| Movie | Rating | Review | Date | Your Rating | Match | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Coco avant Chanel (Coco Before Chanel) - PG-13 |
Is it just me, or does anyone else thinking this film is heavily sponsored (even suggested by) Chanel? I am certainly not the first to have noticed the strong links between the French movie industry and the fashion industry. The movie never ventures beyond the shallows. It skims the surface of Coco's life before her company took off, and give us 3 pieces of information: (1) She was an orphan, (2) She worked as a seamstress, and (3) She determined not to marry. It is in the last of these that the film spends most of its time. However, the little information it divulges simply leaves us begging for more answers. At one point the prospect of war (World War I) is mentioned, but we learn nothing of the events in France in either war, or of any role she played in them. Instead it focuses on her seamstress eye for alterations, and her desire to wear unrestricted clothing. It's pretty enough. Just not in any way insightful or inspiring. |
November 21, 2009 | N/A | |||
| Up - PG | Sentimental and Nostalgic at times, Up paints an animated pastiche of old age and family relationships, that leans more heavily on the message than on the humor on occasion. It nevertheless pulls off a great piece of animation. | October 22, 2009 | N/A | |||
| Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen - PG-13 |
Is this film as bad as the press would have us believe? Well, It's not good, that's for sure. It's not as bad as other movies that have been inflicted on me recently, but that alas, doesn't mean that it's any great shakes. It's a bit of a mess - an over-long rambling music video of noise and effects, strung together by a poorly developed storyline. There are moments I enjoyed in this - mostly around the character of Jetfire, (who, I like to think, was speaking his opinion about the film as a whole, rather than simpy addressing the characters). The, er, wrecking balls of the Devastator were something of a misfire, but they definitely make wry comment on the rest of the project. And, while I'm not sure the Twins are intentionally racist (no more so than portrayals of rednecks in other movies), they do play overtly to stereotypes and are frankly speaking a total waste of movie time. Once-in-a-while it leaves you thinking, 'This could be okay...' But nope. Not worth paying good money to see, and it should have been much better developed before set free onto the world. |
October 21, 2009 | N/A | |||
| Crank 2: High Voltage - R |
Mix up the fast-wind cinematography in El Mariachi with Run Lola Run-style freeze-frame asides into character futures, add a little freneticism and a whole dollup of misogeny and you pretty much get this. The thread bare story loosely drapes over acrylic noise designed pretty much as a roller-coaster offence to the eyes. |
September 28, 2009 | N/A | |||
| Princess Mononoke (Mononoke-hime) - PG-13 |
Can I go out on a limb and say that a number of Miyazaki's movies are over-rated. No? Well, that I'm afraid, was what I was thinking when I got around to seeing this. I'm pleased that, this film at least, transcends my general thoughts on his movies. Like other famous Japanese animated films that include aspects of Ghost in the Shelland Akira, and Final Fantasy, but more especially Spirited Away, Princess Mononoke is deeply rooted in Shintoism, much of which goes straight over the heads of Western audiences. While I found this difficult to enjoy in Spirited Away, here, I found the Shinto aspects much more of a curiosity and the the story itself can be read at an environmental level and Ashitaka's quest for the removal of his curse is handled expertly. There's no getting around it: the animation is generally superb in this film (if not always free from being disturbing). However I can't help wondering about various motifs in anime that I find something of a cliche: compare, for instance, Tetsuo's loss of control over his body in Akira, with Ashitaka's loss of control over his arm here. Would I recommend it? Yes, absolutely. If you want a good introduction to Miyazaki, this is the one I'd check out. |
September 21, 2009 | N/A | |||
| Final Fantasy - The Spirits Within - PG-13 | Great CG (though the movement of people looks a little marionette like), and a decent story that ultimately descents into a Shinto take on Gaia philosophy. | September 18, 2009 | N/A | |||
| District 9 - R |
