Reviews by The Exile

Order by: Date, A–Z

• 
  Food, Inc. (2008)

  Review preview for Food, Inc.

  The subject is much too large and diverse to cram into 94 minutes, but Kenner spends his time wisely, ramming home bullet points with irrefutable evidence and impressive research.

  A documentary looking at the state of the US food industry.
• 
  Sunshine Cleaning (2008)

  Review preview for Sunshine Cleaning

  While Adams and Blunt scrabble for subtext and a depth that simply isn’t there, the movie congeals around them.

  Two sisters try to forge a career in crime scene clean-up.
• 
  Blood Simple (1984)

  Review preview for Blood Simple

  Brilliantly original.

  A rich man hires a private detective to kill his wife and her lover, but things don't go quite to plan.
• 
  JCVD (2008)

  Review preview for JCVD

  The best scenes in JCVD have a loose playfulness that redeems the angst.

  The Muscles from Brussels thrusts his personal life into the spotlight.
• 
  Let The Right One In (2008)

  Review preview for Let The Right One In

  Poignant, pensive and surprisingly poetic, Let the Right One In unspools with subtle psychological complexity.

  A touching story of first romance... with a side-serving of horror.
• 
  Synecdoche, New York (2008)

  Review preview for Synecdoche, New York

  Mainstream audiences may hate and critics may debate, but Synecdoche is a work of unmitigated, undisciplined genius.

  The story of a theatre director's drive to produce his masterwork.
• 
  American Teen (2008)

  Review preview for American Teen

  Like a succubus, Burstein simply attaches herself to the teens’ volatile emotions; it never seems to occur to her to pull back and examine a larger, more nuanced canvas.

  The kids are not all right.
• 
  Then She Found Me (2007)

  Review preview for Then She Found Me

  A fertility flick for women whose feet and minds seldom leave the stirrups.

  A childless teacher takes stock of her life after her husband leaves, her adoptive mum dies and her birth mother shows up.
• 
  Redbelt (2008)

  Review preview for Redbelt

  Both gripping morality tale and satisfying thriller.

  A martial arts instructor who has avoided prize-fighting to maintain his ethical code, finds debt may force him into the ring.
• 
  Starting Out In The Evening (2007)

  Review preview for Starting Out In The Evening

  In scenes filled with wit and intelligence, Langella and Ambrose perform an exquisite dance of power.

  A grad student convinces an ageing writer to let her write a thesis on him.
• 
  Redacted (2007)

  Review preview for Redacted

  Unlike most of the films about Iraq, Redacted portrays a military that’s a catchall for the uneducated and unsocialised; and while many may find this offensive, it’s perfectly in line with the draft-deferring lowering of recruitment standards.

  Controversial story, asking where, in the censored war in Iraq, do we find the truth? Plus read what Brian De Palma said about the film - and the redaction of it, here.
• 
  Untraceable (2008)

  Review preview for Untraceable

  Unfolding without tension or logic, Untraceable doesn’t miss a derivative beat.

  A cyber crimes expert hunts a serial killer who posts videos of his murders on the internet.
• 
  Vantage Point (2008)

  Review preview for Vantage Point

  The film’s busyness blankets everything in noise and confusion.

  After a presidential assassination, secret service agents try to work out what happened via five different perspectives.
• 
  Gone Baby Gone (2007)

  Review preview for Gone Baby Gone

  In Gone Baby Gone, Affleck transposes Dennis Lehane’s searing novel about child abduction to the big screen without sacrificing either its dark mood or moral ambivalence.

  A private investigator looks for a missing four-year-old.
• 
  Becoming Jane (2007)

  Review preview for Becoming Jane

  A wispy romance as ripe as a Regency virgin and twice as fanciful.

  A young Jane Austen learns the rules of the marriage game before her pen displays a pride in its prejudice.
• 
  Things We Lost In The Fire (2007)

  Review preview for Things We Lost In The Fire

  A manipulative weepie positioned for Oscar consideration.

