You could watch Perfume under the false impression that it’s a thriller. Instead it’s a romance, albeit one with murder, death and mayhem. One of the reasons why I love Perfume so much is its portrait of human obsession. All too often people become slaves to moments. They can’t forget them and they replay them constantly in their head. They then coil destructively...

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Poor Drew. There he is working for a successful sports manufacturer, making lots of money and living the American dream. Then he has the misfortune of losing the company close to $1 billion by creating a disgusting sports shoe. Needless to say his boss isn’t terribly impressed. He’s going to lose his basketball team and his ‘global environmental project’. Therefore it’s quite understandable...

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I used to love Transformers as a kid. The cartoons were great and I loved the toys. But then a few years ago I got the toys out of my loft. Fuck me they were crap. Cheap, flimsy and poorly made. How could I have been so wrong? How could something so awesome secretly be a pile of toss? Well, I guess children...

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Sunshine shouldn’t really work. It’s like someone has taken the elements of 2001, Alien, Event Horizon and Silent Running, stuck them in a jar, shaken them about and put it on film. But even though Sunshine is derivative, for the most part it works exceptionally well.One of the reasons why the film works is the central concept. I love the idea of a...

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I think most people, whether they want to admit it or not, have a grim fascination with death. Part of that is because it’s one thing we’ll experience but never see (our own death), but it’s also because it’s become such a taboo in Western culture. The news is full of death, and movies are too, but when it comes to real life...

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Lust, Caution fails largely because of its sex scenes. However, this isn’t a comment on how graphic they are. Many films with graphic sexual content have succeeded as fine examples of the cinematic art – Cronenberg’s Crash, Polanski’s Bitter Moon and Bertolucci’s Last Tango in Paris to name but a few. Instead Lust, Caution fails because its sex scenes don’t have conviction. They...

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Superman Returns is one of those modern blockbusters that while enjoyable lingers in the memory for about five seconds. It leaves no lasting impression other than one of crushing indifference. Contrary to what the film says, the world really doesn't need Superman.One of the most telling things about this sequel/update/re-imagining is that the most memorable thing is the music. Or to put it...

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