Jason says: “RUROUNI KENSHIN PART ONE: ORIGINS is a comic-book movie, not just in the sense that it’s adapted from a popular manga, but in how it both aims to introduce a lot of favorite elements and tell the story
Chris says: “Mariel Hemingway is an accomplished actress in her own right—she even received an Academy Award nomination while in her teens for Woody Allen’s MANHATTAN. However, before anything else, most people will identify her as Ernest Hemingway’s granddaughter and
Jason says: “It doesn’t happen very often, but RUBBERNECK is almost too simple to classify. It’s got characteristics of both a thriller and an indie drama of the character-study variety, but the only thing that seems unique about it is
Chris says: “Remember when someone first stumbled across how eerily Pink Floyd’s The Dark Side of the Moon album synced up to the first forty or so minutes of THE WIZARD OF OZ? With the band denying any intentional links
Jason says: “THE ROOFTOP is overstuffed, like Jay Chou had a half-dozen ideas for his 1960s Taiwanese musical project and couldn’t decide exactly which ones he wanted to use. So he threw in all of them, even if they don’t
Jason says: “RITUAL: A PSYCHOMAGIC STORY is explicitly inspired by the work and philosophy of Alejandro Jodorowsky, and many may find themselves disappointed that, after a very stylish opening, it is never in the same category of strangeness as Jodorowsky’s
Kyle says: “RENGAINE is called a ‘no-budget urban drama’ in the New Directors/New Films program note; this is obvious from the number of duties director Rachid Djaïdani is credited for in the end titles. So let us issue a shout-out
Jason says: “I’m certain that I must, at some point, learned that famed Impressionist painter Pierre-Auguste Renoir and noted filmmaker Jean Renoir were father and son. Somehow the information failed to stick, so re-learning that bit of information was kind
Jason says: “REMOTE AREA MEDICAL takes great pains to separate itself from partisan politics as much as possible, but its very premise – that a service designed to bring basic medical treatment to people in areas without any sort of
Michael says: “Mira Nair is a talented filmmaker. Her latest film, THE RELUCTANT FUNDAMENTALIST, is beautiful to watch, well structured, provocative, features terrific performances and a real slow burn. Unfortunately, the screenplay by William Wheeler, adapted from a novel by