Tag: top-stories
Sicario | Review
The Company of Wolves: Villeneuve’s Superb Packaging Enhances Customary Cartel Themes
There’s much to be excited about with Sicario, the latest film from Quebecois director...
Der Nachtmahr | 2015 TIFF Review
Angst von der Angst: Concept Overrides Construction in Weak Psychological Metaphor
It’s evident a majority of the artistry that went into the conceptualization of Der Nachtmahr...
Hellions | 2015 TIFF Review
Invasion of the Baby Snatchers: McDonald’s Stillborn Halloween Horror
Starting off with a customary flourish of genre staples to set the mood, we gloss over...
The Hard Stop | 2015 TIFF Review
Prior to the outrage manifested within the 'I Can't Breathe' movement in the wake of several high profile murders of unarmed black men by...
Magallanes | 2015 TIFF Review
On the Horizon of Redemption: Del Solar’s Impressive Debut a Historically Relevant Neo-Noir
The sins of the recent past infect Peruvian actor Salvador del Solar’s...
The Cut | Review
Third Cut is the Deepest: Akin’s Barren Examination of Armenian Genocide
Turkish-German director Fatih Akin concludes his decade in the making ‘Love, Death, and the...
The Ones Below | 2015 TIFF Review
Changeling Chronicles: Farr’s Eerie Debut a Duel of Deserving Motherhood
Screenwriter and playwright David Farr makes his directorial debut with The Ones Below, a psychological...
Closet Monster | 2015 TIFF Review
Epistemology of the Closet: Dunn’s Impressive Debut a Pronounced Portrait of Agitated Angst
Notable short filmmaker Stephen Dunn (Pop-up Porno, 2015) makes an impressive feature...
3000 Nights | 2015 TIFF Review
Samaritan Subterfuge: Masri’s Aggrandized Portrait of Political Metaphor
Portraits of women-in-prison have a long winding history in the annals of grindhouse and various exploitation cinema,...
The Danish Girl | 2015 TIFF Review
Danish Modern: Hooper’s Painterly Costume Drama Mounted on a Glossy Stage
Much as last year’s The Imitation Game served to honor the memory and legacy...
Urban Hymn | 2015 TIFF Review
Can a Song Save Your Life?: Caton-Jones’ Modest Return to Filmmaking
Scottish film director Michael Caton-Jones had a very prolific filmography in the 1990s thanks...
Un plus Une | 2015 TIFF Review
Passage Over India: Lelouch’s Romantic Dramedy an Overstuffed Pilgrimage
French auteur Claude Lelouch, now well into his seventies, maintains a prolific career, striding through a...
Time Out of Mind | Review
Time to Time: Moverman’s Austere Portrait of Homelessness
There’s a deliberate soul-crushing methodology to Oren Moverman’s third feature Time Out of Mind (taking its title from...
Sleeping with Other People | Review
Other People’s Mousetraps: Headland Heads to Romcom
One of the most acerbically hilarious new voices in the American indie world is writer/director Leslye Headland, whose...
Goodnight Mommy | Review
Mom Without a Face: Fiala/Franz’s Fiction Debut a Mesmerizing Slice of Psychological Horror
Once you’re made aware that Goodnight Mommy is the fictional directorial debut...
Blood Punch | Review
Blood of Your Blood: Paxson’s Comedy Horror Debut Lacks Bite
Unspooling with all the finesse of a drunken yet trenchant teenager’s expletive laden ranting at...
Exclusive: Poster Premiere for Claire Carré’s “Embers”
We've been tracking the development of Claire Carré's directorial debut since it successfully launched its Kickstarter campaign in late 2013 (it was subsequently selected as...
Dirty Weekend | Review
Afternoon Delight: Enjoyable, Downplayed Provocation from Labute
Walking into a film called Dirty Weekend knowing it’s directed by Neil Labute, an author known for his...
Coming Home | Review
Things Not Forgotten: Zhimou Returns to Period Tragedy with Middling Results
Chinese auteur Zhang Yimou, known recently for elaborate adventure films like House of Flying Daggers...
Before We Go | Review
Here We Go Again: Evans’ Nondescript Venture a Familiar Recipe of Whirlwind Romance
Love is not a many splendored thing in actor Chris Evans’ directorial...
IONCINEPHILE of the Month: Eskil Vogt’s Top Ten Films of All Time List
Have you ever wondered what are the films that inspire the next generation of visionary filmmakers? As part of our monthly IONCINEPHILE profile, we...
IONCINEPHILE of the Month: Eskil Vogt (Blind)
IONCINEMA.com’s IONCINEPHILE of the Month feature focuses on an emerging filmmaker from the world of cinema. This September, we feature a filmmaker who doesn't...
Wenders Retrospective: Until the End of the World | Review
Pray for the Wounded Planet: Wenders’ Belabored Road Trip to the Apocalypse
The troubled production and following critical ambivalence towards Wim Wenders’ 1991 film Until...
We Are Your Friends | Review
Fair Weather Daydreams: Joseph’s Debut Mixes Surprising Energy into Vapid SoCo Slush
From its familiar yet nicely edited introductory credits, to its sweaty palmed electro...
