – Watch the Stage-Bound Skies
Critic Amos Lamb explores the latest Space Age chapter in the long, colorful, and curious filmography of Wes Anderson.
The Keep (1983) – To Mann’s Horror
Editor Jacob Calta unearths the fantasy horror diamond-in-the-rough found in director Michael Mann’s sophomore feature.
In Search of Darkness Part III (2022) – The Last Gasp of a Grand Decade
Editor Jacob Calta comes back to finish what CreatorVC started in the final epic in David Weiner and Robin Block’s 80s horror retrospective.
Renfield (2023) – An Idea with Bite, A Film Without Blood
Critic David Alkhed sinks his fangs into the latest spin on Bram Stoker’s immortal villain, but this time with a focus on his equally notorious servant.
Dungeons & Dragons: Honor Among Thieves (2023) – Roll the Dice, Pay the Price
Critic Amos Lamb takes a dive into the fantasy world of the legendary tabletop RPG, now on the Silver Screen in this humorful adaptation.
TUGS: A Bigg Retrospective (2023) – To Sail in Uncharted Waters
Editor Jacob Calta takes a massive journey back through time to rediscover the craftsmanship and talent behind one of British television’s landmark children’s shows.
Pearl (2022) – An X-cellent Follow-Up to a Breakout Slasher
Critic Amos Lamb looks back on one of the great surprises of the 2022 season; an aesthetically lavish prequel to Ti West’s gritty return-to-form.
Someone Behind the Door (1971) – Two Titans Against Type
Editor Jacob Calta revisits a twisting 1971 psychological drama starring Anthony Perkins and Charles Bronson
Verotika (2019) – How the Gods Kill (Horror)
There has recently been a strange discourse on the internet. The internet being what it is, it’s not like it’s actually going to matter or change anything, but people seemed to get very exorcized. Even Paul Schrader weighed in because he seems to have nothing better to do these days between making very fine movies…
All Quiet on the Western Front (2022) – Blood, Carnage and Literature
Critic David Alkhed takes a look at the latest Oscar-winning adaptation of Remarque’s timeless tale of life on the front lines of the Great War.
Dark Glasses (2022) – Shades of Argento’s Genius From the Dark
Critic David Alkhed takes a look at Dario Argento’s latest directorial effort of blinded victims and cruel murders on the streets of Rome.
Ed Wood (1994) – Where the Love of Film (Almost) Conquers All
Critic David Alkhed revisits Tim Burton’s lovable dramedy biopic about one of the true American titans of schlock.
Deadwood: The Movie (2019) – A Magnificent Dirge to a Brilliant Series
“Our Father, which art in Heaven…” “Let him fucking stay there.” It strikes me as a little odd to be writing this review of a television movie that followed up a television show on a site dedicated to theatrical films specifically. But as I recall, the distinction between movies made for television versus movies made…
Official Competition (2021) – A Clash of Cinematic Egos
The world of film and its makers is a mysterious and strange one, filled with equal parts glamor and hard labor. In fact, I’d go so far as to say the glamourous aspect of the job is mostly the side the public is still familiar with, whereas the hard and laborious side is more mysterious…
See You at the Movies! Three from 2022
General Editor Jacob Calta reviews three very different, very unique, and very entertaining films from the year thus far!
