Posted on February 26th, 2009 by Zettel Film Reviewer
Tweet Gran Torino – Clint Eastwood Dirty Harry got to be old. And mean. I guess we expected that. Curmudgeonly, cranky, rollie-smoking, beer-drinking – a can and by-the-neck man, nary a glass in sight – ex-Korean War vet Walt Kowalski isn’t actually cop Harry Callaghan, just a kind of alter ego ‘with-no-name’ grown old, prejudices […]
Filed under: 3 star, Clint Eastwood, Drama, General, Hollywood, Philosophical, Political | 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 January 17th, 2009 by Zettel Film Reviewer
Tweet Slumdog Millionaire – Danny Boyle Slumdog Millionaire is like a shot of bad tequila – feels great as it goes down then begins to burn at your gut and eventually makes you feel queasy. ‘Slumdog’, for it already has an abbreviated nickname; is a nice, naïve, pacy little romantic fairytale knocked up inexpensively by […]
Filed under: 3 star, Comedy, Danny Boyle, Europe/World cinema, General, Philosophical, Political, Romance | No Comments »
Posted on January 2nd, 2009 by Zettel Film Reviewer
Tweet Che – Steven Soderbergh The essence of art is selection: and the logic of selection defines what is left out. The collaborative nature of the art of film-making increases the need for such eliminating decisions exponentially – casting, screenplay, lighting, angle, editing, music, sound and thousands of other decisions. The result is not the […]
Filed under: 3 star, Director, Drama, Extended essay, Historical, Hollywood, Philosophical, Political, Stephen Soderberg, War | No Comments »
Posted on November 29th, 2008 by Zettel Film Reviewer
Tweet Changeling – Clint Eastwood Cinema, film is a collaborative art. If the director has the integrating artistic conception of the film, he still has to assemble his realisation of that ‘vision’ through the many critical disciplines, each an art in its own right, that provide the warp and weft of the finished film. It […]
Filed under: 3 star, Clint Eastwood, Detective, Drama, General, Historical, Hollywood, Philosophical, Political | No Comments »
Posted on November 8th, 2008 by Zettel Film Reviewer
Tweet Pride And Glory – Gavin O’Connor Barack Obama’s election to the Presidency is likely to influence American society in profound but as yet unpredictable ways. It will be fascinating to see how Hollywood embraces the new New World. Which director in which film with whose screenplay will be the first to portray deep racial […]
Filed under: 3 star, Action, Detective, Drama, Extended essay, Gangster, Gavin O'Connor, General, Hollywood, Philosophical, Political | No Comments »
Posted on November 2nd, 2008 by Zettel Film Reviewer
Tweet Quantum Of Solace – Marc Foster Daniel Craig’s is a ‘cut-to-the-chase’ Bond in every sense. Solace begins where Casino Royale left off and opens with a car chase. A bit of plot; then cut to the sea chase; a bit more plot and cut to the air chase. In between, a couple of Jason […]
Filed under: 3 star, Action, Drama, General, Hollywood, Marc Foster, Philosophical, Thriller | No Comments »
Posted on October 19th, 2008 by Zettel Film Reviewer
Tweet Runaway Jury – Gary Fielder As a novelist John Grisham flatters to deceive: he is a great page-turning writer, but a merely adequate ‘plotter’, whose characters are often buried by the burden of idealism Grisham requires them to carry. The greatest of these qualities, the simple, accessible writing style, is the first thing that […]
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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 October 18th, 2008 by Zettel Film Reviewer
Tweet The Terminal – Stephen Spielberg Consciously or not, this is Spielberg’s homage to Frank Capra, with all the mixed responses that engenders. It is deftly made, with wit, heart-warming humour and charm. It offers a 40’s soft-hearted idealism in a modern setting. The good guys are very good and the bad guys are really […]
Filed under: 3 star, Comedy, Drama, General, Hollywood, Political, Steven Spielberg | No Comments »
