A well made documentary of the very unusual story of an counter-culture musical artist lost and found in the 1970s. The film falls down for me in two ways - most importantly I can't say I particularly cared for Rodriguez' music - the glowing comparisons to Bob Dylan seemed fanciful aside from a marked similarity in style - a good deal of the lyrics we hear seem far from the exceptional urban poetry they are presented as. The failure of the two albums in every territory bar South Africa seemed a quirk of fate, but not exceptional circumstances, although this is the second failing and an act of disingenuousness on the part of the director - Rodriguez was not completely forgotten after the failure of his second album - at the end of the 70s he was touring around Australia with some success after being rediscovered there. An inconvenient truth sidestepped for this particular telling of the story. The fact that the South African nation under Apartheid took the anti-establishment tone of the music to heart and the eventual "resurrection of Jesus" thirty years on is genuinely fascinating though (
although totally ruined by the trailer - given that so much of the film builds to the revelation that he isn't dead after all it bothered me greatly that I knew this fact before seeing the film
). The long overdue artistic fulfilment and previously unknown fame lavished on a man resigned to relative poverty and a life of manual labour in his native Detroit is quite extraordinary, more so when you find he apparently meekly returned to that lifestyle when all the hoopla died down. For that reason it is a story well worth seeing. As for the Oscar race - it seems to have the greatest buzz by far but I think not as moving and essential a film as fellow nominee "5 Broken Cameras" or as extraordinary a tale as a criminally neglected "The Imposter" two other 2012 documentaries well worth tracking down if you enjoyed this one.
A quiet, subtle and surprisingly affecting South American drama, detailing a few days in the life of Ruben, a lorry driver who transports timber from Paraguay across the border into Argentina. Asked by his boss to drive a single mother and her baby daughter to her extended family in Buenos Aires he struggles to shake off his initial resentment and the imposition these strangers make on his established solitude, but they gradually learn to co-exist and eventually connect with each other, mostly without dialogue, as the journey progresses. It's hard not to be lulled as the characters are by the sound of the road beneath the wheels and calmness of the forward motion, and similarly hard not to be won over by the softening of Germán de Silva's Ruben, confronted with memories of his own estranged son he never saw grow up as he interacts with the baby girl sat beside him. It's a film where little happens, but the magnitude of feelings hidden beneath the surface are truly compelling. Quite beautiful.
A deeply bizarre Japanese cult horror that seems way ahead of its time - the unsettlingly fast editing, excellent B&W cinematography and stop motion trickery all add to the strangeness of a man gradually turning into a machine. Close attention is required to follow what there is of a plot as it unfolds gradually while bombarding the viewer with extraordinary imagery that can only be likened to an art house mash-up of early David Lynch, J-Horror, Sam Raimi and Otomo's Akira. Absolutely unique and extremely well done.
A delightful, unexpected treat that finds a new angle on the very well-trodden ground of the quirky indie romantic comedy adding a witty time travel element that works wonderfully as an extended metaphor on love, loss and second chances in life. The solid and funny script, confident direction and terrific performances from the entire cast really raise it above the crowd.
Every character is lovingly crafted and gets their chance to shine: Aubrey Plaza gives a lovely break-out performance as stony-faced loner Darius who takes on a magazine internship and while investigating a potential crank classified ad is swept up in the strangeness of the adventure, believably softening and blossoming as she invests in Kenneth, the would-be time traveller. Mark Duplass also convinces as the similarly lonely, charmingly serious subject matter of her article - he manages a fine line skillfully; variously convincing Darius, and us, that he could either be a lunatic or genius at any given moment. Jake Johnson's abrasive, self-absorbed lead journo Jeff provides most of the laughs but also ends up providing the most touching character development in the film. Mention must also go to Karan Soni's delightfully nerdy Arnau who has his own journey of self discovery.
When the quirkier and sillier aspects of the plot calm down you are left with characters you've come to care a great deal about and their journey, into the past or just with each other, is one you've invested in. The marvellous overriding message of the film seems to be it doesn't matter how or why you travel, but who you choose to travel with. A real gem.
I thought it was great - recognisably a Tarantino product with great performances, especially Christoph Waltz who is amazing (again) as the erudite but ruthless bounty hunter Schultz, Samuel L Jackson's cunning "house slave" Stephen and suitably heroic Jamie Foxx in the title role. There's a typically quirky run of great cameos from actors like Bruce Dern, Don Johnson and, wittily, Franco Nero. It's extremely bloody and has a fantastic soundtrack (of course), and although not quite a deliriously silly and well paced as "Inglourious Basterds" IMO, it mostly works very well as a modern meta-Western. The Klu Klux Klan "bag head" argument scene in particular is sheer comic genius.
