Tag Archives: 2.5 stars

Star Wars: The Force Awakens (2015)

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“Let me pitch you this idea. We’ll take a movie that was made 20, 30, 40 years ago and we’ll remake it, using pretty much the same story, but with a modern twist. We’ll make the token female role much tougher, although, don’t worry, she’ll still need saving by a guy lots of times. And we’ll bring back some of the original actors so the old fans feel included and we’ll make a joke of the fact that they’re really old. We’ll show everyone how much better CGI is nowadays and we’ll make the story line much more complicated with lots of ‘science’ to explain all the things that don’t make sense. And we’ll fill it with white guys.” Terminator Genisys or Star Wars: The Force Awakens? Continue reading →

Spectre (2015)

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Bond films don’t just fail the Bechdel test, they rip it up, stuff it into a sack and bury it in your back garden. The key to enjoying a James Bond film, I think, is to have very low expectations, take delight in the complete lack of logic and hope that the misogyny has been dialed down to negligible. Continue reading →

Back to the Future Part II (1989)

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The only movie to watch on 21st October 2015. Half of the film is set in the ‘future’ of 1985 when Marty and the Doc go forward to, yes, you guessed it, Wednesday 21st October 2015 at around 4.30pm. That would have been the exact time I was borrowing the DVD, I reckon. The film was made in 1989 and, regardless of whether that was a good idea or not, it’s interesting to look at a 1989 view of what the world would be like today. It looks pretty much like the 80s. Continue reading →

Journey to the Shore (Kishibe no tabi) (2015)

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Oh Lordy. I should have left half way through this Japanese film. I’d just seen a really delightful Japanese film, Wonderful World End, and this one started well. We see a women, Mizuki, drifting in and out of her day. She teaches piano, lives alone. Then a man appears in her apartment and we soon realise he is her dead husband Yusuke, who drowned himself three years before. She’s not surprised to see him and when they begin a journey together, others can see and talk to him too. I liked this quirk of the film and I wondered whether it says something about Japanese culture and how they view death. Continue reading →

Tehran Taxi (2015)

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I almost liked this Iranian film. I wanted to like it. Jafar Panahi directed a couple of films I really liked – Crimson Gold and The White Balloon. In this one, he is in the centre of the story, playing himself and driving a taxi whilst filming. It is set up as if it is a documentary but it’s obvious that it is fictional and his passengers are (reportedly non-professional and uncredited) actors. It works well at the start, with a rough and authentic feel as people hop in and out, talking and arguing with each other. A man jumps in who recognises Panahi and so we realise who he is and that this is a docudrama. Continue reading →

The Silences (2015)

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Oh, Margot, I so wanted to like this documentary. I like Margot Nash. She’s a Melbourne filmmaker who was a bolshie anarchist feminist in the 70s and has made or written several films, such as Vacant Possession in the 90s, which I remember enjoying. Continue reading →

Fassbinder – To Love Without Demands (At elske uden at kræve) (2015)

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This would be a hagiography if Fassbinder wasn’t so unlikeable. Rainer Werner Fassbinder had too much freedom as a child. Rainer Werner Fassbinder had unusual ideas about having sex with your mother. Rainer Werner Fassbinder believed all relationships were power plays. Rainer Werner Fassbinder never grew up. Rainer Werner Fassbinder was a sadistic misogynist. Rainer Werner Fassbinder just wanted to be a father. Rainer Werner Fassbinder was a workaholic. Continue reading →

Welcome to Leith (2015)

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Another padded-out US documentary about a delusional white guy. This one had similar flaws to Prophet’s Prey, too much atmospheric footage and staged drama and not enough insight. Leith is a tiny rural town in North Dakota, and by tiny I mean 24 people including children, that unfortunately had a high profile white supremacist move in. Continue reading →