Elvis (2022) – Movie Spectacular Spectacular A La Baz Luhrmann
There are few people of the twentieth century as iconic and well-known as Elvis Presley. Still to this day young audiences keep getting introduced to him, be it via a piece of iconography, the numerous pop culture references or the continual replay-value of many of his most iconic songs like Hound Dog, Can’t Help Falling…
Secret Honor (1984) – Remembering Philip Baker Hall
The year 2022 is beginning to feel reminiscent of 2016. Not just for looming political turns towards the right and therefore bad, but also for a staggering amount of beloved celebrities and artists leaving us this year, particularly in the world of movies. Since January we’ve lost the following: Peter Bogdanovich, Sidney Poitier, Monica Vitti…
Belfast (2021), A Nostalgic & Personal Drama
Kenneth Branagh is a prolific, if not always successful, director who has a valid claim of elevating modern adaptations of Shakespeare due to his early self-directed work (alongside his theatrical career). But in recent years Branagh has been spotty at best with his directorial efforts, ranging from the solid albeit nothing special adaptation of Agatha…
Spencer (2021) – A Modern Woman Trapped in an Ancient Institution
Ever since her premature death in 1997, Princess Diana has remained one of the most beloved and iconic figures in recent history. She remains a major part of pop culture to this day, joining the ranks of Marilyn Monroe and James Dean as young deaths that captured the imagination of an entire world and the…
Duck, You Sucker! (1971) – The False Facades of Heroism and Revolution
“When I was young I believed in three things: Marxism, the redemptive power of cinema and dynamite. Now I just believe in dynamite.” – Sergio Leone The great Italian director Sergio Leone was and remains one of the titans of international cinema. Despite such a meager output of only seven films (eight if one were…
The French Dispatch (2021), A Love-Letter to Journalism
One common recurrence you see on Twitter is people being shocked to learn that Wes Anderson was born and raised in Houston, Texas. This, no doubt, is because of the very European aesthetic that he conjures in his films, while this has certainly become more pronounced with his more recent films like The Grand Budapest…
Dear Evan Hansen (2021) – A Touch of Evil
What is truly evil, and how do we define evil as a concept? It’s a question many philosophers, psychologists, historians, leaders and people in general have tried to define for centuries with many different answers and theories raised. Art has also tried to explore this question of evil in various different forms, including films. Films…
The Green Knight (2021), Truly Epic Fantasy
David Lowry extends his run as a perplexingly chimeric maker of very good films with The Green Knight, which might be one of his finest achievements yet. Based on the epic poem ‘Sir Gawain and the Green Knight’, The Green Knight follows Dev Patel as the famous Arthurian character, Sir Gawain. After being called to…
The Last Duel (2021) – A Question of Honor, Chivalry, Hairpieces and Justice
After four years of silence, the iconic and insanely prolific Sir Ridley Scott has finally returned in the year of our lord 2021 with not one but two films, both historical films based on real events featuring Adam Driver: The Last Duel and House of Gucci. Of course if anyone is at all familiar with…
The Many Saints of Newark (2021), A Tale as Old as Time
Warning: Spoilers for The Sopranos TV show ahead The Many Saints of Newark has been marketed with posters saying “Who Made Tony Soprano”, on one hand it’s a clear way to establish the connection between the new film and the classic TV series, but for many, myself included, it gives the impression that this is…
License to Review: No Time to Die (2021)
Upon Pierce Brosnan’s departure from the James Bond franchise in 2002 with the dismal Die Another Day, the world was in desperate need of a new iteration of the iconic British agent. But it wasn’t just the portrayal of the character that needed updating, the whole franchise needed a fresh start. The series had almost…
Dune (2021) – A World Beyond Our Experience, Beyond Our Imagination
When it was announced that Denis Villeneuve was going to direct a new adaptation of Frank Herbert’s classic and foundational science fiction opus Dune, I remember jumping in excitement, if not physically in spirit. I couldn’t dream of a better or more perfect match between filmmaker and source material. Even if I hadn’t read the…
Everybody’s Talking About Jamie (2021), a Return to British Tradition…With Music This Time!
Everybody’s Talking About Jamie, which is based on the broadway musical of the same name, which in turn is based on a documentary called Jamie: Drag Queen at 16, owes a debt to some of the best British films ever released; Kes, Billy Elliot & The Full Monty. It follows the same elements of working…
Annette (2021), Psychological Musical Odyssey
Leos Carax returns to release his first film in nine years. His previous effort, Holy Motors, itself coming after a long absence from feature films, turned heads by veering off into the world of dense meta-ness. Both seen as a key text in metatextual cinema and also metamodern cinema, Holy Motors was ahead of a…
Staff Picks: The Captivating Clint Eastwood
On the eve of his 40th directorial effort, Cry Macho, making its debut, we at A Fistful of Film pay tribute to a living legend, Clint Eastwood. A Western star turned filmic Renaissance man, Eastwood has become known for more than just kicking ass and taking names on the big screen. We’ve picked four of…
Pig (2021), Porcine Soul Searching
The first things I knew about Pig were three things. Firstly, it is a Nic Cage movie called Pig, already seeming curio like. Secondly, the poster; a brooding Nic Cage looking like a caveman on a background of inky black evoking the revenge fuelled desperation that came with Joaquin Phoenix’s masterful performance in Lynne Ramsay’s…
Cinderella (2021), Whose Idea Was This?
