Movie Reviews

We’re a hotheaded group of individuals. We crave a pull quote like anyone else, but it’s not about that. It’s only about you the reader. We love you. We want to take you home and cuddle with you. The following reviews are the opinions of the editors of CHUD.com and are by most accounts bang on.

REVIEW: BLADE RUNNER – THE FINAL CUT

The new version of Blade Runner hitting Los Angeles and New York this weekend, known as Blade Runner: The Final Cut, is a marvel of technology and craftsmanship. The bar has been raised for the sort of wholesale restoration done here; not only is the picture immaculately detailed and crisp, the movie includes new special … Continue reading

REVIEW: KINGDOM, THE (JEREMY’S TAKE)

Half fish-out-of-water procedural, half revenge film, Peter Berg’s The Kingdom is essentially a glowering remake of Beverly Hills Cop that works quite well whenever it’s de-emphasizing theme in favor of narrative convention. Exploiting Western/Saudi hostility for investigative suspense and one prolonged, expertly staged action sequence that ably blends the ground-level ferociousness of a Michael Mann … Continue reading

REVIEW: TRACEY FRAGMENTS, THE

You can’t stop Ellen Page. She’s already a Toronto Fest vet, having appeared in films selected for the ’02, ’04 and ’05 festivals. In addition to this experimental teen runaway drama remix, Page appeared at Toronto this year in Juno (reviewed right here) and The Stone Angel. I hear she also spent a couple days … Continue reading

REVIEW: JUNO

I feel like I should be unabashedly in critic love with Ellen Page, but I’m worried about her. She’s been wonderful in a couple films, but I fear that without some serious development she may burn through her bag of tricks even before she can have a 20-something flameout. It’s one thing to be preternaturally … Continue reading

REVIEW: NO COUNTRY FOR OLD MEN

Llewellyn Moss is in the sort of trouble you can’t even imagine. Out hunting one morning he comes across several shot-up pickups, a half-dozen stiffs and a case full of cash. Bales of heroin in one pickup leave no doubt that the cash is off-limits, just waiting to be reclaimed. Taking it seems so easy, … Continue reading

REVIEW: MAN FROM LONDON, THE

I get no small amount of amusement from the fact that the latest films from Bela Tarr and the Coen Brothers share the same plot. It’s a tribute to the infinite variability of storytelling and cinema that, despite a common narrative spine, the films couldn’t be more different. Looking at No Country For Old Men … Continue reading

REVIEW: HEAVY METAL IN BAGHDAD

I’m really struggling with the fact that the lads behind VICE Magazine have created a film that is human, touching and fully divested of put-on scenester bullshit. Heavy Metal In Baghdad applies the magazine’s DIY aesthetic to a story that is genuine, political and moving. There’s not an ostentatious tale of drug use or even … Continue reading

REVIEW: DIARY OF THE DEAD

You’ve probably heard wrong information about Diary Of The Dead, so let’s do some bookkeeping. Yes, the film is George Romero’s dramatized recreation of the outbreak of his zombie plague. No, it is not a Blair Witch clone. Instead, Romero has made a film that resembles post-modern novels like House of Leaves and Cloud Atlas, … Continue reading

REVIEW: EASTERN PROMISES (RUSS’ TAKE)

As announced on Saturday, this was the winner of TIFF ’07’s People’s Choice Award. Way to go, Canada! With Eastern Promises, David Cronenberg has made the most accessible film of his career. Applying long-standing interests in transformation and duality to familiar subjects (gangsters and their victims) he’s turned out a tale of mafia machinations that … Continue reading

REVIEW: BRAVE ONE, THE

Neil Jordan’s The Brave One positions Jodie Foster, finally, as the butch badass we’ve always known waited within her. He goes so far as to let us watch her transformation from a blithely happy woman in love to shattered gunslinger, and Foster, for her part, plays it well. She looks so natural blowing away kids … Continue reading