Reviews

Full disclosure, I have never watched the Penguindrum tv show. I didn’t even know it was a thing until last year when Part 1 of this 2-film series was shown at Scotland Loves Anime 2022. I think it’s important to share that piece of information as I have never experienced this story before in its […]

Rice Distribution Spanning the course of one day, Rice Distribution is about The Ghost Festival which during the festival organisations give away rice to the poor and elderly. The film captures these events in a way that is simply gripping. The cinematography makes you feel like you are there watching the events unfold in front […]

Flowing Stories is a documentary spanning many years, it highlights the festival in the Ho Chung village which occurs every 10 years. It highlights the difference in the village over the last few decades, from a village with many open farming spaces to a town that is being built up around them and the loos […]

Reconnecting with family can be a wonderful or disastrous feat and A Holy Family follows Elvis Lu the director as he tries to reconnect with his family after moving away over 20 years ago. We get to see a brother start a tomato farm and has a talent of being a medium, a father who […]

What is it like to leave your home? what is it like to move to a completely different country due to the state of your country’s politics? what is it like to tick the other box for your nationality? The Grass is Greener on the Other Side is a documentary that tries to answer those […]

I’m a person who grew up with the rise of mainstream social media. YouTube especially is a massive platform that I grew up on. I went through the Suicide Forest incident, the adpocalypse and so much YouTube drama that shaped the platform into what it is today. That doesn’t even consider my love and passion […]

For many people especially in the UK, the knowledge and understanding of what happened in Hong Kong in 2019 is nothing short of lacking. Unless you went out of your way to look for news articles. It never made huge headline news daily, in fact, I cannot remember a single BBC news segment airing at […]

The opening to this film could be regarded as jarring for some but after learning the real-life story it took inspiration from the opening leaving you with an impression that is both striking and powerful. So, it’s sad that it couldn’t sustain that power all the way through. But let’s hold off on that for […]

Video stores are a relic of the past, now we live in the day of age where streaming is King. I Like Movies takes place in a simpler time where to watch a film at home you would need to rent it or buy it physically. But while its setting might be stuck in the […]

Documentaries are not my strong suit. While I can enjoy them it’s a genre of cinema that is the hardest for me to watch, so for me to just say oh this sounds interesting let’s put this on in unusual. Unlike an action film let’s say where if I recognise one name, I’m likely to […]

We live in an era where the smartphones that are in our pockets are more powerful than the computers that allowed Apollo 11 to land on the moon. When you think about that it’s quite scary how much tech has advanced in such a short time. This advancement is perfectly highlighted in Matt Johnson’s recent […]

The definition of surprise is “an unexpected or astonishing event, fact, etc.”. so, to say that The Wandering Earth 2 was a surprise might be an understatement. The Wandering Earth 2 is a true sci-fi blockbuster film that is simply epic in scope and scale. The film takes place in the future where the sun is expanding and threatens […]

Roads are a great metaphor for life. Sometimes life is like a motorway, it’s smooth and it takes you to a desired destination quickly and easily. But a narrow road might make life feel constrained and bumpy. I feel a narrow road is a better description of what life is really like and I feel […]

The title feels very poignant, the film could easily be described as a sunburn and only with Aftersun can be soothed and eased into something truly beautiful. I felt a whole range of emotions watching Aftersun, ranging from times in France playing arcade games like Time Crisis surrounded by older teens to how I feel […]

One of the most romantic films I’ve ever seen weirdly enough starts with not only a death but a potential murder. Park Chan-wook is back after almost 7 years since his last film The Handmaiden and in my opinion, it was well worth the wait. The film follows detective Jang Hae-joon as he investigates the […]

Emotional reactions to me are truly special to art and with that in mind A Life on the Farm is a film that made me feel like I was on a rollercoaster of emotions. I went from laughing, to shocked, to sad, to joyful and to thrilled all in the span of 70 minutes. The […]

After graduating University with a Computing Science degree and doing my honours project on AI, I can safely tell you how truly scary the tech is. While the tech is still far off from replacing humans. Shadow explores this from the viewpoint of people who have disabilities. Every member of the production, cast and crew […]

