The Escapist (2008) Review

What a neat little film. Flawed but neat. "The Escapist" is the feature length debut of Rupert Wyatt and the fact that he directly went on to direct "Rise of the Planet of the Apes" after this gig should tell you something about its quality.

Exam (2009) Review

Discovering hidden gems, I love it, you know it. The first time I heard about "Exam" was in Empire and Total Film but since it didn't get a theatrical release in the US basically no one here had heard about it. But luckily I got my fingers on a copy of this smart minimalist thriller and it surely didn't disappoint.

Happiness (1998) Review

And here we go again, after watching some fairly convenient and "nice" movies I encountered another one that is anything but. Happiness by Todd Solondz is a poisonous little film that, like so many others before, looks into the dark soul of suburban USA. But what makes this film stand out from many others is that it is not afraid to touch dark topics without being exploitative. While other films such as Harmony Korine's Ken Park are more interested in just blatantly showing the perversions that happen behind white picket fences without any sort of context, Solondz's film is anchored by characters that are actually drawn out. We might not sympathize with their actions but at least we are able to understand them.

Life In A Day (2011) Review

What can you make of Life in a Day, a movie that is scrambled together from 4500 hours of footage from thousands of contributors from all over the worlds? First of all, you should be amazed by the sheer size of the whole project. Ok, ok, I'm not gonna tell you what to feel about this film, judge for yourself.

Law Abiding Citizen (2009) Review

I love a good guilty pleasure. "Law Abiding Citizen" is not a good guilty pleasure. It is a guilty pleasure, just not very enjoyable. Do you see where I am coming from?

Annie Hall (1977) Review

I know it's been quite some time since my last posting but due to an overwhelming class and finals schedule I didn't even have time to do such basic things as getting at least 6 hours of sleep per night or eating on a regulated schedule. Of course that includes watching movies as well, and it's been about 2 months that I watched the Woody Allen classic "Annie Hall". But now I am catching up and there is probably going to be a good amount of postings over the next days and weeks about all the movies I've seen recently but didn't have time to write about yet.

Away We Go (2009) Review

This film is right up my alley, sweet, honest and with a nice soundtrack. I remember seeing "Away We Go" about a year ago while doing something else, distracted by some meaningless endeavor. Of course, it left me unimpressed. But now that I've seen it consciously, listening to the well written dialogue, watching the wonderful performances by John Krasinski and Maya Rudolph I have to admit that this film is something of a hidden gem.