Category Archives: Movies

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 →

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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 →

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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 →

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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 →

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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 →

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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 →

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Review: His Lost Name

Posted on January 18, 2019 by philipbrasor

The cautious tone and austere aesthetic of Nanako Hirose’s debut feature was what most likely got it placed in the New Currents section of the most recent Busan International Film Festival, where it had its world premiere. New Currents is … Continue reading →

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Review: Creed II

Posted on January 11, 2019 by philipbrasor

As a gambit to legitimize the reboot of a franchise that should have been put to rest years ago, this sequel to the potently effective Creed works surprisingly well, but probably for the wrong reasons. Though it continues the story … Continue reading →

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Review: The Looming Storm

Posted on January 7, 2019 by philipbrasor

Film noir is defined as much by atmosphere as by any other visual or narrative attribute. The first film by director Dong Yue, a noted cinematographer, is drenched in heavy weather per the title. Ostensibly a murder mystery, The Looming … Continue reading →

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Review: My Generation

Posted on January 5, 2019 by philipbrasor

There’s nothing like a cleverly made documentary to bring up the obvious and somehow make you believe you’re hearing it for the first time. The general purport of David Batty’s nostalgic romp through 1960s Swinging London is that the milieu … Continue reading →

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