It can get tricky remembering what we’ve seen and our first impressions – before they were soured by public opinion or each other’s opposing views – so we’ve created this page to keep a record of our initial reactions to everything we watch in 2013.
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James just watched:
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One of only a hadnful of films ever to have been made in Laos, Mattie Do’s ghost story is not only the Communist nation’s first horror film but the film of any kind directed by a woman. Feminism and women’s roles in modern day Lao society are understandably at the centre of Chanthaly, as a ...
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Japanese director Sono Sion is back to his delirious best in this frenetic free-wheeling ode to filmmaking and yakuza cinema. Two feuding gangs look to settle their lingering scores in one final climactic samurai duel to the death. At the heart of their decades-long feud is Mitsuko (Nikaido Fumi), daughter of one gang boss (Kunimura ...
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10 years after he is colluded into participating in the gang rape of a classmate, a young man is still haunted by his crime. Approaching a Christian support group in hope of redemption he comes face to face with his victim. She doesn’t remember him, but he is unable to forget her. Lee Dong-ku’s bleak ...
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Taking its cue from Pasolini’s Theorem, Alex Van Warmerdam’s absurdly comic psycho drama Borgman sees the eponymous antagonist (Jan Bijvoet) literally emerge from the ground and into the home of a middle class family that has offended him. Winning over the family’s matriarch and gaining employment as a gardener, Borgman and his cronies (including the ...
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Alex de la Iglesia goes hell-for-leather with this riotous horror comedy that will likely draw parallels with Robert Rodriguez’s From Dusk Till Dawn for its heist-turned-horror switcheroo narrative. Hugo Silva stars as Jose, hard-up single parent and a couple of simpleminded cronies hold up a cash-for-gold store in central Madrid before hightailing it into the ...
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Recent years have seen Elijah Wood take on some genuinely daring projects that have helped set him apart from many American actors of his generation. Grand Piano marks the English-language directorial debut of Spanish filmmaker Eugenio Mira, whose last film, Agnosia, remains a criminally underseen gem that absolutely intoxicated me when I caught its premiere ...
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Ken Russell’s 1971 masterpiece ranks as one of my favourite films of all-time and the opportunity to see it on the big screen with a Fantastic Fest audience was not one I was about to pass up. Add to the fact that the film was being introduced by Ben Wheatley, director of A Field In ...
Click to see everything James has watched in 2013Fernando just watched:
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The Hunger Games: Catching Fire
The Hunger Games: Catching Fire is, in every way, a better, bolder and more rewarding film that its predecessor. While the first film relied almost solely on the performance of Jennifer Lawrence (who is once again excellent here), the supporting cast, Donald Sutherland, Woody Harrelson, Elizabeth Banks and Stanley Tucci have more asked of ...
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Night At The Museum has become a bit of a personal favourite. Winsome, if straightforward performances help propel this simple and accessible comedy and the slight air of historical geekishness makes it attractive and in some ways unique for an otherwise mainstream, somewhat slapstick comedy.
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The World’s End is the last in a trilogy of comedies from Simon Pegg and Edgar Wright which includes Shaun Of The Dead and Hot Fuzz. Like its predecessors, The World’s End takes a familiar action genre, in this case apocalyptic alien invasion and sets it in Middle England with absurd and delightful consequences. Simon ...
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Another classic, screened as part of Toho Cinemas 10am club here in Tokyo, Raiders Of The Lost Ark is much cherished film for many cinema lovers, especially those old enough to have seen the original theatrical release. While some aspects of the film’s visual style have not aged well and the momentum of the film is ...
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A derivative and prosaic tale of dystopian society sacrificing helpless youth for social harmony, The Hunger Games would be largely forgettable fare except for Jennifer Lawrenece remarkable lead performance. Donald Sutherland, Woody Harrelson and Stanley Tucci bring life and some verve to their pantomime-esque characters, but it is really Ms Lawrence who transforms The ...
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Ryan Stone (Sandra Bullock) is a medical specialist on her maiden space flight when disaster strikes and threatens not just her own mission but the lives of all her crew. She must rely on the experienced astronaut Matt Kowalsky (George Clooney) if she is to stand any chance of survival. By way of narrative, Gravity ...
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What more can be said about The Great Escape, arguably one of the best and certainly one of the most popular World War II films? Seeing this again on the big screen was a reminder of everything that makes this film a classic, from Elmer Bernstein’s familiar, often referenced and richly varied score, through ...
Click to see everything Fernando has watched in 2013. -