Drive
Director Nicholas Wending Refn’s film is more defined by what it doesn’t do than by what it does. The plot – wafer thin and corny as hell – is the sort of thing normally dressed up by one-liners, explosions and rapid-cut editing to disguise just how laughably trite it is.
On paper, this could be yet another Hollywood action movie, but Refn is slow and serious where others are fast and furious. The minimal story of a stuntman who moonlights as a getaway driver and becomes a hero to the woman he loves is pared down even more into something that aims for the stark simplicity of Michael Mann’s debut movie, Thief, and Walter Hill’s The Driver, two classics which make up the bulk of Drive’s DNA. Ryan Gosling tersely plays the driver (and that’s how he’s credited, not with a name but with a profession) as a black hole. He doesn’t act so much as react in what’s almost an anti-performance. He leaves all the more active character stuff to the great Albert Brooks (as a doleful crime boss) and supporting players picked from the casts of Mad Men, Breaking Bad and Sons Of Anarchy. But this isn’t an actor’s movie, this one is all about the director, his particular taste and the choices he decides to make. Refn’s decisions, like filming the opening heist/chase from almost entirely within the confines of a car, or treating violence as something sudden, brutal and final, are masterful and really quite special.
DVD & Blu-ray, Icon Home Entertainment
Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy
Gary Oldman provides the quiet centre of a complex, understated, slow-burning and masterful thriller.
DVD & Blu-ray, Studiocanal/Optimum
Four Flies On Grey Velvet
Early Dario Argento giallo about a rock drummer stalked and blackmailed, with a Morricone soundtrack.
DVD & Blu-ray, Shameless
Star Trek: The Next Generation – The Next Level
A complex restoration process yields stunning results in this taster.
DVD & Blu-ray, Paramount
Rolling Thunder
This 1977 B-movie is much darker and bleaker than standard exploitation fare.
DVD & Blu-ray, Optimum
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