Thom says: “Aki Kaurismäki has long been one of my TOP 10 Living Directors and this film richly adds to his glamorous acclaim. His top rated films include: CRIME & PUNISHMENT (1983), ARIEL (1988), THE MATCH FACTORY GIRL (1990), La Vie
Chris says: “Apart from her debut feature LA CIENAGA, all of Lucrecia Martel’s films have left me cold and damn if I can pinpoint why. As a big fan of stuff like Tarkovsky’s STALKER, it’s not like I abhor slow
Thom says: “A good friend gave me a choice of 3 current features & I mistakenly chose this one. I think part of the problem was an age difference. Amongst the 70s group I’m afraid I’ve lost a lot of
Chris says: “As regional/provincial cinema goes, this is valuable enough—it depicts Oakland lovingly without sentimentalizing it. Daveed Diggs and Rafael Casal are also good together (and apart) and should each be in more films, please. However, the direction’s ham-fisted, the
Thom says: “I might be rating this a trifle high but I’m a sucker for these wrongful convictions of innocent people movies ever since the 3rd in the PARADISE LOST series almost was made my FILM-OF-THE-YEAR in 2011 before finally
Thom says: “To know that this is Techine’s 29th film recognizes that this he’s indeed a major French film director as he’s used many of the best in the business for his productions that have won quite a few awards.
Chris says: “APPROPRIATE BEHAVIOR is one of the better directorial feature debuts of this decade; for her follow-up, Desiree Akhavan eschews the earlier film’s explicit biographical feel (she also starred in it) for an adaptation of Emily Danforth’s novel about
Thom says: “It’s not often that a non big-budget film stars 4 actors who are must-see and the italicized 4 here are all terrific in their roles. Director McGuigan is surprisingly not well-known by me, and yet, amazingly, I’ve seen
Thom says: “This got a big publicity push earlier this year and was a minor success. A coming-of-age story about a gay teen boy just coming out is as sweet as all-get-out. Simon is an adorable boy with terrific parents,
Thom says: “I’ve seen three of director Chu’s previous efforts: STEP UP 2: THE STREETS, STEP UP 3D, & NOW YOU SEE ME 2, nothing particularly memorable in professional talents but maybe he was right for this project. The fun,
