by Charles Webb, May 23, 2012 10:40 AM
If only the isolated village where James Watkins' The Woman In Black is set simply took the time to put up warnings in front of the imposing manner where the titular vengeful spirit swells, things might have worked out better...
by Niels Matthijs, May 23, 2012 7:37 AM
Yimou Zhang is back with a new film and once again he means business. The Flowers Of War is China's most expensive film yet and it's one of the first major Chinese films to prominently feature an American Hollywood star...
by Jason Gorber, May 22, 2012 11:13 PM
MIB3 is this big budget comic-book movie summer's sequel that nobody in particular was clamoring for. It's almost forgotten that the first Men In Black film theatrical gross nearly sextupled its original budget fifteen years ago. It reaped financial rewards...
by J Hurtado, May 22, 2012 10:05 PM
We don't get many feel good films about impoverished orphans these days. The time when Little Orphan Annie could perk us up have gone, and we're more often left with sad bastard films that wrench tears from our bodies mercilessly,...
by J Hurtado, May 22, 2012 9:15 PM
My favorite new film of 2012 has finally secured a Blu-ray release. Agneepath blew me away when I first saw it on opening night, and a week later when I took my wife along, I was even more impressed. Indian...
by Jason Gorber, May 22, 2012 4:40 PM
"Forget it Jake, it's Chinatown"They knew they had the line down when they shot it. It's given to a secondary character, but the look on Jack/Jake's face is what sells it visually. It's a kind of mantra, when you rewatch...
by Ryland Aldrich, May 22, 2012 11:11 AM
With its premier at Cannes one year on, it's hard to imagine that Andrew Dominik's KILLING THEM SOFTLY won't be compared frequently to Nicolas Winding Refn's 2011 hit DRIVE. The comparison would be apt. Both films portray a stylized,...
by Brian Clark, May 22, 2012 8:32 AM
Rust and Bone's narrative reminded me of an old-school pulpy melodrama from the 50's or 60's, the type of film where most of the narrative momentum comes not so much from cause and effect, but from traumatic stuff happening every...
by Oggs Cruz, May 22, 2012 3:39 AM
Raya Martin's The Great Cinema Party, the final third of the 2012 edition of the Jeonju Digital Project which includes new works by China's Ying Liang and Sri Lanka's Vimukthi Jayasundara, is uncharacteristically joyous. Despite starting with several minutes...
by Todd Brown, May 21, 2012 9:43 PM
[Twitch is reviewing Game Of Thrones on an episode by episode basis throughout the current season. Please note that these are being written from someone who has very deliberately NOT read the books so as to come to the...
by J Hurtado, May 21, 2012 9:40 PM
In the bonus material for Blue Underground's Blu-ray release of A Bullet for the General, there is a five minute statement from the director, Damiano Damiani, in which he repeatedly declares that his film is a satire of westerns and...
by Hugo Ozman, May 21, 2012 9:55 AM
My initial impressions of Norwegian Wood when viewed for the first time were that its pacing was too slow, the characters talked rather a lot about sex and little else, and there were some big gaps in the narrative. I...
by Niels Matthijs, May 21, 2012 7:00 AM
Isao Yukisada (Parade, Women Play Twice) may not be amongst the most famous of Japanese directors, quality-wise he's easily one of the most consistent ones I know. His output ranges from good to great, never truly peaking but never failing...
by Ryland Aldrich, May 20, 2012 5:16 PM
Guns are a-blazing in John Hillcoat's prohibition era back woods gangster flick LAWLESS. With a knockout cast lead by Tom Hardy, Shia LeBeouf, Guy Pearce, Mia Wasikowska, Jessica Chastain, and Gary Oldman, Hillcoat delivers a true crowd pleaser. While he...
by J Hurtado, May 19, 2012 11:21 PM
Criminal thinking is really the same everywhere, isn't it? Warring clans are warring clans. In some countries they wear suits, in others, they wear lungi (ankle length skirts for men which can be wrapped around the waist when needed). We...
