Tag: drama
Hitchcock & Sightseers
Saturday, January 12th, 2013 Film Reviews,Last year the film industry reflected on itself in My Week with Marilyn, this week we have Hitchcock. It’s pure Hollywood navel-gazing when directors make movies about other directors, in which the stars of the past are played by the stars of today – but it’s weirdly irresistible. It was a real test of Michelle […]
Life of Pi & Samsara
Saturday, January 5th, 2013 Film Reviews,Every movie seems to come with a pithy tag line intended to be thought-provoking and seductive. Probably the two best-known examples are: “In space, no-one can hear you scream”, from Alien (1979); and “Just when you thought it was safe to go back in the water..” from Jaws 2 (1978). In the latter case the […]
Paris-Manhattan & Quartet
Saturday, December 22nd, 2012 Film Reviews,“Heartwarming” must be the most overused word in the film critic’s lexicon. It suggests we enter the cinema as cold-hearted types and are transformed by the power of a movie. When the lights go back on we are more sensitive, more optimistic; we believe in the essential goodness of human beings and the necessity of […]
The Perks of Being a Wallflower & Howzat!
Saturday, December 1st, 2012 Film Reviews,It’s hard to believe some people actually look back on their teenage years with nostalgia. That terrible state, when one is half-way out of the chrysalis of puberty – not quite an adult but no longer a child – is an ordeal we have to overcome if we are to take our place in the […]
Seven Psychopaths & Robot and Frank
Saturday, November 17th, 2012 Film Reviews,Psychopaths are so commonplace nowadays they almost qualify as normal. Not only does the media serve up one mad gunman after another, glaring at us from page one, we also read about the ‘corporate psychopaths’ who make their way to the top of huge businesses, bring them down in flames, then move on to another […]
You Will be My Son
Saturday, November 10th, 2012 Film Reviews,Blood may be thicker than water but it runs a distant second to fine wines. At least that seems to be the way, vigneron, Paul De Merseul, views the world. Paul, played by veteran actor, Niels Arestrup, is the stern patriarch in Gilles Legrand’s You Will be My Son, a taut, lean story of tensions […]
The Master
Saturday, November 10th, 2012 Film Reviews,By now you have probably heard a great deal about The Master, which has dominated the early chattering about next year’s Academy Awards. Director, Paul Thomas Anderson, has already given the Oscars a shake in 2007, with There Will Be Blood, which secured the Best Actor award for Daniel Day-Lewis. With The Master it would […]
Shadow Dancer
Saturday, October 27th, 2012 Film Reviews,With so much carnage in the Middle East and the rise of terrorist groups such as Al Qaeda, we tend to forget how vicious and bloody the conflict was in Northern Ireland barely a decade ago. Shadow Dancer looks back on this time, as if through a veil of tears. Director, James Marsh, has made […]
The Intouchables
Saturday, October 27th, 2012 Film Reviews,Although it should be the most depressing subject in the world there is something strangely inspiring about films that deal with disability. The Miracle Worker (1962) was a smash hit in its day, making Helen Keller into the most famous deaf and blind person in history, although she has since been overtaken by several cricket […]
The Words
Saturday, October 13th, 2012 Film Reviews, Other Writing,Few people write for a living but many nurture the fantasy of doing so. Many an avid reader dreams of crossing over to the other side, producing books that are admired by people just like them. The Words is a movie for these people. No genuine writer could watch this film and remain unmoved by […]