Zipper | Review
The Ballad of Franks and Beans: Stephens’ Dips Toes and Other Bits into Political Scandal
It is still very much a man’s world, or so...
The Second Mother | Review
An Other Mother: Muylaert Scores International Breakout with Class Conscious Character Study
Brazilian director Anna Muylaert gets her first crack at international renown with her...
Turbo Kid | Review
Kid Dangerous: Trio of Directors Craft Endearing 80’s Retro Flick
Operating comfortably within the lines of the well-tread grooves of genre paths explored before than...
Queen of Earth | Review
Earth Below Us: Perry’s Esoteric Puzzle of Women and Madness
What a delight to see director Alex Ross Perry continuing his delightful examinations of unlikeable...
Z for Zachariah | Review
This is the End: Zobel’s Post-Apocalyptic Love Triangle
Following the success of his galvanizingly uncomfortable 2012 film Compliance, director Craig Zobel teases his way into...
Video Interview: Producer Riel Roch Decter
It's not just the writer, director and docu lab fellows that are the long term beneficiaries of the support offered by the Sundance Institute. In this...
The Curse of Downers Grove | Review
Teenage Wasteland: Ellis & Martini Join Forces for Derivative Teen Angst
Check your expectations at the opening credits with The Curse of Downers Grove, a...
Kahlil Joseph, Robert Eggers, Patrick Brice & Celia Rowlson-Hall Part of Inaugural MEMORY Presents: Program #1
Indie producers Riel Roch Decter and Sebastian Pardo's prod company label MEMORY is sprouting a new branch in the shape of a curated traveling short...
No Escape | Review
American in Peril: Dowdle Bros. Play on Base Fears with Survival Drama
It’s unfortunate so many superficial elements are working against the objective consideration of...
6 Years | VOD Review
There’s Always Tomorrow…Maybe: Fidell Explores the Familiar Predicaments of the LTR
Director Hannah Fidell follows her 2013 debut A Teacher with concisely minded 6 Years,...
Guidance | Review
Life Coach: Mills’ Debut a Showcase for Own Multi-talents
Toronto based filmmaker Pat Mills makes his directorial debut with Guidance, a dark hearted comedy that...
Digging For Fire | Review
Dem Bones: Swanberg’s Mellow Examination of Married Life
A married couple’s weekend apart turns into the sort of mildly enterprising exploration of what happens when...
Some Kind of Beautiful | Review
Some Kind of Nonsense: Vaughan’s Unintentional Antithesis of the RomCom
Not long into Some Kind of Beautiful, the new film from director Tom Vaughan, a...
Grandma | Review
Citizen Lily: Weitz’s Character Study Homage to Iconic Lead
Since beginning his directorial career with 1999’s American Pie, Paul Weitz has hovered in an in-between...
Sinister 2 | Review
The Reusable Bughuul: Foy Marks a Franchise for Death
The only thing effectively murdered in the utterly unnecessary and awkwardly bungled sequel to Scott Derrickson’s...
Hitman: Agent 47 | Review
Hanna and Her Sisters: The Art of the Persistently Insipid Video Game Reboot
A tip of the hat to 20th Century Fox as they valiantly...
The Mend | Review
Mysteries of Miseries: Magary’s Misanthropic Glance at Troubled Brothers
There’s a perverse pleasure to be had watching John Magary’s directorial debut, The Mend, if mostly...
The Boy | Review
The Sad Seed: Macneill’s Portrait of Rural Malaise Flickers with Occasional Menace
In the cinematic landscape of evil (or at least sociopathic), children, it’s rare...
She’s Funny That Way | Review
Funny Ha-ha: Bogdanovich’s Pleasant Return to the Screwball Comedy
The buzz has been rather hushed concerning She’s Funny That Way, the return of 70s auteur...
American Ultra | Review
The Long Spliff Goodnight: Nourizadeh’s Stoner Action Flick Mixes Kooky with Convention
Comprised of a tangle of similar narrative threads spliced together from a variety...
Ivans Xtc | Retrospective for Bernard Rose at the American Cinematheque Review
Notes from Hollywoodland: Rose’s Heady, Meaningful Tolstoy Update
“It is as if I had been going downhill while I imagined I was going up,” realizes...
Amnesiac | Review
Before I Go to Steal: Polish’s Familiar, Bare Bones Genre Trick
It isn’t long after the film’s opening car crash sequence that the essence of...
The Man from U.N.C.L.E. | Review
Say Uncle: Ritchie Continues String of Studio Pastiche
In a continuation of our culture’s insistence on plumbing the depths of past artifacts from the annals...
Big Sky | Review
Wide Open Spaces: Grau’s Arid English Language Debut Misses the Mark
For his long awaited follow-up to his handsomely unsettling 2010 debut We Are What...
Prince | Review
It Takes a Muscle: De Jong’s Debut a Vibrant Entry in Familiar Genre
So perhaps there is a room for a bit of inventiveness in...
One & Two | Review
One is the Loneliest Number: Palermo Exercises Tone Over Content
Playing like the tangential origin story you’d expect to see from some rurally grown mutant...
