★★★☆☆ On the crossroad between a martial arts epic and a spirituality-rich melodrama comes Benny Chan’s Shaolin (2011), starring Andy Lau, Nicholas Tse, Bingbing Fan and Jackie Chan. Lau and Tse go head-to-head in a story about one man’s redemption and journey to forgiveness through Zen philosophy during China’s age Continue Reading
★★☆☆☆ Directed by Hal Ashby, written by Oliver Stone and starring the Dude himself, Jeff Bridges, 8 Million Ways to Die (1986) should equate to a thrilling, yet touching tale of a cop gone rogue, but instead feels more like an extended late night version of Magnum, P.I. Bridges plays Continue Reading
★★★☆☆ To coincide with the DVD release of his sophomore effort Heartbeats (2010) comes the re-issue of Xavier Dolan’s breakthrough film I Killed My Mother (2009) a deeply personal story of teen angst and the explosive relationship between a son and his overbearing mother, starring Anne Dorval, Dolan himself, François Continue Reading
★★★☆☆ French-Canadian writer, actor and director Xavier Dolan took the festival circuit by storm back in 2009 with I Killed My Mother (also rereleased on DVD this week). This promising debut quickly stapled his name onto every up-and-coming director list around. Heartbeats (2010) is Dolan’s sophomore effort and once again Continue Reading
★★★★☆ “The circus is tough and beautiful” says Tino, the ringmaster and central character of Aaron Schock’s documentary Circo (2010), charting the ups and downs of a Mexican troupe. One could say the same of Schock’s film. The film follows the Ponce clan, who have worked in the circus for Continue Reading
★★☆☆☆ Third Star (2010) is a film which had great potential as a showcase for British talent, starring Tinker Tailor Solider Spy’s (2011) Benedict Cumberbatch, JJ Feild and Downton Abbey’s Hugh Bonneville. This is the first feature for Hattie Dalton, better known for her award-winning BAFTA shorts and work on Continue Reading
★★★★☆ This week sees the Blu-ray rerelease of Peter Jackson’s fourth New Zealand-based feature Heavenly Creatures (1994), starring Kate Winslet and Melanie Lynskey. The film is based upon the Hulme-Parker murder case that shocked Christchurch, New Zealand in 1954. Two young girls – Pauline Parker and Juliet Hulme (Winslet) – Continue Reading
★★★☆☆ A revisit to the haunted house genre of old, Insidious’ (2010) theatrical release earlier this year was met with high expectations with James Wan (Saw) and Oren Peli (Paranormal Activity) sharing direction and production credits. Their mesh of claustrophobic dread and supernatural horror certainly delivers the jumps you’d expect, Continue Reading
★★☆☆☆ Spanish filmmaker Guillermo del Toro appears to have a lot of spare time on his hands at present. After ducking out of the director’s seat for the upcoming The Hobbit films (with Peter Jackson stepping in), del Toro seems to have taken it upon himself to single-handedly promote every Continue Reading
