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Aftershock

Andre Gregory: Before and After Dinner

At Any Price

Beyond the Hills

Dead Man Down

Deceptive Practice: The Mysteries and Mentors of Ricky Jay

Epic

Evil Dead

[New Reviews Today] For member reviews of this film, follow this link

A Glimpse Inside the Mind of Charles Swan III

The Iceman

[New Reviews Today] For member reviews of this film, follow this link

Identity Thief

Iron Man 3

Kon-Tiki

[New Reviews Today] For member reviews of this film, follow this link

The Last Exorcism, Part II

Leviathan

Love Is All You Need

Molly’s Theory of Relativity

Mud

Nightfall

Pain & Gain

Peeples

The Reluctant Fundamentalist

Scatter My Ashes at Bergdorf’s

Tomorrow You’re Gone

Venus and Serena

Frederic and Mary Ann Brussat @ SpiritualityandPractice.com

2013 Films Not Yet In Theaters

33 Postcards

Excerpt: Touching story about how the spiritual practice of enthusiasm works wonders in the life of a man in prison.

[New Today] Jamie S. Rich @ Oregon Live

Excerpt: Guy Pearce plays against type here, trading his usual confidence for a more gentle, understated turn as a man made skittish by prison. He alone makes up for the predictable ending.

Chalet Arrest

[New Today] Sarah D Bunting @ The Blotter

Citizen Hearst

Luke Bonanno @ DVDizzy.com

Excerpt: Why, then, am I so on the fence about recommending this well-produced and often engaging doc?

A Common Man

Excerpt: For the first hour of A Common Man, you’ll be scratching your head, wondering what could have possessed Academy Award winner Ben Kingsley to make this cheap-looking Sri Lankan thriller.

Cure for Pain: The Mark Sandman Story

Tiago Ramos @ Split Screen [Portuguese]

Decay

Paulo Peralta @ CinEuphoria [Portuguese]

Escape

Marina Antunes @ Quiet Earth

G-Dog

[New Today] Dustin Freeley @ Movies About Gladiators.com

A Single Shot

Kate Erbland @ Film School Rejects

Superman: Unbound

Mike McGranaghan @ The Aisle Seat

Excerpt: To those who are not approaching Superman as the most enduring and popular science fiction character ever, I invite you to make a reappraisal.

Superman: Unbound

Thesis on a Homicide

Samuel Castro @ Ochoymedio.info [Spanish]

Excerpt: Un thriller que intenta estar a la altura de sus predecesores en Argentina, pero que falla en lo más importante: la historia

What They Don’t Talk About When They Talk About Love

[New Today] Amir Siregar @ Amir at the Movies [Indonesian]

Willow Creek

Don Lewis @ Film Threat

The World Before Her

Excerpt: The most riveting film about gender I’ve seen in a looooong time…

2012 Films

7 Days in Havana

Arbitrage

Chimpanzee

Dredd

The Guilt Trip

Lawless

[New Reviews Today] For member reviews of this film, follow this link

Of Two Minds

Promised Land

Sightseers

Stand Up Guys

Happy Birthday: Kent Turner

Governing Committee — Sat, 18 May 2013 11:01:02 +0000

OFCS member Kent Turner celebrates his birthday today, May 18. Please help us congratulate him and wish him well.

You can visit his website: Film Forward and School Library Journal.

Happy Birthday: Marcio Sallem

Governing Committee — Sat, 18 May 2013 11:00:32 +0000

OFCS member Márcio Sallem celebrates his birthday today, May 18. Please help us congratulate him and wish him well.

You can visit his website: Cinema Com Critica and Em Cartaz.

Reviews: Augustine (2013)

Governing Committee — Fri, 17 May 2013 23:40:37 +0000

Reviews for this film from our members:

[New - 5/17] | Scott Nye @ Battleship Pretension

Reviews: State 194 (2013)

Governing Committee — Fri, 17 May 2013 23:39:24 +0000

Reviews for this film from our members:

[New - 5/17] | Donald Levit @ ReelTalk Movie Reviews

This Week at the Movies, Part 1 (May 17-19, 2013)

Governing Committee — Fri, 17 May 2013 15:00:45 +0000

Opening: May 17, 2013

Wide (United States)

Star Trek: Into Darkness

Wide (United Kingdom)

Fast & Furious 6

The Great Gatsby

Limited (United States)

Black Rock

The English Teacher

Frances Ha

Pieta

2013 Films In Theaters Now In Select Areas

100 Bloody Acres

Aftershock

Andre Gregory: Before and After Dinner

At Any Price

Beyond the Hills

Dead Man Down

Deceptive Practice: The Mysteries and Mentors of Ricky Jay

Epic

Evil Dead

A Glimpse Inside the Mind of Charles Swan III

The Iceman

Identity Thief

Iron Man 3

Kon-Tiki

The Last Exorcism, Part II

Leviathan

Love Is All You Need

Molly’s Theory of Relativity

Mud

Nightfall

Pain & Gain

Peeples

The Reluctant Fundamentalist

Scatter My Ashes at Bergdorf’s

Tomorrow You’re Gone

Venus and Serena

Frederic and Mary Ann Brussat @ SpiritualityandPractice.com

2013 Films Not Yet In Theaters

33 Postcards

Excerpt: Touching story about how the spiritual practice of enthusiasm works wonders in the life of a man in prison.

