My life at the movies.
Directed by Ivan Kavanagh. Starring Rupert Evans, Antonia Campbell-Hughes, Hannah Hoekstra, and Kelly Byrne.
Evans plays a film archivist worried his supermodelesque wife is cheating on him. When she turns up missing, he suspects a malignant force living in the walls of his home. Continue reading...
Directed by Niels Arden Oplev. Starring Michael Nyqvist, Noomi Rapace, Ewa Fröling, and Lena Endre.
An aging tycoon recruits disgraced journalist Nyqvist to investigate a 40-year-old murder. Rapace plays a young investigator with a troubled past who finds herself drawn to Nyqvist and his investigation. Continue reading...
Directed by Sidney J. Furie. Starring Barbara Hershey, Ron Silver, David Labiosa, and George Coe.
On the surface, The Entity tells the story of single mom Hershey who finds herself under repeated, violent sexual assault from an unseen force. But just below said surface lies a scathing indictment of the patriarchy. Continue reading...
Directed by Ingmar Bergman. Starring Holger Löwenadler, Anna Lindahl, Birger Malmsten, and Gertrud Fridh.
A Ship to India stumbles out of the gate. The opening shot of a freighter sailing into port under lightning-streaked skies looks so artificial, I wondered if it was intentional. Turns out, it was the first sign this film may have gotten away from director Ingmar Bergman. Continue reading...
Directed by Christopher MacBride. Starring Aaron Poole, James Gilbert, and Peter Apostolopoulos.
Two young documentary filmmakers focusing on conspiracy theories stumble upon a centuries-old cult comprising the world’s most powerful people. Continue reading...
Directed by Ben Wheatley. Starring Neil Maskell, MyAnna Buring, Harry Simpson, and Michael Smiley.
Two former British soldiers now operate as contract killers. Their latest job—the titular list—involves three targets but things go sideways fast and the two find themselves in over their heads. Continue reading...
Directed by Jon Turteltaub. Starring Sandra Bullock, Bill Pullman, Peter Gallagher, and Peter Boyle.
Lonesome CTA worker Bullock saves the life of handsome stranger Gallagher, then poses as his fiancee as he slumbers in a coma only to find herself falling for his brother, played by Pullman. Fine but forgettable romcom buoyed by the wintery Chicago location photography and carried by Bullock’s innate charm.
Directed by Charles E. Sellier Jr.. Starring Lilyan Chauvin, Gilmer McCormick, Toni Nero, and Robert Brian Wilson.
Come for the sleazy Santa slasher, stay for the toys. Continue reading...
Directed by Daryl Duke. Starring Elliott Gould, Christopher Plummer, Susannah York, and Céline Lomez.
Imagine you’re a bank teller and discover someone is planning to hold-up your branch. Would you tell the police? Would you call in sick? Or would you do as Elliott Gould’s character in The Silent Partner does and steal the money yourself? The gunman escapes with a pittance, you report the full amount as stolen and pocket the difference. A great plan, but what if the gunman knows you’ve done it and wants the money? Continue reading...
Directed by Kaneto Shindô. Starring Nobuko Otowa, Jitsuko Yoshimura, Kei Satô, and Jûkichi Uno.
This review proves a challenge. I appreciate what Onibaba is about, and the formal rigor director Kaneto Shindo employed, but the film didn’t work for me. Continue reading...
