Category Archives: Movies

Review: The Favourite

Posted on February 15, 2019 by philipbrasor

The recent death of Albert Finney revived interest in the movie that first made him a star in the U.S. (he was already a sensation in the U.K. thanks to Karel Reisz). Tom Jones attempted to obliterate the stuffy British … Continue reading →

Posted in Movies | Tagged , , , | Leave a comment

Review: Aquaman

Posted on February 11, 2019 by philipbrasor

To anyone who filters the DC Comics cinematic universe through the overwhelming success of the brand’s rival, Marvel Studios, Aquaman the movie is best seen as a reply to the Thor series, which is where Marvel pointedly plays up the … Continue reading →

Posted in Movies | Tagged | Leave a comment

Review: First Man

Posted on February 7, 2019 by philipbrasor

Damien Chazelle’s third feature is an oddly circumspect blockbuster. Though this biopic of Apollo 11 astronaut Neil Armstrong fits neatly into the big-budget hero stylings of The Right Stuff and Apollo 13, its focus on a character who was basically … Continue reading →

Posted in Movies | Tagged , , | Leave a comment

Review: Hannah

Posted on February 4, 2019 by philipbrasor

Thematically and structurally similar to 45 Years, which also starred Charlotte Rampling as the wife of a man who undergoes a startling change in situation, Andrea Pallaoro’s heavily circumscribed character study is less emotionally involving but more evocative. Set in … Continue reading →

Posted in Movies | Tagged | Leave a comment

Review: Burning

Posted on February 2, 2019 by philipbrasor

Before he became the most vital director of the Korean film renaissance, Lee Chang-dong was a successful novelist, and the most penetrating aspect of his movies is their unpredictable but nevertheless natural plot developments. In his two best films, Oasis … Continue reading →

Posted in Movies | Tagged , | Leave a comment

Review: The Front Runner

Posted on February 1, 2019 by philipbrasor

Pardon me if I initially confused Gary Hart with John Edwards. Though the two presidential candidates’ respective career-destroying sex scandals happened almost two decades apart, they tend to blur together in my mind. All those WASPy Democrats look alike, I … Continue reading →

Posted in Movies | Tagged , , | Leave a comment

Review: The Wife

Posted on January 28, 2019 by philipbrasor

Glenn Close’s surprise Golden Globe win for Best Actress in a Drama already pegs Bjorn Runge’s film as a must-see mediocre movie, and, in truth, Close makes it worth your money. As the wife of blowhard writer Joe Castleman (Jonathan … Continue reading →

Posted in Movies | Tagged | Leave a comment

Review: Suspiria

Posted on January 25, 2019 by philipbrasor

Few genres have become as formulaic as horror movies, and one of the better things you can say about Luca Guadagnino’s reimagining of Dario Argento’s 1977 slasher classic is that it avoids the cliches you expect. Unfortunately, it replaces them … Continue reading →

Posted in Movies | Tagged , | Leave a comment

Review: Girls of the Sun

Posted on January 22, 2019 by philipbrasor

Though horrific in intent, this French film about a battalion of Kurdish women fighting against the Islamic State in Iraqi Kurdistan avoids scenes of overt violence and goes rather light on the gore. It’s both a relief and a cop-out, … Continue reading →

Posted in Movies | Tagged | Leave a comment

Review: Rebel in the Rye

Posted on January 19, 2019 by philipbrasor

Whether couched in prose or celluloid, literary biographies are a dodgy enterprise, but prose at least has the luxury of length for people who are probably pre-disposed to sitting for long periods of time reading a book. Danny Strong’s rather … Continue reading →

Posted in Movies | Tagged | Leave a comment