★★☆☆☆ In competition at this year’s Venice, Peter Landesman’s debut film Parkland (2013) is an efficient and occasionally intriguing reconstruction of the events in Dallas following the JFK assassination of 22 November, 1963. Sadly, this Tom Hanks-produced drama really has no place in competition at a major film festival. Dr. Continue Reading
★★★★☆ Japanese animator extraordinaire and Venice favourite Hayao Miyazaki – who today announced his retirement from feature filmmaking – makes his final appearance in competition at said festival with The Wind Rises (2013), a straight biopic on the life of aviation engineer Jirô Horikoshi (Hideaki Anno), the designer of the Continue Reading
★★★☆☆ Following her 2010 revisionist western Meek’s Cutoff, Kelly Reichardt is back in competition at Venice with Night Moves (2013), an offbeat thriller about a small group of eco-terrorists who plan to blow up a dam. Josh (Jesse Eisenberg) is a worker at a communal organic farm, Dena (Dakota Fanning) Continue Reading
