Email Author Abrams, Simon

2013 Stories by Abrams, Simon

• Go Goa Gone Goes Home Unhappy

  published May 15, 2013

  Most jokes don't translate very well in Go Goa Gone, a Bollywood horror comedy influenced by Shaun of the Dead. The creators... More >>

• Shootout at Wadala Can't Shake Its Vile Lead

  published May 8, 2013

  Shootout at Wadala is a true-crime gangster epic about an ostensibly charismatic outlaw who's really just a preening... More >>

• William Friedkin's Self-Loathing Gay Protagonists

  published May 1, 2013

  Being perennially suspicious of authority, director William Friedkin is fascinated by the myth of fraternal community. This is apparent... More >>

• Tai Chi Hero, Sequel to Zero, Suffers from the Juxtaposition

  published April 24, 2013

  A kung fu pastiche that sometimes resembles a video game and comes tricked out with an assortment of steampunk gizmos, Tai Chi Hero... More >>

• Look Out For Dumb Stabathon Holla II's Racist Ghost

  published April 24, 2013

  A Ten Little Indians-style stab-a-thon starring a predominantly African-American cast seems like a refreshing idea, but... More >>

• Chashme Baddoor's Dopey Charm Is Real

  published April 10, 2013

  Like an overzealous puppy that showers you with slobbery kisses before you can pry it off your face, Chashme Baddoor is simultaneously... More >>

• The Revolutionary Targets the Cultural Revolution

  published April 10, 2013

  "History rolled right over my body" may be Sidney Rittenberg's rueful summation of his time as a willing propagandist for the Chinese... More >>

• The Devil's Auteur: Rob Zombie Faces His Fans -- and His Art

  published April 10, 2013

  After working a packed auditorium into a frenzy at last September's premiere of Lords of Salem at the Toronto International Film... More >>

• Nautanki Saala Fails to Get to the Point

  published April 10, 2013

  In Nautanki Saala, an Indian romantic comedy loosely based on the 2003 French film Après Vous, director Rohan Sippy... More >>

• Death-obsessed Violeta Went to Heaven Does the Chilean Singer a Disservice

  published March 27, 2013

  Violeta Went to Heaven's creators do a disservice to Chilean singer and multi-hyphenate artist Violeta Parra's legacy by making her... More >>

• Himmatwala: Toxic Camp

  published March 27, 2013

  The pseudo-progressivism inherent in Himmatwala, an action-comedy remake of the 1983 Bollywood action-drama of the same name, makes toxic... More >>

• The Last Exorcism Part II: What Changed?

  published March 6, 2013

  When the creators of The Last Exorcism Part II swapped pseudo-verité realism for psychological realism, they made it a lot harder... More >>

• The Attacks of 26/11 is an Exploitative Docudrama

  published March 6, 2013

  Indian filmmaker Ram Gopal Varma (Satya, Company) continues his recent cold streak with The Attacks of 26/11, an exploitative docudrama... More >>

• White T Promises Not To Make Sense

  published February 27, 2013

  When choosing to unleash seemingly any desperate comedian they could find willing to work for scale, the creators of White T ensured... More >>

• Doctor Bello's Faith-Based Hoodoo Could Not Save Itself

  published February 27, 2013

  The worst thing about Doctor Bello's tacky, pseudo-spiritual proceedings isn't how bad the soap opera melodramatics are (Tyler Perry... More >>

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  Lost in Thailand: A Promising and Polite Debut

  published February 13, 2013

  With Lost in Thailand, the hit sequel to Lost on Journey, Chinese writer/actor Xu Zheng makes a promising—if polite and... More >>

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  Special 26: A Bollywood Mix of Argo and Ocean's Eleven

  published February 13, 2013

  While its trailers would have you believe that Special 26 is a Bollywood mix of Argo and Ocean's Eleven, writer/director... More >>

• David Hops Subplots While the Name Stays the Same

  published February 6, 2013

  David only initially looks like a more accomplished version of Cloud Atlas: an admirable formal puzzle with spiritual aims and a... More >>

• The Sorcerer and the White Snake

  published February 6, 2013

  Visually unspectacular and emotionally stillborn, The Sorcerer and the White Snake fails as both a fantasy and a romance. A Chinese... More >>

• Race 2: Action, as You'd Expect

  published January 30, 2013

  What most interests the creators of Race 2? Action-figure posturing. Their Bollywood brawler pits two churlishly ill-defined characters... More >>

• Mumbai Mirror: A Loose-Cannon Cop Story

  published January 23, 2013

  An essentially conventional loose-cannon cop story made occasionally exciting thanks to some unexpectedly lurid narrative flourishes, Mumbai... More >>

• Birders: The Central Park Effect

  published January 23, 2013

  A well-measured docu-character study, Birders: The Central Park Effect benefits from writer/director/producer Jeffrey Kimball's wise... More >>

• Matru Ki Bijlee Ka Mandola: Bollywood Banal

  published January 16, 2013

  Bollywood multi-hyphenate Vishal Bhardwaj's latest proves that his films are only as great as their characters and their respective stories.... More >>

• My Best Enemy

  published January 9, 2013

  Getting even is wearying in My Best Enemy, a banal World War II thriller dependent on contrived role reversals. Victor Kaufmann (Moritz... More >>