Spring Breakers

Harmony Korine's Spring Breakers (US, 2012) - A day-glo, hip-hop drug rush of a film centring on a group of four high-school girlfriends who go on a hedonistic sex-n-substance-abuse ‘spring break’ in a Florida resort, Harmony Korine’s remarkable fifth feature is like nothing the US maverick has ever done – or anyone else, come to that. Greeted with rousing cheers at its Venice press premiere, the film will nevertheless irritate those who fail to see the rather innocent fairy-tale and dream of teen freedom glimmering beneath Korine’s apparent glorification of a world devoid of values and obsessed with misogynistic sex, binge-drinking, guns, empty fame and money. 2012TOR, 2012VENic, 2013ROTsp. RATING: 5

Escape By Night

GREAT MOVIES: Roberto Rossellini's Escape By Night (Italy, 1960) - In Nazi-occupied Rome, Esperia (Giovanna Ralli) reluctantly takes in three fugitive Allied POWs -- British Maj. Pemberton (Leo Genn), Soviet Sgt. Fyodor (Sergei Bondarchuk) and United States pilot Bradley (Peter Baldwin) -- at the peril of her Communist lover, Renato (Renato Salvatori). Tensions simmer as the soldiers begin to fight over their beautiful captor in this little-seen wartime melodrama from ace Italian director Roberto Rossellini. 1960KVic, 1960SANF. RATING: 9.

When I Saw You

Anne Marie Jacir's When I Saw You (Palestine, 2012) - This compassionate film about an intrepid Palestinian lad’s adventures in the wake of the Six Day War wraps the tragedy of being unable to return to ancestral lands in an extremely sympathetic package. Best Director, Abu Dhabi Film Festival. 2012TOR, 2013OE, 2013BERf, 2013PALM. RATING: 7

Admission

Paul Weitz's Admission (US, 2013) - Though smarter than your average dramedy, Paul Weitz’s forced “Admission” faces some major identity issues. Tina Fey plays a discombobulated Princeton admissions officer who must confront the limits of her morals when she learns that a potential Princeton applicant might be the son she gave up for adoption. What appears on paper to be an ideal three-dimensional, morally complex role for the quick-witted comedienne backfires in practice, relying on Fey to be funny in a movie that works better serious. Despite offering consolation to the world’s many Ivy League rejects that the gatekeepers sometimes make mistakes, low entrance levels await. (V). RATING: 6

Olympus Has Fallen

Antoine Fuqua's Olympus Has Fallen (US, 2013) - A North Korean terrorist may be responsible for taking the president hostage, but it’s Bulgarian-made CGI that does the most damage in Antoine Fuqua’s intense, ugly, White-House-under-siege actioner “Olympus Has Fallen.” Cut past the pic’s superficial patriotism, and the message is ironically clear: Never outsource your visual effects when a domestic shop will do. Courageously representing the human element in this mostly digital assault on American soil, Gerard Butler holds his own as a one-man-army. Millennium was wise to push this grim act-of-war movie out three months ahead of Columbia’s like-minded “White House Down.” RATING: 6

The Flowers of St Francis

MUST SEE: Robert Rossellini's The Flowers of St. Francis (Italy, 1950) - In a series of simple and joyous vignettes, director Roberto Rossellini and co-writer Federico Fellini lovingly convey the universal teachings of the People’s Saint: humility, compassion, faith, and sacrifice. Gorgeously photographed to evoke the medieval paintings of Saint Francis’s time, and cast with monks from the Nocera Inferiore Monastery, The Flowers of St. Francis is a timeless and moving portrait of the search for spiritual enlightenment. RATING: 8.

Cold War

Longman Leung's Cold War (Hong Kong, 2012) - Overstuffing the plot to the point of confusion early on, Hong Kong crimer “Cold War” warms up considerably thereafter, but its false start will likely prevent many auds from fully engaging with the drama’s complex maneuvers. Sporting a heavyweight cast headed by Tony Leung Ka-fai and Aaron Kwok as rivals for Hong Kong’s top police job, this debut pic helmed by Longman Leung and Sunny Luk has been pre-hyped as having “Infernal Affairs”-like potential, but appears unlikely to duplicate that film’s international success. Hong Kong release is set for Oct. 18; star wattage alone should ensure strong regional business (V). 2012BUS. RATING: 6

