- Casino Royale Review
- Carrie (1976)
- Two-Lane Blacktop (1971)
- Trainspotting (1996)
- Rain Man (1988)
- Fatal Attraction (1987)
- Targets (1968)
- An Education (2009)
- Mirror, The (1974)
- Fargo (1996)
- Fight Club (1999)
- Do The Right Thing (1989)
- Report (1967)
- Is "The Sting" The Best Gambling Film Ever Made?
- Pink Flamingos (1972)
- Ox-Bow Incident, The (1943), Or 28 Angry Men
- Rome, Open City (1945)
- Spring in a Small Town (1948)
- Drive (2011)
- Vinyl (1965)
- Seconds (1966)
- Rosemary's Baby (1968)
- A Hollywood Invasion of Casino Halls
- Thin Man, The (1934)
- In The Heat of the Night (1967)
- All In: The Poker Movie, Player’s Best Tricks
- Invasion of the Body Snatchers (1956)
- 1001 Club - Skyfall (2012)
- 1001 Club - When Harry Met Sally... (1988)
- 1001 Club - Rain Man (1988)
Grave Of The Fireflies (1988)
Animé AND Drama?! Whaaaa?!??!
Genre: War Drama Animé
Starring: Tsutomu Tatsumi, Ayano Shiraishi
Directed By: Isao Takahata (My Neighbors the Yamadas • Pom Poko)
Overview: This is the story of teenaged Seita and his five-year-old sister Setsuko, two children trying to survive from starvation during the Second World War.
The opening line of Grave of the Fireflies is "In 1945, on the night of September 21, I died." This character, a teenager of about sixteen, starves to death in the street, surrounded by commuters walking around him. The rest of the film is a telling of how Seita reached this point. We return to his family home. His father is away, an officer in the formidable Japanese fleet. His mother and five-year-old sister live in a typical wooden-homed village. Soon the American fire bombers raze their home and their mother. Seita and Setsuko are homeless, but still have an aunt in another village that they move in with. This new life begins well enough, but as rations thin and their aunt begins resenting the children for their stomachs, things get difficult. Though some of the film focuses on the relationship the two have with their aunt, most of the Grave of the Fireflies is about Seita and Setsuko's days together, with the 'futility of war' theme as one of the least muddied messages you've seen in any film ever made.
Did I mention she has one of the best voices in cinema history? Oh I did. Good.
Performance: 9 Cinematography: 8 Script: 8 Plot: 8 Mood: 9
Overall Rating: 84% (Praise The Lord, I Saw The Light)
Aftertaste:
My favourite genre is Tragedy, with my all-time favourite film being Requiem For A Dream... well, perhaps saying 'the best film I've ever seen' would be more appropriate than 'favourite'. Point being: I be a dark fellow. This is one of the reasons that Grave of the Fireflies is one of the most important Animés I've seen, and much more poignant than other similarly-themed movies like Barefoot Gen, a film that unfortunately showcases melting victims of Hiroshima next to WACKY SCENES OF COMIC RELIEF! HA! HA!
The biggest tragedy of The Grave of the Fireflies is that it hasn't had the benefit of being given the Blu-Ray treatment. Let us hope this is remedied soon.