Reviews by Anton Bitel

Order by: Date, A–Z

• 
  1 (2009)

  Review preview for 1

  Enigmatic in form, encyclopaedic in scope, and leaving room between its lines for many different readings, Sparrow's 1 encapsulates, much like the book from which it takes its name, the whole of human experience in eccentric, elliptical cross-section.

  Adaptation of Stanislaw Lem's One Human Minute, sees bookshop staff incarcerated because copies of a book describing everything that happens to everyone on the planet in the space of a minute are found on their shelves.
• 
  13 (2005)

  Review preview for 13

  An impressively noirish moral fable.

  Man becomes sucked into a potentially fatal gambling ring.
• 
  1408 (2007)

  Review preview for 1408

  In terms of quality, 1408 is neither executive suite nor basement broom cupboard.

  A writer of guides to haunted houses finds himself out of his depth in a creepy hotel.
• 
  14 Blades (2010)

  Review preview for 14 Blades

  As spectacular as it is slyly sentimental.

  A ruthless fighter is forced to reconsider his life by a beautiful hostage.
• 
  1 Or 2 Things I Don't Know About Him (2008)

  Review preview for 1 Or 2 Things I Don't Know About Him

  All the fixed camerawork, while certainly capturing Guido's emotional stasis, makes for rather unengaging spectacle.

  A man considers his lost love.
• 
  20th Century Boys: The Complete Saga (2010)

  Review preview for 20th Century Boys: The Complete Saga

  Dazzles us with so many balls in the air, so many twists and turns, that there is not enough room left for his characters to develop as believable, interesting people, as opposed to comicbook archetypes.

  Epic manga trilogy sees a boy and his friends fight to save mankind.
• 
  21 Jump Street (2012)

  Review preview for 21 Jump Street

  Blends zany character comedy and squeamishly surreal grossout with some postmodern wit and knowing parody of action cliché tropes.

  A pair of cops are sent back to high-school under cover to bust a drugs ring in this reboot of the 80s TV series.
• 
  28 Weeks Later (2007)

  Review preview for 28 Weeks Later

  28 Weeks Later... makes for scorching horror. Like the original, it offers a perfect blend of well-drawn characters, political allegory, grand guignol, flesh-crawling tension and very fast-moving zombies.

  Six months after the events of 28 Days Later a US-led force begins a tentative attempt to repopulate Britain.
• 
  2LDK (2003)

  Review preview for 2LDK

  The film races along, covering a range of moods (comedy, horror, action, tragedy) with economic fluidity.

  Two women fight over a part in a movie. Out to own on DVD as part of the Duel Project.
• 
  30 Days Of Night (2007)

  Review preview for 30 Days Of Night

  Sends an icy blast of fresh air into the moribund genre.

  A group of Alaskan townsfolk try to protect themselves from a group of marauding vampires during the darkest month of the year.
• 
  3-Iron (2004)

  Review preview for 3-Iron

  Mysteries lend the romance an irrational trajectory.

  The silent love affair between a battered wife and a respectful intruder.
• 
  Aaltra (2004)

  Review preview for Aaltra

  Grim, bleak, misanthropic, confronting and uproariously funny from beginning to end.

  A disabled road movie.
• 
  The Abandoned (2006)

  Review preview for The Abandoned

  A haunted house movie par excellence.

  A Russian-born American returns to her homeland to be confronted by horror at her family home.
• 
  Ab-normal Beauty (2004)

  Review preview for Ab-normal Beauty

  Ab-normal Beauty is eye candy for the deranged.

  Portrait of the artist as a troubled soul.
• 
  Adoration (2008)

  Review preview for Adoration

  Like vintage Egoyan, and the better for it.

  An orphaned boy reimagines the mysterious death of his parents as a terrorist atrocity.
• 
  Adventureland (2009)

  Review preview for Adventureland

  At its core, Adventureland is a surprisingly sweet and tender coming-of-age romance.

