A personal journal of film and documentary reviews, and reviews of anything else that intrigues me.
Osgood Perkins, “Longlegs” (2024) As horror films drawing on past classics like “Silence of the Lambs” go, Osgood Perkins’s “Longlegs” would seem to have a lot…
Michael Mohan, “Immaculate” (2024) The, er, venerable niche horror subgenre known as nunsploitation is revived and refreshed as a vehicle for one young woman’s transformation through…
British Films, North American Films
Rose Glass, “Love Lies Bleeding” (2024) A surprisingly entertaining film, spoilt only by a cartoonish climax of wishful female empowerment in which love, even lesbian love,…
Kristoffer Borgli, “Dream Scenario” (2023) This psychological fantasy comedy film is as oddball as they come, yet “Dream Scenario”, the first English-language feature film from Norwegian…
British Films, North American Films
Yorgos Lanthimos, “Poor Things” (2023) A visually sumptuous feast, set in an alternative late Victorian steampunk world, “Poor Things” is a science fantasy concoction revolving around…
British Films, North American Films
Lee Tamahori, “Die Another Day” (2002) For the twentieth movie in a film franchise celebrating 40 years, the scriptwriters were tasked to come up with a…
British Films, North American Films
Emerald Fennell, “Saltburn” (2023) Arriving in Sydney with little fanfare, “Saltburn” initially presents as a more contemporary variation of “Brideshead Revisited” with the latter’s hints of…
Jim Henson, “Labyrinth” (1986) A film very much of its time, “Labyrinth” has not aged too well and the 1980s-era disco music oozes cheese from every…
Martin Scorsese, “Killers of the Flower Moon” (2023) At nearly three-and-a-half hours in length, “Killers of the Flower Moon” combines elements of revisionist / psychological Western,…
Kenneth Branagh, “A Haunting in Venice” (2023) For his third outing as Belgian police detective Hercule Poirot, actor / director Kenneth Branagh chose to go with…