The James Marsh film review archive

Short Reviews

  • Hungry Ghost Ritual

    Nick Cheung follows a string of critical and commercial hits with his debut as writer-director, a seasonal horror flick in which he also takes the leading role. While Cheung has… Read More

  • Vanishing Point

    Excellent example of early-70s counter culture cool. Essentially one long chase movie, but as Kowalski’s backstory is slowly pieced together we learn how he is a disenchanted Vietnam vet who… Read More

  • The Tale Of Zatoichi Continues

    Brisk, no-nonsense sequel that pits Zatoichi against a clan of disgruntled yakuza and government officials, while a mysterious wandering bandit also takes an interest, who is revealed to be the… Read More

  • Duck, You Sucker!

    I had put off watching Sergio Leone’s final western for many many years, believing it to be a lesser film in the director’s canon, but in fact it’s an incredibly… Read More

  • The Hunger

    The only Tony Scott film I had yet to see, and therefore the subject of my entry in Twitch’s Full Disclosure feature for this month. I had more to say,… Read More

  • How To Train Your Dragon 2

    This second outing for Hiccup (Jay Baruchel) and Toothless might take some audience members by surprise. I was a huge fan of the original, which expertly combined smart humour with… Read More

  • Transformers: Age of Extinction

    The fourth instalment of Michael Bay’s big screen robot romp offers few surprises but an abundance of the series’ familiar tropes in another marathon-length, narratively vapid action spectacular. Bay’s trademark… Read More

  • The Fatal Encounter

    Following the success of Masquerade last year, South Korea has rediscovered its taste for period drama chamber pieces, and Lee Jae-gyu’s The Fatal Encounter more than delivers, both in dramatic… Read More

  • Filth

    James McAvoy undergoes a bold reinvention to become corrupt, alcoholic, drug-adled Detective Sgt. Bruce Robertson in Jon S. Baird’s spirited adaptation of Irvine Welsh’s novel. Vying for a promotion by… Read More

  • Maleficent

    I enjoyed this reworking of Sleeping Beauty for the most part, and appreciated its efforts to take the Frozen route of showing women they don’t need a Prince Charming to… Read More

  • A Million Ways To Die In The West

    Definitely has moments of laugh out loud humour throughout, but in between (and some of the gaps between laughs are agonisingly long) we are forced to watch what is simply… Read More

  • X-Men: Days Of Future Past

    This seventh instalment in the X-Men franchise doesn’t make a lick of sense but I still found it to be good fun, not least in its valiant efforts to tie… Read More

  • Coming Home

    Zhang Yimou returns to his more humble, socially conscious roots, reuniting with former muse Gong Li for an earnest, if rather underwhelming, adaptation of Yan Geiling’s The Criminal Lu Yanshi.… Read More

  • The Raid 2

    An operatic crime epic that’s as beautiful in its calm moments as it is brutal with its action. I discuss the film in more detail with Fernando on the podcast… Read More

  • Black Coal, Thin Ice

    This year’s surprise Golden Bear winner at Berlin is a bleak, yet engrossing whodunnit set in the wintry climes of Northern China. For his third feature film, writer-director Diao Yinan… Read More

  • Campus Confidential

    Taiwanese teen romance about the college princess, worshipped by every boy on campus, who is rescued from a dried up lake by the most awkward geeky guy imaginable. However, this… Read More

  • Devil’s Knot

    True story of small-town injustice that saw an entire community turn on a group of teenage weirdos after three young boys are found horrifically murdered. With no real evidence beyond… Read More

  • Genocide

    Also known as War of the Insects, this is a real sci-fi horror oddity from Criterion’s Eclipse series, When Horror Came to Shochiku, about a swarm of marauding bugs capable… Read More