— by RON WILKINSON — Screened at the 39th Seattle International Film Festival, “A Band Called Death” could just as well be called “A Band Coming Back to Life.” Directed by Mark Christopher Covino and Jeff Howlett and featuring none other than Alice Cooper himself, this is a Horat[...]
Archive for the ‘Reviews’ Category
Review: Cairo 678
— by BEV QUESTAD — Men, if you were born a woman, what would you do? What would you do when you were disrespected? Groped in public? Disregarded? If you’re a Westerner, would your answer be different if you lived in the Subcontinent, Africa, Southeast Asia or the Middle East? In the en[...]
Review: Nicky’s Family
— by BEV QUESTAD — “If something isn’t blatantly impossible, there must be a way of doing it.” This credo from Nicholas Winton motivated him to become one of the great saviors of the 19th century. In 1938, Nicky Winton, a champion fencer, sailor and skier from England, was hungry f[...]
Review: Our Nixon
— by RON WILKINSON — Screened at the 39th Seattle International Film Festival, this amazing film ranks as one of the greatest assemblies of home movies ever made. As the story goes, presidential insiders H.R. “Bob” Haldeman, John Erlichman, and/or Dwight Chapin were Super 8 v[...]
Review: Pacific Rim
— by ADAM DALE — Ever since last year’s Comic-Con panel at which I heard Guillermo Del Toro’s passion about his new project, “Pacific Rim,” I have been excited to see the film. I have been looking forward to seeing the awesome and very visual flair that he would be bringing to th[...]
Review: Comrade Kim Goes Flying
— by RON WILKINSON — Cornering the Most-Over-The-Top-Film-Award at the 2012 Seattle International Film Festival is this incredible North Korean Horatio Alger story of a coal miner’s daughter (I am not making this up) whose desire to become a trapeze artist takes her to the big city a w[...]
Review: Together (Tian Mi Mi)
— by RON WILKINSON — Screened at the 39th Seattle International Film Festival, Taiwanese director Chao-jen Hsu’s quirky rom-com Together is a fun look at Taiwan’s Gen Y young adults. Mobile, connected and ready to rip, these kids are like army ants on the move. Carrying their communi[...]
Review: Beijing Flickers
— by BEV QUESTAD — Happiness, a big loping dog, runs through Beijing streets chased by his owner, San Bao (Duan Bowen), on his motorbike. An ill-timed stop manned by a traffic cop restricts Bao from following free-running Happiness, so Bao hauls off and decks him. Like a row of dominoes [...]
Review: In the Family
— by BEV QUESTAD — Patrick Wang has a gentle, honest, remarkably charismatic onscreen presence. What’s remarkable is that besides having the lead role, he produced, directed and wrote this tender legal gripper as well. All this surprisingly artsy involvement is from a Massachusetts Ins[...]
Review: Despicable Me 2
— by ADAM DALE — “Despicable Me” was a global success on all counts. Not only did it make more than $540 million at the worldwide box office, but was a tent-pole film that launched the new animation studio Illumination Entertainment onto the map of major contenders in animated films.[...]
Review: Terms and Conditions May Apply
— by BEV QUESTAD — I’m glad we caught the bros who bombed the Boston Marathon so quickly. Surveillance cameras and private cell phones did their job. This act of wanton hurt is justification for an entire camera grid of all streets, malls, schools and government buildings. Yes, it soun[...]
Review: The Way, Way Back
— by ADAM DALE — Movies about adolescents finding themselves have been popular for decades and a source of many classic films, but it begs the question: “Do we need more of them?” That is the question the writing and directing duo Nat Faxon and Jim Rush are hoping audiences will say [...]
Review: Pretty Butterflies
— by RON WILKINSON — Sara Podda and Maya Mulas star in Salvatore Mereu’s new wave Italian neorealist romp in small town Italy. Not unlike small town America, the big dreams of two young girls are hemmed in on all sides by the small mindedness of their provincial environment. Screened a[...]
Review: The Act of Killing
— by RON WILKINSON — Every now and then, a film comes along that defies description. Typically these films are so horrible and so irresistible that the viewer wants to forget he or she never saw the film, but is terrified that may be impossible. When Werner Herzog & Errol Morris tea[...]