The ramblings of a wannabe cineaste. Join me as I dissect the art of storytelling in films, comics, TV shows, and video games.
O'GRADY FILM

Review: Dogra Magra
[The following review contains MINOR SPOILERS; YOU HAVE BEEN WARNED!] It would be reductive to describe Dogra Magra as a film about...
Review: In Water
In Water—the most recent exercise in minimalism from South Korean indie auteur Hong Sang-soo—is intentionally shot entirely out-of-focus....
Review: Monster (2023)
Like Akira Kurosawa’s Rashomon, Hirokazu Kore-eda’s Monster revolves around the theme of conflicting perspectives, adopting a triptych...
Review: The Mad Fox
If Bloody Spear at Mount Fuji was director Tomu Uchida’s homage to the socially conscious period dramas produced by Sadao Yamanaka...
Review: Return of Daimajin
[The following review contains MAJOR SPOILERS; YOU HAVE BEEN WARNED!] Recently, I had the pleasure of revisiting Daiei’s Daimajin. In...
Review: The Timekeepers of Eternity
[The following review contains MAJOR SPOILERS; YOU HAVE BEEN WARNED!] With The Timekeepers of Eternity, Aristotelis Maragkos accomplishes...
Review - Yokai Monsters: 100 Monsters
[The following review contains SPOILERS; YOU HAVE BEEN WARNED!] Daiei’s 100 Monsters (currently available on one of the discs in Arrow...
Review: Door
[The following review contains SPOILERS; YOU HAVE BEEN WARNED!] When I first discovered the existence of Banmei Takahashi’s Door earlier...
Review: Nightbreed
[The following review contains SPOILERS; YOU HAVE BEEN WARNED!] Contrary to what the sequels might lead you to believe, Pinhead and his...
Review: The Case of Hana & Alice
[The following review contains MAJOR SPOILERS; YOU HAVE BEEN WARNED!] There’s an old Japanese proverb that goes, “The nail that sticks...
Review: Violence Voyager
[The following review contains SPOILERS; YOU HAVE BEEN WARNED!] After finally seeing Violence Voyager for myself (having learned of its...
Review: Angel’s Egg
In the 1980s and 1990s, a lot of anime was produced exclusively for the booming home video market. Freed from the more stringent...
Review: The Town That Dreaded Sundown
[The following review contains MINOR SPOILERS; YOU HAVE BEEN WARNED!] The Town That Dreaded Sundown is essentially two different movies...
Review: One Armed Boxer
[The following review contains SPOILERS; YOU HAVE BEEN WARNED!] When I first watched Master of the Flying Guillotine back in college, I...
Review: The Housemaid (1960)
The Criterion Channel’s synopsis describes The Housemaid as a “venomous melodrama,” and it certainly earns that label; director Kim...
Review: Samurai Wolf
In Samurai Wolf, director Hideo Gosha shaves his already minimalistic chanbara formula all the way down to the bone. Although...
Review – Mondays: See You “This” Week!
[The following review contains MINOR SPOILERS; YOU HAVE BEEN WARNED!] Back in 2020, Beyond the Infinite Two Minutes—Junta Yamaguchi’s...
Review: From the End of the World
[The following review contains MINOR SPOILERS; YOU HAVE BEEN WARNED!] The opening scene of Kaz I Kiriya’s From the End of the World—an...
Review: When Morning Comes, I Feel Empty
In her brief introductory speech preceding Japan Society’s screening of When Morning Comes, I Feel Empty, director Yuho Ishibashi claimed...





















