|
4/5
|
71%
|
The East (2013) |
"
Another Brit hit, plus Batmanglij is beginning to show dash as director. The duo make a tight fist of hot topicality and high tension from an ideas-packed genre piece."
—
Total Film
Posted Jun 17, 2013
|
|
3/5
|
33%
|
Spike Island () |
"
Saggy but also energised and endearing."
—
Total Film
Posted Jun 11, 2013
|
|
3/5
|
64%
|
Thérèse Desqueyroux (2013) |
"
Without the presence of Tautou, this would be a dry heritage pic; with her, it brews a sense of enigma that just about saves the day."
—
Total Film
Posted Jun 5, 2013
|
|
3/5
|
71%
|
The Stone Roses: Made of Stone () |
"
Meadows' loving report on a "live resurrection" is indeed alive and passionate, until too many gaps render it less than godlike."
—
Total Film
Posted May 29, 2013
|
|
|
97%
|
Groundhog Day (1993) |
"
MacDowell was never more convincing and Chris Elliott is a dry delight as her lens-man. Murray and movie, meanwhile, are a mutual godsend: Groundhog Day rescued his career from calcifying in self-caricature."
—
Total Film
Posted May 6, 2013
|
|
3/5
|
51%
|
Promised Land (2013) |
"
As a slice of rural Americana, Promised Land works. Then it turns into sticky apple pie, leaving only the feeling that you've been had."
—
Total Film
Posted Apr 12, 2013
|
|
3/5
|
55%
|
Oblivion (2013) |
"
Intelligent, innovative and intimate sci-fi is always welcome, but Oblivion isn't quite it."
—
Total Film
Posted Apr 10, 2013
|
|
4/5
|
52%
|
Post Tenebras Lux (2013) |
"
Some metaphors score and some miss, but this is leap-of-faith cinema: the rewards entail some risks."
—
Total Film
Posted Mar 15, 2013
|
|
3/5
|
38%
|
Breath Of The Gods () |
"
It lacks narrative momentum but not warm humour or extreme headstands: you won't need telling twice that certain moves are "definitely not for beginners"."
—
Total Film
Posted Feb 17, 2013
|
|
4/5
|
87%
|
Robot & Frank (2012) |
"
It carefully exceeds expectation, helped in no small measure by Langella's wily, wistful lead."
—
Total Film
Posted Feb 17, 2013
|
|
3/5
|
30%
|
Broken City (2013) |
"
City offers star power, dashes of dazzle and plenty of movie nods. But Hughes' thriller fails to locate a life of its own."
—
Total Film
Posted Feb 4, 2013
|
|
4/5
|
67%
|
Stoker (2013) |
"
Park Chan-wook brings operatic finesse to generic material in his tight-wound, wickedly weird US debut. And Mia Wasikowska nails it."
—
Total Film
Posted Feb 4, 2013
|
|
4/5
|
98%
|
Mea Maxima Culpa: Silence In The House Of God (2012) |
"
Rigorously exposing systemic corruption and collusion, Gibney traces the problem to the top, detailing how the Vatican closed ranks to protect itself."
—
Total Film
Posted Feb 4, 2013
|
|
4/5
|
100%
|
Kovasikajuttu (The Punk Syndrome) () |
"
The directors' affecting yet non-sentimental verité approach suits the raw material, spurning 'expert' talking head commentary and letting the band speak (and scream) for themselves."
—
Total Film
Posted Jan 25, 2013
|
|
4/5
|
94%
|
I Wish (2012) |
"
The plot meanders but Koreeda's hand is deceptively sure: the detours all add up in a climactic montage of gentle, effortless poignancy."
—
Total Film
Posted Jan 21, 2013
|
|
4/5
|
80%
|
Everyday () |
"
Although detractors might wish for something more profound, capturing the poignant pointlessness of life passing by feels like a noble pursuit in itself."
—
Total Film
Posted Dec 17, 2012
|
|
4/5
|
81%
|
The Impossible (2012) |
"
Marshalling formidable technique and force of feeling, Bayona's tale of courage and empathy in the face of catastrophe fulfils his debut's promise, its harrowing conviction hammered home even harder by the spot-on casting."
—
Total Film
Posted Dec 11, 2012
|
|
4/5
|
88%
|
Neil Young Journeys (2012) |
"
If this is raging against the dying of the light, long may he rage."
—
Total Film
Posted Dec 6, 2012
|
|
4/5
|
91%
|
The Hunt (2013) |
"
A taut, teasing study in sense and susceptibility, given ballast by a suitably shaken and shell-shocked lead turn from Mikkelsen."
—
Total Film
Posted Nov 28, 2012
|
|
3/5
|
67%
|
The Tempest (2012) |
"
Choppy cuts muddy the narrative, but the faith in grassroots art's motivational value resonates clearly."
—
Total Film
Posted Oct 29, 2012
|
|
5/5
|
90%
|
The Shining (1980) |
"
Its artful ambiguities are immersive. Check in."
—
Total Film
Posted Oct 29, 2012
|
|
4/5
|
94%
|
Room 237 (2013) |
"
Ascher's hugely enjoyable docu-collage of Shining theories embraces ambiguity but proves that Kubrick's deep chiller is worth the revisits."
—
Total Film
Posted Sep 28, 2012
|
|
4/5
|
87%
|
Frankenweenie (2012) |
"
Burton's finest, freshest film in ages is a welcome homecoming. You'd call it patchwork pastiche, if it weren't so zapped with energy, feeling and imagination. It's alive!"
—
Total Film
Posted Sep 20, 2012
|
|
3/5
|
56%
|
Now Is Good (2013) |
"
You'll be in bits, but your critical faculties might weep too."
