Saturday, December 5, 2009: James Bond Blu-ray (BD, Region ABC, UK) Monday, December 7, 2009: Inglourious Basterds (BD, Region ABC, UK) Monday, December 14, 2009: Un long dimanche di fiançailles (BD, Region B, France) Wednesday, December 16, 2009: Transformers:...

Posted at 11:59 PM in Blu-ray

I wasn't going to bother with Jennifer's Body. I liked Diablo Cody's first produced script, Juno, but the buzz about this second offering wasn't good, and let's face it, Megan Fox isn't much of an actor. (At least going by...

Posted at 11:50 PM in BD Impressions

The Taking of Pelham 123 (2009) (BD, Sony Pictures, Region ABC, UK) [review copy] Ne le dis à personne (BD, EuropaCorp, Region B, France)...

Posted at 12:40 PM in Blu-ray

#1. Mulholland Dr.(David Lynch, 2001) An absolute masterpiece, a mesmerising fever dream told by the king of fever dreams, and one of the most powerful achievements of cinema in the last decade. Whether it came about intentionally or completely...

Posted at 12:00 AM in Cinema

Combining two Clive Barker short stories, The Book of Blood and On Jerusalem Street, this low budget horror offering is actually a better film than the critics would have you believe, albeit one that is hampered by some major leaps...

Posted at 11:54 PM in BD Impressions

#2. Le fabuleux destin d'Amélie Poulain(Jean-Pierre Jeunet, 2001) A refreshing example of a film that has no political or moral pretensions and one that simply wishes to tell the story of a strange but fascinating and genuinely delightful person...

Posted at 12:00 AM in Cinema

Jennifer's Body (BD, 20th Century Fox, Region A, USA) Let's see if Juno was just a fluke... 9 (BD, Universal, Region ABC, USA)...

Posted at 4:11 PM in Blu-ray

#3. Wall-E(Andrew Stanton, 2008) Pixar's ninth feature length production and consecutive box office hit showcases the greatest animation studio of the present day at the top of its game, both its artistry and its storytelling having matured to the...

Posted at 12:00 AM in Cinema

#4. Hannibal(Ridley Scott, 2001) Unjustly maligned for not simply delivering more of the same, this unconventional follow-up to The Silence of the Lambs jettisons the police procedural structure of its predecessor in order to deliver a twisted riff on...

Posted at 12:00 AM in Cinema

Generally speaking, my experience with films is that I tend to start out engaged, but then find myself flagging a little towards the end of the second act, only for me to reconnect with it during the final act as...

Posted at 9:42 PM in BD Impressions

#5. Changeling(Clint Eastwood, 2008) Proof that the words "Based on a true story" coupled with a running time in excess of two hours are not necessarily harbingers of tedium. Clint Eastwood spins a compelling web centred around a harrowing...

Posted at 12:00 AM in Cinema

#6. Atonement(Joe Wright, 2007) Playing with chronology and seamlessly blending fantasy and reality, Atonement is a film about misunderstandings and the loss of innocence. Inventive and profoundly moving, it captures a wide range of tones perfectly, from naive pre-war...

Posted at 12:00 AM in Cinema

My Christmas swag: Book of Blood (BD, Lions Gate, Region B, UK) Burn After Reading (BD, Universal, Region ABC, UK) Orphan (BD, Optimum, Region B, UK) The Strangers (BD, Universal, Region ABC, UK) Them (BD, Metrodome, Region ABC, UK) Vinyan...

Posted at 11:12 PM in Blu-ray

Was Santa good to you?...

Posted at 10:05 AM in General

All the best of the festive season from your favourite curmudgeon!...

Posted at 12:00 AM in General

#7. The Descent(Neil Marshall, 2005) Quite simply, a magnificent horror film, and one which proves that there remain few things more effective than placing a group of characters in a terrifying situation and seeing how they react. It's a...

Posted at 12:00 AM in Cinema

I suspect I have a slight preference for From Russia with Love, but it's easy to see why Goldfinger is so popular and considered, by some, to be the quintessential Bond. It has it all: witty one-liners, absurd gadgets, intricate...

Posted at 11:45 PM in BD Impressions

A wonderful celebration of the year in movies, put together by Kees van Dijkhuizen. See his 2008 retrospective here too....

Posted at 8:39 PM in Cinema

#8. Children of Men(Alfonso Cuarón, 2006) As relevant to the present day as futuristic science fiction can be, Children of Men presents us with a deeply resonant dystopian view of what the world could potentially be like a few...

Posted at 12:00 AM in Cinema

#9. Volver(Pedro Almodóvar, 2006) Penélope Cruz gives a career-best performance in Pedro Almodóvar's whimsical yet touching exploration of the relationships between a family of women, a melodrama with a supernatural twist. One of two primarily "feel-good" films in my...

Posted at 12:00 AM in Cinema

My fellow DVD Times contributors and I were asked to provide a list of our top ten films of 2009. Obviously, DVD Times is a UK-based site and as such goes by UK theatrical release dates. Whenever I personally...

Posted at 12:23 PM in Cinema

#10. Les triplettes de Belleville(Sylvain Chomet, 2003) A thoroughly unique tale that manages to combine a childish curiosity with more grown-up cynicism, Sylvain Chomet's excellent achievement in the field of animation shows that a film with little to no...

Posted at 12:00 AM in Cinema

Beginning tomorrow, with ten days left to go in the "noughties", I'm going to run through my ten personal favourite films of the decade, one per day, in ascending order. See how many you can guess before they're revealed: ???...

Posted at 3:14 PM in Cinema

The voice-over at the start of (500) Days of Summer assures us that "this is not a love story", but on reflection, I can't quite work out what it else was meant to be. Essentially a tale about a romantic...

Posted at 2:06 PM in BD Impressions

Scream (BD, Icon, Region ABC, Australia) Goldfinger (BD, 20th Century Fox/MGM, Region ABC, UK)...

Posted at 1:20 PM in Blu-ray