Kicking off my attempt to catch up on 14 months backlog of reviews with a vintage cinema classic, which I finally managed to see a mere 70 years after its release. Keeping my comments brief and to the point until I can tick off a bunch of reviews and get back up to date. Two … Continue reading Sunset Boulevard
Hello Wasteland readers, it has been 8 months since my last confession, how time flies when you have gone back to work after a couple of lockdowns. I have been quietly keeping a list of cultural experiences I wanted to talk to you about, but just haven't been able to find the time, motivation or … Continue reading Portrait of a Lady on Fire
This is the fifth in the series of films I would recommend to an alien to explain humanity. Not, as posted on the Instagram account, #6 - sorry for the confusion, I think I skipped #4 on there when posting for Schindler's List a few weeks ago. Anyway... today's choice is Ari Folman's extraordinary antiwar … Continue reading Alien Rec’s No.5
If you want your film to have a touch of class, with intelligence, beauty, power and humanity at its heart, who are you gonna call? Whether it is a woman of strength and dignity in a supporting role, or an everywomen figure of hope and sensitivity fighting against an injustice in a dynamic lead role, … Continue reading Hall of Fame Inductee #5 Meryl Streep
There was some genuine surprise when I saw this had been made as an Amazon Original. I thought the character of Borat was old news, there certainly couldn't be anyone left, in America or otherwise, that wasn't wise to the joke by now, and aware of Sasha Baron Cohen's desire to satirise the hell out … Continue reading Borat: Subsequent MovieFilm
Way back in January 2020, not very long after rebooting The Wasteland, I wrote a post called True Crime Trio that looked at the growing interest (fuelled almost entirely by Netflix) in the obsession and phenomenon of killers and their often bizarre, sometimes not entirely straightforward, or even solved, case histories and life stories. The … Continue reading 12 of the Best… True Crime Documentaries
Welcome to the fourth instalment of Bad Movie Triple Bills, the section of the Wasteland reserved for films I watch that I kinda know I shouldn't waste my time on, but just can't keep my curiosity in check. This week we have a big budget flop, a promising (on paper) disaster and a low budget … Continue reading Bad Movie Triple Bill #4
The fourth in my series of films you would recommend to an alien to explain humanity dovetails nicely with my Hall of Fame inductee this week. It is Steven Spielberg's seminal anti war epic Shindler's List (1993). This one speaks for itself in many ways. As an exploration of evil and the men behind the … Continue reading Alien Rec’s No.4
Where do you start with Steven Spielberg? In one way or another he has shaped our film watching habits, and controlled what we think of as BIG films for almost 50 years. He may not have reached the artistic pinnacle of Kubrick or Tarkovsky, but he has dominated our idea of Hollywood Blockbusters since 1975, … Continue reading Hall of Fame Inductee #4 Steven Spielberg
Welcome to part 3 of the Bad Movie Triple Bills feature. As I am sure you are getting used to by now, this area is reserved for films I watched that left me palming my forehead in frustration, or puffing out my cheeks in boredom, or gritting my teeth in annoyance. Yes, those little nuggets … Continue reading Bad Movie Triple Bill #3
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