May Archive

The Secret of Kells (2009)

Ruth Maramis | 21 May 2013

For some reason this Irish-French-Belgian animated feature eluded me, even though it was one of the Best Animated Feature nominees in 2010. It definitely deserves such kudos!

The Reluctant Fundamentalist

Ruth Maramis | 21 May 2013

A young Pakistani man is chasing corporate success on Wall Street. He finds himself embroiled in a conflict between his American Dream, a hostage crisis, and the enduring call of his family’s homeland.

April Archive

The Croods and Zambezia: good family viewing

Ilaria Giudici | 22 April 2013

Two new animated films hold positive messages for kids and their parents.

March Archive

Three flix picks for Easter… or any other time of the year

Ruth Maramis | 27 March 2013

Just want to wish everyone a blessed Easter. Even those who aren’t believers might opt to watch some Christian-themed films this time of year, such as The Ten Commandments (should be on by now on one of the major network TV), King of Kings, Ben-Hur, The Passion of the Christ, or the animated feature The Prince of Egypt for the whole family.

Musings on Asian directors… why do so few thrive in Hollywood?

Ruth Maramis | 18 March 2013

I had just seen STOKER on Tuesday night, which inspires me to write about this post. Now, a lot of you know I was born in South East Asia but I moved to the US to go to college and has been staying here since. I feel like I need to preface this article by saying that I am actually guilty of not being familiar with Asian cinema even though my brother was into Kung Fu movies at the time (particularly the Sin Tiaw Hiap Lu series).

September Archive

Side by Side

Ruth Maramis | 06 September 2012

This is an insightful and thoughtful documentary produced and narrated by none other than Keanu Reeves. I’ve always thought that Keanu is one of those actors who are far more intelligent than meets the eye, and despite his stoic style, I quite like him as an actor and enjoyed a lot of his movies. Here he collaborated with Christopher Kenneally who previously worked with him as production manager in Henry’s Crime to direct the film. I think Keanu is the perfect person to conduct all the interviews, not only has he worked with a variety of directors in over 50 films, he’s also got that friendly, laid-back personality that would help make all the directors feel at ease discussing this hot-button issue. It’s nice to see Christopher and Keanu’s passionate curiosity on this topic as they asked some honest questions on both sides of the spectrum.

Restless Heart

Leticia Velasquez | 05 September 2012

Nearly everyone has heard about the stunning conversion of St Augustine, one of the most famous of all Christian theologians. His wisdom permeates Western Culture and Catholics are familiar with his saying, “You have made us for Thyself, O Lord, and our hearts are restless until they rest in Thee”. Yet few know the details of Augustine’s life story told in his Confessions. This is the film...

August Archive

Top five Hollywood reboots

Ronan Wright | 29 August 2012

The Dark Knight Rises proved to be a suitably emotional end to the most successful franchise reboot in cinema history and is now part of a whole sub-genre of movies keen to get in on the act. Here are my top five Hollywood reboots. What are yours?

My Movie Influence: Sense & Sensibility

Ruth Maramis | 10 August 2012

Many people have their own movies they think highly, praised and probably started seeing things differently after watching them. I’ve shared mine and I always wanted to know what others have. I asked other people which movie they think to have the best influence on them. What other possibility is there but Sense and Sensibility (1995)?

Super-hero movies: mere popcorn or Fillet Mignon?

Ronan Wright | 06 August 2012

It’s been another vintage year for the kind of overblown super-hero movie we’ve come to expect when summer rolls around. 2012 hasn’t pulled any punches. Joss Whedon’s fan favourite The Avengers ‘Hulk-smashed’ box office records and Christopher Nolan’s The Dark Knight Rises was a suitably satisfying conclusion to the iconic Batman reboot.

Ranking Christopher Nolan’s films

Ruth Maramis | 02 August 2012

As part of my Inception-countdown series, I ranked five of Christopher Nolan's movies. Well, now he's got two more under his belt, making his total of feature-length film to seven.

Five Favorite Scores from 2012 Olympics Musical Director David Arnold

Ruth Maramis | 01 August 2012

So have you been following the the Summer Olympics? It's interesting how a lot of film folks are involved in the opening/closing ceremony. British directors Danny Boyle and Stephen Daldry were tasked to conceptualize the Games' opening ceremony. Now serving as the musical director is renowned British composer David Arnold. So I thought it'd be fitting that for this week's music break, I shine the spotlight on Mr. Arnold and five of my favorite scores from his collection.

Ruby Sparks

Ruth Maramis | 01 August 2012

A novelist struggling with writer’s block finds romance in a most unusual way: by creating a female character he thinks will love him, then willing her into existence.

July Archive

Welcome to Popcorn!

Ronan Wright | 30 July 2012

MercatorNet editor Michael Cook has asked me to introduce the newest addition to the MercatorNet family (the rowdy teenager of the blogs if you like) - Popcorn. Our aim is to look at what’s going in mainstream cinema and to hopefully give Hollywood the MercatorNet treatment, so to speak, to “put a sound vision of the human person” right at the heart of the movie world.

Should we feel guilty about seeing The Dark Knight Rises?

Ronan Wright | 25 July 2012

“Following the massacre at the Batman film in Colorado, are you thinking it would be in bad taste to go and see the film yourself?” This is the question asked by BBC Radio 2’s The Jeremy Vine show on Monday afternoon as the world was absorbing the details of the tragedy that unfolded at the The Dark Knight Rises premiere in Aurora, Colorado last weekend.

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