A personal journal of film and documentary reviews, and reviews of anything else that intrigues me.
British Films, North American Films
Simon Curtis, “Goodbye Christopher Robin” (2017) A film about English playwright / author A A Milne and the circumstances in which he was inspired to write…
Rupert Sanders, “Ghost in the Shell” (2017) In adapting a major Japanese anime series into a potentially lucrative movie franchise, Hollywood opted for a standard origin…
Kenneth Branagh, “Murder on the Orient Express ” (2017) At least superficially this film is quite enjoyable to see Agatha Christie’s famous Belgian detective Hercule Poirot…
North American Films, Southeast Asian Films
Phillip Noyce, “The Quiet American” (2002) A beautifully made film with much atmosphere, even if it is slow and unassuming in style, and its acting uneven,…
Denis Villeneuve, “Blade Runner 2049” (2017) In its own leisurely way, “Blade Runner 2049” is a very absorbing, even hypnotic film with stunningly beautiful sets that…
British Films, French and French-language Films
Stanley Tucci, “Final Portrait” (2017) Best seen as a character study and a superficial investigation into an artist’s creativity and what motivates him, “Final Portrait” is…
Stanley Kubrick, “Paths of Glory” (1957) A simply and tightly made film with a powerful message about honour, duty and how war degrades men and masculinity,…
David Leitch, “Atomic Blonde” (2017) I confess I had very low expectations of this spy action thriller film. I was pleasantly surprised that the acting was…
Terry George, “The Promise” (2016) A film about the Ottoman Turkish genocide of Armenians and other Christian minorities (1915 – 1918) is probably never going to…
Alex Kurtzman, “The Mummy” (2017) Somewhere in this hokey action blockbuster film is a story about flawed humans acting for purely selfish reasons and the consequences…