Premium Rush (2012)

Yet another courier and his special package becomes a target of very bad men.

The gimmick: He's a cyclist. The other gimmick: The film is directed in the 80s all-action, all the time style of the Total Action Film.

Read my full review at Fridae, first published on 26 September 2012.

The Assassins (铜雀台) (2012)

This Three Kingdoms political thriller deconstructs the villainy of Cao Cao, amidst a conspiracy by Han loyalists to assassinate the strongman and Protector of the Realm.

It's easier said than done, given the political climate in China, which practically forces all historical epics to end on the same moral that peaceful dictatorship being preferable to an anarchy.

A predictable failure in this sense, but the trite love angle between the very forgettable 'central' assassins makes it worse.

Read my full review at Fridae, first published on 26 September 2012.

To Rome With Love (2012)

Woody Allen gets commissioned by the City of Rome to make a "Woody Allen comedy" without realising his best comedies are about love affairs with cities.

To Rome With Love lacks the sincerity of Midnight in Paris but it's funny enough.

It's a generic enough, amiable enough romcom set in Rome, showcasing the sights and sounds of the city. For comedy fans, it's a genuinely funny film with great comic timing and dialogue, with four stories based on the simple theme of infamy and notoriety.

Read my full review at Fridae, first published on 19 September 2012.

The Possession (2012)

Nice kid gets possessed by an ancient, malignant spirit.

Yes, The Possession is sort of a tribute to the sensibilities of The Exorcist, with its slow-building, suggestive, philosophical horror - where supernatural horror wasn't a convenient expy of suburban middle class angst.

The gimmick here is instead of Christianity, the theology is Jewish.

Read my full review at Fridae, first published on 19 September 2012.

Resident Evil: Retribution (2012)

Like many franchise films in 2012, Resident Evil rediscovers PLOT.

The gimmick: Resident Evil Retribution is a prison break movie and not a Milla Jojovich vehicle or a video game movie or a movie consisting of video game cutscenes.

Watch for: WS Anderson at peak form (outside of Event Horizon).

Read my full review at Fridae, first published on 14 September 2012.

The Thieves (도둑들) (2012)

Think of this Korean-Hong Kong co-production as an Asian remake of Soderbergh's Ocean's series.

The gimmick here: reintroducing the darker elements of the heist genre while maintaining much of the zany comedy.

Watch for: a blend of the strong suits from Korean comedy and melodrama and Hong Kong action direction.

Read my full review at Fridae, first published on 12 September 2012.

Wolf Children (おおかみこどもの雨と雪) (2012)

Like Mamoru Hosoda's previous work in The girl who leapt through time and Summer Wars, this is another socially conservative animation...

celebrating the bonds of family and community, the selflessness that a healthy community showers on individuals, the selflessness that parents shower on their children, and how individuals grow up and find maturity when they find their place in the larger community.

Watch for: the Miyazaki-esque ecological message, which makes the preachy moralising easier to swallow.

Read my full review at Fridae, first published on 5 September 2012.

The Scent (간통을 기다리는 남자) (2012)

Korean murder mysteries take place in noir environments but play out as crime films with social commentary.

The Scent is one of the rare true noir films with corrupt cops, femme fatales, and double crosses.

Watch for: fine scriptwriting that balances outright farce and dead serious drama.

Read my full review at Fridae, first published on 5 September 2012.

The Secrets (Ha-Sodot) (2007)

A god-fearing girl in a religious boarding school for the Ultra-Orthodox meets her universe's version of Winona Ryder. Things get really from there in their boarding school/coming of age story.

The concept is quite standard but the director has other ideas. Namely casting 3 very dramatic actresses in a film that's secretly an existential comedy. And they're not in on the joke.

It's a great introduction to the ultra-orthodox, as well as a divinely written comedy.

Read my full review at Fridae, first published on 5 September 2012.

The woman in the fifth (La Femme du Veme) (2011)

Ethane Hawke plays a broke and desperate lit prof who lands a perfect job in a crapsack, seedy locale that should inspire him to write a masterpiece or die trying.

The gimmick: this is a moody and psychological retelling of film noir that brings out paranoia, darkness, and psychosis better than a mainstream thriller

Watch for: no coherent plot or storyline but an excellent atmospheric piece that hinges all on Ethan Hawke.

Read my full review at Fridae, first published on 5 September 2012.

Ted (2012)

Aside from the man-child, the other 21st century innovation to the romantic comedy is the bromance. The gimmick in Ted is the bromantic triangle involves a foul-mouthed magical talking teddy bear, voiced by Seth MacFarlane.

The gimmick kind of runs out of steam halfway, and MacFarlane's schtick for pop cultural references takes over.

Watch for: Not MacFarlane's schtick, not the gimmick, but the evocation of 80s children's urban fantasy movies.

Read my full review at Fridae, first published on 5 September 2012.