|
98%
|
The Wrestler (2008)
|
"The best thing about director Darren Aronofsky's realization of Robert Siegel's original screenplay is Mickey Rourke's portrayal of Randy "the Ram" Robinson."
|
S. James Wegg
|
|
89%
|
The Visitor (2008)
|
"Tasting the bitter fruits of globalization"
|
S. James Wegg
|
|
93%
|
Slepe lásky, (Blind Loves) (2009)
|
"Blind Loves is a spectacular revelation about the world of those forever in the dark. Their illuminating personal stories can't help but lift the spirit of any viewer."
|
S. James Wegg
|
|
——
|
Karamazovi (The Karamazovs) (The Karamazov Brothers) (2008)
|
"The devil's in the steel mill."
|
S. James Wegg
|
|
76%
|
Five Minutes of Heaven (2009)
|
"Never taking the easy way out, Five Minutes of Heaven digs down to the very core of twin hell-on-earth existences."
|
S. James Wegg
|
|
——
|
A'Mare ()
|
"Whimsy of the highest order. More, please."
|
S. James Wegg
|
|
——
|
Altro Pianeta ()
|
"Unfortunately, the collaboration ends up looking wonderful but suffers from too many contradictions to make its very personal statements convincingly."
|
S. James Wegg
|
|
——
|
Restul e tacere (The Rest Is Silence) (2007)
|
"The advent of moving pictures has seldom been better chronicled than by Nae Caranfil's long-time coming labour of cinematic love."
|
S. James Wegg
|
|
——
|
Why We Laugh: Black Comedians on Black Comedy (2010)
|
"A thoughtful history of on-colour humour."
|
S. James Wegg
|
|
——
|
Young Romantic: A Portrait of Yundi Li ()
|
"... many of the best moments come from Seiji Ozawa who employs his special musical and human gifts to try and harness his speeding charge ..."
|
S. James Wegg
|
|
96%
|
Waltz with Bashir (2008)
|
"An inconvenient memory"
|
S. James Wegg
|
|
17%
|
The Gay Bed and Breakfast of Terror (2007)
|
"The best part comes right off the top as Juliet Wright sings and dances up a storm during the opening credits."
|
S. James Wegg
|
|
86%
|
I.O.U.S.A. (2008)
|
"Fending off the global repo man"
|
S. James Wegg
|
|
——
|
4th and Long ()
|
"Those who love to laugh will be rewarded many times over: Who knew that humping a lawn ornament, winning a fishing tournament with a snagged larynx or trying out for the last spot on the Frisbee all-star team would produce belly laughs on the first down?"
|
S. James Wegg
|
|
90%
|
Hunger (2009)
|
"Death of a Terrorist"
|
S. James Wegg
|
|
77%
|
Üç Maymun (Three Monkeys) (2008)
|
"Those willing to think for themselves, not in a rush for the dénouement and appreciate cinematographic narrative techniques will surely savour nearly every frame of director/co-writer Nuri Bilge Ceylan's ... exceptionally crafted tale of crime, corruption"
|
S. James Wegg
|
|
36%
|
Passchendaele (2009)
|
"Game, set and dry match"
|
S. James Wegg
|
|
94%
|
Tokyo Sonata (Tokyo Sonata) (2009)
|
"... a new level of deep social commentary, frequently in danger of plunging over into the abyss of human foible and despair, finds its incredible resolution in a well-loved solo piano work (Debussy's "Clair de lune") ..."
|
S. James Wegg
|
|
70%
|
Last Chance Harvey (2009)
|
"Not even acting legends Dustin Hoffman and Emma Thompson could, er, rise above ... a script drowning in a tide of situation cliché, precious coincidence and more saccharine than a diabetics convention."
|
S. James Wegg
|
|
64%
|
Dare (2009)
|
"Adam Salky's entry into the coming of age genre ... tells the age-old story with a few interesting wrinkles."
|
S. James Wegg
|
|
85%
|
Black Dynamite (2009)
|
"Director Scott Sanders and his co-writers Michael Jai White and Byron Minns unrelentingly lampoon all manner of ghetto life clichés and cultural sacred cows."
|
S. James Wegg
|
|
——
|
Loss (Nereikalingi zmones) (2008)
|
"Six degrees of desperation"
|
S. James Wegg
|
|
——
|
Friend ()
|
"Director/screenwriter Micha Lewinsky's leap from shorts to feature is well-intentioned, has moments of promise but can't find enough originality or character development to lift it from the realm of OK to ah-ha!"
|
S. James Wegg
|
|
94%
|
Slumdog Millionaire (2008)
|
"... this production could well be billed as the most entertaining film of 2008."
|
S. James Wegg
|
|
——
|
Ladies Please! ()
|
"Like all artists, the need to perform and feel appreciated by the audience drives the energetic cross-dressers onto the stage and into many hearts."
