Tag: epic

Dongji Rescue
(Dong Ji Dao,
東吉嶼)

Post author By Jeremy Clarke
Post date August 22 2025
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(Dong Ji Dao,
東吉嶼)
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Director – Fei Zhenxiang, Guan Hu – 2025 – China – Cert. 15 – 133m The first hour and a half **1/2 The last half hour ****1/2 Chinese islanders under Japanese Occupation in WW2 set out to rescue a thousand plus British prisoners from a sinking, torpedoed ship – streaming on UK VoD from Friday, […]

Tags 1942, bayonet, BBC, big budget, Birmingham, blade, blonde, blowing in the wind, blue-eyed, Brummie accent, cauterise wound, Chen Minghao, China, Chinese, Chinese islanders, coast of China, coastal path, coward, Dongji Rescue, enemy, epic, escape, Fei Zhenxiang, fight, fire, fishing boats, flotilla, funeral procession, grass, Guan Hu, history, Hong Kong, island, isolation, It’s a Long Way to Tipperary, Japan, Japanese Imperial Army, Japanese occupation., jump off a cliff, leg wound, Lisbon Maru, Mandarin, ostracise, pirate blood, POW, prejudice, prisoner of war, rescue, rescue at sea, rescued as a child, romantic liaison, sea, Shanghai, sink, sinking, sniper, spectacular, stereotype, struck by a torpedo, submarine, superstition, survivor, teacher, Tipperary, torpedo, transport ship, trapped, USS Grouper, villagers, vox pop, war, war atrocity, war movie, wartime marching song, William Franklyn-Miller, World War 2, World War Two, WW2

Features Live Action Movies

Throne Of Blood
(Kumonosu-jo,
蜘蛛巣城,
lit. Castle
Of The Spider Web)

Post author By Jeremy Clarke
Post date June 22 2020
No Comments on Throne Of Blood
(Kumonosu-jo,
蜘蛛巣城,
lit. Castle
Of The Spider Web)
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Director – Akira Kurosawa – 1957 – Japan – Cert. 12 – 110m ***** Out on BFI UHD & Blu-ray on Monday, May 19th 2025. Currently streaming on BFI Player alongside many other Kurosawa films together with a much wider selection of Japanese movies. Macbeth is one of Shakespeare’s most familiar plays. In 1957, Kurosawa […]

Tags action, Akira Kurosawa, battle, BFI Japan, BFI Japan 2020, BFI Japan 2021, epic, ghost, historical, horror, Japan, Japan 2020, Japan 2021, Noh, samurai, Toshiro Mifune

Animation Features Movies

Chang’an
(Chang’an San Wan Li,
长安三万里,
lit. 3 000 Miles from Chang’an)

Post author By Jeremy Clarke
Post date February 26 2025
1 Comment on Chang’an
(Chang’an San Wan Li,
长安三万里,
lit. 3 000 Miles from Chang’an)
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Directors – Xie Junwei, Zou Jing – 2023 – China – Cert. 12a – 168m **** General Gao Shi of the Tang dynasty recounts his life, his struggle to become a poet and his friendship with Li Bai, a more renowned poet – animated epic is out in UK cinemas on Friday, February 28th Set […]

Tags 2D animation, 3D computer animation, acolyte, action, animation, ashes of the dead, battle, blowing, burial, calligraphy, cavalry, CG, CG animation, Chang’an, China, class system, conflict, Cui Hau, culture, dancing girls, desk job, drink, drunkard, Du Fu, duel, eagles, emissary, Emperor, enemy, epic, estate, exam, fall on his spear, female beauties, fight, Gao Shi, general, governor, grass, grasslands, historical epic, history, horse, hostelry, inheritance, interrogation, Li Bai, Liang Gardens, Light Chaser Animation Studios, Ling Zhenhe, make an impression, male-dominated society, merchant class, military, military strategy, musician, nobility, oppressed women, painting, palace, patriarchy, poet, poetry, poetry boards, power to commission, princess, prisoner, profligacy, Pujinyi Inn, Qiuzai Jiang, renown, reputation, restaurant, Shang Qui, Shanghai Animation Studio, Shimeng Li, skirmish, soldier, spear, spearman, state official, Sun Lulu, Tang dynasty, Tang poets, Taoist, Tibetan, town and country, trot, Tubo, Wang Wei, war, war movie, wartime and peacetime, wind, wine, wrestling, Wu Junquan, Wuhan, Xiaoyu Liu, Xie Junwei, Yang Tianxian, Yangtse River, Yangzhou, Yellow Crane Tower, Zou Jing

Features Live Action Movies

Alienoid
Return to the Future
(Oegye+in 2bu,
외계+인 2부)

Post author By Jeremy Clarke
Post date November 11 2024
No Comments on Alienoid
Return to the Future
(Oegye+in 2bu,
외계+인 2부)
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Director – Choi Dong-hoon – 2024 – South Korea – LKFF Cert.12 – 122m ***** In Part Two of the double feature, aliens once again incarcerate prisoners in human brains and travel through time between present day and fourteenth century Korea; mayhem ensues – from LKFF, the London Korean Film Festival 2024 which runs in […]

Features Live Action Movies

Seven Samurai
(Shichinin
no Samurai,
七人の侍)

