Feature Essays
“Ripples in the water” | Alien³ (1992)
According to the diary of actor Ralph Brown, who played the role of Aaron in the film Alien³, there was a message carved into a ...
REVIEW: Chongqing Hotpot (2016)
Three friends run a failing Chongqing hot pot restaurant constructed out of a disused underground bomb shelter. When they attempt to make an illegal extension of the restaurant into an adjacent shelter, they accidentally knock a hole into the vault of a bank down the road. Yang Qing's 2016 film Chongqing Hotpot is nominally a comedy, but ...
REVIEW: Black Sun (1964)
A jazz-obsessed homeless delinquent named Mei (Tamio Kawaji) lives in the tower of a derelict Tokyo cathedral, and spends his days engaged in petty theft and hot-wiring cars. Returning home one night he discovers an injured American G.I. (Chico Roland) hiding out from the police after apparently murdering a fellow soldier. Koreyoshi Kurahara's The Warped Ones remains ...
REVIEW: Wonder Woman (2017)
Diana (Gal Gadot), Princess of Themyscira, travels from the safety of her home to the front lines of World War I to aid American spy Steve Trevor (Chris Pine) and to confront and defeat the war god Ares - whom she believes is responsible for creating the conflict in the first place. It beggars belief ...
GUEST REVIEW: Wonder Woman (2017)
When it comes to cinema, I prefer to read and hear a plurality of voices. To contribute in a small way to that variety of voices, I have invited some other writers to review new and classic films on this website. I am thrilled that the first-ever guest critic on FictionMachine is Australian science fiction and fantasy ...
REVIEW: Children of Men (2006)
In the year 2027 an unexplained global fertility crisis has led to no human being born in more than 18 years. As the world's governments topple and collapse into anarchy, Great Britain struggles on via a totalitarian government and the mass deportation of immigrants and refugees. Theo Faron (Clive Owen), a mid-level government bureaucrat, is ...
REVIEW: The Mummy (2017)
Military officer and part-time antiquities thief Nick Morton (Tom Cruise) uncovers the buried prison of 5,000 year-old Egyptian princess Ahmanet (Sofie Boutella). By accidentally releasing Ahmanet, he becomes the chosen vessel for the evil god Set to physically enter the world - unless he, archaeologist Jenny Halsey (Annabelle Wallis) and the mysterious Dr Henry Jekyll (Russell ...
REVIEW: The Last Princess (2016)
Following the death of her emperor father, Deok-hye (Son Ye-jin) - the last princess of Joseon dynasty - is forcibly relocated to Japan as part of that country's ongoing occupation of Korea. Trapped in Japan alongside her brother, Deok-hye struggles to return home to her people - and to assist in the resistance efforts against ...
REVIEW: The Mummy (1999)
In 1926 Egypt, an expedition to the desert ruins of Hamunaptra accidentally unleashes a 3,000 year-old mummified priest from ancient Egypt. While the priest Imhotep (Arnold Vosloo) revives himself, adventurer Rick O'Connell (Brendan Fraser) and librarian Evelyn Carnahan (Rachel Weisz) race to find the means of defeating him. The Mummy, a 1999 loose remake of ...
REVIEW: Starman (1984)
An alien intelligence travels to Earth to study humanity, only for its spacecraft to be shot down by the United States Air Force. Assuming a human form based on a dead man (Jeff Bridges), the alien travels across America to reach a rescue site before the US government can capture it. It drags along Jenny ...
REVIEW: Quick Change (1990)
A man named Grimm (Bill Murray), dressed as a clown, walks into a bank and holds its staff and customers hostage. New York police chief Ratzinger (Jason Robards) personally negotiates with the criminal, but despite running a by-the-book siege both the robber and his accomplices get away. For Grimm, robbing a bank of a million ...
