Limited Releases

Review: “Bernie”

In today’s filmgoing climate, audiences are usually forced to choose between challenging works and brain-dead ones, because few productions exist in between the two extremes. This dichotomy is a shame, for it all too frequently results in Joe Schmoe knowingly watching mediocre Hollywood efforts, simply because the searing independent alternatives have a tendency to seem …

Review: “Bernie” Read More »

Review: “Moonrise Kingdom”

“Moonrise Kingdom” begins with a narrator informing the viewer—among other geographical details about a small New England island—that a cataclysmic storm once hit this idyllic coastline in the summer of 1965, around the time the story takes place. This coming storm creates a sense of impending doom that permeates Wes Anderson’s latest film, as if …

Review: “Moonrise Kingdom” Read More »

Review: “In the Family”

“In the Family,” the debut feature of writer/director/actor Patrick Wang, pulls off the elegant task of being a film that is political, but not politically charged. This small, but vital distinction–the difference between a work that enlightens and a work that lectures–is the staple of the movie’s success. Too many filmmakers, especially first-timers, are so …

Review: “In the Family” Read More »

Review: “My Way”

Whenever a great South Korean art-house hit like “Oldboy,” “The Chaser,” or “Mother” reaches the United States, American critics invariably offer a glowing assessment of that country’s “screen quota,” which legally requires theaters to play native productions for at least 73 days out of the year. This regulation has undoubtedly grown the Korean film industry …

Review: “My Way” Read More »

Review: “Meeting Evil”

More and more these days, major movie stars are compelled to appear in low-budget independent projects because they want to flex their acting muscles — something that higher paying Hollywood productions often don’t allow them to do. As a viewer, I await these occasions because they show you what an actor is really capable of, …

Review: “Meeting Evil” Read More »

Review: “The Raid: Redemption”

The RaidWith an American remake for The Raid: Redemption already slated, I have the perfect man in mind for the lead role: Jason Statham. Really, it can only be him, because this hyper-violent Indonesian actioneer, hailed as the second coming of Hard Boiled by its supporters, in fact plays much more like anything from Statham’s oeuvre than it does an actual classic blood-pumper like the best works of Asian filmmakers such as John Woo or Jackie Chan.

Continue Reading >>