|
|
89%
|
Inside Llewyn Davis (2013) |
"
Melancholy and funny, quirky and touching, it stands among their strongest work."
—
Total Film
Posted May 20, 2013
|
|
3/5
|
30%
|
Vehicle 19 (2013) |
"
Vehicle 19 rivals Running Scared as the best of Walker's smaller, grittier (read: home entertainment) titles."
—
Total Film
Posted May 3, 2013
|
|
3/5
|
47%
|
Bait (2012) |
"
More funny than scary, it often feels like Deep Blue Sea meets The Mist... but what's wrong with that?"
—
Total Film
Posted May 2, 2013
|
|
2/5
|
47%
|
The Lords of Salem (2013) |
"
Occasionally potent but mostly risible, this tale of the occult sees Rob Zombie cast a weak spell. Disappointing."
—
Total Film
Posted Apr 17, 2013
|
|
4/5
|
82%
|
The Place Beyond The Pines (2013) |
"
The quality of the filmmaking is irreproachable; swathes of originality outweigh the odd recourse to cliché; and the merit of the storytelling at times matches the film's colossal ambition."
—
Total Film
Posted Apr 1, 2013
|
|
3/5
|
54%
|
Basic Instinct (1992) |
"
Trailer trash Hitchcock spliced with overboiled film noir."
—
Total Film
Posted Mar 25, 2013
|
|
4/5
|
97%
|
Bull Durham (1988) |
"
[Crash's] remit? To teach talented but undisciplined pitcher Ebby (Tim Robbins) about hurling a ball. And a little about life."
—
Total Film
Posted Mar 11, 2013
|
|
4/5
|
94%
|
Journal d'un curé de campagne (Diary of a Country Priest) (1951) |
"
This sublime picture is directed by Robert Bresson, who painstakingly crafts his signature visuals -- stark, forceful and rigorous in their attention to detail -- to bring a striking luminosity to the bleak events."
—
Total Film
Posted Mar 5, 2013
|
|
4/5
|
88%
|
Rain Man (1988) |
"
Of course, it's annoying. But it's also funny, touching and true, striking chords without ever reducing Raymond to a performing puppy. Definitely."
—
Total Film
Posted Feb 20, 2013
|
|
3/5
|
61%
|
Maniac (2013) |
"
The scuzz-chic visuals, sleaze-synth score and deep-cutting gore are effective, and shooting from the killer's POV proves a valid USP."
—
Total Film
Posted Feb 17, 2013
|
|
3/5
|
44%
|
The Paperboy (2012) |
"
The Paperboy is a throwback to the exploitation cinema of its period. As such, it's grungy, tasteless and hard to take your eyes off."
—
Total Film
Posted Feb 17, 2013
|
|
3/5
|
59%
|
The Last Stand (2013) |
"
Kim Jee-woon's riff on the western is an entertaining frolic back-loaded with gore and guffaws. Arnie's back!"
—
Total Film
Posted Jan 22, 2013
|
|
5/5
|
93%
|
Amour (2012) |
"
Far from being a cold, scientific study from a filmmaker frequently accused of placing a pane of glass between his work and his viewers, this sensitive film emerges heartfelt and humane."
—
Total Film
Posted Oct 29, 2012
|
|
4/5
|
94%
|
Nosferatu: Phantom der Nacht (Nosferatu the Vampyre) (1979) |
"
The Dracula make-up is a homage to Max Schreck's Count Orlock, but Werner Herzog's 1979 effort owes little else to FW Murnau's silent classic."
—
Total Film
Posted Oct 10, 2012
|
|
4/5
|
95%
|
A Nightmare on Elm Street (1984) |
"
Craven knows which big, red Freudian buttons to push, turning Freddy into a true monster from the Id."
—
Total Film
Posted Oct 9, 2012
|
|
4/5
|
95%
|
Re-Animator (1985) |
"
A gross-out slapsticker to rival The Evil Dead."
—
Total Film
Posted Oct 9, 2012
|
|
5/5
|
98%
|
Invasion of the Body Snatchers (1956) |
"
Don Siegel's taut, bleak, noir-flavoured picture is arguably the science-fiction B-movie of the 1950s, an age when screens glowed with the atomic threat and undulated with scuttling, supersized bugs."
