horror Slaughterhouse Rulez (ehm, Slytherin House) 24 Sep 2020Sep 24, 2020 "This is war. No, this is Sparta" ★★★ Bringing back the comedic duo from Edgar Wright's Shaun of the Dead (2004) sounds like the greatest idea since sliced bread, enriching…
romance Palm Trees in the Snow (or ash) 18 Sep 2020Sep 18, 2020 "Life is a tornado. Peace, fury...and then peace again." ★★★★★ Fernando González Molina's Spanish romantic drama Palm Trees in the Snow (Spanish: Palmeras en la nieve, 2015) is based on…
sci-fi Advantageous (hiccup) 15 Sep 2020Sep 16, 2020 "Humans can only grasp change at a rate they've experienced" ★★★ In an interview with Variety, Jacqueline Kim, who co-wrote the 2015 sci-fi drama Advantageous with the film's director Jennifer…
comedy Blind Date (hush) 12 Sep 2020Sep 12, 2020 "We're stuck together by an architectural anomaly" ★★★★ In a promotional interview with Purepeople, the two stars of Clovis Cornillas' 2015 French romantic comedy Blind Date (French: Un peu, beaucoup,…
drama Arctic (pit to hell) 9 Sep 2020Sep 13, 2020 "Don't worry, they'll be here tomorrow - or the day after tomorrow - don't worry" ★★★★ It's no surprise that when discussing Joe Penna's Icelandic survival drama Arctic (2018) with…
sci-fi Tenet (unorthodox) 6 Sep 2020Sep 13, 2020 "We all believe we’d run into the burning building. But until we feel that heat, we can never know. You do." ★★★ Christopher Nolan is known for exploring the concept…
action The International (return ticket) 3 Sep 2020Sep 3, 2020 "Sometimes a man can meet his destiny on the road he took to avoid it" ★★ Tom Tykwer's 2009 action thriller The International was inspired by the Bank of Credit…
thriller The 9th Precinct (unlawful) 31 Aug 2020Sep 26, 2020 "One gets confused when one has just died" ★★★★ Wandering ghosts, though also present in the Western culture in the form of The Sixth Sense (1999) and Ghost (1990), to…
drama The Devil’s Mistress (horned) 24 Aug 2020Sep 17, 2020 "War is the most shameful thing on earth, whichever side one is on" ★★ To dub or not to dub? That is the question for the Czech film industry. Perhaps…
thriller Children of Men (with guns) 18 Aug 2020Aug 22, 2020 "Everything is a cosmic battle between faith and chance" ★★★ Alfonso Cuarón's dystopian thriller Children of Men (2006), based on P. D. James' The Children of Men (1992), presents a…
comedy A Perfect Day (for a drive) 14 Aug 2020Sep 20, 2020 "Many people hate foreigners because they come with war" ★★★★★ The Spanish dark comedy-drama A Perfect Day (Spanish: Un Día Perfecto, 2015), written and directed by Fernando León de Aramoa,…
sci-fi OtherLife (or a dream) 11 Aug 2020Sep 22, 2020 "Fantasy and reality are chemically identical" ★★★★★ Ben C. Lucas' 2017 Australian sci-fi thriller OtherLife is loosely based on the novel Solitaire (2002) by Kelley Eskridge. Deeply influenced by The…
drama Alexandria: Again and Forever (oh, Alexander) 7 Aug 2020Sep 23, 2020 "Suffering has its charms" ★★★★ Youssef Chahine's Egyptian drama Alexandria Again and Forever (1989) is the third and final entry in a trilogy of films, presenting a look-back at the…
romance Jodhaa Akbar (and the wet nurse) 4 Aug 2020Sep 25, 2020 "Water and ambition have one thing in common...they are ever-swelling" ★★★★ Ashutosh Gowariker's epic historical romance Jodhaa Akbar (2008) is not only a production of inconceivable proportions, but it has…
drama Attitude Test (failed) 1 Aug 2020Sep 26, 2020 "Education is like an erection. When you have it, it shows." ★★ Augusto Matte and Fabrizio Copano's 2016 Chilean drama Attitude Test (Spanish: Prueba de Actitud) seems like the love…
