Category Archives: Film review

Moviegoers of Denis Villeneuve’s 2021 adaptation (Hollywood’s third attempt), of the sci-fi novel Dune have noticed the presence of bagpipes during the latest two-and-a-half-hour epic. The new movie version of Frank Herbert’s best-selling novel has received positive reviews since its premiere … Continue reading →

The last time I wrote about Matt Damon was his almost solo performance as a marooned astronaut in ‘The Martian‘. I commented he had a habit of choosing storylines in which his character always gets rescued. In Ridley Scott’s medievil … Continue reading →

How grand to see cinemas reopening after months of lock-down, and better still to see small production companies and the major studios show there work on the big screen again, not constrained to a television transmission. There is no doubt … Continue reading →

Depraved behaviour, with the Harvey Weinstein trial in New York seeing the movie mogul jailed for 23 years, a second trial soon to be held in Los Angeles on new charges, The Assistant is a perfectly timed, highly topical study … Continue reading →

“The system is rigged. They want us to think they protect us. We protect us. We do!” That cri de cœur might easily be thrown in the face of any modern neo-liberal regime. Democracies have to be vigilant. People must … Continue reading →

Many years ago, in 1992, when stand up comedians were not the Calgary Stampede they are today as a career choice, so few they could be placed in a single venue and still leave room for a ballet company to … Continue reading →

Bong Joon-ho won the Palme d’Or at the Cannes film festival for his black comic thriller Parasite. It is sure to win Best Foreign Film at the Oscars, and should win Best Screenplay too. This is a labyrinth of a … Continue reading →

These alarming times need a story about happiness that has us smiling, and iconoclast Armando Iannucci delivers the goods. But I have to ask myself what is he doing dabbling in Charles Dickens? It isn’t as if The Personal History of David … Continue reading →

There is no avoiding it. In the face of five star glowing reports, this review of 1917 must bite the bullet, if I can put it that way. Sam Mendes’ latest effort as a co-writer-director amounts to a fail, from … Continue reading →

For over thirty years, probably longer, the once considered Saturday afternoon children’s fair has dominated mainstream cinema to the detriment of adult movies. Kid’s films moved from cheap sets and worse acting to phenomenal blockbusters. The junk we were fed … Continue reading →