My only criticism is a rather underwhelming, long, central section of the film where Django and Schultz take on Calvin Candie - played far too sympathetically by a miscast DiCaprio. I rate DiCaprio, and he is good here, but Waltz is so good he dominates their scenes. I'd have liked a truly vile performance to balance it out with someone who'd make your skin crawl (think a younger Christopher Walken, or Gary Oldman, even poor lost Heath Ledger: I think he could have done something interesting with it) - even with rotten teeth Leonardo's too pretty. Also the fun of the film drains away at "Candieland" and it becomes quite an unpleasant watch at times, but finds its feet again for the final showdown. I can't understand some of the flak QT has been getting in the States - Racism? Hardly. If anything Spike Lee's comments in particular look like sour grapes. He's never made a film as technically ingenious or entertaining, not to mention one so cleverly satirical about racial politics. Nice one Quentin.
Clunky melodrama only raised out of the ordinary by the spectacular setting of the Niagara Falls and some decent noir-ish colour cinematography. Monroe looks great, but doesn't entirely convince as a murderous adulteress, whereas Jean Peters is much more interesting as the innocent newlywed drawn into intrigue and murder. Max Showalter gives one of the most terrible cheesy screen performances as her husband though: he's absolutely awful. The climax where Joseph Cotten attempts an ill thought out escape is over the top (literally) but memorable. One for the Monroe completists.
A beautifully put together version of Hugo's novel- suitably epic but affectingly personal when it needs to be. The design and cinematography of 15th century Paris are spectacular and beautifully done. Laughton is terrific as the tragic bellringer concealed between impressive make- up, Maureen O'Hara is well cast as the beautiful gypsy who turns every man's head, including Cedric Hardwicke - particularly good as the malevolent Frollo. It's a mostly faithful adaptation, only fumbling the very end which seems a shame given how the adaptation doesn't shy away from the darker elements of the novel. Still, an impressive and notable film of the 30s.
It's a shame that this classic British film has no comments and is on no official lists to date because it certainly deserves to be more widely seen. It's a little clunky to start with; the build up to Scott's ill-fated expedition isn't well paced, but once the Terra Nova departs for the Pole it's as gripping as you'd expect. John Mills makes a sympathetic, driven Captain Scott, well supported by a cast including Kenneth More, James Robertson Justice and Derek Bond. Jack Cardiff's cinematography is as brilliant as expected, as is Vaughan Williams score.
Scott's reputation took a dive in the 1970s as criticisms arose regarding his competence, but this film remains strongly in the tragic heroic vein. More recently the tide had swung back in his favour, even though we now know One Ton camp was originally planned to be based much further south and would have saved all their lives - a tragic fact not mentioned in this film.
Finally I greatly admired the restraint shown in the screenplay, the final scenes are simple and powerful. If this film was made today there would be shots of the dead explorers frozen in their tent and inevitable epilogue of Kathleen Scott screaming and wailing at the news. It was a different era, and in the film world too.
As a twenty year admirer of the stage show I looking forward to this long awaited screen adaptation but was sorely disappointed. The cinematography, dependent on close ups and stedicam wobbling, is distracting, and almost without exception the singing voices of the cast weren't strong enough for the material. Anne Hathaway was one of those exceptions, performing with absolute conviction and was genuinely heartbreaking - an award worthy performance in my eyes (and ears) without question. At the other end of the scale everyone should be embarrassed for Russell Crowe who struggles with every note. I don't think there can ever have been a more underwhelming performance of Javert's show stopping solo "Stars", and no amount of dodgy CGI wandering on parapets helps that. Hugh Jackman acts the central role of Jean Valjean extremely well, and has a good voice, but he fumbles his best number too -"Bring Him Home", straining horribly to hit the high notes. Sacha Baron Cohen and Helena Bonham Carter are just terrible as the Thenardiers, sapping all the humour out of all their scenes with their respective tired schticks.
Otherwise the hefty cuts to the score (and unnecessary alterations to the lyrics) are mostly detrimental to the pacing: we're mostly let with a long sequence of tear stained soliloquys with little time for each to make their mark. Oddly it's also the first time I've struggled to accept the convention of sung conversation because, eager to make the whole enterprise seem present and immediate with the live singing, little added improvised spoken lines break the flow- if you can converse in normal speech why would you bother to sing the recitative?
There are strong moments, and some interesting innovations, but all in all it's a missed opportunity, particularly for fans of the musical.
There's a point early on when you might get the sneaking suspicion you're watching a remake of "The Wages of Fear": two broke foreigners in a Latin American city hired to transport volatile nitro through bandit territory to raise enough money to buy a ticket to get away... but it takes a quick turn into a love triangle as Gary Cooper has to fight off his bad news ex-girlfriend Barbara Stanwyck who has settled for oil man Anthony Quinn but wants him back at any cost. Ruth Roman completes the strong main cast as Coop's new love interest. Unfortunately the material lets them all down, veering into melodrama, but is a watchable, quirky noir-ish western all the same.
