Category: Article Type: Full
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Godzilla. Dir. Ishirō Honda. Toho. 1954.
Synopsis “If we continue to test nuclear weapons, another Godzilla may arise.” The closing line of Honda’s Godzilla, emphasised by a prolonged close-up of the speaker’s face, is proudly overt in its political overtones. Produced in the wake of the 1945 bombings of Nagasaki and Hiroshima, Godzilla’s use of an indestructible, prehistoric creature as a metaphor for nuclear warfare…
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Fish Tank. Dir. Andrea Arnold. BBC Films. 2009.
Fish Tank. Dir. Andrea Arnold. BBC Films. 2009. Jessica Hannington Andrea Arnold’s British drama Fish Tank centres on a fifteen year old tearaway, Mia (Katie Jarvis), whose volatile and distant nature promises to drag her down the same path as her alcoholic, chain-smoking mother, Joanne (Kierston Wareing). Growing up on a bleak Essex council estate, the possibility of…
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Upstream Colour. Dir. Shane Carruth. erbp. 2013.
Upstream Colour is a dreamlike vision of the subjectivity and fragility of reality. The film follows Kris (Amy Seimetz) as her life is transformed into an isolating nightmare of confusion and lies, by the mysterious ‘Thief’, a man who uses parasitic worms to hypnotise his victims before extorting money from them. The worms are part…
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Where the Wild Things Are. Dir. Spike Jonze. Warner Bros. 2009.
In Spike Jonze’s 2009 film Where the Wild Things Are, wildness reigns. Max, a ‘wild’ young boy with an active imagination, is able to connect with his dog but has difficulty doing so with other people, including his mother and sister. Upset that his mother is paying more attention to her new boyfriend, Max puts…
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Life of Pi. Dir. Ang Lee. 20th-Century Fox. 2011.
Ang Lees’s Life of Pi is a shipwreck film that depicts the epic journey of the main character Piscine ‘Pi’ Molitor Patel, whilst addressing many issues along the way such as those of personal loss, racism, survival and many more. Lee is able to achieve this level of depth in his novel chiefly by using the potential…
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Project Nim. Dir. James Marsh. Roadside Attractions. 2011.
Project Nim, is a biographical documentary that tells the story of Nim Chimpsky, a chimpanzee who was subjected to an ambitious language acquisition research-experiment in the 1970s to determine if apes had the ability to communicate with humans. Taken from his screaming, and subsequently sedated mother only a few days after his birth, Nim was raised…
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A Bug’s Life. Dir. John Lasseter and Andrew Stanton. Disney Pixar. 1998.
A Bug’s Life follows an ant colony in their struggle to keep the peace and tradition of providing food for their oppressors, the grasshoppers. Moments before they arrive to collect the offering, protagonist Flik accidentally causes the food to fall into a river thus leaving the ants with no offering and greatly angering the grasshoppers.…
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Greyfriars Bobby. Dir. Don Chaffey. Disney. 1961.
Based on the children’s story by Eleanor Atkinson[1] of a loving Skye terrier and his master, Disney’s Greyfriars Bobby[2] presents us with the heart – warming tale of a unique bond between Bobby and Auld Jock (Alex Mackenzie). Auld Jock and his loyal companion have a very special relationship – one that continues beyond the grave.…
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Blade Runner. Dir. Ridley Scott. Warner Bros. 1982.
Dystopian L.A. 2019 Blade Runner (1982) takes place in a futuristic and dystopian Los Angeles. Heavy industrialisation has caused great damage to Earth’s atmosphere and ecosystem, wiping out most of the planet’s animal species. ‘Replicants’, androids visually identical to humans, are engineered to perform manual work on off-world colonies. Their use is banned on Earth, where…
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Lady and The Tramp. Dir. Clyde Geronimi, Wilfred Jackson, Hamilton Luske. Walt Disney. 1955.
Disney’s 1955 film Lady and the Tramp follows its two title characters, a pampered American Cocker Spaniel named Lady and a stray mongrel referred to by the dogs about town as ‘the Tramp’. Lady’s indulgent upper class life is disrupted when a baby arrives in her house. When Aunt Sarah comes to babysit with her malevolent Siamese…