Showing 31 - 40 of 63
Tackling IS
Life, Bernard Trink, Published on 21/10/2016
» After a delay that has tried my patience, this reviewer congratulates Britain's Stephen Leather for coming through for us. For half-a-decade authors have given IS (Islamic State) a wide berth, aware of their practice of murdering those disparaging their faith. Unlike suicide bombers, they have every intention of fleeing the scenes of their atrocities.
Northern lights
Life, Kong Rithdee, Published on 23/09/2016
» With over 400 movies on the slot, the Toronto International Film Festival was a feast and a maze. The latest edition of this North American showcase concluded last Sunday, with Damein Chazelle's La La Land winning the People's Choice Award, a bellwether for the bright Oscar season (Toronto, unlike other major festivals, has no prominent juried competition, instead letting the audiences decide the big winner). The festival is known as a launch pad for Oscar hopefuls as well as independent titles looking for distribution. It also features a strong experimental section that casts its radical net far and wide.
Jack the lad
Life, Bernard Trink, Published on 16/09/2016
» It is common practice that when a popular author passes away, his estate seeks a replacement to step into his shoes. The new man is expected to emulate the original style to the extent possible. If notes have been left for future plots, so much the better.
A paranoid profession
Life, Bernard Trink, Published on 22/08/2016
» Children know what they want to be. It isn't difficult to see how they make their choices. Emulating a character in a movie, on TV, in the comics, some spend years pursuing that ambition, sometimes actually achieving it. Only to find that it's not all it's cracked up to be.
Last of a trilogy
Life, Bernard Trink, Published on 15/08/2016
» First a kingdom ruled by kings, then a republic ruled by senators, there was a growing feeling that Rome should be a kingdom again -- well, not exactly a kingdom, but an empire as befits an expanding state.
For violence fans
Life, Bernard Trink, Published on 22/02/2016
» It was one thing for Special Air Service soldier Andy McNab to win a medal for bravery during the Gulf War, quite another for him to turn thriller author and create a Joe Combat literary hero who can't resist participating in every global conflict.
Horrendous 'fun'
Life, Published on 07/12/2015
» Perhaps the most misused term in any language is "fun". Frequently employed, its meaning is difficult to define. Going to the circus is fun, yet not funny, which can be pinned down. Drinking is called fun, but is it? Riding the roller-coaster? Depends on how sick you get. Fishing? Watching or playing games?
Bond's countdown clock still ticks
Life, Kong Rithdee, Published on 06/11/2015
» The first shot in Spectre begins above a carnivalesque party during Mexico's Day of the Dead; the camera then comes down to the ground, weaves among the masked revellers dressed as skeletons, glides into a hotel door, up the elevator, out of the elevator, slips into a bedroom where Her Majesty's secret agent kisses a woman, then follows him out of the window -- "I won't be long", he tells her -- then it goes up again to see Bond sneak across the roofs to a spot where he performs his first assassination in this 24th James Bond movie.
The Cold War continues today
Life, Bernard Trink, Published on 02/11/2015
» World War I ended in 1918. World War II ended in 1945. No argument there. The Cold War ended in 1989. No agreement there. Some pundits accept it. Others don't. According to the negatives, the Cold War is still going on, with and without communism. It continues, hot and heavy, between Russia and the US.
A poem in motion
Life, Kong Rithdee, Published on 11/09/2015
» From the first shot to the last, when the assassin leads a group of peasants into the majestic wilderness of Tang Dynasty China, this is likely to be the most ravishing film you'll see in a long while. The swift tumult of fabric, the heart-bleeding colours, the luxuriant verdant of the forest -- The Assassin, shot on 35mm at a time when almost every film in the world is shot on digital, is also a martial arts drama that compels us to rethink the essence of the genre. Historically regarded as a cheap, sweaty form of entertainment, the wuxia film has reached the pinnacle of high-art in this Taiwanese production -- and some audiences will certainly feel baffled, if not exasperated.