German Film Festival – Styx Movie Review
During her journey she encounters a ship that starts out as an enigma. She can plainly see the craft but is unable to make radio contact. Upon closer inspection she discovers it is a broken down trawler filled with what appears to be refugees. In a radio call to the Coast Guard, they ask her a series of questions she cannot answer while appearing to care little about the trawler or its occupants, even warning her to stay away. She decides she must do something to help.
There is morality ...
German Film Festival – Balloon Movie Review
This film follows the Strelzyk and Wetzel families and their attempt to construct a clandestine hot air balloon and fly to freedom. In a country staffed with an overabundance of police and the dreaded secret police, the Stasi. this endeavour was absolutely illegal and life threatening.
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After a first attempt goes awry, the effort is applied again but this time the authorities are closing in and it becomes a race against time. Even knowing the ultimate outcome of ...
Asterix: The Secret of the Magic Potion Movie Review
The wonderful French comic books featuring Astérix and his friends have fuelled many a youngster’s imagination and sense of fun both here and abroad. This animated feature, Asterix: The Secret of the Magic Potion continues with those traditions. It is whimsical, irreverent and at times, completely bonkers.
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The village elder Panoramix (Bernard Alane) falls from a tree while helping a young bird return to its nest and sustains a broken foot. This decline in ...
German Film Festival – 25KM/H Movie Review
This film lays out a well trodden road to follow but that doesn’t prevent it from being very entertaining. It’s filled with humour, pathos and ultimately the bonds of brotherly love. The soundtrack is filled with great songs by T-Rex, The Cure, Yo La Tengo, Sufjan Stevens as well as others and even though the film is spoken in German (with English subtitles) it is extremely accessible.
This is the kind of film that will be an audience hit as it provides all the components of a good ...
Rocketman Movie Review
Growing up the only child, Reginald Kenneth Dwight was a shy and awkward young child. With a free spirit mother and physically absent father, only his Grandmother was supportive. He took refuge in music and became very accomplished at a young age.
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His early musical endeavours followed a familiar arc, learning the music business from the ground up via a succession of bands and backing gigs. When he started a writing partnership with lyricist Bernie Taupin, his ...
Brightburn Movie Review
Brandon Breyer (Jackson A. Dunn) is a somewhat typical eleven year-old, hyper intelligent but just that little bit different and kind of an outcast. His parents, Tori Breyer (Elizabeth Banks) and Kyle Breyer (David Denman) have raised him on the farm as their own and have provided him with a loving and normal home. When Brandon celebrates his twelfth birthday, things start to change.
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The film sets an ominous feel from the opening credits with some very creepy ...
2040 Movie Review
In stark contest to works like An Inconvenient Truth, which really only highlighted the dangers of Global Warming, Gameau offers solutions to the problems. In a wide spectrum of topics, he provides ideas that range from grass roots actions to the implantation of emerging technologies to help turn things around.
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As a filmmaker he also uses some clever choices to give brevity to what are some very serious subject matters. His use of comments by young children ...
Aladdin Movie Review
The film plays more like a version of the Broadway musical than the animated endeavour and includes a lot more songs. Unfortunately nothing dissipates dramatic tension more than when the actors break into song so the dynamic structure is effected. They have also wisely cleaned up a lot of the questionable stereotypes.
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While Will Smith is certainly no Robin Williams, the demands placed on the actor are greatly diminished, so he is more than capable of the role. ...
Acute Misfortune Movie Review
The film is based on the respected biography of Cullen by Erik Jensen’s and both the book and movie probe the depths of the complexities and contradictions of this tortured soul. Jensen deserved combat pay as his time spent with the artist included him being shot, stabbed and pushed off the back of a moving motorcycle. He also spent enough time with Cullen to see below the facade.
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Put into a larger context the film is also about family and the degree to which ...
The Vanishing Movie Review
Director Kristoffer Nyholm (Taboo and The Killing) helps to craft an earthy existence on the lonely island. One filled with great accents, male bonding and an over riding sense of tension. Gerard Butler, Peter Mullan and Connor Swindells star as the three lighthouse men and the casting really works.
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Butler and Mullan are the grizzled veterans with beards and crinkled brows, while Swindells is the fresh faced new recruit. When a mysterious man washes up on shore, ...
