And so I’ve been on a bit of a Hemingway kick while reading a brand new book (Just released) by favorite author Mark Kurlansky. Kurlansky tracks some of his adventures in journalism alongside those of Hem while on assignments and travels in Europe, Cuba and elsewhere. I didn’t read this particular […]
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Anora makes it clear why no woman — no man — should marry the son of a Russian oligarch. In Sean Baker’s comedy the title character, played by Mikey Madison, meets Vanya Zakharov (Mark Eydelshteyn) at a Manhattan club where she’s a sex worker and after a dizzy weekend he plays Richard Gere to her […]
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Everyone’s so concerned about her baby, what about poor Rosemary herself?
Continue reading “Rosemary’s Baby (1968)”
Saltburn wasn’t on my radar at all until it seemed to take my workplace by storm. ‘You like films don’t you, Alex? You might like Saltburn. It’s on Prime. Good but proper weird, don’t put it on if there’s any kids around.‘ I’d say that put it on my watchlist, but that doesn’t really mean […]
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Nagisa Oshima’s controversial erotic art film, “In the Realm of the Senses,” as it is known in the United States, has two other titles. L’Empire des Sens (Empire of Senses) in France, and an original Japanese title, Ai no Corrida (Bullfight of Love). For once, I believe that the Americans got it right with their […]
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Milos Forman ran away from his home country, Czechoslovakia, after the Russian tanks put down the more liberal Czech government, and he was subsequently fired from the Czechoslovakia state-run movie studio. His American movie that he most likely felt an affinity for was his cinematic interpretation of Ken Kesey’s brilliant exhibition of the totalitarian […]
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Just like Clint Eastwood, who is still making films at 93, 92-year-old Japanese filmmaker Yoji Yamada (山田洋次) is also proving that age is just a number. The man who brought the world the beloved TORA-SAN series has recently released his 90th work, MOM, IS THAT YOU?! It’s the third film in his “Mother” series that […]
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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 […]
Continue reading “Only the River Flows 河邊的錯誤”
With China’s heavy hand of censorship now firmly on the neck of the Hong Kong film industry, our filmmakers have learned they must toe the line if they wish to secure both funding and distribution for their projects. Gone are the days when corrupt police or government officials feature prominently in local stories because, we […]
Continue reading “Cesium Fallout 焚城”
Elvis is an overlong but enjoyable look back at the rise of Elvis Presley! Typically Baz Luhrmann in style and tone, this is easily one to watch on the big screen!
Continue reading “Elvis (2022) Review”
It’s one of the biggest domestic releases in China this year. SUCCESSOR, which debuted on July 16, is closing in on US$500 million at the box office and this is even before its roll-out to other markets. The film is opening in Hong Kong this weekend and the big question is whether local audiences here […]
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Bursting onto the scene in 2018 with the brilliant indie film Thunder Road, Jim Cummings returns with his brand new film that he stars, writes and directs in. The Beta Test is another dark comedy that follows Jordan, a Hollywood agent that receives a mysterious letter that invites him to a hotel to participate in […]
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A coming-of-age drama set in Kent, England, Bird tells the story of a rebellious twelve-year-old girl with an eye for the innocent beauty around her. Though unfamiliar with the works of writer/director Andrea Arnold, I was surprised to find a quiet calmness in her depiction of the female preteen experience. She manages to capture an […]
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Themes of ‘identity’ and ‘role-playing’ swirl intensely in this decent offering starring the Berlinale award-winning Sebastian Stan, who plays a disfigured man who begins to morph into a normal-looking person after an experimental clinical trial.
Continue reading “A Different Man (2024)”
In the battle for the most forgettable film title of the year, Walter Salles’s I’m Still Here (not to be confused with the Joaquin Phoenix mockumentary of the same title or the very similar I’m Not Here, Todd Haynes’s Bob Dylan biopic) is one of the clear favourites for a podium spot. It’s a relatively […]
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A coming-of-age story told through the lens of a young woman growing up in Silicon Valley, The Book of Jobs intertwines her life to the legacy of Steve Jobs. Victoria Pedretti (Netflix’s You, The Haunting of Hill House) plays the film’s author/narrator, always providing a window of insight to her character’s erratic insecurities. Back in […]
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From a young age Nat Turner (Nate Parker) was always told that he was going to be somebody important in life. By the “blessing of God” he had the ability to read words, which allowed for his slave masters to bring him into their home to learn about the word of God. Fast forward to […]
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The Bikeriders is a 2024 film based on a book of the same name. The book is a collection of photography and interviews from the 1960’s into the 1970’s following the rise and fall of their bike club. From humble and simple beginnings to the seedier underbelly that creeps in as the story progresses, the […]
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I heard the buzz about Woman Of The Hour when it was playing festivals a while back. Now, it has arrived here in the UK on Netflix so I gave Anna Kendrick’s directorial debut a watch. To be honest I did not get the film I was expecting from pre-release hype, I feel that the […]
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After Jackie in 2016 and Spencer in 2021, Pablo Larrain now completes his spiritual ‘women in gilded cages’ trilogy with Maria, perhaps the most intellectually interesting but the least immediately emotionally gripping of the three. This biopic of the last week of the life of beyond-legendary opera singer Maria Callas (Angelina Jolie), is in constant […]
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