APOLLO 18: The Truth is Out There
Gonzalo López-Gallego’s APOLLO 18 isn’t just a fun potboiler but an unlabeled conspiracy tape hiding in the wrong VHS sleeve, a straight-faced, paranoid political thriller spawned by the unholy union of THE TEXAS CHAIN SAW MASSACRE and Wikileaks.
COLOMBIANA Can’t Stop
As CONAN THE BARBARIAN represents the nadir of chaos cinema with its unfocused camerawork evoking nothing but a lazy director, Olivier Megaton’s COLOMBIANA represents its potential, finding purpose in the rapid cutting and manic energy that defines the End of Cinema.
SCREAM 4: All About Neve
If you’re wondering what horror tropes are left for Wes Craven, Kevin Williamson, and blonde TV starlets to skewer with the resurrected corpse of the SCREAM franchise, SCREAM 4 isn’t much help.
CERTIFIED COPY: Je ne sais quoi
It might be imperial to claim Abbas Kiarostami’s best film is his first outside Iran, not in Farsi, and starring an international star—in other words, the one that’s most European—but I have no guilt, because in my universe it’s true: CERTIFIED COPY is the most intellectually and emotionally stirring film I’ve seen since INLAND EMPIRE
THE LINCOLN LAWYER: In Cold Blood
I felt dirtier walking out of Brad Furman’s THE LINCOLN LAWYER than its idol THE LONG GOODBYE, and not just because all that hero worship makes us into peeping toms.
KABOOM, ENTER THE VOID Director’s Cut, VISIONS OF THE SOUTH, and the OSCAR Snorefest
So, the 83rd annual Academy Awards happened. I think. The effort to revitalize the franchise for the “young and hip” demographic failed miserably. Twitter was abuzz with grand pronouncements of “most boring Oscars ever.” The historically-inaccurate THE KING’S SPEECH robbed the historically-inaccurate THE SOCIAL NETWORK of all the highest honors. The most entertaining part of [...]
BLACK SWAN: Hall of mirrors
Just once I’d like to see a film about an artist who achieves his masterpiece by seeking greater control. The popular fantasy is that artists are sensitive feelers who must completely lose themselves and let the spirit of Obi-Wan or whatever guide them to glory, not practicing communicators who ought to pinpoint precisely what they’re [...]
WHITE MATERIAL: Stay the course
Boy, there’s nothing like watching a Claire Denis film to make a guy feel thankful. Especially if that guy happens to (perhaps secretly) love COLD MOUNTAIN, as WHITE MATERIAL has at least as much in common with Denis’ cinematic cousin Olivier Assayas and regional relatives like HOTEL RWANDA as it does with the Minghella story [...]
CARLOS: Almost Legal
Is there a better symbol for our historical moment than a tabloid terrorist? I don’t mean trash-mag doodler Perez Hilton; I mean a bona fide violent terrorist whose persona is more celebrity than revolutionary, whose exploits and impact are approached with bemused spectatorship in place of active engagement. Pop history has had years to streamline [...]
A Slasher Halloween: CALIGARI, THE LEOPARD MAN, & HOUSE OF WAX
I know, I know, Halloween’s over and you’re all ready to start celebrating Election Day or Guy Fawkes Day or The Holiday Formerly Known as Armistice Day or something, but I could hardly have told you how I spent my Halloween before Halloween. So, without further ado, brief thoughts on the evolution of the film [...]
ROSEMARY’S BABY: The Cult of Domesticity
In my quest to determine my favorite horror films, it’s become increasingly clear that I have no idea what constitutes horror. Don’t Look Now? Hour of the Wolf? The Shout? Roman Polanski’s 1968 classic Rosemary’s Baby seemed like a no-brainer to me, but rewatching, it’s slightly scarier than Bride of Frankenstein, and it’s not as [...]
THE TEXAS CHAIN SAW MASSACRE: The Body Politic
When I’m not carving topical jack-o-lanterns and funding my dentist’s third home, I treat Halloween as an opportunity to catch up with the horror greats I spent my adolescence cowering from (thanks to vividly traumatic childhood experiences with The Shining and The Exorcist that may or may not have involved pants-peeing). No longer new to [...]
TFT 101 – 2012 / ANTICHRIST / GAIA
TFT 101 / MP3 30.2mb / 1hr 3min / DISCUSSED IN THIS EPISODE: 2012: IMDB / on TFT: Oh 2012, What Is It About You That Makes Me Love You So? – 2012 – Raising Arizona Mashup ANTICHRIST: IMDB / on TFT: Antichrist Poster Mashup / at The Belcourt GAIA: IMDB / OFFICIAL SITE / [...]
TFT 100 – An Interview with Ben Foster on 'The Messenger' / 'The Box' / Our Favourite Films of the Past 100 Episodes
[I'll be introducing 'The Messenger' at its 7:30 Premiere this Friday here in Nashville at The Belcourt Theatre] In this week’s action-packed, adrenaline-fueled thrill-ride of an episode Gareth and I talk with actor Ben Foster about his experience of making the extraordinary new film The Messenger’, why he wants listeners to write a romantic comedy [...]
‘The Terminal Man’ – The Greatest 70′s Sci-Fi Thriller You’ve Never Seen
Like these frame-grabs from ‘The Shining’? Scary, huh, when Jack tries to break-in to the bathroom and kill Wendy. Oh wait a minute – these shots aren’t from The Shining – they’re from that near forgotten Mike Hodges classic 1974 sci-fi thriller ‘The Terminal Man’!
'Elevator to the Gallows'
Silly. Blasé. Fun. French. Sexy. Black and White. Clocks. Guns. Office buildings. Passion. Crime. Germans. Jeanne Moreau. Louis Malle. Miles Daves. ‘Ascenseur pour l’échafaud’ / ‘Elevator to the Gallows’: You can rent it at Netflix and you should – ridiculously entertaining.
The Film Talk – Part 55 – Knowing / Duplicity
Films Reviewed This Week: Knowing / Duplicity Get TFT delivered weekly via iTunes Subscribe to our podcast Subscribe to our blog Follow us on Twitter
What Watchmen Creators Zack Snyder and David Hayter Could Have Learned From Peter Weir
Gareth and I have already gone into some depth analysing the myriad failures of the recent film ‘Watchmen’: The Film Talk – Part 52 – Watchmen But am prompted to add a last thought after reading this weekend a plea from ‘Watchmen’ screenwriter David Hayter to go see the film again so as to boost [...]
‘Taken’ aka "We used to outsource these things"
Taken / Featuring Liam Neeson / Directed by Pierre Morel / Produced By Luc Besson (warning, this review contains spoilers for ‘Taken’ and ‘Atanarjuat’) Look at the man above. He is alone and miserable. Look at him below. Two Chinese take-out cartons. You only see this in movies. This film does not waste time straining [...]
The Harold Pinter Sleuth – Unrecognised
This latest version of Sleuth was slated by the critics. Hammered. Stepped on. So I didn’t see it, cause you know the original film version was such a wonderful slice of ham – aromatic, pungent. Fun. New version? Couldn’t be bothered. But as remarked here and here, friction is reduced by instant delivery of media; [...]
Valkyrie Online
The first six minute so Valkyrie on legally available on online, (you can see it in higher def here). I really like this idea of promotion – it’s the old Doom model = give away the first level for free, and if you like it pay for rest of the game/movie, etc. Plus, it’s not [...]
