FJI - Reviews

Film Review: Battle Royale

Maitland McDonagh — Fri, 25 May 2012 12:17:00 EDT

Before The Hunger Games there was Battle Royale, which, while more than living up to its reputation as a bloody provocation predicated on the spectacle of adorable Japanese schoolchildren in neat uniforms being forced into a sadistic game of “last man standing,” also packs an emotional wallop. To call it a coarse runthrough for The Hunger Games, as some critics have, is flat-out wrong.

Film Review: Chernobyl Diaries

Frank Scheck — Fri, 25 May 2012 11:55:00 EDT

This low-budget horror film set in the abandoned Chernobyl environs certainly provides a good explanation for its horrific mutant creatures.

Film Review: Men in Black 3

Daniel Eagan — Thu, 24 May 2012 04:00:00 EDT

When an alien assassin escapes his lunar prison, Agent J must time-travel to 1969 to save the planet. Third entry in the popular series satisfies on every level.

Film Review: Moonrise Kingdom

Kevin Lally — Thu, 24 May 2012 01:52:00 EDT

Wes Anderson’s fanciful, heartfelt tale of two 12-year-old runaways will delight his fans and may even win some converts among those who’ve resisted his hermetic style.

Film Review: OC87: The Obsessive Compulsive Major Depression Bipolar Asperger's Movie

Eric Monder — Thu, 24 May 2012 01:06:00 EDT

Insightful look into the world of the mentally disturbed—by a filmmaker who is also his own subject.

Film Review: The Intouchables

Rex Roberts — Thu, 24 May 2012 12:28:00 EDT

Endearing and exuberant comedy about unlikely friends who help each other overcome handicaps—physical and otherwise.

Film Review: Oslo, August 31st

Chris Barsanti — Thu, 24 May 2012 12:18:00 EDT

This emotionally epic day-in-the-life drama about a recovering addict who doesn’t know what direction to take in life shows the director of Reprise evading the sophomore slump, and then some.

Film Review: Arjun—The Warrior Prince

Daniel Eagan — Thu, 24 May 2012 12:02:00 EDT

Fast-paced animated feature retells the story of the Mahabharata hero Arjun and his struggles to defend his Pandava family.

Film Review: Hide Away

John DeFore — Thu, 24 May 2012 11:47:00 EDT

Underwritten tale of grief and recovery uses boat refinishing as a stand-in for therapy.

Film Review: Mighty Fine

David Noh — Thu, 24 May 2012 11:34:00 EDT

Mighty bad.

Film Review: American Animal

Frank Lovece — Fri, 18 May 2012 11:29:00 EDT

Self-indulgent indie about a trust-fund kid who thinks he's found the answer to the human experience. Whit Stillman it's not.

Film Review: Lovely Molly

Maitland McDonagh — Thu, 17 May 2012 04:54:00 EDT

Spooky goings-on at the old family home conspire to drive a fragile young wife half out of her mind—or was she half out of her mind to begin with?

Film Review: Quill: The Life of a Guide Dog

Doris Toumarkine — Thu, 17 May 2012 04:32:00 EDT

Wonderful, emotionally wrenching charmer is an absolute must-see for dog-lovers of all ages, as it follows a beautiful yellow Labrador guide dog from puppyhood on and those who guide it through the early years of care, training and ultimate service to the blind.

Film Review: Never Stand Still: Dancing at Jacob's Pillow

Marsha McCreadie — Thu, 17 May 2012 04:29:00 EDT

Never Stand Still, a documentary about Jacob’s Pillow Dance Festival in Becket, Mass., and its founder Ted Shawn, is much more than a historical text or hagiographic celebration. It wittily, visually demonstrates the wild muscularity of contemporary dance—and why we no longer giggle at “men in tights.”

Film Review: Tales from Dell City, Texas

David Noh — Thu, 17 May 2012 03:13:00 EDT

Affecting portrait of a small, rather desolate Texas town, and the people who form its still staunchly beating heart.

Film Review: What to Expect When You're Expecting

Marsha McCreadie — Thu, 17 May 2012 03:03:00 EDT

From high-tech ovulation kits that pulsate and glow to baby pacifiers that taste like nipples, What to Expect When You’re Expecting, with fail-safe stars Cameron Diaz, Jennifer Lopez and Elizabeth Banks, covers the range of pregnancy issues—not all happy or even savory—with a light touch.

Film Review: The Samaritan

Chris Barsanti — Wed, 16 May 2012 11:49:00 EDT

This small-bore Canadian noir, starring Samuel L. Jackson as a paroled grifter doing battle with demons from his past, goes from mechanical to (unintentionally) hilarious, stopping frequently at the cliché shop along the way.

Film Review: Hysteria

Doris Toumarkine — Wed, 16 May 2012 11:40:00 EDT

Gimmicky but handsome period rom-com about the hysteria caused in Victorian London with the introduction of the electrical vibrator amounts to a superficial cinematic massage with Wilde and Shaw frissons.

Film Review: Polisse

Doris Toumarkine — Tue, 15 May 2012 12:51:00 EDT

Fact-based crime drama about a Parisian squad assigned to child-abuse cases is a dual powerhouse that explodes with both the breaches of the perps and personal turmoils within the force.

Film Review: Mansome

Marsha McCreadie — Tue, 15 May 2012 12:46:00 EDT

Morgan Spurlock can walk the line between “lovin’ it” and semi-serious satire like nobody else, and he performs that toe-dance once again in Mansome, a documentary on the topic of male grooming. It’s a cute enough, au courant idea, though the Spurlock matrix of interviews plus graphics is wearing a little thin, the probes less probing.