Category: 2010’s Films
Review: Abbas Kiarostami’s Like Someone in Love (2012) Shines Through Sheer Simplicity
Akiko (Rin Takanashi) is a sociology student in Tokyo. She’s kind of going through a rough patch with her boyfriend Noriaki (Ryō Kase) who is ridiculously jealous and suspicious of where she hangs out at night. If only he knew that she was a prostitute. One night Akiko is practically forced by her pimp to go to a client a little bit outside of the city. If only Watanabe Takashi (Tadashi Okuno), the old professor requesting Akiko’s services, knew what trouble he’d get in when he let her into his home. Continue reading
Review: Lars von Trier’s Nymphomaniac: Vol. II is Misanthropic, Melancholy and yet Marvelous
*SP( )ILERS*
Joe (Charlotte Gainsbourg) is numb. She can’t feel anything. Her vagina has become completely insensitive to any kind of sexual stimulation. Her husband Jerôme (Shia LaBeouf) is not enough to satisfy her. After all as much as he’d want to, he can’t fill all her holes at once. Time to experiment! What about a threesome with two extra-large negroes? Not working. How about some S&M with Jamie Bell? That works for a while, although it’s a problem, because Joe/Fido now has a little son and she can’t just leave him at home alone, can she? Pretty soon physical pain is not enough for her anyway. Time to start thinking about quitting. Continue reading
Review: Nuovo Cinema Paradiso Meets Kill Bill in Sono Sion’s Why Don’t You Play in Hell? (2013)
A group of teenagers, who call themselves Fuck Bombers dream of making Japan’s greatest action movie. Unfortunately they don’t have any money or professional film equipment. One night they write a prayer to the Movie God to help them realize their dream and put it in a shrine. In the meantime there is a yakuza war between two clans going on. The boss’ (Jun Kunimura) wife (Tomochika) is thrown in prison for ten years, for slaughtering rival gang members. To keep her going in prison her husband promises to make her daughter (Fumi Nikaidō) a movie star. Continue reading
Review: Andrés Muschietti’s Directorial Debut Mama (2013) is a Love Letter to Japanese Ghost Stories
Jeffrey (Nikolaj Coster-Waldau) just killed his business partner and his estranged wife. He’s now taking his two daughters Victoria (Megan Charpentier) and Lilly (Isabelle Nélisse) and driving them to who knows where. The road is icy and he’s driving like a maniac. They have an accident: The car slides down the mountain and into the woods. They find a cabin. Time to kill the children and then himself, but not on Mama’s watch. Who’s Mama? A mysterious figure with long black hair and super skinny arms. She saves the two innocent girls, but can they really grow up in the woods with a ghost? Continue reading
Review: Inspired by Zweig, But Totally Wes Anderson The Grand Budapest Hotel (2014) is a Charming, Adventurous and Zestful Comedy
Monsieur Gustave H. (Ralph Fiennes) is a legendary and dashing concierge at the famous Grand Budapest Hotel in Nebelsbad, Zubrowka. The year is 1932 and the war is about to begin. One of Gustave’s wealthy, but elderly lovers, Madame D. (Tilda Swinton) has just died. The police think it was murder. The murderers try to frame Gustave and have him arrested. Luckily his loyal lobby boy Zero (Tony Revolori) helps him get out of prison. Once out Madame D’s evil son Dimitri (Adrien Brody) and his henchman Jopling (Willem Dafoe) are after them, because they know the truth. Continue reading
Review: Lars von Trier’s Nymphomaniac: Volume I (2013) Theatrical Cut – Split in Half, Heavily Censored and Still Incredibly Awesome
*F( )RGET AB( )UT SP( )ILERS*
Seligman (Stellan Skarsgård) is lonely middle-aged man doing some evening shopping before going home to his sad apartment. On his way home he finds Joe (Charlotte Gainsbourg) lying in the cold alley. She looks beat up and bruised. It’s snowing and cold outside. Seligman decides her to bring her to his place to clean her up and make her rest. After some tea and rugelach Joe starts to gain some strength and begins to talk about her life. Joe is a nymphomaniac, a sex addict. Seligman seems to be asexual, but he listens attentively and compares Joe’s tales to music, literature and fly fishing. Continue reading
Review: Lukas Moodysson’s We Are the Best! (2013) Might Not Be His Best, But It’s Still Pretty Damn Good
Bobo (Mira Barkhammar) and Klara (Mira Grosin) are best friends. They love candy, pretty boys, but most of all: Punk music. Wait, isn’t punk dead? Not according to these two young ladies. One day while at their local youth center they decide to try to make some music themselves. Not having any experience of ever playing a musical instrument whatsoever they are very bad at it, but then they have an idea. Why not ask the Hedvig (Liv LeMoyne)? Who’s Hedvig? She’s your typical goody two shoes Christian girl, awesome guitar player though. Hedvig decides to join the band, but first they’ll have to totally mess up her long blond hair and convert her to punk rock. Continue reading
Review: Alexander Payne’s Nebraska (2013) – A Genuinely Heartfelt, Humanistic and Realistic Father-Son Road Trip Film
*Spoilers, y’all*
Woody Grant (Bruce Dern) is old, tired and confused. He’s had a tough life. He fought in the Korean war. He may or may not have married the wrong woman (June Squibb). All he has left are his two sons David (Will Forte) and Ross (Bob Odenkirk) and his booze. For once in his life he wished he had something more. So what if he won a million dollars? That would be pretty cool. Of course it would also be too good to be true, but his good-hearted son David decides to drive him all the way from Montana to Nebraska anyway. Continue reading
Documentary Review: Zachary Heinzerling’s Cutie and the Boxer (2013)
Ushio Shinohara (Gyu-chan for his friends) is a a Japanese Neo-Dadaist artist who moved to New York in the 1960s. Now in his 80s and after a career of ups and downs he’s still struggling to pay the bills. As a true artist he never compromised his vision. He is considered one of the most famous starving artists. People enjoy his exhibitions, but they rarely actually buy his art. His works have been shown in the most renowned museums worldwide and he’s still struggling to pay the rent. Continue reading
Review: Blue Is The Warmest Color (2013) – Abdellatif Kechiche’s Neorealist Love Epic of Extreme Close-Ups and Delicious Spaghetti
*Spoilers Ahoy!*
Adèle (Adèle Exarchopoulos) is a quiet and mysterious schoolgirl. She loves reading, eating and sleeping. One sunny day, as she’s on her way to a date, she crosses the coolest blue haired and blue jeans wearing girl in all of France (Léa Seydoux). Their eyes meet for the shortest time and it’s: Bam! Coup de foudre. Love at first sight. That night Adèle dreams of her hot blue lady. At first she tries to fight her instincts, but then it just becomes impossible to resist. After being rejected by her girl crush in school, she decides to go out to a gay bar with her BFF (Sandor Funtek). At this point she almost gave up hope of ever meeting her blue angel again, but as fate would have it, Emma just happens to be hanging out there. In a gay bar? Who would have thought! Continue reading
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