A personal journal of film and documentary reviews, and reviews of anything else that intrigues me.
Hiroshi Inagaki, “Samurai III: Duel at Ganryu Island” (1956) Inagaki’s third and last installment in the historical fiction drama series on the life and times of…
German and German-language Films, North American Films
Maria Pia Mascaro, “Hollywood and The Pentagon: A Dangerous Liaison / Marschbefehl für Hollywood” (2003) People may be surprised that the United States Department of Defense…
North American Films, South African Films
Neil Blomkamp, “Chappie” (2015) In amongst the ruined buildings, the body count, the junk metal and unexploded cluster munitions that form the detritus long after the…
Kenneth Anger, “Invocation of My Demon Brother” (1969) If like me, you’ve already seen a considerable number of films by Kenneth Anger, this one won’t add…
Hiroshi Inagaki, “Samurai II: Duel at Ichijoji Temple” (1955) Its predecessor in the Musashi Miyamoto trilogy might have won the Oscar for Best Foreign Language Film…
Laura Poitras, “Citizenfour” (2014) As both fly-on-the-wall real-time documentary and historical thriller, “Citizenfour” is a riveting snapshot of the period in mid-2013 when US whistle-blower Edward Snowden…
BBC News Interview with President Bashar al Assad (9 February 2015) For an example of grace under pressure, I think few people can acquit themselves as…
Hiroshi Inagaki, “Samurai I: Musashi Miyamoto” (1954) One of the most famous people in Japanese culture is the swordsman and mystic Musashi Miyamoto, author of “Gorin…
John David Ebert, “Mythologies of the Evolution of Consciousness: Oswald Spengler” (Astrological Institute in Scottsdale, Arizona, March, 2001) According to his Wikipedia entry, Oswald Spengler was…
Kenneth Anger, “The Man We Want to Hang” (2002) After over 20 years in which he made no films, the American cult underground film director Kenneth…