Jack and the Cuckoo-clock Heart (Jack et la mécanique du cœur) (2013)

Everything old is new again as modern animation finds ways to tell a story differently

Under the Skin (2013)

Scarlett Johansson oozes sex appeal that can melt a man into a puddle in this update of Catherine Zeta-Jones’s Elizabeth Arden advertisement

Chef (2014)

America... on the road Again

We're the Millers (2013)

Though we didn’t ask for it, We’re the Millers could well revive the National Lampoon Vacation series

RED 2 (2013)

Not as scrumptious a popcorn flick as its predecessor even though RED 2 has a bigger budget, bigger locations, and a larger story

Before Midnight (2013)

This is an experiment. Here at A Persistent Vision, I’ve striven to review each film as a self-contained entity, in relation to its genre, and occasionally in the context of an oeuvre. But today, I’m going to view the Richard Linklater series in reverse order, beginning with Before Midnight, and review each film on its own. It’s certainly a way to approach a series of films, and hopefully something different and yet coherent.

The Master (2012)

After WW2, a wandering veteran drifts into the company of a leader, who may or may not be a thinly veiled stand-in for L Ron Hubbard, and his following, who may or may not be a stand-in for the Scientology cult.

Gimmick: Not so much of a roman a clef than an allegory for the spiritual malaise and the search for conformity and certainty in America in the post-war era.

Watch for: A script that surprises, frustrates expectations; Joachim Phoenix and Philip Seymour Hoffman in very opposite roles, with very opposite acting styles.

Read my full review at Fridae, first published on 23 January 2013.

Trouble with the Curve (2012)

Think of this as the old school reply to new science Moneyball.

Clint Eastwood plays an ageing talent scout who is due to be replaced by number crunchers after one last signing.

Watch for: quirky sports drama full of sports minutiae, a predictable if moving family drama, and a well-made road movie that delivers a slice of Americana.

Read my full review at Fridae, first published on 31 October 2012.

Hit and Run (2012)

This chase caper feels like Quentin Tarrantino adapted a chase caper written by Elmore Leonard.

By which we mean there's all-star cameo cast playing eccentric characters and ex-cons working at cross purposes against each other in a mad rush for the prize.

Watch for: brilliant modern updating of an old comedy genre.

Read my full review at Fridae, first published on 17 October 2012.

Hotaru the movie (映画 ホタルノヒカリ) (2012)

A very unlikely couple get hitched and go on honeymoon. In particular, a Wrong Genre Savvy recreation of Roman Holiday.

Things don't gel together. It's a film sequel that doesn't utilise the gimmick of its TV serial, while the Wrong Genre Savvy comedy concept is abandoned halfway in the film.

Watch: only if you're a fan of the Hotaru TV series.

Read my full review at Fridae, first published on 22 August 2012.

Seeking a friend for the end of the world (2012)

A depressingly funny film where faced with the end of the world, humanity decides to go out with a whimper and a silly party hat while on a high rather than with a bang.

The road trip movie format provides most of the excellent vignettes of the last days that are just as depressing as they are funny. It's far better written than the romcom element.

Watch for: excellent storytelling. Watch as: a companion to Jimmy Corrigan: Smartest Kid in the World or Melancholia.

Read my full review at Fridae, first published on 1 August 2012.

Madagascar 3: Europe's most wanted (2012)

The cast of escaped zoo animals land themselves into more madcap adventures in Madagascar 3.

The gimmick this time:  Following the example of Kungfu Panda, a lean script that doesn't allow for much flabby ad-libbing from the comedians.

Watch for: the most sophisticated comedy in the series, very accurately spoofing Hong Kong action films and Hollywood romcoms. Also, a brilliant showcase of 3D animation 1 hour in.

Read my full review at Fridae, first published on 6 June 2012.

The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel (2011)

British retirees find a second lease of life abroad.

The irony is this fish out of water comedy meets very belated coming of age narrative might make you feel very uncomfortable once you realise it advocates exporting the problem of elderly poverty overseas.

Watch for: a gathering of veteran British actors from the stage and film.

Read my full review at Fridae, first published on 16 May 2012.

The Rum Diary (2011)

This film may be about the misadventures of an expat abroad, but it's really about the roots of gonzo journalism and the making of Hunter S Thompson.

It provides a glimpse in the heady excesses and rampant plundering of the poor by the rich that provoked Thompson into a life-long rage, fear and loathing of civilised society.

Watch this for: Johnny Depp misbehaving on screen, a psychedelic mood piece, and a depiction of an innocent rampaging capitalism whose period seems to be coming to an end, post 2007.

Read my full review at Fridae, first published on 9 November 2011.

Walk on Water (ללכת על המים) (2004)

Worlds collide when a homophobic Nazi hunter is tasked to locate an octogenarian Nazi through his gay grandson.

Part road movie in occupied/apartheid Palestine, part awkward buddy movie, part thriller, Walk on Water manages to well... walk on water instead of sinking in its heavy material.

Read my full review at Fridae, first published on 7 September 2011.

Pinoy Sunday (台北星期天) (2009)

A pair of lowly-paid labourers in a foreign land stumble across a red leather sofa.

Its appearance seems to herald the fruition of the fantasies, dreams, and hopes that have been keeping them sane and happy thousands of miles away from home.

The director plays the premise for laughs. You won't see too much of how foreign labourers are exploited in shiny, modern Asia - which Taipei stands for but could easily be Singapore or Dubai.

Read my full review at Fridae, first published on 15 June 2011.

The Hangover: Part II

The Hangover: Part II has the exact same premise, plot, cast dynamics, and even jokes recycled from the first Hangover.

Sadly, it doesn't mean that this is a better product. The jokes are still uneven, some of the punchlines are still off.

Given the film is set in Bangkok, you can imagine it does succeed in being more ribald.

Read my full review at Fridae, first published on 1 June 2011.

Gulliver's Travels (2010)

Jack Black brings his pop culture referencing routine to this adaptation of Jonathan Swift's social satire.

It's not quite Gulliver's Travels as Jack Black's demented mash-up of A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur’s Court and Gulliver’s Travels.

Watch if you're a fan of Black's comedies.

Read my full review at Fridae, first published in 22 December 2010.

Son of Babylon (ابن بابل) (2009)

Blake saw the universe in a grain of sand. Now you can see the nation and its peoples in a road trip movie.

A Kurdish grandmother and her grandson search for his disappeared father following the fall of Saddam Hussein.

Unlike other road trip movies, this one is really depressing and harrowing. I suppose you can watch this with Sandcastles as an "evacuation of national history" double-bill.


Read my full review at Fridae, first published on 3 November 2010.

Eat Pray Love (2010)

Snicker all you want but there's something to be said about the myth of travel - that it will change you forever, show you the meaning of life, the universe, and everything, and perhaps you will meet a tall, dark stranger...

Eat Pray Love is a well-executed entry in the genre of travel films where WASP Americans are schooled in the wisdom of good living and good loving by swarthy people.

Read my full review at Fridae, first published on 6 October 2010.