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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The Solitude of Prime Numbers.
The Solitude of Prime Numbers
The Solitude of Prime Numbers

Venice (In Competition) – The Solitude of Prime Numbers is a story of boy meets girl. Boy then rejects girl. Boy and girl become friends. Boy and girl drift apart. Boy and girl become friends again. Emma Rowley wonders what was lost in the translation from best-selling novel to disappointing film.

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Metropolis
Metropolis AKA The Complete Metropolis (2010 restored version)
Metropolis AKA The Complete Metropolis (2010 restored version)

In 2008, a film archivist in Buenos Aires found a 16mm duplicate print of Metropolis. Considered "complete," is the film all the more riveting? Or, asks Kimberly Gadette, does the story of its restoration trump the film itself?

Naomi, starring Melanie Peres and Yossi Pollak, directed by Eitan Zur.
Naomi
Naomi

Venice (International Critics' Week) – An act of madness by a jealous husband threatens to destroy everything he has spent his life working for, as well as his hopes for the future. That is, unless he can cover up his misdeed. Paul Martin tries to find out where the bodies are buried.

The Town.
The Town
The Town

Venice (Out of Competition) – Ben Affleck's star-studded return trip to Boston sees him not only directing but also starring as the bank-robbing mastermind who wants to leave his criminal past behind. Emma Rowley and Paul Martin take a tour of The Town.

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Zebraman, directed by Takashi Miike and screening at the 2010 Venice Film Festival.
Zebraman
Zebraman

Venice (Out of Competition) - Squirrel Girl, look out! Famed for the hyper-violent Ichi the Killer and Audition, this altogether softer offering from director Takashi Miike is granted a Venice showcase, with Paul Martin being on hand to check out the tale of a schoolteacher seeking to earn his stripes and save the world from alien invasion.

Vincent Gallo.
Promises Written In Water
Promises Written In Water

Venice (In Competition) – Vincent Gallo has returned with his first directorial feature since The Brown Bunny earned him boos at Cannes. So, asks Emma Rowley, did Promises Written In Water fare better at the critics' screening in Venice?

Silvio Orlando, star of The Passion, screening in competition at Venice 2010.
The Passion
The Passion

Venice (In Competition) – Can a rural production of The Passion help an ennui-afflicted movie director recover his er, passion? Seeking answers, Paul Martin takes a trip to Tuscany.

Essential Killing.
Essential Killing & Meek's Cutoff
Essential Killing & Meek's Cutoff

Venice (In Competition) – Two films about a struggle for survival in a harsh environment put their characters to the ultimate test. How much can they endure and what will they sacrifice to survive? Emma Rowley takes a look at Essential Killing and Meek's Cutoff.

Angele et Tony, screening as part of International Critics' Week at the Venice Film Festival 2010.
Angèle & Tony
Angèle & Tony

Venice (International Critics' Week) – It's love on the rocks of the rugged Normandy coastline in this first feature from writer-director Alix Delaporte. Fishing rod in hand, Paul Martin tries not to carp about this odd couple romance.

Post Mortem, starring Alfredo Castro and directed by Pablo Larrain.
Post Mortem
Post Mortem

Venice (In Competition) – Two years ago director Pablo Larraín delivered an attention-grabbing debut in the shape of Tony Manero, a hypnotic blend of political allegory, slasher flick and black comedy. Paul Martin finds out if the Chilean filmmaker can repeat that success with his second feature, Post Mortem.

Catherine Deneuve in Potiche
Potiche
Potiche

Venice (In Competition) – François Ozon's campy comedy was received with rapturous applause and much laughter at Venice. It stars two of France's biggest stars – Deneuve and Depardieu – and its high-profile publicity campaign would seem to ensure national success. But, asks Emma Rowley, will Potiche travel?

Toni Servillo in Gorbaciof, which screened out of competition at the 2010 Venice Film Festival.
Gorbaciof
Gorbaciof

Venice (Out of Competition) – Italian acting superstar Toni Servillo plays the quirk-laden title character, trying his darnedest to keep from going under in desperate circumstances. Paul Martin takes in a pedestrian tale rescued by a compelling lead performance.

Miral
Miral
Miral

Venice (In Competition) – Julian Schnabel has gone from directing a tight, claustrophic film about locked-in syndrome (The Diving Bell and the Butterfly) to a vast epic that covers 60 years, many lives and two states in conflict. Emma Rowley asks: does he pull it off?

Somewhere, directed by Sofia Coppola and screening in competition at the 2010 Venice Film Festival.
Somewhere
Somewhere

Venice (In Competition) – A jaded film star scratches out an isolated existence in the depersonalised environs of a hotel room, before a young girl breathes fresh hope into his lonely life – does director Sofia Coppola deliver a fresh take on familiar material, or has something been lost in translation? Emma Rowley and Paul Martin check in, in order to check out Somewhere.

