Bomb It

“The writing’s on the wall for graffiti artists” - so reads the tired and predictable tabloid punch line. But despite years of media hysteria and clean-up operations, graffiti remains a part of urban life throughout the developed world. Jon Reiss’ documentary Bomb It proposes to explore not only the tremendous diversity of global wall writing but the wall itself – posing the question 'who owns public space, anyway?'.

Tower Heist

In March of 2009 American stockbroker Bernard Lawrence Madoff was sentenced to 150 years in prison for defrauding his investors of some $13 billion. Considering the ever-growing global fury at the financial big-wigs, it shouldn’t surprise anyone that such a brazen act of corporate vandalism has made it to the big screen; what might raise a few eyebrows, however, is that its come in the form of a farcical comedy starring Ben Stiller and Eddie Murphy. Huh.

Apocalypse Now

In February of 1976 Francis Ford Coppola and his American Zoetrope production team began filming Apocalypse Now. Approximately 3 years later and reportedly some $30 million over budget the film premiered at the Cannes festival to wide critical acclaim. Now, some 30 years down the line the Vietnam epic has been lovingly restored by Coppola’s own production company and is back on the big screen. It should go without saying that for a generation of cinephiles this presents an opportunity not to be missed.

Akira

When Katsuhiro Otomo’s Akira was released in 1988 it must have been something of a novelty; an ultra-violent, hyper-stylised, feature length cartoon for adults. Now re-released in cinemas some 20+ years later for an audience au fait with the wonder of Japanese animation it’s clearer than ever that novelty had nothing to do with the film’s success. Graphically restored and sonically remastered, it’s as staggering today as it ever was.

Sea Wolf

Mutiny, death and philosophy on the high seas in this two-part made-for-TV adaptation of Jack London’s 1906 novel The Sea Wolf. Helped by an impressive cast and a faithful transposition of the original text’s deeply psychological and political themes, Sea Wolf is a bloody and tense maritime drama that delivers a lot more than you'd expect from the average period adaptation.