Film International

Film International is not a Tomatometer-approved publication. Reviews from this publication only count toward the Tomatometer® when written by the following Tomatometer-approved critic(s): Alexandra Heller-Nicholas, Anton Bitel, Elias Savada, Gary M. Kramer, Jessica Baxter, Matthew Sorrento, Zhuo-Ning Su
Rating Title/Year Author
4/5 Brewmance (2021) Elias Savada In the world of beer-centric documentaries, Brewmance is the latest and one of the most effervescent salutes to fine craft libations, yet also quenches the thirst that pushes home brewers to greater heights. EDIT
Posted Apr 14, 2021
3/5 Godzilla vs. Kong (2021) Elias Savada Over-the-top action (and) ludicrous to the max, yet if you expel all your notions of common sense, there's a chance you might enjoy it. EDIT
Posted Apr 14, 2021
4/5 Nobody (2021) Elias Savada With a nod toward film noir - there's an out-of-focus poster for Orson Welles' Touch of Evil (1953) in the family basement - Naishuller offers a darker side to fatherhood than the first few minutes of the film suggest. EDIT
Posted Apr 14, 2021
5/5 Collective (2019) Elias Savada Horrific footage of the inferno casts an eerie light as Nanau's film begins, and, with a surgeon's precision, he peels away the scab hiding an immoral national health-care system at home, one that had been secretly festering for a decade. EDIT
Posted Apr 13, 2021
The Power (2021) Alexandra Heller-Nicholas The Power is a masterclass of the contemporary feminist horror film, a movie that simultaneously looks back at the past to tell us urgent, important and, yes, some extremely uncomfortable truths about our present. EDIT
Posted Apr 11, 2021
Funny Face (2020) Gary M. Kramer Funny Face may require some work on the viewer's part to put the pieces together, but for those willing to make the effort, Sutton's striking drama is ultimately rewarding. EDIT
Posted Apr 3, 2021
3/5 Externo (2021) Elias Savada No, this isn't The Big Short, and Margot Robbie is nowhere in sight, but I wonder what the financial world might think of this film. EDIT
Posted Mar 23, 2021
Keep an Eye Out (2018) Gary M. Kramer Keep an Eye Out juggles so many different styles of farcical humor and manipulates the police genre that its few lapses can be forgiven. For viewers who are on Dupieux's wavelength, this film is mostly sublime. EDIT
Posted Mar 3, 2021
3.5/5 Happy Times (2019) Elias Savada There is plenty of dark humor to be found in this Israeli-American hybrid from Haifa-born and Los Angeles-based director Michael Mayer...[a] horror excursion into impolite Los Angeles manners.... EDIT
Posted Feb 28, 2021
Isaac (2019) Gary M. Kramer A dense, affecting story about trauma and memory... Yet it is Matulevicius's superb command of the storytelling that distinguishes this visually spellbinding film EDIT
Posted Feb 20, 2021
1/5 Cactus Jack (2021) Elias Savada The combination of hallucinogenic talk radio sketches and Taxi Driver's Travis Bickle on steroids affords actor R. Michael Gull to follow the filmmakers' urgings: 'Let's just make some shit in our basement ... and show hate like it really is.' EDIT
Posted Feb 11, 2021
3.5/5 Sator (2019) Elias Savada [Director Jordan] Graham plays you with creaking floorboards, flashlights shining in dusty interiors, and just plain gloom. EDIT
Posted Feb 7, 2021
3/5 The Family Tree (2020) Elias Savada No doubt the film is somewhat stifled by its technical faults (at least in my online viewing). The Family Tree offers up a spiritual dish in a different setting, probably outside your comfort zone. EDIT
Posted Jan 22, 2021
No Man's Land (2021) Gary M. Kramer As the film lumbers to its operatic finale, Allyn cudgels viewers with messages of grief, guilt, and forgiveness.... No Man's Land's bluntness is why it is ineffective. EDIT
Posted Jan 21, 2021
