The James Marsh film review archive

DVD

  • The Notebook

    This Valentine’s Day I picked a notoriously slushy romance for the girlfriend and I to watch, one that neither of us had seen but I had a copy of lying… Read More

  • Dark Star

    After watching Prince of Darkness last night, my girlfriend demanded I show her more John Carpenter. Fortunately she has seen most of the director’s better films like Halloween, The Thing… Read More

  • Die Hard 2: Die Harder

    When reviewing A Good Day to Die Hard last week I stated that I had never understood the hate for Die Hard 2 and that it remained my favourite of… Read More

  • Goke, Body Snatcher From Hell

    The second title from Criterion’s Eclipse series When Horror Came to Shochiku is a step up from the first film in the four-disc set, but not by much. A plane… Read More

  • The Sword of Doom

    This fantastic samurai thriller from Okamoto Kihachi stars Nakadai Tatsuya (Harakiri) as a merciless, amoral samurai, who wanders the land murdering and taking advantage of almost everyone he meets, while… Read More

  • 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

  • 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

  • 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

  • Rio Bravo

    In preparation for a piece I’m writing for the HK Film Archive, I’m re-visiting a number of classic Westerns this week. After John Ford’s The Searchers, next on my list… Read More

  • Story of a Prostitute

    I’ve had this Criterion DVD kicking around for a number of years and have repeatedly put off watching it. Now I finally have gotten around to seeing it, I’m kicking… Read More

  • Sunrise

    As part of an ongoing project over at Twitch, contributors are finally tackling their Lists of Shame in a feature called “Full Disclosure”. First on my list was F. W.… Read More

  • The Woodsman and the Rain

    A gentle, sweet-natured story of the unlikely friendship between a young rookie filmmaker (Oguri Shun) who comes to the countrysie to shoot a zombie movie, and a reclusive lumberjack (Yakusho… Read More

  • Amazing Grace

    Inspired as much by my frustration at being unable to see either Spielberg’s Lincoln or Tarantino’s Django Unchained yet – two high-profile awards contenders both dealing with the topic of… Read More

  • Burden of Dreams

    After finally watching Herzog’s Fitzcarraldo, it seemed the perfect opportunity to revisit Les Blank’s excellent documentary on the torturous making of the film. Herzog’s undertaking uncannily mirrors that of his… Read More

  • Fitzcarraldo

    Werner Herzog continues his troubled, yet fruitful partnership with actor Klaus Kinski to tell this empassioned and rather insane story of an Irish opera lover in turn-of-the-century Peru, chasing his… Read More