What have you watched recently? 3D!

The Painted Bird - A shallow pastiche of a European art film. A three-hour parade of misery and suffering shot in moody black & white, detailing one young boy's brutal journey through an unnamed part of Eastern Europe during WW2. Taboos are liberally shattered as we see a series of horrific, cruel acts inflicted on adults, children and animals alike. The cinematography is nice enough, but the film can't escape the shadow of its influences. This wants to be Come & See by way of a Bela Tarr film and even some torture porn... but it's ultimately substantially less interesting than that sounds. Whole thing left me feeling emotionally cold. The film simply lacks the clarity of vision of the great films it seeks to ape.

Oddly, The Painted Bird does sort of pull itself together at the end for a few unsubtle but poetic moments that visually underscore the dehumanising effects of the atrocities the protagonist has seen, been subjected to and even committed. But it's too late for a film that aims to shock you into a response - for me it just elicited a shrug.

A Brighter Summer Day - an exquisite piece of cinematic art. Edward Yang's coming-of-age epic - one enlivened by crimes and Taiwanese history - is an exercise in wonderful patience. It's the kind of film that throws out a stunning, narrative-shattering setpiece in the middle of the film, and then . It ebbs and flows and evolves over four glorious hours. I saw Yi Yi a good few years ago and loved it, but this cements Yang as one of the greatest filmmakers to have lived.

Possession - bonkers yet impressive horror oddity, this. Everything is ramped all the ****ing way up - in particular Isabelle Adjani and Sam Neill's insane performances. The special effects are ghastly and grotesque and wonderful. Glorious late night nonsense.

Used Cars - early Robert Zemeckis joint that has aged poorly in a few regards, and aged like a fine wine in many others. The film is mostly scattershot and often crude, and a lot of jokes don't land. But it works overall due to a committed cast (playing characters who range from lovable asshole to despicable asshole) and the many moments that do stick the landing.

It's absolutely preposterous, of course - Zemeckis and Bob Gale (working together a few years before Back to the Future) reject our reality and substitute their own. None of the logic holds together whatsoever - it features arguably the most absurdist court room scene in Hollywood history, and every plot setup is flimsy as all hell. But you get swept up in the screwball energy of it all, and it's hard not to have a good time. A major setpiece where a character attempts to force bad luck upon himself in a small bar is a masterpiece of physical comedy. But it's the third act that really puts a bow on this package: a lengthy, high-stakes and large-scale race against time that commits to its innate ridiculousness with impressive gusto. A grand old time.