Peculiar Reviewer

After premiering at Sundance Film Festival in January to critical praise, Camp X-Ray , the directorial debut from writer/director Peter Sattler which stars Kristen Stewart and Peyman Moaadi was picked up by IFC Films and released OnDemand, on iTunes, and Amazon Oct. 17. Sattler opens the film with a shot of the Twin Towers up in smoke, which is then revealed to be current news on the television at Ali Amir's residence, played by Peyman Maadi ( A Separation ). Privately praying in his humble apartment, Ali suddenly has his head enveloped by a black bag and is whisked off on a boat, along with other visibly-and-audibly shielded men across the ocean. Sattler cuts to eight years later, where we follow Kristen Stewart 's Army private first class Amy Cole who has just arrived to Camp Delta located at Guantanamo Bay, and stationed to guard the detainees. Informed by her superior that this is a war zone, the guards are put on suicide watch every 3 minutes. While she's just be...

It's not often when a movie comes along that takes hold of you throughout its duration, feeling its tension that cuts like a knife. The film that took home Iran's first Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film in 2012, A Separation is new on DVD this week. The film begins with the separation of Nader and Simin, an urban upper middle-class couple residing in Tehran. Simin does not want their 11-year-old daughter living under the predominate conditions in Iran, unable to get her husband Nader to agree on the family leaving together. Writer/producer/director Asghar Farhadi gives us a somewhat simple plot, combined with a calculated pacing to portray the breaking of a bond with intense fervor. Amidst this separation lay the contrasting ideologies about religion, gender roles, and morals. Much like a classic Hitchcock thriller, delicate investigation unravels characters' intentions. A Separation ...