Blue Caprice (aka The Washington Snipers) review
Thoughtful performances and grim visual elegance aren’t enough to save this portrait of abuse and control twisted into banal evil from becoming too banal to have much bite.
reviews by genre
Machete Kills review: justice is bloody (hilarious)
Forget about the socially conscious core that fueled the exploitation engine of the first film. This one is flat-out, no-message action comedy, outrageous and hilarious.
All Cheerleaders Die review (London Film Festival)
Twists the high-school revenge story into feminist black magic.
The Spectacular Now review (London Film Festival)
Stark and gritty, this may be the most down-to-earth teen romance ever, filled with touches of unpredictable, inescapable reality.
Electro Chaabi review (London Film Festival)
An inexcusably blinkered documentary look at a modern youth movement in Cairo that utterly ignores how it cuts girls and women out of its quest for freedom.
The Frozen Ground review
In a rote cat-and-mouse cop-and-serial-killer story, Vanessa Hudgens’ “victim” is far more compelling than either cop Nicolas Cage or killer John Cusack.
Citadel review
A familiar story of sinister creature frights and psychological horror gets a little boost from a gloomy mood of urban decay and isolation.
The Kings of Summer review
Mashes a heightened sense of the absurd rather awkwardly up against arty pastoral, and the mock-seriousness of the endeavor comes across as unpleasantly snide.
Dark Touch review: Carrie on and on
Elegantly atmospheric indie horror drama plumbs typically unseen depths of children’s coping mechanisms in the face of terrible real-life experience.
Austenland review: bomb and bombasticity
Austenland, allow me to tell you how ardently I loathe and despise you.