Films Liebster Award Nomination 30 Jul 2020Jul 30, 2020 Thank you, 18cinemalane, for the Liebster Award nomination! I am truly grateful for the time you have taken to read my reviews. The Liebster Award logo can be found at:…
thriller The Model (next) 28 Jul 2020Aug 13, 2020 "What you did was not very nice" ★★★★ In the Danish thriller drama The Model (2016), director Mads Matthiesen takes a nosedive into the generally glamourised world of high fashion…
comedy MILF (lol) 25 Jul 2020Aug 13, 2020 "You're not eighty. Everything is possible." ★★★ In an industry that celebrates youth and beauty, women over the age of forty usually end up playing the roles of mothers and…
sci-fi Multiplicity (or complicity) 21 Jul 2020Aug 13, 2020 "I trust him like I trust myself" ★★★★ Harold Ramis' (Ghostbusters, Groundhog Day) American sci-fi comedy Multiplicity (1996) takes the workaholic father trope and makes it do somersaults, spinning an…
horror Train to Busan (screeching) 18 Jul 2020Aug 13, 2020 ★★★★★ "Sorry, but you're infected" Yeon Sang-ho's South Korean action-horror Train to Busan (2016) became the highest-grossing Korean film in Malaysia, Hong Kong and Singapore. And, seeing as its sequel…
comedy Ordinary Happiness (eternal) 13 Jul 2020Aug 13, 2020 "Saturday-night women who stand out on Sunday morning" ★★★★ The essence of Danielle Luchetti's Italian comedy Ordinary Happiness (2019) is enclosed in the film's original title, Momenti di Trascurabile Felicità…
romance Atonement (unheard) 10 Jul 2020Aug 13, 2020 "How old do you have to be before you know the difference between right and wrong?" ★★★★★ After working together on Pride & Prejudice (2005), Keira Knightley and director Joe…
drama Cook Off (smoke and mirrors) 4 Jul 2020Aug 13, 2020 "We all encounter difficulties" ★★ Tomas Brickhill's 2017 Zimbabwean romantic drama Cook Off defied all odds when it was picked up by Netflix. Unfortunately, its severe filming conditions make it…
Films Top 3 Picks – June 30 Jun 2020Jul 12, 2020 3rd Place Green Frontier (Spanish: Frontera Verde) What starts off as a murder case evolves into a transcending journey from the microcosm of the self, to the macrocosm of the…
romance Indiscreet (and blind) 26 Jun 2020Aug 13, 2020 "There is no sincerity like a woman telling a lie" ★★★★ Stanley Donen's Indiscreet (1958) not only reunited Cary Grant and Ingrid Bergman after their work in Hitchcock's Notorious (1946),…
drama Wasp Network (out of range) 22 Jun 2020Aug 28, 2020 "You think the FBI can tolerate such activities on American soil? I highly doubt it" ★★★ The 1990s are known for the dissolution of the Soviet Union (December 1991), the…
Series Crashing (and burning) 19 Jun 2020Aug 13, 2020 "- You look like a child - Thank you" ★★ With Fleabag (2016 - 2019) and Killing Eve (2018 - present) hailed as two of the wittiest shows on our…
drama Loving Vincent (from afar) 12 Jun 2020Aug 13, 2020 "You want to know so much about his death, but what do you know of his life?" ★★★★★ This 2017 experimental animated biographical drama about the life of Vincent van…
animation Princess Mononoke (decrowned) 10 Jun 2020Aug 13, 2020 "Cut off a wolf's head and it still has the power to bite" ★★★★★ A masterpiece that needs no introduction is this 1997 Japanese animated fantasy war film, written and…
