Sort by
Listing Movies
Display Movies
Shanghai (2010)
Filmmaker(s): Mikael Håfström

An American man returns to a corrupt, Japanese-occupied Shanghai four months before Pearl Harbor and discovers his friend has been killed. While he unravels the mysteries of the death, he falls in love and discovers a much larger secret that his own government is hiding.

No Lust, Too Cautionary I’ve written before about the tendency in film to couple a love story with some radical political turmoil. The reason is simply that love is not inherently cinematic. Sex is and female attractiveness can be, but I‘m talking here about the...
Published February 4, 2024
| Categorised as IMDB Comments, Twos |
Tagged: , ,
Sherlock: The Abominable Bride (2016)
Welcome to Sherlock 1895!
Filmmaker(s): Douglas Mackinnon

Sherlock Holmes and Dr. Watson find themselves in 1890s London in this holiday special.

What is written writes itself I can’t say enough good things about this. Let’s start with what it is not. It is not rewarding long form filmmaking. It is TeeVee, and despite the rush of talent into TeeVee series, and their ability to engage, this...
Published February 4, 2024
| Categorised as IMDB Comments, Threes |
Tagged: , ,
Fish & Cat (2013)
The circles of time! Is it possible to escape?
Filmmaker(s): Shahram Mokri

A group of students travel to a remote region to participate in a kite-flying event. Next to their camp by the lakeside, they find a restaurant with cooks that treat the students with suspicion. Bizarre events lead to a complicated situation, from which the students cannot escape.

Wandering, not Wondering Gosh I live in such rich disappointment. When I encounter someone who naturally understands cinema and who has the potential to affect me, I want him/her to. I want love to follow beauty. This is an extraordinary film, unique in my experience....
Published February 4, 2024
| Categorised as IMDB Comments, Threes |
Tagged: , ,
Top of the Lake (2013)
One day, we won't be able to close our eyes anymore.
Filmmaker(s): Ján Lacko

A woman haunted by her past, Detective Robin Griffin, investigates complex and unsettling cases.

Hidden Agents, Justice This masterly series has several notable qualities. Most striking are the cinematic (meaning the camera-centric) anchors for the storytelling. But the most commented upon by others is the exploration of motherhood, supported by accomplished actresses doing their best work. I’ll comment instead...
Published February 3, 2024
| Categorised as IMDB Comments, Twos |
Tagged: , ,
Murder in Three Acts (1986)
Filmmaker(s): Gary Nelson

In Acapulco, Hercule Poirot attends a dinner party in which one of the guests clutches his throat and suddenly dies. The causes seem to be natural until another party with most of the same guests produces another corpse.

Bicycle, not spacecraft The strangest thing: when films are made of Christie structures, the first thing they worry about is the characterisation of the detective: Poirot or Marple. Clearly, the filmmakers obsess over the potential for engagement within the constraints of the original text, but...
Published February 3, 2024
| Categorised as IMDB Comments, Ones |
Tagged: , ,
Burning (2018)
The truth is all in your head.
Filmmaker(s): Lee Chang-dong

An aspiring writer goes to the airport to pick up a high school friend returning from a trip to Africa but is disheartened to see her with another man.

Soft Glass Young South Korean filmmakers have a layered vitality one doesn’t find anywhere else. Filmmaking is all about mapping what we have as cinematic conveyance to what we yearn for internally. That’s the game, the expected contract between filmmaker and viewer. We negotiate that...
Published February 3, 2024
| Categorised as IMDB Comments, Twos |
Tagged: , ,
Miss Marple: The Body in the Library (1984)
Filmmaker(s): Giorgi Ovashvili

Amateur detective Miss Jane Marple investigates the murder of a young woman whose body is found in the library at Gossington Hall, home of Colonel and Mrs. Arthur Bantry.

The Switch Detective mysteries are one of the most lavishly adventuresome experiences in literature, if one is interested in how narratives are constructed. The contract between reader and writer is rather complex, often involving virtual contracts with some of the characters as well. Christie is...
Published February 1, 2024
| Categorised as IMDB Comments, Threes |
Tagged: , ,
The Case of the Bloody Iris (1972)
The killer slices without mercy!
Filmmaker(s): Giuliano Carnimeo

A high-rise apartment populated by models, nightclub dancers and call girls becomes the focus of a mysterious serial killer. When a young model named Jennifer and her friend Marilyn move into one of the victims' former apartments, Jennifer becomes the next target and the pair try to identify the killer.

The Stamps When I’m blue, the movies I look for aren’t comedies. Film comedies work too hard, follow too many script formulas and when I am blue it is because I have worked to hard following similar internal scripts. What I need and what you...
Published January 23, 2024
| Categorised as IMDB Comments, Threes |
Tagged: , ,
Blindness (2008)
Your vision of the world will change forever.
Filmmaker(s): Fernando Meirelles

When a sudden plague of blindness devastates a city, a small group of the afflicted band together to triumphantly overcome the horrific conditions of their imposed quarantine.

Tosca Sometimes I wonder. At times, it seems that we all have some shared cinematic values — that some art can reach us all. Sure, we usually sacrifice depth in the process, but that’s a small enough occasional price for the joy of laughing with...
Published January 20, 2024
| Categorised as IMDB Comments, Threes |
Tagged: , ,
Invisible (2007)
Life, death and something in between.
Filmmaker(s): David S. Goyer

After an attack leaves him in limbo -- invisible to the living and also near death -- a teenager discovers the only person who might be able help him is his attacker.

Disembodied Eye Many of these teen movies have to distinguish themselves by leveraging narrative tricks. That’s because the market restricts the story so much that it is impossible to stand out. The narrative device that interests me is when the viewer is deliberately placed in...
Published January 19, 2024
| Categorised as IMDB Comments, Twos |
Tagged: , ,
preloader image