What a confusing year 2014 has been for the horror world. Home video and VOD releases dominated the scene, and those fans who did leave the comfort of their own couch ended up at the local art house theater instead of the multiplex. While the big studios disappointed, the indies really picked up the slack. […]
2014
The Near-Noir Of ‘The Two Faces Of January’
Adapted from the best-selling novel of the same by Patricia Highsmith (who also wrote “Strangers on a Train,” the basis for Hitchcock’s classic), and directed by Drive screenwriter Hossein Amini, The Two Faces of January is a brightly painted portrait drenched in noirish tendencies. The Two Faces of January begins in the picturesque city […]
The Vulgar Genius Of The Hilarious ‘Wetlands’
Author’s Note: The mature nature of what is about to follow calls for a warning to be put in place. This review will contain foul language, and words not used in polite conversation. If you prefer to remain sheltered, ignorant, or just don’t much care for the vulgar, move on now. Otherwise, proceed with […]
LA Film Fest: ‘Caterpillar’ (‘Kyatapirâ’) (d. Wakamatsu Kōji, 2010)
One of the most satisfying things about film festivals can be the sidebar of retrospectives or, in the case of the LA Film Festival, the intermittent “Films That Got Away”. There was only one such this year, but it was a good one – Wakamatsu Kōji’s follow-up to United Red Army (2007), and his penultimate […]
LA Film Festival: ‘Jimi: All Is By My Side’ (d. John Ridley)
Jimi: All Is By My Side is a film with multiple problems serious enough that the couple of very good things it has going for it stand little chance of compensating. As written and directed by 12 Years A Slave scribe John Ridley, the narrative sets off down familiar musical biopic lane: musician discovered; gains […]
