Film Review: The Hunger Games: Catching Fire (2013)

Film Review: The Hunger Games: Catching Fire (2013)

Despite slightly overstaying its welcome with a running length of two and a half hours, Catching Fire is rarely anything less than entertaining and engaging. As was the case with its predecessor, the film stands as one of the better efforts in terms of cinematic adaptations of popular young adult fictions series.

Film Blerg: Frances Ha (2013)

Film Blerg: Frances Ha (2013)

At turns exuberant, witty and poignant, Frances Ha is a refreshing take on the quarter-life crisis, and one can only look forward to Baumbach and Gerwig’s next joint venture.

Film Review: Orchestra Of Exiles (2012)

Film Review: Orchestra Of Exiles (2012)

Orchestra of Exiles, by Academy Award-nominated director Josh Aronson, recounts one of these lesser-known narratives, that of Bronislaw Huberman and the founding of the Palestine Symphony Orchestra.

Russian Resurrection Film Festival: Metro (2013)

Russian Resurrection Film Festival: Metro (2013)

Upon its local release earlier this year, Metro was billed as Russia’s first Hollywood-style disaster movie. For better or worse, this is a fittingly accurate summary as to what audiences can expect from director Anton Megerdichev’s attempt to transplant mayhem and destruction of the American variety to the subways of Moscow.

Film Review: Dead Man Down (2013)

Film Review: Dead Man Down (2013)

The slow intertwining of these narrative threads unfortunately gifts the audience with a particularly unfocused and muddled film. Dead Man Down seemingly wants to present itself as possessing a complex story with in-depth characters. B

Audi Festival of German Films: Shores of Hope (2012)

Audi Festival of German Films: Shores of Hope (2012)

Life on the Eastern side of the Berlin Wall, under the ever watchful eye of the Statsi, has proved to be a rich source of material for modern German filmmakers. Films such as Good Bye Lenin!, The Lives of Others, and the recently released Barbara have been successful with both German and international audiences in their respective takes on this era.

Audi Festival of German Films: Lost In Siberia (2012)

Audi Festival of German Films: Lost In Siberia (2012)

The first thing which needs to be pointed out is that Lost in Siberia is a bit of a failure as a comedy. Given that it rarely provokes much in the way of laughter, the unrelenting breeziness becomes downright annoying by the time the credits roll, and that’s assuming you’ve been forgiving enough to stay to the end and endure it’s tone-deaf attitude to matters of ethnic diversity.

Film Review: Oblivion (2013)

Film Review: Oblivion (2013)

If there really are extraterrestrial lifeforms observing Earth from somewhere in the depths of space, it’s safe to conclude that humanity’s epic love/hate relationship with Tom Cruise would be a source of particular fascination. After all, he is routinely condemned by many due to his role as the very public face of Scientology.