A personal journal of film and documentary reviews, and reviews of anything else that intrigues me.
Reviews of films made in Canada and United States including all films made by Hollywood.
Charles Chaplin, “The Great Dictator” (1940) It’s over-long and the slapstick comedy is laid on very thickly but film legend Charlie Chaplin’s “The Great Dictator” is…
“Let Your Life Be A Friction To Stop The Machine” (Class War Films, 2012) It’s a modestly made film – just a series of linked visual…
Volker Schlöndorff, “The Handmaid’s Tale” (1990) Based on the dystopian novel by Canadian writer Margaret Atwood, “The Handmaid’s Tale” as realised by Volker Schlöndorff is a…
Stanley Kubrick, “Fear and Desire” (1953) Stanley Kubrick’s debut feature film may be an awkward and clumsy beast in many ways but for its time (at…
Avi Lewis, “This Changes Everything” (2015) Billed as a film about climate change, this documentary essay based on Canadian journalist Naomi Klein’s eponymous book actually follows…
Stanley Kubrick, “The Seafarers” (1953) Stanley Kubrick’s first film made in colour turns out to be a 30-minute documentary promoting a trade union for crews of…
Quentin Tarantino, “Jackie Brown” (1997) Of the early films directed by Quentin Tarantino that have achieved cult status, perhaps the jewel of them all is this…
Zachary Maxwell, “Yuck! A 4th Grader’s Short Documentary about School Lunch” (2012) Here comes wisdom from the mouths of babes … in this case, 9-year-old Zachary…
German and German-language Films, North American Films
Wim Wenders, “Paris, Texas” (1984) One of American cinema’s finest yet under-appreciated treasures must surely be the unassuming actor Harry Dean Stanton whose acting career reached…
Alex Gibney, “Enron: The Smartest Guys in the Room” (2005) A bit gimmicky in parts, especially in its transitions, but overall this documentary on the biggest…