2016

MOANA: Animated By The Numbers
MOANA: Animated By The Numbers

Disney’s latest film, Moana is sure to please crowds, but it plays it safe by recycling a story that has been told to exhaustion.

ALLIED: Robert Zemeckis' Generic WWII Thriller
ALLIED: Robert Zemeckis’ Generic WWII Thriller

With Allied, yet another volume has been added to the overflowing pile of wartime films. Though with the talented Robert Zemeckis at the helm, it seldom showcases his trademark focused and proficient direction, which is therefore not enough to raise the film above its many aching flaws.

FANTASTIC BEASTS AND WHERE TO FIND THEM: Mostly Magical
FANTASTIC BEASTS AND WHERE TO FIND THEM: Mostly Magical

Fantastic Beasts is a mostly satisfactory return to the world of Harry Potter, though it also suffers from confused and muddled plot-lines.

GRADUATION: A Complex Morality Play
GRADUATION: A Complex Morality Play

Graduation, Mungiu’s fourth film as director, is yet another example of how he masterfully weaves an intimate character drama into an intelligent commentary on injustices in Romanian society.

Queerly Ever After #16: TOP TEN OF THE DECADE
MOONLIGHT: A Beautiful & Profound Portrait Of Humanity

Though Moonlight employs a stylistic, arthouse approach as opposed to a traditional narrative, it is nonetheless an important one to watch for people of all walks of life.

CENTS: Praising The Smart Ones
CENTS: Praising The Smart Ones

Cents is a film about a teenager attempting to find her identity; though not without its shortcomings, it is a refreshing and admirable film.

ARMY OF ONE: An Apolitical Political Comedy

Army of One could have been a lot of different things, with plenty of room to shock and titillate fans of Larry Charles’ usual propensity for visceral subversions of cultural norms. Instead, the movie falls flat as a conservative piece of biographical fiction.

I AM NOT MADAME BOVARY: A Highly Stylised Critique Of Chinese Bureaucracy
I AM NOT MADAME BOVARY: A Highly Stylised Critique Of Chinese Bureaucracy

I Am Not Madame Bovary is highly critical of Chinese bureaucracy, both using the plot to highlight its inability to care about anything other than their job position, as well as poking fun at the workings of officialdom with the conversations between the officials themselves.

TONI ERDMANN: 2016's Most Inexplicable Critical Success Story
TONI ERDMANN: 2016’s Most Inexplicable Critical Success Story

There is a story with immense emotional depth within Toni Erdmann, but the movie is so frequently dull, when the moments of comedy arrive they can feel somewhat cynical.

THE NEW MAN: An Intimate Portrait Of Modern Fatherhood
THE NEW MAN: An Intimate Portrait Of Modern Fatherhood

The New Man is a fascinating insight into modern fatherhood, male identity, cultural expectation and the torturous path of late parenthood.

ARRIVAL: A Great Watch Suffers Upon The Dichotomy Of Interpretation
ARRIVAL: A Great Watch Suffers Upon The Dichotomy Of Interpretation

Arrival shows up where the crowds would expect it to, in the emotional department. But upon further analysis, the film lacks the wit or width for uncertainty, and it has only one dimension to offer as entertainment.

CAPTURE: An Unusual & Fun Documentary
CAPTURE: An Unusual & Fun Documentary

The humor in Capture is one of its best qualities. This isn’t the humor that comes from telling a good joke, but rather from the spontaneous situations that the people find themselves in.

IN A VALLEY OF VIOLENCE: Ti West's Subversive Take On The Western
IN A VALLEY OF VIOLENCE: Ti West’s Playful Take On The Western

Ti West may be best known in the indie horror circuit, yet with In a Valley of Violence he has proven that he has additional genres up his sleeve.

JULIETA: Pedro Almodovar's Almost-Return To Form
JULIETA: Pedro Almodóvar’s Almost-Return To Form

Julieta is an earnest drama and has been noticeably billed by Almodóvar himself as his welcome return to the “cinema of women”.

Film Inquiry's Best Articles Of November 2016
THE HANDMAIDEN: A Forward-Thinking Period Piece

The Handmaiden is director Park Chan-wook’s most explicit film to date, if only in its portrayals of warped male sexuality contrasted with the comparatively emotive sexuality of women.