The Movie Diorama

A Christmas Carol sings the haunted verses of Dickens through disjointed emotionless motion capture. “Bah! Humbug!” Zemeckis had always been fascinated with digital cinema. ‘The Polar Express’ was technological innovation at its more pure,... Read the full review »

Cold In July brings synthesised chills, bloody sleet and fatherly responsibilities. The distinction between murder, manslaughter and self-defence is one that continues to grow more appropriate in America with each passing year. How does one determ... Read the full review »

Tall Girl ironically belittles its message with a towering case of marginalised insolence. “You think your life is hard?” narrates the eponymous skyscraper-like girl in a condescending tone as if one was participating in a selfless therapeutic... Read the full review »

Olympus Has Fallen ironically insults America’s national security through lunacy and patriotism. “Die Hard in the White House” claims British lads’ magazine Zoo, divulging into the testosterone-fuelled minds of its laddish readers. To be f... Read the full review »

Boyhood organically condenses twelve years of upbringing into an undramatic three hour behemoth. The journey of adolescence is one personality-altering experience that each of us inevitably undertakes. An existential life step that physically and... Read the full review »

Paprika sprinkles its spicy originality across a sprawling vibrant fever dream. Dreams are windows to the imaginative capacity of the subconscious. Manipulating memories to fabricate worlds unbounded by the physical laws of reality. An endless wav... Read the full review »

Perfect Blue perfectly blends psychologically disturbed fantasy with grounded reality. Mima Kirigoe. A pop-idol. An actress. An X-rated model. Public image and its personifying echoes circulate around the world, adhering to the desires of endearin... Read the full review »

The Garden of Words poetically symbolises the tranquility and loneliness of rain. “A faint clap of thunder. Even if the rain comes not, I will stay here, together with you”. Walking the path of life is no easy feat. The appropriate metaphysica... Read the full review »

White Noise fizzles out its noisy static by just being plain boring. Watching Keaton as he unconvincingly stares at televised white noise for an hour and a half, which is essentially nothing, perfectly surmises the experience of Sax' supposedly su... Read the full review »

Milk shakes its nutrient-rich substance to produce a delectably important biopic. No fat free milk. No semi-skimmed froth encrusting the top layer. Lactose is included. Just whole Harvey Milk dairy, freshly pasteurised by superlative direction and... Read the full review »

The Mechanic is unable to fix its mechanically mundane plot. “Amat Victoria Curran - Victory Loves Preparation”. Foreshadowing words engraved on the glossy barrel of Sutherland’s powerful pistol. Euphemism aside, West presents a remake of th... Read the full review »

The Falling collapses its ambitious intrigue through overextended fainting spells. Puberty is a strong advocate for personable change. Experiencing the evolutionary adolescence that transforms sprouted children into blossoming young adults. Yet, t... Read the full review »

The Grudge 2 resents its illogical plot for basic ineffective jump scares. Shimizu’s western remake of his J-horror creation was one littered with promise, albeit irrefutably rough around the edges. Mediocre acting, snooze-inducing storytelling... Read the full review »

Shutter takes Polaroid remnants of the original without the stunning flash. This is a peculiar remake. During the towering heights of Hollywood westernising world-renowned Asian horrors, mostly from Japan and South Korea, Japanese director Ochiai... Read the full review »

Prey stalks its victims by offering a suspense-free horror flick that seems more idyllic than terrifying. Y’know, when I temporarily go insane or witness a traumatic incident, I openly discuss my feelings with a therapist or spend the day watchi... Read the full review »

Extinguished is heartwarming down to the flickering core. Anderson and Mann’s Kickstarter project back in ‘17 initially seemed like a typical college project that required additional funding to produce. Not an uncommon request. Yet what differ... Read the full review »

Mr. & Mrs. Smith explodes with flaming chemistry but assassinated its own script. “Brangelina”. Without Liman’s standard action comedy, we wouldn’t have had the power couple that dominated the tabloids. Several children wouldn’t have bee... Read the full review »