I Got Life! (Aurore)

I Got Life! (Aurore) France (2017) Dir. Blandine Lenoir Life, as the saying goes, begins at 40. Apparently for women however, this milestone anniversary gives them just ten more years as a fully active and useful member of society before the big 5-0 arrives, marking the beginning of the end as the menopause comes knocking …

300 Followers!

300 Followers! It’s rare that this little blog of mine reaches any significant milestone that others attain effortlessly on a regular basis but unbeknownst to me I seem to hit another. I can now claim to have 300 great fellow WordPress bloggers following this blog which is amazing considering I didn’t expect anything close to …

The King And The Mockingbird (Le Roi et l’Oiseau)

The King And The Mockingbird (Le Roi et l'Oiseau) France (1980) Dir. Paul Grimault French animation is a bit of a niche product internationally, so it is a surprise to learn that one of the biggest influences on Japanese legend Hayao Miyazaki is French animator Paul Grimault. One of the most important figures in French …

Tonight, At The Movies (Kon’ya, romansu gekijô de)

Tonight, At The Movies (Kon'ya, romansu gekijô de) Japan (2018) Dir. Hideki Takeuchi We’ve all done it - seen a character in a film and forgetting they are not real, succumbed to hopeless romantic fantasies between them and ourselves, refusing to accept the impossibility of this escapist delusion actually becoming reality. But what if it …

Battle Girl High School Collection

Battle Girl High School Collection (Cert 15) 2 Discs Blu-ray (Distributor: MVM) Running time: 312 minutes approx. Sometimes you see the title of an anime series and it pretty much tells you everything you need to know about it, even before you see the DVD cover. Battle Girl High School is such a show. The …

Operation Red Sea (Hong hai xing dong)

Operation Red Sea (Hong hai xing dong) Hong Kong (2018) Dir. Dante Lam They say worse things happen at sea. I’m in no position to comment either way on the veracity of this aphorism but I would think being run over by a lorry would hurt more than getting water in your swimming goggles whilst …

Starcrash

Starcrash US/Italy (1978) Dir. Luigi Cozzi  Sometimes I wonder if instead of lambasting film producers trying to capitalise off the back of the latest blockbuster with a cheap knock-off, we should admire their chutzpah in thinking they could get actually away with it! Otherwise, there wouldn’t be films like Starcrash to leave us aghast at …

Godzilla: City On The Edge Of Battle (Godzilla: Kessen Kidō Zōshoku Toshi)

Godzilla: City On The Edge Of Battle (Godzilla: Kessen Kidō Zōshoku Toshi) Japan (2018) Dirs. Hiroyuki Seshita & Kobun Shizuno The second film in the new animated trilogy of films featuring the King Of Monsters Godzilla, distributed in the west via Netflix, is a direct continuation from the first film Planet Of The Monsters. Unfortunately …

Lu Over The Wall (Yoake tsugeru Rû no uta)

Lu Over The Wall (Yoake tsugeru Rû no uta) Japan (2017) Dir. Masaaki Yuasa I suppose if you’re going to riff on someone else’s work you may as well copy the best, which Masaaki Yuasa has done in aping Miyazaki’s Ponyo for Lu Over The Wall but has put his unique spin on it that …

Deadpool 2

Deadpool 2 (Cert 15) 1 Disc DVD/ 2 Discs Blu-ray (Distributor: 20th Century Fox Home Entertainment) Running Time: Theatrical Cut - 118 minutes approx. / Extended Cut - 133 minutes NB: This review is based on the Theatrical Cut The original Deadpool film was considered a huge gamble for Marvel, being a superhero flick aimed …