About Martin Drury

‘The Skeleton Key’ plays with an entire nursery of red herrings. The film’s title gives the impression of a Richard Laymon novel; a house full of secrets that can only be unlocked with one single, master key. But the secrets should have remained concealed forever, imprisoned within those four, protective walls. Yet, as you will discover through the film, evil walks far away from locked doors....

Winchester 73 is a story about the gun that won the west for the white guys. It’s a classic amongst Western films and a jewel in James Stewart’s crown. The film is a black-and-white odyssey featuring the usual cast of waifs and strays: some varmints, a local sheriff, a man doing a very poor impression of a Native American Chief, an uptight middle class woman who wants to rebel to spite both her...

Strings is, quite simply, beautiful. The film tells the tragic, operatic story of a young man thrust into both ultimate power and intense feelings of vengeance. His father is dead, his uncle is scheming, the former chief of the army wants a new body and the leader of a rebel populous has been smeared with the accusation of murder. The young man sets out into the wilderness with a trusted army....

Martin Drury reviews the DVD release of 24 Season 4 and find another enjoyable series but wonders just how much longer the program can run for.

Martin Drury reviews the 3 Disk Special Edition Directors Cut of Gladiator featuring extra scenes added back into the film and a wealth of extra features.

Martin Drury reviews the UK release of The Ring Two on DVD starring Naomi Watts, David Dorfman and Simon Baker. The Ring 2 is another US remake of a Japanese movie, but much like the grudge it's directed by the original director Hideo Nakata.

Martin Drury reviews the region 2 release of The Interpreter and he finds a film that features a strong lead character in Nicole Kidman, but is ultimately let down by a confused plot line and a film that doesn't really know what it wants to be.

Martin Drury reviews the UK Single Disk Edition of The Magic Roundabout, and finds an entertaining if slightly 'out there' animated family romp.

Los Angeles, 1977. The police are on the hunt for a serial killer after the naked and twisted corpse of a garrotted woman is found on a hillside. The media buy into the story that the killings are the work of the fabled “Hill Side Strangler,” while the police hunt for a murderer they suspect is little more than mere cog in the criminal underworld of L.A. The truth is far worse than either the....

This is a story about hope. Sometimes, for some people, things don’t turn out as they might have hoped. This is the non-linear story of Frankie Mack. Mack is a violent young man poisoned by drink and his past, followed everywhere by people who inhabit shadows and loved by people whose affection he can never return. The film details three distinct periods in the life of Mr Mack, the tipping.....

Hollywood never tires of the “accidental journey” romp. Rudy Robles is an American caught up in a turn of events that see him mistaken for an illegal alien and deported to Mexico. Customs refuse to believe Rudy’s story and all across Mexico, dodgy characters are worming their way out of the woodwork to "aid" the American’s passage back to the land of the free. This mildly amusing romp has its....

The pursuit of biography on film often leads to a poor imitation of a legend by an actor out of his depth. Normally, one can see the joins. One can usually spy the actor on screen and not the legend. Not so in ‘Ray’. Jamie Foxx’s performance is spellbinding from the first moment onwards. Foxx moves, talks and plays as Ray Charles. Through Foxx, we see the struggle of a genius against the world....

Tim searches for answers. Did a Boogeyman really steal his father away from the house all those years ago? Are his nearest and dearest in danger as the monster returns from the past to haunt the present? Does anybody care? The entire notion of pace has been abandoned in Boogeyman and replaced with a tedious effort to get the viewer to sympathise with a character who doesn’t say or do very...

A Notting-Hill set blonde becomes trapped on the Tube after dark. It gradually becomes clear that she is not alone. Nestled beside her in the urban filth and squalor lies the last vestige of horror fiction’s self-respect. While his contemporaries raid the Japanese myth larder in a rabid hunger for inspiration, Creep’s Christopher Smith appears content to tether his cliché-ridden slasher-fest....