Reviews of films
The Korean auteur trades his signature maximalism for Hitchcockian smolder The latest from master maximalist Park Chan-wook may surprise fans weaned on the explosive violence and graphic sex of The Handmaiden and Oldboy. While those films tapped into the exploitative … Continue reading Review: Park Chan-wook Reaches New Heights with ‘Decision to Leave’
It’s finally the most wonderful time of the year! With October comes visions of gingerbread houses, overdecorated fir trees, and Hallmark’s Countdown to Christmas. And as is tradition, I will watch some of them and tell you what horrors can … Continue reading Hallmark Countdown to Christmas: Noel Next Door Recap/Review
Love. Death. The Show Must Go On. Available in Australia, Canada, the Netherlands, the United Kingdom, the United States, and perhaps a few other countries. Approximately 120 minutes. It’s test time at the high school. Tan, the proctor, manages to wake up the kid who … Continue reading WTF ASIA 235: Talentime (2009)
Michael York plays a villainous twink in the black comedy Something for Everyone. He sleeps and murders his way into Angela Lansbury’s aristocratic family. The promising premise is undone by Hugh Wheeler’s flabby screenplay and Hal Prince’s timid direction. It’s … Continue reading LGBT Movies: Something for Everyone (1970)
The 2002 “zombie” movie that revitalised the genre – does it hold up after 20 years? Continue reading Late to the Party: 28 Days Later
The final film in David Gordon Green’s lopsided trilogy desperately wants to be anything but a Halloween movie Halloween Ends is the middle finger on the monkey’s paw that is success in modern Hollywood. In 2018 David Gordon Green and … Continue reading Review: Michael Myers Gets Jokerfied in ‘Halloween Ends’
No time for love, DH Joy Available in Australia, Canada, the Netherlands, the United Kingdom, the United States, and perhaps a few other countries. Approximately 117 minutes. The movie starts with a voice-over accompanying a bunch of disjointed images that become slightly less disjointed … Continue reading WTF ASIA 234: Hello, Love, Goodbye (2019)
Dan Futterman plays an insomniac who wanders through Manhattan. He collects urban legends from the strangers he meets. Urbania is a strange film with an interesting cast. The episodic nature keeps it from building momentum. The protagonists’ motivation is unclear … Continue reading LGBT Movies: Urbania (2000)
The latest Hulu original is a worthy reboot of horror’s kinkiest franchise The Hellraiser series has always been the dark horse of horror franchises: too baroque for a popcorn-munching slasher and too trashy to be taken seriously by the mainstream, … Continue reading Review: ‘Hellraiser’ Hits the Nail On the Head
If you are going to someone’s house, always remember to call beforehand. Available in Australia, Canada, France, the Netherlands, the United Kingdom, the United States, and perhaps a few other countries. Approximately 115 minutes. Krishna had been singing in her sleep when her husband … Continue reading WTF ASIA 233: Ishqiya (2010)
Bros pairs a self-righteous museum curator (Billy Eichner) with a musclebound lawyer (Luke Macfarlane). They fight, banter and gradually fall in love. The story is familiar. What sets Bros apart from other queer romcoms is the sharp social commentary. Eichner … Continue reading LGBT Movies: Bros (2022)
Netflix’s faux Marilyn Monroe biopic is little more than sadistic fanfic I’d call Andrew Dominik’s new Marilyn Monroe quasi-biopic Blonde salacious trash, but that would be an insult to trash. Trash at least has the virtue of being fun, but … Continue reading ‘Blonde’ Review: Some Like It Not
Martin Scorsese really liked this one. Available in Canada, the Netherlands, the United States, and perhaps a few other countries. Approximately 113 minutes. Han Gong-ju is talking to someone about thinking up a tune in her mind, incorporating all of the sounds … Continue reading WTF ASIA 232: Han Gong-ju (2013)
Want to play a game of Kick the Can? Available in Canada, France, the United Kingdom, the United States, and perhaps a few other countries. Approximately 109 minutes. A pair of men named Tai and Cat walk go to an apartment and ask for a … Continue reading WTF ASIA 231: Exiled (2006)
If Superman had this childhood… Available in Australia, Canada, France, the Netherlands, the United Kingdom, the United States, and perhaps a few other countries. Approximately 105 minutes. Oh dear… It takes a while for the image to come into focus. It finally does … Continue reading WTF ASIA 230: Kalel, 15 (2019)
The Bitter Tears of Petra von Kant follows an affair between a successful fashion designer and a young model. Petra (Margit Carstensen) treats Karin (Hanna Schygulla) as a mannequin. A plaything to provide inspiration and affection. Karin enjoys her wealth … Continue reading LGBT Movies: The Bitter Tears of Petra von Kant (1972)
What if the 2004’s Crash but in Indonesia? Oh, come on. It’s not like you were going to click on this anyways. Available in Australia, Canada, the United Kingdom, the United States, and perhaps a few other countries. Approximately 102 minutes. The … Continue reading WTF ASIA 229: Tanda Tanya (2011)
A movie set in Korea, made in Kazakhstan, and everyone is speaking Russian. All right, let’s do this. Available in Australia, France, the United Kingdom, and perhaps a few other countries. It is also available in the United States and probably Canada. I don’t know why … Continue reading WTF ASIA 228: Revenge (1989)
That’s right, folks. Another movie about a guy who drives a truck, lost his wife, and has a debt to pay. Available in Australia, Canada, France, the Netherlands, the United Kingdom, the United States, and perhaps a few other countries. Approximately 98 minutes. Ghalib arrives at the warehouse … Continue reading WTF ASIA 227: Milestone (2020)
Trucking through life as everyone dies. Available in Canada, the United States, and perhaps a few other countries. I don’t trust those Amazon links, but it does seem to be on Youtube. Approximately 96 minutes. Jung Cheol-min is a truck driver. Because of … Continue reading WTF ASIA 226: 24 Hours to Die (2008)
Midway through 13: The Musical some 12 year olds sneak into an R rated movie. Their parents storm angrily into the theater to drag them away. This didn’t happen on stage but it fits the tone of the Netflix adaptation. … Continue reading Movie Review: 13 The Musical
