Category Archives: Film Listings/Ratings

Elizabeth Moss playing Shirley Jackson? Great. Her husband is played by the always excellent Michael Stuhlbarg? Excellent. The plot involves Jackson writing her new novel as a young couple move in with them and there is a university student who’s gone missing in the backdrop? Sign me up. Well, the best word I can findContinue reading “Shirley (Josephine Decker – 2020) C-“

While most of the violence happens off-screen it is still a deeply unsettling film. A family (dad, mom and their young son) arrive at their vacation home on a nice lake in the Austrian countryside. Shortly after that they get a harmless looking young man called Peter asking to borrow some eggs and it escalatesContinue reading “Funny Games (Michael Haneke – 1997) B”

I so wanted to love this, but at the end of the day I just liked it. It looks great, has an amazing score and Norton delivers a very good performance as does the whole cast really. Somehow, it felt a bit dull. Not exactly boring but tough to hang on to and care tooContinue reading “Motherless Brooklyn (Edward Norton – 2019) C”

Paterson (Adam Driver) lives in Paterson, NJ. He is a metro bus driver/poet. He is married to the eccentric Laura (Golshifteh Farahani). They have an English bulldog. Laura likes to have everything in monochrome black and white. She also wants to be a country singer or maybe a cup cake maker. Paterson drives his bus,Continue reading “Paterson (Jim Jarmusch- 2016) A-“

Beautifully illustrated and magical this one. This is the story of Chihiru who gets trapped in a fantastical world of horror and myth when she walks into a tunnel with her parents on their way to their new home. I have a lack of exposure to the excellent works of this master of Japanese animation.Continue reading “Spirited Away (Hayao Miyazaki – 2001) A”

Good adaptations of Stephen King’s work are few and far between, especially the horror ones. This, the sequel to his novel The Shining, is an excellent one! The extended director’s cut is really worth the extra 20-30 minutes. I love the time it takes with the story, the way it divides it into chapters andContinue reading “Doctor Sleep: Director’s Cut (Mike flanagan – 2019) A”

When Stalin dies who will succeed him? His top ministers are played by the likes of Jeffrey Tambor and Steve Buscemi among others. They are darkly funny in the only way a black comedy about dictatorship can be. They go about backstabbing each other, gathering supporters, arguing about who should organize Stalin’s funeral, issuing conflictingContinue reading “The Death of Stalin (Armando Iannucci – 2017) A-“

As much as they might love their childhood home in the French country side, Adrienne (Juliet Binoche), Frederic (Charles Berling) and Jeremie (Jeremie Renier) are grown up now. They have their own families and goals. One of them is based in China, the other is a journalist in New York. The third sibling is basedContinue reading “Summer Hours (Olivier Assayas – 2008) A-“