Category: Reviews

Reviews of movies, television, games, and whatever else strikes our fancy.

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Victoria Film Fest Review: ‘The Secret Garden’ is gorgeous to look at but not much else.

The Secret Garden

A great story is timeless and as resonant in the present as it was at the time it was written. Frances Hodgson Burnett’s 1911 children’s novel The Secret Garden is one of these. A timeless classic with themes that resonate today as well as they did in 1911.

There have been quite a few adaptations of this story over the years, with four film versions being made before this one and at least that many television serials and specials, most of which in the last 30 years. Adapting a classic, it seems, still requires that something new is offered the viewer. What then, after so many visits to this garden, does this new version have to offer? Well, it’s really, really pretty. Unfortunately, not much else.

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Victoria Film Fest Review: ‘The Reason I Jump’ examines the world from the perspective of those with autism

The Reason I Jump

It has been 14 years since Higashida Naoki’s book, The Reason I Jump was first published in Japan, and 8 since English novelist David Mitchell translated it. Naoki was 13 at the time and is autistic and unable to communicate verbally. He was able to write his book by using an alphabet board his mother created, and in the process provided a roadmap for how his mind works and how he experiences the world.

That roadmap has proven invaluable to the families of those on the spectrum, especially those who are non-verbal. This documentary by Jerry Rothwell explores how that roadmap has impacted the lives of five such people. The result is a film that will open your eyes and your heart.

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Victoria Film Fest Review: ‘Once Upon a Time in Venezuela’ is a heartbreaking look at a country in crisis

Once Upon a Time in Venezuela

Imagine living in a place that is literally rotting away beneath you. No matter what you do, what help you ask for from local and national governments, your home slowly but surely disappears. This is the story of Congo Mirador, a tiny village of fewer than 1000 people situated on Lake Maracaibo, Venezuela. It’s also the story of the whole country, and it’s heartbreaking.

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Victoria Film Fest Review: ‘Violation’ is a tense, uncomfortable twist on the rape-revenge genre

Violation

There are few things that one person can do to another that is more violating than rape. It is an act of power, selfishness, and an act of degradation. Violation is a film about such an act—a moment when a man sees a woman and takes what he wants. The result is a visceral and uncomfortable watch that sees a woman go to extremes to take her revenge.

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Review: ‘Malcolm & Marie’ confirms Zendaya and John David Washington as major talents

I like movies that are based on plays, or that resemble them. Movies where characters sit in a room and talk endlessly. Showcases for actors, heavy with dialogue and a tendency toward big performances. Malcolm & Marie, the new film by Sam Levinson starring John David Washington and Zendaya is not based on a play, but it does resemble one.

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Victoria Film Fest Review: ‘Skyfire’ doesn’t make a lick of sense, but is still fun

Disaster movies occupy a small but bombastic niche of filmmaking. They’re big on spectacle, small on plot, and medium on characterisation in the case of the best ones. When it comes to the science of whatever disaster they are portraying, they are usually either accurate to a point, or seemingly completely unresearched. Skyfire, the first blockbuster budgeted disaster movie from China, is one of these movies, and a fun example of one, too.

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Review: ‘The Dig’ is an unpretentious look at how the past affects the present

The Dig

They say that you can never really know where you are going if you don’t know where you have been. This is true for societies as well as individuals, and in the new Netflix movie The Dig we get a chance to delve into a moment in England’s history as well as England’s relationship with its history.

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Review: ‘A Perfect Planet’ Episode 5: ‘Humans’ brings the whole series together

A Perfect Planet Episode 5: Humans

And so here we are at the end of this series. In previous weeks the series examined the four major systems of our world: Volcanoes, which seed the atmosphere and create the land, The sun, which supplies us with energy, Weather, which delivers water to all life, and Oceans, which carry nutrients to all corners of the world. This last week the series examines a new force exerting an influence on the world: us.

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Review: ‘Palmer’ is pretty good!

Palmer

Here’s a confession: I love Justin Timberlake. The guy is a triple threat. He can sing, he can dance, and he can act. Not everything he has been in has been gold, but he’s put in enough good performances that I am ready and willing to see just about anything he is in these days.

It has been a few years since Timberlake has been seen in person in a film, and Palmer represents exactly the kind of movie that an actor looking to re-assert themselves after a bad role or an absence (or both) would take. So is it any good? Yeah. Mostly.

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Review: ‘The White Tiger’ is a rags-to-riches story, but not a fairy tale

The White Tiger

With over 1.3 billion people, India is the worlds largest democracy. The country is still steeped in traditional values, and while there used to be many castes of people there are now seemingly just two: the rich, and the poor. The White Tiger sets out to tell you a tale of those two classes, much like 2008s Slumdog Millionaire did, but where Slumdog was a fairy tale, The White Tiger is a tale of power and abuse, and how those things will reveal exactly who you are.

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