|
3/5
|
91%
|
Tell Them Willie Boy Is Here (1969) |
"
A sense of clarity and austerity about the visuals lends potent emotional heft."
—
Total Film
Posted May 1, 2013
|
|
3/5
|
62%
|
Me and You (Io e te) () |
"
Script and acting are flawless - but set beside Bertolucci's glory years (The Conformist, Last Tango In Paris, Novecento) it all feels a bit slight."
—
Total Film
Posted Apr 12, 2013
|
|
|
75%
|
Simon Killer (2013) |
"
Builds a quiet, creeping sense of menace, with a courageously unsympathetic performance from Corbet at its icy heart."
—
Total Film
Posted Apr 9, 2013
|
|
4/5
|
89%
|
Teorema (Theorem) (1968) |
"
Pasolini creates an ethereal mood - and Stamp, smiling ineffably,has never been better."
—
Total Film
Posted Apr 9, 2013
|
|
5/5
|
97%
|
Point Blank (1967) |
"
Boorman brings an existential bleakness and depth to his genre material (adapted from Donald E. Westlake's novel), and Marvin's minimal dialogue enhances the impact of his performance."
—
Total Film
Posted Mar 22, 2013
|
|
3/5
|
82%
|
Papadopoulos & Sons () |
"
Yes, it's sentimental and predictable, but there's a warmth and charm about Marcus Markou's feature debut that makes it hard to resist."
—
Total Film
Posted Mar 22, 2013
|
|
4/5
|
100%
|
Devi (The Goddess) () |
"
Satyajit Ray's study of the destructive power of superstition is typically compassionate; there are no easy villains. Intelligent and moving."
—
Total Film
Posted Mar 18, 2013
|
|
4/5
|
86%
|
The Servant (1963) |
"
Losey creates an atmosphere of deepening claustrophobic menace shot through with episodes of savage black humour."
—
Total Film
Posted Mar 15, 2013
|
|
4/5
|
83%
|
Onibaba (1965) |
"
Unflinching in its violence and eroticism."
—
Total Film
Posted Mar 4, 2013
|
|
2/5
|
54%
|
Secret Beyond the Door... (1949) |
"
Borrowing a plot from the Bluebeard legend, and chucking in a load of sub-Freudian hokum, Fritz Lang nonetheless makes a class act of this Gothic psycho-thriller."
—
Total Film
Posted Feb 25, 2013
|
|
3/5
|
73%
|
A Place in the Sun (1951) |
"
Most of Dreiser's acrid social satire is smoothed away by Stevens' grandiose style, and it's all too stately to be affecting."
—
Total Film
Posted Feb 4, 2013
|
|
5/5
|
100%
|
The Earrings of Madame De... (Diamond Earrings) (1954) |
"
Because it's Ophüls, there's an aching sense of genuine heartbreak and loss beneath the sumptuous decor and poised, urbane ironies."
—
Total Film
Posted Feb 4, 2013
|
|
3/5
|
63%
|
Hitchcock (2012) |
"
A breezy, lightweight account of the making of a classic. Some of the casting may be questionable, but in the end it's the "cattle" who carry it."
—
Total Film
Posted Jan 18, 2013
|
|
3/5
|
95%
|
Midnight Son (2012) |
"
Leberecht plays games with vampire lore, but skirts around it with a subtlety and delicacy that lends his film emotional depths rare in low-budget horror."
—
Total Film
Posted Dec 17, 2012
|
|
1/5
|
0%
|
Sexual Chronicles of a French Family (2012) |
"
You'll have more fun staying at home."
—
Total Film
Posted Dec 6, 2012
|
|
4/5
|
100%
|
You Will Be My Son (2013) |
"
The only downside is Armand Amar's over-explicit score, underlining every dramatic moment."
—
Total Film
Posted Nov 30, 2012
|
|
4/5
|
95%
|
Babettes Gæstebud (Babette's Feast) (1987) |
"
Audran is luminous as the centre of a gentle, generous film about grace. Oh, and grub."
—
Total Film
Posted Nov 27, 2012
|
|
4/5
|
95%
|
West of Memphis (2012) |
"
A superbly detailed account of a notorious miscarriage of justice and how it was gradually unravelled."
—
Total Film
Posted Nov 23, 2012
|
|
2/5
|
77%
|
Aurora (2011) |
"
Another hefty slice of eastern european life - even longer, even slower and even glummer."
—
Total Film
Posted Oct 30, 2012
|
|
4/5
|
94%
|
It Always Rains on Sunday (1947) |
"
Depicts a drab, austerity-era East London of pinched lives and petty crime."
—
Total Film
Posted Oct 17, 2012
|
|
5/5
|
95%
|
5 Broken Cameras (2012) |
"
Despite all the suffering and injustice, the final message is one of optimism that feels neither facile nor tacked-on."
—
Total Film
Posted Sep 28, 2012
|
|
2/5
|
43%
|
To Rome with Love (2012) |
"
Four trivial stories, forced laughs: don't expect much more from Allen's latest postcard from Europe."
—
Total Film
Posted Sep 3, 2012
|
|
4/5
|
100%
|
About Elly (2009) |
"
Another shrewdly gauged study of our capacity for deception and self-deception from A Separation's auteur. Emotionally devastating."
—
Total Film
Posted Sep 3, 2012
|
|
4/5
|
89%
|
Woman in a Dressing Gown (1957) |
"
It's relentlessly downbeat and claustrophobic, but Ted Willis' script avoids easy recrimination."
—
Total Film
Posted Jul 16, 2012
|
|
4/5
|
98%
|
The Discreet Charm Of The Bourgeoisie (Le Charme Discret de la Bourgeoisie) (1972) |
"
It weaves games of dream and reality as the sextet wander through increasingly absurd set-ups. patriarchal authority and polite social rituals are slyly undermined, and the cast play it impeccably."
