Chronicle of a Blood Merchant is the second book I have read by Yu Hua, and though perhaps not as moving as To Live, Chronicle shows, unequivocally, why Mr. Yu belongs to the upper echelon of China’s most celebrated contemporary writers. The story of Xu Sanguan and […]
Read MoreStranger Things 3: flawed, overstretched and yet unmissable Fun, touching, sweet, and just plainly entertaining as all fans hoped for. [Note: the following review contains only mild spoilers of Season 3 of Stranger Things]. Published in Medium – 9 July 2019. Eleven, Mike, Dustin, Lucas, Steve, […]
Read More(Originally published in Blogcritics.com) Seveneves would have certainly worked better as two stand-alone novels. Stephenson should have paid more attention not only to the structure, but also to the style. His writing needed to be more focused on the story and characters, than interesting facts. And yet, its many […]
Read MoreShould we love Christopher Nolan’s Dunkirk? No! The film original aim might have been to be a subtle, understated epic about national brotherhood. It meant to show us the indomitable spirit of the people who later withstood the German bomb blitz, fought on the beaches and never […]
Read MoreL’Amant Double (AKA The Double Lover) is a flawed, yet at times intriguing, playful and mildly disturbing psychological thriller, with e a high degree of sexual energy. Francois Ozon is one of France’s most interesting filmmakers. For almost two decades now, he has tried his hand […]
Read MoreAtomic Blonde, with its beautiful Berlin set, and especially thanks to the performances of Charlize Theron and James McAvoy, is pretty entertaining and worth the price of admission. Take Jason Bourne, James Bond, La Femme Nikita, Agent Salt and more than a few extracts from the […]
Read MoreTerrence Malick is a reclusive director that shies away from Hollywood limelight (like Vampires from the Sun). On average, he has made a movie every eight years. His first two works, Badlands (1973) and Days of Heaven (1978) are now considered classic. The latter starred a […]
Read MoreArticle first published as Book Review: The Man Who Smiled by Henning Mankell on Blogcritics. The Man Who Smiled (Mannen som log) is the fourth instalment in Henning Mankell’s highly acclaimed Kurt Wallander series. The plot revolves around three murders and the figure of Alfred Harderberg, […]
Read More105 min – Comedy | Drama – 9 June 2011 (Germany) Critics: 50 reviews Metascore: 81/100 (based on 28 reviews from Metacritic.com) Director:Mike Mills Writer:Mike Mills Stars: Ewan McGregor, Christopher Plummer and Mélanie Laurent Meet Hal (Christopher Plummer), his son Oliver (Ewan McGregor), and Oliver’s new girlfriend Anna (Melanie Laurent), they […]
Read MoreDespite the hype surrounding The Town, Ben Affleck’s latest work is not a particularly impressive movie. It is a fair and honest bank-robbers movie, and by no means a waste of time, but certainly it is far from unforgettable or an instant classic. “The Town” is Charleston, […]
Read MoreThe Ghost Writer, Roman Polanski’s latest movie is a well-crafted and well-acted thriller adapted from a book by Robert Harris, with a political twist that might even give Gordon Brown an extra shiver on the eve of the general election. The plot involves a former British […]
Read MoreOn a winter snowy day, a life-raft is washed up on the shores of the small Swedish town of Ystad. Two dead bodies with bullet-holes in their chests are found inside the raft. From the start it looks like one of those cases that promise nothing […]
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