Coronation of Queen Wilhelmina of Holland (No. 1) (1898)
Directed by William K. L. Dickson this is an early short film. Carriages arrive at a coronation.
A simple procession passing by. The camera has a good elevated vantage point to really capture the grandeur of the occasion. Pretty decent short.
3/5
Joyland (2022)
Directed by Saim Sadiq this film stars Ali Junejo, Alina Khan and Rasti Farooq. In Lahore a married second son gets a job at dance theatre and falls in love with a transwoman.
I really enjoy the way this film lets you sit with the characters rather than get preachy or push an agenda. Every character is trapped by the constraints of society's expectations and it works so well. It is impossible to look away as the film heads towards its tragic end.
4/5
The Tarantella, an Italian Dance (1898)
Directed by William K. L. Dickson this is an early short film. People performing what is presumably a traditional Italian dance.
Unfortunately the remaining film is pretty degraded. What we can see is nice but too much is damaged to full enjoy the film. A shame we have lost a piece of history.
2/5
Place de la Concorde (1897)
Directed by William K. L. Dickson this is an early short film. A static view of a spot in the French capital.
Pretty nicely set up, good foreground and background action. Survives in seemingly good quality. A really good example of the street scene genre.
3/5
Love Hurts (2025)
Directed by Jonathan Eusebio this film stars Ke Huy Quan, Ariana DeBose and Lio Tipton. A real estate agent gets drawn back into his previous criminal life.
The script of this one is just too over written and by the end you just want them to skip to the inevitable conclusion already. Ke Huy Quan does his best knock off Jackie Chan to try and carry the movie. Bit of a weak effort in the end.
2/5
Novocaine (2025)
Directed by Dan Berk & Robert Olsen this film stars Jack Quaid, Amber Midthunder and Ray Nicholson. A man who can not feel pain tries to save his new girlfriend after she is kidnapped by bankrobbers.
I found this film to be too long on both the introduction and ending, trying to stretch out the concept further than it could go. To be honest the whole thing comes off a bit like a first draft. Nice to see Amber Midthunder and Jacob Batalon both getting more work even if they are underused.
2/5
Tapping a Blast Furnace (1899)
Directed by William K. L. Dickson this is an early short film. Work at the Elswick yard.
Because of the angle and distance the camera is set up at it is a bit hard to tell what is going on. Maybe if I was more familiar with ironworking it would be more obvious. Not the best of the period.
2/5
