— by RON WILKINSON — This documentary is a firsthand account of the Egyptian revolution in the setting of Cairo’s Tahrir Square in 2011 through Mohamed Morsi’s overthrow in 2013. Screened at the 2013 New York Film Festival, it is directed by Jehane Noujaim, who also directed indie fa[...]
Author Archive
Review: Camille Claudel 1915
— by RON WILKINSON — Nominated for the Golden Bear, the top award at the Berlin Film Festival, Bruno Dumont has added another bitter pill to his weighty list of accomplishments with “Camille Claudel 1915.” He has either won or been nominated for most of the top European film [...]
Review: The Network
— by RON WILKINSON — To 99 percent of Americans, Afghanistan is a battlefield. It is a place of misery and horrendously bad memories for hundreds of thousands of US service members and their loved ones. The number of Afghan casualties is at least double that of the Americans, not even in[...]
Review: K2: Siren of the Himalayas
— by RON WILKINSON — Known as “The Savage Mountain,” K2 is a mountain of contradictions. Although it is the second-highest mountain on Earth, after Mount Everest, the times humans have successfully climbed it number only about 10 percent those of Everest. The area is so remote and th[...]
Review: A Touch of Sin
— by RON WILKINSON — The winner of this year’s Palme d’Or at Cannes (2013), Zhangke Jia’s mean streets drama “A Touch of Sin” (aka “Tian zhu ding”) is a condemnation of Western values and celebration of Western life, at the same time. This is four stories taken [...]
Review: The Secret Lives of Dorks
— by RON WILKINSON — “The Secret Lives of Dorks” should be praised for its honesty at the same time that it is condemned for its lack of originality. It is exactly what one would expect and is, therefore, completely absent originality. On the other hand, anybody who watches it has no[...]
Review: Morning
— by RON WILKINSON — From the very beginning of this film, five days in the lives of a severely grief stricken couple, you know the going will not be easy. Sure enough, for the first hour there is not much variety in the grief presented. Unfortunately, this first hour tells the story of [...]
Review: Wedding Palace
— by RON WILKINSON — One of the first, if not the first, Korean-American romantic comedy to open in the USA, “Wedding Palace” is home grown and foreign at the same time. Backed by the Los Angeles Korean-American community, the film is American, with a few Korean curses thrown in. It [...]
Review: The Colony
— by RON WILKINSON — Emerging film-maker Jeff Renfroe tried hard on this slightly modified zombie flick, with good results for an emerging film maker. But the film is still inexcusably derivative and has little to recommend it over a thousand other thriller monster movies. The best thing[...]
Review: Le Week-End
— by RON WILKINSON — Screened at the 2013 New York Film Festival, Roger Michell’s (“Notting Hill,” “Venus”) newest elder rom-com is less of romp than a stroll. The screenplay openly dares the most romantic city in the world to pull the couple back from the abyss of the autumn y[...]
Review: Jewtopia
— by RON WILKINSON — Based on the popular play of the same name (the longest-running off-Broadway comedy of all time) “Jewtopia” is a pratfall slugfest that swerves back and forth across all boundaries of taste and correctness and comes up smiling. Director Bryan Fogel’s debut feat[...]
Review: Mission Park
— by RON WILKINSON and BEV QUESTAD — “Deception has no friend.” A voice adds, “We grew up soldiers around here. Most don’t make it past 24. But I never thought it would come to this.” “Mission Park” begins with four friends as young boys around 11 years old. At that age the[...]
Review: Out of the Clear Blue Sky
— by RON WILKINSON and BEV QUESTAD — Note to the reader: This review is written by two IJM authors, exchanging decidedly different points of view. Although the format probably is different than you are used to, we hope you enjoy it. Is this a sentimental documentary erring on the side of[...]
Review: The Trials of Muhammad Ali
— by RON WILKINSON — “The Trials of Muhammad Ali” will make you laugh, cry, cringe in embarrassment and cheer at the end. The latest in a series of (too) many Ali films, Bill Siegel’s peon to the puncher also walks the thin line between exploitation and exhilaration. In the end, ex[...]