Blind Spot: A Clockwork Orange

Posted on June 10, 2016 by jaycluitt

In a semi-dystopian future London, Alex DeLarge (Malcolm McDowell) and his gangs of droogs (James Marcus, Warren Clarke and Michael Tarn) spend their nights terrorising the town, fighting with other gangs, beating up drunks and breaking into people’s houses, stealing valuables, and crippling and raping the inhabitants. When the gang turns against their leader, Alex is left injured at the scene of his latest crime and is sentenced to prison, wherein he attempts a new form of treatment set to “reprogram” him against his former behaviour.
Continue reading →

The Dressmaker

Posted on June 9, 2016 by jaycluitt

25 years after she was exiled, dressmaker Myrtle “Tilly” Dunnage (Kate Winslet) returns to her home town of Dungatar in Australia. Myrtle soon turns heads and livens up the fashions of the townsfolk, all the while getting to the bottom of why she was banished as a child, and exacting revenge where necessary.
Continue reading →

My Week in Movies, 2016 Week 22

Posted on June 4, 2016 by jaycluitt

I’m trying to get back onto the reviewing horse one small step at a time, and I think what is most important it to try and review more films each week than I’m adding to the pile to review. Hence, this past week saw just 2 relevant films watched, but three reviewed. If I keep this up, I should be caught up in a little over four months. Jeez that seems like ages. I’m not going to worry about the maths of it all, I’m just going to write some reviews now and then, and try to stay sane. After all, I’ve got a wedding to plan now. Here’s what I watched this week:
Continue reading →

May 2016 Update

Posted on June 1, 2016 by jaycluitt

May was something of a momentous month for me. Not blogging-wise, I’m still way behind where I should be, don’t be silly. No, I’m talking about in the real world, away from this key-covered burden that it my laptop. “What happened in May?” I hear you ask. Well, I went and got myself engaged. Yep, I’m no longer someone’s boyfriend, now I’m there fiancé. Or fiancée. Or financé. One of those, pretty sure it’s the last one.

The deed was done on holiday up in the Peak District (photos are at the bottom of the post, as that’s the “new place to walk the dog” covered for the month), during which time I also got to watch quite a few films due to the future Mrs. Me having quite a lot of naps, what with all the walking in the countryside, allowing me to waste hours upon end watching drivel like Skyline and Sanctum. I’d have got more reviews written, but we didn’t have any Wi-Fi. Sorry about that.

Target-wise I’m still mostly behind, but I did catch up on one other goal that I’d fallen back on, so progress is being made. The aim for June is to catch up on one of the other two (probably film-makers) and then move on from there. Oh, and sort out a wedding venue. Apparently they can get quite pricey.
Continue reading →

The Color of Pomegranates

Posted on May 31, 2016 by jaycluitt

Dear reader,

Don’t seek in this post the review of the film The Color of Pomegranates, a film claiming to not be a biography of the poet Sayat-Nova, but is in fact merely striving to convey, by means of cinema, the pictorial world of that poetry. This post strives to convey not a review of the film, but merely a feel, by means of rambling words and poorly planned introductions, of how much the writer didn’t care for it one bit. Continue reading →

Sedmikrásky (Daisies)

Posted on May 31, 2016 by jaycluitt

Two girls, both named Marie (Jitka Cerhová & Ivana Karbanová) decide that since the world has gone bad, surely they must be allowed to as well. Thus initiates a series of increasingly anarchic and madcap escapades as the two wreck havoc wherever they go.
Continue reading →

Blind Spot: Raging Bull

Posted on May 30, 2016 by jaycluitt

Jake LaMotta (Robert DeNiro) was a middleweight boxer in 1940s and 50s New York. Known as something of a brawler both in and out of the ring, his animalistic tendencies, relationship paranoia and microscopic fuse often found him at odds with his brother Joey (Joe Pesci), second wife Vickie (Cathie Moriarty) and pretty much everyone else he met along the way.
Continue reading →

My Week in Movies, 2016 Week 20 & 21

Posted on May 29, 2016 by jaycluitt

There’s a lot to catch you all up on this week, but given the proximity of the end of the month I’ll save it for the monthly round-up. Instead, let’s dive straight into what I’ve been watching recently:
Continue reading →

Caravaggio

Posted on May 28, 2016 by jaycluitt

Michelangelo “Mikaeli” Caravaggio (Dexter Fletcher) is a painter and street hustler in late 16th Century Italy when he catches the eye of the wealthy Cardinal Del Monte (Michael Gough), who proceeds to fund the boy’s artwork. Growing up (into Nigel Terry) Caravaggio lives a hedonistic lifestyle, fornicating with his models – both male and female – eventually leading to a complicated love triangle between himself, street fighter Ranuccio (Sean Bean) and his manager/lover Lena (Tilda Swinton) which is unlikely to end well for anyone involved.
Continue reading →

Room

Posted on May 22, 2016 by jaycluitt

This review was originally written for Blueprint: Review.

Today is Jack’s birthday, he is five years old. To him, the whole world is Room, an 11×11 foot enclosure outside of which he has never been. He lives with his mother, Ma, plays with Egg Snake under Bed, eats with Meltedy Spoon and sometimes, when Old Nick visits, Jack has to sleep in Wardrobe, counting the groans before Old Nick falls asleep. The stuff on TV is all fantasy, things that don’t exist in real life. Jack’s world ends at the walls, the floor, the ceiling, the skylight and the heavy metal door, locked with a keypad combination. Beyond that, there is nothing.
Continue reading →