By William Frasca. One of the best family films to see this holiday season is The Adventures of Tintin. This full-length animated film is a smart, simple adventure movie that is entertaining from beginning to end. The film is an adaptation of the comic series and is able to take […]
The Descendants (2011)
By Jacob Mertens. At the beginning of Alexander Payne’s The Descendants, George Clooney’s disembodied voice hovers over idyllic imagery of Hawaii, warning the audience that the content of the film will not compliment the scenery. The film soon cuts to a series of shots: clogged traffic, an urban sprawl laid […]
“Datong: The Great Society” Receives Inaugural Movie of the Year Award
January 4, 2012
Film International is pleased to support and promote Film International reviewer Evans Chan’s new film. New York-based Hong Kong director Evans Chan’s new film, Datong: The Great Society (大同：康有為在瑞典), which is playing in the former British colony to critical acclaim, became the first film to receive the inaugural Movie of […]
The Artist (2011)
By Janine Gericke. If you feel wary of committing yourself to a 100-minute silent black and white film, I beg you to reconsider: The Artist may be one of 2011’s best films. In the spirit of complete confession, you must know I love silent films. Okay, I love all films, […]
Late Hollywood Silent Film Melodrama: upcoming issue
January 3, 2012
FILM INTERNATIONAL 54: Late Hollywood Silent Film Melodrama In May 2006 I experienced my own upheaval, my own bardo of calamity. It was the result of being fired from a full-time teaching position I held at a Catholic college preparatory high school. In short: the new principal, an energetic Texan, […]
Last Words of Mr. Kurtz
By Rajko Radovic. A trip up the river ends with a strange voice that pulls you in and doesn’t let go. You might feel that you’re becoming a victim of some sort of feverish delusion, connected with the tropical environment. It is precisely this unsettling river-voice that seems to hover […]
The First Latina to Conquer Hollywood
By Martin Mulcahey. Hollywood has not always been accepting of Latinas. Current stars Salma Hayek, Eva Mendes, and Penélope Cruz follow in the footsteps of trailblazing Dolores Del Rio. Celebrated as “The Princess of Mexico”, Del Rio was a star whose allure captivated legendary figures Orson Wells, Marlon Brando, Elvis […]
Going Places (1974)
December 23, 2011
By Gary M. Kramer. Bertrand Blier’s Going Places—recently re-issued on DVD and Blu-Ray—is perhaps as brazen as it must have been upon release in 1974. The film, based on the writer/director’s novel—whose title translates as “The Testicles”—traces the movement of two horny and ballsy friends, Jean-Claude (Gérard Depardieu) and Pierrot […]
The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo (2011)
By Bryan Nixon. I have not read The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo by Stieg Larsson and I have not seen the original 2009 Swedish film by director Niels Arden Oplev, and as such I am unable to draw comparisons to David Fincher’s latest film and his source material. What […]
Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows (2011)
By Jacob Mertens. Imagine the dim squalor of a CGI 19th century London. A conspicuous automobile squeezes past a narrow alley, coughing smoke, shambling down the cobbled street amongst pedestrians and horse drawn carriages. Inside the car, Sherlock Holmes (Robert Downey Jr.) dons the vaudevillian disguise of a wispy, full-length beard, […]