“American Traitor: The Trial of Axis Sally” is the new film from Michael Polish that tells the story of Mildred Gillars, later given the nickname “Axis Sally”. She was an American broadcaster who shared propaganda over the airwaves for Nazi Germany during World War II. After the war she was taken into custody and put […]
First Glance: “American Traitor: The Trial of Axis Sally”
Director – Joe Wright (Atonement) Cast – Amy Adams, Julianne Moore, Wyatt Russell, Gary Oldman, Fred Hechinger, Anthony Mackie, Jennifer Jason Leigh Plot – Agoraphobic New Yorker Anna Fox (Adams) lives a secluded life stuck in her apartment afraid to venture out into the outside world but […]
Film Review – The Woman in the Window (2021)
The appealing documentary Brewmance traces the evolution of the American craft beer phenomenon – and it’s quite a story. The United States may have been the richest and most powerful country in the world, but before bottled Anchor Steam came out […]
BREWMANCE: barley, hops, yeast and underdogs
Greetings again from the darkness. For anyone who still believes documentaries are dry and boring, the cure is this latest from Jonathan Blank, a filmmaker who returns to Holland 25 years after his first documentary, SEX, DRUGS & DEMOCRACY (1994). Entertaining and informative is a terrific blend as Mr. Blank uses interviews, statistics, and animation […]
SEX, DRUGS & BICYCLES (2021, doc)
Not everyone remembers that “Undine” or Ondine is a name from mythology, a water nymph of “The Little Mermaid” variety — one with a great gravitas attached to her love life. With or without that knowledge, the opening “break-up” scene in Christian Petzold’s German fantasy based on that myth is dark and intense. Johannes (Jacob […]
Movie Review: A dark romantic fantasy, in and out of the water — “Undine”
It’s great seeing Eric Bana not just getting a leading role, but getting a really meaty one in a movie that lets him show why he’s such an underrated actor. “The Dry”, an Australian thriller from director Robert Connolly, marks Bana’s first feature film appearance since 2017. Written by Connolly and Harry Cripps, it’s an […]
Auschwitz survivor Primo Levi wrote “Monsters exist, but they are too few in number to be truly dangerous. More dangerous are the common man, the functionaries ready to believe and to act without asking questions.” The thrust of that quote forms the backbone of Luke Holland’s engrossing new Holocaust documentary “Final Account”. In it Holland […]
REVIEW: “Final Account” (2021)
You can find the review for The Office Series 1 to 3 by pressing on the link Well, hello there. Only recently, I finally finished The Office, 8 years too late. I was going to write a review for the last six series, but, the truth is, I can’t be bothered. If one person – […]
Trivia: The Office’s Top 23 Best Moments
⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ Rating: 8 out of 10. When I first started this blog, one of my main aims was to complete what many believe to be the Big Three: The Silence of the Lambs, Psycho and The Shining. So far, it’s two out of three. But only three psychological horrors really fails to whet the appetite, […]
Misery: A Love Letter To Annie Wilkes
⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ Rating: 8 out of 10. It’s been interesting that while writing all of these reviews, I’ve been surprised how many have been adapted from books: the likes of Misery, Marathon Man, M*A*S*H and Manhunter. Maybe it’s just because they begin with M, but in order to try and break the funk, I’ve gone for […]
The Shining: The Perfect Lockdown Viewing?
Emmy-winning production designer Elisabeth Williams got more dynamic with location work, including an Ontario town standing in for the Chicago war zone.
‘The Handmaid’s Tale’ Season 4: Recreating the Chicago War Zone in Episode 5
Catherine Clare… trades life in 1980s Manhattan for a remote home in the tiny hamlet of Chosen, New York … She soon comes to sense a sinister darkness lurking both in the walls of the ramshackle property—and in her marriage (Letterboxd) In its dialogue, editing, and overall presentation it’s a bit clunky and contrived; the […]
A husband and father of four contemplates killing his wife and her lover in this atmospheric and brooding drama.
Peter Weir’s 1979 film, The Plumber, is essentially a battle of wills between two very different characters. Jill Cowper (Judy Morris) is a masters student in anthropology. She’s educated, articulate, liberal-minded, and upper middle class. She’s married to Dr. Brian Cowper (Robert Coleby), a highly respected academic who is on the verge of being offered […]
Film Review: The Plumber (dir by Peter Weir)
Walkaway Joe seems like little more than a run-of-the-mill kitchen sink drama with a nine-ball angle. But Wright’s film is remarkably poignant.
WALKAWAY JOE: A Charming Coming-of-Age Pool Hall Drama
The Goldfinch (2019), Ansel Elgort, Warner Bros. Pictures The Goldfinch is a movie for which I had high hopes post trailer viewing. The primary reason is the reliable cast and intriguing themes. Starring Ansel Elgort, Luke Wilson, Nicole Kidman, Finn Wolfhard and Sarah Paulson; director John Crowley’s film is based on a Pulitzer Prize-winning novel by […]
THE GOLDFINCH (2019): The Things I Liked…
Not a fun time. Meet filmmaker Ali Tabrizi. He likes to do his part for the environment. He picks up trash on beaches, he always carries around a reusable water bottle, and he donates money to marine conservation groups. But can he be doing more? This documentary is about him traveling the world and conducting […]
“Plenty” of Fish in the Sea – Seaspiracy (2021)
Time: 81 Minutes Cast: James Stewart as Rupert Cadell John Dall as Brandon Shaw Joan Chandler as Janet Walker Cedric Hardwicke as Mr. Henry Kentley Farley Granger as Phillip Morgan Constance Collier as Mrs. Anita Atwater Douglas Dick as Kenneth Lawrence Edith Evanson as Mrs. Wilson Director: Alfred Hitchcock Two young men, Brandon Shaw (John Dall) and Phillip Morgan […]
MY CALL: I love this flick! There’s nothing groundbreaking here, but it’s still a solid movie. We have an awesome cast giving good performances in a well-directed, deliciously gory killer plant movie. What more did you want? MORE MOVIES LIKE The Ruins: Well, for more killer plant movies I’d aim for Splinter (2008), Invasion of […]
A deadly hiccup in space. So this is about a crew of three (Toni Collette, Anna Kendrick, Daniel Dae Kim). They’re on a mission to Mars to research how to sustain life there, but there is a small problem: there is a fourth person aboard (Shamier Anderson), and there isn’t going to be enough oxygen […]
The Oxygen Quandary – Stowaway (2021)
