Anyone making a gangster film these days faces unenviable comparisons with the genre’s classics, The Godfather, Goodfellas and to a lesser extent Casino. The Alto Knights, from director Barry Levinson and writer Nicholas Pileggi (Goodfellas, The Irishman), is destined to be another victim of this comparison. While well-made and well-acted, it’s a straightforward mobster biopic that noticeably lacks the poetic
Read moreThe unusual but beguiling Latvian animated feature, Flow intrigued an entranced viewers enough to win its category amid a very strong field at the recent Academy Awards. Flow is set in the aftermath of an environmental catastrophe where a flood has submerged most of the land. It’s not explicitly stated but it seems to be a product of climate change.
Read moreSteven Soderbergh’s latest film, Black Bag is a frosty, talky, but intriguing Le Carre-esque British spy thriller where the events mostly play out through computer screens and spiky conversations rather than violent action. Michael Fassbender plays George, an unnervingly clean-cut intelligence agent whose penchant for skivvies and thick-rimmed black glasses make him look like someone from the 1960s and a
Read moreKorean writer/ director Bong Joon Ho’s latest excursion into misanthropic weirdness, Mickey 17 is certainly ambitious, mixing science fiction, jet black comedy, farce, action and political satire. That, however, is its problem, the film is a mess. Mickey 17 flails about in all directions never settling on a clear or satisfying approach and it isn’t especially funny, thrilling or politically
Read moreSet amid the febrile atmosphere of the early 1970s Brazilian military dictatorship, I’m Still Here, which is based on the book of the same name by Marcelo Rubens Paiva, is a sobering true story of political oppression and family resilience. This is, in almost all respects, an exquisite piece of filmmaking but given the subject matter, it doesn’t emotionally shirtfront
Read moreRevered Iranian director Mohammad Rasoulof’s latest film The Seed of the Sacred Fig was made in secret before Rasoulof fled Iran under threat of arrest and imprisonment. He now lives in Germany and this film was Germany’s nominee for best International Feature Oscar. While this mostly riveting film maintains the very high standard of works from Iranian directors that reach
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