Confusingly this "Secret Agent" isn't the Hitchcock film based on Conrad's The Secret Agent - that film was also released in 1936 but under the title "Sabotage" (not to be confused with his later "Saboteur" from 1942). Once that's all clear... this film is an adaptation of Maugham's Ashenden stories starring John Gielgud in an early role as a reluctant spy, which is interesting as he isn't so self indulgently fruity in delivery as he got into the habit of being later. Peter Lorre is completely off the wall as Ashenden's fellow assassin 'The General', he was addicted to morphine at the time, and is good value although extremely over the top. There are some fine moments, some witty repartee between Gielgud and Madeleine Carroll and it's always watchable, but it's definitely not in top rank of Hitchcock's 1930s films.
I did enjoy this film, it was very entertaining in the watching, with great momentum and strong performances all round, however it's far less impressive on reflection, especially on following up the film with reading about what actually happened. It's a fascinating story, but it smacks of a lack of faith in the strength of the story and the intelligence of the audience if you have to construct a completely false last act with
group divisions, ticket cancellations, interrogations, vital phone calls dangerously unanswered, simultaneous recognition from reconstructed documents and mad chases through airports at the 11th hour
Given how good Ed Harris's "Pollock" is I was looking forward to seeing his take on the western, but was very disappointed, even with a strong supporting cast, including genre favourite Lance Henriksen and always interesting Viggo Mortensen. The main weaknesses for me were Jeremy Irons as the bad guy, struggling with an American accent and losing, and Renee Zellweger, miscast as the beautiful and treacherous Allie. Reading that Diane Lane was originally cast in the role confirms that Zellweger wasn't a good alternative choice. The cinematography is good, but the mostly mumbled script never takes off. A missed opportunity.
Could just be seen as a dry run for Fricke's follow up, the epic and hugely successful Baraka, but that would be to sell short the extraordinary effort that went into creating this shorter work and some of the gorgeous time lapse imagery (Monument Valley is particularly well shot, also the antiquities of ancient Egypt, and the nightscapes of Los Angeles and New York City) in the IMAX 70mm format. Well worth watching in the whole sequence with Fricke's latest Samsara.
Unusual but affecting Spanish language drama about a 15 year old hermaphrodite (or intersex for the politically correct crowd), that contrary to expectations doesn't hinge on death or disaster for the 'outsider' like the superficially similar "Boys Don't Cry". The only strangeness is that Alex's family are so relatively lacking in understanding to begin with, but that's probably my liberal perspective speaking. Inés Efron gives a superb, edgy and heartfelt performance in the central role and she's well supported. Very good.
Against the expectations of an extremely low IMDB score ( anything lower than a 6 really shouldn't be devoting any time to) I was astonished at how enjoyable it was. It's expertly made, the animal performances and effects are great, and there's a real subversive wit in the script and background details of the city. It seems to me this is a film that missed its target audience and was sorely misunderstood at the time, perhaps by those just expecting a light, carbon copy of the first film. It's darker, yes, and surreal, but what else would you expect from the director of the Mad Max films? If you like the strange fantasies of Jean Pierre Jeunet this is one to catch.
I'm on moviewizguy's side on this one, aside from a few moments where the dialogue clunks it's a gripping couple of hours and extremely well done. The effects are extraordinary - the recreation of the disaster and subsequent carnage were terrifying and exceptionally convincing. The performances are perfectly pitched - Naomi Watts, emotionally and physically fearless as always, should definitely be picking up an Oscar nomination - Ewan McGregor is the best he's been in years, and Tom Holland as their 12 year old son is terrific as well.
I don't believe Bayona set out to callously manipulate the audience - the events of the tsunami were obviously very emotional and judging from his previous international success "The Orphanage" he's not one for cheap tricks and "phony emotion" (my one concession to this is the soundtrack which does tip toward the melodramatic) - he is also clearly interested in strong women, mothers in these two instances, in extreme circumstances.
I'm not an overly sentimental person, but I do find it easy to empathise with characters if they and their situation are believable; the proof of the success of this film for me is the good proportion of the running time I spent with tears in my eyes. One last thing that impressed me - it's a film interested above all in greater compassion for others, something sorely lacking in our increasingly insular, selfish and cynical world. Bravo, I say.
I really loved the original novel when I read it, but after seeing the trailer and the gaudy cartoon-ish visuals I was a bit demoralised about how it was going to turn out. Some of the great reviews brought me back around to seeing it, and I'm very glad I did. If you enjoyed the book it's definitely worth seeing - it's faithfully adapted and sensitively directed by Ang Lee. The CGI works brilliantly in serving the story, the "unreality" of the situation befits that slightly otherworldly sheen of digital. I saw it in 3D, and although it was good, I don't think it was either a necessary decision to film it that way, or essential to watch it that way. The performances of Irrfan Khan and (newcomer) Suraj Sharma as the older and younger Pi are excellent, fully nuanced and full of real emotion and humour, but the star of the show is the all important Bengal tiger, expertly animated and suitably frightening and beautiful in equal measure: I expect there will now be a surge in house cats named Richard Parker. Personally it was a great way to round off my year of cinema going.
