Small Scale Thrillers

The setup for Frozen is about as simple as it gets but doesn't stop it from being an entertaining b-movie thriller. After cajoling a ski lift operator into letting them have one last run, 3 unlikeable Yanks find themselves stranded 50ft in the air with little chance of rescue. Cue shonky acting, idiotic decision making and some schlocky gore.


The Disappearance of Alice Creed is a tight, one-set Brit thriller about the kidnapping of young woman by a pair of gay gangsters. It's a solid film, nothing amazing but reasonably well acted and there's a few twists to keep things interesting even if it is all a bit daft.

Trouble With Dreams

The Lathe of Heaven, adapted from Le Guin's novel, is an intelligent SF film that succeeds despite it's tv-movie budget. Set on a decaying, war ravaged, near-future Earth the film follows George Orr who realises that some of his dreams have been altering reality but who unfortunately seeks help from an unscrupulous psychiatrist whose sole concern is harnessing this power. Though it suffers from ropey FX it's a nicely paced film with some big ideas & considerably more enjoyable film than the 2002 remake. Whole film below.



Chasing Sleep stars Jeff Daniels as an insomniac with a missing wife problem and some suddenly malfunctioning plumbing. It's a kind of ambiguous Lynch-lite thriller a little theatrical but it has some atmos and Daniels puts in an decent performance as the Uni professor descending into a druggy/sleepy fugue with added sprinkles of hallucination.

Mr Rhythm's Blues

Andre Williams, writer/performer/producer of crazy R&B grooves - Shake a Tail Feather, Chicken Thighs and Cadillac Jack to name but a few - is the subject of the excellent if depressing documentary Agile, Mobile, Hostile.



At 70 years old, Andre is on really hard times; skint, struggling with the bottle & the pipe, with ailing health and faced with a gruelling tour schedule just to pay his rent but it's a testament to Williams' character that despite all his problems his fun loving, optimism and love for music still shine strong. I know it's a year-in-the-life of type thing but I hankered for more about his early career. Anyways you can make own mind up as the whole film is below courtesy of snagfilms. Muchas Gracias to Luchador Ed for the tip.

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Sixties selection

The Madwoman of Challiot is an unusual ensemble comedy starring Ustinov, Brynner, Chamberlain, Pleasance & Katherine Hepburn as the rather odd, eponymous heroine. A surprisingly biting satire, Hepburn plays a romantic minded woman who becomes disgusted by our contemporary world when she discovers there's plans to exploit oil deposits found in her own Parisian neighbourhood. It's soaked in sixties thinking but the razor sharp script pulls it above a trivial protest film into a much more reasoned, intelligent little film. Directed by Bryan Forbes

Modesty Blaise, starring Stamp, Bogarde & Monica Vitti, is a glorious 60's mess. If you enjoy silly retro comedies like Our Man Flynt then I wholeheartedly recommend this film as it's a real gem otherwise I wouldn't bother. The plot is incoherent nonsense and the action is pretty lame but Vitti's charms dispell any flaws and one thing for sure though it's waay better than the version Tarantino produced.

To finish there's What a Way to Go! a musical-ish, 60's satire pointed at our relationship with a then burgeoning capitalist culture. Shirley Maclaine stars as a country girl who seeks a simple life but unwittingly marries into big money over and over again. Maclaine's suitor's include Mitchum, Newman, Dean Martin & Gene Kelly. It's a bit of 60's fluff that should have been funnier.

Greek Gore & Train Troubles

Greek Zombie splatter fest Evil is a pretty decent zombie flick given it's obviously tiny budget. 3 dudes investigate a mysterious cave and unwittingly release a people chomping plague so a band of survivors end up traipsing the city looking for a safe haven. It's a little crude and the acting is so-so but once it gets going the action is amusingly violent, reminiscent of Bad Taste/Braindead with head popping, gouging etc. The prequel was at the EIFF this year apparently so I'll check that out when it becomes, er, available.

