Reviews by The Exile

Order by: Date, A–Z

• 
  Assault On Precinct 13 (2005)

  Review preview for Assault On Precinct 13

  Richet is at his best when moving quickly - he's a director in love with momentum.

  Remake of the John Carpenter classic.
• 
  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.
• 
  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
• 
  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 Ballad Of Jack And Rose (2005)

  The dangers for impressionable teenage daughter of living with ex-hippie eco warrior dad.
• 
  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.
• 
  Be Cool (2005)

  Review preview for Be Cool

  The only flair exhibited in Be Cool belongs to the set designer.

  Sequel to Get Shorty moves into the music business.
• 
  Because of Winn-Dixie (2005)

  A lonely girl finds companionship in a scraggy mutt.
• 
  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.
• 
  Broken Flowers (2005)

  Review preview for Broken Flowers

  Unpredictable, offbeat and peppered with absurdist humour

  Journey of self-discovery for dead-pan, retired Lothario.
• 
  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.
• 
  Constantine (2005)

  Review preview for Constantine

  Constantine is best enjoyed by ignoring the Milton-centric mythology and surrendering to the movie's lush atmosphere and wicked performances.

  The comic book adventures of a chain smoking paranormal gumshoe in post-apocalyptic LA.
• 
  Dark Water (2005)

  So-so adaptation of Hideo Nakata's Japanese horror movie.
• 
  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.
• 
  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.
• 
  Don't Come Knocking (2005)

  Nostalgia for the old times as age resurrects emotions and lost lovers for a legendary film star.
• 
  The Door In The Floor (2004)

  Review preview for The Door In The Floor

  We may lose Irving's energetic prose but, thanks to Williams, we lose none of his narrative bite.

  Portrait of a marriage, contorted by tragedy, blistered by betrayal, shaken by change.
• 
  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.
• 
  Fantastic Four (2005)

  Cosmic rays unleash four new super heroes on the box office.
• 
  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.
• 
  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.
• 
  Flightplan (2005)

  Has Jodie lost her mind, or her daughter, on the long haul flight?
• 
  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.
• 
  Friday Night Lights (2004)

  Review preview for Friday Night Lights

  Friday Night Lights never wavers in its commitment to that perfect, quintessentially American moment.

  A high school football team offering hope in a depressed American town.
• 
  Friends With Money (2006)

  The effect money has on the friendship of four women.
• 
  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.
• 
  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.
• 
  Grizzly Man (2005)

  Review preview for Grizzly Man

  Anyone who has seen Herzog's Fitzcarraldo will know of the director's fascination with doomed quests and magnificent obsessions, and in Treadwell he has found his dream subject.

  Werner Herzog examines the psyche of Timothy Treadwell, a man who lived and died with bears.
• 
  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.
• 
  The Hills Have Eyes (2006)

  A family fall foul of mutants in the desert.
• 
  A History Of Violence (2005)

  Review preview for A History Of Violence

  An unflinching indictment of the savagery at the heart of the American dream.

  Violence begets violence in a study of retribution and small town defiance.
• 
  Hitch (2005)

  Review preview for Hitch

  Our culture's insistence that appearances don't matter to the average woman is not only insulting, it's false.

  Date doctor struggles to win the heart of a good lady.
• 
  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.
• 
  The Island (2005)

  Review preview for The Island

  Fast, furious and Calvin Klein-ad slick.

  Futuristic clone colony action escape drama (in clinging white bodysuits).
• 
  Inside Deep Throat (2005)

  Review preview for Inside Deep Throat

  Full of fascinating revelations.

  Documentary on the making of the most famous blow job in the history of blue movies.
• 
  The Jacket (2005)

  Review preview for The Jacket

  The Jacket is a time-travelling sci-fi thriller that looks marvellous but never untangles itself from its own ambitions.

  A casualty of war returns to a world that appears strange and unreal.
• 
  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.
• 
  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.
• 
  Kinsey (2004)

  Review preview for Kinsey

  Condon lightens the academic atmosphere with an entertaining montage of interview sessions.

  The life and ideas of a scientist who believed in sexual healing.
• 
  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.
• 
  The Life Aquatic (2004)

  Review preview for The Life Aquatic

  Anderson creates sealed, self-supporting worlds, crammed with excruciating detail.

  An ageing oceanographer gathers a crew to hunt a shark that killed his partner.
• 
  Lord Of War (2005)

  Review preview for Lord Of War

  Original, explosive and dense with social criticism.

  The cynical dark world of an unscrupulous arms dealer.
• 
  Mad Hot Ballroom (2005)

  Review preview for Mad Hot Ballroom

  Superficial but thoroughly charming.

  Competitive ballroom dancing for the ethnically diverse pupils of Washington Heights.
• 
  Me And You And Everyone We Know (2005)

  A snapshot of a family and its struggle to adjust to a new life.
• 
  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.
• 
  Madagascar (2005)

  Review preview for Madagascar

  Sporadically funny but underwritten.

  Four animated animals from Central Park Zoo are shipwrecked on the wild shores of Madagascar.
• 
  March Of The Penguins (2005)

  Review preview for March Of The Penguins

  The finished product is determined to ascribe human emotions to avian activities.

  A year in the life of the emperor penguins of Antartica.
• 
  Maria Full Of Grace (2004)

  Review preview for Maria Full Of Grace

  The movie feels driven by a realistic sense of outrage.

  A Columbian teenager becomes a drugs "mule" to escape the deadly routine of her poor village.
• 
  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.