Can a punk song save the world?? That is the question posed by Fish Story, a 2009 Japanese film based on the book written by Kotaro Isaka who also wrote the book for the latest Brad Pitt trainwreck of a film called Bullet Train. However, unlike that film Fish Story is a true delight and […]

If you told me that in 2022 that a film where Nicolas Cage plays Nick Cage would be released and that the film would be good. I truly wouldn’t believe you, but it happened. In The Unbearable Weight of Massive Talent Nicolas Cage plays a caricature of himself, who is broke and has a troubling […]

Walking out of Everything Everywhere All at Once one thought came rushing through my mind, and that was when can I see it again. This is a truly special film that is weird, heartfelt, funny, emotional, and thrilling. Michelle Yeoh is Evelyn Wang a Chinese immigrant who is struggling to file her taxes. While it […]

Satoshi Kon is a truly incredible anime director, from his creative editing style to his unique and influential visuals, his work is timeless. Millennium Actress is a prime example of why he was a truly incredible director. Following a filmmaker and his camera man as they decide to interview a former actress for a documentary, […]

Review copy provided by CineAsia What happens when you mix the iconic Quantum Leap with John Wick? You get Spiritwalker, a truly special South Korean action thriller. Waking up with no memory and learning that every 12 hours he switches bodies, our main character has 1 mission uncover the truth and find out who he […]

Review Copy Provided by Paramount. To say I was looking forward to watching Picard season 2 would be an understatement. After watching season 1 I was invested to the characters and the post Next Generation story that was presented felt like it was just getting started, and I couldn’t wait for more. So, after watching […]

Review copy provided by Warner Brothers. The world’s greatest detective is back and this time he is doing detective work. It’s strange to think that after many incarnations of this beloved character it took so long for the detective side of the character to be front and centre. Similar to films like Seven The Batman […]

Review Copy provide by CineAsia Being fully transparent, this might be one of the hardest reviews I have ever written. The film was commissioned by the propaganda department of the Chinese Communist Party. Off that sentence alone it’s clear why I find reviewing this challenging. So, I’m going to review this film simply off its […]

Review Copy Provided By Paramount. Snake Plissken is a cinematic icon, he inspired one of gaming’s biggest icons Solid Snake. So, it only feels fitting that Escape from L.A. has jumped onto the 4K platform just like its predecessor. The plot is simple, Snake is sent into an isolated L.A. to retrieve a black box […]

When the opening credits for this film rolled at roughly 40 minutes in, I knew I was witnessing something special. Drive My Car is a film that is co-written and directed by Ryûsuke Hamaguchi and is Japan’s entry for the 94th Academy Awards (the Oscars). Drive My Car clocks in at 3 hours long and […]

Review copy provided by Warner Brothers. When I saw Dune in the cinema late last year, it felt like a return to an era of cinema I thought was over, where we would see massive sci-fi epics on the big screen! Now you can experience this epic at home with the release of Dune on […]

Jim Cummings is a film maker everyone should have eyes on. His 2 previous features are a must watch, and I’ll always check out anything he does. This time he’s sharing the directing and writers chair with first time feature writer and director PJ McCabe. The Beta Test is about a Hollywood agent called Jordan […]

I’ve never seen a thriller this tense in a long time. Europa follows Kamal, a young Iraqi man who is trying to illegally cross the border between Turkey and Bulgaria. While crossing he is chased by a group of Bulgarian vigilantes. This film is intense from the opening minutes, the tone, danger, and the pace […]

I love Asian cinema and culture. Due to this love, I was really excited to see Raya and the last dragon. However, part of me was very sceptical, I haven’t been in love with a lot of Disney’s recent releases. So, heading into Raya I wanted to know if this would be the film to […]

Last year everyone had the opportunity to see the musical phenomena Hamilton, but before Hamilton. Lin-Manuel Miranda created the hit musical In the Heights which has just had a film adaption release. If there is anything in common between In the Heights and Hamilton is the incredible music. There isn’t a bad song throughout and […]

