Tag: top-stories
Oscilloscope Become Grounds & Gatekeepers for “Body”
A Slamdance Film Fest invitee and with a future Stanley Film Festival (3rd edition looks stellar) playdate locked up, Dan Berk and Robert Olsen’s well-received directorial...
A Perfect Man | 2015 COLCOA Film Festival Review
Words With Friends: Gozlan’s Stylish Noir all Amalgamated Pulp
Enjoyably anxious, director Yann Gozlan’s sophomore feature A Perfect Man (Un homme idéal) would better recall suspense...
Criterion Collection: The River | Blu-ray Review
Criterion repackages Jean Renoir’s 1951 classic The River for Blu-ray, one of the master filmmaker’s several titles in the collection (fans may recall that...
Criterion Collection: Hoop Dreams | Blu-ray Review
"This is one of the best films about American life that I have ever seen", Roger Ebert famously stated during the first of many...
Adult Beginners | Review
Arrested Development: Katz’s Debut an Affectionate Familial Dramedy
A familiar yet generally charming vehicle that impressively utilizes a pair of actors known mostly from a...
Crocodile Gennadiy | 2015 Tribeca Film Festival Review
Soviet Nostalgia: Hoover's Complex Portrait of a Ukrainian Vigilante Pastor Opens Cultural Can of Worms
Steve Hoover’s sophomore feature opens on a Ukrainian industrial landscape...
Video Interview: Denis Villeneuve (Sicario)
While some filmmakers only find out the night before, Cannes Film Festival's Thierry Frémaux informed Denis Villeneuve that he'd be part of the Main Comp...
Alex of Venice | Review
Touch of Venice: Messina’s Understated, Observational Debut
There’s much to admire in actor Chris Messina’s assured, astutely observed directorial debut, Alex of Venice. Namely its...
2014 TIFF: Maxime Giroux’s Félix et Meira
Following the Toronto International Film Festival (Contemporary World Cinema competition) world premiere (it would quickly move onto an Official Selection at the San Sebastian...
Monsters: Dark Continent | Review
This Time, It’s… Bore: Green’s Debut Piggybacks Indie Sci-Fi
Seeing as the cephalopod shaped extraterrestrials have only managed to move from conquering Mexico in Gareth...
The Reconstruction of William Zero | Review
Less Than Zero: Bush's Blend is a Well-intended but Exhaustive Piece
Drama stimulated by an identity crisis set against a science fiction backdrop poses for...
Child 44 | Review
Dirty Snow: Espinosa’s Ungainly Yet Enjoyable Soviet Era Mystery
Grazing lightly over the Soviet era politics of the period and featuring a handsome, gussied up...
The Dead Lands | Review
Dead and Buried: Fraser’s Sumptuously Filmed, Familiar Revenge Drama
Premiering at the Toronto Film Festival and snagging the distinction of representing New Zealand as the...
Roar (1981) | Review
We Bought a Zoo: Marshall’s Early Eighties Oddity Resurrected
In the annals of cinema, there are very few examples of entire film productions resulting in...
Tangerines | Review
Fruit of the Land: Urushadze’s Straightforward Anti-War Sentiment
The horrors of war are quietly examined in Tangerines, a period situational drama from Georgian director Zaza...
The Passionate Thief (1960) | Review
Miracolo!: Monicelli’s Exuberant, Digitally Restored Classic
There hasn’t been a performer that’s come close to equaling the vibrant energy of Italian actress Anna Magnani, that...
Criterion Collection: Gates of Heaven / Vernon, Florida | Blu-ray Review
Long before he developed the still controversial cinematic technique of utilizing reenactments in The Thin Blue Line or his confessional-esque straight-to-lens Interrotron which was...
True Story | Review
The Killer Beside Me: Goold’s Debut Warps Grisly Headline into Funereal Pallor
The rapidly fluctuating career of James Franco got a dramatic jumpstart with a...
Félix et Meira | Review
What’s Under the Hat?: Giroux Proposes Unorthodox Paradox
Confectioned with a what makes us different makes us the same counterargument, Maxime Giroux’s third feature is...
Broken Horses | Review
Goodbye Horses: Chopra’s Nonsensical English Language Debut
The point of Bollywood director Vidhu Vinod Chopra’s English debut Broken Horses seems lost, along with a whole...
2014 Cannes Film Festival: Ryan Gosling’s Lost River
In all my years attending the festival, the world premieres that take place in the mythic, film history-rich lieus such as the Lumiere (Main...
Kill Me Three Times | Review
Hold Me, Thrill Me, Kill Me: Stenders’ Comedy Noir a Blend of Standard Tricks
Australian filmmaker Kriv Stenders lands his highest profile project yet with...
Black Souls | Review
Now I Lay Me Down to Kill: Munzi’s Enjoyably Reserved Mafia Film
Premiering last fall at the 2014 Venice Film Festival, where it picked up...
Farah Goes Bang | Review
Impeach My Bush: Menon’s Debut a Spirited Period Road Trip
Exploring a provocative dark chapter in the voting tendencies of the United States general public...
Video Interview: Olivier Assayas – Clouds of Sils Maria
Though director Olivier Assayas' latest project, Idol's Eye, looks to have been shelved due to funding issues, his film Clouds of Sils Maria is...
