Category Archives: Movies

Review: Greed

Posted on June 19, 2021 by philipbrasor

At one point, Michael Winterbottom was perhaps the most irreducible major movie director working. Despite the fact that the guy’s output was regular as clockwork—at least one production a year, in addition to TV work—the range in style and genre … Continue reading →

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Review: Mortal Kombat

Posted on June 18, 2021 by philipbrasor

The benefit of reviewing a game-based movie without being a gamer is that there are no impossible expectations that need to be met; but, then again, not being a gamer usually means expectations are low to begin with when addressing … Continue reading →

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Review: The Clovehitch Killer

Posted on June 12, 2021 by philipbrasor

Probably the only narrative story device more hackneyed than the serial killer is the paid assassin. Neither are as tenth as ubiquitous as the movies would have us believe, and yet there’s obviously something about them that appeals to our … Continue reading →

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Review: The Woman Who Ran

Posted on June 11, 2021 by philipbrasor

The English titles of Hong Sang-soo’s stilted comedies are always interesting. Sometimes they simply describe a situation in the plainest terms: Hotel by the River or The Day He Arrives. Other times they seem to be taking the piss: Like … Continue reading →

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Review: The Comeback Trail

Posted on June 8, 2021 by philipbrasor

Boomer entitlement rears its ugly head once again with this overwrought comedy starring three aging A-listers—Robert De Niro, Tommy Lee Jones, and Morgan Freeman—who seem predisposed to ruining whatever recent memories we have of them keeping up their end of … Continue reading →

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Review: Hope Gap

Posted on June 7, 2021 by philipbrasor

Given the generic late-middle-aged divorce drama premise of the story, the various publicity campaigns for Hope Gap focus on casting. Annette Bening, apparently, seems to have some sort of dedicated fan base in Japan, since that’s what the local PR … Continue reading →

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Review: True North

Posted on June 4, 2021 by philipbrasor

Several minutes into this second feature by Eiji Han Shimizu, a Japanese of Korean descent, it’s easy to understand why he decided to make it an animated film. Though there isn’t anything depicted that couldn’t also be depicted easily with … Continue reading →

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Review: David Byrne’s American Utopia

Posted on May 29, 2021 by philipbrasor

Japanese fans of David Byrne may count themselves lucky, or they may not. The preternaturally optimistic rock star’s Broadway show, adapted to the screen by Spike Lee, will initially be shown here in theaters rather than on TV, to which, … Continue reading →

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Review: Amazing Grace

Posted on May 28, 2021 by philipbrasor

The story goes that Aretha Franklin didn’t want this movie released. It was filmed in the New Temple Missionary Baptist Church (formerly a movie theater) in Southern California in 1972 in front of a congregation and quite a few industry … Continue reading →

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Review: The Father

Posted on May 14, 2021 by philipbrasor

I had no problem with Anthony Hopkins winning the Best Actor Oscar for his performance in Florian Zeller’s screen adaptation of his own play. I saw all the other nominated performances, and only Hopkins’ stood out. Everyone else, including odds-on … Continue reading →

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