by J Hurtado, May 19, 2012 5:42 PM
2010 seems like a lifetime away in the Sushi Typhoon universe. Mutant Girls Squad was initially finished nearly two years ago and had its premiere screening in Japan two years ago to the day before it's Blu-ray debut on US...
by Brian Clark, May 19, 2012 2:05 PM
As a stomach-churning, jet-black satire of modern culture, Brandon Cronenberg's Antiviral is a resounding success, and is directed with precision and conviction. However, for these very reasons, it's also cold, sterile and mostly void of humanity or even emotion. It's...
by Jason Gorber, May 19, 2012 11:11 AM
The last few months has seen an explosion of exceptional music documentaries. From Under African Skies to Beware of Mr. Baker, films of breadth and clarity of vision have transcended their subject matters, demonstrating unequivocaly that a music documentary need...
by Brian Clark, May 18, 2012 12:01 PM
Another year at Cannes, another polarizing film that splits audiences. Ulrich Seidl's Paradise: Love, the first in his trilogy of "paradise" films (next up is Faith followed by Hope), is a confrontational, often ugly depiction of different forms of desperation...
by Niels Matthijs, May 18, 2012 9:00 AM
What would happen if a director made a film about himself? And how would that film be affected if this director just happened to be a real multi-talented control freak? You don't need to look any further than Takeshis', Takeshi...
by Ryland Aldrich, May 18, 2012 8:17 AM
In his 2008 Cannes Grand Prix winning Gomorrah, Matteo Garrone took us deep into a crime ridden community to give an initmate taste of modern Italian society. In his follow up four years on, Garrone again plays tour guide...
by J Hurtado, May 18, 2012 8:00 AM
Anyone who follows my writing here on the site, and particularly my reviews, knows that I'm a huge history geek. I'm easily swayed by a good historical drama, and the first to stab a bad one in the eye. Bedabrata...
by Jim Tudor, May 18, 2012 1:46 AM
Double bad news for Kevin Kline: He didn't just lose a dog - he's in one! (Zing!) All geeks will forever owe Lawrence Kasdan a debt of gratitude for his Lucasfilm screenwriting legacy alone (EMPIRE, JEDI, RAIDERS). That's aside...
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by Peter Martin, May 18, 2012 12:01 AM
The perils of an all-volunteer military force have never been as apparent as in Peter Berg's Battleship, which celebrates the heroism of those who served in the past even while it denigrates the intelligence of sailors present. It makes...
by Peter Martin, May 17, 2012 9:45 PM
After a successful run on the festival circuit, Beyond the Black Rainbow begins a limited theatrical release in the U.S. on Friday. Filled with many gorgeous, perplexing wonders, the film fairly well demands that it be experienced in a...
by Todd Brown, May 17, 2012 8:59 PM
[With Lovely Molly due for limited theatrical release tomorrow, we revisit our review from the 2011 Toronto film festival.] Molly Reynolds is, in many ways, the typical American girl. A small town girl in middle America with little education, she...
by Brian Clark, May 17, 2012 5:30 PM
Lou Ye's Mystery begins with a forceful jolt: While making out and driving at the same time (during a torrential downpour, no less), some rich kids smash into a mysterious girl as she stumbles around in the middle of the...
by Peter Gutierrez, May 17, 2012 5:00 PM
In case you didn't notice, there's a big problem with most film books, especially those that purport to provide a handy yet comprehensive overview of the medium's high points and key elements: they're boring.That's not to say that some of...
by Jason Gorber, May 17, 2012 3:58 PM
There are only a few directors in the history of cinema that have manged to craft, even from their earliest works, a consistent, signature style. Most fimmakers adjust in major ways project to project. Others seem content (some may claim...
by Jason Gorber, May 17, 2012 11:10 AM
Hysteria is one of those delightful, ribald-yet-accessible Brit comedies like The Full Monty. It's salacious enough to be interesting, yet accessible enough that only the most prudish will be offended. Not bad, then, that the film takes as its subject...
The Illusionist
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