Posted on October 14th, 2008 by Zettel Film Reviewer
Tweet The Proposition – John Hillcoat A new genre – the reductionist film. Everything reduced to the essential. Intelligence, coherence, credible artistic purpose – out. Who needs ‘em? Real characters with credible motivation in purposeful action that engages? Forget it. Superfluous. Distil to the essential. Consistency in tone and authoritative direction? Too cliched. Obvious. Let’s […]
Filed under: 1 star, Action, Drama, General, Hollywood, John Hillcoat, Philosophical, Western | No Comments »
Posted on October 14th, 2008 by Zettel Film Reviewer
Tweet The Pursuit of Happyness – Gabriele Muccino An old saying demolished. The traditional advice to actors – ‘never act with animals or children’ is comprehensively contradicted in this touching film by the real life father and son Will and Jaden Smith (8). Here mutually dependent and totally supportive performances create the moving central relationship […]
Filed under: 4 stars, Drama, Gabriel Muccino, General, Hollywood | No Comments »
Posted on October 14th, 2008 by Zettel Film Reviewer
TweetThe Apprentice – The Final Many hard men are sentimental. Even Hitler doted on dogs and Stalin sobbed in movie musicals. So it is hard not to see Sralan’s decision to pick Lee over Claire as his apprentice as an emotional decision based upon the fact that everyone, Sralan, Adrian Chiles and the other apprentice […]
Filed under: Television | No Comments »
Posted on October 13th, 2008 by Zettel Film Reviewer
Tweet Sideways – Director Alexander Payne Colours to the mast. I hated About Schmidt (Review in Archive). Sideways is much better, but its spirit and emotional tone make it very much a companion piece. Both pose the question: is pathos enough to drive a movie? I’d always thought of pathos as a bit like happiness: […]
Filed under: 3 star, Alexander Payne, Comedy, General, Hollywood, Humorous | No Comments »
Posted on October 13th, 2008 by Zettel Film Reviewer
Tweet We Don’t Live Here Any More – John Curran Critical reaction to this bemuses me. Time Out calls it strong stuff and one of the more mature American movies of recent years. Others have agreed, as it won awards in 2004. For me it is a miscast, emotionally illiterate, poorly written, nicely filmed, well […]
Filed under: 1 star, Drama, General, Hollywood, Humorous, John Curran | No Comments »
Posted on October 13th, 2008 by Zettel Film Reviewer
Tweet Vantage Point – Pete Travis Is he raw about the rugby, chagrined about the cricket; morose about Manchester United, mourning Middlesbrough or even cheesed-off about Chelsea? These are heavy blows in the masculine game of life so perk up your partner and treat him to a good night out. This one even runs a […]
Filed under: 3 star, Action, Drama, General, Hollywood, Pete Travis, Philosophical, War | No Comments »
Posted on October 12th, 2008 by Zettel Film Reviewer
Tweet Sophie Scholl – Marc Rothemund True heroism, like martyrdom, must be imposed by fate, not sought. This is a profound moral principle that exercised Joseph Conrad in Lord Jim. Again, Robert Bolt’s Sir Thomas More in A Man For All Seasons does everything he can to avoid his looming martyrdom – except sacrifice his […]
Filed under: 4 stars, Drama, Europe/World cinema, General, Marc Rothemund, Philosophical, Political, War | No Comments »
Posted on October 12th, 2008 by Zettel Film Reviewer
TweetThe Apprentice – Week 11 Let’s get real: Sralan is the CEO of Amstrad, an organisation that is now wholly owned by BSkyB. It is dangerously exposed with a two product market base. One of these is the e.mailer phone which virtually no one buys, and fewer have even heard of. It is redundant technology […]
Filed under: Philosophical, Television | No Comments »
Posted on October 11th, 2008 by Zettel Film Reviewer
Tweet The Producers – Director Susan Stroman Make ’em laugh… make ’em laugh…The Producers was always a musical trying to get out. Both satirical farce and farcical satire, its broad, exuberant style and totally performance-dependent appeal is made for the immediacy of the stage and the vitality of live audience participation. Its intentionally tasteless premise […]
Filed under: 3 star, Comedy, General, Hollywood, Humorous, Musical, Susan Stroman | No Comments »
Posted on October 10th, 2008 by Zettel Film Reviewer
TweetPicture to follow The Other Boleyn Girl – Justin Chadwick Robert Bolt and Fred Zinneman set the bar high. A Man For All Seasons won 6 Oscars in 1967 – best Picture, Director, Actor (Paul Schofield) Screenplay, Cinematography, Costume Design. Although set in the same chaotic period of English History, the special angle of interest […]
Filed under: 3 star, Drama, General, Hollywood, Justin Chadwick, Philosophical, Romance | No Comments »