Citizen Hearst

Luke Bonanno @ DVDizzy.com

Excerpt: Why, then, am I so on the fence about recommending this well-produced and often engaging doc?

A Common Man

Excerpt: For the first hour of A Common Man, you’ll be scratching your head, wondering what could have possessed Academy Award winner Ben Kingsley to make this cheap-looking Sri Lankan thriller.

Cure for Pain: The Mark Sandman Story

Tiago Ramos @ Split Screen [Portuguese]

Decay

Paulo Peralta @ CinEuphoria [Portuguese]

Escape

Marina Antunes @ Quiet Earth

A Single Shot

Kate Erbland @ Film School Rejects

Superman: Unbound

Mike McGranaghan @ The Aisle Seat

Excerpt: To those who are not approaching Superman as the most enduring and popular science fiction character ever, I invite you to make a reappraisal.

Superman: Unbound

Thesis on a Homicide

Samuel Castro @ Ochoymedio.info [Spanish]

Excerpt: Un thriller que intenta estar a la altura de sus predecesores en Argentina, pero que falla en lo más importante: la historia

Willow Creek

Don Lewis @ Film Threat

The World Before Her

Excerpt: The most riveting film about gender I’ve seen in a looooong time…

2012 Films

7 Days in Havana

Arbitrage

Chimpanzee

Dredd

The Guilt Trip

Of Two Minds

Promised Land

Sightseers

Stand Up Guys

Nell Minow @ The Movie Mom

Happy Birthday: Andrew Schenker

Governing Committee — Fri, 17 May 2013 11:02:31 +0000

OFCS member Andrew Schenker celebrates his birthday today, May 17. Please help us congratulate him and wish him well.

You can visit his website: Slant Magazine.

Happy Birthday: Matt Looker

Governing Committee — Fri, 17 May 2013 11:01:30 +0000

OFCS member Matt Looker celebrates his birthday today, May 17. Please help us congratulate him and wish him well.

You can visit his website: The Shiznit, Virgin Media and Little Big Picture.

Happy Birthday: Mark Leeper

Governing Committee — Fri, 17 May 2013 11:00:28 +0000

OFCS member Mark Leeper celebrates his birthday today, May 17. Please help us congratulate him and wish him well.

You can visit his website: Mark Leeper’s Film Reviews.

Reviews: 100 Bloody Acres (2013)

Governing Committee — Fri, 17 May 2013 00:10:51 +0000

Reviews for this film from our members:

[New - 5/16] | Don Lewis @ Film Threat

Reviews: Andre Gregory: Before and After Dinner (2013)

Governing Committee — Fri, 17 May 2013 00:09:52 +0000

Reviews for this film from our members:

[New - 5/16] | Jonathan Richards @ www.jonrichardsplace.com
- Excerpt: Anecdotes roll absorbingly from the great raconteur, with plenty of self-deprecating humor, and Kleine knits together the different fabrics of the story with considerable skill.

Reviews: Black Rock (2013)

Governing Committee — Fri, 17 May 2013 00:08:53 +0000

Reviews for this film from our members:

[New - 5/17] | Mark Dujsik @ Mark Reviews Movies
- Excerpt: It’s a very short experience but one that hits its beats with a sense of urgency and a feeling of helplessness.
[New - 5/16] | R. Kurt Osenlund @ Slant Magazine

Reviews: The English Teacher (2013)

Governing Committee — Fri, 17 May 2013 00:07:55 +0000

Reviews for this film from our members:

[New - 5/16] | Frederic and Mary Ann Brussat @ SpiritualityandPractice.com
- Excerpt: A fetching dramady starring Julianne Moore as an enthusiastic and vulnerable middle-aged English teacher who turns a corner in her life and realizes she will never be the same again.
[New - 5/16] | R. Kurt Osenlund @ Slant Magazine

Reviews: Epic (2013)

Governing Committee — Fri, 17 May 2013 00:06:55 +0000

Reviews for this film from our members:

[New - 5/16] | Darren Mooney @ the m0vie blog
- Excerpt: The title might be slightly misleading.