Perfect Days

Alice Nellis' Perfect Days (Czech, 2012) - a crowd pleaser romantic comedy Czech style, while the film did not offer anything new, it will charm most people nonetheless. 2012CLION. RATING: 7

Alois Nebel

MUST SEE: Tomas Lunak's Alois Nebel (Czech, 2011) - After the Velvet Revolution, a fiftysomething Sudetenland train dispatcher is visited by ghosts from his and the region's past in "Alois Nebel," the visually accomplished feature debut of Czech helmer Tomas Lunak. A portrait of the fractured psychology of a man and his country, this animated adaptation of Jaroslav Rudis and Jaromir 99's graphic-novel trilogy might be too historically and regionally specific to fully resonate abroad, though Lunak's superbly atmospheric black-and-white rotoscope feature does rep yet another impressive adult-oriented entry in the animated genre. Sept. 29 local release might work as an upscale niche item offshore. 2011VENoc, 2012OE, 2012PALM, 2012SEA. RATING: 8.

Gypsy

MUST SEE: Martin Sulik's Gypsy (Slovakia, 2011) - 2011KVic Special Jury Prize Winner. “Gypsy“ is a portrait of an impoverished Roma settlement in Slovakia, where racial, cultural, and social issues obstruct a normal life for a young boy. He must learn how to overcome these prejudices for himself and his community. The film won multiple awards at festivals in tne Czech Republic, and was the Slovak entry for the Best Foreign Film Oscar. 2011KVic, 2011TOR, 2012OE. RATING: 8.

Men In Hope

Jiri Vejdelek's Men in Hope (Czech, 2011) - In a world of alluring temptations, men can make a bad decision. A stimulating take on the challenges inherent in marriage, this comedy threatens the prescribed notion of devoted love, and shows that even that bad choice can work out in the end. RATING: 7

2013 Asian Film Award

Lou Ye's Mystery won Best Film, Script and New Comer Awards

Takeshi Kitano's Outrage Beyond won Best Director Award

Brillante Mendoza's Thy Womb won Best Actress Award for Nora Aunor

Jun Robles Lana's Bwakaw won Best Actor Award for Eddie Garcia

Best supporting actress went to Japan’s Makiko Watanabe for Capturing Dad, while India’s Nawazuddin Siddiqui took best supporting actor for his role as a gun-toting gangster in Gangs Of Wasseypur.

Bahman Ghobadi’s Rhino Season triumphed in the technical categories, taking best cinematographer, best production design and best visual effects.

India’s Barfi! took best composer (Pritam Chakraborty), while best editor went to Japan’s The Kirishma Thing (Mototaka Kusakabe) and best costume designer to Hong Kong-China co-production The Silent War (Man Lim-chung).

Other awardees included Michelle Yeoh who was presented with the Excellence in Asian Cinema Award, while Xu Zheng’s Lost In Thailand took the 2012 Top-Grossing Asian Film Award.

In The Shadows

MUST SEE: David Ondricek's In The Shadows (Czech, 2012) - Inspired by the darkest days of Cold War Prague when the Soviets were tightening their grip on Czechoslovakia, this suspenseful crime drama follows an honest cop whose jewelry heist investigation is taken over by State Security. Starring veteran actor Ivan Trojan (“Želary”), crime and mystery force a detective to risk his life in search of the truth. What he finds in Stalinist Czechoslovakia, however, seems to only create more questions than it solves. “In the Shadows” was submitted to the Academy Awards as the Czech entry for Best Foreign Language Film in 2013. 2013OE, 2013PALM. RATING: 8.

The House

Zuzana Liova's The House (Czech, 2011) - 2012CLION Winner. Small in scale but perfectly proportioned, contempo drama "The House" marks talented Slovak helmer-writer Zuzana Liova as the equal of regional contemporaries such as Bohdan Slama and Alice Nellis when it comes to making universal the small, poignant moments of everyday life. Remarkable for its depth of characterization, this sensitively observed, intelligently made realist tale of generational conflict, set in a remote Slovak village where old grudges die hard, will find a welcome mat at fests worldwide. (VARIETY). 2011BERf, 2011KVvcc, 2012CLION, 2012PALM, 2012SEA. RATING: 7

Germany Year Zero

GREAT MOVIES: Roberto Rossellini's Germany Year Zero (Italy, 1948) - The concluding chapter of Roberto Rossellini’s War Trilogy is the most devastating, a portrait of an obliterated Berlin, seen through the eyes of a twelve-year-old boy. Living in a bombed-out apartment building with his sick father and two older siblings, young Edmund is mostly left to wander unsupervised, getting ensnared in the black-market schemes of a group of teenagers and coming under the nefarious influence of a Nazi-sympathizing ex-teacher. Germany Year Zero (Deutschland im Jahre Null) is a daring, gut-wrenching look at the consequences of fascism, for society and the individual. 1948LOCic, 1995NYFF, 1000DT. RATING: 9.

