Beyond Hollywood

Brian Holcomb Beyond Hollywood Dec 22, 2008 Formally, it demonstrates the power of the aspect ratio in deciding our relationship to the story. Dramatically, the film is at once fascinating and completely annoying Go to Full Review Che: Part One (2008) 68% 75%

Brian Holcomb Beyond Hollywood Apr 26, 2008 DePalma is like a magician who dazzles us with a trick only to show us, alas, it really was only a trick, and in the meantime he's stolen our watch. Go to Full Review The Black Dahlia (2006) 32% 27%

Brian Holcomb Beyond Hollywood Apr 20, 2008 Movies like "Street Kings" are sitting ducks in a shooting range for film critics who laugh all through the movie only to condemn it for being so damn entertaining. Go to Full Review Street Kings (2008) 37% 58%

Brian Holcomb Beyond Hollywood Apr 20, 2008 Lots of questions are left unanswered, like a movie you fell asleep watching on late night TV and were never able to find again. Go to Full Review The Backwoods (2006) 50% 27%

Brian Holcomb Beyond Hollywood Apr 20, 2008 What is most annoying about "Lady" is that no one ever considers the possibility that nothing magical is actually occurring.The film starts out silly and just gets sillier. Go to Full Review Lady in the Water (2006) 25% 49%

Brian Holcomb Beyond Hollywood Apr 20, 2008 Amid the sound and fury of most TV, the filmmakers deserve credit for simply having sly fun with a tale told by an idiot signifying nothing more than what it promises. Go to Full Review Spring Break Shark Attack (2005) - - 32%

Brian Holcomb Beyond Hollywood Apr 20, 2008 The budget seems so charmingly low, you actually feel that after Bauer and Hastings share a bottle of wine they might have to pour it back into the bottle to reuse later. Go to Full Review Forbidden County (2007) - - - -

Brian Holcomb Beyond Hollywood Apr 20, 2008 "The Woods" plays like a classic Lewton film of the '40's, where the emphasis was on telling a good yarn without much ado and wrapping it up in a tightly wound 70 minutes. Go to Full Review The Woods (2005) 64% 37%

Brian Holcomb Beyond Hollywood Apr 20, 2008 Seven films later, with the conventions of throat croaking and neck cracking having moved into camp, it's amazing that Shimizu can still find new ways to turn the old screw. Go to Full Review The Grudge 2 (2006) 12% 40%

Brian Holcomb Beyond Hollywood Apr 19, 2008 To say that "Abominable" is the best movie ever to premiere on a basic cable channel is degrading both to the movie and to Bigfoot. Go to Full Review Abominable (2006) 64% 40%

Brian Holcomb Beyond Hollywood Apr 19, 2008 "Bubble" is paced very deliberately, like a slowly dripping faucet. Scenes do not seem to be performed, but rather captured like surveillance videos. Go to Full Review Bubble (2005) 72% 61%

Brian Holcomb Beyond Hollywood Apr 19, 2008 If you thought Van Sant's "Psycho" reshoot was weird, check this out. It's a community theater version of that old classic "The Omen", filled with all your favorite scenes. Go to Full Review The Omen (2006) 25% 40%

Brian Holcomb Beyond Hollywood Apr 19, 2008 Some may think it isn't fair to compare Zombie's film to the original. Too bad. It's called "Halloween" and I'm pretty sure it's a remake of a movie called "Halloween". Go to Full Review Halloween (2007) 28% 59%

Brian Holcomb Beyond Hollywood Apr 19, 2008 This has to be the lamest alien invasion movie since the killer tomatoes attacked. Go to Full Review The Invasion (2007) 21% 40%

Brian Holcomb Beyond Hollywood Apr 18, 2008 The lasting effect of all three of Eli Roth's films is a certain kind of Grand Guignol "Punk'D", in which the "mark" is not only embarrassed, he's also cut to pieces. Go to Full Review Hostel Part II (2007) 43% 39%

Brian Holcomb Beyond Hollywood Apr 18, 2008 A slick, thrilling, trashy, melodramatic and serialesque soap opera adventure which conceals the complex tale of moral ambiguity beneath. Go to Full Review Black Book (2006) 76% 87%

Brian Holcomb Beyond Hollywood Apr 18, 2008 A mediocre attempt to play with exploitation fire without getting burned. A pair of anti-septic fakes that miss the entire point of exploitation. Go to Full Review Grindhouse (2007) 83% 87%

Brian Holcomb Beyond Hollywood Apr 18, 2008 Most noirs are coming of age stories where an innocent learns how vicious and cruel the world can be. Only he usually learns it while a hunk of hot lead burns in his gut. Go to Full Review The Lookout (2007) 87% 74%

Brian Holcomb Beyond Hollywood Apr 18, 2008 The entire film builds up a dreamlike tension and somnambulant paranoia unlike any film since Carl Dreyer's "Vampyr". Go to Full Review Messiah of Evil (1975) 100% 55%

Brian Holcomb Beyond Hollywood Apr 18, 2008 "Dead Silence" is not going to reinvent the genre. It's actually a big pile of nonsense, but that doesn't stop it from being fun nonetheless. Go to Full Review Dead Silence (2007) 20% 51%