Clive’s Drama precious thing about Christie is that she’ll give a wholly coherent narrative with some unresolved bits — a narrative if you will where we actually accomplish some of the things we do in absorbing a narrative. Then at the end of essentially all...
Ethan Hunt and team continue their search for the terrifying AI known as the Entity — which has infiltrated intelligence networks all over the globe — with the world's governments and a mysterious ghost from Hunt's past on their trail. Joined by new allies and armed with the means to shut the Entity down for good, Hunt is in a race against time to prevent the world as we know it from changing forever.
Comparative Truths live in era of extreme local situated information. Trump and his ilk exploit this model, refined by Fox News, but I think it is a set of deeper and more global effects. Here’s how it works: If you want certain elements in your...
After the previous Godzilla attack, a miniature arms race ensues to collect his cells. Concerned over Godzilla's possible return, the Japanese government uses the cells to create a new bio-weapon, ANEB (Anti-Nuclear Energy Bacteria). They seeks the aid of geneticist Genshiro Shiragami, who's experiments result in a new mutation.
Sexual Spies Godzilla films — the Japanese ones — are essentially social commentary and painful self-reflection embodied in beasts. So we have films about American dominance, gangsters in corporations, pollution, national friendships… This is the most complex one. The core story is a genius scientist creating...
One of the first Czechoslovak films to be shown abroad--a fantasy horror, filmed on the fully furnished premises of the Berlin film studio Am Zoo. The central role is portrayed by the “arrivee from darkness”, Ješek, who is awakened from a deathly sleep. The film represents unusual sparks of creative efforts and the ambitions of creative community around the director Jan S. Kolár, who was inspired by international trends and techniques.
Parallel Realities this is yet another instance of a woman actress, made a star by her filmmaker lover. The story is a valentine to her charm and beauty, sufficient to bend reality. She indeed became a star until talkies made her accent unsellable. Here, she...
A mild-mannered professor moonlighting as a fake hit man in police stings ignites a chain reaction of trouble when he falls for a potential client.
Explicitness Kills I have learned about effective introspection in film is that the least acknowledged is the most effective. Two extremes may be “Under the Skin” or “Pillow Book” or even “In the Mood for Love” at one successful end and this at the other....
As Part I opens, Jubei (Denjiro Okochi), the best of sea skippers, is unable to overcome the stormy seas of Luzon. All hands on board the Kannonmaru were lost except for Shinkei, who alone made his way to land & eventually home to inform his grandson Jiromaru (Kinnosuke Nakamura) that his father Jubei met with disaster. Young Jiromaru tells his grandfather that he doesn't want to be a skipper like his father, but wants to go to Kyoto and become a samurai…
Pirates! Ghosts! Samurai! not sure how much I will be able to devote to a study of Japanese cinema. I am attracted to films that rinse modern concepts through a Shinto lens. So the filmmakers and projects I value are actually few. But you have...
Two melancholic Hong Kong policemen fall in love: one with a mysterious underworld figure, the other with a beautiful and ethereal server at a late-night restaurant.
Discontinuous experiments in this film, and I took some trouble in sorting them out. The first thing you'll notice is the discontinuous camerawork, accentuated by low (never high) angles and strobeflashframes. This element by itself is sophomoric filmschoolism. Then you have the plot tags and storyline. The...
A free adaptation of Shakespeare′s drama. The Danish queen masquerades her daughter as a boy, and thus, the girl lives her life as 'Prince' Hamlet. Her father poisoned by a venomous snake placed by the treacherous Claudius, Hamlet fakes madness to investigate without suspicion.
Citizen Asta has long been attractive to vain actors, despite its opposing energy. Mel Gibson! Olivier! So many… And such committed variety. There are four notable things. The first is that the play may be the richest long form narrative in history, essentially inventing poetic metaphor....
After the mysterious disappearance of their baby daughter, a young couple receives strange videos and realizes someone has been filming their daily life — even in their most intimate moments. The police set up surveillance around their home to catch the voyeur but the family starts to crumble as secrets unravel under the scrutiny of eyes watching them from all sides.
Art, seen film seems targeted for the ‘art film’ market. Comments focus on the deep perspective it presents, though for what varies. Lowbrow viewers remark on the pervasive surveillance state of Singapore — the municipal cameras. More arty reviewers think it is a good example...
A treasure-hunting mastermind assembles a team for a life-changing adventure. But to outwit and outrun threats at every turn, he'll need someone even smarter than he is: his estranged sister.
Architecture Under normal circumstances, I would warn you away from this. It is an unintegrated collection of elements designed to take a few dollars and hours in exchange for an escape. It supposes to triangulate that zone among ‘Indiana Jones’, ‘National Treasure’, and ‘The DaVinci Code’....