West of Memphis

MUST SEE: Amy Berg's West of Memphis (US, 2012) - Whether the state of Arkansas can ignore “West of Memphis” seems to be the only remaining question surrounding this first-rate investigative docu on the notorious West Memphis Three case, its questionable prosecution and its dubious resolution. Following on the heels of the celebrated “Paradise Lost” trilogy, Amy Berg’s clear, captivating, indignant film carves out its own significant place in criminal-justice cinema, makes new and startling revelations into the triple-murder mystery, and is visually spectacular to boot. As an annotated supplement to the existing films or on its own, pic could find a theatrical aud and will undoubtedly play well on cable. 2012SUN. RATING: 8

The Incredible Burt Wonderstone

Don Scardino's The Incredible Burt Wonderstone (US, 2013) - Neatly balancing brightly sentimental comedy with slightly edgier funny business, “The Incredible Burt Wonderstone” pulls off the impressive trick of generating laughs on a consistent basis while spinning a clever scenario about rival magicians waging a Las Vegas turf war with a wide multi-demographic appeal. And while it may fall short of working B.O. magic when it hits theaters March 15, the pic — which played well with the opening-night crowd at the SXSW Film Festival — could wind up generating steady biz on a long-term basis rather than pulling a quick vanishing act. RATING: 7

Voyage in Italy

GREAT MOVIES: Roberto Rossellini's Voyage In Italy (Italy, 1953) - Roberto Rossellini's finest fiction film (1953, 84 min.), and unmistakably one of the great achievements of the art. Ingrid Bergman and George Sanders play a long-married British couple grown restless and uncommunicative. On a trip to Italy to dispose of a piece of property, they find their boredom thrown into relief by the Mediterranean landscape--its vitality (Naples) and its desolation (Pompeii). But suddenly, in one of the moments that only Rossellini can film, something lights inside them, and their love is renewed as a bond of the spirit. A crucial work, truthful and mysterious. 2012CANcl, 1000DT, 1001M. RATING: 9

Camion

MUST SEE: Rafael Ouellet's Camion (Canada, 2012) - 2012KVic Best Director Winner and ecumenical Prize winner. Two adult brothers help their widower father move on after a tragic work-related accident, and in the process find new directions for their own lives, in the poignant, low-key drama “Camion.” Confident helming, spot-on performances, and a closely observed look at a specific Canadian culture lend Quebecois multihypenate Rafael Ouellet’s fourth feature singularity and emotional resonance despite some familiar themes. Expect significant festival mileage for this tender but unsentimental pic, which nabbed director kudos and the ecumenical jury award in Karlovy Vary. French-Canadian rollout through K-Films Amerique begins Aug. 17. 2012KVic, 2012TOR, 2013PALM. RATING: 8

Narco Cultura

Shaul Schwarz's Narco Cultura (US, 2013) - An eye-opening examination of Mexico’s blood-soaked drug war and its unsettling pop-culture side effects, “Narco Cultura” is as overwhelming as it is absorbing. War photographer-turned-director Shaul Schwarz focuses on two very different individuals — crime-scene investigator Richi Soto in Juarez, Mexico, and musician Edgar Quintero in Los Angeles — to illuminate the reality and the fantasy of drug cartels’ impact on both sides of the border. If audiences reject the film’s topic as too unsavory or depressing to contend with, they’ll simply be proving one of the filmmaker’s key points: Despite the staggering statistics, not enough people are paying attention. 2013BERp, 2013SUN. RATING: 7

Rock The Casbah

Yariv Horovitz's Rock The Casbah (Israel, 2012) - 2013BERp CICAE Award Winner. The Gaza strip in the early summer of 1989. A young Israeli soldier is killed in a guerrilla attack. A compelling study of the senselessness of war and the psychological effect on those involved. 2012OPHIR, 2013BERp. RATING: 7.

