Tom's Reviews

Essentially a retelling of H.P. Lovecraft’s “The Shadow Over Innsmouth” – with the setting moved from New England to a Spanish fishing village. Don’t expect too much from this decidedly low budget affair, but fans of Cthulhu mythos and trashy horror should find it entertaining enough.

I love nostalgia flicks as much (possibly more!) than the next person, but the humour in Bedazzled really doesn’t hold up to modern scrutiny. While Peter Cook was highly regarded at the time as a hilarious (and controversial) British comedian, he delivers a casual non-performance as the devil. Time hasn’t been kind to this one, I’m afraid.

Exit Through The Gift Shop is not quite what it seems. Rather than being the story of Banksy, Shepard Fairey and their profound impact on the burgeoning street-art movement of the 2000’s, it turns out to be the story of how Banksy was Single White Femaled by an incompetent, dislikeable Frenchman with a host of mental and personality issues. An entertaining watch, but one that I found a little unsatisfying given its focus on a thoroughly odious central character.

Inventive, visually striking and using no spoken dialogue, this confident debut feature from Luc Besson deserves a place along side Max Max as one of the great post-apocalyptic films.

Despite it's charmingly lowbrow cult intentions, original or engaging ideas are few and far between in this achingly 80’s pre-apocalyptic movie. The focus on cars and driving suggest it’ll be a road flick, but the characters (much like the story itself) never really go anywhere.

Stunning Swedish film about how monstrous children can be - and a child who *is* a monster. It's slow placed, taught, sombre and punctuated by moments of shocking brutality. Unmissable.

Despite two solid lead actors (Rockwell, Huston) and an initially interesting collection of ideas, this film falls flat. Most of the plot threads don't really go anywhere and despite all the sex, Choke leaves the viewer decidedly unsatisfied. Don't be fooled - it's nothing like the inspired book-to-film translation that was afforded Chuck Palahniuk earlier novel 'Fight Club'.

The prototypical Hollywood thriller/shocker. This story of two former film starlets living together in antagonistic co-dependance wouldn't win any awards for subtlety, but it's over the top, grotesque flamboyance is exactly what gives this film it's cultural cachet. Absolutely unmissable for any true pop culture connoisseur!

An utterly dire film, which illustrates everything that is so wrong with most Hollywood remakes. An absolute disgrace - just don't let this movie sully your enjoyment of the stunning 1973 original, which remains one of the greatest horror / thrillers ever made.

Audition knocked my socks off when I saw it at the MIFF (and it send a large percentage of the audience running out the door in terror!) While the film’s subtext regarding the poisonous expectations of marriage and gender roles in Japan isn’t exactly subtle, those interested in the darker side of Japanese culture shouldn’t miss this gem. Be warned however – it’s ‘slow build’ filmmaking; not for those with a short attention span.

One of the best films I’ve seen this year. Young, troubled Ian Curtis’ struggle to reconcile the stifling conservatism of his upbringing with the excesses of newfound rock band fame would stand alone as a gripping and tragic story. However, this film is lifted to greatness due to brilliant, measured performances by the cast, tight filmmaking and a haunting soundtrack of Joy Division’s key songs. The director of ‘Control’ shows just that - and has produced a powerful, measured work of cinema.

This movie was a joy. I adored the control of the lonely opening act, and everything that came after it was icing. I loved the 1940’s ‘Ink Spots’ number playing over a post-apocalyptic wasteland.

This bio-pic has its moments, but ends up being a rather sombre watch, despite it’s racy source material. The main issue is the character of Bettie Page herself – while Gretchen Mol certainly plays the part with accomplishment, she’s stuck with a female character who possesses next to no personal agency. Bettie is depicted as merely drifting from one event to another almost entirely at the whim of others. Rather than being an inspiring or challenging tale of one of America’s first sex symbols, it’s actually the dull story of a young woman who always did what she was told – both in front of and away from the camera.

This fantastic comedy will strike a chord with any who have experienced the soul-crushing tedium of a thankless bureaucratic job. While the presence of Jennifer Anderson and references to the ‘Y2K bug’ firmly date this film as a product of nineties, it’s still very much worth a watch.

While by no means a B-Grade failure, AvP2 is an utterly pedestrian, boring and forgettable stab at the sci-fi action genre. The worst part is that all of the action scenes are almost completely obscured by darkness. Rather than being atmospheric, this renders them incomprehensible, confusing and dull.

I had fond memories of watching this as a kid, but unfortunately a repeat viewing didn't really hold up. While the central premise of Holmes and Watson meeting for the first time in boarding school has potential, this film failed to do anything particularly interesting with its setting.

This triumphant Aussie film is a fast paced, punchy and enormously enjoyable tribute doco covering the glory days of Australian cinema through the 60s - 80s. Highly recommended to all movie fans, especially if you have a taste for action, horror and the 'exploitation' genre!

A psychological cult classic from a bygone era, where the deeper narrative is open to audience interpretation. As with many older black and white films, the muffled audio (particularly during outdoor scenes) can be a little taxing on the viewer, but this film is well worth the effort.

Terrible, terrible movie, with no redeeming features. I was hoping for a follow-up to the peerless 2004 remake of 'Dawn of the Dead', but this 'Day of the Dead' remake is nothing like it. An utterly boring, sub-pedestrian stab at the zombie genre.

While I certainly wasn't expecting American Ninja to be an example of masterful filmmaking, unfortunately it's a bad movie that falls short of being so-bad-it's-good.

Not for everyone, but for fans of Argento's particular brand of masterful-yet-dire 80's horror filmmaking, this movie is bottled excellence. Ignore the plot (what little there is) - and just focus on his amazingly creepy cinematic sequences and effects. In the age of CGI, they sure don't make 'em like this anymore.

I have no idea why I hired this. I'm not above giving props to a well executed romcom, but Fools Gold is falls flat at every turn.

Watchmen is a heartbreaking, brutal and profoundly compelling deconstruction of the comicbook hero genre. Highly recommended, but just don't go in expecting a kid's superhero film - it's rated R for a reason.