Ex Machina | Review
Imitation Game: Garland’ s Compelling Debut Explores Human’s Technological Hubris
Excitingly presented and intelligently written, screenwriter Alex Garland’s directorial debut Ex Machina is certainly one...
The Harvest | Review
Harvest Home: McNaughton’s Return Yields Blighted Crop
Fans of director John McNaughton, known for his gruesome cult classic Henry: Portrait of a Serial Killer (1990),...
Boychoir | Review
The Angels' Share: Girard’s Musical Drama a Conventional Return
Quebecois filmmaker Francois Girard returns from a near decade long hiatus with Boychoir, his first cinematic...
Cut Bank | Review
The Postman Always Dies Twice: Shakman’s Noir Infused Debut Underwhelms
Seasoned television director Matt Shakman (“It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia”) makes his narrative feature debut...
52 Tuesdays | Review
Tuesday’s Child: Hyde’s Attentive Examination of Transition
Belonging to a growing number of films taking place over real time, Australian director Sophie Hyde’s directorial debut,...
Effie Gray | Review
Portrait of a Lady: Laxton’s Mannered Version of Victoria Era Repression
There’s well-meaningness to Effie Gray that makes it worthy of discussion, at least for...
5 to 7 | Review
Love in the Afternoon: Levin’s Gallic Flavored Romantic Drama Lacks Sense of Amour Fou
Writer and producer Victor Levin makes a patiently observed portrait...
Exclusive Clip: No Hero Complex in Meera Menon’s “Farah Goes Bang”
Currently in set up mode with her sophomore feature, after having premiered at the 2013 Tribeca Film Festival and winning the inaugural Nora Ephron Award,...
The Girl is in Trouble | Review
Trouble in Mind: Onah’s Homage to Neo Noir an Indie Echo of Device
In development for the past five years since it was initially announced,...
Last Knights | Review
About Last Knight: Kiriya’s Culture Club Reimagining of the Feudal System
It’s unclear for who or for what reason Japanese director Kazuaki Kiriya decided to...
Woman in Gold | Review
All that Glitters: Curtis Traps Compelling Kernel in Avalanche of Schmaltz
British television alum Simon Curtis graduated to feature filmmaking in 2011 with the incredibly...
Criterion Collection: Cries and Whispers | Blu-ray Review
Criterion repackages one of its earlier Ingmar Bergman inclusions this month, restoring his brilliant, enigmatic 1972 masterpiece Cries and Whispers for Blu-ray release. Financed...
Ned Rifle | Review
Nobody’s Fool: Hartley Concludes His Grim Trilogy
While it may be wholly unnecessary to see the two preceding films in the loosely knit Grim trilogy...
White God | Review
All Dogs Go To: Mundruczo’s Sad Trumpet Ballad an Allegory of Inhumanity
Terminology is key to deciphering the shaggy subtext of Kornel Mundruczo’s allegorical film,...
A Wolf at the Door | Review
Suffer the Children: Coimbra’s Dark Debut is an Affair to Remember
Kidnapping and abduction often make for unsettling cinematic subjects, especially when involving small children....
Marfa Girl | Review
Days Go By: Clark Returns to Apathetic Adolescence for Latest
After having won the top prize at the 2012 Rome Film Festival, controversial filmmaker Larry...
Man From Reno | Review
Reno 911: Boyle’s Indie Neo-Noir an Enjoyable Pulpy Exercise
For his fifth feature, indie filmmaker Dave Boyle pays homage to film noir tropes with his...
Serena | Review
Place Beyond the Pines: Bier’s Ungainly Period Piece Revels in Unintentional Gaffs
Danish director Susanna Bier’s second English language film, Serena, has gained a bit...
Get Hard | Review
The Harder They Fall: Cohen Takes Us Back To Racial Stereotypes of Yore
Screenwriter Etan Cohen makes his directorial debut with Get Hard, a crass,...
Exclusive Clip: Patience with Lost Patients in Dave Boyle’s “Man From Reno”
In this exclusive clip from Dave Boyle's Man From Reno, (Eleven Arts, March 27th) Pepe Serna’s character of Sheriff Paul Del Moral is to...
While We’re Young | Review
Confessions of an Aging Artist: Baumbach Humorously Reflects on Filmmaking Ethics and Middle Age
In some ways the complimentary antithesis to his last work of...
She’s Lost Control | Review
Body Talk: Marquardt’s Debut Treads Lightly Through Provocative Territory
Sexuality, prostitution, and that obscure object of desire are all tricky matters to convey cinematically. In...
La Sapienza | Review #2
Spaces Between: Green’s Controlled, Heavily Stylized Metaphor
Eugène Green is an American born filmmaker who has been steadily making foreign films over the past decade...
La Sapienza | Review #1
Style-Over-Substance in a Fancy Baroque Package
French “artiste” Eugène Green’s latest work is further evidence that his overriding career trajectory of indulgent reminiscence, has a deliberately...
Video Interview: Lisandro Alonso & Viggo Mortensen (Jauja)
Lisandro Alonso and Viggo Mortensen are oddly like magnets - figures that on one side might resist one another, yet on the opposite sides...
