Review (2024)

Review (2024)

Painting in November

The kratt says, “You can do that. But it is much more endearing when a beau writes the poem himself.” Just as the kratt was so moved and inspired by humans and their love, only then does he have the ability to tell poems by itself. And just as Hans has heard the poem that has moved him so, only then does he yearn to recite a poem for his beloved. And just as artists make great art of their own, they must first experience art so moving that it spurs their desire to do so.

Review (2024)

Hidden in Plain Sight: Would We Fall For The Propaganda Shown In Starship Troopers?

Still, the film made me wonder whether we, as a society, would genuinely be as susceptible to propaganda as the characters on screen, if we would be discerning enough to identify its extremism, especially if it were just as in-your-face as it was in Starship Troopers. Was the characters’ naiveté a reflection of our own vulnerabilities, or was it simply a narrative device designed to drive the story forward for future films in the franchise?

Review (2024)

Embracing the Absurdities of Life in The Fabulous Baron Munchausen

I started watching this film as a cynic. But perhaps Baron Munchausen taught me what his companion Tonik had to learn — that dreams, even absurd ones, can help us transcend the limitations that we place on ourselves. Maybe Baron Munchausen was never meant to convince us to fantasise about escaping reality, but rather to spark our forgotten imaginations in otherwise dreary realities.

Review (2024)

Vanishing Acts: Unseen Terrors in The Invisible Man

The Invisible Man continues to stalk contemporary media across genres, in superhero franchises and in alien worlds. But why exactly is invisibility so compelling as a plot device? Visuality is so central to cinema, and yet, isn’t it kind of paradoxical that something we can’t see presents such potent terror?

Review (2024)

Seeing, without existing

Their journey across time mirrored many serene, hazy afternoons I had spent pouring over time graphs and diagrams in my second-hand copy of The Day of the Dinosaurs (1986), admiring the gouache painted osteoderms of an Ankylosaurus, rolling the long scientific Latin names off my tongue. I saw in their approaches what I admitted in myself, that dinosaurs and the prehistoric were, and have always been a means of escapism.

Review (2024)

The Humour and Nostalgia of Tokusatsu in Gamera: Guardian of the Universe

Tokusatsu films like Gamera thrive in this overlapping space between memory and fantasy, where the imperfection of effects become an essential part of the experience, as reminders of a time when our imagination filled in the gaps. These practical effects are less about realism and more so an invitation to remember a time when we cheerfully and cheekily suspended our disbelief.

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