Reviews by Anton Bitel

Order by: Date, A–Z

• 
  The Headless Woman (2008)

  Review preview for The Headless Woman

  Martel expertly compounds ambiguities without ever abandoning the apparent naturalism of her presentation.

  A woman's life goes off the rails after a mysterious car accident.
• 
  Long Weekend (2008)

  Review preview for Long Weekend

  Without question an eerie and ambiguous piece.

  Remake of the cult horror that sees nature turn predator.
• 
  The Princess And The Frog (2009)

  Review preview for The Princess And The Frog

  The revolution in MouseLand, though tantalisingly glimpsed, proves to be short-lived.

  A retelling of the classic fairytale set in Jazz Age New Orleans.
• 
  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.
• 
  Exam (2009)

  Review preview for Exam

  Exam drifts from being genuinely enigmatic and moody to derivative, disappointing, even ridiculous.

  Eight strangers are sitting the final exam for a top-level position... but little do they know the stakes are higher than they imagine.
• 
  Family Guy: Something, Something, Something Dark Side (2009)

  Review preview for Family Guy: Something, Something, Something Dark Side

  The parody startS to feel as though it is being stretched very thin.

  The Family Guy crew feel the Force.
• 
  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.
• 
  Harvey Birdman, Attorney At Law, Vol. 2 (2004)

  Review preview for Harvey Birdman, Attorney At Law, Vol. 2

  It is jaw-droppingly funny, but also somewhat perplexing.

  The trials and tribulations of Hanna-Barbera's third-rate superhero turned third-rate lawyer.
• 
  The Box (2009)

  Review preview for The Box

  Kelly should be praised to the heavens for his willingness to juggle very big ideas and to engage with the thorniest of ethical questions, taking one couple's seemingly straightforward dilemma and transforming it into a crux of apocalyptic dimensions.

  A skint couple are given them a box that will give them a million dollars if they open it... but it comes with a catch.
• 
  Star Wars: The Clone Wars - The Complete Season One (2008)

  Review preview for Star Wars: The Clone Wars - The Complete Season One

  This 3D animation is a joy to behold, and is of a quality rarely seen in anything made for televison.

  Animated antics from a galaxy far, far away.
• 
  Love The Beast (2009)

  Review preview for Love The Beast

  Non-car people will find themselves forced into the position of disengaged anthropologist, observing all the vehicular bump and grind without gaining any real insight or emotional connection from the experience.

  Eric Bana's debut documentary traces his love affair with his Ford XB Falcon Coupe.
• 
  Nymph (2009)

  Review preview for Nymph

  Eerie and enigmatic.

  Poetic exploration of marital breakdown.
• 
  The White Space (2009)

  Review preview for The White Space

  As if the thematic richness and subtlety of The White Space were not enough, it is also directed by Francesca Comencini with style and sensitivity.

  A middle-aged woman copes with unexpected pregnancy and the premature birth of her child.
• 
  The Boys Are Back (2009)

  Review preview for The Boys Are Back

  An affecting blend of warm comedy and high pathos, The Boys Are Back brings an unusual all-male perspective to its otherwise familiar themes of domesticity, death and dysfunction.

  A wisecracking sportswriter is forced into single parenthood by the tragic death of his wife.
• 
  Nowhere Boy (2009)

  Review preview for Nowhere Boy

  There is something a bit bland, a bit kitchen sink, a bit telemovie, about this portrait of the artist as a young man.

  Biopic of John Lennon's younger years.
• 
  Starsuckers (2009)

  Review preview for Starsuckers

  A film that makes sceptics of us all, shaking us from brainwashed passivity into a state of awareness that makes resistance possible.

  Documentary casting a spotlight on celebrity culture and the people who generate - or bury - the stars.
• 
  Valhalla Rising (2009)

  Review preview for Valhalla Rising

  The difficulty with sustaining intensity for any period of time is that it so easily becomes ridiculous, but there is absolutely nothing in this brutal, at times violent film that will have you laughing.

