Ard Vijn
Rotterdam, The Netherlands

Ard joined Twitch in November 2006, promising Todd to share information about the Dutch film industry. Instead, he focuses on Asian cinema and Japanese animation in particular. Once every year he nearly becomes the writer he so desperately wants to be and that is during the International Film Festival Rotterdam. He juggles his time between his wife and two sons, films, and a career-on-the-side as a financial analyst.

IFFR 2013 Review: FRANKENSTEIN'S ARMY Is Out To Get You
This is the kind of film where "tripping over your own legs" doesn't necessarily mean they're still attached... Richard Raaphorst's debut feature film Frankenstein's Army has its world premiere today at the International Film Festival Rotterdam. And it's about time:... More »
By Ard Vijn   
  

IFFR 2013 Full Schedule Released
The International Film Festival Rotterdam (IFFR for short) has released its full schedule and started up its online ticket selling for the so-called "Tiger friends," regular visitors with discount passes. The full list can be browsed here and contains many... More »
By Ard Vijn   
  

Ard Vijn Wonders If His Best-Of List For 2012 Will Even Reach Ten...
Like many of the people here at Twitch I love making a Top-10 list, but now that I sit down to do so and actually look back upon 2012, I notice I haven't actually seen all that many films. Huh...... More »
By Ard Vijn   
  

UK Blu-ray Review: MY NEIGHBOUR TOTORO Will Cuddle You And Make You Feel Warm Inside
(The quite possibly best film of all time, now quite possibly looks better than ever!) Here at Twitch it's party time whenever Studio Ghibli releases titles from their back catalogue on Blu-ray. So far these releases have been stellar, English-friendly... More »
By Ard Vijn   
  

Gerry Anderson (THUNDERBIRDS, SPACE 1999) Is Gone
Sad news yesterday, as UK newspaper The Guardian published confirmation that legendary animator and series creator Gerry Anderson has died at the age of 83. In the 60s, Gerry Anderson was responsible for several famous science fiction puppet series like... More »
By Ard Vijn   
  

DVD and Blu-ray Review: SHIKI Aims to Creep You Out With An Army of Bloodsuckers
(Brief description: it's like Stephen King's Salem's Lot done as an anime, but done BLOODY well!!) Both Funimation in the US and Siren Visual in Australia have recently released Shiki on Blu-ray and DVD. Here in Europe, Manga UK is... More »
By Ard Vijn   
  

Have Your Say: What Are You Eagerly Anticipating In 2013?
How time flies! Soon, this very site will be rife again with end-of-year top 10 lists, looking back at the entirety of 2012. Being a lists sort of person (and I know there are more of us here at Twitch... More »
By Ard Vijn   
  

DVD Review: THERMÆ ROMÆ, The Animæ.
(Are time-travelling hot-tubs a new general topic for comedies?) Before Evangelion: 3.0 You Can (Not) Redo broke records a few weeks back, the most successful Japanese film was Thermæ Romæ, a ribald and silly live-action comedy about bathing habits which... More »
By Ard Vijn   
  

EVANGELION 3.0 Breaks Box-Office Records
It might be one of the seven signs of the upcoming apocalypse, but after much anticipation, speculation and trepidation the third title in the current Evangelion reboot actually premiered this weekend in Japan. Named (ironically) Evangelion 3.0: You Can (Not)... More »
By Ard Vijn   
  

DVD Review: BLACK ROCK SHOOTER Is Twee, Goth And Awesome
(Do Schoolgirls Dream of Apocalyptic Amazons?) For lovers of Japanese animation it pays to keep track of those series which are being broadcast in Fuji TV's famous noitaminA slot. In general these will be aimed at a more mature audience... More »
By Ard Vijn   
  

Have Your Say: SKYFALL Spoiled?
(Hi Mr. Bond, you're about to get screwed...) The teaser trailers of several James Bond movies in the past featured the tagline "Bond Is Back", yet for few it would be so fitting a sentence as it is for Skyfall.... More »
By Ard Vijn   
  

Opening: SKYFALL Reaches High, Yet Stumbles

Some two weeks after opening in much of the civilised world (i.e. Europe), Skyfall will finally be unleashed in North America tomorrow, Friday, November 9. Advance word -- including a review by our European Editor, Brian Clark -- has been... More »
By Ard Vijn   
  

Review: THE MARATHON Takes Its Characters And Runs With Them
(You don't need to train for six months to watch this film...) There sure is no shortage of films about a group of underdogs who participate in a seemingly impossible sports event and manage to get farther than expected. It's... More »
By Ard Vijn   
  

Camera Japan 2012 Review: PUPPY OLDMAN
(It's a coming-of-age film featuring people who have already aged...) This year the Camera Japan film festival in Rotterdam had food as its main theme, but not all films in the programme focused mainly on that subject. Still, most films... More »
By Ard Vijn   
  

PANTY AND STOCKING WITH GARTERBELT, Now With Holes and Runs Fixed!
Back in august I reviewed the Manga UK DVD release of Panty and Stocking with Garterbelt, the cheeky and VERY funny Japanese animation series about two angels stuck on Earth who have to use their transforming undergarments to fight demons.... More »
By Ard Vijn   
  

Rest in Peace, Sylvia Kristel
Sad news: earlier this week, the Dutch actress Sylvia Kristel died of cancer at the early age of sixty. While she has been a supporting actress in many mainstream films of the seventies and eighties, by far her most famous... More »
By Ard Vijn   
  

Camera Japan 2012 Review: JAPANESE SALARYMAN NEO
(I'm too sexy for this beer...) This year, the Dutch traveling film festival called Camera Japan had "food" as its main theme. Earlier this month the festival started in Rotterdam and there was Japanese pub food served, there was a... More »
By Ard Vijn   
  

Blu-ray Review: Shinya Tsukamoto's KOTOKO
Third Window Films is releasing Shinya Tsukamoto's psychological thriller Kotoko on Blu-ray and DVD this week. I reviewed this title when it played at the International Film Festival Rotterdam earlier this year, so my opinion of the film itself has... More »
By Ard Vijn   
  

Twitch in Bondage: Licensed to Drive
The James Bond films are nothing if not prone to expectations and formulas. Going into the cinema you expect to be thrilled, to see some spectacular action, some beautiful women, a halfway interesting villain, some funny gadgets, a cool car,... More »
By Ard Vijn   
  

DARK BLOOD: A Caustic Yet Warm Q&A With Director George Sluizer
At the end of each screening of Dark Blood - River Phoenix's final film, unfinished from the actor's untimely death until now - at the Dutch Film Festival in Utrecht, director George Sluizer got on-stage to tell a bit about... More »
By Ard Vijn   
  
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