Reviews: Fast & Furious 6 (2013)

Governing Committee — Fri, 17 May 2013 00:05:56 +0000

Reviews for this film from our members:

[New - 5/16] | Susan Granger @ www.susangranger.com
- Excerpt: High-Octane and outrageous, it’s filled with cars careening, catapulting, clattering and crashing – in massive vehicular carnage.
[New - 5/16] | Ali Gray @ TheShiznit.co.uk
[New - 5/17] | MaryAnn Johanson @ FlickFilosopher.com
- Excerpt: A colossal affair swollen with the hubris and arrogance of men who trail the foul dust of mayhem in their wake.
[New - 5/16] | Darren Mooney @ the m0vie blog
- Excerpt: Not so fast!

Reviews: Frances Ha (2013)

Governing Committee — Fri, 17 May 2013 00:04:56 +0000

Reviews for this film from our members:

[New - 5/16] | Frederic and Mary Ann Brussat @ SpiritualityandPractice.com
- Excerpt: The comic misadventures of a quirky young woman who falls down seven times but gets up eight.
[New - 5/16] | Carson Lund @ Are the Hills Going to March Off?
- Excerpt: Frances Ha is a compassionate, complex drama about people trying to find footing in their own chaotic lives.

Reviews: Molly’s Theory of Relativity (2013)

Governing Committee — Fri, 17 May 2013 00:03:57 +0000

Reviews for this film from our members:

[New - 5/16] | Jonathan Richards @ www.jonrichardsplace.com
- Excerpt: Filmmaker Jeff Lipsky (Flannel Pajamas) steers his story through intriguing waves of philosophical clarity and doldrums of talky boredom.

Reviews: Nightfall (2013)

Governing Committee — Fri, 17 May 2013 00:02:59 +0000

Reviews for this film from our members:

[New - 5/16] | Peter Nellhaus @ Coffee Coffee and more Coffee
- Excerpt: Like classic film noir, this is a film that’s less interested in crime than in slowly peeling away family secrets.

Reviews: Pieta (2013)

Governing Committee — Fri, 17 May 2013 00:01:00 +0000

Reviews for this film from our members:

[New - 5/16] | David Bax @ Battleship Pretension
- Excerpt: As is usual for his work, Pieta is a somatic and visceral film that’s really about the human soul. Or, at least, the soul as defined by Kim Ki-duk.

Happy Birthday: George Zervopoulos

Governing Committee — Thu, 16 May 2013 11:00:27 +0000

OFCS member George Zervopoulos celebrates his birthday today, May 16. Please help us congratulate him and wish him well.

You can visit his website: Movies Ltd..

The Grab Bag

Governing Committee — Wed, 15 May 2013 15:00:48 +0000

OFCS members don’t just write film reviews. Here are several articles you might find interesting.

Best of Lists

Top 5 best George Clooney movies

Marcio Sallem @ Em Cartaz [Portuguese]

Interviews

Craig Robinson of “Peeples”

Jack Black

Matthew Thrift @ Little White Lies

John Boorman

Matthew Thrift @ Little White Lies

Podcast with Documentary Director AJ Schnack

Ryan McNeil @ The Matinee

Susanne Bier on Making Audiences Comfortable By Getting Out of Her Comfort Zone With “Love Is All You Need”

Stephen Saito @ The Moveable Fest

Excerpt: The Oscar-winning director of “In a Better World” and “After the Wedding” returns in a lighter register for a romantic comedy that’s not without some weight and talks about not allowing cynicism to sneak in and why she must continue to challenge herself.

Tina Gordon Chism of “Peeples”

Nell Minow @ The Movie Mom

Xan Cassavetes on Pumping Blood Into the Vampire Passion Project “Kiss of the Damned”

Stephen Saito @ The Moveable Fest

Excerpt: Nearly a decade after making the essential film lover’s doc “Z Channel: A Magnificent Obsession,” the filmmaker talks about her narrative debut that would be a great fit on its airwaves, a decadent vampire tale that brings high class style to a down and dirty horror flick.

Festivals

Return to Noirville

Jamie S. Rich @ Oregon Live

Excerpt: A lot of crime can be committed in two weeks. Murder, kidnapping, robbery — you name it, and you’ll find it in Cinema 21′s 13-day “Return to Noir Ville.” With eight classics and three modern throwbacks to the film noir genre, you’re sure to get your fill of wisecracking bruisers and devious dames.

Tributes

Ray Bradbury (1920-2013)

Glenn Lovell @ CinemaDope.com

Excerpt: CG animation? “Doesn’t interest me … takes the humanity out of fantasy.”

