Peter Martin

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• Posted Review: THE BOX to Reviews
  As Keanu Reeves might say: "Whoa!" Deliciously bizarre, The Box, Richard Kelly's  meditation on the meaning of life, masquerades as a slow-boiling mystery thriller. Building on a slender, clever premise dreamed up by the great Richard Matheson in the short...
  November 6, 2009 1:04 AM
• Posted The Box to Movies
  November 6, 2009 12:55 AM
• Posted Review: THE FOURTH KIND to Reviews
  Sometimes too much sincerity can be a bad thing. I applaud the effort made by director Olatunde Osunsanmi to forge a new trail in depicting alien encounters in The Fourth Kind. With its extensive reenactments "based on actual case studies,"...
  November 6, 2009 12:32 AM
• Posted The Fourth Kind to Movies
  November 6, 2009 12:24 AM
• Posted MACABRE and VAMPIRE GIRL Threaten a Dallas Frightmare to News
  Ooh, I love it on those rare occasions when Asian horror invades my town! Macabre, the Indonesian slasher that just enjoyed its European premiere at Sitges, and Vampire Girl vs. Frankenstein Girl, the latest outrageously over-the-top splatter romp from the...
  October 22, 2009 9:18 PM
• Posted WHERE THE WILD THINGS ARE Review to Reviews
  Did you have a happy and secure childhood? Good for you! Spike Jonze's movie is for the rest of us, the little lonely kids who battle anger and despair and depression without ever quite knowing how to deal with those...
  October 17, 2009 2:34 PM
• Posted Betwitched by Comics: SKY PIRATES OF NEO TERRA, SHANG-CHI, BAD DOG to News
  Pretty watercolors are maybe not the best reason to buy a comic book, but that's the best reason to pick up the first issue of Sky Pirates of Neo Terra (Image), a five-issue miniseries that features lovely, lovely work by...
  October 4, 2009 10:17 PM
• Posted Fantastic Fest 09: KENNY BEGINS Review to Reviews
  One of the things I've grown to love about Fantastic Fest is their full-hearted embrace of films that might be suitable for children. I say "might" because, frankly, who knows how demented your children are? They might be killers already,...
  October 4, 2009 9:30 PM
• Posted Van Dieman's Land to Movies
  October 4, 2009 8:56 PM
• Posted Fantastic Fest 09: VAN DIEMAN'S LAND Review to Reviews
  Gripping and powerful are words that come easily to mind when describing Van Dieman's Land. Cannibalism, not so easy. Yet that's the core issue at the heart of the film, which is based on the true story of Alexander Pearce....
  October 4, 2009 8:49 PM
• Posted Whip It to Movies
  October 2, 2009 11:02 PM
• Posted WHIP IT Review to Reviews
  Smashing good fun! Drew Barrymore's directorial debut, Whip It, proves to be much more than a simple love letter to a small town girl who grows up to be a roller derby queen in the big city. Revolving around a...
  October 2, 2009 10:57 PM
• Posted Fantastic Fest 09: My Rejected Bumper to News
  If you head on over to Filmmaking Frenzy, you can see some of the amazing entries for this year's Fantastic Fest bumper contest, those truly amazing fan-made flicks that beat out some films made by famous people, as far as...
  October 1, 2009 10:34 PM
• Posted Fantastic Fest 09: LOVE EXPOSURE Review to Reviews
  Dangerously deranged and bracingly original, Sion Sono's Love Exposure skirts brilliance -- and then blows it up, exposing a raw heart and more panties than I've ever seen in a major motion picture.Describing Love Exposure as "the four-hour flick about...
  October 1, 2009 9:44 PM
• Commented on Betwitched by Comics: Unwritten, Wednesday Comics, Fearless Dawn, Olympus
  Ben: I didn't mean to overstate my concern. Issue #1 is very strong, #2 was good, it's just that #3 didn't quite live up to those first two. I guess I was hoping for a little more forward momentum in...
  July 10, 2009 11:36 PM
• Posted Betwitched by Comics: Unwritten, Wednesday Comics, Fearless Dawn, Olympus to News
  (As I continue to search for movies that haven't been covered at Twitch, I thought I'd share further observations on new and recent comic books.) The Unwritten #3 (Vertigo) is a decent transitional issue for this limited series by...
  July 10, 2009 5:28 AM
• Commented on Are you a teenage girl? Do you love Twilight? Well then this is aimed at you.
  Yuck! And it looks like the DVD is bare bones, dumping all the extras that were on the previous Anchor Bay editions....
  July 9, 2009 6:54 PM
• Posted AFFD Brings Asian Films to Dallas (Yes!) to News
  Established in 2002, the Asian Film Festival of Dallas has been rocking North Texas with quality Asian and Asian-American films ever since. I have a personal attachment to the fest, since I volunteered in a tiny, behind the scenes...