—
Total Film
Posted Jun 28, 2012
|
|
|
90%
|
La Mort en direct (Death Watch) (Death in Full View) (1980) |
"
It's let down by preachy dialogue, but makes striking use of the Scots locations."
—
Total Film
Posted May 23, 2012
|
|
2/5
|
20%
|
Hara ga kore nande (Mitsuko Delivers) () |
"
Before long the shouting and gurning quotient reaches discomfort levels and the movie winds up just irritating."
—
Total Film
Posted May 10, 2012
|
|
3/5
|
73%
|
The Music Lovers (1971) |
"
It's unashamedly vulgar and, if you switch off critical filters, enormous fun."
—
Total Film
Posted Apr 30, 2012
|
|
5/5
|
96%
|
Port of Shadows (Le Quai des Brumes) (2012) |
"
Predictably, all ends tragically. But mondieu, doesn't it look sublime?"
—
Total Film
Posted Apr 30, 2012
|
|
4/5
|
95%
|
The Bad and the Beautiful (1953) |
"
Even without a knowledge of the background, this is sharp, cynical fun."
—
Total Film
Posted Apr 10, 2012
|
|
3/5
|
22%
|
Elles (2012) |
"
Binoche is, as always, superb, but Malgorzata Szumowska's film won't tell you much about the oldest profession that you didn't already know - and Binoche's marital clashes feel like a standard feminist tract circa 1975."
—
Total Film
Posted Apr 9, 2012
|
|
4/5
|
100%
|
Ordet (The Word) (1954) |
"
At first glance it may seem slow, but stick with it and the psychological tensions enthral."
—
Total Film
Posted Feb 27, 2012
|
|
5/5
|
100%
|
Laura (2005) |
"
OK, the plot verges on absurdity - but who cares?"
—
Total Film
Posted Feb 13, 2012
|
|
|
89%
|
The Descendants (2011) |
"
Payne, whose early features were set in his native Omaha, has always shown an acute if unconventional sense of place."
—
Sight and Sound
Posted Jan 31, 2012
|
|
4/5
|
89%
|
The Descendants (2011) |
"
If The Descendants occasionally slips a notch below Payne's highest standards, it's a wry, intelligent look at the contradictions and complexities of human emotions."
—
Total Film
Posted Jan 16, 2012
|
|
2/5
|
71%
|
Despair (Despair - Eine Reise ins Licht) (1978) |
"
Everything about Despair feels queasily off - the plot, the acting, the dialogue and the fussily over-decorated sets."
—
Total Film
Posted Jan 10, 2012
|
|
|
52%
|
The Iron Lady (2012) |
"
Altogether this is a much softened and declawed portrait of the most divisive prime minister of recent times."
—
Sight and Sound
Posted Jan 10, 2012
|
|
3/5
|
98%
|
Oslo, August 31st (2012) |
"
Anders Danielsen Lie gives a compelling, deep-etched lead turn, and you'll find yourself drawn in as he searches for a reason to continue living."
—
Total Film
Posted Nov 2, 2011
|
|
4/5
|
89%
|
The Silence () |
"
What could have been just another serial-killer whodunit becomes a complex study of grief, obsession and the persistence of guilt."
—
Total Film
Posted Oct 31, 2011
|
|
2/5
|
90%
|
The Yellow Sea (2011) |
"
At nearly two and a half hours long, The Yellow Sea is overkill in every sense."
—
Total Film
Posted Oct 25, 2011
|
|
4/5
|
76%
|
We Need to Talk About Kevin (2012) |
"
Like The Omen without the supernatural guff, Kevin plays on all our worst fears about parenthood."
—
Total Film
Posted Oct 20, 2011
|
|
1/5
|
44%
|
Modesty Blaise (1966) |
"
Joseph Losey didn't really do frivolous. Which is probably why his attempt at spoofy pseudo-Bondery is so direly unfunny. "
—
Total Film
Posted Oct 18, 2011
|
|
3/5
|
60%
|
Real Steel (2011) |
"
Only those with a heart of tin could resist."
—
Total Film
Posted Oct 7, 2011
|
|
4/5
|
93%
|
Midnight in Paris (2011) |
"
Witty, featherlight and openly sentimental, this is Woody's love letter to Paris and the most relaxed, likeable movie he's made in years."
—
Total Film
Posted Oct 7, 2011
|
|
3/5
|
64%
|
Guilty Of Romance (2013) |
"
Filmed in garish colours like an explosion in a paint factory, it's more style than content, but diverting all the same."
—
Total Film
Posted Sep 21, 2011
|
|
|
83%
|
Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy (2011) |
"
As always with le Carré, the quarry matters less than the hunt; and the hunt is gripping."
—
Sight and Sound
Posted Sep 20, 2011
|
|
5/5
|
100%
|
Kes (1969) |
"
Funny, sad, bitingly authentic, Kes resonates with Loach's anger at the way many kids grow up into narrow, option-free lives."
—
Total Film
Posted Sep 6, 2011
|
|
4/5
|
97%
|
Tomboy (2011) |
"
A sensitive study of pre-teen sexuality and confused gender roles, from a director who knows how to draw flawless turns from young 'uns."
—
Total Film
Posted Sep 6, 2011
|
|
5/5
|
100%
|
Kind Hearts and Coronets (1949) |
"
Robert Hamer's poised direction chimes perfectly with his Edwardian setting, and the Wildean wit of Price's voice-over is an unfailing delight."
—
Total Film
Posted Aug 8, 2011
|
87%
24%
91%
85%
45%
40%
