As a film enthusiast, I have been remarkably remiss in watching the works of Val Lewton. In the 1940s this film producer and writer supervised a string of cheaply-made B-movies for RKO Pictures. These were films that punched well above … Continue reading REVIEW: The Leopard Man (1943)
Johnnie To’s first – and, to date, only – international co-production does not quite scale the levels of inventiveness found in his Hong Kong-specific works, but Vengeance remains a beautifully staged and operatic action thriller. French chef Francis Costello (Johnny Hallyday) arrives … Continue reading REVIEW: Vengeance (2009)
In my experience of talking to film reviewers, there seems a general consensus that terrible works are far and away the easiest to review, followed by great films, and that the hardest ones to write about are the mediocre ones … Continue reading REVIEW: The General (1926)
Leigh Whannell’s ever-expanding contribution to horror cinema reaches a particular highlight with The Invisible Man, which shows that with good actors and a great screenplay you can successfully update a Universal Pictures horror franchise without Tom Cruise, Russell Crowe, and a … Continue reading REVIEW: The Invisible Man (2020)
It has been a hard year for cinema, with any movie daring to mount a theatrical release facing unexpected restrictions, venue closures, and even just a market plain spooked about risking their health in a dark theatre. Pity, then, poor Babyteeth. … Continue reading REVIEW: Babyteeth (2019)
Who could have guessed that a Swedish science fiction film would turn out as bleak and troubled as every other genre of Swedish cinema? Pella Kågerman and Hugo Lilja’s 2018 film Aniara is based, on all things, on a 1956 … Continue reading REVIEW: Aniara (2018)
Voice-overs hardly ever work. They crop up in films from time to time: usually with the protagonist narrating events and providing backstory. They were particularly popular in the first few decades of talking pictures, and then gradually fell out of … Continue reading REVIEW: Ad Astra (2019)
A middle-aged Mexican wrestler prepares for his most challenging match ever. Meanwhile a Japanese man in polka dot pyjamas wakes up in a room with no doors. The next 90 minutes either make no sense, or a lot of sense, … Continue reading REVIEW: Symbol (2009)
Kazuto (Kazuto Osawa) is an under-confident security guard with a tendency to faint when faced with confrontation. Behind on his rent and facing dismissal from his job for not disclosing his condition, Kazuto runs into his estranged brother Hiroki (Hiroki … Continue reading REVIEW: Special Actors (2019)
Two young girls, Jin and Bin, are unexpectedly sent to live with their aunt while their mother leaves to find their absent father. Before leaving she gives her daughters a piggy bank: when they behave, their aunt will give them … Continue reading REVIEW: Treeless Mountain (2008)
