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.
British Films, North American Films
Matthew Hill, “Bedlam Behind Bars” (BBC Panorama, 7 July 2014) In a country that was founded as an ambitious social experiment in democracy, freedom and the pursuit…
Multi-media Presentations, North American Films
SCG News, “The Odessa Massacre – What REALLY Happened” (StormCloudsGathering, 12 May 2014) It’s only 11 minutes long but this short documentary on the Odessa Trade…
Korean Films, North American Films
Joon-ho Bong, “Snowpiercer / Seolgugyeolcha” (2013) Joon-ho Bong’s first outing in the English language is an enjoyably silly ride into the post-apocalyptic dystopian SF genre. Concerns…
Mark Devries, “Speciesism: the Movie” (2013) As home movies go, few possibly extend very far into the realms of journeys of self-discovery and self-awakening as this…
John Frankenheimer, “The Manchurian Candidate” (1962) At some point during the Korean War in 1952, a platoon of American soldiers is betrayed by their Korean interpreter who…
Errol Morris, “The Thin Blue Line” (1988) Originally intended to be a documentary about another person who appears briefly in the film, “The Thin Blue Line”…
North American Films, Northern European Films
Lars von Trier, “Manderlay” (2005) The sequel to “Dogville” is an interesting philosophical if rather slower and less action-packed inquiry on the nature of freedom and democracy…
Jonathan Mostow, “Surrogates” (2009) “Surrogates” has an interesting sci-fi concept with potential for philosophical speculation about the nature of being and reality in the style of…
Alfred Hitchcock, “Topaz” (1969) Coming towards the tail-end of a long and illustrious career in film direction, this Cold War spy thriller is one of two…
Lars von Trier, “Dogville” (2003) First in a series of films on American culture from Lars von Trier’s own rather idiosyncratic viewpoint, “Dogville” is a minimalist…