Film Reviews
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Here's a write up of some of the films I've watched over the past year or so. They're in no particular order and there's quite a few old ones that I've only just got round to seeing. I'm pretty forgiving when it comes to entertainment in general and so I'm not the most critical reviewer. I am thinking about starting a campaign to ban and erase 'Kindergarten Cop' from the pages of history though. I think it's more subversive than the Belgian film 'Man Bites Dog'. Who's with me...?
| Film Reviews Page: 2 3 4 |
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Viva Zapatero A documentary about an Italian satirist who was taken off the air after pressure from Berlusconi's cronies. It's depressing to watch grown men trying to change the definition of satire to defend their actions but it's an uplifting piece of work nonetheless.Obviously we have to try to make sure this doesn't happen in the UK. |
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Huozhe (To Live) This is a lovely film about life in 20th Century China, following a family from the Chinese Civil War through the Cultural Revolution that followed. It's intelligent and beautifully acted, one of my favourites of recent years. |
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Stop Making Sense A concert film featuring Talking Heads. I must admit I thought Talking Heads were a bit naff when I was younger. The video to "Road to Nowhere"was on MTV a lot and was the only thing I remember seeing of theirs. Unfortunately I found the video (and the song) a bit annoying so I was dreading watching this with a friend who rated it so highly. Lo and behold, it's a work of genius from start to finish. |
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The Saltmen of Tibet This really is harsh living. Watching this I start to question people who want to preserve old lifestyles in China or anywhere else. The unrelenting grind of these people's lives is heartbreaking. Maybe I was supposed to see the beauty or the honesty of their way of life but that wasn't what I was left with at the end at all. I just felt overwhelmingly sorry that they had to lead such hard lives. Compelling stuff. |
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The Beatles Anthology Watching this again reminded me how good they were. It's hard to see how there'll ever be another band like this again, except maybe in a post-apocalyptic world or something. No less than a cultural phenomenon. That's not to say all their songs were great of course, I could have lived without 'Ob-La-Di, Ob-La-Da' for example, but their songwriting changed popular music and they changed popular culture by sheer force of personality. |
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The Machinist An odd little film but a very watchable diversion, made more interesting by Christian Bale's remarkable weightloss. |
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Crossing the Bridge: The Sound of Istanbul Great piece of work investigating the music scene in Istanbul, the so-called bridge between east and west. It's a German documentary that's well put together and features some fine musicians, both amateur and professional. The post production they've done on the recordings is also very impressive. Some gypsy's playing in a cafe sound like they've been recorded at Abbey Road. It's incredible. |
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Aeon Flux I liked this, although I admit I'm a bit of a sci-fi/fantasy fan. Some of the sets/special effects in the film are great and although it's not brilliant it's more than ok. I'll be honest and say that Charlize Theron in a tight rubber costume is easily worth an hour or so of my life. Having said that I thought a similar thing about Jennifer Love Hewitt in 'Ghost Whisperer' and couldn't hack more than a few episodes of that garbage so there must be more to this film than just a pretty face. |
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Fog of War This turns from a documentary into a kind of confessional. Although McNamara doesn't say everything many would like him to say he does reveal an awful lot of himself on camera. He also has a pointed message to deliver to our world leaders who seem determined to push us over the brink into chaos for no good reason. |
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The Lake House I liked this. There's quite a a lot of suspension of disbelief required, and Keanu Reeve's is painfully wooden as the male lead, but there's an interesting metaphysical idea being explored and when all's said and done it's a sweet love story that's pretty well put together and very nicely shot. I thought the soundtrack by Rachel Portman and the various other artists also added a lot to the film. |
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The Departed This is also okay but I was actually really disappointed after some high expectations. It's an action film that's a cut above the average but, despite the plot twists, it didn't feel like there was anything particularly new or interesting going on here. Nicholson is terribly miscast and doesn't really pull of enough believable menace and although di Caprio acts well, he's such a pretty boy even a goatee can't make him look like a toughie. I find it hard to take Matt Damon seriously too. |
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Ivete Sangalo: MTV Ao Vivo A pop concert by a Brazilian singer, introduced to me by Ephrem, and a great pop concert it is too. No lip-synching, oiled up writhing bodies or stupid dance routines here. Just a life affirming performance without any sleaze or stupidity and with a live band you can actually see on the stage. She never misses a note and completely commands the stage throughout. It makes you wonder why we put up with Kylie and Madonna.. |
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Comedian A documentary following Jerry Seinfield hitting the comedy clubs again after the end of his TV show. It's strange to see Seinfeld throw himself back in with the rookies on the club circuit and I couldn't shake the feeling that maybe we were watching a kind of mild nervous breakdown in progress and that this was the real story that should have been explored in the documentary. Interesting to see that even Seinfeld has to put up with the audience talking during his performances. |
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The Last Waltz Another concert film, this time with The Band. I never really got into them before, but Piero suggested I watched it and I did enjoy it. I was always annoyed at their choice of band name because it was bound to cause all kinds of confusion and I held that against them for years. Silly really. Anyway they wrote some nice songs and could certainly play. There'a lovely performance of Coyote by Joni Mitchell, see it here and be amazed especially by the delivery of the last verse. |
 | Trust the Man A gentle comedy that I quite enjoyed. Duchovny's got good screen presence and the supporting cast are also strong in my opinion. It gets a mean 28% on Rotten Tomatoes which I think is a bit unfair. Maybe it was overhyped at the time or something. Mind you'War of the Worlds which I thought was a terrible, boring film got 73% on RT so it's not always a reliable indicator of quality. It's a good piece of light entertainment which doesn't ever pretend to be anything else. |
 | The Science of Sleep A quirky film that starts well but doesn't quite cut it by the end in my opinion. I'm not sure the film knows exactly what it's trying to say and isn't quite funny enough to be an outright comedy. Some of the scenes are clearly improvised and come across as a bit stilted and slighly embarrassing. It''s not bad but I think it would have worked better if they had committed to either a straight, properly scripted comedy or a darker look at fantasy and delusion. |
 | Shooter Every now and again I get lazy and watch a brainless action movie for some light relief. I want to warn you not to watch this one if you're similarly tempted. The problems are divided between Wahlberg's acting range and the terrible bits of writing, especially the ending. The main character falls for the government setup so easily it's embarrassing and the ending is infuriatingly awful. The middle's okay but not good enough to save the film |
| Go to Film Reviews Page: 2 3 4 |