Tag Archives: Satire

Review in Brief: The Phoenician Scheme (2025)

Posted on December 11, 2025 by Sam S-P

“I feel very safe myself”. On the whole I think I’m much more of a fan than many others of Wes Anderson’s latest career stage where his unmistakable style has never been more prominent but he continues to experiment with … Continue reading →

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Mickey 17 (2025) Review

Posted on March 10, 2025 by Sam S-P

https://secondcutpod.substack.com/p/mickey-17-2025-review SSP

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Review in Brief: Megalopolis (2024)

Posted on February 24, 2025 by Sam S-P

MEGALOPOLIS was always going to be flawed, but after three decades of waiting it’s frankly exasperating just how basic and ill-conceived Francis Ford Coppola’s passion project has turned out to be. In a stale and surface-level satirical conceit, Coppola asks, … Continue reading →

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Review in Brief: The Substance (2024)

Posted on January 20, 2025 by Sam S-P

How do you honestly react to THE SUBSTANCE without using expletives? The commentary on sexualised imagery and aging isn’t subtle, but Coralie Fargeat’s body horror is powerful, cinematic and by turns nauseating and uncomfortably hilarious. Movie star-turned-TV fitness guru Elisabeth … Continue reading →

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‘Dr Strangelove’ at 60 – Review

Posted on September 8, 2024 by Sam S-P

https://www.thefilmagazine.com/dr-strangelove-at-60-review/ SSP

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Prone to Bouts of Mania, Narcissism and Power Failure: Watching High-Rise and Snowpiercer in 2021

Posted on June 14, 2021 by Sam S-P

https://www.thefilmagazine.com/watching-highrise-snowpiercer-2021/ SSP

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Review in Brief: Borat: Subsequent Moviefilm (2020)

Posted on October 26, 2020 by Sam S-P

Borat is the hero we all deserve right now. The world is in a tailspin and needs to take a long, hard look at itself. Now Borat is a known quantity, Sacha Baron Cohen needs help in throwing a spotlight … Continue reading →

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Review in Brief: The Platform (2019)

Posted on May 26, 2020 by Sam S-P

THE PLATFORM may feel relevant but it’s extremely obvious in its use of metaphor. One character (Zorion Eguileor) has a catchphrase, responding to every passing comment of his cell mate (Iván Massagué) with a derisive “Obviously”. “Obviously” could be this … Continue reading →

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Porco Rosso (1992) Review

Posted on April 2, 2020 by Sam S-P

https://www.thefilmagazine.com/porco-rosso-ghibli-movie-review/ SSP

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60s Review: Dr. Strangelove or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb (1964)

Posted on July 5, 2019 by Sam S-P

When author Terry Pratchett wrote about his time working as a publicist for a nuclear plant, he described how he came to realise that there’s no funnier phrase than “two completely independent failsafe systems”. The extent to which everything goes … Continue reading →

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