Tag / anna paquin

by Jaime Rebanal

‘Castle in the Sky’ Review: The Adventurous Spirits in Miyazaki’s Vision

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The first film to be released under the Studio Ghibli name, Castle in the Sky may be among Hayao Miyazaki’s more straightforward films but that never takes away from how thoroughly exciting it is from beginning to end. Much like Spirited Away and Kiki’s Delivery Service, Castle in the Sky was a film that had been a favourite of mine when I was very young but it was also one that I never came back to until just recently. As I watch the film again as an adult, Castle in the Sky doesn’t only hit me again with that same magic like it did as a kid but I’m still in awe at how perfectly constructed it is – which is just about everything I could ever want from any of Miyazaki’s films.

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by Jaime Rebanal

‘The Irishman’ Review: Martin Scorsese Revisits and Reinvents Familiar Themes in Epic Crime Saga to Wondrous Results

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As he nears his eighties, it’s impressive to think about how Martin Scorsese manages to find new ways to push the possibilities of what the medium of film can accomplish even as he continues treading familiar subject matter. And after having remained in development hell for so many years, he releases The Irishman for Netflix, which resulted in possibly his most expensive film and longest film to date, but considering the sort of original content that Netflix has been known to fund over the years it’s almost incredible to think that they would let Scorsese make a film of this sort with a budget that almost matches up with a modern superhero film. As familiar as the subject matter would be to many Scorsese fans, those entering expecting another GoodFellas or Casino will find themselves in for a whole other ride entirely; this may be one of his best films in recent memory too.

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by Jaime Rebanal

Margaret – Review

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Kenneth Lonergan’s Margaret is a film that feels troubled at the center much like the history behind its release: going towards lawsuits that ultimately delayed its release until 2011 (it was scheduled for a 2007 release) along with several edits having been made, leaving no sense of a definitive vision behind. Yet with all this having been said, it still works beautifully and almost in a sense feels like a journey that mirrors its struggle to reach the big screen. But there’s something more to which it calls for by referencing a specific poem through its own title, through its final verse, “it is Margaret you mourn for.” The doom that Margaret would have almost found itself at the risk of facing is still present in hand, but to what degree is it paying off? In Kenneth Lonergan’s film, it could not ever be more affecting than what he shows us here. Perhaps it may be a mess, but it also reinforces what works so perfectly about Margaret.

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by Jaime Rebanal

The Squid and the Whale – Review

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There’s something universal that lingers all throughout The Squid and the Whale which I find is what helps it elicit the power it contains within the brief running time it sustains. Something to which I ended up finding a whole lot more personal at the same time not only in the sense that it was on Noah Baumbach’s end but also on my own, for it hit rather heavily on a personal note everywhere I would have least expected it to land. Maybe it could be I was expecting too little, even for Noah Baumbach, but with The Squid and the Whale he has clearly left behind something that is so resonant it only touches me so deeply.

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