Identifying Features (2020) Gary M. Kramer Valadez reveals some horrific and perhaps hidden truths about the perils of border crossing. And yet, her film has a fable-like quality to it.... That it is steeped in a painful reality makes Identifying Features all the more devastating. EDIT
Posted Jan 21, 2021
1.5/5 The Marksman (2021) Elias Savada ...it's mostly a lackluster affair, sporting cardboard characters and gag-worthy clichés EDIT
Posted Jan 14, 2021
4/5 Shadow in the Cloud (2020) Elias Savada Shadow in the Cloud is a small, fierce gem. Liang crafts a humdinger of a film, and Moretz lets it all out with a thrilling performance. Oh. What. Fun. EDIT
Posted Dec 31, 2020
2/5 Wonder Woman 1984 (2020) Elias Savada Like so many presents found under the tree this Christmas Day, there might be a lot of folks asking for a refund after viewing this sad excuse for a sequel. EDIT
Posted Dec 23, 2020
1/5 Greenland (2020) Elias Savada You know, if comets were made of farts, this might have been a fun film. EDIT
Posted Dec 22, 2020
3/5 News of the World (2020) Elias Savada News of the World ambles from scene to scene with an occasional spectacular landscape....Tom Hanks, front and center again, isn't enough to carry the film. EDIT
Posted Dec 19, 2020
Wild Mountain Thyme (2020) Gary M. Kramer The characters all talk about happiness and love but watching them struggle to find both is oddly joyless.... Wild Mountain Thyme does provide some simple pleasures but suggests that Shanley is a far better writer than director. EDIT
Posted Dec 11, 2020
2.5/5 They Reach (2020) Elias Savada They Reach offers slow build up and small jump scares. Too much music, not enough imagination, although the direction is adequate. EDIT
Posted Nov 27, 2020
3.5/5 Ashens and the Polybius Heist (2020) Elias Savada So either thank or curse the British Empire for unleashing Ashens and the Polybius Heist. For me? Pandemic be damned - empty your head and enjoy! EDIT
Posted Nov 20, 2020
A Son (2019) Gary M. Kramer [D]azzling.... Barsaoui wisely resists handwringing and melodrama. That - along with the strong performances by Bouajila and Ben Abdallah - is what makes Barsaoui's accomplished film so impactful and devastating. EDIT
Posted Nov 19, 2020
Yalda, a Night for Forgiveness (2020) Gary M. Kramer A gripping Iranian drama.... Writer/director Massoud Bakhshi keeps the action nimble as drama unfolds on screen and off. EDIT
Posted Nov 19, 2020
All Hands on Deck (2020) Gary M. Kramer The tone is sunny, like an Eric Rohmer film, and the ensemble cast plays well together. The interactions are believable, and viewers will be invested in each character. In fact, it is almost disappointing when L'Abordage ends EDIT
Posted Nov 19, 2020
Acasa, My Home (2020) Gary M. Kramer Ciornicuic quietly, shrewdly makes his case for his subject{s]. He shows their dignity even if the greater society disagrees with how they want to live.... It is a remarkable portrait of a family in transition. EDIT
Posted Nov 19, 2020
4/5 Come Play (2020) Elias Savada It's a fascinating concept, not that it's terribly original...but one that constantly put me on edge. EDIT
Posted Oct 28, 2020
4/5 Borat Subsequent Moviefilm (2020) Elias Savada Borat's back in town. Let's celebrate! EDIT
Posted Oct 22, 2020
4/5 Missing in Brooks County (2020) Elias Savada The film examines, sometimes in gruesome detail, the unfortunate migrant disappearances and deaths that have occurred in this eponymous region of Texas, about an hour's drive from the Mexican border... EDIT
Posted Oct 20, 2020
2/5 Honest Thief (2020) Elias Savada Neeson does the job he's paid to do, and his gruff role here hits the intended spots and one-liners... but Honest Thief gets too cute for its own unbelievable good. EDIT
Posted Oct 15, 2020
Nuevo Orden (2020) Alexandra Heller-Nicholas Strip away the circus-like fanfare of its aesthetics, and New Order is no cinematic experiment in dystopian carnivalesque, it's something much, much worse: it's just how things are. EDIT
Posted Oct 13, 2020
