Category Archives: Movies

Review: Ammonite

Posted on April 10, 2021 by philipbrasor

It’s difficult to imagine Francis Lee’s romanticized reimagining of 19th century paleontologist Mary Anning (Kate Winslet) being produced without the precedent of Mike Leigh. Though Leigh is best known for his modernist take on working class British everypersons, in more … Continue reading →

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Review: House in the Fields

Posted on April 9, 2021 by philipbrasor

There’s probably no more momentous development in the practice of filmmaking since the dawn of the millennium than the expansion of the documentary genre beyond its classic parameters. At one time the idea that the documentary filmmaker is a kind … Continue reading →

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Review: 21 Bridges

Posted on April 8, 2021 by philipbrasor

Though it wasn’t the last film he made, the police action thriller, 21 Bridges, is being released in Japan just as the late Chadwick Boseman has been nominated for a Best Actor Oscar that most bookies say he’s going to … Continue reading →

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Review: The Reason I Jump

Posted on April 2, 2021 by philipbrasor

Since I haven’t read David Mitchell’s translation of Naoki Hagishida’s 2007 memoir of autism I can’t rightly say how faithful Jerry Rothwell’s semi-documentary movie version is, though much of the voiceover narration, by Jordan O’Donegan, is taken straight from the … Continue reading →

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Review: Tesla

Posted on March 27, 2021 by philipbrasor

Michael Almereyda’s biopic of Serbian-American inventor Nikolai Tesla (Ethan Hawke) is a welcome corrective — or maybe “antidote” is a better word — to The Current War, which attempted to make an entertainment out of the rivalry between Thomas Edison … Continue reading →

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Review: Monster Hunter

Posted on March 26, 2021 by philipbrasor

Expected to meet expectations like the pro he is, director Paul W.S. Anderson is charged with adapting the popular Capcom video game to the Imax screen in much the same way he adapted the Resident Evil game to…how many sequels … Continue reading →

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Review: Lords of Chaos

Posted on March 25, 2021 by philipbrasor

It may seem petty to start this review with the observation that it sure feels odd that a movie which concerns itself, albeit in a tongue-in-cheek expressionistic sort of way, with a true life crime is in a language that … Continue reading →

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Review: Minari

Posted on March 19, 2021 by philipbrasor

Amidst the Oscar-related acclaim for Lee Isaac Chung’s semi-autobiographical feature there was an online interview with Best Supporting Actress nominee Youn Yuh-jung, who expressed bewilderment at the strong emotional reaction that many Korean-Americans had toward the film. Having herself emigrated … Continue reading →

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Review: The Outpost

Posted on March 12, 2021 by philipbrasor

The post-Platoon American war movie has been obsessed with verisimilitude; not just in terms of visceral shock, but with the kind of behaviors that battle readiness gives rise to. On the surface, The Outpost comes across as a kind of … Continue reading →

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Review: Baseball Girl

Posted on March 5, 2021 by philipbrasor

The implied purpose of Choi Yun-tae’s Baseball Girl is to upend all the cliches attached to sports movies while at the same time following them to the letter. Thematically, Choi wants to show as honestly as possible the obstacles that … Continue reading →

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