  July 9, 2009 6:28 PM
• Commented on Film Review: Mark Region's AFTER LAST SEASON
  Gee, that's not fair, Austin gets all the good ones! Good review, Rodney. I hope your jaw is not still hurting from when it hit the ground....
  June 6, 2009 6:17 PM
• Posted Away We Go to Movies
  June 5, 2009 10:05 PM
• Posted AWAY WE GO Review: Sam Mendes' Road Trip to Reviews
  Burt and Verona are a perfectly happy couple. It's everyone else who's crazy. Comfortably ensconced in a long-term relationship, bearded Burt (John Krasinski) and pregnant Verona (Maya Rudolph) are dismayed to learn that John's parents (Jeff Daniels and Catherine...
  June 5, 2009 10:05 PM
• Commented on Here Come More Dead School Girls. WHISPERING CORRIDORS Returns.
  I've only seen 'Memento Mori', which I think is a minor classic, but if they can deliver some good chills with a fresh spin or two, I'm in....
  May 12, 2009 7:57 AM
• Posted TRUE WOMEN FOR SALE Review and Trailer to Reviews
  We have a good deal of affection for Hong Kong director Herman Yau around these parts; check the "related links" below to see the views of five different Twitch writers. He first came to attention for his sensational early...
  May 4, 2009 4:54 AM
• Posted Betwitched: Free Comic Book Day (Atomic Robo, Savage Dragon, Blackest Night, and More) to News
  By all rights this should have run before Free Comic Book Day (FCBD), so I apologize for being a day late and a dollar short. (Wait a minute, these were all free!) Four of the six new issues I...
  May 4, 2009 8:18 AM
• Posted I'm So Lonesome I Could Cry (Five Films About Loneliness) to Featured
  1. In a Lonely Place (1950; d. Nicholas Ray) "I was born when she kissed me. I died when she left me. I lived a few weeks while she loved me." Not just the title, but the entire picture...
  May 2, 2009 6:24 AM
• Commented on OBSERVE AND REPORT Review
  *END SEMI-SPOILERS IN THIS COMMENT* Emmitt - I agree they were stretching for that 'Taxi Driver' vibe, but I couldn't buy that his actions toward the flasher would be applauded by everyone. In his own mind, yes, the flasher deserved...
  April 12, 2009 6:45 AM
• Posted DRAGONBALL: EVOLUTION Review to Reviews
  Dear Dragonball: Evolution Filmmakers: Even knowing nothing about the original manga by Akira Toriyama, I feel safe in saying that you, sirs, have not made a movie that deserves the name. At least, I hope not, because I cannot...
  April 12, 2009 3:29 AM
• Posted OBSERVE AND REPORT Review to Reviews
  Prowling around an anonymous shopping mall in an anonymous US city, Ronnie Barnhardt resembles an American Black Bear. As pitilessly embodied by Seth Rogen in Jody Hill's Observe and Report, Ronnie looks harmless from a distance: more fat than...
  April 12, 2009 1:20 AM
• Posted ADVENTURELAND Review to Reviews
  Having been able to see Adventureland in advance of its US theatrical opening yesterday, I've been rather lazy about posting my thoughts in a formal review. Frankly, I was led astray by the trailers and television advertising, which made...
  April 5, 2009 10:47 AM
• Posted AFI Dallas: EVANGELION 1.0: YOU ARE (NOT) ALONE Review to Reviews
  As I've admitted before (see Twitch-o-Meter linked below), I'm a new anime enthusiast, and people have been generous with their recommendations. Fellow Twitch writer Ard Vijn and commenter skout suggested I check out Neon Genesis Evangelion, which is still...
  April 5, 2009 6:34 AM
• Posted AFI Dallas: CHILDREN OF INVENTION Review to Reviews
  Note perfect in its depiction of a family slowly edging toward disaster, Tze Chun's Children of Invention balances precariously between horror story and children's fantasy. Yet it's rooted in such unassailable reality that it feels like it's taking place...
  April 1, 2009 2:38 AM
• Posted SXSW 2009: MAKE-OUT WITH VIOLENCE Review to Reviews
  A lawn sprinkler, gushing out images in an uneven stream that gradually soaked me. Make-Out with Violence defies easy categorization. Sometimes it's at war with itself, as though it doesn't quite know what it wants to be, as though...
  March 24, 2009 10:17 AM
• Posted SXSW 2009: MINE Review to Reviews
  What about the dogs? After the levees broke and flooded New Orelans in the wake of Hurricane Katrina in 2005, "leaving 80 percent of the city submerged, tens of thousands of victims clinging to rooftops, and hundreds of thousands...
  March 24, 2009 9:25 AM
• Commented on SXSW 2009: DIED YOUNG, STAYED PRETTY Review
  Oh yeah, Swarez, it's right up your alley. Then you can provide a really good poster artist's (very) informed opinion!...
  March 16, 2009 2:42 AM
• Posted SXSW 2009: DIED YOUNG, STAYED PRETTY Review to Reviews
  By certain preconceived notions, Died Young, Stayed Pretty, Eileen Yaghoobian's documentary on rock posters, shouldn't work as well as it does. It skips around merrily from city to city, artist to artist, and era to era. It hopscotches from...
