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 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 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 […]
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Posted on May 7th, 2012 by Zettel Film Reviewer
Tweet Marley – Kevin Mcdonald Kierkegaard wrote: “Purity of heart is to will one thing.” Again: “Be that self one truly is.” And: “During the first period of a man’s life the greatest danger is not to take the risk.” Having fathered 11 children from 7 different women Robert Nesta Marley, in his […]
Filed under: 4 stars, Documentary, General, Kevin Macdonald | No Comments »
Posted on February 26th, 2012 by Zettel Film Reviewer
Tweet The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel – JohnMadden If I were an artist I would want to paint her; I wish I were a better poet that she might read one of my poems; and if my life-long ambition, which will not now be fulfilled, to Direct a movie came true – I […]
Filed under: 4 stars, Comedy, Drama, Extended essay, Hollywood, John Madden | No Comments »
Posted on February 20th, 2012 by Zettel Film Reviewer
Tweet Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close – Stephen Daldry Danny Leigh on Film 2012 about 11 year-old Oskar Schell (Thomas Horn), central character of Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close (ELIC): “gratingly precocious..hyper-verbal….bag of neuroses….a monster…etc”. Philip French (Guardian) on the same film: “reveals itself as a hollow, calculated, manipulative film. It uses the events of 9/11 […]
Filed under: 4 stars, Extended essay, Philosophical, Stephen Daldry | No Comments »
Posted on December 29th, 2011 by Zettel Film Reviewer
Tweet The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo – David Fincher Like buses, you wait for ages for a film with a charismatic, independent, strong female character: then two come along at once: first Sarah Lund (Sofie Gråbøl in The Killing I & II), and Lisbeth Salander (First Noomi Rapace, now Rooney Mara) in The Girl […]
Filed under: 4 stars, David Fincher, Detective, Drama, General, Hollywood, Romance, Thriller | No Comments »
Posted on October 23rd, 2011 by Zettel Film Reviewer
Tweet Definetely Maybe – Adam Brooks I love feel-good movies: if they don’t insult my intelligence – and this one doesn’t. If they persuade me to believe in the characters and the emotions they have for each other – and this one does. If the feeling good has a little bit of […]
Filed under: 4 stars, Adam Brooks, Comedy, General, Hollywood, Romance | No Comments »
Posted on August 20th, 2011 by Zettel Film Reviewer
Tweet The Tree Of Life – Terence Malik “Why should I be good?” asks pre-pubescent Jack O’Brien (Hunter McCracken), one of three brothers whose childhood doubts and fears form the central narrative of this extraordinary film. In voiceover at the beginning of the movie his long-suffering, stoical mother Malik doesn’t […]
Filed under: 4 stars, Drama, Fantasy, Film Reviews, General, Hollywood, Philosophical, Terence Malik | No Comments »