The James Marsh film review archive

James Marsh

  • 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

  • Once Upon a Time in the West

    After completing his “Dollars Trilogy”, Sergio Leone was done with the Western, until Paramount offered him a huge budget and the opportunity to work with his favourite actor, Henry Fonda.… Read More

  • A Foreign Affair

    Screening at the Hong Kong Film Archive as part of mini retrospective showcasing the collaborations between Billy Wilder and Marlene Dietrich, I went into this with no other information and… Read More

  • The Good, The Bad and The Ugly

    Sergio Leone’s third and final chapter in his loose “dollars trilogy” with Clint Eastwood is also the first of two back-to-back masterpieces of the genre from the king of the… Read More

  • Seven Psychopaths

    Irish writer-director Martin McDonagh follows up his hugely entertaining debut, In Bruges, by moving to Hollywood and attempting a larger, more ambitiously plotted tale of hit men, dog ‘nappers and… Read More

  • Texas Chainsaw 3D

    Opening with a swift recap of the events of the 1974 original film, this latest entry reveals that an infant member of the cannibalistic Sawyer family survived and has now… Read More

  • Lost in Thailand

    Xu Zheng writes, produces, directs and stars as Xu Lang, a scientist making a desperate dash to Thailand in order to track down his boss and secure the exclusive rights… Read More

  • Beasts of the Southern Wild

    Writer-director Benh Zeitlin delivers one of the best American Indies in recent memory, bolstered by a knockout central performance from 6-year-old Quavenzhane Wallis. Read my full review here. Read More