The Hidden Face (Spanish: La cara oculta), 2011. Directed by Andrés Baiz.Starring: Martina García, Clara Lago and Quim Gutiérrez. SYNOPSIS:   A Spanish orchestra conductor deals with the mysterious disappearance of his girlfriend. Trailers revealing too much in general is nothing new, but some go one step further and divulge a plot point or character trajectory […]

The Missing Picture (French: L’image manquante), 2013. Directed by Pithy Panh. SYNOPSIS: Pol Pot’s reign of terror revisited through the eyes of a survivor. Rithy Panh’s incredibly moving story of life under the Khmer Rouge starts with the premise of a missing photo. It is a picture that does not exist, an image that details […]

Shield of Straw (Japanese: Wara no tate), 2013. Directed by Takashi Miike.Starring Nanako Matsushima, Tatsuya Fujiwara, and Takao Osawa. SYNOPSIS: The Japanese police have to transport a known child killer to Tokyo. When the billionaire grandfather of the murdered girl offers a reward for the killer’s assassination the police’s job gets a little tougher. Prolific […]

That’s right fans – it’s all your fault that the Zombieland The Series series has not been picked up by Amazon for more episodes. The pilot episode was released last month but was met with very negative reactions by fans of the original movie who gave the show a lot of ★ reviews. Amazon’s idea being that […]

Nothing But the Truth, 2008. Director Rod Lurie.Starring Kate Beckinsale, Matt Dillon, Angela Bassett, Alan Alda, Vera Farmiga, David Schwimmer, Courtney B. Vance, and Noah Wyle. SYNOPSIS: In Washington, D.C., a female reporter faces a possible jail sentence for outing a CIA agent and refusing to reveal her source. Nothing But the Truth is a […]

Motel Hell, 1980. Directed by Kevin Conner.Starring Rory Calhoun, Paul Linke, Nancy Parsons, and Nina Axelrod. SYNOPSIS: Set in a fictitious town in the Deep South, people come from far and wide to sample Vincent’s distinctively flavoured produce, but one might well ask why so few of them decide to stay at the near-by motel […]

Bullhead, 2011. Written and Directed by Michael R. Roksam.Starring Matthias Schoenaerts, Jeroen Perceval and Jeanne Dandoy SYNOPSIS: Domineering cattle farmer Jacky Vanmarsenille (Matthias Schoenaerts), constantly pumped on steroids and hormones, initiates a shady deal with a notorious mafioso meat trader. When an investigating federal agent is assassinated and a woman from his traumatic past resurfaces, […]

Borgman, 2013.Directed by Alex van Warmerdam.Starring Jan Bijvoet, Hadewych Minis and Jeroen Perceval. SYNOPSIS: The arrival of Borgman in a middle-class family home has devastating results. The opening sequence of Alex van Warmerdam’s shocking and eerily funny Borgman looks something straight out of an episode of Lost or some post-Apocalyptic movie. A dirty-looking man clad […]

Stop the Pounding Heart, 2013. Directed by Roberto Minervini.Starring Sara Carlson and Colby Trichell. SYNOPSIS: A teenage girl deals with a crisis of conscience in gun-toting rural Texas. After The Passage and Low Tide, Italian filmmaker Roberto Minervini continues to focus his gaze on the people of rural Texas. Avoiding the large urban areas, Minervini […]

Anghus Houvouras on Star Trek Into Darkness and the failure of fan service (warning, major Star Trek Into Darkness spoilers follow)…. Fan service.  It’s an act of appeasement.  An effort to try and satisfy the fan base of a particular franchise while trying to do your own thing with it.   The truth is, fan service […]