See cinema differently
I've tried to make this as spoiler-free as possible. One paragraph talks - in the vaguest of terms - about the end of the movie. I've placed it in [ ] if you'd rather not take your chances. Directors: Anthony Russo, Joe Russo Stars: Chris Hemsworth, Benedict Cumberbatch, Josh Brolin So here we are. 10 …
Year: 1972 Director: Shunya Ito Star: Meiko Kaji, Kayoko Shiraishi, Fumio Watanabe A product of Japanese film studio Toei in the early 1970s, the Female Prisoner Scorpion series - known in some circles as Female Convict Scorpion - detail the misadventures of Nami Matsushima (Meiko Kaji), a woman wrongfully imprisoned - framed by her former boyfriend - …
Continue reading "Why I Love… #92: Female Prisoner Scorpion: Jailhouse 41"
Director: Claire Denis Stars: Juliette Binoche, Gérard Depardieu, Xavier Beauvois I'd like to start, a little recklessly, by talking about the last scene of the movie. I don't feel like this will constitute what is normally referred to as a "spoiler". Let The Sunshine In is a character piece and treatise on midlife love, and so …
Director: Xavier Legrand Stars: Denis Ménochet, Léa Drucker, Thomas Gioria While I have tried to avoid outright plot spoilers, I recommend seeing the film before reading the review in this instance. This striking debut feature from Xavier Legrand is being sold - quite deliberately - as a modest kitchen sink drama, one liable to draw …
Director: Warwick Thornton Stars: Hamilton Morris, Bryan Brown, Sam Neill There is a point in Warwick Thornton's Sweet Country in which the director shows us the sun. Acting as his own cinematographer, Thornton passes the lens of the camera across the sky and our distant star is recast as a remorseless beast sporting white-hot tendrils. And …
Director: Brad Peyton Stars: Dwayne Johnson, Naomie Harris, Jeffrey Dean Morgan Why did the gargantuan albino gorilla, the armor-plated alligator and the spiny bat-wolf cross the road? To get to the evil-frequency-emitting beacon atop the corporate assholes' skyscraper of course. Bless Dwayne Johnson. He's become Hollywood's official Most Charming Man. When he's not sticking up for …
Director: Jeff Wadlow Stars: Lucy Hale, Violett Beane, Nolan Gerard Funk When it becomes apparent that the first two scenes of a movie are completely superfluous while you're watching them, its time to worry. It didn't have to be this way. While Jason Blum's scare factory has had its ups and downs in the past, 2017 …
Director: Hiromasa Yonebayashi It was a few years into Studio Ghibli's existence before Hayao Miyazaki brought My Neightbour Totoro to the world and finally settled on the iconic logo which become synonymous with the company ever since. Ghibli now rests in a state of semi-hibernation. In its wake, rising star Hiromasa Yonebayashi (Arrietty, When Marnie Was There) opens …
Director: Robin Campillo Stars: Arnaud Valois, Nahuel Pérez Biscayart, Antoine Reinartz We live in a stirring time of protest, but our protests are predominantly ideological ones. Against Trump. Against Brexit. Still, such imagery has become commonplace on the news, on our Twitter feeds, in the streets where we live and participate. Robin Campillo's astonishing 120 BPM …
Director: John Krasinski Stars: Millicent Simmonds, John Krasinski, Emily Blunt Don't buy popcorn when you go to see A Quiet Place. Go to see it. Absolutely go to see it. Take your best friend who loves an instant classic creature feature. But don't buy popcorn. Don't take snacks. Eat beforehand. If you can, try not to …
The Lost Highway Hotel 