Ghost In The Shell (2017)

Masamune Shirow's manga, previously brought to the big screen in 1997 as the celebrated (and confusing) anime feature, is adapted here as a cartoony live action scifi but despite whiz-bang visual effects, not much interest is generated in the story of Major Kusanagi (a wooden, stiff Scarlet Johansson), the cyborg with a human mind (or "ghost" as we are repeatedly told) tasked with investigating the assassinations of several Hank company executives.

★★☆☆☆

CINECAL: ONE SENTENCE REVIEWS

Asakusa Kid (浅草キッド) (2021)

This drama is as much about the changing face of Japanese comedy in the 70s given the advent of  "manzai" (Dean Martin- and Jerry Lewis-style comedy duo routines) appearing on burgeoning Japanese television as it is a deeply moving insight into the life of Japanese television and movie stalwart Takeshi "Beat" Kitano upon whose memoir the movie is based.

★★★★☆

CINECAL: ONE SENTENCE REVIEWS