  A recent graduate takes a nowhere job at his local amusement park and discovers it's perfect preparation for the real world.
• 
  The Adventures Of White Tuft (2008)

  Review preview for The Adventures Of White Tuft

  Even the footage itself appears to have been both stage-managed in the field and manipulated through editing to suggest a story that would never occur in nature.

  Family film about the life of a beaver clan.
• 
  Alice (1988)

  Review preview for Alice

  Alice certainly is a triumph of the creative imagination, reordering both Lewis Carroll's original text and the drabness of the material world into a disturbing wonderland of textures and tactility .

  Surreal adventure 'inspired by' the Lewis Carroll classic.
• 
  All About Eve (1950)

  Review preview for All About Eve

  There is so much to admire in All About Eve, even for those too young to be drenched in nostalgia for the spectacle of Bette Davis unleashing her sharp tongue.

  An aging star is challenged by a ruthless younger actress.
• 
  The American (2010)

  Review preview for The American

  The killer-for-hire subgenre takes on an abstract, existentialist complexion.

  An assassin tries to escape his past.
• 
  American Gangster (2007)

  Review preview for American Gangster

  Scott has gone back to source, bringing viewers the most refined product available.

  The true story of the rise of an American mobster.
• 
  Another Year (2010)

  Review preview for Another Year

  Although the tragicomic episodes that make up Another Year seem casual and low-key, they encompass birth, death and everything in between.

  Mike Leigh drama about family, friendship and ageing.
• 
  La Antena (2007)

  Review preview for La Antena

  Sometimes cinema tickles the senses, sometimes it tugs at the heartstrings, sometimes it exercises the intellect – but La Antena transmits to all three at once.

  Dystopian fairytale about a 'city without a voice'.
• 
  Anvil! The Story Of Anvil (2008)

  Review preview for Anvil! The Story Of Anvil

  It is impossible not to be charmed.

  Documentary tracks the attempts of rock band Anvil to 'make it' 20 years after their were first hailed as the "demi-gods of Canadian metal".
• 
  Asshole (2010)

  Review preview for Asshole

  A film that represents a transgressive broadside against every value held dear in Bollywood.

  A young, Bengali, wannabe rapper slides into drugs and porn to escape reality and discover his dream.
• 
  Attack Of The Werewolves (2012)

  Review preview for Attack Of The Werewolves

  In Moreno's genre comedy, not only are the horrors of a century-old Romanian vendetta exposed to the full moon's half light, but also a trail of hidden ordnance and long-buried bodies from the more recent, entirely real and utterly homegrown Spanish Civil

  A writer returns to his Galician village expecting to receive an award, but the villagers have very different plans for him.
• 
  Avatar (2009)

  Review preview for Avatar

  There is much in Avatar that is broadly drawn, clichéd even – but it is also these very things which might just earn it the status of a classic.

  A wheelchair- using former marine is conscripted to travel to a jungle moon via a biological 'avatar' to infiltrate the local aliens who are standing in the way of plans to mine ore. Being re-released with additional footage.
• 
  Aeon Flux (2005)

  Futuristic sci-fi post-animated superagent is acrobatic in her desire to save paradise from reactionary forces.
• 
  Afternoon Delight (2013)

  Review preview for Afternoon Delight

  Soloway has crafted a well-observed script, too coarse and cruel to be dismissed as frothy romcom.

  A lost LA housewife puts her idyllic hipster life in jeopardy when she tries to rescue a stripper by taking her in as a live-in nanny.
• 
  Ajami (2009)

  Review preview for Ajami

  There are plenty of incendiary tensions to go round in Ajami, and they fuel one another in unexpected ways, as the personal and the political become horrifically confused.

  Crime drama sees clan violence spiral out of control in Israel.
• 
  Aki Kaurismäki Collection: Volume 1 (2007)

  Review preview for Aki Kaurismäki Collection: Volume 1

  Grim realism and heady romanticism meet in a surreal borderland where deadpan reigns.

