Movie Reviews

Here you can find all the latest movie reviews of films new to the cinema and out on DVD. IndieMoviesOnline publishes movie reviews in time for US and UK release dates and aims to cover most new films. We always love to hear what you think of films you've watched, so please feel free to post mini-movie reviews of your own in the comments section.

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Greenberg
On DVD: Greenberg
On DVD: Greenberg

Noah Baumbach's Greenberg makes his earlier Margot (of Margot at the Wedding) look positively cuddly. And that, says Kimberly Gadette, is saying a lot ... though the argumentative Greenberg would probably say a whole lot more.

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The Disappearance of Alice Creed.
On DVD: The Disappearance of Alice Creed
On DVD: The Disappearance of Alice Creed

Ah, the modern British thriller; home of the unlikely character, sanctuary for the implausible scenario. Can The Disappearance of Alice Creed escape the long and dismal shadow cast by a million-and-one feeble forebears? Paul Martin takes a look.

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The Social Network.
The Social Network
The Social Network

The film looks at Harvard social outcast Mark Zuckerberg, who turned the tables on exclusivity and created the most popular club in the world. Putting the verse in reverse – states Kimberly Gadette – "If you can't join 'em ... beat 'em."

Buried
Buried
Buried

It sounds like a gimmick: a thriller that features Ryan Reynolds in a box for 95 minutes. But, says Angela Burton, taking a claustrophobic trip underground has never been so worthwhile.

The Virginity Hit
The Virginity Hit
The Virginity Hit

Kimberly Gadette muses: If Orson Welles, often thought of as the godfather of the mockumentary, had the slightest notion that the genre might someday lead to The Virginity Hit ... he might never have broadcast The War of the Worlds.

Wetherby, starring Vanessa Redgrave, and written and directed by David Hare.
On DVD: Wetherby
On DVD: Wetherby

With a cast including Vanessa Redgrave, Judi Dench, Ian Holm and Tom Wilkinson, there can be little quibble with the calibre of acting talent involved in the directorial debut of playwright David Hare, now getting a DVD release 25 years on from its original theatrical outing. Paul Martin catches up with a tangled, time-hopping drama.

You Again
You Again
You Again

Wow, what a welcome surprise – a film about lambs finding their mates. Ovine love, what a concept! Oh, wait, says Kimberly Gadette ... this isn't Ewe Again? It's just one more in a parade of mind-numbing rom-coms? Never mind ...

Jack Goes Boating.
Jack Goes Boating
Jack Goes Boating

Multiple award-winning actor Philip Seymour Hoffman has previously dived into stage directing. Now that he's taken the helm as both director and star, Kimberly Gadette wonders just how well Hoffman row-row-rows this particular boat.

Catfish.
Catfish
Catfish

The advertising for Catfish reads "Don't let anyone tell you what it is." Fair enough, says Kimberly Gadette. But know that this self-described "reality thriller" is also a romance, a road picture and a mystery.

James Franco in Howl.
Howl
Howl

A documentarian team branches out, opting to create a drama examining Allen Ginsberg's work over Ginsberg himself. It may be as inventive as the Beat Generation, says Kimberly Gadette. And then again ... maybe not.

Legend of the Guardians: The Owls of Ga'Hoole
Legend of the Guardians: The Owls of Ga'Hoole
Legend of the Guardians: The Owls of Ga'Hoole

We may have hit the skids, kids, when it comes to animating things of wings, fin and fur. Did we have no other choice other than turning to humorless owls in helmets? What's next? asks Kimberly Gadette. The earwig? Let us, um, prey.

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Alamar
Alamar
Alamar

There are not many films that make you accept the nature of life’s impermanence, but Alamar, Pedro González-Rubio’s remarkable study of a father-son relationship, does just that, says Garan Holcombe.

Night of the Demons
Horror review special
Horror review special

It’s a horror movie review special. Angela Burton takes a look at a host of nasties coming to DVD: Night of the Demons, The Black Out, Army of the Dead and Death Tube.

Eat Pray Love
Eat Pray Love
Eat Pray Love

Between New York, Rome, New Delhi and Bali, a plot's got to turn up somewhere along the way. Check the luggage, suggests Kimberly Gadette. Seriously, how do you leave home without it?

Wall Street poster.
Wall Street: Money Never Sleeps
Wall Street: Money Never Sleeps

Cannes (Out of Competition) – Oliver Stone’s follow-up to his 1980s-set morality tale is a film that cleverly reflects the Wall Street of the recent financial crisis. Overcoming some doubts about the sequel’s curious title, Emma Rowley finds herself glad to catch up with Gordon Gekko again. 

Julia's Eyes.
TIFF: Mother of Rock: Lillian Roxon, Julia’s Eyes and Stone
TIFF: Mother of Rock: Lillian Roxon, Julia’s Eyes and Stone

Toronto International Film Festival has just wrapped but we’ve got a selection of short reviews from the fest. Tracy Kyncl and Taylor Szegho review rawk doc Mother of Rock: Lillian Roxon, Giallo thriller Julia’s Eyes and the De Niro and Norton rematch in Stone.

