It Felt like a Kiss: coming across as a self-indulgent and unremarkable trip into 1960s US pop culture nostalgia
Adam Curtis, “It Felt Like A Kiss” (2009) A quirky visual montage of old newsreels
Review of films seen in 2011: the good, the bad and the totally out-there
Dear USE visitors, It’s 2012 already! Those of you who followed the films I saw in
The Age of Transitions: film makes a plea for greater awareness of insidious forces threatening freedom and democracy
Aaron Franz, “The Age of Transitions” (2008) Interesting documentaries about power and control of human
The Trap … (Episode 3: We will Force You to be Free): picking apart arguments over nature of freedom
Adam Curtis, “The Trap – What Happened to Our Dream of Freedom? (Episode 3: We will
The Living Dead (Episode 3: The Attic): how a romantic fantasy of a glorious past disguised a thirst for power at any cost
Adam Curtis, “The Living Dead (Episode 3: The Attic)” (1995) Having seen the mishmash that
The Iron Lady: biopic ignores dark and unsavoury aspects of Margaret Thatcher’s life and career
Phyllida Lloyd, “The Iron Lady” (2011) I steeled myself to watch this film; I had
The Skin I Live In: tricked-up film about identity change misses some deep lessons about obsession, control and revenge
Pedro Almodóvar, “The Skin I Live In / La Piel Que Habito” (2011) Georges Franju’s sci-fi
Howl’s Moving Castle: cut-and-paste job of previous Studio Ghibli films masks a conservative message for women and girls
Hayao Miyazaki, “Howl’s Moving Castle” (2005) Up to and including “Spirited Away”, the animated films
Melancholia: meditation on depression and cosmic indifference to humanity waylaid by emphasis on shallow characters
Lars von Trier, “Melancholia” (2011) Fed up with the deadbeat rate of intellectual and cultural
French and French-language Films
Blood Coltan: fact-finding documentary on coltan mining in DRC tells the horror like it is
Patrick Forestier, “Blood Coltan” (2007) Saw mention of this documentary in Arena magazine (December 2011