Short Reviews
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How to follow up Rubber, a movie about a killer tyre who stalks the deserts outside Los Angeles? In my opinion Wrong manages to trump it, by having a plot… Read More
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Probably Wong Kar Wai’s best film and certainly his most visually accomplished, this is a delicate, ornate study of social mores, forbidden love and loyalty in the face of infidelity.… Read More
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Hardly a jolly romp, Lu Chuan’s gorgeously shot drama remains to my mind the “best” film to tackle the Nanking Massacre. Most interesting is the decision to depict sympathetic Japanese… Read More
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A film that hugely rewards revisiting, particularly in the wake of the hugely successful TV series (and film) The Trip, in which Steve Coogan and Rob Brydon took their onscreen… Read More
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Incredibly silly comedy from director Fukuda Yuichi about a high school boy (Suzuki Ryohei) who inherits the twisted perversions of his parents (a masochistic cop and sadistic dominatrix respectively). When… Read More
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I’ve watched and struggled with Gaspar Noe’s surreal exploration of life after death before in the past, but there’s no denying the audacity of its ambition and the impact of… Read More
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A long-term passion project for Refn and star Mads Mikkelsen, this utterly bizarre but powerful and beautiful viking movie confounded most audiences, most of whom were drawn to it through… Read More
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Continuing my journey through the works of Nicolas Winding Refn, this unlikely entry in the director’s canon was a made-for-TV movie following Agatha Christie’s beloved amateur sleuth. Geraldine McEwan stars… Read More
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Far and away the bleakest of Refn’s trilogy, the film follows drug dealer Milo (Zlatko Buric), who has been present in all three episodes, on the day of his daughter’s… Read More
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Refn returns home and revisits the world of his hugely successful debut, this time focusing on Mads Mikkelsen’s side-kick, Tonny. Fresh out of jail, he looks to get back in… Read More
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By his own admission, Refn’s Hollywood debut was a misguided attempt at Lynchian surrealism that resulted in artistic and financial disaster. In fairness to the director, who simply let his… Read More
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Michael comes to visit his friend, Chris, who is holed up in a dilapidated shack in the middle of nowhere, his life gone the way of the dogs thanks to… Read More
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Futuristic Disney adaptation of the Robert Louis Stevenson novel has some interesting concepts smuggled in between servicing the source material. The alien designs are particularly good, and the action scenes… Read More
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My Full Disclosure entry for June was this early Wong Kar Wai classic, starring a host of big Hong Kong stars including Leslie Cheung, Maggie Cheung and Andy Lau. Check… Read More
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A classic satire of celebrity culture and the price of fame, with a particularly vicious attack on advertising mixed in for good measure. An ad man approaches a famous actress… Read More
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Building on the success of the first film, the adorable and hilarious minions are given much more screen time this time around. When Gru is approached by the Anti-Villain League… Read More
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Gearing up to go and see the sequel to this amusing if somewhat forgettable animated action comedy, I suddenly discovered that my girlfriend hadn’t seen it. So we sat down… Read More
The James Marsh film review archive 