by Sebastian Kluth
Zhang Yimou's Coming Home is a thought-provoking, slow-paced and emotionally moving drama that tells the tragic story of a family torn apart by the Cultural Revolution. The movie is surprisingly critical of China's past, takes its time to introduce the...
After a great first record, Elvenking lived a couple of changes, especially with the departure of the former singer Damnagoras that was replaced by a certain guy called Kleid that only stayed for two years. Musically, that didn't change too much. The...
As a long-time fan of Iron Maiden is was awaiting this album since almost four years, the longest gap ever between two albums of this band. When I first listened to "El Dorado" when it was published on the official website at midnight, I was one of the...
Just a look at the great cover artwork recalls the works of Judas Priest three and a half decades ago and this is also exactly the sound Riot City is going for on its debut full length effort Burn the Night. The young quartet from Calgary offers eight...
Violent Cop is the first directorial work of comedian and television host Takeshi Kitano. He wasn't even supposed to do this job but when the initially hired director pulled out of the project due to scheduling conflicts, Takeshi Kitano took over and...
Light & Shade is more than your ordinary power metal band. It's the project of four skilled musicians from Germany, Italy and the United States of America. The quartet plays power metal with heavy riffs interwoven with symphonic and progressive keyboard...
Stahlmann is a Neue Deutsche Harte band in the key of Rammstein, Oomph! and Megaherz that has been around for eleven years now. The band has released six studio records in the past nine years and has played numerous festivals. The group's work ethic is...
Vietnamese septet Black Infinity offers an entertaining mixture of melodic death and gothic metal on its debut full length record 666 Metal. The group around lead singer Nguyễn Tiến Hưng plays a broad spectrum from elegiac gothic rock ballads such as...
Greta is a very good psychological thriller that convinces with excellent actresses, gloomy atmosphere and sinister tension from start to finish. The film starts very quickly and the main plot is introduced in the first five minutes already which is a...
The Wandering Earth is a Chinese science-fiction blockbuster based upon the critically acclaimed novella of the same name by award-winning author Liu Cixin. The movie convinces with stunning visual and sound effects that bring a dystopian world to live....
Riverwood is an Egyptian quintet that plays progressive folk metal in the key of Amaseffer, Myrath and Orphaned Land. Fairytale is the quintet's debut record and already shows a lot of promise. Even though the folk sounds seem to come from keyboards,...
Hidden Agenda is an interactive game for Playstation 4 that requests the additional use of a mobile device or tablet. You will need to download an additional free PlayLink application to be able to play the game. You won't be using the regular controller....
DreadOut is an Indonesian independent survival horror game that convinces with its cultural, mythological and spiritual references, refreshingly grounded and sympathetic characters and an omnipresent gloomy atmosphere. Even though the game received average...
The thing that has always fascinated me about Korpiklaani is how easily the band combine melancholic and uplifting soundscapes. This can happen in separate songs that complement one another perfectly but also in single tracks with concise and fluid song...
After a solid but overall less convincing fifth installment, the sixth entry in the psychological horror franchise is a step in the right direction without reaching the quality of the first four movies. The film has a strong moral side as the test subject...
Tomie: The Final Chapter - Forbidden Fruit was supposed to be the last film in the franchise about the evil girl that cannot die. As we speak, four more movies have been made but it might have been a good idea to actually end the franchise on a solid...
Detective Dee: The Four Heavenly Kings is quite different from the other two entries about the modest, intellectual and clever Tang Dynasty investigator. While the first movie relies on its mysterious atmosphere and investigative techniques and the second...
Krypteria was an imaginative symphonic gothic metal band that slowly faded away in the beginning of the decade. Four of the band members joined forces for a new group called And Then She Came. The eponymous debut released two years ago was already quite...
The Hidden Fortress is an entertaining adventure film and rightfully regarded as one of Kurosawa Akira's greatest and most influential movies. The story follows two naive peasants who try to find gold during a war between the victorious Yamada clan and...
Italy's stunning doom metal quintet The Foreshadowing is back with an unusual digital single in support of the horror comic book series Paranoid Boyd. The song starts with a collage of ambient sounds and dialogues before heavy breathing leads to the actual...
Ladies and gentlemen, On the twentieth day of my trip through Atlantic Canada, I drove southwards from Corner Brook to Channel-Port aux Basques where I had to take the ferry back to Nova Scotia the next day. I continued visiting multiple places on my...
Ladies and gentlemen! On the twenty-first day of my trip through Atlantic Canada, I took the ferry from Channel-Port aux Basques, Newfoundland to North Sydney, Nova Scotia and stayed in Sydney for the night. Highlights: Walking through Sydney in the early...
Ladies and gentlemen, On the thirteenth day of my trip across Eastern Canada, I arrived in Argentia, Newfoundland and Labrador and drove all the way to the province's capital Saint John's. I immediately fell in love with the savage, isolated and colourful...
Brothers is a mixture of a historical drama and a military action movie. Based upon true events, it tells the tragic story of two brothers. The older brother protected the younger from a ruthless criminal whom he killed. He had to spend ten years in prison....
Usually, I'm not a big fan of animation movies but Isle of Dogs certainly deserves the praise it gets. I would even consider it the best animation movie since the brilliant Wall-E ten years ago. I predict this movie is going to win at least one Academy...
