The James Marsh film review archive

James Marsh

  • Legend No.17

    I am no kind of ice hockey fan, which should be evident from the fact I refer to it as “ice hockey”. But Legend No.17 was the opening film at… Read More

  • Jodorowsky’s Dune

    Chilean-born Alejandro Jodorowsky is responsible for some of the weirdest, most psychedelic movies of the 1970s. His breakthrough hit was the quasi-Western El Topo which become a monster hit on… Read More

  • Smashed

    Mary Elizabeth Winstead and Aaron Paul are both excellent in this low budget comedy drama from director James Ponsoldt. They play a young couple, very much in love, who both… Read More

  • Maruyama the Middle Schooler

    A typically oddball tale of Japanese adolescence, but one that is hilarious, charming and delightfully off the wall. It centres on a typical 14-year-old boy, Maruyama, with an over-active imagination,… Read More

  • Bullhead

    I have been a huge champion of this film since first catching it at PiFan back in 2011. Michael R. Roskam’s directorial debut is a powerful crime epic, set in… Read More

  • Doctor Who and the Daleks

    This rather quaint soft-hearted approach to the beloved timelord sees Peter Cushing portray a human version of the time travelling space adventurer, who brings along his niece, granddaughter and the… Read More

  • Switch

    Andy Lau is part James Bond, part Ethan Hunt in so bad it’s almost worth watching spy thriller. Far and away the year’s most ridiculously stupidly incoherent blockbuster, and it… Read More

  • Mimic: the Director’s Cut

    I had seen Guillermo del Toro’s Hollywood debut on VHS when it was first released back in the late 90s. At the time it was to me, barely out of… Read More

  • The Decameron

    I continue my sporadic exploration of the films of Pier Paolo Pasolini with this first part of his Trilogy of Life. Lighter in tone yet no less subversive than the… Read More

  • V/H/S/2

    This second dose of first person found footage horror antics from seven vivacious young filmmakers from around the world proves far too similar an experience as the first film did.… Read More

  • REVIEW: V/H/S/2

    I wasn’t overly enamoured by last year’s V/H/S but nevertheless I was looking forward to the follow-up, especially after early reports out of Sundance promised a leaner, more lighthearted affair… Read More

  • Contamination

    I only heard about this film from the special features on Arrow’s excellent Zombie Flesh Eaters disc, and it seemed the perfect late-night splatter flick. For large parts, Contamination seems… Read More

  • Identity Thief

    Melissa McCarthy continues her meteoric rise into the Hollywood comedy A-list, this time opposite perennial straight man Jason Bateman, as a habitual con artist who steals the identity of Sandy… Read More

  • Ernest & Celestine

    Charming, if rather slight, French animation that pitches its story of acceptance, friendship and tolerance firmly at a young, impressionable audience. As a result, adults unfamiliar with the characters, who… Read More

  • Taste of Cherry

    Pretty much epitomises what Abbas Kiarostami does so well – taking the mundane and making it profound. Homayoun Ershadi stars as a seemingly ordinary man driving around the hillsides on… Read More

  • To The Wonder

    Ben Affleck, Olga Kurylenko, Javier Bardem and Rachel McAdams star in the latest film from Terrence Malick, but despite some luminescent photography, it proves an intolerable snoozefest. Read More

  • REVIEW: To The Wonder

    As a fan of Terrence Malick’s work since first seeing Badlands in the early 90s, his recent spate of productivity has been incredibly exciting, even when it arrives in the… Read More

  • Liv & Ingmar

    Told through a combination of interviews with actress Liv Ullmann and letters written between her and Ingmar Bergman, Dheeraj Akolkar’s documentary paints a poignant yet rather dour portrait of the… Read More