Spotlight on Film

The Colours Blogathon: Betty Blue (1986)

Catherine at Thoughts All Sorts is hosting The Colours Blogathon, and my contribution to this colourful parade of entries is a French cult classic film from 1983 titled 37°2 Le Matin or simply Betty Blue. Nominated in 1986 for an Academy Award in the Best Foreign Language Film category, this film of a passionate, doomed…

“The Odyssey” Review

The Odyssey [2016] – ★★★ “No, no, no, you did not understand, no…I am not making animal documentaries. I am going to tell the story of men who are going to explore a new world” (Jacques Cousteau in The Odyssey). I grew up watching Jacques-Yves Cousteau’s TV documentaries, amazed at all the underwater world, unusual…

“Miss Hokusai” Review: Idiosyncratic, Poetic & Inspiring

Miss Hokusai [2015] – ★★★1/2 🎨A gentle anime-biography, unveiling the character of Katsushika Ōi and the mysteries of art-making. Based on a manga series by Hinako Sugiura, Miss Hokusai is a Japanese animation about the daughter of the famous real-life Japanese painter Hokusai. Her name was Katsushika Ōi. A great artist herself, Ōi helped her…

Corto Maltese: The Ballad of the Salt Sea (2002): Les “Jeux Interdits”

The Ballad of the Salt Sea [2002] – ★★★ “He’s dreaming with his eyes open, and those that dream with their eyes open are dangerous, for they do not know when their dreams come to an end” (Hugo Pratt, taking inspiration from the famous quote by T.E. Lawrence). “When I want to relax, I read…

Darren Aronofsky is at it again…

After making his Black Swan (2010) out of Satoshi Kon’s Perfect Blue (1997) (see my article on the topic here), Darren Aronofsky now seems to make his new film Mother! out of everyone’s much beloved horror classic Rosemary’s Baby (1968). The phrases “paying homage” and “drawing inspiration” really camouflage the lack of artistic ideas and originality,…

The Workplace in Film & TV Blogathon: Fawlty Towers (1975/79)

“Cleese’s work [here] is even better than anything he did for the Monty Python troupe. Yes, it’s that good.” (John J. Puccio, Movie Metropolis) Debbie at Moon in Gemini is hosting The Workplace in Film & TV Blogathon, and my entry is a British TV series from the 1970s called Fawlty Towers. Written by John…

Hitchcock Spotlight: “Rope” Review

The film grips the audience from the very beginning, and it radiates the same morbid cleverness that would define Hitchcock’s later films.

Unpopular Opinion Tag (Films)

Richard at The Humpo Show has tagged me to get involved in this Unpopular Opinion Tag (Films edition), and I thought it would be great fun since I have to pick three films generally loved by most people, but which I find undeserving of all the hype and explain my choices. Thanks again, Richard! In…

“Wakefield” Review

Wakefield [2016] – ★★★★ Based on a short story by E.L. Doctorow (which, in turn, is a re-telling of the story by Nathaniel Hawthorne) and shot over just twenty days, Wakefield is a film about Howard Wakefield (Bryan Cranston (Drive (2011), The Infiltrator (2016)), a busy city lawyer, who is silently enduring a personal crisis….

“The Founder” Review

The Founder [2016] – ★★★★ “It’s not just the system, Dick. It’s the name. That glorious name, McDonald’s. It could be anything you want it to be…it’s limitless, it’s wide open…it sounds like…America” (Ray Kroc). The McDonald brothers’ success was to the 1950s what the social network’s success was to the 2000s. The story of…

“Match Point” Review

Match Point [2005] – ★★1/2 In this film, Chris Wilton (Jonathan Rhys-Meyers), an ex-tennis pro, comes from humble background, but slowly makes his way to the society’s upper class by dating and then marrying a sister of one of his students at a posh tennis club in London. However, this is far from being a…

The Swashathon (the Swashbuckler Blogathon): The Man in the Iron Mask (1998)

Movies Silently is hosting the Swashathon or the Swashbuckler Blogathon, and I could not pass up this opportunity to review Randall Wallace’s The Man In the Iron Mask (1998). As many of you would know, today is also Bastille Day or la Fête Nationale in France, which provides for another excuse to delve into a film…

“Get Out” Review

Get Out [2017] – ★★★ 🦌 An atmospheric, albeit strange, combination of The Stepford Wives (1972) and Guess Who’s Coming to Dinner (1967), but with some “over-the-top” horror in the mix and hardly offering anything new or subtle by the end. Get Out is one of the best-reviewed films of 2017. It is a debut film…

“The Red Turtle” Review: Simple, Yet Profound

The Red Turtle [2016] – ★★★★1/2 🐢 A simple story of survival morphs into a poetic, symbolism-driven tale of the man’s connection with nature and the meaning of life. The Red Turtle is the 2017 best animation Oscar nominee that surprised people in a way it masterfully combined visual simplicity and metaphoric depth. The film…

“Wolf Children” Review: Heart-Warming & Relatable

A touching, beautifully-presented story that makes a stance against discrimination, encouraging learning to live with one’s differences.

“Raw” Review

Raw [2016] – ★★★★ 🥩 A staggering film debut with “unflinching” gore and disturbing atmosphere, reviving the best of what became known as the New French Extremity movement. Julia Ducournau’s debut feature film Raw provoked extreme reactions from critics and audiences alike. However, despite its grim story and graphic imagery, the film still managed to…

The Medicine in the Movies Blogathon: Spellbound (1945)

Charlene at Charlene’s (Mostly) Classic Movie Reviews is hosting this amazing blogathon – The Medicine in the Movies Blogathon, and this review of Alfred Hitchcock’s Spellbound (1945) is part of the race. There are many good movies out there which explore interesting, intricate aspects of medicine: from Wellman’s overblown, but entertaining Night Nurse (1931) to…

“Psycho” Review

🚿 A classic which stood the test of time, revolutionising the presentation of horror on screen and showcasing Hitchcock’s unparalleled talent for creating suspense.

The Five Stars Blogathon

The 16th of May is National Classic Movie Day, and what better way to celebrate this than to write a post on one’s five favourite classic movie stars. The rules of this blogathon hosted by the Classic Film and TV Cafe is that people list their five favourite classic movie stars and then say why…

“Minimalist” Film Posters

For awhile now I have been a fan of “minimalist” film posters. These are posters which show little details from films, but which often say a lot about a movie. They are frequently very simple, clever and creative. They are thought-provoking because most of them capture the very essence of a film and can distil…