Within Japan a number of directors are widely noted as the masters of the screen arts: Ozu, Mizoguchi, Naruse, and so on. Internationally there has only ever really been one name: Kurosawa. In a career spanning 57 years Akira Kurosawa … Continue reading “We continue on without rest” | The Men Who Tread on the Tiger’s Tail (1945)
‘When the original Disney Black Hole movie came out,’ said astrophysicist Neil DeGrasse Tyson, ‘I was in graduate school. I was so disappointed in that film. Black holes were my favourite subject coming out of the Seventies. The movie was … Continue reading “More light…” | The Black Hole (1979)
Twenty-five years ago film history was made when Walt Disney released Toy Story, the debut production from Pixar Animation Studios. It was the first computer-animated feature film ever produced, and not only was it a commercial and critical success it … Continue reading “To infinity, and beyond!” | Toy Story (1995)
This is a story that takes more than eight years to tell. It begins with a Hollywood studio electing to mount an all-new screen adaptation of a popular folkloric saga, and it ends with a loss of about $150 million. … Continue reading “I am here now because of you” | King Arthur: Legend of the Sword (2017)
In the beginning, a man opened a magical puzzle box and was dragged into hell for an eternity of torture. He escaped, his skin flayed from his body and what was left of him forced to hide in the attic … Continue reading “Oh, you suffer beautifully” | Hellraiser: Bloodline (1996)
Hollywood is, if nothing else, opportunistic. Take as an example Lamont Johnson’s 1983 science fiction adventure Spacehunter: Adventures In the Forbidden Zone. One-part space opera, one-part Mad Max pastiche, it took advantage of a then-new technique for shooting feature films … Continue reading “Nobody goes free!” | Spacehunter: Adventures in the Forbidden Zone (1983)
Fairy tales have been adapted to cinema for many decades. The most obvious is Walt Disney’s ground-breaking 1937 animated film Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs but as a genre they have been inspiring films since movies were in black … Continue reading “Just breathe” | Ever After (1998)
Within Japan Humanity and Paper Balloons has long been celebrated as one of the greatest films ever made, as well as one of the most significant films in the jidai-geki, or period drama, genre. Internationally, however, it has remained obscure until very … Continue reading “We’re out of sake for the saint” | Humanity and Paper Balloons (1937)
A corrupt media tycoon (Jonathan Pryce) attempts to start a war to profit from the news coverage. Only two people seem placed to prevent the death of millions: a Chinese intelligence officer named Wai Lin (Michelle Yeoh), and British secret … Continue reading “It comes from not growing up at all” | Tomorrow Never Dies (1997)
‘It’s the greatest show time!’ announces a clown as he impossibly squeezes out of a tiny automobile. A circus ring seems like an incongruous place to begin a science fiction film, but before long we are following a middle-aged police … Continue reading “The greatest show time” | Perfect Blue (1997) and Paprika (2006)
