The Girl on the Roof, Skeet Ulrich’s directorial debut, is perhaps better when viewed as such than as a short film overall. Telling the dark story of a young girl, Lila (Naiia Ulrich), who receives only negative attention from bullies at school and hardly any attention from her family at home, which consists of a…
Although disaster movies don’t resonate particularly well in the theaters, it doesn’t stop studios from making them. The latest to try their luck in the genre is Warner Bros. with their earthquake actioner, San Andreas. Leading the charge to save his family (daughter and estranged wife) this time — in very much the same way…
Whatever happened to Atom Egoyan? Or, more specifically, his artistic credibility? The Canadian filmmaking icon who once strung together a stunning run of acclaimed, focused works in the 90s, including “Exotica,” “The Sweet Hereafter,” and “Felicia’s Journey” has been slumming it of late. Swapping his trademark air of chilly mystery for easily digestible predictability and…
Like René Clément’s “Forbidden Games,” British director Brian Percival’s The Book Thief focuses on the effect of war on children who are forced by circumstances into coping with events beyond their capacity to understand. Written by Michael Petroni and based on the novel by Australian author Markus Zusak, it is a story told with power…
Some, including me, would say the original Chan-wook Park “Oldboy” has no business being remade. But then again, maybe Spike Lee is on to something as the redband trailer for the remake, which was released today by FilmDistrict, actually looks good. For those not in the know, this brutal revenge tale focuses on a man…
A second trailer for Juan Carlos Fresnadillo’s Intruders has been released by Millennium Entertainment and it’s more jarring than the first that was released in May of 2011. This one somehow links a young girl and a young boy from two separate families with a ghoulish figure. What it wants and why it has locked…
In this economy, a bargain-priced mansion sounds like a dream. However, every film aficionado knows that when the place is called Blackwood Manor, has a history of mysterious disappearances, and hasn’t been bought in decades, it’s most likely a conduit for evil. But there’s always an oblivious family ready to set up shop and in…
