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Kill List (2011)

Directed by : Ben Wheatley 

4 stars

Eight months after a job in Kiev went wrong, volatile hit-man Jay (Neil Maskell) is under financial pressure from wife Shel to get back to work, so when old partner Gal (Michael Smiley) tells him of a new job, he’s ready to bid farewell to wife and adored son. Read more

Smuggler (2011)

Directed by: Katsuhito Ishii

3 stars

No longer-aspiring actor Kinuta (Satoshi Tsumabuki) gambles in the wrong den, and to expunge his debts he’s forced to take up work as a smuggler: a mover/disposer of the bodies of people killed in organised-crime slayings.  When the fantastically-named hit team of Vertebrae and Viscera wipe out a gangland boss, the smugglers find themselves involved in a complex game of gang wars and double-crossing beauties. Read more

The Descendants (2011)

Directed by:  Alexander Payne

2 stars

Matt (George Clooney) is a Hawaiian lawyer and, through inheritance, the sole trustee of a 25,000 acre estate, which will shortly be sold.  After a water-skiing accident leaves his wife in a coma, Matt must hold himself and his family together, meet the competing demands of relatives, islanders and conscience in disposing of the land – and find a way of coming to terms with the revelation that his wife was having an affair. Read more

Lovely Molly (2011)

Directed by: Eduardo Sánchez

3 stars

When newlyweds Molly (Gretchen Lodge) and Tim (Johnny Lewis) move into the house of Molly’s deceased parents, it’s not long before they start to experience more than just bumps in the night.  Is someone there, or is it in Molly’s mind? Read more

Sleepless Night (2011) 
Nuit Blanche

Directed by: Frédéric Jardin

4 stars

Two armed robbers steal a shipment of cocaine from the men delivering it to night-club owning crime lord José.  One of the robbers is stabbed and, worse for him, is identified as Vincent (Tomer Sisley), a police Lieutenant.  The next afternoon, his son is snatched by José, who wants his coke back. Read more

Hick (2011)

Directed by: Derick Martini

1 stars

In Nowhere, Nebraska, thirteen year-old Luli (Chloe Moretz) lives with her dead-beat parents, whose life together has degenerated into a war of attrition punctuated by alcohol-fuelled fights and extra-marital engagements.  When both mom and dad head out for an indeterminate period, sassy Luli decides it’s time to do the same.  So, armed with just her sketch book, a bag and a .45 (a birthday present from an uncle) she hits the road, with Las Vegas in mind. Read more

The Awakening (2011)

Directed by: Nick Murphy

3 stars

1921.  Florence Cathcart (Rebecca Hall), a professional ghost story debunker, is asked to solve an apparent haunting at a boy’s prep school in the North of England.  One boy has died, and there may be a link to an earlier, rumoured death in the grand house which the school now occupies.  Armed with her intelligence, a detached, fragile scepticism (she is still mourning the loss of a man in the Great War) and a large number of scientific instruments, she heads north. Read more

Warriors of the Rainbow: Seediq Bale (2011)

Directed by: Te-Sheng Wei

3 stars

In 1895, Taiwan was taken over by the Empire of Japan.  Thirty five years later, the Seediq aboriginal people are in a semi-subservient condition, regarded as savages by their Japanese masters, who view Seediq traditions (which include headhunting) as barbaric.  Chief Mona Rudao appears to have accepted this state of affairs, but when a Japanese policeman insults his clan at a wedding, Mona leads a loose coalition of clans in a brief, bloody rebellion. Read more