CRACKS

Year Released: 2011
MPAA Rating: Unrated
Running Time: 104 minutes

From a Scott, especially a young one, we expect snappy scenes and editing down the high school hallways. “Cracks” begins on a quieter tone, though perversion and rivalry will find their way in…

Posted on May 16, 2011 by Matthew Sorrento

TRICKED BY THE SURFACE; OR, WHY “INSIDIOUS” WORKS

“Insidious” still works on the surface of horror by tossing clichés in a well orchestrated attack. But the film grows most powerful when leaving the topical and reaching to the mythical roots of the genre…

Posted on May 1, 2011 by Matthew Sorrento

CAVE OF FORGOTTEN DREAMS

Year Released: 2011
MPAA Rating: G
Running Time: 90 minutes

Werner Herzog may be obsessed with filming extremes – personalities or natural phenomena – but he finds the grandeur in style to do them justice…

Posted on April 29, 2011 by Matthew Sorrento

THE HUMAN RESOURCES MANAGER

Year Released: 2010
MPAA Rating: Unrated
Running Time: 103 minutes

2011 PHILADELPHIA CINEFEST SELECTION! “Manager’s” power, like many works of art, lies in its ability to see the larger truth through the minimal, in character, setting, and visual style. It’s a well-made piece we must admire, even if it doesn’t grab us by the heart.

Posted on April 18, 2011 by Matthew Sorrento

EXPORTING RAYMOND

Year Released: 2010
MPAA Rating: PG
Running Time: 86 minutes

2011 PHILADELPHIA CINEFEST SELECTION! “Exporting” delivers humor and emotion to a broader audience. When trying to take the lead in another culture, we’re all fish out of water…

Posted on April 14, 2011 by Matthew Sorrento

FILM THREAT AT 2011 PHILADELPHIA CINEFEST

I hope it won’t disappoint you to learn that yours truly, FT writer since 2005, will be frequenting Cinefest screenings from April 7-14, 2011…

Posted on April 10, 2011 by Matthew Sorrento

JOHN CARPENTER’S THE WARD

Year Released: 2010
MPAA Rating: Unrated
Running Time: 88 minutes

2011 PHILADELPHIA CINEFEST DANGER AFTER DARK FEATURE! It won’t be a spoiler to reveal that “The Ward” is John Carpenter’s entry in explain-it-away psychological horror…

Posted on April 10, 2011 by Matthew Sorrento

BASTARD SON OF A PRODIGAL SON: INTERVIEW ON “THE COMPLETE HISTORY OF THE RETURN OF THE LIVING DEAD”

The story behind Romero’s “Dead” series, as grand as it is, has become overwritten. Authors Christian Sellers and Gary Smart consider an unsung offshoot, the “Return of the Living Dead” series…

Posted on March 30, 2011 by Matthew Sorrento

SWEET SMELL OF SUCCESS: CRITERION COLLECTION (DVD)

Year Released: 2011
MPAA Rating: Unrated
Running Time: 96 minutes

It all begins with the title. The irony aside, its lightness and alliteration suggest the last breaths of one of the film’s victims…

Posted on March 7, 2011 by Matthew Sorrento

RANGO

Year Released: 2011
MPAA Rating: PG
Running Time: 107 minutes

A film so committed (and respectful) to the western flubs by basing itself off another style…

Posted on March 4, 2011 by Matthew Sorrento

I AM NUMBER FOUR

Year Released: 2011
MPAA Rating: PG-13
Running Time: 104 minutes

Perhaps it’s best that Caruso kept his hero locked down in high school. This film has the imaginative power of concrete walls and rows of lockers…

Posted on February 18, 2011 by Matthew Sorrento

EDGAR G. ULMER’S STRANGE ILLUSION (1945) (DVD)

Year Released: 1945
MPAA Rating: Unrated
Running Time: 87 minutes

Though saddled with the script’s fetish for Freud, Ulmer stylizes his thriller without sending it adrift. Like his other great films, “Strange Illusion” is a shaggy quickie that takes fine shape throughout…

Posted on February 17, 2011 by Matthew Sorrento