I have great affection for the original Fright Night so admittedly came to this with some trepidation. I wasn't quite prepared for such a terrible, charmless, hopelessly un-frightening film. What was originally a really interesting idea of a normal suburban kid having to protect himself from something massively out of his control is now mostly about a unlikeable teen who is desperate to fit in with the cool kids (read: twats), has to learn how to make out with his hot girlfriend and transforms into an action hero to do it. Gone is the light and shade, the emotional underpinning of the characters. Anton Yelchin is mostly dull in the thankless leading role; Farrell is good casting as Jerry, but is saddled with a paper-thin script and a performance overwhelmed by CGI effects, and he's no Chris Sarandon for sheer creepiness; David Tennant.. would all the lunatic fan-girls take a step back...? It's a terrible performance, mostly the wide-eyed shtick he's been pushing ever since Dr Who made him famous and ruined any sense of subtlety. He pushes every scene too hard and for a character designed for some light relief is singularly tedious and unfunny. The only moment which I thought was memorable was very attractive Imogen Poots smashing very annoying Christopher Mintz-Plasse face in with a mace. I do thank director Craig Gillespie for that. Otherwise spare us from cheap and shitty CGI effects: unconvincing blood splatters, assorted vampires exploding into ash and toothy faces roaring at the camera (presumably for the 3D screenings). Utterly useless.
It ticks all of the evil child clichés and practically every bad thing Esther does is foreshadowed so massively there's barely a surprise in the whole film... well, maybe apart from one... but it really works, mostly thanks to a decent script and some great performances by Vera Farmiga and Isabelle Fuhrman, as well as partially deaf Aryana Engineer who plays the youngest daughter Max. It's genuinely creepy, and the tension builds extremely well thanks to the kids' performances and Farmiga's increasing desperation and loss of control - it's just a shame that the final showdown between mother and adopted daughter is so silly and formulaic, with the script suddenly losing all of it's originality.
"Don't let me die Mommy" says the seemingly indestructible devil child/woman/psychopath feigning innocence... cue everyone in the English speaking world who already knows Kate's obvious reply as she delivers the coup de grace...
. Still, ending aside, it's much smarter than your average modern horror movie.
I was under the impression that I'd seen this film, given how iconic so many of the moments are, but watching it today I realised that I actually hadn't. I loved it. It's perfect viewing for a glum winter afternoon- it's beautifully animated with so many wonderful details that dog lovers will appreciate and has some clever and witty touches in the script- Lady assuming her owners are called "Jim, dear" and "Darling" for one. Peggy Lee's songs are good and never outstay their welcome, and the voice work is strong throughout. A justified inclusion under the sometimes variable title of "Disney classic".
Funny? Moving? Not sure I watched the same film. The central idea was a good one and it looked lovely, but the plot and final outcome was extremely obvious from the start and didn't raise a single laugh out of me. Bah humbug.
I don't think Aardman have found a project yet that lives up to the cleverness or comic brilliance of Wallace and Gromit.
I was a little disappointed to be honest, but only because I love the LOTR trilogy so much and wanted to be similarly transported. While they were all lengthy films they were extremely successful in capturing three big books packed with event, this by contrast is a pure exercise in padding, sorely lacking in pace and grandeur. What I enjoyed the most either stuck closely to the book or dovetailed nicely with the previous trilogy; notably the cameos at Rivendell, and especially Gollum's section - a genius performance by Andy Serkis (again) in a genuinely brilliant sequence that should have been the centrepiece of a brisker, leaner film.
Martin Freeman, against my expectations, was a very likeable and sympathetic Bilbo and I was delighted to see more of Ian Holm; McKellen's good again too (though permanently haloed by multiple sunsets it seemed), but the dwarves were poorly written (chips anyone?), confusingly designed and mostly got on my nerves- a random accent fest, and some supremely wooden acting particularly from Richard Armitage's appropriately named Oakenshield- incongrously handsome and very boring. I think I must be more of an elf person.
One last thing -
you'd think Jackson would've learnt from the valid criticisms last time not to have Gandalf spring an 11th hour eagle intervention, it makes the entire journey a load of nonsense
.
All in all, it looks and sounds wonderful and has great bits, even though a lot of it has been made up by Jackson. Still annoyed it's going to take two more years for this little Hobbit to get home when he could have been there and back again in one. That's big business for you.
Fascinating documentary of the genesis and controversial recording of one of the best album's ever made, including Paul Simon's first return to South Africa and reunion concert with the musicians who helped him to make it. Excellent.
A heist thriller that's nowhere near as smart as it seems to think it is. When you're instructed to pay close attention in the opening monologue (Clive Owen, terrible) and find paying too much attention reveals ridiculous plot holes it doesn't bode well for overall enjoyment. The writer doesn't know very much about hostage situations it seems, mostly inspired by watching Dog Day Afternoon (and mentioning it for good measure)
but the absence of the FBI and the final burying of the case for “lack of a crime" is nonsense. The traumatised hostages would disagree. Then there's several minutes of footage of the team entering the bank on CCTV before Clive zapped the cameras. Then there's the detectives not keeping the only two women who match the female criminal's description under surveillance, which would lead to the entire team being caught a week later. Also, the bank owner not checking his beloved safe deposit box at all in the week following the heist and finding the ring and note for the police.
