From Hong Kong we have Ho-Cheung’s DREAM HOME, an unbelievably brutal, imaginative horror film. CLASH (Bay Rong) is Vietnam’s Le Thanh Son’s high-speed martial arts movie set to an epic soundtrack. Brillante Mendoza’s latest LOLA paints a really touching portrait of two older women in the impoverished Philippines who are grieving their grandsons, one murdered, …
Characters in this year’s selection of horror films are all faced with confronting an overwhelming and insatiable evil urge, either within themselves or another. Find out what happens when a young successful woman loses the house of her dreams, and consequentially her sanity in DREAM HOME. Viewers of OPEN HOUSE witness a man struggling between …
Cult Cinema : Volume 1 Religion is a beautiful thing. Provided you’re a Paleolithic savage who needs fairy tales and a lumpy fertility idol in the shape of a BBW centerfold to explain where babies come from. Anyone else still believing in magic and wizards should read a book that wasn’t written before humanity invented …
A conversation with Gerard Johnson By Nick Martin Movies about serial killers have an odd niche in our cultural lexicon. A sub-genre that was first embraced by cult filmists now walks a fine line between obscurity and mainstream. Films such as Jonathan Demme’s Silence of the Lambs and David Fincher’s Se7en seem to strike an …
100- Morvern Callar (2003) Directed by Lynne Ramsay Genre: Drama On Christmas Day, Morvern finds her boyfriend dead and a note on a computer telling her to be brave and to sell his novel. She does, but only after pocketing the funeral money and claiming the book’s authorship. Morvern Callar is assured and confidently-made while …
90- Happy-Go-Lucky (2008) Directed by Mike Leigh Genre: Comedy / Drama In a shift away from his usual exploration of the dark and dreary, director Mike Leigh takes a lighter look at life with Happy-Go-Lucky. Sally Hawkins is a comic revelation as the lead character Poppy, delivering a nervy, utterly captivating tour de force performance. …
On April 9, 2010 at 2:15pm, I stepped into my local movie theater to culminate my goal of watching 365 movies I have never seen before within the time frame of an entire year. I have accomplished my goal in 328 days from when I first started on May 17, 2009. It’s been a pretty …
While the soundtrack to The Runaways may not be revelational, it, like the film, provides a satisfactory, if somewhat fast-paced, dip into ’70s sleaze-rock. In a film that focuses women trying to make their way in what was essentially a man’s world, it seems a bit odd that only Suzi Quatro gets top billing on …
Poultrygeist Directed by Lloyd Kaufman When I was younger, I used to eat a lot of McDonalds. I had it so often, they knew me by the sound of my voice at the drive through. I loved me some big macs. I also loved some chicken nuggets, double cheeseburgers and all other varieties of value …
Get Low Directed by Aaron Schneider After the screening for director Aaron Schneider’s debut film, most of the audience questions were some variation of “Who are you and how the hell did you swing Robert Duvall, Sissy Spacek, and Bill Murray?” The answer, though, seems clear enough after seeing the picture. Get Low, the story of an infamous hermit …
For some moviegoers a revealing moment always has to involve people taking off their clothes. In fact, they only want to watch the kind of films that involve the rapid shedding of any and all garments, followed by pretty much wall-to-wall nakedness. Plot, dialogue and artistic considerations are all of minor importance. Well, I’ll admit …
Cyrus Directed by Jay and Mark Duplass The Austin based Duplass brothers made a name for themselves as vanguards of the mumblecore movement–a movement in film which emphasized uber-tiny budgets and naturalistic acting. Their first two features, The Puffy Chair and Baghead, drew immense, if hesitant, praise from festivals like SXSW, and skyrocketed them to …
110- Headless Women (2009) Directed by Lucrecia Martel Genre: Thriller This masterly, disturbing and deeply mysterious film is an astounding portrait of a person entirely out of sync with her own existence. Headless Woman doesn’t fit neatly into a clear storyline, and will frustrate most viewers, but after just three features Lucrecia Martel has firmly …
“…the ultimate relationship between the Director, his camera and his star.” You can imagine why I was apprehensive at first when delivered Warning!!! Pedophile Released and Amateur Porn Star Killer from Cinema Epoch. Justifiably worried that when entered into any web search engine, my name would now turn out Warning! Pedophile Released and Amateur Porn …
“MacGruber hits its action beats with a commendably straight face, and it has more in common, structurally, with its satirical influences than its short-form source material..” MacGruber Directed by Jorma Taccone – Though MacGruber achieved the great honor of being the least memorable film at SXSW, that speaks more to the nature of the film …
Tiny Furniture Directed by Lena Dunham Before reviewing this film, I should provide a disclaimer: I am a recent college graduate, I majored in art, and I’m still, you know, figuring things out. Disclaimer aside, I really, really enjoyed Lena Dunham’s new film about the difficulties of being a new college graduate with an unsteady handle …
“an adequate addition to the Iraq War films sub-genre, but unfortunately not a particularly memorable one” Green Zone Directed by Paul Greengrass The combat film has a tradition in American cinema almost as storied as the Western. Like many genres of the time, the war film transformed in the 1970’s to compensate for the negative …
120- The Cove (2009) Directed by Louie Psihoyos Genre: Documentary Winner of the best documentary at this years Academy Awards, The Cove is an astounding piece of investigative journalism that plays out like a heist movie. It is overwhelming, compelling and will set your heart racing, while never overshadowing its message. Documentaries don’t get more …
Don’t Worry About Me Directed by David Morrissey British actor David Morrissey has had his share of highs and lows. With starring roles in acclaimed TV series like Holding On, State of Play and Blackpool, he had Doctor Who fans talking up his chances of replacing David Tennant in the iconic role that eventually went …
The Jury and Audience Award-winners of the South by Southwest (SXSW) Film Conference and Festival were announced at the Festival’s closing Awards Ceremony hosted by comedian Eugene Mirman in Austin, Texas. Feature Films receiving Jury Awards were selected from the Narrative Feature and Documentary Feature categories. Films in these categories, as well as the Spotlight …
Marwencol Directed by Jeff Malmberg One of the more downright inspirational films here is Marwencol, the story of accidental artist Mark Hogencamp. After being targeted and beaten outside of a club one night, Hogencamp came out of a coma with severe physical and mental damage. His personal attempt at recuperation was to construct a 1/6th scale reproduction of a small …
The film is never preachy, and whatever your stance on America’s “War on Drugs,” this film is an astounding and essential peak at some of its main players. Dirty Pictures Etienne Sauret Etienne Sauret’s new documentary, largely focused on the life of underground hero Sasha Shulgin and his wife, Ann, is an engrossing film and is …
“Enter The Void explores the contours of reality and screen representation, seemingly probing the very nature of existence. Its final, transcendent moments summate a unique experience and achievement, albeit one not for the faint-hearted or easily offended.” Enter The Void Directed by Gasper Noé Ever since the notorious Irreversible prompted the dubious honor of causing …