Posted on March 26th, 2013 by Zettel Film Reviewer
Tweet Trance – Danny Boyle Not all banknotes can be forgeries. A forgery can only be passed off as real against the background of a viable currency which requires that most notes in circulation are genuine. Much the same logical limitation applies to the central dramatic device that lies at the heart of the […]
Filed under: 3 star, Action, Danny Boyle, Gangster, Mystery, Thriller | No Comments »
Posted on February 7th, 2013 by Zettel Film Reviewer
Tweet Zero Dark Thirty – Kathryn Bigelow Lincoln could be described as portraying the unprincipled pursuit of a principled objective, in conflict with the principled pursuit of an unprincipled end. It is a tragic lesson of history that when old men possessed of power talk with passion about principles – young people die. No […]
Filed under: 4 stars, Action, Drama, Hollywood, Kathryn Bigelow, Oscar Winner, Political, Thriller, War | No Comments »
Posted on December 16th, 2012 by Zettel Film Reviewer
Tweet Technical Quality Dramatic Quality The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey – Peter Jackson This visual realisation of a fantasy world of endlessly warring kingdoms is a technical tour-de-force: graphically state of the art with special effects to match. Simon Bright’s Art Direction aided by Andy McLaren and Ben Milson, together with Dan Hennah’s […]
Filed under: 2 star, Action, Drama, Fantasy, Hollywood, Humorous, Oscar Winner, Peter Jackson | No Comments »
Posted on September 22nd, 2012 by Zettel Film Reviewer
Tweet Killing Them Softly – Andrew Dominik One of the deepest and most interesting issues in Philosophy is that of knowledge of other minds. How is it that we can come to know, understand, care, hate, love another person? Indeed the idea of what it is to be a person is an […]
Filed under: 2 star, Action, Andrew Dominik, Drama, Gangster, General, Hollywood, Philosophical, Political, Thriller | No Comments »
Posted on September 14th, 2012 by Zettel Film Reviewer
Tweet Lawless – John Hillcoat Stupid men, doing stupid things, in very stupid ways, for pretty stupid reasons. Hillcoat and screenplay writer Nick Cave re-unite after the gratuitously violent The Proposition to delight us with the gratuitously violent Lawless. I wrote this of that first film, much admired by some. “A new genre – […]
Filed under: 1 star, Action, Drama, Gangster, General, Hollywood, John Hillcoat | No Comments »
Posted on August 19th, 2012 by Zettel Film Reviewer
Tweet The Bourne Legacy – Tony Gilroy Fast, furious and slick. Gilroy’s extends the Bourne franchise neatly with enough narrative linkage to the absent Jason Bourne (Matt Damon) and the ending of The Bourne Ultimatum to carry credibility and engage us in the exploits of Aaron Cross (Jeremy Renner) number 5 operative in […]
Filed under: 4 stars, Action, Drama, General, Hollywood, Sci-Fi, Thriller, Tony Gilroy | No Comments »
Posted on June 2nd, 2012 by Zettel Film Reviewer
Tweet Prometheus – Ridley Scott When did the octopus first become the template for space-monsters? I get why: they carry all the repulsiveness of the snake – multiplied by 8; and they are very what we might call grapho-genic. Wave the arms about a lot and our imagination comfortably believes in flying octopi […]
Filed under: 3 star, Action, Drama, Fantasy, General, Hollywood, Horror, Ridley Scott, Sci-Fi | No Comments »
Posted on July 30th, 2011 by Zettel Film Reviewer
Tweet Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows 2 and 3D – David Yates The best use of the 3D process I have seen in a film so far. If 3D is to be more than just the short-lived gimmick it was when it was first used commercially in movies in the […]
Filed under: 4 stars, Action, David Yates, Director, Drama, Extended essay, Fantasy, Film Reviews, Hollywood, Philosophical, Thriller | No Comments »
Posted on July 19th, 2011 by Zettel Film Reviewer
Tweet Harry Potter and The Deathly Hallows – Part 2: David Yates Alexandre Desplat is the star of this urgent, thrilling denouement of the Potter saga. And neither he, nor anything he created or contributed to the film can be seen. Almost everything in Deathly Hallows 2 is the best in the series: acting, […]
Filed under: 4 stars, Action, David Yates, Drama, Fantasy, General | No Comments »
Posted on February 19th, 2011 by Zettel Film Reviewer
Tweet The American West as myth is far more powerful than its historical reality. The period of American history that has spawned thousands of films, TV series and books lasted less than 40 years at the end of the 19th century. If the reality of the pioneering spirit of the early settlers runs deep in […]
Filed under: 3 star, Action, Coen Brothers, Extended essay, Hollywood, Western | No Comments »