DVD Review: ‘Shaolin’
Advertisements ★★★☆☆ On the crossroad between a martial arts epic and a spirituality-rich melodrama comes Benny Chan’s Shaolin (2011), starring Andy Lau, Nicholas Tse,...
Directors Bettinelli-Olpin and Gillett’s “Abigail” mashes up crime caper and monster movie, but fails to deliver fear or humor. Spoilery trailers and unoriginal characters overshadow promising elements, resulting in a dull, lifeless experience lacking creativity and wit.
★★★★☆ In Alex Garland’s Civil War, a group of journalists embark on a road trip to interview the US President amidst a second American Civil War, while exploring media’s dehumanizing relationship with violence.
★★★★☆ Having won the Jury Prize in 2013 for Like Father, Like Son and the Palme d’Or in 2018 with Shoplifters, Cannes favourite and Japanese director Hirokazu Kore-eda returns with Monster, a masterful work of intricate storytelling, complemented by a lovely score by the late Ryuichi Sakamoto.
★★★★★ Theodor Adorno famously wrote that poetry was not possible after Auschwitz, but is cinema? Billy Wilder certainly thought so, getting footage from the camps as evidence as much as anything else. Steven Spielberg, Claude Lanzmann, Alain Resnais and Roberto Benigni have all with differing degrees of success tried their hands.
Advertisements ★★★☆☆ On the crossroad between a martial arts epic and a spirituality-rich melodrama comes Benny Chan’s Shaolin (2011), starring Andy Lau, Nicholas Tse,...
Advertisements ★★☆☆☆ Directed by Hal Ashby, written by Oliver Stone and starring the Dude himself, Jeff Bridges, 8 Million Ways to Die (1986) should...
Advertisements ★★★☆☆ To coincide with the DVD release of his sophomore effort Heartbeats (2010) comes the re-issue of Xavier Dolan’s breakthrough film I Killed...
Advertisements ★★★☆☆ French-Canadian writer, actor and director Xavier Dolan took the festival circuit by storm back in 2009 with I Killed My Mother (also...
Advertisements ★★★★☆ “The circus is tough and beautiful” says Tino, the ringmaster and central character of Aaron Schock’s documentary Circo (2010), charting the ups...
Advertisements ★★☆☆☆ Third Star (2010) is a film which had great potential as a showcase for British talent, starring Tinker Tailor Solider Spy’s (2011)...
Advertisements ★★★★☆ This week sees the Blu-ray rerelease of Peter Jackson’s fourth New Zealand-based feature Heavenly Creatures (1994), starring Kate Winslet and Melanie Lynskey....
Advertisements ★★★☆☆ A revisit to the haunted house genre of old, Insidious’ (2010) theatrical release earlier this year was met with high expectations with...