  Early medieval epic about a mute warrior who escapes his captors with the slave who tends him.
• 
  A Prophet (2009)

  Review preview for A Prophet

  An unlikely, but highly effective, marriage of arthouse and mainstream sensibilities.

  An illiterate teenager struggles when he is sent to jail, but after embarking on a series of "missions" for a gang leader, he begins to hatch plans of his own.
• 
  Colin (2008)

  Review preview for Colin

  This is an intelligent, moving depiction of a world gone to hell, dripping with the melancholy of a ‘hero’ still driven by a yearning from his past that he is incapable any longer of understanding.

  One man's journey into the realm of the undead... from the wrong side of life.
• 
  Zombie Transfusion (2006)

  Review preview for Zombie Transfusion

  Ineptly scripted, amateurishly edited, poorly acted, ugly looking and determinedly adolescent in its focus.

  Three teenagers tackle a zombie outbreak in their town.
• 
  Fantastic Mr. Fox (2009)

  Review preview for Fantastic Mr. Fox

  A fantastic adaptation that manages to surpass its source material while staying entirely true to its spirit.

  Animated version of Roald Dahl's tale about a wily fox.
• 
  The Road (2009)

  Review preview for The Road

  Pure, stripped-down bleakness, both in the desaturated drabness of its appearance and in the last-days essentialism of its themes.

  An unnamed father and son travel through a post-apocalyptic America in this adaptation of Cormac McCarthy's Pulitzer Prize winning novel.
• 
  Metropia (2009)

  Review preview for Metropia

  The bleached-to-monochrome palette and rich textures are stunningly beautiful to behold, if also deeply unnerving.

  Futuristic animation sees a young man begin to hear voices in his head.
• 
  Kicks (2009)

  Review preview for Kicks

  As a study of the mirage of celebrity and the emptiness of fanaticism, Kicks is frank, insightful and hard-hitting.

  When a footy star announces a transfer abroad two female fans aim to change his mind... no matter what.
• 
  Bad Lieutenant: Port Of Call New Orleans (2009)

  Review preview for Bad Lieutenant: Port Of Call New Orleans

  No film by Herzog has ever been so defiantly mainstream – and yet at the same time this remains one of the director's craziest, most outlandish affairs.

  Re-imagining of Abel Ferrara's film, starring Nic Cage as a cop in post-Katrina New Orleans, whose moral compass slips after he is put in charge of a murder investigation.
• 
  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.
• 
  Passenger Side (2009)

  Review preview for Passenger Side

  Bissonette handles the gradually shifting points of view with such deftness and subtlety that many viewers may find themselves genuinely wrong-footed.

  When a man gets a call from his estranged addicted brother on the morning of his birthday it leads to an odyssey through the LA suburbs.
• 
  His & Hers (2009)

  Review preview for His & Hers

  Concentrated insights (without any complicating distractions) into sex, family, the shifts in generations and the continuities of life.

  Seventy women talk about the men in their lives.
• 
  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.
• 
  Sweethearts Of The Prison Rodeo (2009)

  Review preview for Sweethearts Of The Prison Rodeo

  Beesley uses his conventional frame to cast light on people who normally have no voice, on issues that have few public champions and on 'inside' perspectives that invert expectation.

  Documentary tracks the preparations for the Oklahoma State Penitentiary Rodeo in the second year that female cons are allowed to take part.
• 
  The Portuguese Nun (2009)

  Review preview for The Portuguese Nun

  Green's film, like Verde's, will no doubt seem boring to some, overly intellectual to others, while still others will find it deeply affecting.

  An actress rediscovers herself on a film shoot in Portugal.
• 
  Don't Worry About Me (2009)

  Review preview for Don't Worry About Me

  It is easy enough to appreciate what Don't Worry About Me might have been, but much harder to like what it is.

  After a one-night stand goes awry, a Londoner finds himself stranded and skint in Liverpool.
• 
  Dynamic: 01 - The Best Of DavidLynch.com (2007)

  Review preview for Dynamic: 01 - The Best Of DavidLynch.com

  These are glimpses deep into the innermost gears and cogs of Lynch's ideas-machine, even if their very imperfection brings with it a certain disappointment.

