Tribeca 2013 Review: FLEX IS KINGS Liberates And Enchants

Those addicted to documentaries will immediately recall David LaChappelle's 2005 film Rize once they've read the plot summary of Deidre Schoo and Michael Beach Nichols' fascinating Flex is Kings. The two films are certainly not dissimilar, but in the end,... More »
  

Tribeca 2013: Short Film Round-Up
There are plenty of features to catch during this year's Tribeca Film Festival. There are also just as many shorts. For those of you in town who can't quite decide which short film blocks to catch, and for those of... More »
  

Tribeca 2013 Review: Inside the Mind of MICHAEL H. PROFESSION: DIRECTOR
You think you know Michael Haneke? Director of such uplifting films as The Piano Teacher, Cache, and Amour? Look at that Austrian death-glower. It shrivels the soul. He's got to be one of the most humorless individuals on the planet,... More »
  

Udine 2013 Review: MARUYAMA, THE MIDDLE SCHOOLER Is A Surprisingly Endearing Comedy About Self-Fellatio
Before seeing Maruyama, The Middle Schooler, I would have said that making a two-hour comedy about a fourteen-year-old boy who's primary ambition throughout the film is to, as the omniscient narrator puts it, "to touch his own weeny with his... More »
  

Tribeca 2013 Review: FLOATING SKYSCRAPERS, The First Polish LGBT Film, A Boldly Intimate Story of Forbidden Desire
Floating Skyscrapers is described by its director Tomasz Wasilewski as the first LGBT Polish film, which makes the film itself as taboo-breaking as its main characters themselves, who struggle to assert their desires, and their right to express them, in... More »
  

Tribeca 2013 Review: HARMONY LESSONS, A Brilliantly Directed Tale of School and State Cruelty Straight Outta Kazakhstan
A village school and the surrounding area in rural Kazakhstan is the backdrop for the brutal Darwinism, of both the social variety and that found in nature, depicted in Emir Baigazin's astonishing debut feature Harmony Lessons, whose extraordinary accomplishments in... More »
  

Dallas IFF 2013 Review: BLOOD BROTHER Shines An Honest, Humorous Light On A Sad Situation
We all search for meaning, and Blood Brother shows just how one man found his calling in India. He had no pretension of this happening. He was on vacation there. He tells us he didn't even like kids that... More »
  

Dallas IFF 2013 Review: BOUNTY KILLER Is Silly, Inventive, and Better Than Many Hollywood Blockbusters
Right from the start, you'll likely know whether you want to continue down the hilarious and overly violent schlock that is part of Bounty Killer's charm. We are given a world where bounty killers--bounty hunters with the license to... More »
  

Dallas IFF 2013 Review: SANITARIUM Is So Bad It Doesn't Deserve A Clever Headline
We're told over and over again as children that if we can't say something nice, that we shouldn't say anything at all. Thankfully the realm of film criticism is immune from this rule. If I were forced to review Sanitarium... More »
By J Hurtado   
  

Dallas IFF Review: THE FUTURE Elevates Beyond Exploitation Into Something Nearly Profound
There's a way to be grossly exploitative and then there's The Future, an Italian film that has a heaping amount of female nudity and yet never feels grotesque. That it is one actresses' frame on display over and over... More »
  

Dallas IFF 2013 Review: SWEETWATER Would Go Down Better With A Bit More Sugar
Sweetwater isn't easy to enjoy. For such a spare and tight film there seems to be a lot of dead air. Part of that is because it brings together three narratives that don't mesh until nearly halfway into the... More »
  

IFFLA 2013 Review: SHIP OF THESEUS [De]Constructs Identity Biologically
The ship of Theseus, also known as Theseus' paradox, is a paradox that raises the question of whether an object which has had all its component parts replaced remains fundamentally the same object. The paradox is most notably recorded by... More »
By J Hurtado   
  

Dallas IFF 2013 Review: KON-TIKI Proves To Be Rewarding and Full of Lessons
If you take anything away from Kon-Tiki, it's how amazingly brave the pioneers of exploration were. The film revolves around a Norwegian man's obsession with proving that someone used a raft--not a sailboat or anything with the ability to... More »
  

Dallas IFF 2013 Review: THE BOUNCEBACK Thrives On Honest Awkwardness
Comedy can come from honesty, and that's The Bounceback's greatest strength. While much of the film is over the top with its antics, there's a crushing truth to the scenarios within that may hit you unexpectedly. Breakups are rarely... More »
  

IFFR 2013 Review: MIROIR MON AMOUR, Can Snow White Out-seduce Her Mother?
(It's all Sex, Lies and Fairy-tales in the "Happily Ever After"...) There certainly wasn't a shortage of films about Snow White in cinemas this past year, what with Snow White and the Huntsman, Mirror Mirror, and Blancanieves. The last of... More »
By Ard Vijn   
  

HKIFF 2013 Review: WILL YOU STILL LOVE ME TOMORROW? is a Delight
Arvin Chen follows up his excellent debut Au Revoir Taipei with this delightful story of Taipei thirtysomethings reassessing their relationships and sexuality, as the weight of familial responsibility looms. Continuing in a similar vein of light-hearted yet keenly observed romantic comedy... More »
  

ND/NF 2013 Review: BLUE CAPRICE, A Coldly Detached Observation of Two Mass Murderers
Given the devastating recent history of mass shootings in the U.S., Alexandre Moors' debut feature Blue Caprice, the opening night film of New Directors/New Films 2013, is nothing if not timely. Blue Caprice is a speculative imagining of the events... More »
  

IFFR 2013 Review: HOW TO DESCRIBE A CLOUD

(You will not see that next-to-last shot coming. Seriously, you won't...) While there are several big flashy films shown at the International Film Festival Rotterdam, the vast majority of titles tend to be low-budget affairs by newcomers. Introducing new names... More »
By Ard Vijn   
  

SXSW 2013 Review: GOOD VIBRATIONS Is The Best Punk Film Since 24 HOUR PARTY PEOPLE
Yeah. I said it: Good Vibrations is the best and truest film about punk music and culture since Michael Winterbottom's critically acclaimed look at early 80s Manchester, 24 Hour Party People. Lisa Barros D'Sa & Glenn Leyburn's new film is an absolute... More »
By J Hurtado   
  

SXSW 2013 Review: HOLY GHOST PEOPLE Sadly Slips From Scary To Silly
For the first hour or so Mitchell Altieri's Holy Ghost People is a tense backwoods thriller centered around a small charismatic Christian community somewhere in the Appalachian mountains. Once that hour is up, though, things turn a bit wacky and... More »
By J Hurtado   
  
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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 »

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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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CHAPTER ONE: THE BIGGER THE SIDEBURNS, THE BIGGER THE ASSHOLE. I've hit the big time now. I've finally made it. I'm in like Flint from here on out. I'm boarding a plane to France where I'll be attending the Cannes Film Festival for the first time.No more unpaid blogging from... More »

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