Imagine 2020 Review: SLEEPLESS BEAUTY Keeps You Awake
Lo and behold: despite the limitations brought about by the COVID-19 pandemic, the Amsterdam-based Imagine Film Festival managed to get itself two theatrical world premieres for its 2020 edition. One of them was Peet Gelderblom's poetic collage film When Forever...
Now Streaming: CASTLE IN THE SKY, Where Dreams Come True
Miyazaki Hayao directs a terrific animated adventure, now streaming on HBO Max.
BUT Film Festival 2020: Join The European Underground Panel Discussion!
Pandemic or no pandemic, the Dutch genre film festivals are managing, albeit with some obvious changes. The Breda-based B-Film, Underground & Trash Film Festival, BUTFF for short, was expected to be celebrating its 15th iteration this year in a grand...
Imagine 2020 Review: WHEN FOREVER DIES
(Is it a drama? Is it a documentary? Is it a history lesson? It's...) When the current pandemic started showing its teeth in the Netherlands in March, it meant the end of the 2020 edition of the Imagine Film Festival...
Remembering A Genius: Kon Satoshi, Who Left Us Ten Years Ago.
You know about those historical moments, of which you can remember exactly where you were and what you were doing when the news broke? Ten years ago, I was called out of bed in the morning by an anime-loving friend...
Check Out The Award-Winning LILI In Full, Online And Free!
We are big fans here of Dutch director Yfke van Berckelaer's short film Lili. And we're not the only ones: since its appearance at festivals a year ago, the short has been making a victory lap around the world, picking...
WORST CASE SCENARIO Will Be Made, But There's Also A Best Case Scenario...
Two months ago, we reported that director Richard Raaphorst (of Frankenstein's Army fame) was trying to revive an earlier abandoned project called Worst Case Scenario, by crowdfunding a graphic novel version of the story. Well, the good news is: that...
Pretty Packaging: ROLLERBALL Gets An Ultimate Edition
With streaming being the major platform, DVD and Blu-ray home releases have become a declining market. There will always be collectors though, and distributors willing to cater to them. Countries like France and Germany still release many stunners these days,...
Review: KILL MODE Hides Many Of Its Charms
Back in 2017, I reviewed the world premiere of Molly, an apocalyptic Dutch science fiction film by Thijs Meuwese and Colinda Bongers. I loved the film, especially its makers' no-holds-barred approach and crazy ambitions. Instead of being hampered by a...
NEON GENESIS EVANGELION Gets The Ultimate Treatment
In a few months, on the 11th of October, it will be exactly 25 years ago that the first episode of the science fiction mecha anime Neon Genesis Evangelion aired on Japanese television. Produced by Studio Gainax, Evangelion was at...
Now Streaming: TURBO KID, The Right Kind of Gory, Glorious Plastic
Munro Chambers, Laurence Lebouef, Michael Ironside, and Edwin Wright star in the bloody sci-fi cult classic, now streaming on Shudder.
Crowdfund This: WORST CASE SCENARIO Gets Made - As A Graphic Novel
All the way back in 2002, a clip appeared on the Internet which showed a trailer for what appeared to be an outrageous zombie spectacle. In it, you saw a beach being stormed by an army of fearsome creatures, parts...
Pretty Packaging: Germany's COLOR OUT OF SPACE Release Is Out Of This World!
When the news hit us that Color out of Space was being made, I was very happy for two reasons. One: it saw the return to full-length feature cinema for director Richard Stanley. And two: we were about to see...
Review: MONSTRUM, Very Silly, Very Gory, Fun Action Movie
Several entries were added to the sub-sub-genre of Korean history-slash-horror films in 2018 (and there's even a Korean historical zombie series, Kingdom, on Netflix). The Imagine Film Festival showed one of these early in 2019: Korean director Huh Jong-ho's historical...
Rotterdam 2020 Review: A WITNESS OUT OF THE BLUE
In this strange world we find ourselves in nowadays, one of the things I miss most are film festivals. Not so much because I lack content to watch (my still-to-see-stack is still-too-damn-large), but the atmosphere, the meeting of people I...
Temporarily Streaming For Free: XANGADIX LIVES!
Several distribution companies try to help making self-isolation somewhat more bearable in the coming weeks by streaming titles for free. Today a new title got added, and it's such a fun one that I want to point it out here:...
Rotterdam 2020 Review: Saeed Roustayi's JUST 6.5 Scores An 8.8
Iran. As a country, we often see it in the news as "the other", a large territory in the Middle East which is, if not outright antagonistic, at the very least totally alien. It's quite an eye-opener when all those...
Rotterdam 2020 Review: SAINT MAUD Knocks You Down With A Punishing Fist
There are different ways for a film to floor you. Some pull the rug from under you with plot twists and surprises, others take a simple idea and then proceed to push you to the ground with precision and force....
Rotterdam 2020 Review: CHILDREN OF THE SEA Washes Over You Like A Wave
Watanabe Ayumu's newest anime feature is beautifully drawn and features a rousing score by Joe Hisaishi, but the spectacle trumps the plot.
Rotterdam 2020 Review: PARASITE (B&W VERSION)
On the ninth of February 2020, Korean director Bong Joon Ho came, saw and conquered the Oscars with his film Parasite. A week earlier, he came, saw and conquered the International Film Festival Rotterdam. An old friend of the festival...