Trash Humpers.
On DVD: Trash Humpers
On DVD: Trash Humpers

Cannes - On one level, Harmony Korine's Trash Humpers is precisely the picture suggested by the title - it is about a quartet of old folks who hump trash. Hold on, hump trash? Yup, they grind their pelvic areas against refuse bins, in a state of sexual excitement. Gee, that sounds really rather weird. Listen buddy, says Paul Martin, you haven't heard the half of it.

Easy A
Easy A
Easy A

Emma Stone easily aces her role as the girl displaying the appliquéd A, a la The Scarlett Letter. But even if we grade on a curve, says Kimberly Gadette, does the movie itself get high marks?

A Simple Noodle Story (AKA A Woman, a Gun and a Noodle Shop)
A Simple Noodle Story (AKA A Woman, a Gun and a Noodle Shop)
A Simple Noodle Story (AKA A Woman, a Gun and a Noodle Shop)

We were first introduced to the Coen Brothers 25 years ago with their riveting Blood Simple. Now, as the story travels east to China, Kimberly Gadette wonders: how goes the translation?

Middle Men
Middle Men
Middle Men

The words "internet" and "porn" didn't always go hand-in-glove. Borrowing from producer Christopher Mallick's own story, Middle Men recalls the days before "user-friendly." But, asks Kimberly Gadette, is it all that virtually compelling?

Kick-Ass
On DVD: Kick-Ass
On DVD: Kick-Ass

“Dude, what if superheroes were like, real, but y'know, in a movie?” Super-duo Paul Martin and Angela Burton contemplate the results as another of the great questions of civilisation is given the cinematic treatment. That’s right: it’s Kick-Ass!

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Attenberg, directed by Athina Rachel Tsangari and starring Ariane Labed.
Attenberg
Attenberg

Venice (In Competition) – Sex and death are generally agreed to be the two towering topics for artists to try and address in their output. And, as Paul Martin finds out, both are present in this idiosyncratic Greek drama, with a young woman displaying revulsion at the former and her father proving remarkably composed about the rapidly-approaching latter.

The Tempest.
The Tempest
The Tempest

Venice (Out of Competition) – Shakespearean wizard Prospero undergoes gender reassignment, and emerges in the magnificent shape of Helen Mirren for Julie Taymor's interpretation of one of the towering works of English literature. Appropriately enough for the closing film of Venice 2012, Paul Martin and Emma Rowley set sail.

The Tillman Story
The Tillman Story
The Tillman Story

The title gives us an immediate sense of this documentary: The Tillman Story reflects all the Tillmans – who they are and how they cope. Further, says Kimberly Gadette, the film examines their true story ... versus the US government's fiction.

The Illusionist
The Illusionist
The Illusionist

Sylvain Chomet’s follow up to Belleville Rendez-vous is a triumph of hand-drawn animation, understated storytelling and subtle detail. Magic may be no more than the collusion of hope and sleight of hand, but Chomet’s film is the sort of enchantment that makes us yearn to believe in the spell, says Garan Holcombe.

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Cyrus.
Cyrus
Cyrus

Mom and child are disrupted by a third wheel. Kimberly Gadette wonders if the same holds true with the filmmakers, the indie-oriented Duplass brothers, who now have to play nice with an overseeing studio.

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13 Assassins, directed by Takashi Miike and screening as part of the Venice Film Festival 2010.
13 Assassins
13 Assassins

Venice (In Competition) – Lights... camera... action! And then some, as director Takashi Miike puts his unique spin on a 1963 samurai saga. With the blood flowing a mountain river, Paul Martin is on hand with tissues and band-aids.

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Notize degli scavi, directed by Emidio Greco and screening out of competition at the Venice Film Festival 2010.
Venice Double: Notizie degli scavi and Martha
Venice Double: Notizie degli scavi and Martha

Venice (Out of Competition & International Critics' Week) – Two films featuring central characters who exist on the margins of society; one the absent-minded inhabitant of a Rome brothel, the other a Mexican sexagenarian tossed on the employment scrapheap. Paul Martin is left traumatised by a brace of movies which belong less on the cinema screens of Venice and more at the bottom of its canals.

Andy Lau as Detective Dee.
Detective Dee and the Mystery of the Phantom Flame
Detective Dee and the Mystery of the Phantom Flame

Venice (In Competition) – Detective Dee and The Mystery of the Phantom Flame is Tsui Hark's entry into the main competition, a whodunnit featuring Chinese historical characters, wire work and fantasy elements. But, asks Emma Rowley, does it live up to its epic premise?

Barney's Version, starring Paul Giamatti and screening as part of the Venice Film Festival 2010.
Barney's Version
Barney's Version

Venice (In Competition) – The trailer might have pitched it as a zany rom-com but this Paul Giamatti-starring take on the 1997 novel by Mordecai Richler proves more of an eclectic affair, encompassing comedy, tragedy, a murder mystery and, as Paul Martin discovers, lashings of soap opera melodramatics.