Skip to content

FictionMachine

Deconstructing the machinery of cinema.

  • About
  • Essays Index
  • Features Index
  • TV Reviews
  • Shorts Index
  • External Reviews
  • Spoilers

Tag: film

action, reviewLeave a comment

REVIEW: Across 110th Street (1972)

April 28, 2022April 28, 2022 Grant Watson

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)

arthouse, reviewLeave a comment

REVIEW: Dead End Run (2003)

April 26, 2022 Grant Watson

Sogo Ishii, more recently professionally credited as Gakuryū Ishii, is a pivotal figure in Japanese cinema, but until very recently a lack of international distribution has kept him out of the limelight beyond his own country. He is a pioneer … Continue reading REVIEW: Dead End Run (2003)

drama, reviewLeave a comment

REVIEW: Ikiru (1952)

April 26, 2022 Grant Watson

A disaffected civil servant in late middle-age (Takashi Shimura) learns that he has terminal cancer and a few months left to live. After the initial shock and panic wears off, he sets out in a last-ditch attempt to find a … Continue reading REVIEW: Ikiru (1952)

action, review1 Comment

REVIEW: The Order (2001)

April 25, 2022 Grant Watson

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)

comedy, reviewLeave a comment

REVIEW: Jackass Forever (2022)

April 25, 2022 Grant Watson

The Jackass movies – there have been four in all of the main series – are probably the most review-proof films one can imagine. The bottom line: you are either going to find them funny, or you won’t. Each film represents a … Continue reading REVIEW: Jackass Forever (2022)

drama, reviewLeave a comment

REVIEW: Apart from You (1933)

April 24, 2022April 30, 2022 Grant Watson

I have written in the past about how so many silent features have been lost from cinema’s early years, either being lost in accidental fires – nitrate film is ridiculously flammable, sometimes explosively so – or simply not perceived to … Continue reading REVIEW: Apart from You (1933)

drama, reviewLeave a comment

REVIEW: Center Stage (2000)

April 23, 2022 Grant Watson

In Nicholas Hytner’s drama Center Stage, an ensemble of young dancers join the prestigious American Ballet Academy in New York – but only a select few will progress beyond their first year. The academy itself is entirely fictional, but Hytner … Continue reading REVIEW: Center Stage (2000)

action, review2 Comments

REVIEW: Spider-Man: No Way Home (2021)

April 22, 2022 Grant Watson

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)

drama, reviewLeave a comment

REVIEW: The Last Days of Pompeii (1935)

April 21, 2022 Grant Watson

Ernest B. Schoedsack and Merian C. Cooper will forever be remembered for their 1933 monster classic King Kong, but it was not the only film they made together. In 1935 they co-directed the RKO Pictures Roman epic The Last Days of … Continue reading REVIEW: The Last Days of Pompeii (1935)

action, reviewLeave a comment

REVIEW: Knock Off (1998)

April 19, 2022 Grant Watson

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)

Posts navigation

Older posts
Newer posts
Blog at WordPress.com.
FictionMachine
Blog at WordPress.com.
  • Follow Following
    • FictionMachine
    • Join 277 other followers
    • Already have a WordPress.com account? Log in now.
    • FictionMachine
    • Customize
    • Follow Following
    • Sign up
    • Log in
    • Report this content
    • View site in Reader
    • Manage subscriptions
    • Collapse this bar
 

Loading Comments...