Hirokazu Kore-eda is currently one of the most talented and effective directors of feature film drama in the world, and a good measure of that talent is the fact that such claims are not even controversial. His 2018 drama Shoplifters, which … Continue reading MIFF REVIEW: Broker (2022)
“The Test” Jake Adelstein (Ansel Elgort) is an American journalist who has become the first non-Japanese reporter for a major Tokyo newspaper. Bristling against the strict rules and overbearing heirachy of his new employer, Jake begins investigating a pair of … Continue reading TV REVIEW: Tokyo Vice 1.01
Almost all videogame movies are crap, goes the general sentiment. Since the early 1990s popular cinema has been littered with the corpses of failed blockbusters, murdered by audiences after being poorly equipped and armed by numerous production companies, studios, and … Continue reading REVIEW: Uncharted (2022)
Why are we so nostalgic for the 1980s? It seems audiences cannot get enough of the decade, particularly in terms of American popular culture. Everyone is listening to 1980s music, or watching sequels and reboots of 1980s properties. The USA … Continue reading TV REVIEW: Paper Girls 1.01
Incompetent police officer Reiji Kikukawa (Toma Ikuta) has spent several years working undercover in one of Japan’s most powerful yakuza clans. Now the time has finally come to close the trap on its leader – but is Reiji in too … Continue reading MIFF REVIEW: The Mole Song Final (2021)
50 years on from its initial release, the half-forgotten short feature Maken Liner 0011 Henshin Seyo!! – directed by industry stalwart Takeshi Tamiya – might be showing its age. At the same time it has become an unexpected joy. While its … Continue reading REVIEW: Maken Liner 0011 Henshin Seyo!! (1972)
Bernard Rose’s 1994 biographical film Immortal Beloved, about Austrian composer Ludwig van Beethoven, is packed with fanciful conspiracy theories and untruths. Despite this, it is so powerfully dominated by Gary Oldman’s superb and fiery lead performance that it is difficult … Continue reading REVIEW: Immortal Beloved (1994)
The Silence of the Lambs (1991) was by no means the first Hollywood entertainment made out of serial killers, but its critical and commercial success did stimulate an unprecedented wave of similar and derivative works that barreled along for close to … Continue reading REVIEW: Copycat (1995)
I am a dedicated supporter of the 90-minute feature. While Hollywood’s blockbuster movies seem to get longer every year, it is refreshing to be able to sit down to a bite-sized film and consume it with ease. For small, intimate … Continue reading REVIEW: Petite Maman (2021)
“Part Four” George Lucas is, as most people know, somewhat obsessed with literature professor Joseph Campbell and his attempt to codify and define the idea of myth. His films have been almost entirely defined by the idea of the mythic … Continue reading TV REVIEW: Obi-Wan Kenobi 1.04
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