Category Archives: Movies

Review: I’m Still Here

Posted on August 7, 2025 by philipbrasor

It’s easy to see why Walter Salles’s adaptation of Marcelo Rubens Paiva’s memoir of the abduction and murder of his father in the 1970s by the Brazilian authorities won the Oscar for Best International Feature. It’s earnest in its outrage … Continue reading →

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Review: The Voices of the Silenced and A Compassionate Spy

Posted on August 2, 2025 by philipbrasor

Co-director Park Maeui worked with her veteran documentarian mother, Park Soo-nam, on The Voices of the Silenced, a detailed review of the latter’s life and work as the former digitizes that work, which was originally shot in 16mm. Both Parks … Continue reading →

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Review: Kneecap

Posted on August 1, 2025 by philipbrasor

Sort of a musical biopic and sort of a piss-take on musical biopics, Rich Peppiatt’s movie about the titular Irish-language rap group messes with the audience’s expectations as he fashions a comedy of ill manners to make a point about … Continue reading →

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Review: Until Dawn

Posted on July 31, 2025 by philipbrasor

Another video game adaptation, and this one really feels like one in the way it keeps returning to a starting point. The plot structure, however, is very contrived and not particularly original. A group of young friends drive into a … Continue reading →

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Review: All We Imagine as Light

Posted on July 25, 2025 by philipbrasor

The title of Indian director Payal Kapadia’s Cannes-winning first fiction feature is explained near the end when a character talks about working in a dark place for days on end. It gets to the point, he says, where light is … Continue reading →

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Review: When It Melts

Posted on July 24, 2025 by philipbrasor

Based on a novel, Veerle Baetens’ movie about a young woman who has never gotten over a teenage trauma has an unsettling allure at first, since the source of the trauma remains hidden. That’s not to say it can’t be … Continue reading →

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Review: Elevation

Posted on July 23, 2025 by philipbrasor

Monster movies and so-called post-apocalyptic fiction are usually predicated on high-concept gimmicks. Sometimes the gimmick has a gloss of scientific credibility, such as the theory in The Last of Us that a killer fungus which has taken over the world … Continue reading →

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Review: Immaculate

Posted on July 17, 2025 by philipbrasor

It’s surprising that there hasn’t been more cinematic glosses on Rosemary’s Baby considering how irresistible is the notion of a child born of physical Satanic paternity, but this son-of-a-nun horror story isn’t much of an addition to the sub-genre. For … Continue reading →

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Review: Strange Darling and Drop

Posted on July 11, 2025 by philipbrasor

Whiplash thrillers have become a kind of cottage industry in B-movie Hollywood, confounding critics who, in service to readers, have to circumvent crucial plot points so as to not spoil the intended effect. JT Mollner’s Strange Darling is more inventive … Continue reading →

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Review: A Different Man

Posted on July 10, 2025 by philipbrasor

Though Aaron Schimberg’s 70s-styled black comedy seems to be about how we address disability as a society, it’s really about casting, and not just its own choice of actors. The main plot line has to do with a small Off-Broadway … Continue reading →

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