Feature Essays
10 archive highlights among the Disney+ launch
With the Walt Disney company launching its own international film and television streaming service Disney+ within two months, one of the big questions was with ...
REVIEW: JK Rock (2019)
Brooding former pop star Jyo Kaieda (Shodai Fukuyama) has abandoned his dreams of musical success in favour of studying for a law degree. Chance, however, leads him into reluctantly coaching three high schoolers in learning to play musical instruments and forming their own band. When his former band partner returns from America, however, Kaieda is ...
REVIEW: I Wish (2011)
Kohichi (Kohki Maeda) and Ryunosuke (Ohshiro Maeda) are two brothers with separated parents. After a failed marriage, father Kenji (Joe Odagiri) has returned to Osaka with Ryunosuke to try and find commercial success with his band. Mother Nozomi (Nene Otsuka) has moved into her parents' home in Kagoshima with Kohichi. A new bullet train service ...
REVIEW: Gemini Man (2019)
Professional assassin Henry Brogan (Will Smith) finally retires from the US intelligence services, only to find himself targeted for assassination. On the run with another targeted agent (Mary Elizabeth Winstead), he soon finds himself hunted down by a mysterious killer who knows his techniques and matches his skills: his own clone. Midway through Ang Lee's ...
REVIEW: Air Doll (2009)
An inflatable sex doll spontaneously comes to life. When her owner heads out to work each day, Nozomi (Bae Doona) sneaks out herself. She meets the various people living in her neighbourhood. She finds herself a job at the local video library. She even tentatively begins a romance with a co-worker. Through her adventures, she ...
REVIEW: The Satellite Girl and Milk Cow (2014)
Il-ho is a defunct satellite originally sent into orbit to take photographs of the Korean peninsula. When she hears a young man named Kyung-chun singing down on Earth, she is compelled to land in Seoul - only to discover he has already been unwillingly transformed into a cow. With the help of a magic-using roll ...
REVIEW: Wild Berries (2003)
In suburban Tokyo, the seemingly idyllic Akechi family self-destructs. Daughter Tomoko (Miho Tsumiki) stresses over introducing her new boyfriend to the family. Son Shuji (Hiroyuki Miyasako) is a thief, long ostracized from his parents. Mother (Naoko Otani) is slowly going homicidal over caring full-time for her demented father-in-law. And Father (Sei Hiraizumi), seemingly an upper-ranking ...
REVIEW: Red Mist (2008)
Seven medical students torment their hospital's under-confident janitor Kenneth (Andrew Lee Potts), whom they have nicknamed "Freakdog". When their latest prank results in his having a seizure and slipping into a coma, one of the students (Arielle Kebbel) takes extreme measures to try and save him - with horrifying results. Red Mist, also known as Freakdog ...
