Contributor Mark Asch

Two anime characters - a young boy and a creature with a large nose - seated at a wooden table in a rustic interior scene with a green door and windows.
Review

The Boy and the Heron review – poetry, philosophy, pure emotion

by Mark Asch

Less a swansong and more a heronsong from the Japanese maestro Hayao Miyazaki, a mystical and ambitious message of hope for the future.

5
Anticipation
5
Enjoyment
5
In Retrospect
Two men discussing a hand-drawn diagram with colourful abstract shapes and lines on a canvas, outdoors in a park setting.
Review

Next Goal Wins review – chillingly eager to please

by Mark Asch

Taika Waititi's feel-good comedy about the plight of a hapless Samoan football team strives for nothing more than maintaining the status quo.

2
Anticipation
2
Enjoyment
2
In Retrospect
Two adults, a man with a beard and glasses and a woman, face each other in close proximity, lit by warm evening sunlight.
Review

Dream Scenario review – easy to enjoy, harder to remember

by Mark Asch

Nicolas Cage plays an otherwise unremarkable college professor who unexpectedly finds himself appearing in peoples' dreams in Kristoffer Borgli's latest satire.

3
Anticipation
4
Enjoyment
3
In Retrospect
Two people, a woman and a man, walking through a field with a telephone pole in the background.
Review

The Royal Hotel review – harrowing, but doesn’t burrow under the skin

by Mark Asch

More cinema of ominous discomfort from Kitty Green as she takes us to an out-of-the-way Australian boozer for some low-boiling violence.

4
Anticipation
3
Enjoyment
3
In Retrospect
Exterior of 'The Old Oak' pub, with a person standing outside the boarded-up windows and doorway.
Review

The Old Oak review – trades largely on didacticism and sentimentality

by Mark Asch

In what could be his final film, Ken Loach fixes his gaze on a pub landlord in a town reckoning with a new population of Syrian refugees.

3
Anticipation
2
Enjoyment
2
In Retrospect
Two adults, a man with a beard and glasses and a woman, face each other in close proximity, lit by warm evening sunlight.
Festivals

Dream Scenario – first-look review

by Mark Asch

Nicolas Cage plays an otherwise unremarkable college professor who unexpectedly finds himself appearing in peoples' dreams in Kristoffer Borgli's latest satire.
A diverse group of young football players in green shirts gathered around a white male coach who is yelling excitedly, with the coach surrounded by the smiling players.
Festivals

Next Goal Wins – first-look review

by Mark Asch

Taika Waititi is way-too eager to please with this aggressively feel-good comic fictionalisation of the lovely 2014 documentary of the same name.
Two women in a bathroom, one reaching up to a hand dryer on the wall.
Festivals

Do Not Expect Too Much from the End of the World – first-look review

by Mark Asch

The new film from one of Romania's foremost cine-ironists, Radu Jude, is a glorious, poisonous, everything-in-the-pot treatise on the state of the world today.
Crowd of protesters amid smoke and chaos, police officers stand on an elevated platform.
Festivals

Les Indésirables – first-look review

by Mark Asch

Ladj Ly’s follow-up to his Cesar award-winning Les Misérables is a hyperbolic state-of-the-nation address that lacks the logic and fire of that first feature.
Two characters embracing in a rural outdoor setting with trees and a lake in the background.
Festivals

The Boy and the Heron – first-look review

by Mark Asch

Less a swansong and more a heronsong from the Japanese maestro Hayao Miyazaki, a mystical and ambitious message of hope for the future.

Accessibility Settings

Text

Applies the Open Dyslexic font, designed to improve readability for individuals with dyslexia.

Applies a more readable font throughout the website, improving readability.

Underlines links throughout the website, making them easier to distinguish.

Adjusts the font size for improved readability.

Visuals

Reduces animations and disables autoplaying videos across the website, reducing distractions and improving focus.

Reduces the colour saturation throughout the website to create a more soothing visual experience.

Increases the contrast of elements on the website, making text and interface elements easier to distinguish.