Who asked for this? No really, who asked for this? I genuinely can’t think of a single person who was clamouring for a redo of Cinderella. I know we’re in this glut of revisionist reimaginings of Disney classics, (although this iteration is made by Sony). We’ve had Tim Burton’s anti-animal cruelty Dumbo, we’ve had the…
Zola (2021): Tapping Into Gen-Z
“Y’all wanna hear a story about why me & this bitch here fell out?! It’s kinda long but full of suspense”” Have you ever seen a film that feels genetically engineered to piss off the correct people? That’s only a slight appeal of dark-comedy-drama Zola, the latest offering from A24’s sometimes painfully hip stables. Based…
The Night House (2021), the Sleeper Hit of the Year
David Bruckner’s The Night House was a real sleeper hit for me, having first played in January 2020 at Sundance I heard nothing about this film until only a few weeks ago when I saw the trailer at the cinema. But the trailer alone was enough to entice me, so when it came out I…
Censor (2021), Cutting to the Heart
Let me set the scene for you. In 1979 Margaret Thatcher is elected to office in the UK on a platform of evisceration of the power of trade unions and privatisation of the UK’s many nationalised industries. As a result industrialised areas of the UK are left victims of predatory corporate interest without recourse to…
Candyman (2021), A Revamped Take on a Classic
Nia DaCosta’s Candyman, and it very much is DaCosta’s film rather than producer Jordan Peele’s film despite some people trying to label it as such, is a direct sequel and spiritual successor to Bernard Rose’s 1992 film of the same name. Taking the widely acclaimed classic, that in it’s own right tackled issues of race…
The Suicide Squad (2021), a Unique, Cartoonish, & Fun Comic Book Movie Unlike Any We’ve Seen Before.
Back in 2016, David Ayer’s Suicide Squad was one of my most anticipated films of the year, I remember going to see it with a group of friends in the cinema and hyping up how great it was going to be, until it started. Now I do feel somewhat sorry for David Ayer with the…
Closed For Storm (2021): A Piece of Modernity Trapped in Time
Jacob Calta examines a documentary surrounding a Southern theme park, a story told in an engaging debut from Jake Williams of “Bright Sun Films” fame.
The War Zone (1999), Yet Another underrated British Gem
Content Warning: Discussion of rape & incest in this review and within the film. I wish I had watched this film because I’d heard a lot about it, and wanted to experience a film I’d heard a tremendous amount of praise and acclaim for. Unfortunately this wasn’t the case, until I saw it while scrolling…
Wrath of Man (2021) – The Good Guy (Ritchie)
Guy Ritchie for me is not so much a hit-and-miss filmmaker as he has a hit-and-miss style. His background in directing music videos and commercials has been instrumental and key to Ritchie’s entire approach to the medium of film much like other directors who got their start making videos like David Fincher, Michael Bay, Spike…
Let Them All Talk (2020), Comfort Food For Soderbergh Fans
This movie is perplexing for a variety of reasons. What is this movie? Why does it exist? What even is it? Now, these aren’t words normally said about a movie playing to the same market as Book Club but this is directed by Steven Soderbergh dammit! This is the guy who remade Solaris and didn’t…
Staff Picks: The Stupendous Steven Soderbergh
To tie into the release of Steven Soderbergh’s new thriller No Sudden Move, we at A Fistful of Film wanted to take a look back one of the most exciting and eclectic careers to grace our cinemas. Soderbergh won the Palme D’Or with his first film, indie drama Sex, Lies & Videotape, and after his…
In The Earth (2021), Return of Ben Wheatley and Cinema
There was good reason to be fearful going into In The Earth and not just because it’s an icky weirdo horror movie. Ben Wheatley has been a favourite director of mine for years but seems to have been losing his way recently. My eye was first caught with his incredibly confrontational folk horror Kill List…
