By Zeke Wallis I was so excited during those opening seconds: just a TV, but damn, it was stylish. Through a short series of clips, it established the date (1986), the location (Santa Cruz), our protagonist (reflected in the screen) and a central motif with ease and flare… Only for the very next shot to repeat half that information as superimposed text, like the film had immediately lost confidence in itself and in its audience. My boyfriend and I exchanged a look then and th

By Veer Sharma ‘Comedy’ in the modern sense is difficult to pin down, but has usually been reduced to that which causes a specific physical response. In the same vein as horror (fear), romantic melodrama (tears) and pornography (sexual arousal), it has its own generic sine qua non: laughter. Critics will regularly laud comedies as ‘side-splitting’ because surely the physical response is the clearest and most accurate example of the success of a self-identified humorous film?

By Veer Sharma On the shoulders of giants Ridley Scott’s Blade Runner is regarded as something of a legendary film today, which would shock anyone who witnessed its arrival in theatres in 1982. Production strife, studio meddling and messy re-cutting led to a film that struggled to find its proper form. Though it gathered a steady cult following in the years since release, it was only after the misleadingly-named ‘Director’s Cut’ and definitively-named ‘Final Cut’ emerged in 1

By George Tuck Director Andy Muschietti’s fresh new take on ‘IT’ (2017) has easily been one of the most talked about films of the year. Many fans of both the original Stephen King classic novel and the 1990 campy, low budget nostalgia-fest TV mini-series adaptation appeared skeptical; many unsure if the reboot could compete with Tim Curry’s iconic take on ‘Pennywise the Dancing Clown’. However, I say without a shadow of a doubt that this the best horror film I have watched in

By Nayomi Karthigesu The Sun rises in the east, Hamlet was the most adapted Shakespearean text of the silent era and I was 15 minutes late to “Silent Shakespeare”: a night of “nostalgia, wonderment and silliness”, in the words of Professor Judith Buchanan. Part lecture, part theatre, Buchanan’s night, in conjunction with Silents Now, a company bringing silent era films back to the modern day audience, and the Society for Renaissance studies, brought about a night fraught with

Most people do not go to the theatre often, even once a year is a stretch for those not active fans of the theatre experience. On the other hand most people visit the cinema multiple times a year, maybe even a month. What accounts for this? Well, the obvious answer that springs to my mind seems to be cost and availability. If I wanted to see a movie this week I could go to the Reel cinema and see a movie for about £5. The minimum price for a general ticket to see Wonderland a