Well, by golly, this is gory film! I expected the apartheid tale and shaky-cam, but not really the volume of gore in it. A lot of bodies explode over the camera in this thing. But if you can handle that, then I would say it's a great piece of film. As has been widely publicised it's inspired from the events of District 6 during the apartheid era in Cape Town, South Africa, and the film is quite clearly embedded in that culture even to the point of referencing some of the muti beliefs that exist in the region. As such the film doesn't preach any message to the world (other than to ridicule those who defended opinions satired within the film), but simply puts us in the situation by adding a documentary feel. Such a thing may not seem relevant to one's own situation, but it is surely no less relevant than the Berman's existentialist body of work (which certainly was intended as a sermon). If some thought that the behaviour towards the aliens was portrayed unrealistically, I would simply remind them to check out the recent history of South Africa . I am not saying that people are going to walk away from this film inspired to think about the world in any depth, however, partly because no character gives any message in the film, and partly because few in the cinema-paying world relate to the events or find them relevant to themselves. We have, of course seen elements of the story before. Alien Nation famously dealt with the underbelly of an alien work race finding themselves stranded on earth, and The Fly dealt with the transformation of a man. Indeed there are one-or-two shots that seem straight out of these films, and the loss of the protagonist's fingernails in front of a mirror, for instance, seems to be a direct nod to The Fly. Though inspired from the director's recollections of South Africa, the aliens' taste for cat food in this film recalls the aliens taste for rotten milk in Alien Nation. But these similarities to past projects do not detract from the film, and the director spins together a coherent, personal story that is thoroughly engrossing. I wouldn't recommend sitting too close to the screen if you're feeling queasy though, because there is a lot of camera motion in this, and it might create feelings of nausea. But if asked whether I would see it again I would say, "Yes, absolutely.", though I might wait for the DVD. |
September 10, 2009 | N/A | |||
| Terminator Salvation - PG-13 |
It's probably fair to say with this that it's exactly what you expect it to be. Very little is added to the story or characters that we haven't gleamed from previous films in the series, there's little tension, and it never really feels that it's going anywhere particularly interesting. For the most part it's not boring. It's just a little uninvolving. |
September 7, 2009 | N/A | |||
| Empire (excerpt) and Vinyl - Unrated | A looooongg shot of the empire state building. And when I say 'long' I mean it in every sense of the word. Watching it is roughly equivalent to staring at dvd of goldfish on your TV. Just don't look too hard for a plot or meaning. | August 21, 2009 | N/A | |||
| Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince - PG |
I thoroughly enjoyed this film. However, it is not faultless by a long way. I'm not sure what it would be like if you've not read the book - it may seem a little undirected and confusing. That didn't bother me too much, but it might others. In terms of the production, some of the acting is a bit ropier than it need be (I'm thinking particulalry of the first scene in the film, which is coffin-like rigid), and I really don't like the pallette of colours chosen for this one: most of the colour looks washed-out and dream-like, and this plays a little against the emotional impact of a couple of the scenes. There you go, then. I'd still recommend seeing it. |
August 6, 2009 | N/A | |||
| The Untouchables - R |
It's really a bit of send-up of the events surrounding Capone and Eliot Ness all done in the name of heroism, but it's still a great film. Nasty at times (with an unforgettably intimidating Niro wielding a baseball bat in ways no man should during lunch), comedic at others (the tax-inspector is given dialogue from geek heaven), but gripping throughout, propelled in part by a great score and decent direction that keeps the odd problem in the film under-the-carpet. And speaking of which ... I have one thing I need to get off my chest about this film: why-oh-why was Connery given an Oscar in this? Was it a sympathy vote?? His accent isn't even close to wear it should be (well, basically his accent remains rooted in Scotland), and even apart from that his acting is simply by-the-books. You might as well give Hayden Christiansen an Oscar for his role in Star Wars. Sorry about that. Just needed to get it out. You know. |
August 2, 2009 | N/A | |||
| The Negotiator - R | August 2, 2009 | N/A | ||||
| Dumbo - G | August 2, 2009 | N/A | ||||
| Watchmen - R | August 2, 2009 | N/A | ||||
| The Gold Rush - Unrated | August 2, 2009 | N/A | ||||
| Salvador - R | August 2, 2009 | N/A | ||||
| A Bug's Life - G | This another one of those films I should have watched way-back-when. It came out around the same time as Antz, and the two have strong elements of similarity (excepting of course that my main memory from Antz is that of a neurotic ant (Woody Allen)). I remember a couple of Korean kids getting totally addicted to this film, and I can see why: it's great fun, and. Yes, there are a number of jokes here that have been recycled from previous films, but thre are also jokes that will be used in it that are reused by later films (notably the 'transforming' catepillar in Monsters vs Aliens). And, when it comes right down to it, it's inventive family, fun. Rent the movie on an evening you're feeling low, and it won't let you down. | August 2, 2009 | N/A | |||