—
Total Film
Posted Oct 9, 2012
|
|
5/5
|
98%
|
Eyes Without a Face (1962) |
"
Georges Franju's classic horror grafts poetry onto brutality."
—
Total Film
Posted Oct 9, 2012
|
|
3/5
|
43%
|
Tower Block () |
"
The action and anxiety are believable, the violence sudden and the performances - especially those of Sheridan Smith as an East End Sarah Connor and Jack O'Connell as a thug-come-good - are strong."
—
Total Film
Posted Sep 11, 2012
|
|
4/5
|
75%
|
Berberian Sound Studio (2013) |
"
Crammed with detailed craft, its appeal is further widened by dealing in universal fears: homesickness, identity, mental health."
—
Total Film
Posted Jul 31, 2012
|
|
5/5
|
100%
|
Jaws (1975) |
"
Jaws is a perfect blend of set-pieces and story, its formula so hard to capture it's now near-mythical - filmmakers have been chasing it like Ahab chasing Moby Dick ever since."
—
Total Film
Posted Jun 13, 2012
|
|
4/5
|
94%
|
Being Elmo: A Puppeteer's Journey (2011) |
"
Underdogs, dreams, imagination, artistry, unashamed emotion... it's the cinematic equivalent of a big red hug."
—
Total Film
Posted Apr 16, 2012
|
|
4/5
|
92%
|
The Cabin in the Woods (2012) |
"
A super-entertaining, super-slick love/hate letter to horror with a final 20 minutes that's stunningly bonkers."
—
Total Film
Posted Apr 9, 2012
|
|
4/5
|
77%
|
Tiny Furniture (2010) |
"
Playing like a mumblecore The Graduate set in the affected milieu of the Tribeca art crowd, Tiny Furniture announces Dunham as a talent to watch..."
—
Total Film
Posted Mar 21, 2012
|
|
4/5
|
96%
|
The Kid with a Bike (2012) |
"
Good enough to survive evoking Bicycle Thieves and The 400 Blows, this small story contains universal truths, told with irresistible force."
—
Total Film
Posted Mar 12, 2012
|
|
3/5
|
51%
|
Contraband (2012) |
"
Don't expect glamorous outlaws, sunny locales and exotic masterplans - this low-key thriller lifts the rusted lid off an all-too-real world of despairing criminality."
—
Total Film
Posted Mar 5, 2012
|
|
|
79%
|
The Innkeepers (2012) |
"
A traditional ghost story set very much in the here and now, The Innkeepers proves that the Spanish and the Japanese don't have a monopoly on the sub-genre while confirming writer/director Ti West as one of the major talents in horror today."
—
Total Film
Posted Feb 2, 2012
|
|
4/5
|
44%
|
J. Edgar (2011) |
"
A handsome, ambitious period drama full of modern-day parallels."
—
Total Film
Posted Jan 9, 2012
|
|
4/5
|
86%
|
The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo (2011) |
"
Changed ending aside, Fincher's take is as faithful as it is fearless. And Mara rocks."
—
Total Film
Posted Dec 13, 2011
|
|
3/5
|
41%
|
Straw Dogs (2011) |
"
Rod Lurie's remake transposes the action from cloudy Cornwall to sticky Mississippi but keeps the meat of the story intact, along with the violence."
—
Total Film
Posted Nov 4, 2011
|
|
3/5
|
71%
|
Footloose (2011) |
"
Star-crossed lovers Wormald and Julianne Hough can't match Bacon and Lori Singer, but over-30s will tap feet and the Glee crowd will mime along."
—
Total Film
Posted Oct 12, 2011
|
|
4/5
|
75%
|
The Woman (2011) |
"
McKee's oblique storytelling and Sean Spillane's mournful music add unusual textures to an otherwise savage attack on patriarchy."
—
Total Film
Posted Sep 30, 2011
|
|
5/5
|
100%
|
Körkarlen (Korkarlen) (The Phantom Carriage) (Thy Soul Shall Bear Witness) (1920) |
"
Using superimposition and double-exposure to bring the rickety wagon and its wretched occupants to ghostly life, The Phantom Carriage balances visual poetry with emotional violence."
