Review

By Elias Savada. An escalating madness is the center of the disturbing world of Luciferous, a slow boil screamer presented at this year’s Spookyfest. The normalcy of city life for young, intelligent professionals Alex and Mahsa, and their vibrant 7-year-old daughter Mina is stretched to the limits of sanity, as […]

By Devapriya Sanyal. To me Masaan (2015) didn’t give the feeling of eternal life flowing by, in its depiction its multifarious stories, set beside the silently flowing Ganges. The river is witness to a love blooming between two young people as also the death of one, it is also the […]

By Paul Risker.  From the hustle and bustle of Paris, the stage for Spiral (Engrenages, (2005-)) and Braquo (2009-2014), the new French crime series Witnesses (Les Témoins, (2015)) retreats to the small coastal town of Lille to offer us a change of scenery for the latest serving of Gallic crime […]

A book review by Tony Williams.  Though mostly well known to western audiences for playing the title characters in The Student of Prague (1913), The Golem (1920), and Rex Ingram‘s The Magician (1926) as well as appearances in Nazi-era films such as Der Grosse Koenig (1941) and Kolberg (1945), Paul Wegener’s […]

By Elias Savada. There’s a glossy bio-tech veneer bubbling up in Jose Nester Marquez’s new feature, Reversion. Despite its high concept sci-fi storyline (co-scripted with Elissa Matseuda, based on a story by Marquez), apparently set in Los Angeles in the very near future, there is a low budget feel that pervades […]

By Axel Andersson. The middle-aged philosophy professor Abe Lucas (Joaquin Phoenix) pulls up to a liberal arts college in Newport in an old Volvo, liberally helping himself to the content of his stainless steel hip flask containing vintage single malt. The young students move along a mock-US version of already […]

By Cleaver Patterson. As the autumn nights draw in and winter fast approaches, the season seems more disposed to cinematic tales which induce unease within the viewer. The time is then perfect for the release of The Messenger (2015), a psychological chiller from BAFTA and Emmy winning British director David […]

By Kyle Huffman. In the first scene of Straight Outta Compton (2015), Easy E (Jason Mitchell) barely escapes a drug den being raided by the LAPD. This harrowing sequence feels like something ripped right out of a war movie, as the confusion of overwhelming force scatters the opposition like roaches. But […]

By James Slaymaker.  Alex Ross Perry’s latest feature, Queen of Earth, explores similar thematic territory to his first three (Impolex, The Color Wheel and Listen Up Philip), but marks a radical expansion of his artistic palette in regards to both form and content. What largely makes the film fascinating when considered alongside his existing […]

By Jude Warne. “I move around a lot, not because I’m looking for anything really, but because I’m getting away from things that get bad if I stay,” says Bobby Dupea (Jack Nicholson), the protagonist of Bob Rafelson’s 1970 classic Five Easy Pieces. Bobby Dupea is The Guy who Never […]