Watching Ennio was like a quick refresher on the Westerns of the 1960s so it’s fascinating to compare them to McCabe & Mrs. Miller. In making this, Robert Altman’s guiding principle seems to have been to identify the common tropes of the genre and do the exact opposite. This plays out so slowly and unremarkably that I was getting bored until I realized what it was trying to do. It’s not even gritty or anti-heroic. It’s that the characters are all cowards, there are no higher ideals and there is no glory whatsoever in violence. Its commitment to what I might call anti-Romanticism is total and that’s what makes it so unique and memorable.
Looking through the body of work of Hirokazu Kore-eda, this film starring Catherine Deneuve, Juliette Binoche and Ethan Hawke sticks out like a sore thumb. I have no idea how he even managed to write the script but this is indeed a perfectly cromulent French film. It also falls in line with the director’s other work in diving into the sins of parents. Unfortunately while I loved the premise and the presence of these star actors working together, the denouement is somewhat pedestrian making it more of a mid-tier Kore-eda film.
I decided to add this to my list after watching the new The Naked Gun. I must have seen Airplane! as a child at some point and I keep coming across clips of it online but it was worthwhile for me to watch the whole thing as an adult. This is now considered one of the greatest comedies of all time and practically pioneered a genre of its own. This slapstick parody style isn’t my favorite type of comedy but I have to admit that it pulls it quite well. Particularly delightful are the sex jokes and racial humor that would never pass muster these days but don’t feel too hurtful either.
I’ve watched two of Chong Keat Aun’s films so far and loved both. This was enough to make me consider me the best Malaysian director at the moment. Unfortunately despite Mother Bhumi being a higher profile work starring international star Fan Bingbing, it counts as striking out for me. His technical skills have improved I’d admit and it’s astonishing how he is able to wring such authentic acting out of an actor who is definitely not Malaysian. But the message he conveys here is both off-putting as it sidesteps serious political issues and worrying as the director gives you the impression that he truly does believe in black magic.
This biographical documentary of the life and work of Ennio Morricone was released a year after the legendary composer’s death. I don’t know when exactly the interviews with him were filmed and I’d imagine they must have taken place over an extended period. But I can’t help but feel that Giuseppe Tornatore finished this just in time and fortunately so because this is one of best documentaries I’ve ever seen. Its scope extends well beyond Morricone’s best known film scores, it features interviews with many famous directors and fellow musicians and it raises fascinating questions about the artistic merits of music composed for films. It could be argued that this treatment is overly hagiographic but if anyone deserves so much praise, it’s surely Morricone.
The first Zootopia was a pleasant surprise but that this sequel was a far bigger success was even more surprising being the top grossing film in the US for 2025. To me this is almost the same film with the same core message, except bigger, more frenetically paced and almost painfully vibrant. The attempt to create a new source of conflict between the two leads is cringeworthy and the last minute betrayal is clunky. I don’t doubt that this is a spectacular experience for kids but it’s too shallow to be satisfying for me.
My wife insisted on watching this in the cinemas, believing that we ought to give local directors a chance. This is the directorial debut of Tham Wai Fook, who is arguably a friend of a friend, and he has apparently been wanting to turn his script into a film for over a decade. This is a clearly a passion project based on elements that are at least partially autobiographical, such as his strange obsession with circuses. Unfortunately just because someone feels strongly for something doesn’t mean that they’re capable of turning it into good art. This film is too long, too unfocused and too self-indulgent. It was so actively bad that I had difficulty watching it to the end.