Illang: The Wolf Brigade (2018) – A Frustratingly Confusing Backfire from Kim Jee-woon
There are certain movies known for having notoriously complicated plots and stories that especially on first viewing are sometimes mind-numbing and are often subject to criticism from critics when they appear. I’m thinking of films like The Big Lebowski, Miami Vice and hell even the first Mission: Impossible. What these films have in common, at…
The Amusement Park (1973), Perfect End Note For Romero
Leon Trotsky once said, “Old age is the most unexpected of all things that can happen to a man”. He was right. Well, speaking of unexpected things, this is a day I never thought would come. I’m sitting here and writing a review for a brand spanking new film by the late, great, George A.…
Nobody (2021), an Exhilerating albeit Flawed Experience
Nobody was a sleeper hit in the making from the very start. When the announcement dropped that Bob Odenkirk signed on to work with the Director of Hardcore Henry with the creator of John Wick penning the screenplay my excitement for the film was immense. It felt like it was not too long after I…
Kill It and Leave This Town (2020), A Haunting Polish Gem
Birds chop up people like fish and sell them. A filmmaker sits next to his dying mother completely unable to connect. A cat in a trench coat claims to be the embodiment of all evil. These images and many others which similarly blend the same sense of abstract horror and morbid mundanity abound in Kill…
Staff Picks: The Grand George A. Romero
The staff of A Fistful of Film celebrate the work of the great George A. Romero in anticipation of the premiere of his 1973 horror “The Amusement Park.”
Quality Candor Presents: Rock & Rule (1983)
Writer Jacob Calta returns with his video review series to cover an animated cult classic from the Great White North.
Spiral: From the Book of Saw (2021), a Fun Return to the Franchise
Spiral opens with a shot of fireworks bursting colour across the dark black sky. The explosions represent a celebration, not just narratively, as it’s the 4th of July weekend, but thematically. 2017’s Jigsaw was widely panned by critics and fans alike, one major bone of contention being the move away from the franchise’s focus on…
Wild Mountain Thyme (2021), An Insulting Self-Parody
This movie has provoked a lot of complicating and surrounding thoughts in me. So I’m going to just lay out my table before we get into it. I promise this is all going somewhere. For a long time as a writer about film I’ve had a morbid fascination. Well I’ve had several, increasingly niche morbid…
In Search of Darkness Part II (2020): They Came Back to Finish What You’ll Never Forget…
Writer Jacob Calta enthusiastically examines the 2020 sequel to the epic horror doc “In Search of Darkness.”
The Woman in the Window (2021) – The Poor Man’s Fincher doing the Poor Man’s Hitchcock
Joe Wright is supposed to be a fine director if one goes according to some of my mutuals on Film Twitter. His films Pride and Prejudice and Atonement are frequently discussed on the tl, be it in regards to their painterly cinematography, their performances or just making people horny for hot people or whatever. Although…
Mortal Kombat (2021), a Valiant Attempt at a Video Game Adaptation
I am without a doubt a lifelong Mortal Kombat fan, I can’t remember when I first started playing it but I have memories of GBA fights at school, hours spent on the PS3 playing Mortal Kombat 9 or Mortal Kombat vs DC Universe, and most recently memories of playing MKX in the evenings at university.…
Zack Snyder’s Justice League (2021), Snyder’s Superhero Epic
Looking back at my review for what I guess is now called the Whedon cut of Justice League I wrote the following: “would I personally want to see the infamous ‘Snyder Cut’? Undoubtedly […] Do I think that cut actually exists? Not in any meaningful way….” and I’ve never been happier to say that I…
Cherry (2021), or was it Cherk?