Also, what's the deal with the thematically nonsensical opening and closing Indian song? An annoying experience throughout.
Comments 76 - 100 of 429
Movie comment on Searching for Sugar Man
dombrewer
A well made documentary of the very unusual story of an counter-culture musical artist lost and found in the 1970s. The film falls down for me in two ways - most importantly I can't say I particularly cared for Rodriguez' music - the glowing comparisons to Bob Dylan seemed fanciful aside from a marked similarity in style - a good deal of the lyrics we hear seem far from the exceptional urban poetry they are presented as. The failure of the two albums in every territory bar South Africa seemed a quirk of fate, but not exceptional circumstances, although this is the second failing and an act of disingenuousness on the part of the director - Rodriguez was not completely forgotten after the failure of his second album - at the end of the 70s he was touring around Australia with some success after being rediscovered there. An inconvenient truth sidestepped for this particular telling of the story. The fact that the South African nation under Apartheid took the anti-establishment tone of the music to heart and the eventual "resurrection of Jesus" thirty years on is genuinely fascinating though (Movie comment on Las acacias
dombrewer
A quiet, subtle and surprisingly affecting South American drama, detailing a few days in the life of Ruben, a lorry driver who transports timber from Paraguay across the border into Argentina. Asked by his boss to drive a single mother and her baby daughter to her extended family in Buenos Aires he struggles to shake off his initial resentment and the imposition these strangers make on his established solitude, but they gradually learn to co-exist and eventually connect with each other, mostly without dialogue, as the journey progresses. It's hard not to be lulled as the characters are by the sound of the road beneath the wheels and calmness of the forward motion, and similarly hard not to be won over by the softening of Germán de Silva's Ruben, confronted with memories of his own estranged son he never saw grow up as he interacts with the baby girl sat beside him. It's a film where little happens, but the magnitude of feelings hidden beneath the surface are truly compelling. Quite beautiful.Movie comment on Tetsuo
dombrewer
A deeply bizarre Japanese cult horror that seems way ahead of its time - the unsettlingly fast editing, excellent B&W cinematography and stop motion trickery all add to the strangeness of a man gradually turning into a machine. Close attention is required to follow what there is of a plot as it unfolds gradually while bombarding the viewer with extraordinary imagery that can only be likened to an art house mash-up of early David Lynch, J-Horror, Sam Raimi and Otomo's Akira. Absolutely unique and extremely well done.Movie comment on Safety Not Guaranteed
dombrewer
A delightful, unexpected treat that finds a new angle on the very well-trodden ground of the quirky indie romantic comedy adding a witty time travel element that works wonderfully as an extended metaphor on love, loss and second chances in life. The solid and funny script, confident direction and terrific performances from the entire cast really raise it above the crowd.Every character is lovingly crafted and gets their chance to shine: Aubrey Plaza gives a lovely break-out performance as stony-faced loner Darius who takes on a magazine internship and while investigating a potential crank classified ad is swept up in the strangeness of the adventure, believably softening and blossoming as she invests in Kenneth, the would-be time traveller. Mark Duplass also convinces as the similarly lonely, charmingly serious subject matter of her article - he manages a fine line skillfully; variously convincing Darius, and us, that he could either be a lunatic or genius at any given moment. Jake Johnson's abrasive, self-absorbed lead journo Jeff provides most of the laughs but also ends up providing the most touching character development in the film. Mention must also go to Karan Soni's delightfully nerdy Arnau who has his own journey of self discovery.
When the quirkier and sillier aspects of the plot calm down you are left with characters you've come to care a great deal about and their journey, into the past or just with each other, is one you've invested in. The marvellous overriding message of the film seems to be it doesn't matter how or why you travel, but who you choose to travel with. A real gem.
Movie comment on Django Unchained
dombrewer
I thought it was great - recognisably a Tarantino product with great performances, especially Christoph Waltz who is amazing (again) as the erudite but ruthless bounty hunter Schultz, Samuel L Jackson's cunning "house slave" Stephen and suitably heroic Jamie Foxx in the title role. There's a typically quirky run of great cameos from actors like Bruce Dern, Don Johnson and, wittily, Franco Nero. It's extremely bloody and has a fantastic soundtrack (of course), and although not quite a deliriously silly and well paced as "Inglourious Basterds" IMO, it mostly works very well as a modern meta-Western. The Klu Klux Klan "bag head" argument scene in particular is sheer comic genius.My only criticism is a rather underwhelming, long, central section of the film where Django and Schultz take on Calvin Candie - played far too sympathetically by a miscast DiCaprio. I rate DiCaprio, and he is good here, but Waltz is so good he dominates their scenes. I'd have liked a truly vile performance to balance it out with someone who'd make your skin crawl (think a younger Christopher Walken, or Gary Oldman, even poor lost Heath Ledger: I think he could have done something interesting with it) - even with rotten teeth Leonardo's too pretty. Also the fun of the film drains away at "Candieland" and it becomes quite an unpleasant watch at times, but finds its feet again for the final showdown. I can't understand some of the flak QT has been getting in the States - Racism? Hardly. If anything Spike Lee's comments in particular look like sour grapes. He's never made a film as technically ingenious or entertaining, not to mention one so cleverly satirical about racial politics. Nice one Quentin.