—
Total Film
Posted Sep 10, 2012
|
|
3/5
|
76%
|
Premium Rush (2012) |
"
JGL's enjoyment in his job adds welcome levels of Levitt-y."
—
Total Film
Posted Sep 3, 2012
|
|
4/5
|
77%
|
Take This Waltz (2012) |
"
Some strained metaphors and character tics aside, this proves both Polley's perceptive eye and Williams' ability to explore life-scuffed emotions. Wry, risqué and real."
—
Total Film
Posted Jul 31, 2012
|
|
3/5
|
83%
|
El alma de las moscas (The Soul of Flies) () |
"
Jonathan Cenzual Burley serves promising magic-realist fruit from meagre means in his debut."
—
Total Film
Posted Jul 3, 2012
|
|
3/5
|
100%
|
On The Sly (APas De Loup) () |
"
The value of small things is tenderly endorsed in this miniaturist French cousin of Alice In Wonderland and Moonrise Kingdom."
—
Total Film
Posted Jun 21, 2012
|
|
4/5
|
93%
|
Mission To Lars () |
"
You'll cry a bit come the tense, touching climax - then punch the air with joy."
—
Total Film
Posted Jun 21, 2012
|
|
4/5
|
73%
|
The Amazing Spider-Man (2012) |
"
The leads charm, the action crackles and the grooves are well-laid for part two."
—
Total Film
Posted Jun 19, 2012
|
|
3/5
|
70%
|
Late September () |
"
The cast cut into the tough truths of late-life relations. The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel it ain't."
—
Total Film
Posted Jun 13, 2012
|
|
4/5
|
94%
|
Moonrise Kingdom (2012) |
"
Fleet, funny, impeccably orchestrated: whimsical Wes returns on top of his game."
—
Total Film
Posted May 18, 2012
|
|
4/5
|
73%
|
Faust () |
"
A sense-scrambling work that conjures images of indelible potency: you won't forget the dissection, the lyrical love scene, the pitiable homunculus, the chilling trek to hell or Adasinsky naked in a hurry."
—
Total Film
Posted May 10, 2012
|
|
4/5
|
95%
|
Marley (2012) |
"
Every second is earned in Macdonald's long, generous and rigorously detailed Bob doc."
—
Total Film
Posted Apr 10, 2012
|
|
4/5
|
91%
|
Into The Abyss (2011) |
"
Herzog's tapestry testifies to life's light from death's darkness."
—
Total Film
Posted Mar 19, 2012
|
|
3/5
|
73%
|
The Monitor (Babycall) (2012) |
"
The script needs more nurturing but Noomi Rapace takes up some of the slack in Pal Sletaune's maternal mystery."
—
Total Film
Posted Mar 16, 2012
|
|
4/5
|
100%
|
Pinocchio (1940) |
"
At the heart of this art is the thrill of the then-new: when Pinocchio hits sea-base and gushes "Gee! What a big place!", we share a sense of joy at the filmmakers' creative adventures."
—
Total Film
Posted Feb 14, 2012
|
|
4/5
|
86%
|
Chemical Brothers: Don't Think (2012) |
"
Some fantasy interludes prove distracting but the ecstatic experience of the Chems' psychedelic spectacle is brought to thrilling life by Smith's fluid, fizzing direction."
—
Total Film
Posted Feb 2, 2012
|
|
5/5
|
85%
|
Chronicle (2012) |
"
It isn't wholly original but it does brim with emotion, imagination and modern implication. Take that, Bats."
—
Total Film
Posted Jan 30, 2012
|
|
4/5
|
78%
|
A Dangerous Method (2011) |
"
The talky emphasis may alienate, but Cronenberg's psychoanalysis session offers wry writing, elegant direction and fine leads."
—
Total Film
Posted Jan 30, 2012
|
|
5/5
|
100%
|
L'Atalante (1934) |
"
Generous tides of life and longing flow through this buoyant masterpiece."
—
Total Film
Posted Jan 10, 2012
|
|
3/5
|
80%
|
Haywire (2012) |
"
Hard, fast, brutal: Soderbergh's sucker-punch return to action knows what it's about. Not subtle or substantial, but it gets to work with flab-free focus."
—
Total Film
Posted Jan 9, 2012
|
|
4/5
|
100%
|
Tatsumi (2013) |
"
A touching tribute interweaves with tough storytelling in Eric Khoo's poignant portmanteau riff on Japanese graphic artist Yoshihiro Tatsumi's works."
—
Total Film
Posted Jan 4, 2012
|
|
4/5
|
68%
|
Wuthering Heights (2012) |
"
There's something satisfyingly jolting about the way Arnold makes Brontë her own."
—
Total Film
Posted Nov 9, 2011
|
|
3/5
|
92%
|
The British Guide To Showing Off () |
"
The film doesn't go deep on politics, but Logan's gregarious presence provides plentiful pleasures in this heartfelt homage to a warm, wily art-world one-off."
—
Total Film
Posted Nov 8, 2011
|
|
3/5
|
72%
|
The Future (2011) |
"
July's romantic fantasy of stagnation and romantic drift has depths, but they're hidden behind walls of kookiness."
—
Total Film
Posted Nov 1, 2011
|
|
|
0%
|
Reuniting The Rubins (2012) |
"
An ensemble piece wobbling between undercooked drama and low-powered farce..."
—
Total Film
Posted Oct 26, 2011
|
|
4/5
|
91%
|
The Black Power Mixtape 1967-1975 (2011) |
"
Like most mix-tapes, offers crackling content even when its contexts aren't clear."
—
Total Film
Posted Oct 19, 2011
|
|
3/5
|
45%
|
Albatross (2012) |
"
A bristling breakout turn leavens tired material in Niall MacCormick's coming-of-anger."
—
Total Film
Posted Oct 13, 2011
|
74%
78%
61%
52%
26%
4%
