“Fantasia” is my idea of comfort watching. I’ll re-watch it when I’m feeling especially down or stressed, because it makes me smile, cheers me up. there’s so much in there – humour, drama, beauty, spookiness, beautiful music and beautiful animation. “Toccata and Fugue in D Minor” by Johann C Bach, was the piece for the…
Have you ever worked in an office? Then Office Space is a film about your life. The technology may be twenty years out of date, cubicles may be replaced with open plan offices (personally I’d rather have a cubicle), but still you will know these people and these situations. Our hero is Peter, played by…
“Annihilation” is a science fiction film that was released in 2018. It’s about a mysterious phenomenon referred to as the ‘shimmer’, and an expedition comprised of five scientists that enter it to investigate. They are the latest in a long line of teams that have been sent in and not returned. There has been one…
This is a weirdly compelling low budget film which is kind of science fiction, kind of horror (a bit), kind of supernatural. This 2017 film starred and was directed by Justin Benson and Aaron Moorhead. Two brothers are living a hand to mouth existence after having escaped from a cult some years earlier. The younger…
“Mississippi Burning”, made in 1988, is based on real events that occurred in 1964. It depicts the way racism divides and destroys community. In 1964, three civil rights workers were murdered in Mississippi after they tried to help the local African American community enrol to vote. Two agents of the FBI (played by Willem Dafoe…
Made in 2011, this film was directed by David Cronenberg and purports to tell about the relationship and ultimate rift between Sigmund Freud and Carl Jung. It also reports the relationship and affair between Jung and Sabina Spielrein, a patient who eventually becomes a psychiatrist herself. Cronenberg is an excellent director, but I feel he…
I love the ‘Christmas Carol’ story, and I have seen many adaptations over the years. This version can stand with any of them. It is great! The awesome and amazing Michael Caine stars as Ebenezer Scrooge. He is absolutely fantastic in the role, despite the fact that he is mostly acting with muppets. There is…
For a so-called Christmas film this has precious little to do with Christmas. However, its climax occurs on Christmas eve, so it kind of fits. The story concerns a family in St Louis in 1904. The World Fair is going to be held there the following spring, and everyone is excited by the news. The…
In 1984, before the birth of Studio Ghibli, Hayao Miyazaki directed an anime film called “Nausicaa and the Valley of the Wind”. Here we find all the ingredients that would go on to be the bedrock of his work – the theme of being in balance with the earth, the motif of flight, and the…
“A Ghost Story” was released in 2017 and directed by David Lowery. It starred Casey Affleck and Rooney Mara. This is not a horror movie. A man and a woman live in a house. They have some disagreement about living there – the woman wants to move, while her husband is not all that keen.…
