Year: 1953 Director: Yasujiro Ozu Stars: Chishu Ryu (Shukishi Hirayama), Chieko Higashiyama (Tomi Hirayama), Setsuko Hara (Noriko Hirayama), Haruko Sugimura (Shige Kaneko), So Yamamura (Koichi Hirayama), Kuniko Miyake (Fumiko Hirayama) Genre: Drama I watched Tokyo Story, initially, as a box-ticking exercise. A perennial of all-time-greatest movie lists - including Sight And Sound's feted hit parade - and … Continue reading Why I Love… #59: Tokyo Story
One of the great lies of film and television is that grief and bereavement are exciting, dramatic emotions, filled with intensity. They can be, sure, but more often than not they are profoundly numbing, confusing, overwhelming sensations, causing a complete disconnect from perceived normality. This numbness, this unusual stillness, this feeling that the world around … Continue reading Review: Mister John
Full disclosure upfront: my favourite author is Cormac McCarthy. Suttree. Blood Meridian. All The Pretty Horses. The Crossing. There's four masterpieces right there. Give me time and I'll make cases for Outer Dark and The Road too. As an aspiring writer, his is the level of ability I measure my own attempts against, and its no wonder I find … Continue reading Review: The Counsellor
Year: 1980 Directors: Jim Abrahams, David Zucker & Jerry Zucker Stars: Robert Hays (Ted Striker), Julie Hagerty (Elaine), Leslie Nielsen (Dr Rumack), Robert Stack (Rex Kramer), Peter Graves (Captain Oveur), Lloyd Bridges (McCroskey) Genre: Comedy There are many reasons to celebrate Airplane! but there's one in particular that I want to talk about that stands … Continue reading Why I Love… #58: Airplane!
Oh good, another po-faced meagre-budgeted horror movie in which a small number of people get lost out in the sticks at night. Really? C'mon. Really? Are we still stuck on this? That was my sarcasm-spiked inner monologue upon seeing the trailer for In Fear stacked back-to-back with the equally uninspiring promo material for The Haunting In Connecticut … Continue reading Review: In Fear
Bloody hell, this has a lot to live up to. I've been trying to avoid explicit details about Gravity, save for that mesmeric trailer. Nevertheless, the general hubbub of ecstatic praise has been hard to sidestep. And, aside from that feeble, attention-seeking article on the Metro website, it certainly feels as though critical reception for … Continue reading Review: Gravity
There's a moment in one of the early 'Treehouse Of Horror' episodes of The Simpsons that sprang to mind while I was watching Thor: The Dark World. The Simpson family inherit an old spooky house with a host of haunted goings-on occurring within. In one room is a vortex into which Homer chucks an orange. Immediately after, … Continue reading Review: Thor: The Dark World
