Film-Forward

War

The Wind Rises

Written & Directed by Hayao Miyazaki, based on a graphic novel published in Monthly Model Graphix Produced by Toshio Suzuki Released by Studio Ghibli/Touchstone Pictures Japanese with English subtitles Japan. 126 min. Rated PG-13 Japanese animation master Hayao Miyazaki has announced his intention to retire more than once. So when, upon the premiere of this […]

Live-Action Oscar Shorts 2014

Released by ShortsHD 97 min. Not rated “Do I Have To Take Care of Everything?” The briefest, by half, of this year’s Oscar nominated live-action shorts makes more of an impact than its tone and brevity might suggest. The Finnish short covers a morning in the chaotic life of the Ketonin family, scrambling like mad […]

Generation War

Directed by Philipp Kadelbach Produced by Nico Hofmann Written by Stefan Kolditz Released by Music Box Films Germany. Part one: 131 min.; Part two: 148 min. Not rated English, German, & Polish with English subtitles With Volker Bruch, Tom Schilling, Katharina Schüttler, Ludwig Trepte & Miriam Stein Generation War sweeps away a half century of […]

Lone Survivor

Written & Directed by Peter Berg, based on the book by Marcus Luttrell & Patrick Robinson Produced by Mark Wahlberg, Mr. Berg, Sarah Aubrey, Randall Emmett, Norton Herrick, Barry Spikings, Akiva Goldsman, Stephen Levinson & Vitaly Grigogoriants Released by Universal Pictures USA. 121 min. Rated R With Mark Wahlberg, Taylor Kitsch, Emile Hirsch, Ben Foster, […]

Aftermath

Written & Directed by Wladyslaw Pasikowski Produced by Dariusz Jablonski, Violetta Kaminska & Izabela Wojcik Released by Menemsha Films Polish with English subtitles Poland/Netherlands/Russia/Slovakia. 104 min. Not rated With Maciej Stuhr, Ireneusz Czop, Jerzy Radziwilowicz, Zuzana Fialova, Andrzej Mastalerz, Zbigniew Zamachowski & Danuta Szaflarska Aftermath, an intense thriller, exposes the corrosive effect of collective silence and lies […]

Zaytoun

Directed by Eran Riklis Produced by Gareth Unwin & Fred Ritzenberg Written by Nader Rizq Released by Strand Releasing English, Hebrew & Arabic with English subtitles UK/Israel. 110 min. Not rated With Stephen Dorff, Abdallah El Akal, Alice Taglioni, Loai Noufi, Tarik Copti, Ashraf Barhom, Mira Awad, Ashraf Farah, Joni Arbid, & Ali Suliman Israel’s […]

The Artist and the Model

Directed by Fernando Trueba Produced by Cristina Huete Written by Jean-Claude Carrière & Trueba French with English subtitles Released by Cohen Media Group. Spain/France. 105 min. Not rated With Jean Rochefort, Aida Folch, Claudia Cardinale, Götz Otto, Chus Lampreave, Martin Gamet & Christian Sinniger Even if you’re not great with names, you’ll recognize 83-year-old actor […]

A Look Back at Tribeca

For the first time since it was founded 11 years ago, the narrative films competing for awards at the Tribeca Film Festival made up a noteworthy and motley bunch, and it was a real race. Usually gems by an unknown filmmaker made without any stars can be discovered in the various sidebars, but this year, […]

The Act of Killing

Directed by Joshua Oppenheimer Produced by Signe Byrge Sorensen, Joram ten Brink, Anne Köhncke, Michael Uwemedimo, Oppenheimer, Christine Cynn & Anonymous Released by Drafthouse Films Denmark/Norway/UK/Sweden/Finland. 122 min. Not rated You may or may not remember a little movie from 1980 called Cannibal Holocaust about the discovery of film shot by a documentary team in […]