A film of consequence and warning, Kenneth Branagh’s “Belfast” takes us back to the beginning of “The Troubles” in Northern Ireland and lets us see them through the eyes of a little boy. A very personal story equal parts pathos and warmth, it sentimentalizes the region’s “Bad Old Days” even as it reminds us and […]
Movie Review: “Belfast” takes us back to the City’s “Bad Old Days”
I will admit I do have some bias towards Red Rocket. Growing up in Texas and visiting the Galveston and Houston area as a kid made me nostalgic when the opening credits rolled with the refineries in the backdrop. However, what drew me in more than the refineries was the song that plays over the […]
‘Red Rocket’ Review: “Bye, Bye, Bye”
“Eternals” opens in a manner that isn’t typical of any previous film in the Marvel Cinematic Universe. Instead of jumping straight into the action, an opening scroll details the mythos behind the story we are about to watch unfold. In 5000 B.C., ten super-powered beings known as the Eternals were sent to Earth by the […]
“Blonde. Purple” is a heist tale/hostage thriller with vague pretenses of Tarantino or Guy Ritchie and little of the style, panache, wit or adrenalin of either of them at their worst. The odd moment of acting heat dissipates in a sea of words, too much of it set in a bank where a failed robber […]
Movie Review: A hostage, a gunman, a bank — “Blonde. Purple”
Mars Attacks (1996) Released: December 13th, 1996 Genre: Science Fiction, Comedy Director: Tim Burton Writers: Len Brown, Woody Gelman, Wally Wood, Norman Saunders, Bob Powell (trading card series) Jonathan Gems (Screenplay) Cast: Jack Nicolson, Martin Short, Jim Brown, Pierce Brosnan, Sarah Jessica Parker, Annette Bening, Tom Jones, Michael J. Fox, Natalie Portman, Rob Stieger, Pam […]
Retro Review: Mars Attacks (1996) Flash Review
Directed by Wes Anderson Written by: Wes Anderson, Owen Wilson Produced by: Barry Mendel, Paul Schiff Cast: Jason Schwartzman, Olivia Williams, Bill Murray, Brian Cox, Seymour Cassel, Mason Gamble, etc. *** CONTAINS SPOILERS *** Having recently written positively about my favourite films of Wes Anderson I was spurred […]
MEMORABLE FILM CHARACTERS #6 – MAX FISCHER – RUSHMORE (1998)
A pretty popular student, Bianca (Larisa Oleynik) cannot go on a date until her ill tempered sister Katarina (Julia Stiles) gets a date too, and that responsibility falls to mysterious Patrick (Heath Ledger). I had only seen Ledger in his role of William in the film Knight’s Tale, so when this film popped up on […]
10 Things I Hate About You (1999)
Medieval combat, “The Battle on the Ice,” music by Prokofiev and the Soviet master of montage (editing) makes a spectacle out of mise en scene (production design, epic shot compositions) — that’s what cinephiles summon up when revering Serge Eisenstein’s 1938 classic “Alexander Nevsky.” A filmmaker famed for telling his stories and making his (often […]
Classic Film Review: Eisenstein’s “Alexander Nevsky” (1938)
Reporting from the Denver Film Festival. It opens with sex: Explicit, hardcore sex in the bedroom. The woman before the camera is Emilia (Katia Pascariu), a teacher at a local private school. The man holding the camera is Eugene (Stefan Steel), Emilia’s husband. Looking to spice up a regular evening of rumpy-pumpy, they pull out […]
BAD LUCK BANGING OR LOONY PORN
The Fireman’s Ball (Horí, má panenko) Czechoslovakia (1967) Dir. Milos Forman “Never underestimate people.” Local communities need to come together in order for them to thrive and make the people feel like they belong. It’s a case of you get out of it what you put into it, but like most ideologies, they are open […]
Movie Review – The Fireman’s Ball
Minutes after being left to die in a burning house, The Shape (aka Michael Myers), escapes and returns to the streets of Haddonfield where a war rages on between the town’s furious residents and this one-man killing machine. Taking on an entirely different storytelling approach to the 2018 film, this second (or technically third) chapter […]
A pure horror slasher, HALLOWEEN KILLS (2021) sees The Shape on a rampage of brutality!
Land tells the story of Edee, a woman who thinks that she wants to die. Edee is played by Robin Wright, who also directed the film. Edee is dealing with a tragedy, one that the film provides clues to understanding without going into too much details. Edee has visions of a man and a child […]
Film Review: Land (dir by Robin Wright)
“Tone” is the triumph of the Welsh thriller “The Feast.” Tone — in its lonely, remote setting, its chilly, unsettling characters and the deeply unpleasant things that transpire — is everything. The Welsh language (with subtitles) tale may take some getting used to, and the finale go absurdly overboard in “explaining” it all. Mystery is […]
Movie Review: Horror’s the main course in the Welsh thriller “The Feast”
“Lokillo,” aka “Lokillo en: Mi Otra Yo” is a Colombian comedy about a sexist TV chat show host forced to dress as a woman and hide out in prison after he crosses a Colombian drug lord. This “Around the World with Netflix” offering is seriously malnourished as comedy. There’s barely a chuckle in it, at […]
Netflixable? Gender-switch comedy from Colombia — “Lokillo (Mi Otra Yo)”
Cass is here with a review of the latest Edgar Wright film.
Last Night in Soho is an Overwhelming Experience
I need to show my cards here – I am a huge Edgar Wright fan. I have been ever since I have seen Shaun of the Dead (2004). I have learned a lot about him, mainly the fact, he’s an avid cinephile. I would imagine he’s the only one who comes anywhere near Quentin Tarantino and/or Martin Scorsese regarding the film knowledge, the […]
Last Night in Soho (2021) Review – Definitely Won’t Be My Last Night
“Luzzu” is a simple but gripping drama about a Maltese fisherman facing the end of his generations-long profession in a world of globe-trotting trawlers, international trade and climate change. Its star is a real-life Maltese fisherman, a man so intimately acquainted with his way of life and the desolation of losing it that what we’re […]
Movie Review: A Maltese fisherman faces a changing way of life in his “Luzzu”
The Australian film industry has gone through a tough time over the last decade where it has been rare for a film to truly break out and become a hit with both audiences and critics alike. Many of the breakout hits from recent times have been feel good follies […]
10 Must-See Australian Films: Eddie’s Take
Set against the backdrop of New York City 1981, one of the most violent years recorded in the city’s history, businessman Abel Morales (Isaac) and […]
Film Review – A Most Violent Year (2014)
