Blog — 3 Brothers Film

Review: The Social Dilemma (2020)

The Social Dilemma is hardly nuanced and its narrative dramatizations are lame, but it makes a compelling argument that social media is harming our culture.

Reviews, Aren's Reviews, The Current: At HomeAren BergstromSeptember 24, 2020The Social Dilemma, Fyre, The Great Hack, Jeff Orlowski, Davis Coombe, Vickie Curtis, Skyler Gisondo, Kara Hayward, Vincent Kartheiser, NetflixComment

TIFF20: 76 Days

A fascinating, disorienting first-hand account of the Wuhan COVID-19 lockdown.

Reviews, The Festival Circuit, Aren's ReviewsAren BergstromSeptember 18, 202076 Days, COVID-19, documentary, Hao Wu, Anonymous, Weixi ChenComment

TIFF20: Wolfwalkers

A beautifully animated adventure film that mines the many tensions between England and Ireland.

Reviews, The Festival Circuit, Aren's ReviewsAren BergstromSeptember 17, 2020Tomm Moore, Ross Stewart, Will Collins, Honor Kneafsey, Eva Whittaker, Sean Bean, Maria Doyle Kennedy, Simon McBurney, Wolfwalkers, The Secret of Kells, Song of the Sea, The BreadwinnerComment

TIFF20: Fireball: Visitors from Darker Worlds

Werner Herzog and Clive Oppenheimer examine the scientific and spiritual meaning of meteorites in this joyful documentary.

Reviews, The Festival Circuit, Aren's ReviewsAren BergstromSeptember 14, 2020Fireball: Visitors from Darker Worlds, Werner Herzog, Clive Oppenheimer, TIFF20, TIFFComment

Review: National Treasure: Book of Secrets (2007)

Like its predecessor, National Treasure: Book of Secrets is an exercise in nostalgic nationalism, but also a goofily entertaining adventure film.

Satoshi Kon: Paprika (2006)

Paprika coalesces Satoshi Kon’s vision of dreamwords, filmmaking, and artistic expression into one unified whole.

Flash Back, Reviews, Satoshi Kon, Aren's ReviewsAren BergstromSeptember 4, 2020Paprika, Satoshi Kon, Satoshi Kon Retrospective, Seishi Minakami, Yasutaka Tsutsui, Megumi Hayashibara, Toru Emori, Katsunosuke Hori, Toru Furuya, Akio Otsuka, Koichi Yamadera, Hideyuki TanakaComment

Satoshi Kon: Tokyo Godfathers (2003)

Tokyo Godfathers is about as close as you can get to a Charles Dickens Christmas adaptation apart from actually making a film based on A Christmas Carol.

Flash Back, Reviews, Satoshi Kon, Aren's ReviewsAren BergstromAugust 31, 2020Satoshi Kon, Satoshi Kon Retrospective, Keiko Nobumoto, Toru Emori, Yoshiaki Umegaki, Aya Okamoto, Tokyo GodfathersComment

Satoshi Kon: Millennium Actress (2001)

Millennium Actress is a beautiful examination of the relationships between actors and the movies they make, and viewers and the movies they watch.

Reviews, Overlooked and Under-Appreciated, Satoshi Kon, Aren's ReviewsAren BergstromAugust 25, 2020Satoshi Kon Retrospective, Satoshi Kon, Millennium Actress, Sadayuki Murai, Miyoko Shoji, Mami Koyama, Fumiko Orikasa, Shozo Iizuka, Shoko Tsuda, Hirotaka Suzuoko, Hisako Kyoda, Koichi Yamadera, Masane TsukayamaComment

Review: National Treasure (2004)

In 2020, National Treasure is as much a historical artifact as the American landmarks it features in its adventure narrative, but it’s still fun.

Flash Back, Reviews, Aren's ReviewsAren BergstromAugust 19, 2020Jon Turteltaub, Jim Kouf, Cormac Wibberley, Marianne Wibberley, Nicolas Cage, Harvey Keitel, Jon Voight, Diane Kruger, Sean Bean, Justin Bartha, Christopher Plummer, National TreasureComment

Satoshi Kon: Perfect Blue (1997)

Satoshi Kon’s debut feature remains one of cinema’s best psychological thrillers and a scathing critique of exploitation in the entertainment industry.

