Nick Bartlett

Freelance Writer

Critical popcorn •

Martyrs 4K UHD review: Dir. Pascal Laugier [Masters Of Cinema]

There’s a Halloween tradition within my friend group. Every year we meet up and watch a horror double bill – one schlocky fun horror, and one genuinely disturbing film. After one year when my disturbing pick was deemed “not scary enough” I was determined to pick something that would shake him to his core. As such, the next year I massively overcorrected and selected Pascal Laugier’s seminal horror masterpiece, Martyrs.
Critical popcorn •

The Man in the White Suit Blu-ray Review: Dir. Alexander Mackendrick [StudioCanal]

The films of Ealing Studios, especially their comedies, represent some of the very best of British cinema. Today the studio is most well known for it’s subversive, blacker than pitch comedies. The Ladykillers and Kind Hearts And Coronets are possibly the most celebrated films of the studio (and I’ve written elsewhere about Denis Price’s incredible performance in the latter) but The Man In The White Suit is one of their most quietly iconoclastic films.
Critical popcorn •

Trouble Every Day Blu-ray review: Dir. Claire Denis [Masters Of Cinema]

I’ve been wanting to see Trouble Every Day ever since I was a teenager first discovering international cinema. The film’s iconic promotional image – Béatrice Dalle, her mouth smeared with blood and viscera – seared itself into my brain and has never let go. Unavailable in the UK for a long time, Trouble Every Day has now received a Blu-ray release from Eureka films, and after years of anticipation it did not disappoint – though it is very much an acquired taste.
FILMHOUNDS Magazine •

The Hidden Fortress Blu-ray Review

Akira Kurosawa's influence on cinema is legendary – from the non-linear structure of Rashomon to the technical mastery of High and Low and Ikiru, where his use of sound and colour was years ahead of its time. His work has also famously inspired direct remakes – Seven Samurai resulted in The Magnificent Seven and Yojimbo served as the basis for A Fistful Of Dollars. Alongside these is The Hidden Fortress, a film Kurosawa described as “100% entertainment.”

Two Way Stretch Review (StudioCanal Vintage Classics)

To celebrate the centenary of comedy icon Peter Sellers, StudioCanal are releasing two of his lesser celebrated works, the sharply satirical Heavens Above and this delightful prison caper, Two Way Stretch. In the early sixties, Sellers was on the cusp of international stardom – he was yet to break through with The Pink Panther and Dr. Strangelove, and instead played the lead in a string of comedies produced by British Lion Films, playing a range of roguish characters.
Critical popcorn •

Midnight Blu-ray review: Dir. Mitchell Leisen [Criterion Collection]

This is one of those times where I am so glad I took a punt on a film I knew next to nothing about. With a characteristically caustic screenplay from Billy Wilder and Charles Brackett and a winning lead performance from Claudette Colbert, Midnight is a delight from start to finish, easily holding it’s own among celebrated classics of the genre like Ninotchka, The Lady Eve and His Girl Friday.
Critical popcorn •

Superman IMAX review: Dir. James Gunn

The first film in James Gunn’s new DC Universe, you’d think a reboot of Superman would be weighed down with scene-setting, backstory, and exposition. But Gunn sweeps all of that aside with surprising deftness. The result is a film that feels light, breezy, and mercifully free of the lore that often bogs these stories down. It’s not just the best Superman film since Richard Donner’s 1978 classic — it’s the best superhero film in years, at least since Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse.
Critical popcorn •

Elio review: Dir. Adrian Molina, Madeline Sharafian and Domee Shi

Pixar have been really struggling to retain their sense of identity in recent years. That notorious announcement about the studio shifting focus toward sequels over original ideas put its remaining original output under more scrutiny than ever. And while there have been some undeniable hits (Coco, Soul), there’s also been a string of films that are harder to warm to (Elemental, Turning Red, Luca).
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