Michael Mann may be the only true auteur left in US cinema who is steadily working today, relentlessly exploring his major theme of professional men who conduct their lives along a code that seems outdated even in their time. Not coincidentally, this mirrors Mann himself, who works years on a film and is involved in [...]

Imagine living in 1960s Great Britain where the BBC didn’t play more than 45 minutes of popular music per day. No Stones, no Jimmy Hendrix, no Grateful Dead for most of the day. Enter Pirate Radio – stations broadcasting from ships floating in the North Sea in order to escape the government trying to save [...]

“State of Play” seems like Hollywood’s answer to the current newspaper crisis, but it actually started with a six-part BBC series from 2003 featuring a then little-known James McAvoy. Adapted for the big screen by Tony Gilroy, who seems to specialize in behind the scenes looks of institutions and big business, and directed by Kevin [...]

“That’ll be the day.”
The Western has always been one of my favourite film genres. Be it the great classics, revisionist Westerns or just films inspired by it. It is the most American of all film genres and, thanks to a long history (starting with Edwin S Porter’s “The Great Train Robbery” from 1903) it has [...]