Special Effects Legend Ray Harryhausen Dies

Jennie Kermode @ Eye For Film

Oscar Coverage

Oscar Preview: Weekend of May 3-5, 2013

Wesley Lovell @ Cinema Sight

Excerpt: We give the preview treatment to “Iron Man 3,” “The Iceman” and “What Maisie Knew”

Happy Birthday: Michael Dequina

Governing Committee — Wed, 15 May 2013 11:00:23 +0000

OFCS member Michael Dequina celebrates his birthday today, May 15. Please help us congratulate him and wish him well.

You can visit his website: The Movie Report.

Reviews from the Small Screen

Governing Committee — Tue, 14 May 2013 15:00:47 +0000

Here’s what we’ve been watching on television.

Doctor Who: The Crimson Horror

Rick Aragon @ Gallifrey Exile

Excerpt: The Crimson Horror does what Doctor Who should most definitely NOT do…make the main character irrelevant.

MaryAnn Johanson @ FlickFilosopher.com

Excerpt: This episode completely freaked and creeped me out. In the good way.

Star Trek: Balance of Terror

Excerpt: Star Trek’s first recurring alien adversaries make their debut.

Star Trek: Charlie X

Excerpt: The story of a not-so-gifted youngster.

Star Trek: Mudd’s Women

Excerpt: Here’s Mudd in your eye, with a very sexist piece of sixties television.

Star Trek: The Cage

Excerpt: Kicking off an Into Darkness retrospective with the unaired pilot.

Star Trek: The Corbomite Manoeuvre

Excerpt: A review of the first regular (non-pilot) Star Trek episode ever produced. Now with 100% extra Clint Howard!

Star Trek: The Enemy Within

Excerpt: Kirk goes evil and William Shatner goes hammy in Star Trek’s first transporter-duplicate story.

Star Trek: The Man Trap

Excerpt: The very first episode of Star Trek ever broadcast.

Star Trek: The Naked Time

Excerpt: Sulu gets into the spirit of the title of this trippy piece of sixties psychadelia.

Star Trek: Where No Man Has Gone Before

Excerpt: Looking at the second pilot to the first Star Trek show.

Happy Birthday: Bill Gibron

Governing Committee — Tue, 14 May 2013 11:00:22 +0000

OFCS member Bill Gibron celebrates his birthday today, May 14. Please help us congratulate him and wish him well.

You can visit his website: Pop Matters.

Classics and Other Films on DVD

Governing Committee — Mon, 13 May 2013 15:00:45 +0000

Here are our latest reviews of films on DVD from 2011 and earlier.

The Devil is a Woman

Kenji Fujishima @ In Review Online

Disorder

Dune

Paulo Peralta @ CinEuphoria [Portuguese]

High and Low

Marcio Sallem @ Em Cartaz [Portuguese]

Jason And The Argonauts

Jennie Kermode @ Eye For Film

Kiss Kiss Bang Bang

Tim Brayton @ Antagony & Ecstasy

Excerpt: The best movie, with the best script, in writer Shane Black’s career.

The Last Command (1928)

The Last Waltz

Tim Brayton @ Antagony & Ecstasy

Les Misérables (1958)

Excerpt: The stand-out, and easily the best reason to see this “Les misérables”… is obviously Jean Gabin.

Love and Pain and the Whole Damn Thing

Jamie S. Rich @ DVD Talk

Night of the Hunted

Gregory J. Smalley @ 366 Weird Movies

Excerpt: …the movie works on an emotional level, despite its essential illogic and sleazy interludes.

A Screaming Man

Roderick Heath @ This Island Rod

Secret of the Incas

Excerpt: Its unexpected depth and the evident sobriety of its creative team makes clear why it stuck so vividly in the memory of many young viewers, and not just those who would later transmute its raw elements into blockbuster material.

Shanghai Noon & Shanghai Knights

Luke Bonanno @ DVDizzy.com

Excerpt: While Jackie Chan and Owen Wilson have nice chemistry and these adventures play to each of their strengths, the comedy is often flat and the many action sequences not terribly exciting. The diversion offered seems best suited for passing time on a Saturday afternoon awaiting something better.

She Cat

Peter Nellhaus @ Coffee Coffee and more Coffee

Excerpt: Perhaps I am reading more than intended, but it could well be that in its idiosyncratic way, the film might be understood as criticism of the worst excesses of self-entitled male heterosexual privilege.

Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country

Excerpt: I have always insisted that Hamlet is not a play the Klingons would care for, let alone quote. The Klingons I think would be more into something like Macbeth; with all the killings and coups, the Scottish play would be more up (their) street.

Star Trek: First Contact

Star Trek: Generations

Star Trek: Insurrection

Star Trek: Nemesis

Superman

Joshua Brunsting @ The CriterionCast

Excerpt: Superman is the standard to which all other comic-book based films are measured against. It is an extraordinary film, one filled with great performances, a sweeping epic feel, both serious and humorous, and one that set the standard for all comic book films that came after.

The Vampire Lovers

Vinyl