Roma (2018, Mexico and US, on Netflix in Spanish with subtitles) Directed by Alfonso Cuarón. Featuring Yalitza Aparicio, Marina de Tavira, Jorge Antonio Guerrero, Marco Graf, Daniela Demesa, Diego Cortina Autrey, Carlos Peralta and Verónica García. As you may have heard, Roma is the highly acclaimed, award season favourite from Mexican director Alfonso Cuarón. It … Continue reading The Two Reviews: Roma and Cold War
Shoplifters (2018, Gaga Pictures Japan) Directed by Hirokazu Kore-eda. Featuring Lily Franky, Sakura Ando, Mayu Matsuoka, Kairi Jō, Miyu Sasaki and Kirin Kiki. I have always found the award winners from the Cannes Film Festival to be a far better representation of the best films from around the world than the Oscars. Winners of the … Continue reading The Two Reviews: Shoplifters and The Favourite
In overview for the year, the worst films I watched were burdensome with clichés or else just outright tasteless, while the best films I watched had qualities that were original, quirky and heartfelt. Many of these more favoured films tapped into current global concerns (e.g. the shit-fight of ideologies in the US; relations between the … Continue reading Momentary Cinema’s Review of the Year 2018 in Film – Part 2
Ever since my mid-teens, the music of Pink Floyd has had an immense impression on me (I thank my older brothers David and Paul for their encouragement). So this post is really just an excuse to talk about their music through the largely tenuous, but admittedly relevant, link of films - films, of course, that … Continue reading Absolutely Curtains: The Movies of Pink Floyd
I suppose the artistic medium of film has been experimented with ever since the early pioneers. For the first 20 years of the 20th century at least, most films were seen to be an experiment. But once the studios of Hollywood established formulas and ensured that films were presented to the public on a manageable, … Continue reading Film Experiments: From Buñuel and Deren to Lynchian and Dogme 95
A Star is Born Directed by Bradley Cooper. Written by Eric Roth, Bradley Cooper and Will Fetters. Featuring Lady Gaga, Bradley Cooper, Sam Elliot, Dave Chappelle, Andrew Dice Clay and Rafi Gavron. Since the turn of the 21st Century, musical movies have been carried on in the Hollywood tradition as per normal. There has, however, … Continue reading The Two Reviews: A Star is Born (2018 Bradley Cooper)
Faces Places (2017) Directed by Agnès Varda and JR. Written by Agnès Varda (in French with subtitles) If you don’t know who Agnès Varda is, then I would recommend you check out some of her movies. She turned 90 this year and has been making provocative and artistic films since the early 1950s. She was … Continue reading Documentary Review Special: Faces Places (2017 Agnès Varda and JR)
Mission: Impossible – Fallout Directed by Christopher McQuarrie. Produced by J.J. Abrams and Tom Cruise. Featuring Tom Cruise, Rebecca Ferguson, Henry Cavill, Simon Pegg, Michelle Monaghan, Ving Rhames, Sean Harris, Vanessa Kirby and Alec Baldwin. The Mission Impossible series has become impossible. Impossible to comprehend. Impossible to keep up with. Impossible to reason with. Impossible … Continue reading The Two Reviews: Mission: Impossible – Fallout (2018 Christopher McQuarrie)
If you happened to miss the films A Girl Walks Home Alone at Night (released in 2014 and directed by Ana Lily Amirpour) and Under the Shadow (released in 2016 and directed by Babak Anvari), get thee a copy of both immediately and watch them. They are, by my determination at least, two of the … Continue reading Shadows of the Night: Two Progressive Iranian-based Films in the Western Mainstream
Foreword by Robin Stevens Akira Kurosawa (黒沢 明 1910 – 1998) was a master of film craft, and one of the greatest directors of all time. He grew up in Tokyo, watching silent films from around the world and going to see traditional and modern Japanese theatre. He became a painter, and in his 20s … Continue reading Akira Kurosawa – A Master of Film Part 3: Dersu Uzala and the Russian Wilderness
