The noughties marked my life’s maturing (ages 14-24) and by way of that, marked the ascendancy of my passion for film. It was during this time that I generally started to reject the mainstream and seek out more independent material. Whether because I was genuinely establishing my taste in art or because I just wanted … Continue reading Travelling Through Time: The Best Films of the 2000s
Belfast (2021, Universal Pictures / Focus Features / Northern Ireland Screen) ★★★★★ Featuring Jamie Dornan, Caitríona Balfe, Judi Dench, Ciarán Hinds, Colin Morgan and Jude Hill. Music by Van Morrison. Written and directed by Kenneth Branagh. Belfast is a self-biographical film written and directed by Kenneth Branagh. Filmed mostly in black and white, it is … Continue reading The Two Reviews: Belfast and Nightmare Alley
The Dig (2021, Netflix) Featuring Carey Mulligan, Ralph Fiennes, Lily James, Ben Chaplin and Johnny Flynn. Screenplay by Moira Buffini. Based on ‘The Dig’ by John Preston. Directed by Simon Stone. There is a certain formula to British historical dramas that make me a bit queasy. It may be the stuffiness of the characters, the … Continue reading The Two Reviews: The Dig and Ammonite
Over time, the Western films of Hollywood expanded outwards. Many were made in Europe by Italian and Spanish directors (Spaghetti Westerns). Some were adaptations of Japanese Samurai films (The Magnificent Seven). Some were set in Mexico and required drugs to understand (El Topo). Even Communist Eastern Europeans were fond of making their own Westerns that … Continue reading The Western Story – Part 2: Beyond the Frontier
It is a quiet, rainy Saturday afternoon. You’ve got the house to yourself for the first time in ages. You don't have the energy for mayhem and chaos. You’re just going to stay in and watch a movie. But what movie? What are you in the mood for? And is your mood likely to change? … Continue reading Saturday Afternoon Movies, Part 1 – Firefox (1982 Clint Eastwood)
Tobol (Тобол), The Conquest of Siberia (2019, KinoFilm Corp) Directed by Igor Zaitsev. Featuring Andrey Burkovskiy, Erkebulan Dairov, Evgeniy Dyatlov Aleksandr Lazarev, Dmitriy Dyuzhev, Yekaterina Guseva, Agata Muceniece and Ilya Malanin, . Tobol, also known as The Conquest of Siberia in some British and American releases, is loosely based on historical events, when under Peter … Continue reading The One Review: Tobol, The Conquest of Siberia (2019 Igor Zaitsev)
Background In 1993, Czechoslovakia dissolved into two independent states: Czech Republic (made up of the Bohemia and Moravia regions) and Slovakia. The 20th Century up until that point had been a turbulent time for the former country. After World War I, it gained independence from the Austro-Hungarian Empire and grew into a socially and economically … Continue reading The European Masterpieces Part 4: Closely Watched Trains (1966 Jiří Menzel)
The 2019 French Film Festival of Australia is in its 30th year now. It is the largest film festival dedicated to French cinema in the world and is presented by the Alliance Française of Australia. The festival will screen French films across many Luna Palace Cinemas in Perth from mid-March to mid-April, as well as … Continue reading Review Special: The 2019 French Film Festival of Australia – Advanced screening of The Sisters Brothers
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 got into script writing, … Continue reading Akira Kurosawa – A Master of Film Part 4: I Ran…in Dreams
Mary Queen of Scots (2018 Focus Features and Working Title Films) Directed by Josie Rourke. Featuring Saoirse Ronan, Margot Robbie, David Tennant, Guy Pearce, Jack Lowden and Joe Alwyn. Mary Queen of Scots is a period drama set in the second half of the 16th Century about the troubled reign of Queen Mary of Scotland … Continue reading The Two Reviews: Mary Queen of Scots and The Front Runner
Momentary Cinema 