I love action films and know what I’m looking for and in my opinion the key to making a great action film can be summed up in 1 word, clarity. Understanding what is happening during an action scene is what allows me to be invested in the action. I say all this as Mortal Kombat […]

The “#ReleaseTheSnyderCut” movement is extremely detailed and too long for this review but in short back in 2017 following a personal tragedy Zack Snyder was unable to release his version of Justice League. It took till 2021 to finally see his vision realised. Zack Snyder’s Justice League clocks in at a colossal 4 hours and […]

Inspired by the legendary martial art master of the same name. Ip Man encompasses what I love about films. It combines a gripping and engaging story with moments of out of this world action creating a martial art masterpiece to rival even famous Hong Kong classics like Project A and Dragons Forever. Donnie Yen who […]

Soul is advertised and packaged as the new Disney Pixar kid’s film. However, it is in fact a film tailored for adults. Soul is about Joe Gardner who has a very strong passion for music, on the cusp of his lifelong ambition he is transported out of his body and must find a way back. […]

Review Copy Provided By Arrow Video Versus can easily be described in one word. Insane. I honestly had a blast watching Versus, it’s just flat out fun. The action is simply bananas and I couldn’t stop smiling because of it. Seeing Yakuza members kill zombies in fun and gory ways is just thrilling. Honestly watching […]

Right off the bat, I have to make this clear. Wolfwalkers based solely on its animation is absolutely breath taking. Every frame of this film is just like a work of art and in my opinion is a type of animation I feel is missing from modern kid’s films because they are mostly made by […]

Steve McQueen is quite possibly one of the best directors working today, 12 Years a Slave and Widows are quite frankly incredible films and some of the best films I’ve seen. So when I saw that some of his Small Axe films were being shown at the London Film Festival, I had to check them […]

Taking place in a dystopian Mexico, New Order is a film about class divide and how the rich live completely different lives to the poor. This idea of class divide has been a common theme in big films recently like Joker and Parasite. But New Order takes these themes and does something very different from […]

The apple doesn’t fall far from the tree and watching the second film by Brandon Cronenberg who is David Cronenberg’s son that statement is very accurate.  To me Possessor is a film that is very much style over substance. For every awesome practical effect there was a moment I was like but why is this […]

While watching Rose: A Love Story (which I’m going to call Rose for short) I kept thinking that I was watching a lesser It Comes At Night. Both films are very similar, both involve a couple living in isolation welcoming unexpected guest into there home and how things go from bad to worse because of […]

They say that drinking loosens you up and relax’s you so you can have a good time. Another Round is the latest film by Thomas Vinterbeg famous for the film The Hunt (2012), and is about a group of 4 friends who decided to put a theory into practice. The theory is that “humans are […]

Bad Tales is a film that for most of its run time I had no idea what was happening or even more what it was trying to say. It’s a decently made film that lacked any sort of substance and at times acted more disturbing than it actually was. Following a group a dysfunctional families […]

Taking place over the span of one night, 4 men: Cassius Clay (aka Muhammad Ali), Malcolm X, Jim Brown and Sam Cooke are in a hotel room after Clay’s surprise win over Sonny Liston in February 1964. Stuck in this hotel the 4 come together and start to have discussions ranging from their personal life’s all the way to […]

Sitting down to watch this documentary I had no idea what to expect. All I knew about this film was that it dealt with autism (ASD). So when I burst into tears about 35 minutes in, I knew I was watching something incredibly special. The documentary uses the book of the same name written by […]

Being brutally honest, I have no idea what this film was trying to be. Was it trying to be a biopic or a fictional drama. When I write reviews I tend to avoid looking at other peoples reviews before writing my own as I want my thoughts to be entirely mine and not me repurposing […]

Full Disclosure I think the best way to watch this film is completely blind, so please watch the film before reading this review as I feel that’s the best way to experience the film. How much you enjoy this film will solely rest upon if the film manages to sink its claws into you during […]

I wish there was a way to get back the 2 hours I wasted. Mulan 2020 is in my opinion the definition of terrible. It adds little to the original animation and it fails to recreate the magic the original had. Instead of a timeless story about female empowerment, where you can achieve anything if […]