3.5/5 Possessor: Uncut (2020) Elias Savada Possessor is heavy stuff. Shakespeare's tragedies never went this deep. Brandon Cronenberg has one-upped the master - Like Father, Like Son - and his darkness is absolute. EDIT
Posted Oct 8, 2020
4/5 Save Yourselves! (2020) Elias Savada Well-crafted even for its seemingly lowish budget, the movie is a doozy of a down-to-earth apocalypse farce. EDIT
Posted Oct 4, 2020
4/5 The Dead Ones (2019) Elias Savada From this long ago shoot in (Jeremy) Kasten's home town of Baltimore, the film reveals itself to be a nimble, fleet (73 minutes) and well-crafted entry. EDIT
Posted Sep 29, 2020
4/5 Kajillionaire (2020) Elias Savada The trio of deadpan blue collar crooks July has created could easily be hailed as conquering heroes in our current angst-filled, social-distanced world. EDIT
Posted Sep 21, 2020
2.5/5 The Secrets We Keep (2020) Elias Savada Rapace is out for blood here, but Chris Messina is mostly a nebbish this go-round. EDIT
Posted Sep 16, 2020
7.5/10 Toy Story 4 (2019) Matthew Sorrento Let's hope new renditions of Disney properties continue such correctives, and that genre revisionism will again be in service. EDIT
Posted Sep 10, 2020
2.5/5 Tesla (2020) Elias Savada Ethan Hawke elevates the role as the lead actor in Tesla, but he never really gets to show much range.... EDIT
Posted Sep 7, 2020
8/10 The Pale Door (2020) Matthew Sorrento Co-writer/director Aaron B. Koontz's perceptiveness for the Western genre makes The Pale Door into a worthy hybrid horror. EDIT
Posted Aug 31, 2020
4.5/5 The Personal History of David Copperfield (2019) Elias Savada Bold, delightful, and eternally optimistic, The Personal History of David Copperfield is very clever indeed, without a hint of Victorian stuffiness. It's almost too much fun. EDIT
Posted Aug 31, 2020
3.5/5 Bill & Ted Face the Music (2020) Elias Savada Like Santa Claus coming down the chimney at Christmas, Bill & Ted Face the Music offers a crazed, intoxicating gift we can use this quarantine season. EDIT
Posted Aug 30, 2020
2.5/5 Train to Busan Presents: Peninsula (2020) Elias Savada All the things that made the original so great are lacking in its new CGI-heavy follow-up. Its heart is still pumping with adrenaline, though. EDIT
Posted Aug 25, 2020
The August Virgin (2019) Gary M. Kramer Viewers who fall under the spell cast by the film's organic nature and quotidian rhythms of life will enjoy The August Virgin immensely.... It is both a seductive and intoxicating film. EDIT
Posted Aug 21, 2020
3/5 Sputnik (2020) Elias Savada If you going to watch this one at all, it's probably for the good performances, the steel blue production design (by Mariya Slavina) and the dark, brooding cinematography of Maxim Zhukov. EDIT
Posted Aug 19, 2020
4/5 Pariah Dog (2019) Elias Savada Pariah Dog highlights Alk's ability as an extremely gifted, poetic, and even counter-culture filmmaker who has fashioned a labor of love for his debut feature. EDIT
Posted Aug 17, 2020
4.5/5 Boys State (2020) Elias Savada The directors leave a solid marker that their hope for this country down the road centers around numerous youth civics enclaves spread around the country... EDIT
Posted Aug 12, 2020
Siberia (2019) Alexandra Heller-Nicholas Siberia captures precisely what it is that makes Ferrara's films so electrifying: while not always coherent, he is determinedly consistent in his devotion to his core visions, and as hungry as ever to discover new ways to express them. EDIT
Posted Aug 5, 2020
4.5/5 The Fight (2020) Elias Savada The Fight gives all socially-conscious individuals hope that there are wonderful people making superhuman efforts to beat back horrid attempts to stifle basic human rights and dignities. It is glorious to watch them shine. EDIT
Posted Jul 31, 2020
2/5 The Rental (2020) Elias Savada It's another hung-out-to-dry whodunit...in which you never really learn whodunit. EDIT
Posted Jul 25, 2020