|
S. James Wegg
|
|
——
|
Jay ()
|
"For his début feature, Pasion exhibits savvy understanding of the human experience, a wicked sense of humour and the ability to draw powerful performances from his cast."
|
S. James Wegg
|
|
——
|
Thank You Girls ()
|
"The frequently frustrating lives of Filipino drag queens come into the limelight as a troupe of queer pageant beauties travels on a talking bus."
|
S. James Wegg
|
|
——
|
Trip to Asia ()
|
"Travel adds perspective to art"
|
S. James Wegg
|
|
——
|
Plastic City ()
|
"... this film looks good at first glance but doesn't stand up to a close examination."
|
S. James Wegg
|
|
——
|
Juncture (2007)
|
"The opening sequence is a brilliant gem of narrative technique."
|
S. James Wegg
|
|
100%
|
Voyna i Mir (War and Peace) (1967)
|
"The camera, the score and the pace approach perfection"
|
S. James Wegg
|
|
82%
|
Serbis (Service) (2008)
|
"Sex in the Cinema"
|
S. James Wegg
|
|
86%
|
Wonderful Town (2007)
|
"It's a film not to be missed."
|
S. James Wegg
|
|
67%
|
Heaven on Earth (2008)
|
"... Deepa Mehta turns her own Punjabi culture inside and out as this tale of arranged marriage moves from ceremonial joy through the willful blindness which spans the generational divide to the employment of myth, magic and fable ..."
|
S. James Wegg
|
|
64%
|
Loins of Punjab Presents (2007)
|
"... there's more than enough entertainment and self deprecation to fill theatres everywhere."
|
S. James Wegg
|
|
66%
|
La Sconosciuta (The Unknown) (The Other Woman) (2008)
|
"Giuseppe Tornatore has crafted a film for the ages. With some script assistance from Massimo de Rita, the writer/director is at the top of his game, bringing together a truly mysterious tale of love for family and unbridled revenge in a manner that could"
|
S. James Wegg
|
|
47%
|
Man in the Chair (2007)
|
"It's hard to imagine anyone other than Christopher Plummer taking on the role of Flash Madden."
|
S. James Wegg
|
|
——
|
New Urban Cowboy ()
|
"Arth is driven in all of his work by the lofty notion of mankind being able to 'live harmoniously in a beautiful earth.'"
|
S. James Wegg
|
|
——
|
Mother ()
|
"Rolling along the tracks of despair"
|
S. James Wegg
|
|
——
|
Man Who Crossed the Sahara ()
|
"Dying to find endless life"
|
S. James Wegg
|
|
——
|
S&M: Short and Male ()
|
"The plight of height challenged (or to be more politically correct: 'short-stature') men is put under the lens of one of their number -- director/writer Howard Goldberg -- who provides an at times hilarious, informative and disturbing dissertation."
|
S. James Wegg
|
|
——
|
Oyû-sama (Lady Ôyu) (Miss Oyu) (1951)
|
"How can such a convoluted plot turn into such a cinematic pleasure? Put director Kenji Mizoguchi in charge."
|
S. James Wegg
|
|
100%
|
At the Death House Door (2008)
|
"Rarely has the unholy alliance between Church and State been so succinctly delineated than in this detail-rich documentation of the near-daily ritual of purging the glorious state of Texas of its 'worst of the worst'."
|
S. James Wegg
|
|
——
|
American Assassin (2007)
|
"Death by systemic frustration"
|
S. James Wegg
|
|
100%
|
Ugetsu monogatari (1954)
|
"Never in your wildest dreams"
|
S. James Wegg
|
|
——
|
Eyes of Van Gogh ()
|
"Barnett seems content to stage the production as if it was in the confines of a theatre rather than the wide-open reaches of film."
|
S. James Wegg
|
|
——
|
The Saddest Boy in the World (2006)
|
"The film stops abruptly, landing an emotional punch that will linger in memory for months with its all-too-sad truth."
|
S. James Wegg
|
|
——
|
25 Cent Preview ()
|
"... this gritty, 'in the moment,' at times indecipherable journey into the uncensored life of San Francisco street hustlers may attract a legion of voyeurs eager to watch the dirty details of the quick-release allure of sex for cash ..."
|
S. James Wegg
|
|
40%
|
Otto; or Up with Dead People (2008)
|
"Bruce La Bruce's latest offering is a deadly affair of heavily politicized metaphors that overflows with imagination, angst and a smattering of good old fashioned porn."
|
S. James Wegg
|
|
——
|
Dialogue - Lowell Ganz and Babaloo Mandel (2007)
|
"An insiders guide to spitting out scripts"
|
S. James Wegg
|
73%
79%
62%
52%
26%
4%