  March 16, 2009 2:24 AM
• Posted SXSW 2009: NEW WORLD ORDER Review to Reviews
  By delving into the personal lives of conspiracy theorists and allowing them to speak for themselves, New World Order asks the viewer to look at them as actual human beings instead of the nutjobs they sometimes appear to be....
  March 13, 2009 10:44 AM
• Commented on Bursts of Life-Affirming Pleasure
  Thanks, folks, for the suggestions of comics and films to check out. Much appreciated. To "NinjaZeroEight": The "Twitch-O-Meter" is a weekly feature whereby Twitch writers can, if they choose to do so, get a little more personal than the usual...
  March 11, 2009 10:21 AM
• Posted Bursts of Life-Affirming Pleasure to Featured
  (Note: Introduction edited by the writer to remove excessive personal crankiness.) When times get tough, the tough go to the movies. It's always been that way, or at least it has since the invention of cinema. (Before that, man...
  March 10, 2009 2:50 PM
• Posted TWO LOVERS Review to Reviews
  James Gray is a filmmaker with exquisite sensibilities. As he has demonstrated with Little Odessa, The Yards, and We Own the Night, he has great empathy for damaged souls trapped in emotional isolation, struggling to deal with their private...
  February 13, 2009 1:01 PM
• Commented on CORALINE 3-D Review
  Our definitions and/or expectations of "creepy" may differ, Ard, but it wasn't creepy in a truly menacing, mean, or nasty way. There *are* some unsettling elements presented, without leaning on them too hard or for too long. If anything, Selick...
  February 7, 2009 12:55 AM
• Posted CORALINE 3-D Review to Reviews
  Happily and firmly planted in middle-aged bachelorhood with no children of my own, I'm the last person you should trust when it comes to recommending movies for kids, but I wish Coraline was the first movie I saw in...
  February 6, 2009 10:57 AM
• Commented on NOIR CITY 7—Eddie Muller's Introductory Remarks to THE HARDER THEY FALL
  I dearly wish I can be there, watching the series on the big screen, so I'm grateful to be able to read these notes, Michael. As it happens, I saw THE HARDER THEY FALL on TCM a day or two...
  February 3, 2009 2:33 PM
• Posted Review: TIMECRIMES to Reviews
  Timecrimes had its world premiere on opening night of Fantastic Fest in September 2007. Of the three films I saw that night, it stood head and shoulders above the others. I tapped out the following, brief thoughts on the...
  December 12, 2008 9:49 AM
• Posted Top 5 Time Travel Favorites to Featured
  [Twitch-O-Meter will remain at the top of the page for 24 hours. Please scroll down for the latest film news.] We've written quite a bit about Nacho Vigalando's Timecrimes, starting even before its world premiere at Fantastic Fest a...
  December 4, 2008 12:33 PM
• Posted DVD Review: SYNGENOR to Reviews
  While the cover of Synapse Films' recently-issued Special Edition DVD of Syngenor reminded me of Alien, the first half of the movie itself reminded me of my pre-Internet days. I'd randomly grab 3-4 videos to rent from the 99-cent...
  November 11, 2008 11:43 AM
• Posted Not Very: THE HAUNTING OF MOLLY HARTLEY Review to Reviews
  Molly Hartley suffers from hallucinations, headaches, nightmares, bad cell phone reception, an overly-protective father, an insane mother, and a director who loves SHOCK cuts. Mickey Liddell's The Haunting of Molly Hartley is too timid to dig into the deeper...
  November 1, 2008 10:10 AM
• Commented on PATTI SMITH: DREAM OF LIFE—Q&A With Patti Smith and Steven Sebring
  Thank you very much, Michael, both for framing the conversation with your personal experience and for sharing the Q&A;with an amazing woman. I was especially struck by this passage: "I was willing to starve and get TB and die in...
  October 23, 2008 10:57 PM
• Posted Review: PRIDE AND GLORY to Reviews
  Superbly modulated and thrilling in its subtle intensity, Pride and Glory admittedly doesn't break any new ground. The elements are almost numbingly familiar: a family of cops, New York's mean streets, loyalty, brotherhood, and corruption. Yet director Gavin O'Connor...
  October 22, 2008 1:37 PM
• Commented on Review: QUARANTINE
  * MAJOR SPOILER * Interesting, obiwan. I thought the ending was clear and we were just spared watching our heroine die horribly, but I can see how it could conceivably leave open the sliver of a possibility that she survives....
  October 20, 2008 11:18 PM
• Posted Review: QUARANTINE to Reviews
  Not as bad as might have been feared, American remake Quarantine delivers on the blood and guts while falling short on the nerve-jangling tension served up by [REC], the Spanish original. Given the current US theatrical horror climate, though,...
  October 20, 2008 1:11 AM