  The cult director's underdog trilogy - Shadows In Paradise, Ariel and The Match Factory Girl.
• 
  An American Haunting (2005)

  Review preview for An American Haunting

  So flagrantly derivative are its set-pieces that it is a struggle to find anything original in the film at all.

  A 19th century Tennessee ghost story, "based on true events"
• 
  The Ape (2009)

  Review preview for The Ape

  A film where horror is evaded, elided or merely glimpsed sidelong – but is all the more horrific for that.

  A disturbed man's descent into hell.
• 
  Appleseed (2004)

  Futuristic anime in which a teenage girl battles to save her species.
• 
  Appleseed: Ex Machina (2007)

  Review preview for Appleseed: Ex Machina

  A quest for the human beyond (or at least within) the machine.

  Eyeball-scorching post-apocalyptic anime sequel
• 
  Aqua Teen Hunger Force Colon Movie Film For Theatres (2007)

  Review preview for Aqua Teen Hunger Force Colon Movie Film For Theatres

  A smart, trippy treat.

  Feature-length quest for the trippy fast-food superheroes.
• 
  Aragami (2003)

  Review preview for Aragami

  Aragami is always intense, often funny, and never cliched.

  A samurai fights the god of battle on a dark and stormy night. Out to own on DVD as part of the Duel Project.
• 
  Ariel (1988)

  Review preview for Ariel

  A compelling blend of gritty realism and escapist fantasy.

  An unemployed miner is joined by a multi-tasking single mother in his bid to escape to a better world. Out to own as part of the Aki Kaurismäki Collection: Volume 1.
• 
  Arirang (2011)

  Review preview for Arirang

  While it is certainly possible to admire the experimentalism of Arirang, it is less easy to like or care about it.

  Autobiographic documentary.
• 
  Assassination (1964)

  Battle for supremacy in 19th century Japan, as America attempts to open trade routes.
• 
  Assault (1971)

  Review preview for Assault

  Assault shows all the slick professionalism - and stylistic blandness - that might be expected of, say, a crime thriller on ITV.

  A witness to rape offers to help police catch him by putting herself in harm's way.
• 
  Asylum (2005)

  Review preview for Asylum

  So studiously edgy are the performances that one is never quite sure who harbours the darkest pathology.

  Infidelity at an institution for the criminally insane.
• 
  As He Lay Falling (2014)

  Review preview for As He Lay Falling

  This short film's theme - of the errant quest for dignity and labour - represents a timeless European tale.

  Tensions simmer after a Greek emigre takes work at a Highland croft.
• 
  As I Lay Dying (2013)

  Review preview for As I Lay Dying

  As I Lay Dying looks and sounds great, and offers many individual moments of heightened intensity.

  The death of a family matriarch and her loved ones' efforts to have her buried according to her wishes.
• 
  Azur & Asmar: The Princes' Quest (2006)

  Review preview for Azur & Asmar: The Princes' Quest

  A true feast for the eyes.

  Two young men with a shared past set out to try and rescue an imprisoned Djinn fairy, learning about themselves in the process.
• 
  Babel (2006)

  Modern melodrama, tracing four interlocking stories across three continents.
• 
  Baby Mama (2008)

  Review preview for Baby Mama

  The runt of a bountiful litter.

  Two women, one apartment and the nine months that will change their lives.
• 
  The Backwoods (2006)

  Review preview for The Backwoods

  It is as though all the moral ambiguity and mean-spiritedness of 1970s cinema had never died.

  A British couple's Spanish holiday turns to horror after a disturbing discovery on a hunting trip.
• 
  Barefoot Gen (1983)

  Review preview for Barefoot Gen

  The film's real power rests in its portrayal of the Hiroshima bombing not from the point of view of politicians or the military, but through the eyes of a humble Japanese family.

  Animation outlining the evils of the atomic bomb as told through the eyes of a young boy who survives the Hiroshima attack.
• 
  Barefoot Gen 2 (1986)

  Sequel charts the further adventures of the plucky schoolboy in post-nuclear bomb Japan.