The word Tenet is a palindrome, which means it’s the same forwards and backwards. While I won’t spoil why I personally think the film is called Tenet, the film deals with the flow of time and how effecting the flow could end the world. Christopher Nolan has never shied away from telling stories around weird […]

Review copy provided by Third Window Films. Can a song really save the world? Fish Story is about the end of the world… I’m not joking. In the opening we see an asteroid making its way towards earth with scientists saying there is no way to destroy it in time before it collides with the […]

Review copy provided by Third Window Films. Yakuza’s, bathhouses, love, and to top this weird cake there’s also comedy. All of these things shouldn’t mesh well together and in some ways it doesn’t, but parts of this film really do work. I love all of the yakuza plot lines and some of the action is […]

Review copy provided by Arrow Video. Creepshow 2 is an anthology horror film that features 4 vignettes (sketches) 3 of these are the main focus of the film and the other plays out between the other 3. Because of this I’m going to go through each vignette and give a mini review for each one […]

Review copy provided by Arrow Video. Bloodstone to me is the dictionary definition of a guilty pleasure. The film is honestly insane, with so many quotable lines, funny scenes and is frankly just a good time. It is 90 minutes of pure joy. There is honestly an on-foot chase scene where (and I’m not making […]

Saying Hamilton took the theatre world by storm is a bit of understatement. The success of Hamilton honestly blew us all away as hip hop and theatre haven’t really meshed well. But for almost 5 years the majority of people have not had the opportunity to be in the room where the show happens as […]

Review copy provided by Arrow Academy Arrow Academy is releasing a limited edition Blu-ray for the film The Game. Due to this I feel obliged to give 2 opinions. My opinion of the film and my opinion of the package as a whole. I am doing this because with this release you are not solely […]

Review copy provided by Arrow Video I struggled to finish, Inferno of Torture. Women are treated so poorly in this film; it is just cruel and simply nasty. I honestly found this hard to watch but not in a way like 12 years a slave, which is hard to watch because of its dark and […]

Review copy provided by Arrow Video.  Empathy, Inc really shocked me. Heading into this film I had no expectations. All I knew about the film was that It was about VR (virtual reality) in someway. So when pressing play I had no idea what the journey ahead looked like. Upon finishing it I was was […]

Review copy provided by Second Sight Films. Second Sight Films recently released a limited edition Blu-ray for the film Revenge. Due to this I feel obliged to give 2 opinions. My opinion of the film and my opinion of the package as a whole. I am doing this because with this release you are not […]

Review copy provided by Signature Entertainment Arctic is the first film by Joe Penna, who before making this film was a successful YouTuber with his most popular video on the platform having nearly 17 million views. While Youtuber’s who venture into films or film making typically make films for their fans and in my opinion […]

Review copy provided by Lionsgate Bong Joon-Ho has made 2 films for Hollywood. One is Okja, a film that was booed at Cannes for being a Netflix movie and Snowpiercer a film in terms of UK distribution, has been sadly forgotten about until now. For the first time ever in the UK, Snowpiercer has been […]

Review copy provided by Arrow Video. I was lucky enough to see this film at the Edinburgh Film Festival last year where I also got to meet the director Adam Randall. It was during this screening that the producer said, Arrow Video had got the distribution rights for the film in the UK and it […]

Since we are all locked inside our homes and in need of something to distract us. I decided to watch the original Disney Classic Mulan, as I have not seen it recently and I wanted to rewatch it before the live action remake hit the cinema.  Mulan still looks beautiful despite the fact it is […]

Review copy provided by Lionsgate. Everyone has seen at least one whodunnit. From the many adventures of Hercule Poirot, to the murder she brings Jessica Fletcher and to Mr “just one more thing” Columbo, within the genre of whodunnit it’s hard to be innovative and come up with new concepts. Knives Out feels like a […]

This film wears its inspirations on its sleeves, the film name drops many famous horror directors and the main character is literally called Akira Kurosawa (famous Japanese director who directed Seven Samurai, Rashomon and Ran). This is Paul Young’s first directing feature and while this film is not a terrible film, it can’t be classed […]