Norwegian Wood, directed by Tran Anh Hung, screening in competition at Venice 2010.
Norwegian Wood
Norwegian Wood

Venice (In Competition) – Isn't it good, Norwegian Wood? asked John Lennon in 1965. Well John, responds Paul Martin, if you were making a spookily prescient reference to the 2010 movie which shares a title with your acoustic ditty then the answer is yes. Yes it is.

Going the Distance
Going the Distance
Going the Distance

Drew Barrymore and Justin Long take to the skies, trying to get some mileage out of a long distance love affair. Does this rom-com soar? Or, fears Kimberly Gadette, does it crash and burn?

Jean Reno in 22 Bullets.
22 Bullets
22 Bullets

Jean Reno comes back from the dead twice in this new French gangster thriller. First, his retired mob boss survives perforation by the titular two-and-score shells to rise again and exact revenge on his foes. But also - and just as fascinatingly for Paul Martin - the veteran actor finally demonstrates his worth again, after a decade-and-a-half of appearing in Hollywood slop.

Machete, directed by Robert Rodriguez, shown out of competition at Venice 2010.
Machete
Machete

Venice (Out of Competition) – This year's Venice Film Festival begins for Paul Martin pretty much where FrightFest left off, as Danny Trejo and an all-star cast extend Robert Rodriguez' spoof Grindhouse trailer into a flesh-rending feature.

The American
The American
The American

Film star George Clooney usually exercises impeccable taste in deciding on his projects. The mystery's not in this dreary thriller -- states Kimberly Gadette -- but in the puzzling choice of bringing this introspective novel to the screen.

Animal Kingdom
Animal Kingdom
Animal Kingdom

Presenting a chilling Australian crime family that rivals HBO's Sopranos and no, they don't sing. Not until the youngest member of the family turns up, says Kimberly Gadette, who's tempted to open his mouth and squeal.

Rob Reiner's Flipped.
Flipped
Flipped

As he first did 24 years ago in the excellent Stand by Me, filmmaker Rob Reiner centers his movie on adolescents. In the case of Flipped, asks Kimberly Gadette, are we head over heels?

Takers
Takers
Takers

Encoring their appearance in last spring's Losers, Idris Elba and Zoe Saldana both show up in Takers. Do they fare better in Takers than Losers, asks Kimberly Gadette ... or vice worse-a?

Charlie Chaplin in Modern Times.
On DVD: Fritz Lang and Charlie Chaplin re-releases
On DVD: Fritz Lang and Charlie Chaplin re-releases

A trio of films from two members of the cinematic pantheon get the reissue treatment on DVD, with Charlie Chaplin's Tramp decamping to Alaska in The Gold Rush and trying to survive in the big city in Modern Times. And the urban jungle also provides the setting for the movie with which Paul Martin kicks off his round-up review – Fritz Lang's While the City Sleeps.

Scott Pilgrim's Ramona Flowers.
Scott Pilgrim vs. The World
Scott Pilgrim vs. The World

The words 'hotly anticipated' scarcely do justice to Scott Pilgrim vs. the World. Hot like the surface of the sun, maybe. Anticipated like the Jesus Christ comeback special, perhaps. Paul Martin, Angela Burton and Emma Rowley form a band to determine if Edgar Wright's latest movie is indeed a comic delight.

Olga Kurylenko in Centurion.
On DVD: Centurion
On DVD: Centurion

What have the Romans ever done for us? Well, the legend of the Ninth Legion has provided director Neil Marshall with the raw materials for his latest blood-spurting, bone-crunching action flick. Paul Martin marches north in search of the missing troopers.

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It's a Wonderful Afterlife, directed by Gurinder Chadha.
On DVD: It's a Wonderful Afterlife
On DVD: It's a Wonderful Afterlife

Focusing on a serial killer of type altogether less sinister than either Hannibal Lector or Norman Bates, this latest movie from director Gurinder Chadha garnishes her familiar family-comedy recipe with a smattering of macabre humour. Paul Martin investigates whether the jet black jokes make for a happy addition.

Jason Bateman in The Switch.
The Switch
The Switch

Another misbegotten mash-up, a silly, um, Sperminator Salvation? Or, asks Kimberly Gadette, does The Switch actually deliver?

Mao's Last Dancer.
Mao's Last Dancer
Mao's Last Dancer

Overblown portraits of Mao Tse-Tung watch over a young Chinese ballet dancer's every move, as if disapproving of his spirit. Like the dancer himself, asks Kimberly Gadette, does Bruce Beresford's latest film find the latitude to soar?

Sylvester Stallone in The Expendables.
The Expendables
The Expendables

With a story and characters you'll forget as soon as you walk out of the theater, if not sooner, says Kimberly Gadette, the title says it all. Expendable? Why yes, indeed.

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The Sorcerer's Apprentice
The Sorcerer's Apprentice
The Sorcerer's Apprentice

Just how divine is The Sorcerer's Apprentice? Is it utterly enchanting, asks Kimberly Gadette ... or have Disney, Bruckheimer, Cage & Co. put a spell on us?