Short Reviews

Gangster Squad

Josh Brolin, Ryan Gosling, Emma Stone and Sean Penn head up a strong cast that is largely squandered in Ruben Fleischer’s flashy yet superficial 1940s gangster yarn. The script seems… Read More
Goon

Seann William Scott delivers what is perhaps the best performance of his career as the slow-witted yet lovable Doug Glatt, who finds himself swept up into the Canadian ice hockey… Read More
Universal Soldier: Regeneration

After enjoying the hell out of the fourth installment in this resurrected franchise, Day of Reckoning, I was advised to check out the previous chapter. Also directed by John Hyams,… Read More
Trollhunter

Witty, exciting and utterly original, Andre Ovredal’s found footage film succeeds by playing it dead straight, where others may have been tempted to play the film for laughs. A student… Read More
Hellraiser

Clive Barker’s 1987 directorial debut sees Clare Higgins graduate from philandering wife and stepmother to serial murderer, when she discovers the reanimated corpse of her former lover hiding out in… Read More
Django Unchained

Quentin Tarantino delivers another rip-roaring slice of reverential exploitation Cinema, this time dressing up a condemnation of the American slave trade as a blood-soaked spaghetti western. Read my full review… Read More
Three Colours: Red

I was relieved to discover that Krzysztof Kieslowski’s Three Colours trilogy ends as strongly as it begins, with a deceptively surreal story of a catwalk model who befriends an aging,… Read More
Looper

I caught Rian Johnson’s much-loved indie time-travel thriller when it opened here in Hong Kong, but I had only just landed after a mammoth 48-hour trek from Texas to London… Read More
Futureworld

I have seen Michael Crichton’s Westworld a number of times, but had never gotten around to watching this 1976 sequel before today. Starring Peter Fonda and Blythe Danner as a… Read More
Batman: The Dark Knight Returns Part 1

I often struggle to really appreciate these animated films, despite enjoying the comics and the characters. There’s something about the medium that simply fails to engage me the way live… Read More
High Noon

Gary Cooper plays the newly-married Marshal, set to leave town and start a new life with pacifist Quaker wife, Grace Kelly, when he learns a vicious criminal is heading into… Read More
My Sucky Teen Romance

Written and directed by 18-year-old Emily Hagins, this low budget but smartly-observed horror comedy follows a group of high school graduates as they attend a geek convention, only to discover… Read More
The Ambassador

Quite possibly the most frightening film I’ve seen in years, Mads Brugger’s documentary takes him undercover into the most dangerous areas of Central Africa as he attempts to obtain diplomatic… Read More
Pitch Perfect

What seemed on the surface to be just another chick-flick rom-com looking to jump on the Glee bandwagon turns out to be a consistently funny, thoroughly entertaining college flick, with… Read More
The Last Stand

Arnold Schwarzenegger stars in his first leading role in almost a decade, as a veteran small-town sheriff forced into action by a South American drug lord, who is heading for… Read More
48 Hrs.

A film I watched repeatedly as an impressionable youngster, it has been easily more than a decade since I last watched Walter Hill’s trend-setting buddy actioner. My immediate reaction? Still… Read More
Cosmopolis

Robert Pattinson continues to break away from his Twilight image and prove that he will likely be the one from that particular trio of starlets to build a lasting career… Read More
Magic Mike

Steven Soderbergh tackles the world of male strippers in this surprisingly competent and engaging drama. Channing Tatum continues to prove that he’s more than a monosyllabic lunkhead as the likable… Read More