Movie comment on Niagara
dombrewer
Clunky melodrama only raised out of the ordinary by the spectacular setting of the Niagara Falls and some decent noir-ish colour cinematography. Monroe looks great, but doesn't entirely convince as a murderous adulteress, whereas Jean Peters is much more interesting as the innocent newlywed drawn into intrigue and murder. Max Showalter gives one of the most terrible cheesy screen performances as her husband though: he's absolutely awful. The climax where Joseph Cotten attempts an ill thought out escape is over the top (literally) but memorable. One for the Monroe completists.Movie comment on The Hunchback of Notre Dame
dombrewer
A beautifully put together version of Hugo's novel- suitably epic but affectingly personal when it needs to be. The design and cinematography of 15th century Paris are spectacular and beautifully done. Laughton is terrific as the tragic bellringer concealed between impressive make- up, Maureen O'Hara is well cast as the beautiful gypsy who turns every man's head, including Cedric Hardwicke - particularly good as the malevolent Frollo. It's a mostly faithful adaptation, only fumbling the very end which seems a shame given how the adaptation doesn't shy away from the darker elements of the novel. Still, an impressive and notable film of the 30s.Movie comment on Scott of the Antarctic
dombrewer
It's a shame that this classic British film has no comments and is on no official lists to date because it certainly deserves to be more widely seen. It's a little clunky to start with; the build up to Scott's ill-fated expedition isn't well paced, but once the Terra Nova departs for the Pole it's as gripping as you'd expect. John Mills makes a sympathetic, driven Captain Scott, well supported by a cast including Kenneth More, James Robertson Justice and Derek Bond. Jack Cardiff's cinematography is as brilliant as expected, as is Vaughan Williams score.Scott's reputation took a dive in the 1970s as criticisms arose regarding his competence, but this film remains strongly in the tragic heroic vein. More recently the tide had swung back in his favour, even though we now know One Ton camp was originally planned to be based much further south and would have saved all their lives - a tragic fact not mentioned in this film.
Finally I greatly admired the restraint shown in the screenplay, the final scenes are simple and powerful. If this film was made today there would be shots of the dead explorers frozen in their tent and inevitable epilogue of Kathleen Scott screaming and wailing at the news. It was a different era, and in the film world too.
Movie comment on Les Misérables
dombrewer
As a twenty year admirer of the stage show I looking forward to this long awaited screen adaptation but was sorely disappointed. The cinematography, dependent on close ups and stedicam wobbling, is distracting, and almost without exception the singing voices of the cast weren't strong enough for the material. Anne Hathaway was one of those exceptions, performing with absolute conviction and was genuinely heartbreaking - an award worthy performance in my eyes (and ears) without question. At the other end of the scale everyone should be embarrassed for Russell Crowe who struggles with every note. I don't think there can ever have been a more underwhelming performance of Javert's show stopping solo "Stars", and no amount of dodgy CGI wandering on parapets helps that. Hugh Jackman acts the central role of Jean Valjean extremely well, and has a good voice, but he fumbles his best number too -"Bring Him Home", straining horribly to hit the high notes. Sacha Baron Cohen and Helena Bonham Carter are just terrible as the Thenardiers, sapping all the humour out of all their scenes with their respective tired schticks.Otherwise the hefty cuts to the score (and unnecessary alterations to the lyrics) are mostly detrimental to the pacing: we're mostly let with a long sequence of tear stained soliloquys with little time for each to make their mark. Oddly it's also the first time I've struggled to accept the convention of sung conversation because, eager to make the whole enterprise seem present and immediate with the live singing, little added improvised spoken lines break the flow- if you can converse in normal speech why would you bother to sing the recitative?
There are strong moments, and some interesting innovations, but all in all it's a missed opportunity, particularly for fans of the musical.
