Fantasia 2012 Review: DEAD SUSHI
Noboru Iguchi's latest opus about revenge-seeking-man-eating sushi may not fall under the already infamous Sushi Typhoon label, but it bears many characteristics of the J-splatter studio's usual shtick: high-concept comedy that lampoons Japanese culture, manic scream acting from an ensemble... More »
By Peter K.   
  

Fantasia 2012 Review: WRONG
Quentin Dupieux's genre deconstruction effort, Rubber, from a couple years ago, left some folks scratching their head, and others critical of its 'extended comedy sketch' nature; likley then, Wrong is probably not the right film for them.  With a bigger thematic... More »
  

Fantasia 2012 Review: FUNERAL KINGS
Even though school is in session during Funeral Kings, it feels like one of those 'endless summer' movies where boys that are too young to work, and too old to hang out with their parents, find interesting and elaborate ways... More »
  

Fantasia 2012 Review: MONDOMANILA
Gutter poetry at its finest, Khavn De La Cruz's parade of humanity at its strangest in Filipino caper-doc-musical Mondomanila is not to be missed.  The slums outside of Manila are hell on earth; an unsolvable problem of poverty and the ass... More »
  

Fantasia 2012 Review: CHILDREN WHO CHASE LOST VOICES FROM DEEP BELOW
[With the very Ghibli-esque Hoshi O Ou Kodomo playing at Fantasia, we revisit Niels Matthis' review which I am inclined to almost completely agree with.]Whenever Makoto Shinkai (5 Centimeters Per Second, Hoshi no Koe) releases a new film it always feels like... More »
  

Fantasia 2012 Review: THE AMBASSADOR
Either Mads Brügger has balls the size of grapefruits or there is mondo chicanery going on in The Ambassador.  Well, it's a given that there is trickery happening, so the thing to figure out is who the trick is on: The Central... More »
  

Fantasia 2012 Review: FOR LOVE'S SAKE
The latest razzle dazzle genre mash, For Love's Sake, from the maddeningly prolific Takashi Miike tackles the high melodrama of unrequited love with a gaggle of high school seniors as they collectively pave the road to hell with good intentions... More »
  

Fantasia 2012 Review: HEADSHOT
[With Pen-ek Ratanaruang's Headshot playing Fantasia, we return to Kathie Smith's review from earlier this year]Pen-ek Ratanaruang's Headshot is an antithetical thriller that easily morphs into a subdued, slate-grey crime noir. With a striking sense of ease and control, Ratanaruang steers his eighth... More »
  

LIFF 2011: MARIANNE review
Filip Tegstedt's Marianne stretches the definition of a horror movie by quite some way; there's only one recurring supernatural element and it's left very much open to interpretation as to whether the main character is imagining the whole thing, to... More »
  

LIFF 2011: BELLFLOWER review
It's great when a director identifies with a film they've poured heart and soul into making, even more so when it's clearly pushed them to excel. Still, what are you supposed to think when it's a story about weak, contemptible... More »
  

Grimm Up North 2011: THE WICKER TREE review
If you're going to mash up horror and comedy ideally your writer or director needs to have it straight what it is the audience are supposed to be laughing at. The idea of a quiet English village hiding a pathologically... More »
  

Grimm Up North 2011: THE THEATRE BIZARRE review
Horror's pretty dumb, right, when you get down to it? Subjecting ourselves to seedy vicarious thrills when if we took pleasure in the same things in real life we'd be clinically insane. Lots of people level this argument against genre... More »
  

Grimm Up North 2011: THE WOMAN review
What you get out of Lucky McKee's The Woman, a piece of ultraviolent drama that's brilliant and infuriating by turns, is probably dependent on how serious you think the director and his writing partner, novelist Jack Ketchum are being. The... More »
  

Grimm Up North 2011: SOME GUY WHO KILLS PEOPLE review
It's not the best title, is it? Trying to sell the excellent Some Guy Who Kills People is a lot harder than it ought to be when the name makes it sound like a slacker's Film Studies final year project... More »
  

Grimm Up North 2011: RETREAT review
Carl Tibbetts' Retreat ought to be better than it is, which is not to say it doesn't have its good points. It's a solid, well-made piece of work, an impressive debut feature and boasts a name cast contributing some memorable... More »
  

ETRANGE 2011: DEAD BALL review
So is Yudai Yamaguchi's micro-budget horror-comedy Dead Ball a good film? The temptation is to say technically no... but you have to remember most people don't make the effort to watch a film where physical FX maestro Yoshihiro Nishimura is... More »
  

ETRANGE 2011: REDLINE review
What makes Takeshi Koike's Redline a work of sheer, unalloyed genius is that when you get down to it, it's simply a daft science fiction cartoon about racing cars very, very fast. Seriously, the simple premise is less a compromise... More »
  

Fantasia 2011: MORITURIS Review
~Possible spoilers ahead~"Morituris", directed by Raffaele Picchio, will always be remembered as the first slasher film to cast a crew of gladiators to do its choppings.  The film starts off with a brilliant scene: a shabby 8mm depiction of a family... More »
  

Fantasia 2011: DON'T BE AFRAID OF THE DARK Review
An eerie estate, ornately decorated stain-glass doors, spooky gothic murals and manuscripts, an overgrown and mysterious garden, a curious little girl and a host of magical fairies with a sweet tooth with children's teeth; dem's the stuff Guillermo del Toro's... More »
By Peter K.   
  

Fantasia 2011: Haunters Review
Deliriously mixing elements of Scanners and Unbreakable, with a comedic verve reminiscent of An American Werewolf in London, Kim Min-suk's Haunters is not just the best Korean genre film I have seen in years, it is a downright classic. A... More »
By Peter K.   
  
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Twitchvision: Talking STAR TREK: INTO DARKNESS, MUD and THE ICEMAN

Another Twitchvision chat with Scott Laurie, this time me gushing about J.J.'s latest Star Trek film, which I unabashedly loved.Also talked about he fabbo Mud, and the less fabbo The Iceman, both with Michael Shannon doing his thing.Video embedded below.Update: Was asked to come in today and pick a few... More »

Learning from the Masters of Cinema: Henri-Georges Clouzot's THE MURDERER LIVES AT 21

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China Beat: What did China See in IRON MAN 3?

Much has already been written, both on these pages and many others, about the landmark Hollywood-China co-production that is Marvel and DMG Entertainment's Iron Man 3. The film, directed by Shane Black, is the third solo outing for Robert Downey Jr's Tony Stark, and has proved a phenomenal success around... More »

FEAR & LOATHING AT CANNES, PART 2: I'M IN LOVE WITH EVERYBODY'S GIRL

CHAPTER 4: THE PHILOSOPHY OF ANNA KARINA AND BUTT PLUGSI'm sitting outside at a small Café that my editor told me to meet him at. I'm a 10 minute walk from the Marche Du Film convention hall and I'm still waiting for my editor to arrive so he take guide... More »

CINEMA HOLOCAUST ON THE FRENCH RIVIERA, PART 1: THOSE GOD DAMN FILM BLOGGERS

MIKE'S JOURNAL. MAY 13. MORNINGI wake up sometime around five AM. My flight to France doesn't leave until five PM. I should be there for security check in sometime around 3PM. There is no reason for me to be up this early but I'm feeling anxious. I have an itch... More »
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