Posted on September 25th, 2009 by Zettel Film Reviewer
Tweet 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 […]
Filed under: 2 star, Andrea Arnold, Drama, General | 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 May 14th, 2009 by Zettel Film Reviewer
TweetThe Apprentice Week 8 – Margate Mission Muffed Sugar’s increasingly capricious firing decisions and inconsistent rationale for them invites analysis. The promising Rocky Andrews was fired in week 2, partly on the argument that he was ‘too young’; yet the strikingly immature Ben, just 22 remains after some of the crassest remarks and dumbest behaviour […]
Filed under: 2 star, Television | No Comments »
Posted on April 17th, 2009 by Zettel Film Reviewer
Tweet The Apprentice Week 4 – ‘Sh*t of the Show’ winner – with still 8 shows to go. Yale Psychologist Stanley Milgram July 1961: “I set up a simple experiment at Yale University to test how much pain an ordinary citizen would inflict on another person simply because he was ordered to by an experimental […]
Filed under: 2 star, Humorous, Philosophical, Television | No Comments »
Posted on December 14th, 2008 by Zettel Film Reviewer
Tweet The Day The Earth Stood Still – Scott Derrickson Keanu Reeves is an Alien: it’s not often you get to write a sentence with three different meanings that is true whichever of them you apply. As a description of Keanu’s role in this re-make of the 50’s Sci-Fi classic it is factually true; as […]
Filed under: 2 star, Action, Hollywood, Humorous, Sci-Fi, Scott Derrickson | No Comments »
Posted on October 16th, 2008 by Zettel Film Reviewer
Tweet Nights In Rodanthe – George C Wolfe Women aren’t romantic. That’s why they love romantic men. Women are far too sensible to believe either that love ‘conquers all’, or is “all you need.” It’s genetic and evolutionary: being responsible for bearing, giving birth, protecting, nurturing and raising the children of the next generation, gives […]
Filed under: 2 star, Drama, General, George C Wolfe, Hollywood, Humorous, Romance | No Comments »
Posted on October 2nd, 2008 by Zettel Film Reviewer
Tweet Layer Cake – Matthew Vaughan Layer Cake has all the warmth and depth of characterisation of the Tarantino films it emulates, but without their visual flair, imagination, style and wicked irony. Like Quentin, director Matthew Vaughn is irreducibly referential – Seven, Lock Stock of course and the quintessential British Gangster movie – Get Carter. […]
Filed under: 2 star, Europe/World cinema, General, Humorous, Matthew Vaughan | No Comments »
Posted on October 2nd, 2008 by Zettel Film Reviewer
Tweet The Kingdom – Peter Berg It’s the sub-text that sucks. On a superficial level this is just an averagely competent action movie with performances better than it deserves. The only difference is the Saudi Arabian setting of the title. The film opens with a well choreographed, strongly edited, only-too-real atrocity committed in one of […]
Filed under: 2 star, Action, Drama, General, Hollywood, Humorous, Peter Berg, War | No Comments »
Posted on September 29th, 2008 by Zettel Film Reviewer
Tweet Syriana – Stephen Gaghan Pascal’s wager: we can’t know whether God exists so we should weigh the benefits of belief. If we assume He does exist and act virtuously, then even if He doesn’t we have lost nothing. However if we assume He doesn’t and act badly then eternal punishment is the penalty. For […]
Filed under: 2 star, Action, Drama, General, Hollywood, Philosophical, Political, Stephen Gaghan, War | 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 »