Movie comment on Blowing Wild
dombrewer
There's a point early on when you might get the sneaking suspicion you're watching a remake of "The Wages of Fear": two broke foreigners in a Latin American city hired to transport volatile nitro through bandit territory to raise enough money to buy a ticket to get away... but it takes a quick turn into a love triangle as Gary Cooper has to fight off his bad news ex-girlfriend Barbara Stanwyck who has settled for oil man Anthony Quinn but wants him back at any cost. Ruth Roman completes the strong main cast as Coop's new love interest. Unfortunately the material lets them all down, veering into melodrama, but is a watchable, quirky noir-ish western all the same.Movie comment on Secret Agent
dombrewer
Confusingly this "Secret Agent" isn't the Hitchcock film based on Conrad's The Secret Agent - that film was also released in 1936 but under the title "Sabotage" (not to be confused with his later "Saboteur" from 1942). Once that's all clear... this film is an adaptation of Maugham's Ashenden stories starring John Gielgud in an early role as a reluctant spy, which is interesting as he isn't so self indulgently fruity in delivery as he got into the habit of being later. Peter Lorre is completely off the wall as Ashenden's fellow assassin 'The General', he was addicted to morphine at the time, and is good value although extremely over the top. There are some fine moments, some witty repartee between Gielgud and Madeleine Carroll and it's always watchable, but it's definitely not in top rank of Hitchcock's 1930s films.Movie comment on Argo
dombrewer
I did enjoy this film, it was very entertaining in the watching, with great momentum and strong performances all round, however it's far less impressive on reflection, especially on following up the film with reading about what actually happened. It's a fascinating story, but it smacks of a lack of faith in the strength of the story and the intelligence of the audience if you have to construct a completely false last act withMovie comment on Appaloosa
dombrewer
Given how good Ed Harris's "Pollock" is I was looking forward to seeing his take on the western, but was very disappointed, even with a strong supporting cast, including genre favourite Lance Henriksen and always interesting Viggo Mortensen. The main weaknesses for me were Jeremy Irons as the bad guy, struggling with an American accent and losing, and Renee Zellweger, miscast as the beautiful and treacherous Allie. Reading that Diane Lane was originally cast in the role confirms that Zellweger wasn't a good alternative choice. The cinematography is good, but the mostly mumbled script never takes off. A missed opportunity.Movie comment on Chronos
dombrewer
Could just be seen as a dry run for Fricke's follow up, the epic and hugely successful Baraka, but that would be to sell short the extraordinary effort that went into creating this shorter work and some of the gorgeous time lapse imagery (Monument Valley is particularly well shot, also the antiquities of ancient Egypt, and the nightscapes of Los Angeles and New York City) in the IMAX 70mm format. Well worth watching in the whole sequence with Fricke's latest Samsara.Movie comment on XXY
dombrewer
Unusual but affecting Spanish language drama about a 15 year old hermaphrodite (or intersex for the politically correct crowd), that contrary to expectations doesn't hinge on death or disaster for the 'outsider' like the superficially similar "Boys Don't Cry". The only strangeness is that Alex's family are so relatively lacking in understanding to begin with, but that's probably my liberal perspective speaking. Inés Efron gives a superb, edgy and heartfelt performance in the central role and she's well supported. Very good.Movie comment on Babe: Pig in the City
dombrewer
Against the expectations of an extremely low IMDB score ( anything lower than a 6 really shouldn't be devoting any time to) I was astonished at how enjoyable it was. It's expertly made, the animal performances and effects are great, and there's a real subversive wit in the script and background details of the city. It seems to me this is a film that missed its target audience and was sorely misunderstood at the time, perhaps by those just expecting a light, carbon copy of the first film. It's darker, yes, and surreal, but what else would you expect from the director of the Mad Max films? If you like the strange fantasies of Jean Pierre Jeunet this is one to catch.Movie comment on Lo imposible
dombrewer
I'm on moviewizguy's side on this one, aside from a few moments where the dialogue clunks it's a gripping couple of hours and extremely well done. The effects are extraordinary - the recreation of the disaster and subsequent carnage were terrifying and exceptionally convincing. The performances are perfectly pitched - Naomi Watts, emotionally and physically fearless as always, should definitely be picking up an Oscar nomination - Ewan McGregor is the best he's been in years, and Tom Holland as their 12 year old son is terrific as well.I don't believe Bayona set out to callously manipulate the audience - the events of the tsunami were obviously very emotional and judging from his previous international success "The Orphanage" he's not one for cheap tricks and "phony emotion" (my one concession to this is the soundtrack which does tip toward the melodramatic) - he is also clearly interested in strong women, mothers in these two instances, in extreme circumstances.
I'm not an overly sentimental person, but I do find it easy to empathise with characters if they and their situation are believable; the proof of the success of this film for me is the good proportion of the running time I spent with tears in my eyes. One last thing that impressed me - it's a film interested above all in greater compassion for others, something sorely lacking in our increasingly insular, selfish and cynical world. Bravo, I say.
