Film Topics

'God Save My Shoes'

May 10, 2013

'God Save My Shoes'

by Kaori Shoji

The Why is missing from the How in “God Save My Shoes,” a documentary focusing on the female obsession for footwear. But the package is still a treat — if we can’t afford to buy 300 pairs of sculpted beauties, the next best thing ...

'Eames: The Architect and the Painter'

May 10, 2013

'Eames: The Architect and the Painter'

by Kaori Shoji

Produced by Jason Cohn and Bill Jersey (there is no director credit), documentary “Eames: The Architect and the Painter” examines Charles and Ray Eames, one of the 20th century’s most enduring and influential couples in industrial design. They were eccentric, too: In the film, ...

'Heartless'

May 10, 2013

'Heartless'

by Giovanni Fazio

Gangbangers quoting poetry, a man biting the face off a living severed head and hoodlum hoodies who are lizard-people straight out of 1970s “Dr. Who” … If “Heartless” isn’t the most ridiculous film I’ve seen this decade, I’ll bite my own face off. I ...

'The Conspirator (Japan title: Koe wo Kakusu Nin)'

May 10, 2013

'The Conspirator (Japan title: Koe wo Kakusu Nin)'

by Giovanni Fazio

Director: Robert Redford Language: English Stephen Spielberg’s “Lincoln” has been getting all the attention, but here’s Robert Redford’s 2010 look at the same period. Robin Wright plays Mary Surratt, an innkeeper charged with abetting the Lincoln assassination plot; James McAvoy costars as the lawyer ...

'Ai to Makoto (For Love's Sake)'

May 10, 2013

'Ai to Makoto (For Love's Sake)'

by Mark Schilling

Director: Takashi Miike Language: Japanese (subtitled in English) On June 10, Britain’s Third Window will release a double-disc DVD and Blu-ray of “Ai to Makoto (For Love’s Sake),” Takashi Miike’s one-of-a-strange-kind action musical about a goody-two-shoes girl (Emi Takei) who falls for a delinquent ...

'Taken 2 (Japan title: 96 Jikan Revenge)'

May 10, 2013

'Taken 2 (Japan title: 96 Jikan Revenge)'

by Kaori Shoji

Director: Olivier Megaton Language: English Liam Neeson returns as a CIA agent who spends most of his working hours rescuing his daughter or wife from Middle Eastern kidnappers. Here, he has to save both women, even though his wife Lenore (Famke Janssen) is now ...

'Evil Dead'

May 3, 2013

'Evil Dead'

by Giovanni Fazio

When Sam Raimi’s low-budget splatter flick “The Evil Dead” emerged in 1983, it had the same sort of queasy impact you get when you hear a thud and feel something dragging under your tires. “The Evil Dead” was a terrifying and ghoulish film like ...

'Gangster Squad'

May 3, 2013

'Gangster Squad'

by Kaori Shoji

You know the drill,” says L.A. gang lord Mickey Cohen (Sean Penn) to his henchmen, and they immediately pick up actual drills and get to work on their victims. The screen gets sprayed with enough blood to relieve a drought. So if Mickey Cohen ...

'Welcome to the Punch'

May 3, 2013

'Welcome to the Punch'

The biggest crime of “Welcome to the Punch” is the way it indulges its own pouting, self-absorbed adolescent heart. Its redemption lies in its fierce dedication to style over content, and the ace performance of Mark Strong (“Zero Dark Thirty”) as a rabid London ...

'Fear and Desire'

May 3, 2013

'Fear and Desire'

“Fear and Desire,” Stanley Kubrick’s very first film from 1953, is something every aspiring filmmaker should see. Why? Well, not for the reasons you may think; what this film shows quite clearly is that before there was Stanley Kubrick, genius perfectionist director without peer, ...