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Pinned reviews

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  The Northman 2022

  ★★★★½ Watched by eightandahalf 22 Apr 2022

  This review may contain spoilers. I can handle the truth.

  The plot for Robert Eggers' latest film is rather simple. Inspired by the same legend that Shakespeare used for Hamlet, The Northman stars Alexander Skasgård as Amleth, a young man seeking revenge for the death of his father (Ethan Hawke) at the hands of his Uncle Fjölnir (Claes Bang).

  But if The Northman was merely a straightforward revenge story it would be done and dusted within the first hour. What The Northman ends up being principally about is fate vs.…

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  Shadow of a Doubt 1943

  ★★★★½ Rewatched by eightandahalf 13 Nov 2021 4

  This review may contain spoilers. I can handle the truth.

  When we first meet fresh-faced teenage Charlie (an excellent Teresa Wright), we find her lying on her bed, resenting the apparent boredom of life in an average American home in her small California town. Her father (Travers) is a mid-level banker whose form of relaxation is to discuss murders with his mousy neighbour (Cronyn). Her mother (Collinge) is a typical 1940s cinematic middle-class housewife: a pleasant homemaker who frets over public perception.

  Despite a war raging overseas, you'd hardly know…

Recent reviews

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  Torch Singer 1933

  ★★★½ Watched by eightandahalf 11 May 2022

  Torch Singer may only be 71 minutes long, but this Pre-Code melodrama packs a hell of a lot into its brief running time. Not too many films could compress so much plot and thematic intrigue into a film barely lasting over an hour, but Alexander Hall skilfully manages to include quite a lot that speaks to the social stigma of unwed mothers being forced to give up their children.

  Granted such behaviour was still happening in many parts of the…

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  Let Him Have It 1991

  ★★★½ Watched by eightandahalf 16 May 2022

  Film School Dropouts 2022 Challenge: boxd.it/e9kR0

  20. Courtroom Dramas

  Let Him Have It is a retelling of the trial of Derek Bentley, who was controversially hanged in 1953. Bentley's case was pivotal in ending capital punishment in Britain. Bentley, (portrayed in the film by Christopher Eccleston) who suffered from developmental disabilities, was convicted under the concept of joint enterprise with the term "Let him have it, Chris" being a disputed part of the case.

  Medak's film is a story filled…

Popular reviews

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  Scarface 1932

  ★★★★½ Watched by eightandahalf 12 Aug 2021

  Out of the 1930s cycle of gangster films that has to rank in the top three in level of influence and importance. Paul Muni wasn't an iconic archetype for the genre like Edward G. Robinson or James Cagney were, but he imbues Tony Camonte with an aura that is unlike Little Caesar's Rico or The Public Enemy's Tom Powers.

  Despite what the censors thought Muni's Chicagoan gangster isn't someone to aspire to be. He's imbecilic, charmless, perverse and gullible. He's…

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  The Servant 1963

  ★★★★½ Watched by eightandahalf 16 Aug 2021

  Criterion Challenge 2021: boxd.it/axfU6

  47. Based on a book

  Tony: Look, Barrett, don't forget your place. You're nothing but a servant in this house.
  Barrett: Servant? I'm nobody's servant. Who furnished the whole place for you? Who painted it for you. Who does the cooking? Who washes your pants. Who cleans the bathhouse after you? I do! I run the whole bloody place! And what do I get out of it? Nothing!

  Joseph Losey's adaptation of Robin Maugham's novella The…