  Halle Berry is a widow trying to come to terms with grief with the help of her hubbie's troubled best pal.
• 
  Michael Clayton (2007)

  Review preview for Michael Clayton

  Swinton’s magnificent juggling of callousness and vulnerability is the single best female performance I’ve seen all year.

  A lawyer forced to clean up after a colleague's breakdown begins to question the ethics of his job.
• 
  Eastern Promises (2007)

  Review preview for Eastern Promises

  With its underworld themes and ambiguous protagonist, Eastern Promises plays like a companion to A History of Violence.

  An idealistic young midwife inadvertently stumbles across a crime syndicate trafficking prostitutes.
• 
  Disturbia (2007)

  Review preview for Disturbia

  Looks terrific and moves with the fluidity and energy of a much classier picture.

  A teenager becomes convinced his neighbour is a serial killer.
• 
  An Unreasonable Man (2006)

  Review preview for An Unreasonable Man

  A brave attempt to rehabilitate a reputation in tatters after its owner’s involvement in the 2000 and 2004 elections.

  Documentary about the rise and fall of presidential candidate Ralph Nader
• 
  Once (2006)

  Review preview for Once

  Like the best works of art, John Carney’s Once is both melancholy and beautiful, a fragile poem that seems almost too delicate for the big screen.

  Guy meets Girl and makes beautiful - and Oscar-winning - music with her.
• 
  A Mighty Heart (2007)

  Review preview for A Mighty Heart

  Though undoubtedly a great actress, Jolie has reached the point where her personal life dwarfs any role she could conceivably play.

  Docudrama about the hunt for kidnapped journalist Daniel Pearl, based on the book by his widow.
• 
  Year Of The Dog (2007)

  Review preview for Year Of The Dog

  One of the rare chick flicks that doesn’t appear to hate women, Year Of The Dog contains its essentially sappy narrative within a membrane of stabbing humor and ingenious reaction shots.

  Offbeat fairytale about a woman who tries to fill a void in her life after her dog dies.
• 
  The Good German (2006)

  Review preview for The Good German

  All this window dressing is just sleight of hand; pull it aside and there’s no movie there.

  Murder mystery in the chaos of Berlin, 1945, at war's end.
• 
  Fast Food Nation (2006)

  Review preview for Fast Food Nation

  Despite all the blood on screen, Fast Food Nation is a strangely anaemic movie.

  Exposing the beef burger industry as bacteria friendly, with blood in the boardroom and illegals in the slaughterhouse.
• 
  Running With Scissors (2006)

  Review preview for Running With Scissors

  The movie is peopled by characters without boundaries and the cast responds by turning in some of the most extravagant performances this side of I, Claudius.

  Growing up in someone else’s dysfunctional family.
• 
  Babel (2006)

  Review preview for Babel

  Assisted by the remarkable cinematographer Rodrigo Prieto, Iñárritu moves seamlessly from the arid isolation of a Moroccan village to the gleaming modernity of Tokyo to the colorful chaos of Tijuana, his camera alternately capturing scenes of hope and des

  Modern melodrama, tracing four interlocking stories across three continents.
• 
  The Upside Of Anger (2005)

  Review preview for The Upside Of Anger

  Whatever mommie issues American filmmakers are dragging around these days, seeing them worked out on our movie screens is becoming something of a chore.

  Deflecting the fury of a woman scorned with frequent showers, Bloody Marys and a little light humour.
• 
  The Hills Have Eyes (2006)

  A family fall foul of mutants in the desert.
• 
  Thank You For Smoking (2005)

  Review preview for Thank You For Smoking

  A surprisingly tame little film - a sheep in wolf's clothing.

  Satire on smoking and spin.
• 
  Don't Come Knocking (2005)

  Nostalgia for the old times as age resurrects emotions and lost lovers for a legendary film star.
• 
  Friends With Money (2006)

  The effect money has on the friendship of four women.
• 
  United 93 (2006)

  Review preview for United 93

  The film develops like a slow-motion heart attack.

