I am a struggling indie filmmaker, actor and novelist with three short films to my credit and a feature film in development (hopefully!). You can read more of my reviews at Film Exposed.com and Cinedelica.com, where I’m a regular contributor.
I consider myself very lucky to have grown up travelling the globe, which meant childhood viewings of Hollywood greats (Ford, Hitchcock, Hawks), Arthouse auteurs (Truffaut, Yimou, Bresson), mainstream fare (Spielberg, Disney, Star Wars), and cult treasures from around the world. Kung fu, Euro horror, Japanese monster movies, Russian fairytales, French cop movies, Turkish swashbucklers, Italian superheroes, spy flicks and sex comedies – you name it, I saw it! Later on, books like Mondo Macabro and Immoral Tales by Pete Tombs, and Helen McCarthy’s books on anime were a big influence during my film school years.
My heart is big enough to embrace rom-coms, sleaze fests, musicals and arty nonsense in equal measure, although I’m especially fond of Japanese animation and Chinese fantasy. Cinema needs to escape the tired epithets of contemporary film criticism (i.e. downbeat equals high art; the only good movies are from the Seventies; gangster flicks are great but fantasy is rubbish), and websites like this are one answer. Hopefully, I’ll be able to steer you towards some neglected gems, and stir up some debate along the way.
