Category Archives: Movies

Review: All Ears and Joika

Posted on April 23, 2025 by philipbrasor

For a communist country, the Peoples’ Republic of China produces relatively few non-documentary feature films that focus on work. The theme that has dominated post-Sixth Generation cinema is the personal and psychological costs of a social system that has been … Continue reading →

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Review: The Maiden

Posted on April 18, 2025 by philipbrasor

This debut by Canadian director Graham Foy has been compared to the work of David Lynch, though it lacks Lynch’s sense of the absurd. The script, however, does feature metaphysical situations that may throw some viewers off since they are … Continue reading →

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Review: My Dearest Fu Bao

Posted on April 17, 2025 by philipbrasor

You have to hand it to China for its so-called panda diplomacy. Because everything about the animal is “rare and difficult,” according to a zookeeper quoted in this sentimental South Korean documentary, a certain delicacy is built into its process … Continue reading →

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Review: Sing Sing

Posted on April 11, 2025 by philipbrasor

Certainly the most daring thing that director Greg Kwedar did in adapting an old magazine article about the titular prison’s Rehabilitation Through the Arts (RTA) program, which allows inmates to stage plays, is the way he disregards the crimes of … Continue reading →

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Review: Bridget Jones: Mad About the Boy

Posted on April 10, 2025 by philipbrasor

Though not my cup of tea, the first three installments of the Bridget Jones series made for pleasantly unforced entertainment, probably because the British have developed a better understanding than Hollywood has of what’s charming about romantic comedies, namely a … Continue reading →

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Review: I, the Executioner and In the Land of Saints and Sinners

Posted on April 9, 2025 by philipbrasor

Though I see a lot of Korean movies, I don’t know much about the situation surrounding Korean cinema outside of South Korea or Japan, but I think I understand why this successful sequel to the 2015 cop-action comedy Veteran did … Continue reading →

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Review: Tuesday

Posted on April 3, 2025 by philipbrasor

The debut feature by Croatian director Daina O. Pusić seems purposely designed to throw the viewer off-guard. A ratty CG parrot with wolf-like attributes encounters humans in various states of distress, after which the action cuts to an American woman … Continue reading →

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Review: Here

Posted on April 2, 2025 by philipbrasor

Robert Zemeckis’s career has been built on gimmicks, usually of the technical kind but also conceptual ones. Though most of the attention focused on his latest has to do with the extensive use of de-ageing/ageing AI software and the curious … Continue reading →

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Review: Mickey 17

Posted on March 28, 2025 by philipbrasor

Slapstick wasn’t always a feature of Bong Joon-ho’s cinematic style. It was first noticeable in a minor way in his sci-fi thriller, The Host (2006), and then central to his two English language fantasies, Snowpiercer and Okja. However, his comic … Continue reading →

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Review: Emilia Pérez and Femme

Posted on March 27, 2025 by philipbrasor

At this late date, whatever interesting things Jacques Audiard’s unusual musical has to offer as entertainment have been subsumed by its attendant controversies. But even those interesting things are open to debate, mainly because they rely so heavily on idiosyncrasy … Continue reading →

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