Redline (2009)

I was aware of Redline (2009) by reputation and programmed its trailer before the Trash Classics screening of Speed Racer; they would make an excellent double feature of late-2000s hyperkinetic racing energy. If the Wachowskis used CGI and digital effects to produce an overstimulating racing experience, Redline can leave behind the human avatars for the […]

Mars Express (2023)

Mars Express (2023) is a French animated movie that recently screened at the Fantastic Film Festival. What caught my eye was that Mars Express is firmly in the cyberpunk genre, inspired by Blade Runner and Japanese anime like Ghost In The Shell. Set in the 23rd century, the Earth is a sprawl where lower class […]

Paprika (2006)

Look, I can rewatch Inception anytime, but after my first viewing at the cinema, I remembered thinking, “The imagery wasn’t really that surreal for a movie about dreams.” Sure, there’s the city folding on itself, and the hallway zero gravity fight, but for the most part, it’s pretty standard stuff – the climax is a […]

A Scanner Darkly (2006)

Sad Keanu before the meme. Robert Downey Jnr in prime bursque rant mode pre-MCU. Woody Harrelson as hippy-dippy paranoid (naturally). Winona Ryder as subtle and caring from afar. Rory Cochrane taking his Slater character from Dazed And Confused to another deeper, darker, depressing level of Too Far Gone. A Scanner Darkly (2006), an adaptation of […]