Tag: drama
Truth
Thursday, December 10th, 2015 Film Reviews,For those of us who haven’t grown up watching Dan Rather anchoring the CBS News, his portrayal in Truth is a little hard to swallow. Played by Robert Redford as a secular saint, Rather comes across a beacon of moral purity in the midst of a media swamp. Not only is he the ‘grand old […]
Phoenix
Friday, December 4th, 2015 Film Reviews,While Ron Howard gives us adventure on the high seas, Christian Petzold takes us to a seedy, broken-down Germany in the wake of the Second World War. Phoenix is an advance on Petzold’s previous feature, Barbara (2012), which was set in East Germany during the 1980s. Both movies share the same female and male leads, […]
The Program
Thursday, November 26th, 2015 Film Reviews,It’s strange that with so many excellent documentaries being made today, filmmakers still believe that every true story needs to be turned into fiction. This was the case with features such as The Walk and Freeheld, which reworked the subjects of acclaimed documentaries. Now Stephen Frears, who really should know better, has entered the fray […]
The Crow’s Egg
Thursday, November 19th, 2015 Film Reviews,Every so often one sees a small, irresistible film that puts the blockbusters to shame. Such is The Crow’s Egg, a low-budget feature about two young brothers who live in the slums of Chennai. It’s a story of crushing poverty that is never allowed to become grim or depressing. This is a first feature by […]
99 Homes
Thursday, November 19th, 2015 Film Reviews,It must be a relief for Andrew Garfield to appear in a movie without the Spider Man outfit. In Ramin Bahrani’s 99 Homes even those fabled Spidey powers would be of no use against the unstoppable force of the Global Financial Crisis. In opposition to the black-and-white moral universe of the super hero film, in […]
Freeheld
Thursday, November 5th, 2015 Film Reviews,Some actors always get to play the romantic lead, the vamp or the action hero, Julianne Moore should be careful she doesn’t get stuck with another terminal illness. Having gradually succumbed to Alzheimer’s Disease in Still Alice, she now gets the chance to experience Stage 4 lung cancer in Freeheld. Unfortunately she’s really excellent in […]
The Dressmaker
Thursday, October 29th, 2015 Film Reviews,There has been an 18-year gap between The Dressmaker and Jocelyn Moorhouse’s previous film, A Thousand Acres (1997), with a promising career being derailed by family matters. Although Moorhouse had intended to make an earlier comeback, with an adaptation of Murray Bail’s novel, Eucalyptus in 2005, this project turned into a shipwreck with as much […]
Bridge of Spies
Friday, October 23rd, 2015 Film Reviews,Steven Spielberg has spoken out against Hollywood’s over-reliance on superhero flicks, when there are so many other ways to make a popular movie. It’s what he’s been doing since Jaws (1975), the film that put him on the map. Today the name ‘Spielberg’ is synonymous with a certain style of Hollywood entertainment – lavish, detail-perfect […]
unINDIAN
Friday, October 16th, 2015 Film Reviews,If there were an Academy Award for product placement, Anupam Sharma’s unINDIAN would be this year’s hot favourite. This self-confessed “frothy” flick is not going to win any awards for acting, directing or scriptwriting, but when it comes to acknowledging sponsors it is in a class of its own. unINDIAN is an attempt to make […]
Black Mass
Friday, October 9th, 2015 Film Reviews,How many dud movies does it take before one can be over an actor? With his roles in films such as Mortdecai (2015) and Tusk (2014), Johnny Depp has been sailing close to the wind. It’s been a long time since he has worked harder on a character than he does with Boston gangster, James […]