A personal journal of film and documentary reviews, and reviews of anything else that intrigues me.
Lauren Greenfield, “The Queen of Versailles” (2012) Originally intended as a documentary on the construction of one of the largest single-family detached houses in the United…
Guillermo del Toro, “The Shape of Water” (2017) Inspired by the famous Hollywood classic “The Creature from the Black Lagoon”, Mexican director Guillermo del Toro delivers…
Multi-media Presentations, North American Films
Stephen F Cohen, “Rethinking Putin”, Annual Nation Cruise (2 December 2017) Professor Stephen Cohen is a scholar and professor emeritus of Russian studies at Princeton University…
Martin Scorsese, “The King of Comedy” (1982) I suppose most directors worth their salt who have amassed a considerable body of work have a sleeper film…
Sidney Lumet, “Serpico” (1973) As character studies go, “Serpico” is very good indeed: based on the biography of former New York City police officer Frank Serpico…
Australian and New Zealand Films
Catherine Hunter, “Glenn Murcutt – Spirit of Place” (2017) A beautiful and graceful documentary as elegant as the architecture of the man whose work it documents,…
Stephen Spielberg, “The Post” (2017) A taut and minimalist political drama, “The Post” is driven by good dialogue and equally good if not outstanding character study…
Laura Poitras, “Risk” (2016) Filmed over six years, its focus on the life of Julian Assange since he founded Wikileaks and obtained and released thousands of…
Italian and Italian-language Films, North American Films
Ridley Scott, “All the Money in the World” (2017) Intended as a character study on the ways in which people use and abuse power and wealth,…
Dear Under Southern Eyes Readers and Followers, Another year has come and gone and 2018 has dawned! I feel I’ve probably seen a lot more films…