  A recreation of events surrounding the hijacking of United Airlines flight 93 on the 11th of September, 2001.
• 
  Paradise Now (2005)

  Review preview for Paradise Now

  His [Abu-Assad's] controversial decision to place melodrama before morality, while allowing Paradise Now to transcend its hefty (and painfully current) ethical baggage, also allows us to empathise with its conflicted protagonist.

  Palestinian thriller on the explosive subject of suicide bombers
• 
  Junebug (2004)

  Review preview for Junebug

  Creates hauntingly evocative, empty spaces that bleed history.

  Love and understanding are tested in a Southern comedy-romance-tragedy.
• 
  Hostel (2005)

  Review preview for Hostel

  Hostel is, on one level, your standard slice-and-dice bloodbath... but it's also a startlingly brazen attack on America's sense of entitlement.

  Teen backpackers get more than they bargain for in sex-fuelled horror.
• 
  Firewall (2006)

  Review preview for Firewall

  A creaky thriller with less suspense than Reese Witherspoon and an awards ceremony.

  Kidnap blackmail thriller has aging action star battling with a computer.
• 
  The White Countess (2005)

  Review preview for The White Countess

  A turgid, gelatinous epic that fails to find its feet until the tumultuous final reel.

  The tortured romance between a blind American diplomat and a taxi dancing Russian widow in Shanghai on the eve of war.
• 
  The Squid And The Whale (2005)

  Review preview for The Squid And The Whale

  A tragically funny glimpse of a family in meltdown, made all the more excruciating by the veneer of sophistication blanketing everyone involved.

  Breaking up is hard to do - especially for the kids.
• 
  The Ballad Of Jack And Rose (2005)

  The dangers for impressionable teenage daughter of living with ex-hippie eco warrior dad.
• 
  Primer (2004)

  Review preview for Primer

  Armed with only two weeks of film school, Carruth has made a movie that's essentially about the dangers of being too smart.

  Two garage engineers, working with super conductors, stumble across a side-effect that opens infinite opportunities for time travel.
• 
  Stay (2005)

  Review preview for Stay

  Rejecting the literal for the symbolic at every turn, Stay is the kind of film that uses hairstyle to express emotional trajectory.

  A psychiatrist tries to stop a young man committing suicide on his 21st birthday.
• 
  Tristan & Isolde (2006)

  Review preview for Tristan & Isolde

  After a great deal of blood, grunting and predictable plot development, Isolde is married to Marke, Tristan is suicidal and the Irish are wondering how to pass the time until someone invents Guinness.

  A Dark Ages take on Romeo and Juliet, with naked nursing and energetic swordplay
• 
  Mrs Henderson Presents (2005)

  Review preview for Mrs Henderson Presents

  An exceptionally well-made period piece, trading in threadbare cliches and upper-class puffery.

  Celebrating patriotic nipples and a theatre that never closed.
• 
  Match Point (2005)

  Review preview for Match Point

  Rarely have so many excellent actors worked so hard in the service of so little.

  A tennis pro marries a posh girl but fancies an actress, which skewers his game.
• 
  Derailed (2005)

  Review preview for Derailed

  After wailing to Oprah at length about Brad's treachery, one would think Jennifer Aniston could not embarrass herself further. Think again.

  The terrible cost of flirting with an attractive banker on a commuter train.
• 
  Good Night, And Good Luck (2005)

  Review preview for Good Night, And Good Luck

  Stunningly shot in every shade from radiant white through inky black, Good Night, And Good Luck suggests Clooney has the skills to become a formidable directing talent.

  The integrity of journalism is pitted against the politics of the Cold War in Fifties America.
• 
  Casanova (2005)

  Review preview for Casanova

  Welcome to the world of soft-centered director Lasse Hallström, perhaps the only director who could take a movie about Casanova and turn it into a tale of female empowerment.

  Has the serial seducer finally met his match?
• 
  Capote (2005)

  The story of how Truman Capote wrote In Cold Blood.
• 
  Walk The Line (2005)

  Review preview for Walk The Line

  The problem is that this glowy, go-down-easy film ends up betraying the very spirit of the Man in Black.

  Johnny Cash biopic that feels the lurve.