Category Archives: 2018 Films

Brief Consideration: Venom (2018)

Posted on February 9, 2019 by Sartaj Govind Singh

Venom is a shoo-in for one of the most bizarre comic book movies ever made. It’s a feature-length Saturday morning cartoon, trapped inside a reluctant midnight movie that slumps through its banally conceived plot with the enthusiasm of a tired … Continue reading →

Posted in 2018 Films, Brief Considerations, Marvel | Tagged Harold Lloyd, Jiminy Cricket, Marvel, Marvel Comics, Michelle Williams, Peter Sellers, Riz Ahmed, Spider-Man, Symbiote, Tom Hardy, Venom, Woody Harrelson | Leave a comment

My Top Ten Films of 2018

Posted on December 30, 2018 by Sartaj Govind Singh

10) You Were Never Really Here You Were Never Really Here is a blistering and stark character study of a man whose violent existence is no longer soothing the traumas of his past. Instead, it entrenches him further into hopelessness … Continue reading →

Posted in 2018, 2018 Films, Lists, Top Tens | Tagged Black Panther, BlacKkKlansman, Lady Bird, Luca Guadaginino, Lynne Ramsay, Mandy, Mission Impossible Fallout, Phantom Thread, Suspiria, The Ballad of Buster Scruggs, The Shape of Water, You Were Never Really Here | 6 Comments

Review: Suspiria (2018)

Posted on November 16, 2018 by Sartaj Govind Singh

Remaking Suspiria is a dicey proposition. Daria Argento’s 1977 film is a towering and effective mood piece. It straddles the line between being a nightmarish Technicolor fairy tale and feeling like a nasty snuff film conjured by its supernatural antagonist. Even with … Continue reading →

Posted in 2018 Films, Reviews | Tagged 1977, Dakota Johnson, Daria Argento, Goblin, Luca Guadaginino, Stanley Kubrick, Suspiria, The Shining, Thom Yorke, Tilda Swinton, Volk, West Berlin | 3 Comments

Brief Consideration: Mandy (2018)

Posted on November 5, 2018 by Sartaj Govind Singh

If you were to have a casual glance at any of the posters for Mandy, you would not be wrong in presuming that the film may well be a hellish and intense experience. In reality, the picture is surprisingly serene, … Continue reading →

Posted in 2018 Films, Brief Considerations, Uncategorized | Tagged Andrea Riseborough, Bill Duke, Jóhann Jóhannsson, Linus Roache, Mandy, Nicolas Cage, Panos Cosmatos, Vangelis, Wild At Heart | Leave a comment

Review: Halloween (2018)

Posted on October 29, 2018 by Sartaj Govind Singh

John Carpenter’s Halloween was a minimalist masterpiece with an effortlessly versatile central antagonist. He was as much an unconscious manifestation of male aggression to the central heroine, Laurie Strode (Jamie Lee Curtis), as he was the proverbial bogeyman- walking among … Continue reading →

Posted in 2018 Films, Reviews | Tagged Andi Matichak, David Gordon Green, Dr Samuel Loomis, Halloween, Jamie Lee Curtis, John Carpenter, Judy Greer, Laurie Strode, Michael Myers, Slasher Films, Slasher Genre, The Shape | 1 Comment

Review: The Man Who Killed Don Quixote (BFI London Film Festival)

Posted on October 22, 2018 by Sartaj Govind Singh

By all that is sane and fair, Terry Gilliam’s long-awaited adaptation of Cervantes’s monumental comic novel- Don Quixote, is finally here. While the film’s sheer existence is a cause for celebration, keeping the long and arduous journey to the screen … Continue reading →

Posted in 2018 Films, Film Festivals, Indie Cinema, Rare Post, Rare Reviews, Reviews | Tagged 2018, Adam Driver, BFI London Film Festival, Cervantes, Don Quixote, Jonathan Pryce, Knight of the Rueful Countenance, Lost in La Mancha, Terry Gilliam, The Man Who Killed Don Quixote | Leave a comment

Brief Consideration: The Predator (2018)

Posted on September 16, 2018 by Sartaj Govind Singh

Depending on the viewer, The Predator will either be a howling laugh riot with the occasional instance of shocking, bloody violence. Or it will play like a tedious, tone deaf and persistently erratic revival of the B-movie franchise. Count me … Continue reading →

Posted in 2018, 2018 Films | Tagged B-movie, Boyd Holbrook, Close Encounters of the Third Kind, Keegan-Michael Key, Olivia Munn, Predators, Sci-Fi, Shane Black, Sterling K. Brown, Steven Spielberg, The Predator, Thomas Jane | Leave a comment

Review: BlacKkKlansman (2018)

Posted on August 27, 2018 by Sartaj Govind Singh

BlacKkKlansman spins a fiendishly hilarious yarn that would even make Kirk Lazarus from Tropic Thunder pause in sheer bemusement. Set in the early seventies, BlacKkKlansman chronicles Detective Ron Stallworth’s (John David Washington) infiltration and subsequent exposure of a local Ku … Continue reading →

Posted in 2018 Films, Reviews | Tagged Adam Driver, BlacKkKlansman, Blaxploitation, Gone with the Wind, John David Washington, Laura Harrier, Ron Stallworth, Scarlett O'Hara, Spike Lee | 1 Comment

Review: The Incredibles 2 (2018)

Posted on July 23, 2018 by Sartaj Govind Singh

In hindsight, it’s hard not to view Brad Bird’s 2004 animated feature- The Incredibles as a breezy, heartfelt and sobering postmodern bow to the minuscule superhero genre that existed in the early 2000s. Through its family-focused story, the film grappled … Continue reading →

Posted in 2018, 2018 Films, Reviews | Tagged Avengers Infinity War, Black Panther, Brad Bird, Craig T Nelson, Elastic Girl, Holly Hunter, John Ratzenberger, Mr Incredible, Pixar, Screenslaver, Superhero, The Incredibles | Leave a comment

Brief Consideration: Lady Bird (2018)

Posted on July 9, 2018 by Sartaj Govind Singh

At their worst, coming of age movies are fraught with the over-egging of bludgeoning teenage antics that make their journeys seem severely unremarkable, as maddening hysterics are favoured over sobering personal growth. Greta Gerwig’s directorial debut, Lady Bird, commendably bridges … Continue reading →

Posted in 2018 Films, Indie Cinema | Tagged 2018, Citizen Kane, Greta Gerwig, Indie Cinema, Jason Schwartzman, Lady Bird, Laurie Metcalf, Max Fischer, Orson Welles, Rushmore, Saoirse Ronan, Wes Anderson | Leave a comment