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
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)
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)
Note: the last two paragraphs of this review spoil the ending of the film. Caveat emptor. John Grisham’s 1989 novel A Time to Kill was rejected by major American publishers, ultimately getting a 5000-copy print run from Wynwood Press. When his second … Continue reading REVIEW: A Time to Kill (1996)
A Japanese journalist makes a bicycle journey down the Taiwanese coast in Riding the Breeze, a pleasant, charming, but fairly derivative road movie. Produced in 2014, the film was never going to win awards or significant acclaim, but if these … Continue reading REVIEW: Riding the Breeze (2014)
There are essentially two methods to plotting a biographical picture. The first, and most popular, is a ‘whole of career’ approach: the film tracks the life and development of its protagonist over a period of years, or even decades. The … Continue reading REVIEW: Judy (2019)
As part of Australian distributor Imprint’s growing range of archive titles, there have been a number of excellent film noir boxed sets produced. These have provided our local market with some wonderful crime films in high definition for the first … Continue reading REVIEW: Framed (1947)
How many times can audiences tolerate another rock biopic? They are cut from as formulaic a cloth as popular cinema can provide: the humble beginnings, the prodigy talent, the rise to fame, and the crash spurred on by drugs and … Continue reading REVIEW: Rocketman (2019)
Lowell Sherman’s pre-Code drama Born to be Bad is a distinctive and unusual film. While in many ways it seems critically compromised, it also reveals a remarkable boldness and originality in its storyline and characters. I have written in the past about … Continue reading REVIEW: Born to be Bad (1934)
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