—
Total Film
Posted Sep 26, 2011
|
|
|
93%
|
Drive (2011) |
"
An action crime movie that's as cerebral and surreal as it is red-blooded."
—
Total Film
Posted Sep 13, 2011
|
|
4/5
|
81%
|
The Skin I Live In (2011) |
"
Almodóvar joins PT Anderson, Aronofsky, von Trier and Scorsese as the latest big-name director to dip a toe into horror. There won't be blood, but the head wounds are vicious."
—
Total Film
Posted Aug 9, 2011
|
|
5/5
|
76%
|
Kill List (2012) |
"
British horror has rarely hit these heights since the mid-'70s."
—
Total Film
Posted Jul 20, 2011
|
|
3/5
|
43%
|
Mother's Day (2012) |
"
Mother's Day holds effective sequences, ramming home its (recycled) message: the animal lurks in us all."
—
Total Film
Posted Jun 7, 2011
|
|
2/5
|
44%
|
Bad Teacher (2011) |
"
Twenty minutes in, you'll begin to feel like you're in detention."
—
Total Film
Posted Jun 1, 2011
|
|
5/5
|
82%
|
Super 8 (2011) |
"
Super 8 doesn't possess the top-to-bottom greatness of the films it's modelled on but, in shooting for the stars, leaves 90% of modern blockbusters in the gutter."
—
Total Film
Posted May 31, 2011
|
|
3/5
|
86%
|
Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street (2007) |
"
It's gross but will it gross? Burton and Depp's cannibal musical is an especially acquired taste - Oliver! reimagined by Eli Roth. Brave, brutal... ballads?"
—
Total Film
Posted May 27, 2011
|
|
4/5
|
87%
|
Black Swan (2010) |
"
The most toxic, rapturous, melodramatic, operatic movie about a mentally disintegrating ballerina you'll see all year... And featuring some of the best dance sequences ever."
—
Total Film
Posted Dec 30, 2010
|
|
2/5
|
42%
|
A Serbian Film (2011) |
"
More camp than corrosive, A Serbian Film is hard to take seriously."
—
Total Film
Posted Dec 13, 2010
|
|
4/5
|
94%
|
The Town (2010) |
"
While The Town glories in genre tropes it also dumps any overt stylings or clipped, staccato dialogue, instead keeping the action alive and lithe. Keeping it real."
—
Total Film
Posted Sep 23, 2010
|
|
4/5
|
86%
|
The House of the Devil (2009) |
"
Like Paranormal Activity and Let The Right One In, Ti West's shocker favours old-school tropes - plot, character, suggestion and suspense - over gorno extravagance. Seems like the Devil has great taste in films too."
—
Total Film
Posted Mar 16, 2010
|
|
3/5
|
30%
|
Survival of the Dead (2010) |
"
Fans of Zombieland, Dead Snow and the 28... Later films will likely wonder why the Don of the Dead doesn't stick to stroking his cat. Old-school horrorheads, meanwhile, will find enough here to rejoice that George is still playing with dead things."
—
Total Film
Posted Mar 16, 2010
|
|
3/5
|
75%
|
The Road (2009) |
"
Isolation, desolation and the odd skirmish: this is Hillcoat's apocalypse, not Hollywood's, but it lacks McCarthy's power."
—
Total Film
Posted Jan 8, 2010
|
|
5/5
|
83%
|
Paranormal Activity (2009) |
"
Paranormal Activity trafficks in shadows and shivers yet is more malevolent than a dozen Hostels."
—
Total Film
Posted Nov 27, 2009
|
|
4/5
|
32%
|
The Lovely Bones (2009) |
"
Lovely Bones is a touching, at times distressing film. It deals with loss, grief, rage, familial breakdown and love, most of all love. But it's also energetic and entertaining."
—
Total Film
Posted Nov 24, 2009
|
|
5/5
|
85%
|
The White Ribbon (Das weisse Band) (2009) |
"
Haneke demands full attention as a patriarchal community crumbles to the ground and the seeds of fascism are sown. A masterpiece."
—
Total Film
Posted Nov 13, 2009
|
76%
46%
92%
85%
45%
40%
