INTERVIEW: Sam Childers, real-life Machine Gun Preacher
By Stuart BarrThe true life story of a reformed criminal turned preacher named Sam Childers and his mission to help the children of Southern Sudan Machine Gun Preacher was released in the UK last week....
View ArticleMission Impossible: Ghost Protocol – first look
By Stuart BarrLate last week a small group of film journalists and bloggers gathered in the BFI's cavernous IMAX cinema in London for a preview – consisting of about 20 minutes of footage – of Mission...
View ArticleStuart Barr's Top 10 films of 2011
1. Hugo (directed by Martin Scorsese)Scorsese manages to work a passionate plea for film preservation into his first attempt at a family entertainment and creates a movie that both rewards the...
View ArticleDoes anyone want to watch some movies?
By Stuart BarrLately, the film blogosphere has been getting me down – but two recent events have pushed me over the edge.The relationship between fandom, semi-pro and amateur movie bloggers and the...
View ArticleAnd what is the mainstream anyway?
Some thoughts on David Cameron’s ideas to improve the commercial prospects of UK filmBy Stuart BarrText Today (January 11, 2012) the UK’s prime minister has outlined some of the coalition governments’...
View ArticleDigesting a future for British film
By Stuart BarrA couple of weeks have now passed since David Cameron's remarks on the British film industry were met with a collective raised eyebrow by both the industry and the blogosphere alike....
View ArticleAn audience with Nicolas Cage
By Stuart BarrSo several weeks ago Screenjabber trekked to a West End hotel for a press conference with Nicolas Cage.What needs to be said about Cage? The man is a legend, one of the most unique and...
View ArticleThe Devils: BFI screening & DVD release ★★★★★
By Stuart BarrStarring Vanessa Redgrave, Oliver Reed, Dudley Sutton, Max Adrian, Gemma Jones, Murray Melvin, Michael Gothard, Georgina Hale, Brian Murphy, Christopher Logue, Graham Armitage, John...
View ArticleDeath Waltz Recording Company debuts with vicious vinyl
By Stuart BarrFounded by Rough Trade record store manager Spencer Hickman, Death Waltz Recording Company is a new venture aiming to reissue (or in some cases just plain “issue”) classic and cult film...
View ArticleInterview: Drew Goddard
If you go down to the woods today ...By Stuart BarrAt Glasgow FrightFest in February, there was significant buzz about one film not being screened, THE CABIN IN THE WOODS. You cannot have failed to...
View ArticleHouse of the blues
Interview and article by Stuart Barr courtesy of FrightFestSilent House is the latest American remake of a foreign language horror film, in this case Gustavo Hernández’ Uruguayan film The Silent House–...
View ArticleINTERVIEW: The Raid
Screenjabber's Stuart Barr chats with The Raid writer-director Gareth Evans and star Iko Uwais.WARNING: this article contains some spoilers. Beware!!!As you have no doubt heard, there is a new boy on...
View ArticleRise of the Replicants
By Stuart BarrIn the soon-to-be-released God Bless America, writer/director Bobcat Goldthwait unleashes a stream of nihilistic abuse upon modern American culture – and sadly, most of what he disdains...
View ArticleDoing it the GI Joe way
How to let your audience know exactly what it means to youBy Stuart BarrNo doubt you have heard the news that a mere five weeks before its scheduled release date, Paramount pushed its mega-budget...
View ArticleA spectre that haunts the world
A new film from David Cronenberg is always an event, and Stuart Barr jumped at the opportunity to join an all-too-brief roundtable interview with the director and his latest leading man, Robert...
View ArticleInterview: William Friedkin
A vulgar display of power: William Friedkin on Killer Joe,Hollywood's infantilism and the mysteries of the MPAALegendary American director William Friedkin recently visited Great Britain to promote his...
View ArticleFrightFest 2012: Stuart Barr's picks
By Stuart BarrAugust is looming once more, and that means one thing for horror movie fans in the capital (and beyond) FrightFest. Here once again I bring you my choice of the freshly announced line up....
View ArticleStuart Barr's 2012 mid-year review
By Stuart BarrHow is 2012 shaping up as a digitally projected entertainment vintage (I have sadly retired the word celluloid, once Scorsese has jumped ship it really is all over)?If you had asked me...
View ArticleHey, Graham, leave them kids alone
By Stuart BarrOkay, this is a bit off-topic for a movie blog, but it’s my blogpost and I’m annoyed about something so buckle up.GP Taylor appeared on BBC Breakfast one morning this week. If you haven’t...
View ArticleWhy The Dark Knight Rises fell flat for me
By Stuart BarrWARNING: Here there be spoilersA few points of housekeeping first ... this isn't intended to be a review of The Dark Knight Rises (TDKR) so much as my wrestling with why the third and...
View ArticleThe SHOCK of the old
By Stuart BarrRecently I watched two films in close succession that both featured an extreme amount of misogyny and sexual violence. One of these films I absolutely detested, and one I loved. The...
View ArticleFootage found, or found footage? A meditation on style and genre
By Stuart BarrRecently I was surprised to hear the esteemed critic Mark Kermode describe the new horror film Sinister as a ‘found footage’ film. The term, especially when applied to a horror movie,...
View ArticleTaking out the trash
By Stuart BarrThe trailer trash that is. Okay, here starts a hopefully regular (if it gets enough fibre) column looking at the latest trailers to appear on the interwebs. I’m only going to talk about...
View ArticleWhat happened to film coverage on British TV?
By Stuart BarrA bit of a spat broke out on Twitter recently. The Observer newspaper runs a regular column by film critic Jason Solomons, and in last weekend’s paper he marked the return of the BBC’s...
View ArticleINTERVIEW: Life of Pi VFX supervisor Bill Westenhofer
By Stuart BarrBill Westenhofer is the visual effects supervisor on Ang Lee’s dazzling adaptation of Yann Martell’s novel Life of Pi. Westenhofer works for effects house Rhythm & Hues and has a CV...
View ArticleAmerican Mary: ready to put you under like sedation
An interview with the Twisted Twins and Katherine IsabelleBy Stuart BarrWith their second feature, American Mary, Canadian filmmakers Jen and Sylvia Soska became a sensation on the horror festival...
View ArticleNews Jab: Rabies outbreak hits the UK
By Stuart BarrA hit at both the Film4 FrightFest and the Edinburgh International Film Festival back in 2011, the excellent Israeli horror film Rabies is to receive a long overdue DVD release in the UK...
View ArticleNotes From the Fringe
By Stuart BarrWelcome, readers, to an irregular round-up of news, observations and stuff from outside the mainstream. No Iron Man 3 trailer discussions here. I tried to do a straight round-up of...
View ArticleWhen the monsters got you
By Stuart BarrThere is simply no more enduring monster in the horror genre than the vampire. That putrid late-20th century pretender the zombie may have mounted a spirited campaign to usurp the vamp,...
View ArticleCOMMENT: When did Hollywood become so misogynistic?
By Stuart BarrModern mainstream films mostly enforce, endorse and propagate what career businesspeople with sharp suits and MBAs believe is their audience – 13-year-old boys. I’m that sure some of you...
View Article