Trust and idealism are certainly noble qualities, but, when taken too far, they can easily morph into naivete and gullibility. And those qualities, in turn, can carry seriously devastating consequences. But what I have difficulty understanding is why anyone would legitimately want to make a film showcasing such an unengaging, uninspired outcome. Is it supposed to be taken as a cautionary tale? A tragedy of epic proportions? A case study of the consequences that come with not waking up in time to smell the coffee? What’s more, circumstances like this are made even worse when the victim in such …
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A symbolic and cold coming-of-age film.
It subtly yet powerfully portrays the existential emptiness of youth, delving into the struggles and hollowness of adolescence through the lens of a high school student trapped in a chaotic, lawless, and violence-ridden environment.
Toshiaki Toyoda delivers a stark critique of an educational system that, rather than guiding and nurturing its students toward a better future, becomes complicit in their disillusionment.
Blue Spring is not your typical teenage film.
It’s a bleak poem about a generation growing up with no future, no direct…
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"The Good Traitor" offers an insight into the little known rebellion, of the Ambassador to Denmark to the USA, against his home government, during WWII.
After Denmark's invasion by the Nazi's Henrik Kauffmann declared his embassy in the USA the true representative of Denmark, given his home government was under coercive foreign management. An example followed by several other Danish embassies around the world.
What follows is a fascinating mix of political and personal drama, as Kauffmann masterfully manipulates the situation, with the help of his well connected American wife, to…
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I miss the good-ole days when comedy through stereotypes was perfectly acceptable. Then, the Politically Correct vigilantes took over and the likes of Mel Brooks, Carl Reiner, and Joan Rivers were out of a job. If you need those old-tyme, forbidden laughs, this is the film. Last of the era, man.…
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**_A well-to-do family in Los Angeles… might not be too well_**
Made in 2017 and released to TV early the next year, this is a drama/thriller that takes the set-up of "The Hand that Rocks the Cradle,” but knits-in bits of “The Crush,” “The Babysitter” and “Single White Female.” It smacks of the typical Lifetime flick, utilitarian with little sense of artistry, yet is proficient enough if you value the cast members or storyline. What places it above others is the inventive ending that holds a couple of surprises (so avoid spoilers), plus the inclusion of petite Moscow-born Olesya Rulin.
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You kind of know this was written my Millennials because it's nothing but a collection of scenes and the obligatory random dance number... what is the Millennial obsession with dance numbers and proms?
There is no prom in this, which is actually sort of shocking.
There is also no horror.
No real thrills
Not much in the way of plot.
We saw it all before as a matter of fact. It's an action movie that really fun or entertaining. It just sort of it and that's all it is.…
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Anyone who recalls those computer punch cards with the holes in them might get some added nostalgia value from this quirky animation. Each hole is characterised as if it could be a person or a desk in an office. There’s a door, of sorts, through which these arrive and take up their pre-assigned spaces. Then one of them starts acting up. Sometimes it appears just to be naughty, at others perhaps even a bit of a bully as it’s co-stars react in differing ways to this erratic behaviour amidst their ordinarily stable and disciplined environment. I couldn’t quite decide whether there is an in-depth …
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Crafted by Frank Capra at the instigation of General Marshall, this is a bit more sophisticated that the usual propaganda exercise Hollywood produced following the raid on Pearl Harbour. This time it uses an effective array of archive to not so much extol the virtues of the great American war machine as to chronologically vilify the axis powers. There’s not so much actual footage of the Emperor but they still manage to illustrate the processes of Japanese expansion through Korea, Manchuria and eventually Shanghai. Mussolini and Hitler provide much more fertile territory for the filmmakers as t…
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A victim of his own meticulous success, “Angel” (Simon Pegg) is promoted to sergeant but relocated from the metropolis to a remote rural constabulary where he anticipates that nothing much will go wrong under the watchful eye of “Insp. Butterman” (Jim Broadbent). Less than impressed with this enforced relocation, he arrives in a town where everyone already knows who he is and where the pub with fellow cop, the younger ”Butterman” (Nick Frost), where he downs some orange juice before bed in his hotel room is his only real diversion. One night, though, the pair are to be representatives of the p…
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Well if you thought poor “Clarence” was a bit hopeless in “It’s a Wonderful Life” (1946) then wait til you meet “Gabriel” (Keanu Reeves). He’s an entry-level angel, replete with stunted wings, who is charged with stopping careless drovers from texting whilst crashing. He’s bored, and so when he spots the down-at-heel “Ari” (Aziz Ansari) he believes he might have discovered a pet project for himself. This man works in one of those rent-a-person jobs running errands for folks and living on their meagre tips. One such trip sees him at the luxurious home of “Jeff” (Seth Rogan). He’s supposed to cl…
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