Mimi Cave’s debut feature Fresh sits in a tricky sort of niche where part of its appeal is the unexpected direction its story takes, but where discussion of that direction will inevitably give away some of its secrets. Even by mentioning this … Continue reading REVIEW: Fresh (2022)
All-but-impenetrable to foreign audiences, and produced for the most unusual of reasons, Jeffrey Lau’s The Eagle Shooting Heroes is a fascinating side story from pre-handover Hong Kong. It also represents a chance to see some screen legends playing the broadest of … Continue reading REVIEW: The Eagle Shooting Heroes (1993)
When it was released theatrically in 2002, Roger Kumble’s romantic comedy The Sweetest Thing was a commercial failure. While it did reasonable business on home video, it never particularly surfaced on anybody’s radar and received short shrift from critics. In more recent … Continue reading REVIEW: The Sweetest Thing (2002)
Woody Allen’s most recent feature film finally hits American theatres on Friday, almost 18 months after it was released in Europe. It is a far cry from the famed writer/director’s former stature, when every arthouse and independent cinema around the … Continue reading REVIEW: Rifkin’s Festival (2020)
‘There’s more dignity in being rejected by someone out of my league,’ says Marta (Ludovica Francesconi), a bright young Italian woman desperate for romance but struggling with worsening cystic fibrosis. Standard treatments are failing her, and she is gradually coming … Continue reading REVIEW: Out of My League (2020)
Adapting plays into films is always a difficult business. Since the 19th century at least the typical stage drama tends to be confined to as few locations as possible – ideally just the one if that can be achieved – … Continue reading REVIEW: The People Upstairs (2020)
Brazilian comedy Lulli is an amiable addition to Netflix’s range of international features, but its creative team are low-balling it. This is bland, commercial fluff: easy to enjoy in a breezy sort of way, but you will have forgotten half of it … Continue reading REVIEW: Lulli (2021)
One of the great mysteries of popular cinema is how cult movies form. The only real requirement for cult status is having a long-term, obsessive fan base. More often a cult film will be a commercial or critical failure, but … Continue reading REVIEW: Your Highness (2011)
A lively but small-scale crime caper gets mixed with light romantic comedy in this charming Taiwanese feature; the directorial debut for Arvin Chen (Will You Still Love Me Tomorrow). Its wry sense of humour should please a fairly broad audience, … Continue reading REVIEW: Au Revoir Taipei (2010)
I was still in primary school when Ivan Reitman’s hit comedy Twins (1988) opened in cinemas. I remember not enjoying it at all. I thought Schwarzenegger was not as good doing comedy as he was being Conan the Barbarian, and that co-star … Continue reading REVIEW: Twins (1988)
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