The best parts of this decent Hollywood-style samurai epic are the heart-to-heart conversations between Tom Cruise and Ken Watanabe, backed by a lush, emotional score by Hans Zimmer.
An elegy to the demise of the ‘cinema’—both films and spaces—of the 20th century as we had experienced it, all to the pedestrian if oddly haunting pacing of Tsai’s delicate craft.
The film combines drama and comedy effectively in a largely engaging piece about how sociopolitics can affect the personal in absurd ways.
One of the highest peaks of contemporary K-horror, this is a precise and complexly-layered piece of filmmaking, marked by unbearable suspense, effectively creepy scares and a poignant backstory.
Continue reading →Im Sang-soo fashions a sexually-explicit drama about a disintegrating family that doesn’t quite work in a meaningful way, but its playful nature might prove charming for less demanding audiences.
A potent mix of suspense and mystery, Bong Joon-ho’s serial-killer masterpiece gets under your skin.
Takes too long to say what it wants to be consistently interesting, but one must marvel at how Lars von Trier and his ensemble cast do so much with so little.
Continue reading →On hindsight a homage to Ozu by proxy of Kore-eda, this is a subtle if plotless drama that continues Hou’s fascination with trains.
Tarantino delivers a bloody entertaining ride amid some slight pacing problems – and a loving homage to the samurai film and Hong Kong kungfu cinema.
