Minor Spoilers Ahead Five years ago, there was a steady anticipation for Guillermo del Toro’s upcoming film, Pacific Rim. It had been five years since his last feature, Hellboy II: The Golden Army, mainly due to his unfortunate departure from the…
Claire’s Camera Movie Review: Hong Sang-soo is a master of humanism
Hong Sang-soo is one of South Korea’s most prolific filmmakers, but his body of work is comprised of titles not as widely known to international film audiences. His films exist on the fringes of an industry in South Korea which…
Peter Rabbit Movie Review
Modern family films, especially those based on previously established commodities, run the risk of alienating die hard purists. Updates for contemporary audiences are often a necessity but can come at the expense of the author’s original intent. Peter Rabbit, a…
Movie Review: Pop Aye
“You don’t look like the type who’d be traveling with an elephant,” says a sympathetic stranger in the opening scene of Pop Aye (not to be confused with Robert Altman’s 1980 failed attempt to pay tribute to a beloved cartoon…
Movie Review: Hidden Figures
There is little doubt that Hidden Figures, directed by Theodore Melfi, was shot with the intention to be a crowd pleaser and it succeeds greatly in that mission. Like the films core three characters, the film is injected with a riveting…
Movie Review: The Handmaiden
The Handmaiden, like all of Park Chan-wook’s films, uses harsh methods to test the viewer’s fortitude, challenging their senses before rewarding their wisdom. Borrowing a good deal of its story from the Victorian-set novel Fingersmith, The Handmaiden is an atypically swoon-worthy…
Movie Review: Manchester by the Sea
There’s a tragedy at the core of Manchester by the Sea, but you’d never see it behind that emotionless wall separating Casey Affleck from the rest of the world. His eyes are remote and affectionless, but not unreachable—that tiny thread…