comedy Chopsticks (out of playdough) 6 Jun 2020Aug 13, 2020 "When shit happens in my life, I turn it into fertiliser" ★ Unlike Danny Boyle's British drama Slumdog Millionaire (2008), Netflix's Chopsticks promised a dose of quirkiness and fast-paced humour.…
drama Beats (drop the…) 2 Jun 2020Aug 13, 2020 "This is Chicago. Both my brothers are dead and I'm standing here" ★★★★ With music-centred dramas like Step Up (2006) and High School Musical (2006) once at the heart of…
Films Top 3 Picks – May 1 Jun 2020Jul 12, 2020 3 . Bad Seeds (2018) In third place we have this French comedy-drama, which blends dread and humour so seamlessly, that it leaves bruises. Carving out moments of raucous laughter…
comedy The Lovebirds (a passionless affair) 29 May 2020Aug 13, 2020 ★★ Having seen The Big Sick (2017), co-written by Kumail Nanjiani, I couldn't help but feel a jolt of excitement when I came across his role in The Lovebirds, which…
comedy Mindhorn (leaves you blindsided) 23 May 2020Aug 13, 2020 ★★★★★ I have never had a hard time rating a film before - then came Mindhorn. Not only was I in constant stitches, but my guffaws also managed to successfully…
romance Lady J (a devilish angel) 21 May 2020Aug 13, 2020 ★★★★ Period films have a very specific aura about them - a degree of refinement that rarely transcends genres. Lady J (French: Mademoiselle de Joncquières) was, much like many other…
sci-fi Paradise Hills (slippery at best) 19 May 2020Aug 13, 2020 ★★ Some people would argue that endings are far more important than beginnings. After all, it's the aftertaste that must make us crave the experience all over again. Paradise Hills…
drama Jungle (where life crawls) 17 May 2020Aug 13, 2020 ★★★★★ As impressive as the artistic performance was, witnessing Leonardo DiCaprio writhing around in The Revenant (2015) for three hours made me more than a little wary of committing to…
drama Spinners (losing grip) 13 May 2020Aug 13, 2020 ★★★★ Timothée Chalamet has received enough nods to become a household name, recognised by all as a gracefully budding actor. So when I came across his short film Spinners, my…
animation Pachamama (crawling to El Dorado) 12 May 2020Aug 13, 2020 ★★ The trailer for Netflix's 2018 Pachamama promised a rare glimpse into the culture surrounding Mother Cosmos, worshipped by the indigenous people of the Andes. Instead, the film took certain…
animation Sky Blue (chewing on bullets) 9 May 2020Aug 13, 2020 ★★★★★ It wasn't the ferociously grey setting of Sky Blue (alternative title: Wonderful Days) that still haunts me. It wasn't the compelling love triangle, or the sleek portrayal of sacrifice…
drama Handsome Devil (looks aren’t everything) 8 May 2020Aug 13, 2020 ★★★ As an ardent fan of Father Ted, I knew I was in for a treat when Ardal O'Hanlon's innocent eyes floated to the surface of Handsome Devil. However, my…
comedy Bad Seeds (a bittersweet treat) 6 May 2020Aug 13, 2020 ★★★★★ In the depths of the quarantine, a French comedy seemed like an appropriate choice for a slow Friday night. With its belly-poking humour, the trailer for Netflix’s Bad Seeds [original…
comedy Journey To Greenland (snow gazing) 4 May 2020Aug 13, 2020 ★★★ The idea of fleeing a buzzing city lifestyle seems endlessly appealing to many of us [see: Into the Wild]. However, this escape is usually portrayed as something viscerally inescapable. Calculated.…
thriller The Son (a choking intuition) 2 May 2020Aug 13, 2020 ★★★★ Thrillers are spectacular at honing in on our fears, dissecting them before our eyes and serving up a steaming plate of digestible trauma. They promise a scalpel-sharp edge that…