It’s difficult to know where to begin when talking about Cherry. The now-heavily memed image of Tom Holland with a shaved head pointing a pistol directly at the camera seems to have been released years ago amidst mumbling and murmurs of the Russo Brothers making a film about an opioid-addicted bank robber, but it seemed…
Quality Candor Presents: Messiah of Evil (1973)
I am proud to announce an official partnership between my video review channel, Quality Candor, and A Fistful of Film. On a (school-willing) biweekly basis, new reviews will be posted here as they appear on YouTube. In today’s installment, I give my humble assessment of a cool slice of 70s horror found in Willard Huyck…
Bud (2021) An Emotionally Resonant Drama
We start on a closeup of a man’s pockets where a pack of cigarettes lie. The man then picks up a cigarette, lights it up and we move into a profile of the man. He’s standing outside what appears to be a big building on a cloudy day in Liverpool. He picks up his phone…
Malcolm & Marie (2021), a Frustrating Quarantine Spectacle
Zendaya has always been a sort of pop culture enigma to me. I was too old to fully enjoy her stint on Shake it Up when it first aired (although I vaguely remember being aware of it), but I had definitely never heard of K.C. Undercover until recently. So when a fervor spread across the…
The Prestige (2006) – A Cinematic Magic Trick
Every magic trick has three parts, says Michael Caine to the audience in the first few minutes of The Prestige. They are The Pledge, The Turn and the titular Prestige. With The Pledge, the magician introduces a regular object like say a dove. In The Turn, he does something truly extraordinary by making it disappear…
Outside the Wire (2021), a Forgettable War Film Loosely Passing as Sci-Fi
The start of the year brought much uncertainty for the film industry, with the global pandemic still raging and the announcements of long-awaited films like No Time to Die and Edgar Wright’s Last Night in Soho having been delayed once again, the cinematic landscape looked like it was gearing up for another year of streaming…
Staff Picks: The Best of 2020
Writers David Alkhed, Amos Lamb, and Saoirse Selway put their heads together to come up with the 10 best films of 2020.
Another Round (2020) – A Second Go at Life
Here in Scandinavia there is a great deal of alcohol consumption amongst teenagers and youths. And in Denmark in particular, my neighboring country, the youngsters drink the most amount of alcohol in all of Europe, most likely due to the drinking age only being 16. In Sweden it’s as high as 18 to drink but…
SIGHT & SOUND: The Cinema of Walter Murch, A Master On His Craft
Writer Jacob Calta takes a look at a most intriguing documentary
Staff Picks: Festive Favourites
The Team here at A Fistful of Film wish all our readers a Merry Christmas and a Happy Holiday! We decided that to celebrate the festive season we would come together and select some of our favourite holiday classics. Ranging from the traditional classics, to the subversive Christmas horror subgenre, to family favourite comedies, and…
Wonder Woman 1984 (2020), Yet Another Misfire in the DCEU
“For me, [Wonder Woman] is a big misstep, I can only hope that Wonder Women 1984 will prove to be better.” When I wrote this for my Wonder Woman review I genuinely had faith in Patty Jenkins to deliver a better sequel given the fact that she was co-writing the screenplay and I chalked a…
Mank (2020), A Study in Cinema
David Fincher is a fascinating guy. His parent’s living next door to George Lucas helped him land his first silver screen gig doing modelling on Star Wars: Episode VI – Return of the Jedi before moving up to directing music videos for the like of Madonna, with whom he was in a casual relationship briefly,…
Staff Picks: The Masterful Martin Scorsese
Today marks the birth of one of the most influential American filmmakers in the history of Cinema, Martin Scorsese. To commemorate this occasion, we at A Fistful of Film have chosen to examine some of our favourites from his filmography; from his early breakout work, to his later modern masterpieces. Mean Streets (1973) By Jacob…
Staff Picks: The Electrifying Ennio Morricone
Today marks the 92nd Birthday of one of the most accomplished and prolific composers in the history of film, Ennio Morricone. It was in July of this year the Italian maestro unfortunately passed, so out of respect for his life and his work, we at A Fistful of Film would like to look back at…
Rebecca (2020), Is This It?
