"Sometimes, if things are closed, you just, open them up." (Simon reviews EASTERN PROMISES)

As my Top Shelf pick, Eastern Promises still resides high on my list of favourite Cronenberg films. I mentioned, multiple times, the artistic references within the film and, way back, when I initially reviewed the film I managed to support my theory with images of the Mannerist Art Movement.

Strangely enough, the review even recalls my first discussion with Hatter on his Matineecast! Its strange how time flies ...

Here is a little more depth on the issue:

The stronger link is the sequence in the sauna as Nikolai is mistaken for Kirill and is nearly murdered - he is forced to fight for himself. Mannerism was a period in art history that followed the Rennaissance and preceded the Baroque period. Michelangelo was one of - if not, the first of the - Mannerist artists.

Read the full review by clicking here.

The Film Locker #3: David Cronenberg and 'The Fly'

So, much love to our new listeners who have entered the competition and the writer-inners (email us!) and with two in the bag - a Woody Allen and a Martin Scorsese episode, we now move onto more obscene and obscure directors with David Cronenberg.

Our choice of film is The Fly. Hatter mentioned how, prior to our Woody Allen show, he had not seen Hannah and her Sisters, and the same is true of The Fly for me. In fact, in preparation I watched three Cronenberg films: The Fly, eXistenZ and Dead Ringers for the first time!

And, as usual, it is already up on itunes and can be found easily on podomatic - so, please do try and write reviews and support us if you can! We have the ol' RSS feed and 2.0 RSS and, if you link in different ways, we also have it on Google and Yahoo