Posted on February 4th, 2010 by Zettel Film Reviewer
TweetFilm, 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 […]
Filed under: 1 star, Action, Drama, Fantasy, General, Hollywood, Humorous, Sci-Fi | No Comments »
Posted on September 24th, 2009 by Zettel Film Reviewer
Tweet 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, […]
Filed under: 3 star, Action, Extended essay, Fantasy, Philosophical, Sci-Fi | No Comments »
Posted on August 17th, 2009 by Zettel Film Reviewer
Tweet 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 […]
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
Tweet 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 […]
Filed under: 4 stars, Drama, Europe/World cinema, Extended essay, Fantasy, Lars von Trier, Philosophical | No Comments »
Posted on February 22nd, 2009 by Zettel Film Reviewer
Tweet Vicky Christina Barcelona – Woody Allen Woody Allen doesn’t simply film women: he makes love to them with the camera. I don’t really know how healthy this is or even by what criterion of health one should judge it. Cinema is irreducibly voyeuristic so we are complicit. If you doubt me consider this: by […]
Filed under: 3 star, Comedy, Fantasy, General, Hollywood, Humorous, Romance, Woody Allen | No Comments »
Posted on October 19th, 2008 by Zettel Film Reviewer
Tweet Lord Of The Rings – Return Of The King – Peter Jackson As the Laud of the Rings industry gears up for the Oscars, let’s get real. It will be a travesty if the Return of the King, the third and last in the Tolkein trilogy to be filmed, does not win a technical […]
Filed under: 3 star, Action, Fantasy, General, Hollywood, Oscar Winner, Peter Jackson, Philosophical | No Comments »
Posted on September 28th, 2008 by Zettel Film Reviewer
Tweet Birth – Jonathan Glazer A.W Kaufman. Remember the name: a Casting Director who has managed to miscast a whole movie, with the inevitable exception of Lauren Bacall of whom one must say you can’t make a sow’s ear out of a silk purse. For me there is not a credible performance in this odd […]
Filed under: 2 star, Fantasy, General, Hollywood, Jonathan Glazer, Romance | No Comments »
Posted on September 24th, 2008 by Zettel Film Reviewer
Tweet The Incredibles – Brad Bird Beg or borrow a couple of kids from friends and treat yourself to this movie: or just sneak in on your own and treat yourself. Wall to wall animation on TV and some of the so-called animated blockbusters has for me made the genre very tired and predictable in […]
Filed under: 4 stars, Action, Animation, Brad Bird, Comedy, Fantasy, General, Humorous | No Comments »
Posted on September 24th, 2008 by Zettel Film Reviewer
Tweet Iron Man – Jon Favreau As techno-fascist movies go, this is a good one: a well-paced narrative, above average acting for this genre, and an at times distinctive, stylish, visually witty tone. Favreau, making the most of Robert Downey Junior’s trademark insouciant, self-deprecating acting style, tongue-in-cheeks the preposterous goings-on well enough to induce you […]
Filed under: 3 star, Action, Comedy, Fantasy, General, Hollywood, Humorous, Jon Favreau, Sci-Fi, War | No Comments »
Posted on September 23rd, 2008 by Zettel Film Reviewer
TweetThe Happening – M Night Shyamalan Bad Night at the movies. M Night Shyamalan has produced a first: the only movie ever where the trailer is actually better than the movie. We are familiar with ‘comedies’ where the only funny bits are all the in the trail, but MNS has gone one better – not […]
Filed under: 0 stars, Action, Drama, Fantasy, General, Hollywood, Humorous, M Night Shyamalan, Philosophical, Political, Sci-Fi, War | No Comments »
