The James Marsh film review archive

James Marsh

  • Identification of a Woman

    While I wouldn’t class myself as much of a fan of Michelangelo Antonioni, I have enjoyed all of his films that I have seen. However, until today that consists solely… Read More

  • Yi Yi

    One of the founding members of the New Taiwanese Cinema movement that sprung up on the island in the early 1980s, Edward Yang was responsible for some of the best… Read More

  • Oedipus Rex

    Pier Paolo Pasolini’s retelling of Sophocles’ classical tragedy is a typically vivid and visually arresting affair, featuring bold performances from Franco Citti and Silvana Mangano, outrageous costumes and stunning photography.… Read More

  • REVIEW: Oedipus Rex

    Pier Paolo Pasolini is a fascinating, if challenging filmmaker, who I have only fairly recently begun to fully appreciate. As is probably the case with numerous other critics of my… Read More

  • Goke, Body Snatcher From Hell

    The second title from Criterion’s Eclipse series When Horror Came to Shochiku is a step up from the first film in the four-disc set, but not by much. A plane… Read More

  • Batman: The Dark Knight Returns Part 2

    The second part of Jay Oliva’s animated adaptation of Frank Miller’s landmark comic continues on apace, introducing a number of familiar characters from the DC Universe, including The Joker, Superman… Read More

  • The Sword of Doom

    This fantastic samurai thriller from Okamoto Kihachi stars Nakadai Tatsuya (Harakiri) as a merciless, amoral samurai, who wanders the land murdering and taking advantage of almost everyone he meets, while… Read More

  • The X From Outer Space

    The first film from Criterion’s Eclipse series, When Horror Came To Shochiku, is a retro sci-fi 60s adventure following an international crew who venture to Mars, only to bring back… Read More

  • The Grey

    Liam Neeson gives one his best performances in recent years as a toughened, grizzled hunter working in Alaska as a security guard for a team of roughnecks. When their plane… Read More

  • A Good Day to Die Hard

    Bruce Willis returns as NYC cop John McClane for a fifth time, this time heading to Moscow to team up with his CIA agent son (Jai Courtney) to take on… Read More

  • Journey to the West: Conquering the Demons

    I had little interest or faith in Stephen Chow’s latest retelling of the classic Chinese fantasy, but there is some enjoyment to be had. The story, which is essentially the… Read More

  • Zero Dark Thirty

    Jessica Chastain is terrific as the single-minded, obsessive CIA agent who spearheads the decade-long search for Osama Bin Laden in Kathryn Bigelow’s rivetting thriller. From the secret torture camps to… Read More

  • Warm Bodies

    Hugely entertaining adaptation of Isaac Marion’s novel about a lovestruck zombie called R (Nicholas Hoult) who falls for Julie (Teresa Palmer), a beautiful girl, whose father is leading the human… Read More

  • REVIEW: Warm Bodies

    Writer-director Jonathan Levine (50/50, The Wackness) does a pretty excellent job of adapting Isaac Marion’s novel, Warm Bodies, for the big screen. Nicholas Hoult (best remembered as the young lad… Read More

  • Flight

    Denzel Washington is great playing a commercial pilot who’s got what it takes to fly a broken plane upside down, but can’t keep his drink and drug habit under control.… Read More

  • REVIEW: Flight

    Robert Zemeckis, the Oscar-winning director of Forrest Gump and Back To The Future, returns to live action for the first time in more than a decade, directing his first R… Read More

  • Searching For Sugar Man

    The favourite to win Best Documentary at the Oscars later this month is a fantastic piece of investigative journalism into what became of the folk singer Rodriguez. A Mexican-born Detroit… Read More

  • REVIEW: Searching For Sugar Man

    I had put off watching this much-lauded documentary for most of 2012 for one reason or another, but after finally catching it today I don’t know why I waited so… Read More