FIlm Review
Film Review: White Riot
Recent events in America have been eye-opening for those watching from afar. 2020 has seen the rise of the Black Lives Matter organisation in response to the institutional racism in the US, particularly within police departments. Echoes of which have reverberated across the world. Whilst it would be simplistic to feel in some way morally …
Film Review: Rocks
Childhood is meant to be a special time. One of excitement, adventure and discovery. A period of personal and physical growth through learning and play, but also a chance to experiment and experience a range of new and exciting things. This requires an implicit trust in our parent(s) or guardian(s) to take care of the …
Film Review: Summerland
If you ask me, and no one has, one of the worst side-effects of our new technological age are dating sites and apps. Nothing sucks the life out of finding your soulmate more than reading through a list of uninspiring copied and pasted favourite books and films or swiping left on a number of staged …
Film Review: Memories of Murder
When Parasite won the Best Film at the 2020 Academy Awards, it became the first non-English language film to perform this feat. However, director Bong Joon-ho has been thrilling audiences for twenty years since his feature debut, Barking Dogs Never Bite. Snowpiercer, Okja, Mother and The Host have wowed festival audiences and indie film fans. …
Film Review: Bulletproof
Regardless of the current political climate, being a cop in a large American city is a difficult, and often dangerous, undertaking. Whilst there’s undoubtedly a huge problem with institutional racism, it’s certainly not an easy or simple job. This has been so thrillingly documented on film by the likes of Antoine Fuqua’s Training Day and …
Blu-Ray Review: Koko-Di Koko-Da
One popular conceit which film-makers love to play with is throwing their main character(s) into a situation and watching them replay a scenario over and over again. Groundhog Day or Happy Death Day are probably the most famous examples, but there have been many variations on a theme. Johannes Nyholm combines this premise with one …
Film Review: Watch List
As part of his election campaign in 2016, Rodrigo Duterte was adamant that he was going to crack down on drug dealers. Whatever your feelings are about the president of the Philippines, he has certainly been true to his word. The ‘war on drugs’ has resulted in the deaths of thousands of Filipinos. Extra-judicial executions …
Film Review: Two Heads Creek
Australia’s rugged terrain and host of dangerous and deadly wildlife has inspired numerous stories of survival and terror. For someone who lives in a temperate climate the sheer heat, barrenness and isolation of much of the country is a little overwhelming. Not to mention the propensity of the animal population towards murder. However, as Wake …
Film Review: Children of the Sea
Ninety-seven percent of the water on the Earth is in our oceans whilst seventy-one percent of the planet is covered in water. It is surprising then that our knowledge of the seas is so limited, at best, with eighty percent remaining unmapped. There are the obvious difficulties connected with marine exploration, but as a species …
Film Review: Away
Whilst the world of animation can sometimes feel like it’s dominated by a mix of Disney/Pixar et al and a number of Asian studios, there is some fine work coming out of Europe. Most notably from Ireland’s Cartoon Saloon (Song of the Sea/The Breadwinner), UK’s Aardman Animations (Early Man/Arthur Christmas) and a number of French …