The James Marsh film review archive

James Marsh

  • Ugly

    Indian director Anurag Kashyap’s follow up to the epic crime saga, Gangs of Wasseypur, is a contemporary kidnapping thriller that more than lives up to its title. When a wannabe… Read More

  • White House Down

    White House Down

    The second film this year to see the US President’s official residence fall into enemy hands is a far more bombastic and lively affair than Antoine Fuqua’s brutal and po-faced… Read More

  • Rewind This!

    Not to brag, but Josh Johnson’s nostalgic documentary about the death of the VHS era and many films along with it, is chock full of people I know. This not-so-strange… Read More

  • Cheap Thrills

    One of the best examples of cinematic schadenfraude in recent memory, first-time director E.L. Katz takes two down on their luck losers and pits them against each other – for… Read More

  • Frankenstein’s Army

    After months reading about Richard Raaphorst’s Nazi era found footage zombie movie, I was rather underwhlemed by the whole experience. The central conceit, in which a young Russian soldier is… Read More

  • The Dance of Reality

    Chilean surrealist Alejandro Jodorowsky returns to filmmaking for the first time in more than 20 years, and the results are every bit as bizarre and beautiful as we could have… Read More

  • Ritual: A Psychomagic Story

    Of interest almost solely because of a rare acting performance from Alejandro Jodorowsky, this Italian psychodrama proves a baffling, underwhelming dud. As our heroine battles depression and an incredibly frustrating… Read More

  • The Fridge

    Utterly ridiculous and hokey, but not without plenty of charm and enthusiastic splatter, this Filipino horror sees an orphaned actress tormented by the titular demonic appliance. People and pets are… Read More

  • The Congress

    The opening film at this year’s PiFan Festival is this incredible blend of live action and animation rom Ari Folman, based on the novel by Solaris author Stanislav Lem. This… Read More

  • The Great Gatsby

    The Great Gatsby

    Few would consider Baz Luhrman an ideal candidate to bring F. Scott Fitzgerald’s literary masterpiece back to the screen, but while his adaptation remains as lurid and bombastic as his… Read More

  • The Incredible Burt Wonderstone

    I caught this on a flight and really that’s the perfect place to see this utterly inconsequential yet mildly diverting comedy. Steve Carell is on autopilot most of the time… Read More

  • The Howling

    While certainly entertaining, I’m baffled that some people hold Joe Dante’s film in the same high regard as John Landis’ An American Werewolf in London, or contend that the make… Read More

  • Pluto

    Intriguing Korean thriller about the pressures of studying at an elite boarding school and the lengths the top students will go to in order to maintain their grades and get… Read More

  • Pacific Rim

    Guillermo del Toro pits huge metal mech suits against giant creatures from a parallel dimension in his epic science-fiction beat ’em up. But is sheer spectacle enough, when the characters… Read More

  • REVIEW: Pacific Rim

    After months of anticipation, Guillermo del Toro’s Pacific Rim arrived in Hong Kong on a wave of muted praise and widespread disappointment. The feverish anticipation for the film had waned… Read More

  • Foxy Brown

    I’m not hugely familiar with blaxploitation films, but I was a little underwhlemed by Jack Hill’s Foxy Brown when I finally cauht up with it. There’s no denying that Pam… Read More

  • Toy Story 3

    I’m not sure you ever need an excuse to revisit what is arguably the crowning achievement from Pixar’s impressive “first run”. Pitch perfect entertainment for children and adults alike, on… Read More

  • A Field In England

    Ben Wheatley’s latest is an incredibly bold, baffling, beautiful and quite brilliant period horror flick that follows a group of deserting civil war soldiers as they get embroiled in a… Read More