The James Marsh film review archive

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USA

  • The Warriors

    I finally watched Walter Hill’s gangland classic for the first time as part of Twitch’s Full Disclosure feature. It hasn’t aged particularly well, and fails to resonate when discovered today… Read More

  • The Man Who Would Be King

    The only film to co-star British cinematic icons (and long-time friends) Michael Caine and Sean Connery, The Man Who Would Be King is a late-career highlight from American director John… Read More

  • Captain Phillips

    Tom Hanks leads a convincing charge for his third Best Actor Oscar as real-life merchant seaman Capt. Richard Phillips, whose container ship is overpowered by Somali pirates in Paul Greengrass’… Read More

  • Prisoners

    Denis Villeneuve’s English language debut is a tough, gritty and downright chilly thriller about a man (Hugh Jackman) who takes the law into his own hands when his daughter goes… Read More

  • Hannah And Her Sisters

    Excellent example of Allen’s great skill for writing great women characters. Hershey is both understated yet utterly desirable. And Caine! Top tier stuff. Read More

  • Detention

    There’s a degree of method in the madness of Joseph Kahn’s all-in balls-out execution that’s quite commendable. Unwieldy fun. Read More

  • Zero Charisma

    A brutally on-point depiction of social incompetency in nerd culture & the faux intelligence of hipster irony. It’s also funny. Read More

  • Kiss Of The Damned

    The feature debut from writer-director Xan Cassavetes too often lets its unnecessary Euro kitsch aspirations handicap an otherwise respectable modern day vampire romance. Read More

  • Curse of Chucky

    Despite a decent turn from Fiona Dourif (daughter of Chucky’s voice actor Brad), Curse of Chucky is pretty lame. Lacks scares, laughs & efforts to link back to original fall… Read More

  • Coherence

    Reminiscent of the comedy It’s A Disaster, as reimagined by Shane Carruth. A dinner party disintegrates into mind bending science-fiction, from their may be no escape. Utterly gripping stuff. Read More

  • To Be Or Not To Be

    A troupe of sub-par stage performers square off against the Nazis in occupied Poland circa 1942. By applying their skills of performance, disguise and suspension of disbelief they attempt to… Read More

  • Rush

    Thrilling chapter in F1’s chequered history with dull business & techspeak stripped away to give the crowdpleasing human drama a clear run. Hemsworth is suitably charismatic as playboy James Hunt,… Read More

  • Blue Jasmine

    Woody Allen is on top form here & Cate Blanchett is at the height of her powers. An utterly believable, sympathetic, loathsome performance. A clear awards favourite. Read More

  • A Band Called Death

    This music documenatary about an obscure black punk band from the 70s, is less about punk rock and more about wrestling with how best to honour the wishes of the… Read More

  • Gravity

    Pure cinema. Fantastically staged, inventively shot and robustly performed. Epic, intimate, claustrophobic & thrilling. See it BIG. Read my full review here. Read More

  • The Kings of Summer

    The spirit of Rob Reiner’s Stand By Me lives on in Jordan Vogt-Roberts’ coming-of-age drama, in which two best friends abandon civilisation and opt to spend the summer living on… Read More

  • Beautiful Creatures

    I had no interest in watching what appeared to be yet another post-Twilight supernatural romance actually turned out ot be one of the best examples of the genre. Aidan Ehrenreich… Read More

  • Can’t Hardly Wait

    After being introduced to Ethan Embry by his Cheap Thrills director Evan Katz, I made a mental note to myself to watch his breakthrough role in 90s teen comedy Can’t… Read More