The Call

Brad Anderson's The Call (US, 2013) - Representing a slightly skewed take on 2004’s “Cellular” crossed with a lobotomized “Silence of the Lambs,” Brad Anderson’s high-concept thriller “The Call” would be an unremarkable bit of women-in-peril dreck were it not for two distinguishing factors — the sexualized sadism inflicted upon the half-dressed 16-year-old Abigail Breslin, and the equally sadistic Sideshow Bob coiffure affixed to the otherwise lovely Halle Berry. These indignities aside, there’s little to differentiate this high-pitched screamer from a particularly feverish “Law and Order” rerun, and it might be tough for such a film to dial in sizable auds to theaters. RATING: 7

2013 Guadalajara Film Festival

Benjamin Avila's Clandestine Childhood won Best Film at 2013 Guadalajara Film Festival

Best Film: Benjamin Avila's Clandestine Childhood
Special Jury Prize: Cao Hamburger's Xingu
The Mezcal Prize (dedicated to Mexican Entry): Juse Luis Valle's Workers
Best First Film: Ana Guevara and Leticia Jorge's So Much Water
Audience Award Winner: Francisco Franco's Final Call
Best Documentary: Ignacio Aguero's The Other Day - Chile
Special Jury Prize for Documentary Section: Roberto Fiesco's Disrupted
Best Director: Dario Nardi for Sadourni's Butterflies - Argentina

Fat Shaker

Mohammad Shirvani's Fat Shaker (Iran, 2013) - A beautiful young woman comes between an obese father and his handsome, deaf son in Tehran. Absurdism can be a metaphor or a contrivance, and most auds braving Mohammad Shirvani’s unappetizing “Fat Shaker” will put it in the latter camp. The opening scene illustrates the title, showing an obese man being thoroughly jiggled, then cupped and leeched until the blood runs through his back hairs. No doubt programmers and certain Rotterdam festival jurors, who awarded this a prize, will try explaining how these scenes relate to Iran now. Most viewers, however, will conclude Shirvani is visualizing insignificant dreams with no metaphorical value, and ankle before the live turkey appears. 2013ROTic, 2013SUN. RATING: 6.

A Long and Happy Life

Boris Khlebnikov's A Long and Happy Life (Russia, 2013) - A spoiler alert is hardly required to tip you off that the title is ironic. A Long Happy Life (Dolgaya Schastlivaya Zhizn) is a short, downbeat film, a realist fable about how tough times have become for the honest man in contemporary Russian. With subject matter and tone suggesting a Russian rural Ken Loach – although without his usual affirmative endings – Boris Khlebnikov’s film gets by on its simple, direct storytelling and a likable doomed hero. 2013BERic.

Emperor

Peter webber's Emperor (US, 2012) - Adding a cross-cultural love story to an account of the post-World War II American occupation of Japan, Emperor works better as a historical thriller than it does as a romantic drama. And that may mean that this independently produced period piece starring Lost’s Matthew Fox will have to make do with a fairly niche audience, though Tommy Lee Jones’ enjoyable turn as General Douglas MacArthur should draw some mainstream moviegoers. 2012TOR, 2013PALM. RATING: 7

Dark Heaven

Joel Calero's Dark Heaven (Peru, 2012) - Toño (Lucho Cáceres) is a middle-aged man who owns a fabric store in Lima. He is separated from his wife and has a young son. One day, destiny puts Natalia, a young theater student, in his path and they embark on a relationship. But what appear to be sunny skies for Toño turn gray when one of Natalia’s old boyfriends joins her theater group. Plagued with jealousy, Toño can no longer find a moment’s peace, his business goes south and he finds himself on a path of destruction from which there is no turning back. Loosely based on Claude Chabrol’s L’enfer, Cielo oscuro is a promising debut for the Peruvian critic Calero, whose editing imbues the story with meaning, offering the viewer a bona-fide description of daily life in Lima through his main character, played by the very capable Lucho Cáceres, who has an inimitable screen presence. 2013CAR. RATING: 4