Over the course of a short but prolific career, Ben Wheatley has carved out an interesting niche for himself. Starting in online video making and sit-coms, Wheatley, despite being very adept at horror films waited until his second movie to make his break-out, cult, folk horror Kill List. His stated reason for doing this is…
Staff Picks: Deep Cuts for a Killer Holiday
This year to celebrate Halloween the team here at A Fistful of Film tasked ourselves with writing not about the go-to spooky season movies but to write about our favourite hidden gem or cult classic that we’ve been watching this year. Our range of deep cuts covers a wide range of horror films from Romero,…
Saint Maud (2020), Isolation, Religion and Sexuality at the Sea-Side
Name a better combination than Britain and Horror….that’s right you can’t. Now I’m willing to admit that this statement carries a fair amount of bias, being a British Horror fan myself, but while many tote Japan, Italy, or America as the paragons of the genre, there’s an undeniable charm and legacy that Britain has when…
License to Review #16: License to Kill (1989)
James Bond will return to cinemas this November with his twenty-fifth adventure, No Time to Die. In preparation, David Alkhed will take a look at all the previous entries in the franchise and see which ones are deserving of praise (shaken) and which ones aren’t (stirred). One of the toughest things I can imagine for…
License to Review #15: The Living Daylights (1987)
James Bond will return to cinemas this November with his twenty-fifth adventure, No Time to Die. In preparation, David Alkhed will take a look at all the previous entries in the franchise and see which ones are deserving of praise (shaken) and which ones aren’t (stirred). After A View to a Kill, Roger Moore finally…
Staff Picks: The Brutal Brian De Palma
Today marks the birth of one of the leading New Hollywood Directors; Brian De Palma. With a career spanning 52 years, and creating classics in multiple genres, De Palma has cemented him as a seminal director. To commemorate this occasion, we at A Fistful of Film have chosen to examine some of our favourites out…
I’m Thinking of Ending Things (2020), Charlie, I Love You, But You’re Bringing Me Down
Charlie Kaufman has made two movies and released them in a contained, movie length package, and it’s extremely hard to talk about. Kaufman is one of those filmmakers who makes movies so hermetically sealed and deeply personal that they are functionally review proof. They are here, and they exist, and talking about them fundamentally comes…
Staff Picks: The Devilish Dario Argento
Today marks the birth of the Master of Horror himself, the seminal Italian director; Dario Argento. To commemorate this occasion, we at A Fistful of Film have chosen to examine some of our favourites out of his filmography, from his early Giallo work to his later, more experimental, horror features. The Bird With The Crystal…
Tenet (2020), The Return of the Blockbuster
In a year with no tent-pole blockbusters to compete against it, Tenet has been on the mind of every film fan for months now. With the coronavirus delaying the release of the film, and while the news about Nolan and the Studio’s pushing for it to be released in recently reopened cinemas have caused a…
License to Review #15: A View to a Kill (1985)
James Bond will return to cinemas this November with his twenty-fifth adventure, No Time to Die. In preparation, David Alkhed will take a look at all the previous entries in the franchise and see which ones are deserving of praise (shaken) and which ones aren’t (stirred). I’ve gone into many of the James Bond films,…
License to Review – Special Edition: Never Say Never Again (1983)
James Bond will return to cinemas this November with his twenty-fifth adventure, No Time to Die. In preparation, David Alkhed will take a look at all the previous entries in the franchise and see which ones are deserving of praise (shaken) and which ones aren’t (stirred). After Diamonds Are Forever, Sean Connery reportedly said “never…
Beetlejuice (1988), Happy Birthday Tim Burton!
Beetlejuice will always hold a special place in my heart; the first time I ever went to America I was on a trip to San Francisco and after a long day of constant traveling we made it to the Hotel, ordered a pizza and put on the TV only to find the film playing. I…
License to Review #13: Octopussy (1983)
James Bond will return to cinemas this November with his twenty-fifth adventure, No Time to Die. In preparation, David Alkhed will take a look at all the previous entries in the franchise and see which ones are deserving of praise (shaken) and which ones aren’t (stirred). Before you embark on reading this review of Octopussy,…
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