Tiny Furniture, Lena Dunham and Girls

The female slacker mentality is summed up perfectly by Lena Dunham in her film Tiny Furniture which I urge you all to go and see. It is out in the UK today after a very long wait.

You can read my review over on Cinetalk.

Lena Dunham is a bright young talent who amuses me most days with her exquisite tweets @lenadunham and funny photos.

Her musings on threesomes and the difficulty of putting your tights on in the car are joyful!

Look forward to her new HBO series Girls 

Daria and The Doom Generation

Last week I hung up my coconutboots and swapped them for Daria boots* as I travelled back to the nineties to watch Gregg Araki's The Doom Generation.

The soundtrack features Nine Inch Nails, The Jesus and Mary Chain and Aphex Twin whose overly long music videos were always a highlight of my youth:

The Doom Generation is part of Gregg Araki’s “Teenage Apocalypse Trilogy” (out on DVD now) the other films being Totally Fucked Up and Nowhere. 

You can read my review over on Starburst

*copyright Dawn Hughes

Corman's World

Whether you are a fan of Roger Corman’s work or not this is an engaging, fascinating and inspiring look at a prolific director and his legacy.

I don't think I can sum up the love I have for Corman but I give it a go in my review over on Starburst

Out on Blu-ray and DVD on 26th March.

Love, Sex and Death

The 50th anniversary edition of Love on a Pillow (Le Repos du Guerrier) is out now on DVD. 

It is over the top French romance. So obviously I loved it.

You can read my review on Cinetalk

In Darkness is currently out in the UK at cinemas. It is everything all the quotes on the poster claim it to be. I spent ages writing about it because there was so much to say about it. Unfortunately in a moment of stupidity I wiped my laptop and lost my review.

Mairéad Roche has written an in depth review over on Cinemart. You can read it here.

It is a powerful story told with honesty and an artitistic eye.

Themes of humanity are dealt with extremely well and the animalistic urge of humans is portrayed through some exceptionally well crafted sex scenes that remove the need for dialogue in making a statement. Director, Agnieszka Holland, also doesn't shy away from the subject of female masturbation.

A Horrible Way to Die is stand out horror that deserves credit for approaching the genre in a creative way.  You can read my review on Cinetalk.

It is out on DVD now.

Shit Religion

You can read my review over on Starburst Magazine

You can read my review over on Starburst

21 Jump Street

 

For those of you familiar with my film reviews you will know I have a dislike for Channing Tatum's acting; for examples see The Eagle and Haywire

But he won me over in 21 Jump Street

It's great, go and see it!

You can read my review over on Cinetalk

John Carter

Haters be hatin' but I thought John Carter was a bucketload of sci-fi fun!

You can read my review over on Starburst Magazine

Out of Office

I am off drinking Limoncello with Danny Devito. (some of this may be a lie) See you soon!

Helmrich, Naranjo and Tatsumi

Watching Position Among the Stars was like saying goodbye to some good friends. It is the final part in a trilogy of documentary films following the lives of a family living in Jakarta, Indonesia. Director, Leonard Retel Helmrich followed this family for twelve years; I would recommend getting to know them.

You can read my review on Cinetalk.

Screenings and more information.

Mexican Director, Gerardo Naranjo delivers some brutal and visceral viewing in Miss Bala.

You can read my review on Cinetalk

A film depicting the life of Gekiga Manga artist Yoshihiro Tatsumi. Worth a watch.

You can read my review over on Starburst Magazine

Some thoughts on comedy

Wanderlust is a new comedy from David Wain starring Paul Rudd and Jennifer Aniston. I am a fan of Rudd and his comedy styling and even went so far as to take some time out from the Toronto Film Festival last year to watch Our Idiot Brother as I thought it looked promising and also featured Rashida Jones (The Office, Parks and Recreation) sporting a wonderful pair of glasses. 

It wasn't the greatest film ever, but Rudd and Rashida did some great character acting.

Here is my review of Wanderlust it was pretty funny, but not perfect. 

Project X was not a film made for me, but its target audience will probably enjoy it, although with an 18 certificate in the UK some of its potential audience will be lost. There are no female characters in this film, just objects for boys to lust over. 

You can read my review on Cinetalk.

Diablo Cody and Jason Reitman take the opposite direction from Project X  by making a woman the central role in Young Adult. Another refreshing film from this writer/director duo thanks to strong performances, a sharp screenplay and the ability to push boundaries when it comes to female film roles.

You can read my review on Cinetalk

Also out this week is Hunky Dory, which I saw at the London Film Festival last year, and thoroughly enjoyed. The soundtrack features some excellent 70s tunes. 

I didn't enjoy This Means War, in fact it put me in a bad mood for the most part. I haven't written a review but Jonathan Hatfull sums it up nicely over on Fohnhouse.