A personal journal of film and documentary reviews, and reviews of anything else that intrigues me.
Deepak Chetty, “Hard Reset” (2016) The premise and the plot are predictable and rather tired, as are also the “Blade Runner” urban setting and that film’s…
Sophia Banks, “Unregistered” (2018) This short film commenting on the treatment of undocumented immigrants in the United States during Donald Trump’s presidency (2017 – 2021) has…
Australian and New Zealand Films, North American Films
Carlton Meyer, “The American Colony of Australia” (Tales of the American Empire, 19 February 2021) In this installment of his ongoing series of the extent and…
Chinese and Chinese-language Films, Spanish Films
Alejandro Suarez Lozano, “The Fisherman” (2015) A cleverly made and succinct little SF horror film set in Hong Kong, “The Fisherman” combines a character study that…
William Hellmuth, “Alone” (2020) A moving film about connection – and about how so strong humans’ need for connection can be that some individuals will travel…
Jesse Mittelstadt, “Flyby” (2019) In its own way this film can be considered a horror film, focusing as it does on how an alien force seems…
Magali Barbe, “This Time Away” (2019) A very heartwarming little film, succinct and taut in its telling, yet filled with tenderness and depth, this character study…
Chinese and Chinese-language Films
Teng Cheng, Li Wei, “Jiang Ziya: Legend of Deification” (2020) Inspired by the 16th-century Chinese novel by Xu Zhonglin, “The Investiture of the Gods”, itself based…
Essays, Multi-media Presentations
Latika Bourke, “Alexei Navalny versus the ‘underpants poisoner'” (Sydney Morning Herald, 5 February 2021) As examples of crude mainstream media propaganda bashing Russia and in particular…
Essays, Multi-media Presentations
Vladimir Putin’s Davos online forum speech (2021) Invited to the Davos online forum organised by the World Economic Forum over 25 – 29 January 2021, Russian…