Radio Birdman are one of those bands I was aware of, rather than being overly familiar with. A figurehead of the Australian 70’s punk scene, their sound and style was far more influenced by the likes of The Stooges and MC5, rather than contemporaries of the time such as The Sex Pistols, The Clash or The Damned.
Any documentary covering a subject its viewer doesn’t have an in-depth knowledge of should aim to educate and inform, unfortunately Descent Into The…

Browsing through my 2013 diary here on Letterboxd it became apparent the vast majority of films I watched last year were either current or recent releases. To remedy this I decided to expand my viewing habits a bit more in 2014 by catching up with a few more vintage offerings, whether they be first-time watches or long overdue rewatches.
So, to this end I decided to set myself a mini movie season each and every month throughout this year in…

2011's The Raid was lean, mean, lightning-paced, and carried absolutely zero baggage, it was a supercharged combination of visual flair and insane ultraviolence. So the decision to develop the story in this eagerly-awaited sequel to a far more expansive narrative based around an undercover infiltration of the underworld, and the duplicity and dealings of gangland politics and rivalry, was always going to deliver a different, far broader kind of film. As a result The Raid 2, weighing in at a…