Movie Review – X Game

X Game (X gêmu) Japan (2010) Dir. Yohei Fukuda There are aspects of Japanese culture that will remain elusive to the understanding of many of us here in the west, one being their propensity for humiliation and punishment games. For a country that seemed to have learned their lesson after Hiroshima, this is a side …

Movie Review – Servants

Servants (Sluzobníci) Slovakia (2020) Dir. Ivan Ostrochovský God is allegedly supposed to protect his servants, the ordinary folk who put their faith in him, but even the Lord Almighty himself is unable to offer them defence from corruption. We already know this, but for Catholics in 1980s Czechoslovakia would discover at their peril, God is …

Wrestling Review – WWE: Austin 3:16 – Best of Stone Cold Steve Austin

WWE: Austin 3:16 - Best of Stone Cold Steve Austin (Cert 18) 1 Disc DVD  (Distributor: Fremantle Media) Running Time: 196 minutes approx. Something we can never accuse the WWE of is being subtle. If you notice the run time of this DVD, it’s 196 minutes or 3 hours 16 minutes in old money; also, …

Movie Review – Cassiopeia

Cassiopeia Korea (2022) Dir. Shin Youn-Shick Health issues, contrary to what we may believe, are not governed by age - in other words, ailments that might be found in the old are exclusive to them and could easily blight the young as well. Over the past few decades, Alzheimer’s and dementia, mostly associated with senior …

Movie Review – Homestay (Thailand)

Homestay Thailand (2018) Dir. Parkpoom Wongpoom So far on this site, I’ve reviewed the anime adaptation of the novel Colorful by Eto Mori, and the Japanese live-action film Homestay (available on Amazon Prime), so now it is time to complete the circuit so to speak, and take a look at the Thai adaptation of Mori’s …

Movie Review – Summer Time Machine Blues

Summer Time Machine Blues (Samâ taimumashin burûsu) Japan (2005) Dir. Katsuyuki Motohiro I won’t accuse Japan of being obsessed with time travel but it appears like they are with the number of films and anime they have made on the subject. However, we could aim this assertion at writer Makoto Ueda, who gave us the …

Anime Review – INU-OH

INU-OH  (Cert 15) Limited Theatrical Release (Distributor: Anime Ltd.) Running time: 97 minutes approx. You can’t stop Rock and Roll! Thus spoke Twisted Sister in 1983 but it seems music has been oppressed for far longer according to this historical drama, with a story dating back over 600 years. Set in feudal Japan, a Biwa …

Movie Review – Ingenium

Ingenium Germany (2018) Dir. Steffen Hacker Memories are precious things to cherish but can also be unreliable at the best of times, worsening as we get older. This isn’t just related to special personal recollections, there are times when accuracy of details is crucial to a specific case - forget these or get them muddled …

Blu-ray Review – A Fugitive From The Past

A Fugitive From The Past  (Cert 15) 1 Disc Blu-ray (Distributor: Arrow Video) Running Time: 183 minutes approx. You can never escape your past. You can bury it, run away from it, change your name, and hope it never catches up with you, but it will never leave you. For some, this is their fate …

Movie Review – My Man Godfrey

My Man Godfrey US (1936) Dir. Gregory La Cava Whatever it is money can buy, one thing it can’t buy you class, which explains why those who have wealth are inherently entitled and assume a misguided sense of superiority over the rest of us. Who needs a silver spoon when they are born when integrity …