The James Marsh film review archive

James Marsh

  • Things To Come

    This is what happens when H.G. Wells is allowed to make a science fiction. Visually impressive, wildly prescient and stunning in its ambition. Read More

  • The Warriors

    I finally watched Walter Hill’s gangland classic for the first time as part of Twitch’s Full Disclosure feature. It hasn’t aged particularly well, and fails to resonate when discovered today… Read More

  • Special ID

    Following a string of historical martial arts epics, Donnie Yen makes his return to contemporary action films with this high-octane tale of an undercover cop torn between duty and loyalty… Read More

  • The Man Who Would Be King

    The only film to co-star British cinematic icons (and long-time friends) Michael Caine and Sean Connery, The Man Who Would Be King is a late-career highlight from American director John… Read More

  • Captain Phillips

    Tom Hanks leads a convincing charge for his third Best Actor Oscar as real-life merchant seaman Capt. Richard Phillips, whose container ship is overpowered by Somali pirates in Paul Greengrass’… Read More

  • Prisoners

    Denis Villeneuve’s English language debut is a tough, gritty and downright chilly thriller about a man (Hugh Jackman) who takes the law into his own hands when his daughter goes… Read More

  • Hannah And Her Sisters

    Excellent example of Allen’s great skill for writing great women characters. Hershey is both understated yet utterly desirable. And Caine! Top tier stuff. Read More

  • Detention

    There’s a degree of method in the madness of Joseph Kahn’s all-in balls-out execution that’s quite commendable. Unwieldy fun. Read More

  • Onibaba

    Revisited Shino Kaneto’s brilliant psycho-sexual horror film in preparation for my appearance on the Masters of Cinema podcast. A masterpiece of Japanese horror and one of the best-looking black &… Read More

  • Zero Charisma

    A brutally on-point depiction of social incompetency in nerd culture & the faux intelligence of hipster irony. It’s also funny. Read More

  • Les Enfants du Paradis

    An epic tale of jealousy & unrequited love set in the boisterous theatres of 1830s Paris. Arrietty is fantastic in the lead role, but perhaps slightly too old for the… Read More

  • Kiss Of The Damned

    The feature debut from writer-director Xan Cassavetes too often lets its unnecessary Euro kitsch aspirations handicap an otherwise respectable modern day vampire romance. Read More

  • Curse of Chucky

    Despite a decent turn from Fiona Dourif (daughter of Chucky’s voice actor Brad), Curse of Chucky is pretty lame. Lacks scares, laughs & efforts to link back to original fall… Read More

  • Miss Zombie

    Sabu’s latest is a bleak, expressionistic, low budget retelling of Kim Ki-Young’s The Housemaid. With zombies. Read More

  • Coherence

    Reminiscent of the comedy It’s A Disaster, as reimagined by Shane Carruth. A dinner party disintegrates into mind bending science-fiction, from their may be no escape. Utterly gripping stuff. Read More

  • To Be Or Not To Be

    A troupe of sub-par stage performers square off against the Nazis in occupied Poland circa 1942. By applying their skills of performance, disguise and suspension of disbelief they attempt to… Read More

  • Diana

    Largely unwarranted biopic is less interested in the Princess’ final years than in punishing its audience with risible dialogue and obsessing over non-events. Read my full review here Read More

  • Arabian Nights

    2 hours+ of beautifully shot, brilliantly conceived, yet pitifully acted sex, poetry and slapstick. It can only be Pasolini. Is there a Pasolini supercut anywhere of characters laughing at each… Read More