Picturenose

All bets are on

Having recently watched and enjoyed 28 Weeks Later (2007) - which far outstripped 28 Days Later (2002) in my humble opinion - I got to wondering just why I like the sequel better than the original. I realized pretty soon that it was the mood of the film, alongside some pretty tight camera work. Looking at the credits, I saw the director was one Juan Carlos Fresnadillo, someone I have to admit I’d never heard of. This is not surprising as he’s only made something like four movies. I can’t vouch for the other two, but from what I’ve seen he certainly deserves a lot more work.

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Shit and run

It really must have seemed like a great idea at the time. Quentin Tarantino teamed up with Sin City director Robert Rodriguez for a 70s sleaze-fest double bill, Grindhouse, which combines Rodriguez’s zombie-schlock-splatter extravaganza Planet Terror (2007) with Tarantino’s offering, Death Proof, plus several fake 70s-style trailers.

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Derivative dead ringer

Despite inventing the word ‘macabre’, the French rarely venture into the genre from a cinematic perspective; historically, however, when they have, the results have been sometimes sensational - think Henri-Georges Clouzot ’s Les Diaboliques (1955) and Georges Franju’s Les Yeux Sans Visage (1960).

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What dreams may come…

Woody Allen completes his ‘London trilogy’ with this surprisingly dark, moody effort. The title refers to the name that close-knit brothers Ian (Ewan McGregor) and Terry (Colin Farrell) Blaine give to their newly acquired pleasure boat, paying some £6,000 for which only adds to the pair’s financial difficulties - Terry’s a gambler whose habit is spiralling out of control, while Ian is looking to invest in a Californian hotel chain, to get away from the struggling restaurant of his father (John Benfield). A surprise visit from their generous millionaire uncle Howard (Tom Wilkinson) could be their way out of a hole, but the potential benefactor has a surprise request - Howard’s looking to make a real killing of his own, and he wants his nephews’ help…

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