Movie comment on Life of Pi
dombrewer
I really loved the original novel when I read it, but after seeing the trailer and the gaudy cartoon-ish visuals I was a bit demoralised about how it was going to turn out. Some of the great reviews brought me back around to seeing it, and I'm very glad I did. If you enjoyed the book it's definitely worth seeing - it's faithfully adapted and sensitively directed by Ang Lee. The CGI works brilliantly in serving the story, the "unreality" of the situation befits that slightly otherworldly sheen of digital. I saw it in 3D, and although it was good, I don't think it was either a necessary decision to film it that way, or essential to watch it that way. The performances of Irrfan Khan and (newcomer) Suraj Sharma as the older and younger Pi are excellent, fully nuanced and full of real emotion and humour, but the star of the show is the all important Bengal tiger, expertly animated and suitably frightening and beautiful in equal measure: I expect there will now be a surge in house cats named Richard Parker. Personally it was a great way to round off my year of cinema going.Movie comment on Fright Night
dombrewer
I have great affection for the original Fright Night so admittedly came to this with some trepidation. I wasn't quite prepared for such a terrible, charmless, hopelessly un-frightening film. What was originally a really interesting idea of a normal suburban kid having to protect himself from something massively out of his control is now mostly about a unlikeable teen who is desperate to fit in with the cool kids (read: twats), has to learn how to make out with his hot girlfriend and transforms into an action hero to do it. Gone is the light and shade, the emotional underpinning of the characters. Anton Yelchin is mostly dull in the thankless leading role; Farrell is good casting as Jerry, but is saddled with a paper-thin script and a performance overwhelmed by CGI effects, and he's no Chris Sarandon for sheer creepiness; David Tennant.. would all the lunatic fan-girls take a step back...? It's a terrible performance, mostly the wide-eyed shtick he's been pushing ever since Dr Who made him famous and ruined any sense of subtlety. He pushes every scene too hard and for a character designed for some light relief is singularly tedious and unfunny. The only moment which I thought was memorable was very attractive Imogen Poots smashing very annoying Christopher Mintz-Plasse face in with a mace. I do thank director Craig Gillespie for that. Otherwise spare us from cheap and shitty CGI effects: unconvincing blood splatters, assorted vampires exploding into ash and toothy faces roaring at the camera (presumably for the 3D screenings). Utterly useless.Movie comment on Orphan
dombrewer
It ticks all of the evil child clichés and practically every bad thing Esther does is foreshadowed so massively there's barely a surprise in the whole film... well, maybe apart from one... but it really works, mostly thanks to a decent script and some great performances by Vera Farmiga and Isabelle Fuhrman, as well as partially deaf Aryana Engineer who plays the youngest daughter Max. It's genuinely creepy, and the tension builds extremely well thanks to the kids' performances and Farmiga's increasing desperation and loss of control - it's just a shame that the final showdown between mother and adopted daughter is so silly and formulaic, with the script suddenly losing all of it's originality.Movie comment on Lady and the Tramp
dombrewer
I was under the impression that I'd seen this film, given how iconic so many of the moments are, but watching it today I realised that I actually hadn't. I loved it. It's perfect viewing for a glum winter afternoon- it's beautifully animated with so many wonderful details that dog lovers will appreciate and has some clever and witty touches in the script- Lady assuming her owners are called "Jim, dear" and "Darling" for one. Peggy Lee's songs are good and never outstay their welcome, and the voice work is strong throughout. A justified inclusion under the sometimes variable title of "Disney classic".Movie comment on Arthur Christmas
dombrewer
Funny? Moving? Not sure I watched the same film. The central idea was a good one and it looked lovely, but the plot and final outcome was extremely obvious from the start and didn't raise a single laugh out of me. Bah humbug.I don't think Aardman have found a project yet that lives up to the cleverness or comic brilliance of Wallace and Gromit.
Movie comment on The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey
dombrewer
I was a little disappointed to be honest, but only because I love the LOTR trilogy so much and wanted to be similarly transported. While they were all lengthy films they were extremely successful in capturing three big books packed with event, this by contrast is a pure exercise in padding, sorely lacking in pace and grandeur. What I enjoyed the most either stuck closely to the book or dovetailed nicely with the previous trilogy; notably the cameos at Rivendell, and especially Gollum's section - a genius performance by Andy Serkis (again) in a genuinely brilliant sequence that should have been the centrepiece of a brisker, leaner film.Martin Freeman, against my expectations, was a very likeable and sympathetic Bilbo and I was delighted to see more of Ian Holm; McKellen's good again too (though permanently haloed by multiple sunsets it seemed), but the dwarves were poorly written (chips anyone?), confusingly designed and mostly got on my nerves- a random accent fest, and some supremely wooden acting particularly from Richard Armitage's appropriately named Oakenshield- incongrously handsome and very boring. I think I must be more of an elf person.
One last thing -
All in all, it looks and sounds wonderful and has great bits, even though a lot of it has been made up by Jackson. Still annoyed it's going to take two more years for this little Hobbit to get home when he could have been there and back again in one. That's big business for you.
Movie comment on Under African Skies
dombrewer
Fascinating documentary of the genesis and controversial recording of one of the best album's ever made, including Paul Simon's first return to South Africa and reunion concert with the musicians who helped him to make it. Excellent.Movie comment on Inside Man
dombrewer
A heist thriller that's nowhere near as smart as it seems to think it is. When you're instructed to pay close attention in the opening monologue (Clive Owen, terrible) and find paying too much attention reveals ridiculous plot holes it doesn't bode well for overall enjoyment. The writer doesn't know very much about hostage situations it seems, mostly inspired by watching Dog Day Afternoon (and mentioning it for good measure)Showing items 76 – 100 of 429