Posted on February 4th, 2010 by Zettel Film Reviewer
Film, performance, screenplay, art
Technical, Effects, Art direction
Avatar - James Cameron
Avatar sucks: the bambification of an aboriginal narrative. A sentimentalised pastiche of a Native American stereotype. The Na’vi sound like Hollywindians and worship an Earth-mother who looks like a fibre-optic willow tree spiritually reified by tinsellated dandelion-seed-like Christmas tree baubles that slo-mo around looking for some [...]
Filed under: 1 star, Action, Drama, Fantasy, General, Hollywood, Humorous, Sci-Fi | No Comments »
Posted on October 18th, 2009 by Zettel Film Reviewer
Strictly Come Dancing 7 - 16th October 2009
At last – a little bit of magic. Like two proud, elegant birds of prey locked in a mating dance, Vincent and Flavia captivated the eye and lifted the spirit with their Waltz Tango – which is a new one on me. The apparent contradiction of the dance’s [...]
Filed under: 4 stars, Television | No Comments »
Posted on October 4th, 2009 by Zettel Film Reviewer
The Soloist - Joe Wright
Why do we go to the movies? I guess for as many different reasons as there are different kinds of films: to be entertained, informed, moved; to be made to laugh or cry, or exceptionally, both at the same time; or more rarely to be challenged, stimulated, provoked into thought. Some [...]
Filed under: 4 stars, Drama, Extended essay, Hollywood, Joe Wright, Philosophical | No Comments »
Posted on September 25th, 2009 by Zettel Film Reviewer
Fish Tank - Andrea Arnold
I’m bemused, bewildered and to be honest, bloody angry. What is the widespread acclaim and exaggerated praise for this movie all about? OK, I’m sorry that feisty, attractive 15 year-old Mia’s mother is a dysfunctional, feckless waste of space. I understand that makes Mia conflicted and angry enough to pick a [...]
Filed under: 2 star, Andrea Arnold, Drama, General | No Comments »
Posted on September 24th, 2009 by Zettel Film Reviewer
District 9 – Neill Blomkamp
The science is risible: the fiction banal. District 9 is a good B movie with pretensions; and like all good B movies, it rattles along at a pace fast enough for you to almost forgive the cheap n’ cheerful costumes, make-up, special effects and frequently clunky dialogue. A docu-drama, hand-held camera [...]
Filed under: 3 star, Action, Extended essay, Fantasy, Philosophical, Sci-Fi | No Comments »
Posted on September 23rd, 2009 by Zettel Film Reviewer
Strictly Come Dancing 2 - BBC Saturday 19th September
Is Strictly, strictly, ‘reality’ TV? I pose the question because it seems to me that those occasions like the first programme on Friday when it is easiest to write about, are precisely those where the ‘reality’ element is strong. On Friday pretty much everybody was on unfamiliar [...]
Filed under: 3 star, Television | No Comments »
Posted on September 19th, 2009 by Zettel Film Reviewer
Strictly Come Dancing 1 - BBC: September 18th
The Exorcist has many scary scenes: but none more than when Satanically possessed schoolgirl Linda Blair’s head rotates anti-clockwise through a full 360º. Old Nick seems to have worked the same trick on the professional guy dancers on Strictly: I swear the top halves and the bottom [...]
Filed under: 4 stars, Television | No Comments »
Posted on August 17th, 2009 by Zettel Film Reviewer
Inglourious Basterds - Quentin Tarantino
The penny finally dropped: Quentin Tarantino simply has no imagination. He can’t create characters so he borrows bits from characters in films he’s seen. He can’t create a believable setting or narrative, so he echoes, parodies, de-constructs those of others. He is either passive or unaffected by reality or possesses no [...]
Filed under: 2 star, Action, Comedy, Drama, Fantasy, General, Historical, Hollywood, Quentin Tarantino, War | No Comments »
Posted on August 2nd, 2009 by Zettel Film Reviewer
Antichrist - Lars von Trier
Wittgenstein said he always found Freud worth reading – for thought-provoking psychological ideas. He expressed no interest in Freud’s work as the basis for a therapeutic regime.
As ever, this is both clear thinking and wise. In Antichrist, Lars von Trier tempts us to become as entangled in Freudian description and interpretation [...]
Filed under: 4 stars, Drama, Europe/World cinema, Extended essay, Fantasy, Philosophical | No Comments »
Posted on June 10th, 2009 by Zettel Film Reviewer
The Apprentice - Week 12: The Final
Capitalism is a paradoxical system. Sralan expressed it perfectly if unwittingly as I’m not sure he has much taste for irony. In an evenly balanced contest according to Sralan both women got it almost right. Kate won the personal presentation, her three-tiered box of ‘one for her, one for [...]
Filed under: 3 star, Television, politics | No Comments »
