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 February 3rd, 2013 by Zettel Film Reviewer
Tweet Lincoln – Steven Spielberg “The past is another country. They do things differently there.” L P Hartley’s now almost proverbial opening lines of The Go-Between constantly resonated in the back of my mind throughout this powerful, accomplished, superbly acted film. With typical authority and characteristically meticulous attention to detail, Spielberg assembles to great [...]
Filed under: 4 stars, Drama, Extended essay, Historical, Hollywood, Oscar Winner, Political, Steven Spielberg, 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 December 14th, 2012 by Zettel Film Reviewer
Tweet The Hunt – Thomas Vinterber This sensitive, insightful Danish film is the flipside to the Jimmy Savile saga. A timely warning that the undoubted truth that we should always listen to children, does not, cannot, mean that we must always take everything they say at face value. What this beautifully acted, subtly [...]
Filed under: 4 stars, Drama, General, Philosophical, Thomas Vinterberg | No Comments »
Posted on November 24th, 2012 by Zettel Film Reviewer
Tweet Silver Linings Playbook – David O Russell The mesmeric Jennifer Lawrence almost makes this phoney movie work – but not quite. For me at least. Claudia Winkleman on BBC’s now equally unwatchable Twittery Film 2012 loved it; while her mate on the show, Danny ‘Boy’ Leigh hated it. Reluctantly, I’m with Danny [...]
Filed under: 2 star, Comedy, David O Russell, Drama, General, Hollywood, Romance | 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 16th, 2012 by Zettel Film Reviewer
Tweet To Rome With L0ve – Woody Allen Domestic disagreement on this one: my wife, who liked Midnight In Paris much more than I did was lukewarm about Woody Allen’s latest comedy of manners, mores and the absurdity of love and life. I am the opposite. To Rome With Love for me is [...]
Filed under: 3 star, Comedy, Drama, General, Hollywood, Romance, Woody Allen | 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 »
