Review Sep 19, 2013

'Casshern'

by Mark Schilling

Director: Kazuaki Kiriya Language: Japanese (subtitled in English) On Sept. 24, Paramount Catalog will release an English-subbed Region 1 DVD of Kazuaki Kiriya’s “Casshern.” This 2004 sci-fi epic about a mutant revolt in a post-apocalyptic world has the crazed ambition, visionary reach and even ...

Review Sep 12, 2013

'Hyde Park on Hudson'

by Kaori Shoji

For all intents and purposes, “Hyde Park on Hudson” should have you on hello. Instead, it may leave you feeling the tiniest bit revolted. Focusing on the events of a weekend in the life of 32nd U.S. President Franklin D. Roosevelt, arguably the best-loved ...

Review Sep 12, 2013

'Tomogui (Backwater)'

by Mark Schilling

In 1971 the Nikkatsu studio, desperate to stave off bankruptcy, switched production to the then-burgeoning genre of softcore pornography. Made mostly by young directors promoted after their elders fled, the films were hardly intended as high art. Instead their main selling point was simulated ...

Review Sep 12, 2013

'The Wolverine'

by Giovanni Fazio

While it never seems to be as high-profile as the “Iron Man” or “Spider-Man” franchises, the “X-Men” series is actually the longest-running Marvel Comics series on the big screen, and it’s the one that opened the gates to Marvel’s current dominance. For my money, ...

Review Sep 12, 2013

'Strutter'

by Giovanni Fazio

Allison Anders started off as a scrappy indie filmmaker — cutting her no-budget first feature, “Border Radio,” after hours at the UCLA film school — and after a flirtation with mainstream success in the 1990s (the iconic “Gas Food Lodging” and “Grace of My ...

Review Sep 12, 2013

'Les Saveurs du Palais'

by Kaori Shoji

In France, female chefs rarely get to the top — and when they do, gender issues are rife. One way to deal with it is simply to ignore it, and in this story of chef Hortense Laborie (based on the real-life Daniele Delpeuch) it ...

Review Sep 5, 2013

'Nihon no Higeki (Japan's Tragedy)'

by Mark Schilling

What is a good death? For certain Japanese Buddhist priests it was sokushinbutsu — self-mummification. As practiced by members of the Shingon sect, it was a decade-long process that culminated with the priest’s descent into a stone tomb to meditate in darkness, without food ...

Review Sep 5, 2013

'Side Effects'

by Giovanni Fazio

Director Steven Soderbergh’s retirement from cinema after a career of 30-plus years has been much ballyhooed, and is hopefully only temporary. But if “Side Effects” turns out to be his last movie, it’s a shame, because this one shows him at the top of ...

Review Sep 5, 2013

'Upside Down'

by Kaori Shoji

Here it is: the movie equivalent of a crazy, distracting, impossibly attractive lover. Everything about “Upside Down” is nutso preposterous but it draws you in and locks you in a warm embrace, declaring undying love and promising mystery and eternal longing forever more. If ...

Review Sep 5, 2013

'Laurence Anyways'

by Kaori Shoji

Perhaps it’s better to know the director before going in to see “Laurence Anyways”: Xavier Dolan is all of 23 years old, yet this is already the Quebecois filmmaker’s fourth feature. In other words, be prepared to cut the prolific (and many say brilliant) ...

Review Sep 5, 2013

'Le Magasin des Suicides'

by Giovanni Fazio

In the miserable satire-world of French animated comedy “Suicide Shop,” people are fined by the cops and billed for damages for failed suicide attempts. Of course in present-day Japan, this is the sad reality, where bereaved relatives get a bill for the disruption caused ...

Review Aug 29, 2013

'Man of Steel'

by Kaori Shoji

Overwrought and overlong but thoroughly engrossing, “Man of Steel” is an experience akin to finding yourself standing next to an enormous turbo fan while trying to listen to a friend talk about his arduous Mount Everest expedition. On the one hand, you want to ...