Tag Archives: guest review

by - 2 Comments

Guest review: Straight Time (1978)

Jack Deth sent me another guest review, which I’ll gladly publish. In his own unique writing style he describes the movie Straight Time. Enjoy! Nostra

Welcome all and sundry to another Guest Review!

This offering is another older film. One of those that arrived in the first weekend of a month with little fanfare only to disappear two weekends later. An intriguing nugget of gold with a bit of history behind it, to be sought by those those who might want more than a glimpse into the seedy underside
of late 1970s L.A, and those who occupy its seamy corners and shadows. Continue reading →

by - 4 Comments

Guest review: Rolling Thunder (1977)

Lately it seems not a week goes by without the wonderful Jack Deth delivering one of his great reviews of movies most of us are not familiair with. This week I’m pleased to have him review Rolling Thunder. Enjoy! (includes some spoilers)

Rolling thunder review

Welcome all and sundry to another Guest Review!

First, I would like to thank Nostra for another opportunity to delve into a film that left a serious impression on me the first time I sat down and watched it. A raw, no punches pulled look into the sub genre of the returned, whacked out, psychotic America POW/Veteran. One that literally leaps up and becomes a smack in the face to a hallowed topic first tickled by a just starting out, Yaphett Kotto in an early, first season episode of ‘Hawaii Five-O’, titled ‘King Of The Hill’ from 1967. Continue reading →

by - 3 Comments

Guest review – Let The Right One In (2008)

This weekend I asked on Twitter if anyone was interested in doing a guest review on this blog. Liam Underwood was soon to respond and has selected Låt den rätte komma in (Let The Right One In). If you are also interested in a review you wrote appearing hit the Contact link at the top. I want to thank Liam for writing this excellent review, makes me want to see this film as soon as I can.

Vampires have an extremely sexualized romantic history on-screen, and they are currently experiencing somewhat of a resurgence. Despite their ugly origins with ‘Nosferatu (Nosferatu, eine Symphonie des Grauens) (Murnau, 1922)’ – a bald-headed creature with bat-like features – the screen vampire is often depicted as dashing charming creatures of the night with a certain allure to them.
From Bela Lugosi in ‘Dracula (Browning, 1931)’ to the iconic imposing Christopher Lee in Hammer’s ‘Dracula (Fisher, 1958)’ offering, the Count is perhaps the most famous screen vampire. The 80s saw vampires as sexed up party animals with ‘The Lost Boys (Schumacher, 1987)’ and the criminally overlooked ‘Near Dark (Bigelow, 1987)’ – this portrayal still glamourised the vampire lifestyle. Most recently, vampires have become heart-throb sparkly sex symbols, thanks to their idolised depiction in ‘Twilight (Hardwicke, 2008)’. But vampires are rarely grounded in reality, either situated in a gothic or fantastical context. Until now. Continue reading →