Posted on December 3rd, 2011 by Zettel Film Reviewer
Tweet Technical Entertainment Hugo (3D) – Martin Scorcese A technical tour de force. It is fascinating to see major Directors of regular 2D films grappling with the possibilities and limitations of 3D stereoscopic filming. Fast on the heels of Spielberg’s performance capture 3D Tin Tin we have Scorcese taking a radically [...]
Filed under: 3 star, 5 stars, Drama, Extended essay, Fantasy, Historical, Hollywood, Martin Scorcese, Romance | No Comments »
Posted on January 7th, 2011 by Zettel Film Reviewer
Tweet Stars Hankies My Afternoons With Margueritte – Jean Becker Rumpelstiltskinian: Director Becker has taken a few random narrative straws and spun them into a fragment of gold. Sentimental? Yes: but touching, truthful and with that rare quality in modern movies, heart. Semi-literate Germain Chazes (a superb Depardieu) was the unwanted result of a post-prandial [...]
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Posted on November 9th, 2010 by Zettel Film Reviewer
TweetThe Clock – Christian Marclay – White Cube Gallery London Not a movie but deeply cinematic. This Art installation at the White Cube Gallery, Mason’s Yard is a must for anyone interested in cinema. But be warned it is onnly on until 13th November Californian Christian Marclay has taken clips from thousands of commercial films [...]
Filed under: 5 stars, Art, Christian Marclay, Experimental, Philosophical, Philosophical, philosophy | No Comments »
Posted on May 24th, 2009 by Zettel Film Reviewer
Tweet Il Divo – Paolo Sorrentino (2008) Shakespearean in content, operatic in tone, writer director Paolo Sorrentino’s Il Divo (the extraordinary life of Giulio Andreotti) is a masterly work. Richly textured and at times demanding, Sorrentino’s film is a profound study of power, and its irresistible affects on men who possess it and those drawn [...]
Filed under: 5 stars, Action, Drama, Europe/World cinema, Extended essay, Film Essay, Historical, Humorous, Paolo Sorrentino, Philosophical, Political, Thriller | No Comments »
Posted on September 26th, 2008 by Zettel Film Reviewer
Tweet The Passenger – Michelangelo Antonioni Uncompromising and austere, Antonioni, like a painter, demands everything of his audience. He once described his actors as ‘living pigment’ – mere elements in his ‘picture’, not its raison d’être. His is not a hostile universe: worse – it is an absolutely indifferent one. Hostility might induce rebellion. Our [...]
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Posted on September 20th, 2008 by Zettel Film Reviewer
Tweet Sadly, the fears I expressed in this review four years ago about Scarlett Johanssen have been realised. Lost In Translation – Sofia Coppola We can categorise films constructively in order to validate aesthetic comparisons. We more often do so lazily in order to file them away in ill-fitting pigeon holes to decide which Oscar [...]
Filed under: 5 stars, Drama, General, Hollywood, Oscar Winner, Philosophical, Romance, Sofia Coppola | No Comments »
Posted on September 6th, 2008 by Zettel Film Reviewer
Tweet Elizabethtown – Director Cameron Crowe (BBC Prize Review) Elizabethtown is a great, great movie. In both senses. It will make you laugh, and cry, and will keep surprising you throughout. It fits no pigeonholes. A bit like life really. But it takes a while to adjust to its quirky, eccentricities of tone and narrative. [...]
Filed under: *BBC Prize Reviews*, 5 stars, Cameron Crowe, Drama, General, Hollywood, Philosophical, Romance | No Comments »
Posted on August 28th, 2008 by Zettel Film Reviewer
Tweet 3-Iron – Director KIM Ki-Duk (BBC Prize-winning review) Of all the words a film critic needs least, ‘exquisite’ must be near the top of the list. Yet this is precisely the word for this hauntingly beautiful film which celebrates with a rare delicacy and sensitivity – love, life and our freedom just to be. [...]
Filed under: *BBC Prize Reviews*, 5 stars, Drama, Europe/World cinema, General, Kim Ki-Duk, Philosophical, Romance | No Comments »
Posted on August 20th, 2008 by Zettel Film Reviewer
Tweet Caché (Hidden) – Michael Haneke (contains spoilers – plot elements revealed) Few recent films reward a second viewing more than Haneke’s justly praised Caché (Hidden). I caught it again at one of the Curzon (Mayfair and Soho) excellent midday Sunday bills. Its current release on video makes it even more widely available. Highly recommended, [...]
Filed under: 5 stars, Drama, Europe/World cinema, General, Michael Haneke, Philosophical, Political | No Comments »
Posted on August 15th, 2008 by Zettel Film Reviewer
Tweet The Three Burials of Melquiades Estrada – Tommy Lee Jones Soren Kierkegaard said “Purity of heart is to will one thing”. Understanding what he meant is to not ask what the ‘one thing’ is. Or at least to realise that when he said it was ‘the good’ he was starting a search for spiritual [...]
Filed under: 5 stars, Action, Drama, General, Hollywood, Philosophical, Tommy Lee Jones | No Comments »
