DVD Review: ‘A Separation’
★★★★☆ Widely regarded as one of the most emotionally engaging films released this year, before first viewing Iranian director Asghar Farhadi’s A Separation (2011)...
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.
★★★★☆ Widely regarded as one of the most emotionally engaging films released this year, before first viewing Iranian director Asghar Farhadi’s A Separation (2011)...
★★☆☆☆ Horrible Bosses (2011) – the farcical comedy from director Seth Gordon – is certainly a surprise, though possibly not of the pleasant kind....
★★☆☆☆ Deadly Blessing (1981) has the potential to be a classic, but ultimately fails to deliver what matters most in a horror film –...
★★★★☆ ‘Pink film’ is a Japanese phenomenon that conveys complex political issues of gender and sexuality through sex and sexual violence. However, Underwater Love...
★★★☆☆ Hoping to capitalise on the success of current BBC One ratings hit Frozen Planet and the Christmas home entertainment market, this week BBC...