Perfect Blue
A pop star goes Gaga when she makes like an Ice Cube and freezes her music career to grab her Cher of acting life and become the next Will Smith, […]
Tag Archives: Retro review
Dog Soldiers
Neil Marshall (The Descent) marked his territory with this 2002 tail of soldiers lured into the woods by a pack of werewolves. Let’s call it The Dog-Scent. Maybe more so […]
Howl’s Moving Castle
A confession: I have never really “got” Howl’s Moving Castle, and my love of Studio Ghibli prevented me from reviewing it even after two watches (subbed and dubbed). Having now […]
First Love
Takashi Miike’s 2019 thriller sees a boxer (Masataka Kubota) rescue a call girl (Sakurako Konishi) from murderous gangsters. Let’s call it 13 Assassin’s Creed. For his 103rd picture, the insanely […]
Die Hard
Off-duty cop John McClane (Bruce Willis) tries to put on-the-take terrorist Hans Gruber (Alan Rickman) under a vest in this oft-quoted Christmas classic. Stripping The Towering Inferno down to its […]
Fanny and Alexander
Just as Wolfgang Petersen was threatening Europe with a 300-minute TV cut of Das Boot came the ultimate “hold my stein” move from Ingmar Bergman, whose Fanny and Alexander miniseries […]
The Descent
Six friends (Shauna Macdonald, Natalie Mendoza, MyAnna Buring, Saskia Mulder, Alex Reid and Nora-Jane Noone) find themselves at the end of their tether when a spelunking holiday takes a rappellent turn. […]
Decision to Leave
A homicide detective (Park Hae-il) falls for a victim’s widow (Tang Wei) in this unprocedural thriller. For his 11th feature, Park Chan-wook makes the bold decision to leave behind the […]
Fallen Angels
Wong Kar-wai’s fifth feature reunites the Hong Kong filmmaker with cinematographer Christopher Doyle, for another dose of slo-mo fast living. This is two stories in one: the first a hitman […]
The Cook, the Thief, His Wife & Her Lover
A psychotic gangster and restaurant owner’s (Michael Gambon) nightly gorges leave his long-suffering wife (Helen Mirren) well and truly fed up. Set in a gourmet restaurant over a single week, […]
Screen Goblin 