The James Marsh film review archive

  • Star Trek Into Darkness

    Star Trek Into Darkness

    Having never been much of a Star Trek fan, and emotionally underwhelmed by the 2009 re-boot, I had zero expectations from J.J. Abrams’ second outing with the crew of the… Read More

  • The Game

    David Fincher’s attack on the 1% proves just as poignant, prescient and thrilling today as it was when it was first released, to much disappointment, back in 1997. Michael Douglas… Read More

  • White Zombie

    Bela Lugosi stars as a mysterious slave master in Haiti, whose penetrating gaze seems enough to bring the dead back to life to serve his bidding as shuffling zombies. Many… Read More

  • The Berlin File

    I had heard decidedly mixed things about Ryu Seung-wan’s latest Korean action thriller, so was pleasantly surprised by this neo-Cold War tale of duplicitous North and South Korean agents working… Read More

  • Iron Man 3

    Venturing across the border I sought out the China version of Marvel’s Iron Man 3, complete with added Wang Quexi and Fan Bingbing. Was it worth it? Not at all. Read More

  • Bakumatsu Taiyo-den

    Largely unknown outside of its native Japan, this comedy classic set in a Tokyo brothel was just released last month on Blu-ray by Masters of Cinema and is the subject… Read More

  • Snitch

    Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson does “serious” in this solid drama about a committed father who sets out to catch a group of fearsome drug dealers in the act in order… Read More

  • Knightriders

    After the success of Dawn of the Dead, George A. Romero delivered this baffling tale of a nomadic gang of bikers sworn to live their lives as medieval knights –… Read More

  • Berberian Sound Studio

    One of my favourite films from last year stands up remarkably well to repeat viewing at home. This fetishised exploration of Italian giallo filmmaking, analogue sound recording and foley effects,… Read More

  • Wreck-it Ralph

    Disney proves it can deliver plenty of winning Pixar magic even when producing animated adventures on its own. A retro computer game villain looking for a little appreciation, breaks free… Read More

  • The Mask of Satan

    Recently released on Blu-ray in the UK as Black Sunday, this early horror offering from Italian maestro Mario Bava stars Barbara Steele as a 200-year old vampire witch, accidentally revivied… Read More

  • The Big Wedding

    A serious contender for worst film of the year. Robert De Niro plays the despicable patriarch of an estranged family, who must come together despite their myriad petty feuds to… Read More

  • A Company Man

    Slick Korean revenge thriller starring So Ji-sub as a stylish, yet solitary assassin, whose company operates behind the facade of a legitimate metal merchant. When he fails to liquidate a… Read More

  • Abductee

    A welcome change of pace for Japanese writer-director Yamaguchi Yudai sees the Sushi Typhoon alumnus eschew the splatter effects and goofball humour in favour of a stripped down chamber piece,… Read More

  • Profound Desires of the Gods

    If you are looking for a singular cinematic experience, then look no further than this bizarre, anthropological odyssey through the backwaters of Okinawa – a remote island off the South… Read More

  • Rosemary’s Baby

    Returning to familiar ground first covered in his earlier film, Repulsion, Polish director Roman Polanski chose to direct this adaptation of Ira Levin’s bestselling novel for his Hollywood debut. Mia… Read More

  • Cinema Paradiso

    My list of shame title for this month’s edition of Full Disclosure – an ongoing feature over at Twitch – was Giuseppe Tornatore’s Acedmy Award-winning love letter to the golden… Read More

  • A Late Quartet

    The talented members of a world renowned string quartet, about to emabark on their 25th season performing together, are tested when one of their number falls sick with a debilitating… Read More