Movie Review – The Shaolin Temple

The Shaolin Temple (Shao Lin si) China/Hong Kong (1982) Dir. Chang Hsin Yen You’d think that if someone asked you to make a vow never to kill, it would be an easy choice to make. In this day and age, it would be but in Ancient China where disputes were settled with fists, kicks, and …

MIB’s Top Ten Films of 2021

Much like in 2020, COVID made sure cinemas wouldn’t be open for most of 2021, though this didn’t stop films from being made or being released either via streaming or straight to physical media. When the cinemas did reopen, there were of course restrictions put in place meaning screenings would have fewer people in them, …

Movie Review – Censor

Censor UK (2021) Dir. Prano Bailey-Bond “Ban this sick filth!” Those of us who lived through Thatcher’s Britain in the 1980s may recall the furore from Daily Mail reading morons over the so called “video nasty”, straight-to-video low budget horror films free from cinema censorship, meaning OTT gore and violence. Typically, it was claimed they …

Movie Review – New Order

New Order (Nuevo orden) Mexico (2020) Dir. Michel Franco “The peasants are revolting!” “You can say that again!” I begin this review with a joke, not just because it has some relevance to this brutal, nihilistic look at social disparity but also for the fact this is the only real levity that can derived from …

MIB’s Top Ten Anime of 2021 (UK)

2021 was another interesting year for anime in the UK in the current COVID climate, where delays to physical media releases meant fans were supposed to rely on streaming to get their fixes. This did have its advantages though, notably when Amazon Prime got hold of the Evangelion Rebuild film series and brought us the …

Movie Review – Double Dynamite

Double Dynamite US (1951) Dir. Irving Cummings Coincidences are a bane of our lives, when they cause trouble and not good fortune. You may think you are on cloud nine as the result of something good happening whilst at the same time fate is dealing a bad hand to someone else. Trying to explain your …

Blu-Ray Review – No Time To Die

No Time To Die (Cert 12) 2 Discs Blu-ray (Distributor: Universal) Running Time: 164 minutes approx. Do I start this review by mentioning the irony in how it took almost 2 years for this film to hit the cinemas yet barely two months for the home media release to come out? As both release dates …

Movie Review – Drive My Car

Drive My Car (Doraibu mai kâ) Japan (2021) Dir. Ryusuke Hamaguchi Aren’t words great? You can use them to make people happy, sad, or angry, make them think or comfort them, you can even put them to music and make people sing! But what is the point of words if we don’t use them to …

Movie Review – The Mitchells vs. The Machines

The Mitchells vs. The Machines US (2021) Dirs. Michael Rianda & Jeff Rowe Younger readers may not remember this, but the big selling point for the Internet in its early days was how it would bring everyone together regardless of geography. Now technology has advanced and everything is internet connectable, even close knit families are …

Anime Review – Nichijou – My Ordinary Life

Nichijou - My Ordinary Life (Cert 12) 4 Discs Blu-ray + Digital (Distributor: Funimation) Running time: 626 minutes approx. Japanese humour can be an acquired taste, which would explain why their use of more broader, base comedy especially in anime, works better for international audiences than the nuanced nature of localised gags. Sometimes you stumble …