Category Archives: Movies

Review: Cocaine Bear

Posted on September 27, 2023 by philipbrasor

Relying on an almost postmodern meathead premise, Cocaine Bear is mainly notable for how doggedly it tries to pass off patently ridiculous plot points as having enough credibility to survive 90 minutes of complicated exposition. We have cocaine, and we … Continue reading →

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Review: Piggy

Posted on September 25, 2023 by philipbrasor

As do many new directors nowadays, Carlota Pereda expands on a previously made short subject for her feature debut. That short was also titled Piggy, and was about a teen living in a provincial Spanish town who is relentlessly teased … Continue reading →

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Review: Travelin’ Band: Creedence Clearwater Revival at the Royal Albert Hall

Posted on September 24, 2023 by philipbrasor

Basically a filmed concert augmented to feature length with a cobbled together bio of the band, this documentary delivers despite its modest ambitions, owing mainly to the fact that CCR was one of the few groups from the classic rock … Continue reading →

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Review: The Cord of Life

Posted on September 23, 2023 by philipbrasor

Chinese director Qiao Sixue has said that her debut feature is semi-autobiographical. Qiao studied film in France and intended to remain in Europe, but eventually returned to her childhood home in Inner Mongolia in order to make a movie about … Continue reading →

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Review: John Wick: Chapter 4 and Confidential Assignment 2: International

Posted on September 22, 2023 by philipbrasor

Having missed the third installment of the John Wick series I assumed I would have trouble getting up to speed with the fourth, but given the limited stylistic requirements that the series has set for itself I had no problems. … Continue reading →

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Review: Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutant Mayhem

Posted on September 21, 2023 by philipbrasor

Like the Spider-verse reboot, this new animated take on the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles franchise completely reimagines the vibe for a more discerning target audience, namely young people who have a stake in the culture that the source material ostensibly … Continue reading →

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Review: The Lost King

Posted on September 20, 2023 by philipbrasor

There’s a lot going on in Stephen Frears’ dramatized retelling of the story behind the discovery of King Richard III’s grave beneath a parking lot in Leicester, UK, in 2012. There’s the attempt to revise the accepted historical record surrounding … Continue reading →

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Review: No Bears

Posted on September 15, 2023 by philipbrasor

Between the time this movie was shot and its release date in Japan, its director, Jafar Panahi, was jailed and then released by the Iranian government for engendering “propaganda against the establishment”; and this on top of the 20-year ban … Continue reading →

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Review: Gran Turismo

Posted on September 14, 2023 by philipbrasor

As a studio, Sony Pictures is relatively light on IP product, though the one they do have, Spider-Man, is a heavyweight. I’m not sure if the race driver simulation game Gran Turismo is franchise-worthy, but the whole presentation here is … Continue reading →

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Review: Brother and Sister

Posted on September 13, 2023 by philipbrasor

This is at least the third new film by a major French director released in Japan this year that focuses on adults addressing their elderly parents’ pending deaths. Being that the director is Arnaud Desplechin, whose metier is family-centered black … Continue reading →

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