Category Archives: Movies

Review: Woman at War

Posted on March 10, 2019 by philipbrasor

It’s interesting that Jodie Foster is thinking about doing a Hollywood remake of this extraordinary Icelandic fantasy, because it seems so resistant to the kind of pat familiarities that Hollywood trades in these days. The hook is understandably appealing: Unassuming … Continue reading →

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Review: Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse

Posted on March 8, 2019 by philipbrasor

As we prepare ourselves for another spring-summer of superhero schlock, it’s best not to make too much of a distinction between Marvel and DC. Obviously, the former trumps the latter in most departments, but the late Stan Lee’s runaway train … Continue reading →

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Review: The Mule

Posted on March 7, 2019 by philipbrasor

For reasons that are easier to understand than explain, Clint Eastwood is probably considered the most important American director by the Japanese film cognoscenti. Even his minor works, the ones that obviously play to the rafters, get listed on annual … Continue reading →

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Review: Green Book

Posted on March 2, 2019 by philipbrasor

A lot of critics are calling this road movie about a black musician touring the South in 1962 with a white driver the most embarrassing Best Picture Oscar winner since Crash. Such critics take the Academy Awards too seriously, and … Continue reading →

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Review: Memoir of War

Posted on February 24, 2019 by philipbrasor

Based on Marguerite Duras’s 1985 novel, La douleur, Emmanuel Finkiel’s film removes the fictive conceit and presents the story as a fairly straightforward memoir of Duras’s experience in occupied Paris during World War II. It’s easy to understand why Duras boosted … Continue reading →

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Review: If Beale Street Could Talk

Posted on February 22, 2019 by philipbrasor

Reportedly, Barry Jenkins wanted to do an adaptation of James Baldwin’s 1974 novel before he directed Moonlight, and the consensus seems to be that the only reason he got a green light to tackle Baldwin’s tricky story of tender love … Continue reading →

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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 →

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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 →

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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 →

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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 →

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