Satoshi Kon, Reviews, Flash Back, Aren's ReviewsAren BergstromAugust 18, 2020Satoshi Kon, Sadayuki Murai, Perfect Blue: Complete Metamorphosis, Yoshikazu Takeuchi, Junko Iwao, Rica Matsumoto, Shiho Niiyama, Masaaki Okura, Shinpachi Tsuji, Emiko Furukawa, Perfect Blue, Satoshi Kon RetrospectiveComment

Review: The Predator (2018)

Shane Black’s latest entry to the Predator franchise has Black’s trademark humour, but is undone by sloppy narrative structure and preposterous attempts at timeliness.

Review: Extraction (2020)

Extraction is just as humourless and imperialistic as most modern American action movies, but at least it has good action.

Reviews, Aren's Reviews, The Current: At HomeAren BergstromJuly 31, 2020Sam Hargrave, Joe Russo, Anthony Russo, Ande Parks, Fernando Leon Gonzalez, Chris Hemsworth, Rudhraksh Jaiswal, Randeep Hooda, Golshifteh Farahani, Pankaj Tripathi, David Harbour, Extraction, NetflixComment

Review: Ip Man 4: The Finale (2019)

The fight scenes are as impressive as ever, but the story crumbles under the weight of its propaganda messaging.

Review: The Walking Hills (1949)

John Sturges’ Western plays like a minor variation of The Treasure of the Sierra Madre (1948).

Review: Bad Education (2019)

Cory Finley’s Bad Education contains a great Hugh Jackman performance and gets at the heart of bad people who think they’re doing good.

Reviews, Aren's Reviews, The Current: At HomeAren BergstromJuly 17, 2020Cory Finley, Mike Markowsky, Hugh Jackman, Allison Janney, Geraldine Viswanathan, Alex Wolff, Rafael Casal, Stephen Spinella, Annaleigh Ashford, Ray Romano, Bad EducationComment

Review: Capone (2020)

Josh Trank’s comeback is a deeply messy deconstruction of Al Capone, featuring a bizarre Tom Hardy as the dying gangster.

Reviews, Aren's Reviews, The Current: At HomeAren BergstromJuly 14, 2020Capone, Josh Trank, Tom Hardy, Linda Cardellini, Matt Dillon, Al Sapienza, Kathrine Narducci, Noel Fisher, Kyle MacLachlanComment

Hot Docs 2020: Hong Kong Moments

An incredibly relevant doc about the Hong Kong protests.

Reviews, The Festival CircuitAnton BergstromJuly 10, 2020Hot Docs 2020Comment

Review: George Washington (2000)

Twenty years later, David Gordon Green’s debut feature George Washington remains a beautiful cinematic memory.

Overlooked and Under-Appreciated, Reviews, Aren's ReviewsAren BergstromJuly 7, 2020George Washington, David Gordon Green, Candace Evanofski, Curtis Cotton III, Donald Holden, Damian Jewan Lee, Rachael Handy, Paul Schneider, Eddie Rouse, Janet TaylorComment

Review: Tremors (1990)

Tremors’ status as cult classic and staple of cable TV is a result of its sturdy filmmaking and fun vibe.

Flash Back, Reviews, Aren's ReviewsAren BergstromJune 30, 2020Ron Underwood, Brent Maddock, S.S. Wilson, Kevin Bacon, Fred Ward, Finn Carter, Michael Gross, Reba McEntire, Victor WongComment

Review: The Harder They Fall (1956)

Humphrey Bogart’s final film is a bruising noir and a chance to watch the titan of Old Hollywood spar with Rod Steiger, another acting icon.

Overlooked and Under-Appreciated, Reviews, Aren's ReviewsAren BergstromJune 24, 2020The Harder They Fall, Mark Robson, film noir, Philip Yordan, Budd Schulberg, Humphrey Bogart, Rod Steiger, Jan Sterling, Mike Lane Comment