After a terrifying attack kills her mother and permanently disables her father, Yuki (Rina Akiyama) boldly dons gothic lolita fashion and goes on a violent mission of revenge against the assassins who destroyed her life. That is it; that is … Continue reading REVIEW: Gothic & Lolita Psycho (2010)
The career of director Johnnie To can be pretty easily split into two phases. From the late 1990s he established his own production company, Milkyway Image, and embarked on a hugely successful career directing idiosyncratic crime films, romantic comedies, and … Continue reading REVIEW: The Bare-Footed Kid (1993)
Double Tap, directed by Law Chi-leung in 2000, is what it is: a film in which two overly emotional men face off against one another on the streets of Hong Kong. As melodramatic as a soap opera and aggressively masculine, … Continue reading REVIEW: Double Tap (2000)
By 1967 the lucrative James Bond movie franchise was hitting its fifth instalment in the space of six years. The preceding film, Thunderball (1965), had been a record-breaking success, and expectations were high for Bond’s next adventure to top it all over … Continue reading REVIEW: You Only Live Twice (1967)
Sean Connery returns to play British super-spy James Bond for the fourth time in 1965’s Thunderball; a global smash hit in which the Bond franchise formula arguably solidified for the first time. It may not be the best of Connery’s Bond … Continue reading REVIEW: Thunderball (1965)
Be careful what you wish for, I guess. 1999’s The World is not Enough was a James Bond film that seemed oddly unenthused and lazy, relying on old franchise traditions without any real sense of spark or effort. The next Bond feature, … Continue reading REVIEW: Die Another Day (2002)
1999 saw the release of Pierce Brosnan’s third film as British secret agent James Bond – and the 19th film in the franchise overall. The World is not Enough captures the EON production team at a high point of comfort: GoldenEye (1995) brought … Continue reading REVIEW: The World is not Enough (1999)
The runaway success of Romancing the Stone led 20th Century Fox and producer/star Michael Douglas to move quickly on a sequel, and true to their intentions The Jewel of the Nile hit cinemas in the USA just 21 months after its predecessor. All it … Continue reading REVIEW: The Jewel of the Nile (1985)
Romancing the Stone was a big deal back in 1984. It saw producer and star Michael Douglas try his hand at a broad action-adventure film, clearly riffing upon the success of the Indiana Jones films. It marked the commercial breakout of director Robert … Continue reading REVIEW: Romancing the Stone (1984)
The requirements for a good sequel are fairly clear. The audience wants more of the same, but they also want something different. A change of tone, a progression of the characters, a raise in stake, or whatever transformation a filmmaker … Continue reading REVIEW: The Expendables 2 (2012)