  Collection of short films from the director.
• 
  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.
• 
  Up (3D) (2009)

  Review preview for Up (3D)

  It is at times meandering and not a little mawkish, but its vivid primary colours conceal a great deal of shaded nuance.

  A grouchy OAP has an action-packed adventure in the rainforest after flying there in his balloon-powered house.
• 
  Robot Chicken Star Wars Episode II (2008)

  Review preview for Robot Chicken Star Wars Episode II

  Often there is a concept that positively zings, but then has little follow-through.

  Second dose of post-modern action-figure comedy sees the robot chicken strike back.
• 
  Lynch (one) (2007)

  Review preview for Lynch (one)

  Displays an artistry all of its own, quite unlike the thrown-together 'qualities' of your typical behind-the-scenes extra.

  An insight into the working life of cult film director David Lynch.
• 
  DumbLand (2002)

  Review preview for DumbLand

  Outrageously funny, but also manic, tense, irritant, disturbing and depressing.

  Absurd animated comedy.
• 
  Mushi-Shi: The Complete Collection (2005)

  Review preview for Mushi-Shi: The Complete Collection

  Aggression, revenge, and martial prowess are replaced by reason, curiosity, and a thirst for knowledge matched only by a love of life.

  Anime sees a 'Mushi-master' maintain a balance between humans and the primordial creatures who live, unseen, alongside them.
• 
  Transformers: Revenge Of The Fallen (2009)

  Review preview for Transformers: Revenge Of The Fallen

  It is bigger and longer than the original – but certainly no better, and this time round lacking even a novelty factor.

  Sam Witwicky has to save the earth from Decepticon (again).
• 
  Deadgirl (2008)

  Review preview for Deadgirl

  A sombre film that never shows more than it needs to, and never allows its more outrageous or shocking moments to descend into sadistic spectacle or farce.

  After two teenagers find a dead girl in the basement of a disused mental asylum, the boundary between right and wrong becomes sickeningly blurred.
• 
  Goto, L'Île D'Amour (1968)

  Review preview for Goto, L'Île D'Amour

  Full of tricks and ambiguities that will trap any viewer confined to the single, narrow perspective that the film itself tries to impose.

  The wife of an island's despotic ruler, attempts to escape with her lover.
• 
  The Hide (2008)

  Review preview for The Hide

  This is a film of double-entendres, innuendos and equivocal nuances, where words, looks and gestures alike are made to resonate with confounding ambiguity.

  Masculinity and menace create a heady mix when two strangers meet in a bird hide.
• 
  Terminator Salvation (2009)

  Review preview for Terminator Salvation

  Terminator Salvation looks more towards its potential sequels than towards itself.

  After Judgement Day, the last remnants of humankind battle for survival against the machines.
• 
  The Béla Tarr Collection (2009)

  Review preview for The Béla Tarr Collection

  Béla Tarr remains an individualist operating outside of any studio system, with a singular and consistent vision.

  Trio of works by the Hungarian auteur.
• 
  Summer Scars (2007)

  Review preview for Summer Scars

  Richards' film may be an ultra-low budget affair, but it is also a punchy thriller.

  The fate of a gang of urban kids who skip school to play in the woods with a stolen moped is changed forever when they crash.
• 
  Sparrow (2008)

  Review preview for Sparrow

  aa work as breezy and charming as it is enigmatic.

  A group of pickpockets find themselves on course for a showdown with a veteran from a rival gang
• 
  Dream (2008)

  Review preview for Dream

  Kim Ki-duk is using language to highlight the communicative gulf that exists between his dramatis personae.

  A woman acts out the dreams of a stranger.
• 
  One Eyed Monster (2008)

  Review preview for One Eyed Monster

  Funny enough (at least in a drunken crowd) to make your eyes water.

  An alien monster wreaks havoc on a porn movie set.
• 
  The Detective (2007)

  Review preview for The Detective

  Combines murderous thrills with something altogether more otherworldly.

  A broke detective tries to track down a mystery woman.