JAPAN CUTS 2011: INTO THE WHITE NIGHT Review

TCR 01:15:47:04Into The White Night is a good film. Too bad I had to watch a non-anamorphic screener with a time code running across the top and the wordSAMPLEstamped smack dab in the center of the frame. Call me a... More »

By Joshua Chaplinsky

Japan Cuts 2011: VENGEANCE CAN WAIT Review

It's been a couple of days since I checked out the Masanori Tominaga-directed oddball comedy Vengeance Can Wait, and I'm still not sure how I feel about it. It features a quartet of characters, each of who with wildly varying... More »

By Charles Webb

JAPAN CUTS 2011 - A NIGHT IN NUDE: SALVATION Review

So... apparently A Night In Nude: Salvation is a sequel. I had no idea. It isn't being billed as one, at least not on the Japan Society website, yet somehow the rest of the internet seems to know what I... More »

By Joshua Chaplinsky

Japan Cuts 2011: LOVE AND TREACHERY Review

Love and Treachery is an erotic drama that considers its characters at such a distance that we can't really get a feel for either of the modes the movie is going for. The performances are so stiff, so emotionally opaque,... More »

By Charles Webb

Japan Cuts 2011: THE SEASIDE MOTEL Review [Charles' Take]

I'll warn you advance: I have almost nothing positive to say about The Seaside Motel, the jumbled chronology anthology from director Kentaro Moriya, based on the manga by Yukio Okada. It's not an offensively bad movie in any real way--instead... More »

By Charles Webb

Japan Cuts 2011: TOILET Review

Naoko Ogigami's dysfunctional family dramedy Toilet is just slightly on the wrong side of twee and it's certain to turn a certain segment of the audience off, with its quirky collection of agoraphobics, socially awkward man-children, and snooty poets. This... More »

By Charles Webb

JAPAN CUTS 2011: BIRTHRIGHT (AKA UMBILICAL CORD) Review

Birthright, aka Umbilical Cord, is a deliberately paced psycho-drama about family, rejection and revenge. They say revenge is a dish best served cold, which, coincidentally, happens to be the best way to go into this film. Not because it's a... More »

By Joshua Chaplinsky

Japan Cuts 2011: SWORD OF DESPERATION Review

If you're a fan of chanbara dramas--those sensitive, occasionally weepy samurai films that pop up every year or so--then you've probably already seen director Hideyuki Hirayama' Sword of Desperation. Well, if not the actual film, then some configuration of it... More »

By Charles Webb

Japan Cuts 2011: LOVE & LOATHING AND LULU & AYANO

It's interesting to note that that the director of the (anti-?) porn drama Love & Loathing & Lulu & Ayano, Hisayasu Satō, is himself a director of pink films. Since 1985, he's directed a couple dozen films in the exploitation... More »

By Charles Webb

Leading Voices in Global Cinema

Todd Brown, Founder & Editor Toronto
Peter Martin, Managing Editor Dallas
Ryland Aldrich, Festivals Editor Los Angeles
James Marsh, Asian Editor Hong Kong
Brian Clark, European Editor Paris

FEAR & LOATHING AT CANNES, PART 3: EVERYTHING IS WONDERFUL AND I'M TRIPPING BALLS

CHAPTER 6: THERE'S NOTHING MORE BEAUTIFUL THAN A PURPLE BEACH SMOTHERED IN MELTING TROMMETTES DURING A CRIMSON TINGED SUNSET ON THE FRENCH RIVERIA, HOLY SHIT I'M TRIPPING MY FUCKING FACE OFF.It's night. When the fuck did it become night? I'm naked. Where the fuck did my clothes go? I'm on... More »

Destroy All Monsters: I Think We've Been This Way Before, Mr. Spock

They can remember it for you wholesale, and they do. At some point, we licensed our pop cultural nostalgia to a handful of multinational conglomerates (well, to be fair, they always owned the licenses) and now they're selling them back to us - though, I guess, not at wholesale, but... More »

Interview: Twitch Talks to HANGOVER III's Ken Jeong

Ken Jeong may often play a lunatic on both big and small screen, but in person it's quite disarming to see just how calm and considerate he comes across. While he got his big screen start in Judd Apatow's Knocked Up, Jeong's real breakthrough was taking a small-on-paper role... More »

Hollywood Beat: Notes On Cutting The Cord And NBC's Genre Programs

I cut the cable cord last year, but I'm not always happy about it. I had to wait a year before seeing Season 2 of Game of Thrones, for example, and will have to wait to see Season 3 until next year. I only have to wait to see Mad... More »

Twitchvision: Talking STAR TREK: INTO DARKNESS, MUD and THE ICEMAN

Another Twitchvision chat with Scott Laurie, this time me gushing about J.J.'s latest Star Trek film, which I unabashedly loved.Also talked about he fabbo Mud, and the less fabbo The Iceman, both with Michael Shannon doing his thing.Video embedded below.Update: Was asked to come in today and pick a few... More »