— by JESSIKA OWENS — Slasher flicks are not new on the market, nor will then soon be dismissed by horror fans. Buffs of the genre will watch a slasher film whether they are predisposed on their opinion of how good the movie will be. Once in a while, we are pleasantly surprised when a […][...]
Review: A Band Called Death
— 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 Horatio Alger story in reverse. These are […][...]
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 end, “Cairo 678” […][...]
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 for a challenging ski vacation […][...]
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 video nuts. They loved to make home movies, they loved […][...]
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 this summer blockbuster […][...]
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 world of scary adventure. Well, actually[...]
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 communications on their backs, and their motor bikes, […][...]
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 clicking back against each […][...]
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 Institute of Technology grad. The intelligence shows. Wang plays Joey, a […][...]