Cannes 2013 Review: BLUE RUIN Or, Revenge Is A Pain In The Ass
Besides the fact that I doubt we'll see a more deft, thrilling genre film this year, I'm very pleased that Jeremy Saulnier's Blue Ruin addresses a number of issues that revenge films have been overlooking for decades. For example, after... More »
  

Review: SCATTER MY ASHES AT BERGDORF'S Glories In Rare Luxury
If I whisper "Bergdorf's" in your ear and you experience a spontaneous orgasm, have I got a movie for you! Actually, calling Scatter My Ashes at Bergdorf's a "movie" would be misleading, much less labeling it a "documentary." The title... More »
  

Review: Eco-Doc ELEMENTAL Brings Global Catastrophe Down To A Personal Level
Fresh from garnering two Social Impact Media Awards (Special Jury Prize, Best Editing), Gayatri Roshan and Emmanuel Vaughan-Lee's Elemental opens May 17 in New York City with subsequent rollout to San Francisco, San Rafael, Washington D.C., Austin, Portland, Bellingham, and... More »
  

Review: FRANCES HA, Adrift In The Big City, Colorful Self-Deception Intact
Noah Baumbach has been a polarizing filmmaker since he burst onto the scene with his first high-profile feature, 2005's The Squid and the Whale. Aside from launching Jesse Eisenberg's career, that effort also familiarized the film world with Baumbach's quirky... More »
  

Review: BLACK ROCK, A Survival Thriller With Too Few Thrills
In her first directorial turn, actress Katie Aselton impressed indie audiences with her relationship comedy The Freebie. Looking to go in a completely different direction with her sophomore effort, Aselton and husband Mark Duplass worked up the outline for a... More »
  

Cannes 2013 Review: THE BLING RING Pawns Character for Coolness
It's difficult to talk much about Sofia Coppola's latest The Bling Ring without addressing this year's other cute-teens-as-criminals film Spring Breakers -- so let's just get the comparisons out of the way right off the bat. While both films... More »
  

DVD Review: HAIL Experiments, Causes Headaches
Hail is not a pleasant film - it is in fact alienating and dismisses the concept of an audience as the film is clearly not made for them. It immerses you into a mire of ugly imagery aided by scattershot... More »
  

Tribeca 2013 Review: Does MR. JONES Take Found Footage Horror To A New Dimension?
"Scott is a filmmaker in need of inspiration..." in a film whose very genre is in need of inspiration: found footage horror. The TFF festival guide bills Mr. Jones' writer/director, Karl Mueller, as someone who has "taken the found footage... More »
  

Review: I DECLARE WAR Goes To Battle With Boys And Bullying
One weekend day a number of the nerdier kids from the local middle school gather their sticks and twine and balloons filled with red dye, and head into the local woods to play capture-the-flag. Oh, those tweens today with their... More »
  

Review: WHITE FROG Cries Out For Love, Tolerance, Tenderness
Everyone grieves in their own way and in their own time. White Frog establishes a happy family before promptly destroying it. Promising and popular high school senior Chaz Young (Harry Shum Jr.) dies unexpectedly. His mother (Joan Chen) goes to... More »
  

Review: AND NOW A WORD FROM OUR SPONSOR Needs A Commercial Break
Still lean and handsome in his 50s, Bruce Greenwood has proven to be an incredibly versatile actor over a career that stretches back to the late 1970s. In many of his roles, Greenwood has exuded great intelligence, whether he's playing... More »
  

Review: HE'S WAY MORE FAMOUS THAN YOU Is Excessive, Obnoxious And Hilarious
He's Way More Famous Than You is a zany bit of fame-whore lambasting, with co-writer and star Halley Feiffer fearlessly taking aim at just about everything under the Hollywood/celebrity sun, most notably herself, and more importantly her appearance in "Noah... More »
  

Review: NO ONE LIVES Takes On A Certain Kind Of Lunatic Charm
What new stalk and slash move No One Lives does well: It gives Versus and Midnight Meat Train director Kitamura Ryuhei ample room to stage and execute a series of elaborate and gory kills. What it does poorly: Everything else.... More »
By Todd Brown   
  

Hot Docs 2013 Review: 12 O'CLOCK BOYS Is A Hell Of A Ride
It's no surprise to long term readers of my reviews that I'm kind of enamoured with David Simon's Baltimore. From Homicide: Life On The Streets, through The Corner and of course The Wire (still perhaps the best programme that has... More »
  

Hot Docs 2013 Review: AFTER TILLER Is Important, Vital Look at Late Term Abortion Doctor in US
On May 31, 2009, Doctor George Tiller was murdered while attending his regular Sunday church service. The doctor was one of a handful trained and willing to perform what are almost antiseptically referred to as "late term" abortions, the termination... More »
  

Hot Docs 2013 Review: MUSCLE SHOALS Is A Stunning, Soulful Achievement
It's a rare thing, the truly engaging music documentary. You have to have a number of things come together to make it more than just a series of clips from some music you feel palatable. The best films are those... More »
  

NYIFF 2013 Review: OONGA Is A Little Boy's Dream Made Real
No matter where you come from, children are all the same. Mischief is their main motivator, and it is everything for them to feel a part of something. When a young boy, Oonga, in a remote rural village discovers that... More »
By J Hurtado   
  

Sci-Fi London 2013 Review: VESSEL Thoughtfully Depicts The Dark Side Of Psychic Powers
The world premiere screening of Vessel did not begin well. Out-of-synch sound forced the projectionist to stop film about 10 minutes in, and delay for half an hour while a back-up copy was found (I'm used to technical problems, so... More »
  

Review: ABDUCTEE Sees Yamaguchi Thinking Outside the Box
Japanese director Yamaguchi Yudai shows signs of creative growth and maturity in this taut, well-directed chamber piece that takes place entirely within the confines of a shipping container. When middle-aged security guard Chiba awakes to find himself bound and gagged... More »
  

Tribeca 2013 Review: STAND CLEAR OF THE CLOSING DOORS Proves A Unique And Lyrical Journey On The Autistic Spectrum
Stand Clear Of The Closing Doors is one of those rare tone poems that successfully straddles the line between an abstract avalanche of emotions and images and true narrative, complete with arcs, climax, and resolution. It's the story of a... More »
  
 
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Much has already been written, both on these pages and many others, about the landmark Hollywood-China co-production that is Marvel and DMG Entertainment's Iron Man 3. The film, directed by Shane Black, is the third solo outing for Robert Downey Jr's Tony Stark, and has proved a phenomenal success around... More »

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CINEMA HOLOCAUST ON THE FRENCH RIVIERA, PART 1: THOSE GOD DAMN FILM BLOGGERS

MIKE'S JOURNAL. MAY 13. MORNINGI wake up sometime around five AM. My flight to France doesn't leave until five PM. I should be there for security check in sometime around 3PM. There is no reason for me to be up this early but I'm feeling anxious. I have an itch... More »

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CHAPTER ONE: THE BIGGER THE SIDEBURNS, THE BIGGER THE ASSHOLE. I've hit the big time now. I've finally made it. I'm in like Flint from here on out. I'm boarding a plane to France where I'll be attending the Cannes Film Festival for the first time.No more unpaid blogging from... More »

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