What happened in the City of Flint, Michigan was horrible, disgusting and makes you think how could this have happened in 2014. Nobody should have to be scared of the water coming out of their taps or shower. Flint is a documentary which covers the events of what happened in Flint as it happened. The […]

I’ll be honest I have not watched the show in its entirety. It’s another show that got lost in my watchlist and I know I have to watch it. So you might be thinking why did I go see this film  without seeing the show before hand. It is because I love the studio behind […]

You don’t realise how important colour is to story telling until you watch a film that has been presented originally in colour then shown in black and white. I had the wonderful opportunity to see Parasite in black and white at the Glasgow Film Festival 2020. This review is mainly going to focus on what […]

One of the first lines said is “wanna get weird” and in a nutshell it is the perfect way to describe this film. I love dark and unique comedies. Even though safe comedies can still be enjoyable, I do appreciate a film that takes risks with its humour. The Death of Dick Long certainly takes […]

Review copy provided by Signature Entertainment Takashi Miike is an interesting director, he has directed 103 films in his lifetime. While I’ve not seen all of his films (I’ve only seen “13 Assassins”) from what I’ve heard he is very much a hit or miss film maker. “First Love” is very much a hit, this […]

Tension is key when it comes to escape films. The feeling of being on the edge of your seat and bitting at your nails because the tension has grabbed you is one of the best feelings you can have while watching a film. “Escape From Pretoria” is a tensioned filled ride that grabs you from […]

Proxima uses space as a launching pad to tell a story about how the literal space between Sarah Loreau (played by Eva Green) and her daughter Stella (played by Zélie Boulant) affects their relationship. Proxima is a very well-crafted film but in my opinion, it never really takes off in a way that makes you […]

Review copy provided by Arrow Video For my review of “One Missed Call” I’m going to be doing something a bit different. I was so very fortunate to have received the Blu-ray box set from Arrow video so Instead of reviewing just the films I will also be reviewing the Blu-ray package as a whole […]

Heading into parasite my expectations were high. The film was widely praised as being incredible and it also made history by being the first South Korean film to win the Palme d’or (Best Picture) at the Cannes Film festival and while I was writing this review it also won not only the Best International feature […]

Review copy provided by Signature Entertainment Aaron Eckhart (The Dark Knight) play’s disgraced cop Frank Penny who’s on a mission of redemption after accidentally killing the only lead in a young girl’s kidnapping. Frank Penny must go against authority to find where the missing girl is being held, however he can’t do it alone. He […]

“Based on an actual lie”. Being diagnosed with cancer can mentally destroy both a person and their family, life is too short to live in fear with the idea that cancer could completely destroy you, but would your life be different if your family withhold your diagnosis. The Farewell explores this very idea with Awkwafina’s […]

There will be a spoiler section at the end of the review this is where i will go into issues that i have with the film which i can not talk about without spoiling the film. The Sequel trilogy for Star Wars has been a mixed bag, The Force Awakens is a good start too […]

Review copy provided by Lionsgate On the bonus features for Angel Has Fallen one of the producers talks about how the original concept for the film was that it would of taken place on air force one, as angel is the code name for air force one after hearing that I wish they stuck with […]

Doctor Sleep is a sequel that shouldn’t have worked but does. It not only had to be a sequel to The Shining novel but also to the film, the fact this is even connected to Stanley Kubrick’s The Shining is a miracle as Stephen King hates Kubrick’s film. I’m happy to say that Doctor Sleep […]

Joker is an interesting film to talk about. On the one hand it deals with a man who has a mental illness and is beaten down by society in a unique and engaging way but on the other hand the film is not subtle with what’s its trying to say that it’s so obnoxious and […]

Bumblebee had me grinning from ear to ear when the film opened on Cybertron.  The amazing designs of the transformers based on the original 80’s cartoon that I grew up on made me feel like my childhood was coming to life. Charlie played by Hailee Steinfeld is great, she deals with various relatable personal issues […]