One of the longest-running film series in the world was Daiei Studios’ Zatoichi. They starred Shintaro Katsu as the titular blind samurai-turned-masseuse, and ran for 26 feature films and 100 episodes on television. It has been revived and adapted since – even … Continue reading REVIEW: The Tale of Zatoichi (1962)
It seems fitting that Joseph Kosinski’s Top Gun: Maverick was delayed by a bewildering three years since it completed shooting. It finally reaches cinemas around the world this week, set back first by an extended post-production and then by the … Continue reading REVIEW: Top Gun: Maverick (2022)
Barry Shear’s Across 110th Street (1972) is the sort of film for which the word ‘muscular’ seems intended. Produced in 1973 and released to American cinemas a year later, it is an inspired crime film that draws on multiple influences of its … Continue reading REVIEW: Across 110th Street (1972)
God help me, it is like I have opened Pandora’s box, and all of the Jean-Claude Van Damme action films have started pouring out into my life. I first encountered Van Damme’s work when attending junior high school. At a … Continue reading REVIEW: The Order (2001)
It has long become clear that Marvel Studios’ specific brand of shared universe feature films really work under their own rules. Fans of the comic book-inspired franchise may have bristled when Martin Scorsese famously noted ‘that’s not cinema’, but to … Continue reading REVIEW: Spider-Man: No Way Home (2021)
Bear with me. Knock Off is an action vehicle for Jean-Claude Van Damme, released in 1998 when his Hollywood career had arguably peaked and his films were on a rapid one-way highway to the video store. It was not a success in … Continue reading REVIEW: Knock Off (1998)
A traumatised mercenary struggles when his latest assignment goes violently wrong in You Were Never Really Here, a superb and deeply effective thriller from writer/director Lynne Ramsay. Anyone who has seen her earlier features like Ratcatcher and We Need to Talk About Kevin will appreciate … Continue reading REVIEW: You Were Never Really Here (2017)
Of the popular action stars of the 1980s and 1990s, Jean-Claude Van Damme managed to develop better-than-average features by working with strong directors. Along with American filmmakers such as Peter Hyams in Timecop (1994) and Sudden Death (1995), and John G. Avildsen … Continue reading REVIEW: Maximum Risk (1996)
Luc Besson is a French film director whose personal brand of slick action thrillers – including Subway, La Femme Nikita, and Leon/The Professional – helped define what Raphaël Bassan named the ‘cinéma du look’. It was a perceived stylistic movement shared with the likes … Continue reading REVIEW: Kiss of the Dragon (2001)
There has been a weird rise in Internet chatter lately from Spider-Man fans demanding that Sony – in addition to continuing their hugely successful films with Marvel Studios – jump back in time and commission a third Amazing Spider-Man movie starring Andrew Garfield. To … Continue reading REVIEW: The Amazing Spider-Man 2 (2014)
FictionMachine 