Latest From European Movie Reviews

Two Men Went to War (2002) Movie Review

(Movie Review by Oshram ) The premise of “Two Men Went to War” is something only the English could dream up: two men, Private Cuthbertson (Leo Bill) and Sergeant King (Kenneth Cranham, who looks disturbingly like Leo McKern on the box) are serving in a platoon of dentists in Britain’s...

July 22nd, 2005 | Read More

Banlieue 13 aka Suburb 13 (2004) Movie Review

Leave it to Luc Besson, the man behind “La Femme Nikita” and “Leon”, to single-handedly keep the phrase “French action movie” a viable option. The prolific writer/director/producer has had his hands in almost every action movie that has come out of France in the last...

June 23rd, 2005 | Read More

A Hole in my Heart (2005) Movie Review

Like Lars Von Trier, Swedish director Lukas Moodysson has a reputation for producing challenging, distinctly left field art house films which attempt to address social issues through a variety of original and often quite obtuse techniques. As such, his films (which include the massive commercial hit...

June 10th, 2005 | Read More

House of 9 (2005) Movie Review

Borrowing more than just a little bit from Vincenzo Natali’s “Cube” and its Canadian brethren “My Little Eye”, the British “House of 9″ has 9 strangers abducted off the streets and tossed into a house and left to their own devices. The hope, according to the...

June 8th, 2005 | Read More

Clean (2004) Movie Review

“Clean” is a film best known for the remarkable central performance of actress Maggie Cheung, for which she won the top award at the 2004 Cannes film festival. Also of interest is the fact that it was directed by Oliver Assayas, to whom Cheung was married until the film was actually in production....

June 5th, 2005 | Read More

3 Steps to Heaven (1995) Movie Review

(Movie Review by Donnie Saxton) “3 Steps to Heaven” is a British crime drama about a female protagonist named Suzanne (Katrin Cartlidge) who takes it upon herself to solve the mysterious death of her boyfriend. Originally a TV movie, the story is derivative of many superior films where the...

May 20th, 2005 | Read More

Layer Cake (2004) Movie Review

Following the success of Guy Ritchie’s “Lock, Stock and two Smoking Barrels” in 1998, the British film industry found itself overrun with tales of London gangsters, most of which were sadly made with little thought to creativity, instead relying on flashy designer violence and supposedly...

May 18th, 2005 | Read More

Close Your Eyes aka Doctor Sleep (2002) Movie Review

(Movie Review by Donnie Saxton) “Close Your Eyes” is a British paranormal thriller directed by Nick Willing and based on the novel “Dr. Sleep” by Madison Smartt Bell. Though unread by me, judging by the film, “Dr. Sleep” appears to be of the Dan Brown progeny (or perhaps...

April 27th, 2005 | Read More

The Purifiers (2003) Movie Review

“How the hell does six kids with kung fu police a city block, much less their section of a major city, which when totaled, must be hundreds of blocks?” That was the question that kept popping into my head as I watched writer/director Richard Jobson’s ultra slick martial arts film “The...

April 13th, 2005 | Read More

Cold and Dark (2004) Movie Review

Besides being one of the rare British horror films to incorporate a plot that is as “out there” as some of its American independent brethrens, Andrew Goth’s “Cold and Dark” is of interest to another group of fans, namely followers of Chow Yun Fat. Goth is also the director...

April 9th, 2005 | Read More

I’ll Sleep When I’m Dead (2003) Movie Review

(Movie Review by Donnie Saxton) Somewhat disturbingly, I can easily imagine Clive Owen (”Sin City”) in 1971 practicing his chilling stare in an English sandbox while taking some poor toddler’s lunch money. That same year, Mike Hodges released his benchmark revenge thriller “Get...

April 4th, 2005 | Read More

Nine Lives (2002) Movie Review

It’s rare these days to find a horror film that strays even a little bit outside of genre conventions; it’s even worse with the teen slasher subgenre. Dark corridors, scared teens, thunder and lightning, and a knife wielding slasher all figure prominently into the story. Unfortunately, the...

March 20th, 2005 | Read More

Wisconsin Death Trip (1999) Movie Review

Despite its title, “Wisconsin Death Trip” is not a crazed backwoods slasher film, but rather a feature length documentary about the high incidence of murder and madness which afflicted the small town of Black River Falls in the 1890s. Shot in black and white, and saturated with gothic style,...

March 10th, 2005 | Read More

The Life aka Yo Puta aka Whore (2004) Movie Review

(Movie Review by Donnie Saxton) One of the most confusing things about “The Life,” a film fraught with confusion, is what to call it. Upon theatrical release it was called “Yo Puta,” presumably because the film is based on a novel of the same name. Between then and the recent...

March 9th, 2005 | Read More

9 Songs (2004) Movie Review

Writer/director Michael Winterbottom’s “9 Songs” is about a 20-something couple who meets during a live concert, retires to the man’s apartment for a night of marathon sex, then decides to shack up for a couple of months or so. As the movie’s reputation has indicated, in-between...

February 28th, 2005 | Read More

Tattoo (2002) Movie Review

The plot is set in Berlin, where a maniac is preying upon people with intricate tattoos, harvesting their skin and leaving them for dead. The detective assigned to the case, Minks (Christian Redl) is a brutal, uncompromising thug who blackmails fresh-faced rookie Schrader (August Diehl, also in the German...

February 7th, 2005 | Read More

Hotet (2004) Movie Review

The Swedish film industry isn’t exactly known for their action movies, but after credible shoot-em-ups such as “Ranarna” (”The Robbers”) and “Executive Protection”, there seems to be an interest in widening the scope of what can be called “Swedish films”....

February 5th, 2005 | Read More

Creep (2004) Movie Review

“Creep” comes along at a time when the British horror industry is experiencing a resurgence of sorts, with recent years bringing forth films such as “28 Days Later” and “Dead Man’s Shoes”. In this context, director Christopher Smith’s debut film can be...

February 1st, 2005 | Read More

Kaena: The Prophecy (2003) Movie Review

Truth be told, the only notable thing about “Kaena: The Prophecy”, which is hyped as the first French 3D animated film ever, is that American movie star Kirsten Dunst is the voice of the lead character, the titular Kaena. Which, by itself, brings some baggage, in particular the fact that...

January 30th, 2005 | Read More

If Only (2004) Movie Review

At the risk of losing my non-existent “cool” credibility with the hipsters who regularly visit the site, let me go ahead and say that I’ve always found Jennifer Love Hewitt, formerly of the TV show “Party of 5″, to be terribly appealing. It’s not just the fact that...

January 24th, 2005 | Read More