Horror Express is a surprisingly entertaining Cushing & Lee romp from '72. Sure it's hardly original, mashing Murder on the Orient with The Thing from Another World but it somehow works. Lee uncovers a frozen corpse in Manchuria and is shipping it home to Blighty via the Transsiberian railway and obviously corpsey has his own agenda and the killing starts. A nice schlocky b-movie with bonus Telly Savalas ham-aganza.

Arty Amusements

Exit Through the Gift Shop was really entertaining, a funny, thought provoking documentary about urban street art. The debate about the truthiness of the film is lengthy but I'm pretty confident it's a finely worked hoax even despite Fairey's protestations - if anything the ambiguity surrounding it is a testament to the skill of whoever was involved. Made me think of Welles' tricksy film F For Fake.

If you enjoyed Exit's satirical take on the art world you might like The Horse's Mouth a bittersweet comedy starring Alec Guinness as an irascible painter driven to fulfill his artistic vision with little regard for where, when or what the cost. Guinness, who also wrote the adaptation, puts in a superlative performance as the git-sh yet loveable Jimson and he's supported with a cast of capable, familiar faces from the Ealing era. I really enjoyed it and found it strangely uplifting all in all a nice little oddity from the 50's. Might look into some of Neame's other films though I've already seen Poseidon, Jean Brodie and Odessa.

More Antidote

Stunning long exposure of the Chilean VLT observatory firing a laser guide to calculate atmospheric distortions or zzzapp take that space invaders! Bigger n better version via the Discovery blog.

Ahh tractor beams, the stalwart mechanism of space adventures, are inching closer to reality with some Oz scientists claiming they can move small particles over a distance of a metre or more. Physorg.

Though it's still under peer review there's a paper claiming that one of the fundamental constants of physics doesn't appear to be so well, er constant. It's a bit above my level but worth a read. Science Daily.

Nikon's annual microphotography contest has turned up some more fascinating pics. Below are some soap bubbles snapped by a resident of Dusseldorf. Via Wired.

Spike back in Crescent City & other documentaries

If God Is Willing and Da Creek Don't Rise is Spike Lee's film following up on the residents of New Orleans and Louisiana he first featured in award winning When The Levees Broke. Covering the continued half hearted government response to the disaster and the added injury of the BP spill this is just as distressing as the first film and got me wondering whether Dubya's slow initial response was a deliberate experiment in profit-lead, social engineering in the same vein as their little Iraqi jaunt. It certainly seems that the ideas and wishes of the remaining populace count for f-all in the rebuilding, or not, of New Orleans. You could maybe cut half an hours worth or so of moody landscapes out of the lengthy runtime and it a little scattershot at times but it's a powerful, emotive documentary nonetheless.

Boogie Man: The Lee Atwater Story is a must-see for anyone interested in American politics Atwater is the campaign "genius" behind Reagan, both Bushes and still had the time to mentor Karl Rove in the dark arts of electioneering. His particularly offensive brand of dirty, dirty politics has become the norm for the Republican party ever since, despite his death bed repudiations. The film is marred by some pop-psychology about his motivations however - as a semi decent blues musician and a lover of black music his infamous Willie Horton race baiting campaign indicated he was deeply complicated, troubled man but is given little time in the film. Still it's excellent film and is certainly one of my favourite political documentaries. And here's a little list of some of the others...



The Trials of Henry Kissinger - Jarecki's film about Kissinger's war crimes.

King: A Filmed Record - Lumet's emotive tribute to Dr King is a classic.

The War Room - A thrilling look at Clinton's '92 election win.

The Leader, His Driver and the Driver's Wife - Broomfield's amusing film about Terree Blanche

Taxi To The Dark Side - Gibney's harrowing examination of American human rights abuses.

The War on Democracy - a film by John Pilger on US meddling in Southern America.


Why We Fight - a brilliant history of the rise of the Military/Industrial complex again by Jarecki.

Capitalism: A Love Story - probably Moore's best and most uncompromising film.

OutFoxed - a thorough look at politically motivated media manipulation by Greenwald.