For over 80 years, superheroes have ignited fans’ imaginations around the world; that is eight decades of history, full of ups and downs – and eight decades of adventures of various iconic heroes. Sadly, while white superheroes were praised during these decades, black characters got pushed to the margin. It was only in 2016 that…
Phantom Thread Review
Can any of us really comprehend that Daniel Day-Lewis now ended his acting career? Hear me weep… Daniel Day-Lewis, one of the most awarded (three Oscars under his belt) and the most fastidious – he had always carefully chosen his projects – actors out there, gave his farewell performance in Paul Thomas Anderson’s Phantom Thread….
Maze Runner: The Death Cure Review
Maze Runner: The Death Cure, directed by Wes Ball and written by T.S. Nowlin, is the final chapter of the popular saga about the young protagonist Thomas (Dylan O’Brien) and his friends. Thomas has been running around ragged during the first two of The Maze Runner series. Initially, he had to escape the Maze with his Glader friends in the…
Call Me by Your Name Review
The 9 Best Picture nominees for the 90th Academy Awards include a film that has charmed audiences everywhere, shining a bitter-sweet light on our memories of our first love, as well as flaming our desires to feel that special connection, with that special person, again (and again). Call Me By Your Name, based on the novel…
Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri Review
Here we go, the 2018 Academy Award nominations have been announced today – and there is no surprise that Martin McDonagh’s Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri has earned itself quite a decent number of nominations – 7, to be exact – since they have already reaped a solid harvest among this season’s awards’ shows before the…
Darkest Hour Review
Winston Churchill was of one the most charismatic politicians of the 20th century. His stubbornness and his refusal of Hitler’s “peace” proposals led to saving around 330 thousand lives, in both British and allied troops, from Dunkirk in 1940. One can easily say that were it not for Churchill, world would have been a different…
In Conversation with Yoshiki of X Japan
It was one of those days when I did not really expect any extraordinary to happen… until I got invited to interview the amazing, superbly talented multi-instrumentalist Yoshiki of X Japan who – at the time – was visiting London to promote Stephen Kijak’s (Stones in Exile, Scott Walker: 30 Century Man, Backstreet Boys: Show ‘Em What…
The Silent Child – Short Film Review
“My brilliant father lost his hearing very suddenly when I was 12 and lived the last 2 years of his life profoundly deaf. I witnessed first hand the huge effects deafness has on a family. I also saw him for the first time seem vulnerable and I noticed how easy it was for people to…
The Disaster Artist Review
Los Angeles is a multi-layered city. It is the cradle and the capital of the American cinema, and thus the birthplace of the world’s greatest stars, but also… a place where many delusional ‘artists’ try their luck. When Tommy Wiseau, a mysterious man, in 1998 befriended Greg Sestero in an acting class in San Francisco,…
Justice League Review
Does it or does it not? Suck, that is? We seem to have several very loud sides in this discussion; from Marvel fans, all to happy to jump at anything DC and DCEU, to DC fans, loudly defending not only this film, but also the previous DC hits and misses (and let’s face it, there…
The 12 London Korean Film Festival: Warriors of the Dawn Review
In 1592, the Korean Peninsula suffered a surprise attack by Japanese forces, led by Imperial Regent Toyotomi Hideyoshi, who intended to conquer the Joseon-ruled Korean Peninsula as a gateway to the Ming-dynasty-ruled Chinese territory; the initial invasion started the so-called Imjin War which lasted until 1598, for seven years, and just like any other war,…
The 12th London Korean Film Festival: In Conversation with Kim Dae-hwan, Director of ‘The First Lap’
Kim Dae-hwan is an up-and-coming South Korean film director; while still in college, he directed two short films, Picnic (2010) and Interview (2011); he introduced his debut feature, End of Winter, to the audience in 2014, while studying post-grad at Dankook University’s Graduate School of Cinematic Content. Two years later, Jeonju Cinema Projects helped fund his…
The 12th London Korean Film Festival: The First Lap Review
The London leg of the 12th London Korean Film festival came to a close this year with The First Lap, the second feature of an up-and-coming South Korean indie filmmaker Kim Dae-hwan, who is being continuously compared to his fellow SK indie filmmaker and film festival favourite Hong Sang-soo – and yet, it is The…
The 12 London Korean Film Festival: The Merciless Review
What motivates acts of betrayal and revenge, two of cinema’s favourite subjects that have been characterised in popular culture in various ways? There is no direct answer to that, but it seems like the attempts to illustrate them as destructive powers had worked out sufficiently thus far. The theme of revenge became somewhat of a speciality…
