Tag: Feature Length

Wall – E. Dir. Anrew Stanton. Pixar. 2008.

In its depiction of a film-world defined by its lack of natural life, Pixar’s WALL-E (2008) features only one animal: WALL-E’s charismatic companion, Hal the cockroach.

6th June 2019
Mon Oncle . Dir. Jacques Tati. Gaumont (France), Continental Distributing (USA). 1958.

The release of Mon Oncle (Gaumont, France) in 1958 saw the return of Monsieur Hulot to cinema screens, following the successful Les Vacances de Monsieur Hulot five years previously. The first of Tati’s films to be released in colour, the film follows the character of Hulot (Jacques Tati), an awkward but incredibly endearing man, and…

29th January 2019
Monty Python and the Holy Grail. Dir. Terry Gilliam, Terry Jones. EMI Films. 1975.

In the opening scene of Monty Python and the Holy Grail [1], a grassy hill is shown with the sound of horse’s hooves—only for a skipping King Arthur, and coconut-clomping servant to appear, sans horse. This sets the scene for the finest ever cinematic use of imaginary horses.

28th January 2019
Oldboy. Dir. Park Chan-wook. Show East & Tartan Films. 2003.

Park Chan-wook’s 2003 film Oldboy is at its core a thriller, a revenge story of Oh Dae-su (played by Choi Min-sik) imprisoned in a room for 15 years without any knowledge of the reasons why, and who is then suddenly released back into the world and told by his captor to try to work out…

22nd January 2019
Of Mice And Men. Dir. Gary Sinise. MGM. 1992.

‘Of Mice and Men’ (1992) is a film adaptation of the novel by John Steinbeck, which is set in 1930s America during the Great Depression. The film follows the lives of George and Lennie, two ranch workers who struggle to fulfil their ideal of the American dream, which is to acquire their own land.

15th January 2019
Of Horses and Men (Hross í oss). Dir. Benedikt Erlingsson. Film Europe. 2013.

Benedikt Erlingsson’s directorial debut Of Horses and Men (2013) is best described as a series of interlocking fables, focusing on six sets of neighbours living in an isolated Icelandic valley. Linked by their passion for horsemanship, the vignettes introduce us to: a courting couple with equally frisky horses; an alcoholic whose penchant for hard liquor…

15th January 2019
Mary and the Witch’s Flower. Dir. Hiromasa Yonebayashi. Toho. 2017.

Mary and the Witch’s Flower is a 2017 animated film, directed by Hiromasa Yonebayashi and produced by Studio Ponoc (founded by the former lead film producer at Studio Ghibli). The film tells the story of Mary, a little girl, who moves in with her Great Aunt Charlotte whilst her parents are abroad. When Mary is…

15th January 2019
D-War : Dragon Wars. Dir. Hyung-rae Shim. Freestyle Releasing, Showbox. 2007.

The movie, D-War : Dragon Wars, begins with introducing the Korean legend of the ascension of Imoogi, a gigantic pre-dragon stage serpent. Every 500 years, one good Imoogi was rewarded with a chance to become a dragon, and it had to receive the gift of the Yuh-yi-joo, a magical pearl from heaven, to become a dragon.…

15th January 2019
King Kong. Dir. Peter Jackson. Universal Pictures. 2005.

King Kong is the modern remake of the 1933 classic, which follows Carl Denham (Jack Black) in his attempts to film a movie by coercing his cast and crew into following him on his voyage. His voyage is an attempt to find the mysterious Skull Island where he hopes to film the ‘last blank space on…

15th January 2019
Coco. Dir. Lee Unkrich. Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures. 2017.

Lee Unkrich’s Coco (2017) is built on similar foundations of recent Disney/Pixar releases alike Moana(2016) and The Good Dinosaur(2015); twelve year old Miguel’s (Anthony Gonzalez) dream of becoming a musician compromises his family’s ban on music and their hope for Miguel to continue the family business.[i]Yet what may feel like recognisable narrative territory, the enriched setting of traditional Mexico…

15th January 2019