Cinema Rediscovered 2018: Trapped in THE MAFU CAGE. When is a cult film not a cult film?

Shown as part of this year’s Cinema Rediscovered Festival at the Bristol Watershed, The Mafu Cage had me stumbling out of the cinema wondering WTF did I just watch… so I had to tell you about it.

Event preview – Cinema Rediscovered, Bristol Watershed and other venues, Thur 26th – Sun 29th July

Entering its third year the Cinema Rediscovered film festival has established itself as one of the most exciting cinematic events in Bristol’s arts calendar.  The four day festival aims to present audiences with an opportunity to re-experience a range of cinema from contemporary classics to rarities in the big screen setting they were conceived for. Here follow some personal highlights chosen from this year’s programme.

A Fantastic Movie

Out on UK screens this Friday (2nd of March) is Oscar nominated Chilean drama A Fantastic Woman. Here is my review, which be warned does include a few minor spoilers, so if you want to see it cold please read this post viewing.

My 20 favourite films of 2017 – Part 1, no’s 20 -11

I thought 2016 was a good year to go to the movies bowling a vicious curve ball right at 2017’s shins. But 2017 has absolutely hit it out of the park. So good has the year been that some tremendous movies failed to make the cut despite being (I thought) near certain top 10 contenders when I saw them. Movies I loved like Logan, Get Out, and T2: Trainspotting just got edged out but a rewatch could make me regret not including any of them so slight are the margins that films in the bottom half of my top 20 are virtually interchangeable.

Here are numbers 20-11…

Event preview – Bristol’s Cinema Rediscovered weekender (27 – 30 July 2017)

I’ve recently relocated to Bristol and have found a city with vibrant film culture into which I’m currently dipping my toes. Here follows a preview of the upcoming Cinema Rediscovered festival running at the end of July. If you live in, or around Bristol there are some great screenings and events. Here is my pick…

Sympathy for The Devils

Now that it seems like every great film ever made is now on Blu-Ray or on-demand in sparkling high definition, it is easy to forget that there are still some classics yet to make a bow on DVD even. Ken Russell’s 1971 film THE DEVILS has long been one of the great omissions. This was finally rectified in 2012 with a lavish two disc DVD from the British Film Institute. The BFI’s release presents the film in the original BBFC X rated version, rather than the hideously truncated R rated American release.