Review

An impressionistic, heavily improvised portrait of a working-class suburban Baltimore community, in which a teenager has recently died of a heroin overdose. Featuring mostly non-professional actors, Putty Hill mixes fiction with documentary devices (such as characters responding to an unseen interviewer). There’s little in the way of story; director Matt …

A young teacher from Sarajevo is caught up in the horrors of ethnic cleansing during the ’90s war in Bosnia-Herzegovina in this powerful debut from Irish director Juanita Wilson. Imprisoned at a makeshift detention camp, Samira (Natasha Petrovic) is gang-raped by her captors before coming under the ‘protection’ of a …

It’s always weird to see a “hardcore” PC series get transmogrified into a console-friendly title, and always a little bittersweet. On the one hand, it’s great to see new moneymaking opportunities for a quality series that deserves some revenue, but on the other, it sucks to see that same series …

There are very few instances where it’s perfectly acceptable to fall asleep in the middle of playing a videogame.24 hour marathonscome to mind, as doesforced prison torture (opens in new tab). Though you may not see it, the commonality between those two examples is that the player has a greater …

Here be dragons

For a game ostensibly about cooperative play, Hunted: The Demon’s Forge never capitalizes on its own premise – two fantasy badasses working together to slaughter hordes of monsters. The basic ingredients are there: Caddoc, the cautious but beefy human, is melee oriented while (sigh) sexy female elf E’lara plies her …

The impossible has happened: After 14 years in development hell, Duke Nukem Forever is a reality. Long synonymous with endless delays and empty promises, this butt of countless internet jokes is finally, undeniably here. Whether that’s a good thing is another matter entirely. Picking up 12 years after the events …

“Potiche” mean ‘Trophy Wife’ which is what Catherine Deneuve is to bullying male-chauvinist factory boss Fabrice Luchini. When Luchini’s hospitalised, it’s Deneuve who takes over running the factory, with the help of her daughter and closet-gay son, forging an alliance with Communist mayor (and ex-lover) Gérard Depardieu. This is feminism-lite …

Tweens will swoon over this sweet, predictable parcel of promfixated mini-dramas, which inhabits Glee and High School Musical territory without mustering their wit or creativity. Corralling a fine selection of stereotypes – the love-cheat sports-star, a likeable dork, the hottie endangering two indie boys’ friendship – into plotlines, Prom is …

Deathsmiles 2X represents some rather unexpected risk-taking on the part of ace Japanese arcade developer Cave. The follow-up to last year’s well-received, gothic-themed scrolling shooter Deathsmiles swaps 2D sprites for full-on 3D visuals, which is a first for any of Cave’s shooters. It’s also the first genuine import game to …