Un Prophète is a grueling experience that will keep you utterly gripped throughout its epic 155-minute runtime. Un Prophete Directed by Jacques Audiard Director Jacques Audiard is carving quite a career as one of the most searingly talented French auteurs working today. Cresting on the wave of a number of well-received, robust Parisian thrillers including Read …

Crazy Heart is at its absolute best when watching Bridges run wild with his cantankerous old country legend. Crazy Heart Directed by Scott Cooper If you are of the opinion that Jeff Bridges is one of our most precious natural resources and that contemporary country music is a creative wasteland, Crazy Heart may just be …

It’s a new year and a new decade. Here’s looking forward to a prosperous decade of cinema. Will it known for a slew of sequels and comic book adaptations and funny cat videos like the 00’s were? Or will it be known for groundbreaking and socially relevant cinema like the 70s? There’s a glimmer of …

Well, Sony has found its new director for the Spider-Man reboot.  Just last week, it was announced that Sam Raimi was giving up ties to the Web-slinger franchise, and this week Marc Webb steps into the director’s chair. The aptly named Webb issued this statement: “This is a dream come true and I couldn’t be …

bills itself as a low-budget film bent on entertaining audiences… Daybreakers Directed by Michael and Peter Spierig Over the years several pairs of brothers have directed high-grossing, successful Hollywood films. Notable duos include the Cohen’s, the Wachowski’s, the Hughes’ and the Farrelly’s. However, the Spierig brothers from Australia will never, ever be on that list. …

There’s no Al Gore-style proselytizing here, just two 30-something Brits who are determined to become the first carbon neutral, vegetarian, organic team to reach the North Pole “unsupported”. Beyond The Pole Directed by David L Williams “Don’t be impotent. Be important!” Tackling climate change might not seem like an obvious subject for a comedy – …

On balance, Borut’s charming narration, the background footage, and the remarkable nature of the undertaking itself mean that this is a film worth seeing, even if it fails to match the ambition of the man at its centre. Big River Man Directed by John Maringouin He’s an overweight 53-year-old man who used to be a …

Deadline Hollywood dropped a bomb today on anyone eagerly anticipating Spider-Man 4. According to insider reports, Sam Raimi has officially abandoned the Spider-Man franchise. Production has been delayed over disagreements about the script for months now, and the announcement came through the grapevine earlier today that Raimi has pulled out of the project altogether. Unconvinced …

Three weeks. That’s all it took for director James Cameron’s 3D spectacle Avatar to become the second-highest grossing film in worldwide box-office history. And we didn’t really like it all that much. Clearly, we’re in the minority. But regardless of our reticence to embrace a Pocahontas video game, what does this mean for Hollywood? Is …

Tragically, there’s ample evidence onscreen of Jackson’s love for the material, but he brings to the table none of the qualities that made Creatures – another drama surrounding pubescent girls and grisly acts – such a startling breakthrough. The Lovely Bones Directed by Peter Jackson At this point, Peter Jackson probably isn’t the sort of …

10. I AM LEGEND (2007) A desolate New York shelters Robert Neville (Will Smith) as the last survivor after the destruction and spread of a man made virus that destroys humanity. The setup is pure sci-fi fare. Neville, immune to the virus, roams the land in search of survivors, but comes across mutants of the …

What really impresses is the way the script, co-written by Ford and David Scearce, sidesteps the maudlin and the pretentious to show us how ridiculous we can be, even in our darkest moments. – A Single Man Directed by Tom Ford With fashion supremo Tom Ford at the helm, the very least you’d expect from …

10- Donnie Darko (2001) Directed by Richard Kelly Although Donnie Darko was removed from the big screen after a few weeks, it never disappeared. Thrown away by its distributor it ended up finding its audience on home video and at midnight screenings. Recurrent chats on the Internet indicated a rapidly growing fan base for the …

This weekend’s box office take on the soaringly popular James Cameron directed Avatar came to an “estimated $68.3 million in the States during it’s third weekend out, destroying the previous record of $45 million set by Spider-Man 3.” Astonishingly, “This weekend’s box office total of $68.3 million will be almost $30 million larger than the all-time …

Hulks, high-flyers and web-slingers – it was a decade dominated by superheroes of all shapes, sizes and hues. And in the unlikely event that Batman, Superman or Iron Man failed to wow you at the box office, there were brooding, muscle-bound guys with cool gadgets (Bourne and Bond); a precocious young wizard (Harry Potter); and …

Haunting, despite often being drenched in southern Australian sunlight, and that is in no small part to the understated performances within… Picnic at Hanging Rock (1975) Directed by Peter Weir Australia – 107 min. Color Criterion Collection #29. Hanging Rock is an actual place, an actual rock as it were, situated in the southwestern part …

25- Mulholland Dr. (2001) Directed by David Lynch Genre: Thriller / Mystery David Lynch delivers yet again with this brilliant, biting, hysterical, and haunting ode to Hollywood. A movie in which the pieces add up to much more than the whole and the solution to the mystery, once realized, is remarkably rewarding. Mulholland Dr. split …

I want to highlight some of the most criminally underseen films of 2009. Most are without any American distribution and others may just get small (and potentially unnoticeable) releases next year. It’s quite sad that many of these movies will never have the opportunity to find an audience. There is word of mouth potential for …

I judge the efficiency of a documentary based on two things: its ability to inform in an interesting way, and its long-lasting effect. If I am still thinking about it a week later, then it’s passed the test. Based on those criteria, here are my top 10 documentaries of the decade. 1- Children Underground (2001) …

According to Variety magazine, director Emir Kusturica (When Father was Away on Business) is hoping to cast Johnny Depp in the role of Poncho Villa in his next film Seven Friends of Poncho Villa and the Woman with Six Fingers. The two have already collaborated in 1993’s Arizona Dream. The negotiations to cast Depp have …

39- The Royal Tenenbaums (2001) Directed by Wes Anderson Genre: Dark Comedy, Family Drama Wes Anderson’s fairy tale of a New York dysfunctional family is a wonderful, quirky, offbeat comedy-drama with the right mix of humor and poignancy. Never sentimental or predictable The Royal Tenenbaums proves that Wes Anderson remains one of the truly original …

Undertones: Volume 8 As we approach the end of the decade, it seems fitting that this installment of Undertones concern itself with some of the most memorable film scores of the ‘00s. Though the films range in financial or critical success, and opinions may be divided as to the strength of some of the films …

49- District 9 (2009) Directed by Neill Blomkamp Genre: Sci-fi District 9 is an allegory for our time, bursting with contemporary themes such as oppression, greed, power and propaganda and while the metaphor itself is pretty clear, Blomkamp goes for the visceral quality of the images and situations proving that sci-fi thrillers don’t have to …