The only place Wagner Moura is safe is in this great review. Don’t let the title “The Secret Agent” fool you. This isn’t a spy movie. It’s a Brazilian drama about a man who is in danger and hides out in his hometown, only to find out he might not be safe there, either. We’ll […]
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From Boogie Nights to There Will Be Blood and now, One Battle After Another, films by Paul Thomas Anderson have defined decades. The anticipation for a new Paul Thomas Anderson film matches the heights of a new Christopher Nolan or Martin Scorsese project. Audiences know the cast of characters’ll entertain them, but […]
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Park Chan-wook dazzles once again with his striking visuals and wickedly sharp humour in this darkly satirical thriller, though it never quite captures the pulse-pounding urgency of his greatest films.
Continuing on with the gala showings at the London Film Festival this year, the next film I decided to go for was The Mastermind. I have a passing familiarity with the work of Kelly Reichardt, I’ve seen a few of them, really liking Meek’s Cutoff and First Cow, but I’m not overtly familiar with her […]
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Greetings again from the darkness. What is true human nature? Is there even such a thing? Are we preprogrammed to do the right thing, or is it our nature to hold grudges, seek revenge, and take advantage of every situation? This superb film from Iranian filmmaker Jafar Panahi explores the topic, and it’s important to […]
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Jennifer Lawrence already had a billion-dollar franchise, an Academy Award, and worldwide acclaim to her name before turning 30. Now fully transitioned into adult roles, Lynne Ramsey’s singular and challenging Die My Love might be the defining performance of Lawrence’s career.
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Colin Farrell brings every bit of his charisma and charm to his latest film, “Ballad of a Small Player”, a perplexing psychological drama that has so much going for it starting with it’s fully committed star. It’s directed by Edward Berger who is coming off of back-to-back Best Picture Oscar nominations for “All Quiet on […]
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The mind of Guillermo del Toro finds creative connections in a powerhouse effort which includes wonders of cinematic imagination unlike any other. From the worlds of Pan’s Labyrinth, The Orphanage, and Pinocchio, he creates new meaning with Frankenstein, one where an emergence of lights evolves, but the political aspects regarding humanistic value fall in the middle. To provide context, this is not your common Halloween-type Frankenstein film. This one has a storyline with emphasis which gives the monster meaning.
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Yorgos Lanthimos and Emma Stone, one of the most fruitful director-actor partnerships of recent times, are back for the third time in as many years (and the fifth time overall) with Bugonia and, wouldn’t you know, it’s another knockout. Though I was less keen on 2024’s Kinds of Kindness, both The Favourite and Poor Things […]
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Follows Korean independence activists who launched a daring attack in Harbin against the Japanese to gain their country’s independence. […]
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A brilliant idea to set a ‘warring gangs’ action film in the iconic if long-demolished Kowloon Walled City, but this comic book adaptation feels numbingly empty with its stylistic excesses a tonal mismatch with the more sobering space of marginality and exploitation.
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Halina Reijn challenges simplistic morality and puritanical standards about human interaction through this delightfully risqué erotic drama.
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This filmic narrative needs to be counted among the classics of Japanese cinema
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Out of the many features premiering this Fall movie season, few have peaked my curiosity quite like Justin Kurzel’s “The Order”. Based on the 1989 non-fiction book “The Silent Brotherhood” by Kevin Flynn and Gary Gerhardt, Kurzel’s period crime thriller sets out to tackle some potent subject matter. And with Jude Law, Nicholas Hoult, Tye Sheridan, and […]
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A Mexican cartel leader undergoes gender-affirming surgery in Jacques Audiard’s really bad musical Emilia Pérez.
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If you’ve been watching the movies coming out of China over the past few years, you’ve no doubt noticed that many… okay, most… of them have a patriotic bent. Gone are subjects that the government has deemed to undermine national security, and that means no more movies about corrupt cops or government officials because they […]
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In the Pacific Northwest, a punk rock band The Aint Rights are trying to make a name for themselves without the aid of social media, so they decides to play this venue in a secluded part of the area. Upon their arrival they notice that most of the people there are skinheads, so they play […]
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In the world of filmmaking, the term “remake” usually comes up as a “double edge” sword within its undertaking and overall execution. For the good part, it allows filmmakers to revisit an old property and reinvent for a modern audiences offering up a new […]
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I wasn’t even aware that Arkin took a turn at portraying the bumbling and ridiculous officer of the law, but he indeed did, and it is every bit as patently silly as any of the other famous pictures starring the late great (though famously tough to work with) Peter Sellers. Arkin, […]
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The media has played a major part in how men perceive women. Through commercials, television series and films, women have been objectified and hypersexualized to sell an ideal form of beauty only desired by men. Thankfully, power dynamics in the workplace have shifted over the years, but there is still a power […]
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