Kai Po Che

GREAT MOVIES: Abhishek Kapoor's Kai Po Che (India, 2013) - A close-knit trio of young men determined to turn their passion for cricket into a viable business find their efforts derailed and their destinies altered by murderous religious violence in Abhishek Kapoor's 2002-set feature, "Kai po che!" The pic starts with the backslapping camaraderie typical of Indian comedies, but economic pressures and conflicting loyalties begin to unravel the friendships, which are only intermittently reanimated by love of the sport. While its approach to controversial subject matter is populist and uninspired, the competently constructed pic, based on a bestseller, could click among the Indian diaspora when it opens worldwide Feb. 22. 2013BERp. RATING: 9

Jack The Giant Slayer

Bryan Singer's Jack The Giant Slayer (US, 2013) - If superhero tales are our modern-day big screen myths, fairytale adventures like Snow White And The Huntsman and Hansel And Gretel: Witch Hunters are attempting to run a certain zeitgeist side game, blending fantasy folk legend with a decidedly contemporary appetite for action swashbuckling, albeit of the sword-and-crossbow variety. Jack The Giant Slayer can’t seem to decide whether it wants to play its hand as a lithe, sweeping fable or a more grounded action-adventure with legendary accessories (SCREEN). RATING: 6.

Phantom

Todd Robinson's Phantom (US, 2013) - Ed Harris, David Duchovny and William Fichtner bring a good deal of class and poise to this period submarine thriller, with writer/director Todd Robinson making the most of the claustrophobic staging in his story of a Russian submarine going rogue, set against the Cold War 1960s backdrop (SCREEN). RATING: 5

21 And Over

Jon Lucas' 21 And over (US, 2013) - The two writers of The Hangover make their debuts as writer-directors on 21 & Over, a Hangover-in-college romp that’s genial enough but distinctly short on really funny comic moments. Students and twentysomethings may - in the US at least - give the R-rated Relativity/Virgin production a start at the box office, but the film’s chances of graduating to a mainstream audience look slim (SCREEN).

The Last Exorcism Part II

Ed Gass Donnelly's The Last Exorcism Part II (US, 2013) - Somewhere deep inside The Last Exorcism Part II may lurk an intriguing idea for a character-based horror movie follow-up, but it never manages to quite tease it out. Ditching both the mock-doc framework of the original 2010 possession film (which was inventive but undone by some thunderously stupid editorial choices in the third act), as well as its flashes of dark humor, this technically efficient but wholly pointless follow-up fails to expand on its mooring mythology in as compelling a fashion as in something like the Saw and Paranormal Activity franchises (SCREEN). RATING: 3

Oz The Great and Powerful

Sam Raimi's Oz The Great and Powerful (US, 2013) - Imagining the events that led up to The Wizard Of Oz, the fantasy-adventure Oz The Great And Powerful will undoubtedly stir the emotions of generations of filmgoers enchanted by the 1939 classic. But unfortunately, recreating that movie’s look and some of its iconic characters isn’t nearly the same as capturing its spirit. Director Sam Raimi (of the Tobey Maguire Spider-Man films) tries to mix dark and light tones while bolstering the action and effects, but the resulting film is a glossy jumble that is only occasionally rousing but rarely magical. (SCREEN)

2013 Cartagena Film Festival

International Competition
Best Film: Miguel Gomes' Tabu (Portugal, 2012)
Best Director: Juan Carlos Maneglia and Tana Schembori's 7 Boxes (Paraguay, 2012)
Best Actor: The cast of Antonio Mendez Esparza's Here and There (Mexico, 2012)
Special Jury Prize: Pablo Berger's Blancanieves (Spain, 2012)
FIPRESCI Prize: Ana Guevara and Leticia Jorge's So Much Water (Uruguay, 2013)

Colombia 100% Competition
Best Film: Alfredo Soderguit's Anina (2013)
Best Director: Alfredo Soderguit for Anina
Best Actor: Alejandro Buitrago for Deshora
Special Jury Prize: Priscila Padilla's The Eternal Night of Twelve Moons

Documentary Competition
Best Film: The Mayor (El alcalde) by Emiliano Altuna, Carlos Rossini and Diego Osorno.
Best director: Alejo Hoijman for The Shark’s Eye (El ojo del tiburon) and
Special Mention: Teresa Arredondo’s Sibila.

Gems Competition (of festival hits) 
Best Film: Searching For Sugar Man
Special mentions: Spiros Stathoulopoulos’ Meteora and Joachim Lafosse’s Our Children.