The James Marsh film review archive

  • The Dance of Reality

    Chilean surrealist Alejandro Jodorowsky returns to filmmaking for the first time in more than 20 years, and the results are every bit as bizarre and beautiful as we could have… Read More

  • Ritual: A Psychomagic Story

    Of interest almost solely because of a rare acting performance from Alejandro Jodorowsky, this Italian psychodrama proves a baffling, underwhelming dud. As our heroine battles depression and an incredibly frustrating… Read More

  • The Fridge

    Utterly ridiculous and hokey, but not without plenty of charm and enthusiastic splatter, this Filipino horror sees an orphaned actress tormented by the titular demonic appliance. People and pets are… Read More

  • The Congress

    The opening film at this year’s PiFan Festival is this incredible blend of live action and animation rom Ari Folman, based on the novel by Solaris author Stanislav Lem. This… Read More

  • The Great Gatsby

    The Great Gatsby

    Few would consider Baz Luhrman an ideal candidate to bring F. Scott Fitzgerald’s literary masterpiece back to the screen, but while his adaptation remains as lurid and bombastic as his… Read More

  • The Incredible Burt Wonderstone

    I caught this on a flight and really that’s the perfect place to see this utterly inconsequential yet mildly diverting comedy. Steve Carell is on autopilot most of the time… Read More

  • The Howling

    While certainly entertaining, I’m baffled that some people hold Joe Dante’s film in the same high regard as John Landis’ An American Werewolf in London, or contend that the make… Read More

  • Pluto

    Intriguing Korean thriller about the pressures of studying at an elite boarding school and the lengths the top students will go to in order to maintain their grades and get… Read More

  • Pacific Rim

    Guillermo del Toro pits huge metal mech suits against giant creatures from a parallel dimension in his epic science-fiction beat ’em up. But is sheer spectacle enough, when the characters… Read More

  • REVIEW: Pacific Rim

    After months of anticipation, Guillermo del Toro’s Pacific Rim arrived in Hong Kong on a wave of muted praise and widespread disappointment. The feverish anticipation for the film had waned… Read More

  • Foxy Brown

    I’m not hugely familiar with blaxploitation films, but I was a little underwhlemed by Jack Hill’s Foxy Brown when I finally cauht up with it. There’s no denying that Pam… Read More

  • Toy Story 3

    I’m not sure you ever need an excuse to revisit what is arguably the crowning achievement from Pixar’s impressive “first run”. Pitch perfect entertainment for children and adults alike, on… Read More

  • A Field In England

    Ben Wheatley’s latest is an incredibly bold, baffling, beautiful and quite brilliant period horror flick that follows a group of deserting civil war soldiers as they get embroiled in a… Read More

  • Red Beard

    For this month’s Full Disclosure over at Twitch, my July entry on the list of shame was Kurosawa Akira’s 1965 drama, Red Beard – his last collaboration with actor Mifune… Read More

  • Sharknado

    The rumours are true. Sharknado is far more entertaining than it has any right to be. The story is completely ridiculous, the effects are passable but a long way from… Read More

  • Dispatch 37 – PiFan 2013 and Snowpiercer with Pierce Conran

    While Fernando is otherwise engaged relocating himself somewhere new in Asia, James is joined by special guest Pierce Conran (@pierceconran) from Twitch and Modern Korean Cinema, to discuss the highlights… Read More

  • I’m So Excited

    I’ve always appreciated Pedro Almodovar’s films without necessarily calling myself a fan, until he made The Skin I Live In, which quickly became my favourite of his films. Hopes that… Read More

  • The Beyond

    Typically ridiculous zombie movie from Lucio Fulci that is also the second part of his unofficial “Gates of Hell” trilogy. There isn’t much in the way of a plot –… Read More