A film which manages to get the balance between horror and comedy spot on, Tremors is a terrific ensemble movie about subterranean monsters tormenting the inhabitants of Perfection, Nevada. Kevin Bacon leads the cast in one of the actor’s most endearing movies as down-on-his-luck handyman, Val McKee. With his best friend Earl Bassett (Fred Ward), the pair become the town’s saviours as the heroic duo lead the group’s survival against underground creatures who hunt by sound.
The spectre of the fallen Twin Towers is a ubiquitous presence throughout Spike Lee’s poignant and powerful drama, 25th Hour. Indeed, we’re introduced to New York City at night, a wide shot showcasing the illuminated skyline, the Tribute in Light piercing the dark like Excalibur held aloft; a fixed, ethereal moment of defiance.
Adapted from his own novel by David Benioff, it was conceived prior to the 2001 terrorist attacks. However, Lee, preparing the film that year, made the wise decision to subtly integrate the destruction of that day into this absorbing story about one man’s final hours before a seven-year stretch in prison.
Read the full review at Top 10 Films.
Christopher MacBride won’t have had any clue how prescient his 2012 film The Conspiracy would become. It arrived before the presidency of Donald Trump, and the POTUS’s relentless attack on mainstream media, by design diverting attention to fringe political commentators and sociopaths pushing nefarious theories. And it arrived well in advance of a post-COVID-19 world riddled be fear, mistrust and uncertainty. Where conspiracies peddled by Trump acolytes have displaced so-called “fake news” with an insidious credibility fuelled by social media memes.
Romper Stomper is an aesthetic tour de force. Fronted by a shaven-headed Russell Crowe prior to the Gladiator superstardom, his white supremacist is a disenfranchised Melbournian sweating rage from every pore. It’s admirable that Crowe’s glassy-eyed fury could be a moment away from tears as he teeters on an edge between frenzied animosity and a deep-rooted sadness. It’s a mark of the New Zealand born actor’s talent, revealing a subtle intimacy in a character that is otherwise underwritten.
