CineRik

Split over two parts, this is a gangster film done right.  Vincent Cassel in the lead is charming, but never shies away from Mesrine’s brutality in order to glamorize his character.  Even at a combined running time of four hours, the story sizzles from start to finish.  Highly recommended.  I flip and spill the beans here.

A superb portrayal of the effects of terminal cancer on a family.  Filled with torturous and exquisite details, as well as an astounding performance by Jesper Christiansen as a dying father, I found this film captivating and cathartic.  My full review is here.

A surreal tale of a Romanian single mother who, when questioned by child services, recounts a story of kidnap, ghostly marching bands and playing Joan of Arc in a Manchester brothel.  Visually extravagant it feels Lynchian in structure, though perhaps trading a little intellectual complexity for emotional availability.  Highly recommended.  I refuse to pimp myself out here.

Daniel Burmeister is the heart and soul of cinema.  Nursing his battered car from one small Argentinean village to another, he offers his services as a film maker in exchange for food and lodging, nothing more.  In return, he turns the locals into film stars, throwing their collective work up on a sheet in a village hall in under a month.  A documentary to warm the coldest soul.  My review marches down the red carpet here.

My second 3D film, and the second I’ve watched without the headache inducing glasses.  Still, this is a film that requires no gimicks to shine.  Selick and Gaiman have produced a proper modern fairy tale.  Follow the trail of breadcrumbs to my review here.

Reviewed at the 2009 Los Angeles Film Festival

A difficult choice, but Hollywood je t’aime stands as my favorite film of the 2009 Los Angeles Film Festival.  Matching whimsey with real emotion, this story of a depressed Frenchman’s journey to find himself amongst the drag-queens and transvestites of Hollywood won me over.  Pull on your best party frock and come celebrate with me here.

A fun look at the nightmare of getting your two-year-old into the ‘right’ pre-school in New York City.  It’s not just playing in the sand-box anymore!  I break out my finger-paints here.

A facinating documentary detailing the machines that took men to the moon, and the people who were responsible for their design and construction.  See how this DVD reaches for the stars here.

This movie was viewed using iReel streaming.  Watch movies online.

I’m going to step back and revisit a blast from my past with this review.  I remember being a big fan of Ridley Scott’s Black Rain when it came out, a time when I was too young to have actually been watching it!  So I’m risking tarnishing an old memory now that I’m (hopefully!) a more astute and cultured viewer.    Thankfully, while it certainly doesn’t inhabit the same hallowed ground as Scott’s masterpieces, this is a great looking, though sometimes fairly dumb, member of the 80s buddy-cop genre. (continue reading…)

Reviewed at the 2009 Los Angeles Film Festival

This Mexican film offers a rare insight into the lives of the families left behind by workers who make the dangerous journey into America.  The lack of opinion or preaching from the film-makers is refreshing, but the refusal to look into the underlying causes frustrated me.  I get up on my soap-box here.