Post author By Jeremy Clarke
Post date June 1 2020
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(Shichinin
no Samurai,
七人の侍)
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Director – Akira Kurosawa – 1954 – Japan – Cert. PG – 207m 207m + 5m intermission – Oscar nominated Seven samurai must defend a poor village of farmers from bandits in one of the greatest action movies ever made – – both released in cinemas in a brand-new, 70th anniversary, 4k restoration from Thursday, […]

Tags action, Akira Kurosawa, Art of Action, bandits, battle, BFI Japan, BFI Japan 2020, BFI Japan 2021, epic, farmer, historical, horses, Japan, Japan 2020, Japan 2021, Toshiro Mifune

Features Live Action Movies

Pharaoh
(Faraon)

Post author By Jeremy Clarke
Post date September 15 2024
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(Faraon)
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Director – Jerzy Kawalerowicz – 1966 – Poland – Cert. 12 – 152m ***** The reformist zeal of a youthful heir to the Ancient Egyptian throne confronts the immovable conservative tradition of the priesthood of the god Osiris – on Blu-ray from Monday, September 16th There is nothing else in cinema quite like Pharaoh. That […]

Tags 1960s, affairs of state, Ancient Egypt, Andrzej Gertier, army, ball of dung, banker, beetles, Biblical epics, Boleslaw Prus, burning torch, camp, campy, Chang’e, class system, commoners, conservative tradition, corridor, crook, deity, desert, double, eclipse, Edward Raczkowski, Egypt, epic, financial exploitation, flail, freedom, God, hanging, head priest, heart of darkness, heat, heir, irrigation, Jerzy Kawalerowicz, Jerzy Zeinik, Jew, Jewish, Krastyna Mickolajewska, labyrinth, Leszek Herdegen, love interest, male-dominated society, manipulation, manual labourers, Michal Oleszczyk, Monarch, monarch’s double, mourner, oppressive, orgy, Osiris, Osiris-Ramses XII, pecking order, personality cult, personification of a god, pharaoh, Phoenician, Piotr Pawlowski, poison, Poland, political agenda, political wrangling, politics, power, priest, priesthood, Ramses, Ramses XIII, reform, regime, religion, ritual, rogue priest, sacking, sacred animals, sacred beetles, sacred objects, Scarab Beetles, seductress, slave, slavery, social manipulation, social system, socio-political-religious system, soldiers, Stanislaw Milski, status quo, stratification, sword and sandal, temple, the state, throne, treasure, tunnel, Uzbekistan, watercourse, wealth, Wieslawa Mazurkiewicz, zeal

Features Live Action Movies

Dune Part Two

Post author By Jeremy Clarke
Post date February 29 2024
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Director – Denis Villeneuve – 2024 – US – Cert. 12a – 166m ***** A fallen dynasty fights back on a desert planet populated with giant sandworms– out in cinemas on Friday, March 1st The second part of the adaptation of Frank Herbert’s sprawling novel Dune (1965) – the title Dune Part Two following the […]

Features Live Action Movies

Dune
(2021)

Post author By Jeremy Clarke
Post date October 17 2021
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(2021)
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Director – Denis Villeneuve – 2021 – US – Cert. 12a – 155m ***** A powerful family is exiled to a desert planet populated with giant sandworms as part of an interplanetary conspiracy to end their dynasty – back out in cinemas from Friday, February 8th 2024 Frank Herbert’s sprawling novel Dune (1965) was read […]

Animation Features Live Action Movies

Monty Python’s
Life Of Brian

Post author By Jeremy Clarke
Post date April 7 2023
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Life Of Brian
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Director – Terry Jones – 1979 – UK – Cert. 12a – 93m **** An absurdist comedy about of Brian, Jesus Christ’s next-door neighbour, who falls in with left-wing activists, develops a religious following and ends up crucified – back out in UK cinemas in Glorious Standard Definition on Friday, April 7th Like The Last […]

Tags 2D animation, aliens, Always Look On The Bright Side Of Life. Asphyxiation, animation, BBC, Bible, Biblical epic, Biggus Diccus, blasphemous, blasphemy, Brian, Brian Cohen, British radio, British television, Cambridge, Christianity, cross-dressing, crucifixion, den of thieves, dissent, dissenter, Divine Right Of Kings, double-entendre, English pantomime, epic, Eric Idle, false prophets, festival day, followers, frankincense, gifts, gold, Gospels, Graham Chapman, highbrow, highbrow music, Hollywood Biblical epic, intergalactic, intergalactic war, Jerusalem, Jesus Christ, John Cleese, Judea, lampoon, Life Of Brian, Martin Scorsese, men cross-dressing, Michael Palin, money changers, Monty Python, Monty Python’s Flying Circus, multitude, myrrh, names, next-door neighbours, offence, offensive, Oxbridge, Oxford, panto, pantomime cross-dressing, political satire, politics, Pontius Pilate, production design, Ralph Richardson, religion, religious satire, Roman, Romans, satire, spaceship, student drama society, Sue Jones-Davies, temple, Terry Gilliam, Terry Jones, the Pythons, three wise men, truth, UK, welease Woderick

Animation Features Movies

Son
Of The White Mare
(Fehérlófia)

Post author By Jeremy Clarke
Post date April 6 2023
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Of The White Mare
(Fehérlófia)
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Director – Marcell Jankovics – 1981 – Hungary – Cert. 12 – 86m ***** The Hungarian animated epic Son Of The White Mare (1981) is one of the great, largely unknown treasures of animation, if not of cinema. Its late director Marcell Jankovics (1941-2021) made a number of shorts and commercials before his two features […]