| Babylon A.D. - PG-13 |
What the ....? Did this budget run so seriously overbudget its ending was canned? Oh. Apparently it did. Because the ending just skips ahead from a firefight to suddenly a birthing scene, and then... years later... Up until that point I would have said it was a moderately enjoyable scifi action flick (if something of a Fifth Element clone). Then ... well. ... it all goes horribly wrong. Utter nonsense. |
July 26, 2009 | N/A | |||
| Mutant Chronicles - R |
Necromutants...blah, blah, blah. ... A prophesied savior will come. ... A man without faith... yadda, yadda. I mean, I see the actors lips move, but all I hear is flubber. Like watching a cheap SciFi channel knock-off, only with a bigger budget. Only just. Did you see the Chronicles of Riddick? Then you pretty much saw this. These kind of movies bore the pants off me. They are cynical (a particular trend in recent Brit-Fi: Doomsday; for example, or Franklyn; or Children of Men)'; the scripts are really lazy and filled with cliche-loaded, ignorant claptrap. When is someone going to stop sticking variants of the line: "You need to have faith..."Into these films (with, I might add, a completely wrong understanding of what the word actually means)? And I don't know the last time I heard a fantasy film open with a "prophesy" and I didn't immediately feel any tension in the rest of the story was instantly destroyed. Oh yes.. I think it was Krull. |
July 20, 2009 | N/A | |||
| Juno - PG-13 |
I put-off watching when it came out, but when I finally summoned up the stamina for it - something that took 2 years - I was totally underwhelmed by the credit's song. Its not bad. it just had heart-sink stippled all over it's stave. Once I'd forced myself through that, however, I began to really enjoy it. It's a great little film: positive, while keeping the story firmly on the grounds of reality and well written. I mean, I'm not sure if Jennifer Garner fell naturally into her role as a woman desparate for children, and it has its moments of cliche (the lab class being one moment), but it still a good, and thoughful comedy (which examines theme's that overlap a little with the vastly inferior Hong Kong Film 'Too Young'). |
July 20, 2009 | N/A | |||
| Ice Age: Dawn of the Dinosaurs (Ice Age 3) - PG | This is the funniest of the ice-age films so far. The asides with Scrat, the sabre-tooth squirrel, and his eternal hunt for a nut are integrated into the film much more seamlessly than in previous films. Throughout thie franchise he is easily the funniest character created, and it has been a shame that he has acted largely as a distraction from the main story. | July 9, 2009 | N/A | |||
| Che: Part One (The Argentine) - R |
On occassion Soderbergh has let cinematic style distract from the substance of his movies. At times this has worked to his advantage, like in the Ocean's series, and at other times I felt it overwhelmed (Traffic, where some of the palattes were too artificial for the subject matter). Here, he has given himself a tough charge, and stylistically, at least, he has pulled off a masterwork. The mixed-media cinematography is sumptuous (with one shot reminding me quite strongly of a similar set-up by Terrence Malik); the sound too is well engineered, and it was unquestionably the right choice to shoot in Spanish. I like the film's ligering structure, but where it falls down is when one scrutinises its substance. We are given a thread of connected nodes into events he was part of, but we have little insight into his motivations, or the events of the Cuban revolution. All we get is snatches. Now this was a deliberate choice of the film-makers, and there are times when it works well. But sometimes it is simply frustrating. |
July 7, 2009 | N/A | |||
| Che: Part Two (Guerrilla) - R | July 7, 2009 | N/A | ||||
| Sister Act - PG | I didn't rush to see this when it was first released, but I caught it recently on cable. It may be formulaic, but it's great natured fun. Definitely worth taking a peep at this on a wet evening. | July 7, 2009 | N/A | |||
| Looking for Eric - Unrated |
I've not seen Eric Cantona in many of his movies, but based on this I'd say he needs more practise. Not that he isn't likeable though, and I enjoyed his presence during the short time he had on the screen. It's been a while since I've seen one of Ken Loach's projects and the movie brought to mind a couple of issues for me. I question the message driven home about taking the law into your own hands. The film lost its credibilityat this point, in a desperate need to draw the story into a denouement. And, while a commonly heard phrase, I'm concerned about soccer being viewed as the strongest centre of British community. If this was really true, the country would be totally screwed. |
July 1, 2009 | N/A |
1055 ratings
341 reviews
