“White Material” Review

White Material [2009] – ★★★★1/2 White Material is set in one unspecified French colonial African country, and follows Maria Vial (Isabelle Huppert), an owner of a large coffee plantation. Well-known to the area, Maria lives on the estate with her ex-husband Andre (Christopher Lambert), her ex-husband’s father Henri and grown-up son Manuel. However, there are…

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Top 10 “Mary Poppins” Songs: Ranked

I. Chim Chim Cheree This is the catchiest tune in the whole film. It is so simple and yet so inexplicably endearing. Bert nearly steals the whole film from Mary Poppins with this song, showing his cheery disposition, but also hinting at the underlying injustice – “the social ladder has been strung”. Pavement Artist is the…

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7 Films Based on Graphic Novels/Comics

In no particular order and excluding “superhero” comics, including Batman, Superman, Spiderman, and the Marvel Universe. I. Alan Moore is a force to be reckoned with. He is the creator of so many epic graphic novels, from Watchmen and Batman: The Killing Joke to Jerusalem and V for Vendetta. His graphic novel From Hell (1999)…

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7 Films Based on Japanese Manga

I. Edge of Tomorrow is a great sci-fi film about one Major who wakes up with each day being repeated, but the catch is that this day is the day of the invasion battle with aliens. This Groundhog Day-concept works brilliantly in the story, and Tom Cruise and Emily Blunt’s chemistry is unbelievably good. However,…

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Short Animation: Dinner for Few

This highly thought-provoking animation of 2014 is from animator Nassos Vakalis. It presents a powerful allegory of a society, from the use of resources and corruption to the control of the masses and revolution.

Short Animation: Happiness

Steve Cutts is a London-based illustrator and animation, and this is his short animation Happiness, where he satirises the modern society and its activities, including the goal to “find happiness” in material things and capitalistic culture. It is set to Georges Bizet’s aria Habanera from the opera Carmen.

Spotlight on Editing & Directing: Verhoeven’s RoboCop (1987)

With its “body-horror” preoccupation, excessive violence, and tongue-in-cheek dialogues, RoboCop (1987) is a quintessential 1980s film, inspired by Ridley Scott’s Blade Runner (1982) and made on the back of the success of The Terminator (1984). There are many things that made it good, including its cinematography provided by Jost Vacano (Das Boot (1981)), its unusual…

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10 “Must-See” Japanese Films

This list excludes anime, and, to ensure variety, includes only two films from any one director. I. Tokyo Story [1953] Tokyo Story is one of the greatest films of all time. Director Yasujirō Ozu’s trade-mark subtlety in rendering a picture so quietly powerful is seen here as in no other film as a story is told…

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“March of the Penguins” Review

March of the Penguins (La Marche de l’empereur) (2005) “Penguins are living lessons in caring for the earth and its creatures, in all their beauty and vulnerability.” Charles Bergman This beautiful documentary, narrated by Morgan Freeman, gets close and personal with emperor penguins, marvellous, unique animals that reside in one of the harshest environments found…

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15 Great World War II Films

Schindler’s List (1993) The Pianist (2002) Life is Beautiful (1997) The Bridge on the River Kwai (1953) Fires on the Plain (1959) Downfall (2004) Ivan’s Childhood (1962) The Red Thin Line (1998) Hacksaw Ridge (2016) Come and See (1985) Dunkirk (2017) Rome, Open City (1945) Letters from Iwo Jima (2006) Saving Private Ryan (1998) The…

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“Downfall: The Case Against Boeing” Review

Downfall (2022) I love scrupulously-put-together documentaries that deal with criminal or social justice issues, and Downfall is one of them. It shows the rise and fall of the engineering company Boeing in the context of two airplane disasters that happened in October 2018 (Lion Air Flight) and March 2019 (Ethiopian Airlines Flight) and involved the…

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“Titane” Review

Titane [2021] – ★★★★ 🔥 Titane hypnotises and mystifies as it repels and shocks, delivering not only a story, but also “an experience”. Titane is the second feature film of French director Julia Ducournau (Raw (2017)) and the Palme d’Or winner of the 2021 Cannes Film Festival. The film is not for the faint of…

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Film Scene Spotlight: Ingmar Bergman’s Autumn Sonata

As seen from a number of his other films, Ingmar Bergman was very interested in the relationship between two women (one dominant and another submissive), but, in Autumn Sonata, he presented something truly complex and sublime.

Soviet Winter Animation: The Mitten (1967)

This sweet stop-motion animation from the Soviet Union titled The Mitten (“Варежка“) was directed by Roman Kachanov (director of The Mystery of the Third Planet (1981), but who also worked on such animations as The Snow Maiden (1952) and The Scarlet Flower (1952)). The 10-minute silent animation is about a girl who longs to have…

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“The Power of the Dog” Review

The Power of the Dog [2021] – ★★★★1/2 “Deliver my soul from the sword/My darling from the power of the dog” (Psalms, Preface to Thomas Savage’s novel The Power of the Dog (1967)). The Power of the Dog centres on two very different brothers Phil and George Burbank (Benedict Cumberbatch and Jesse Plemons) living on…

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Actor Spotlight: Montgomery Clift

Clift was one of the most talented American actors and, unfortunately, one of the most misunderstood ones, who valued the craft of acting above financial success or even critical/public opinion…