Posted on September 22nd, 2012 by Zettel Film Reviewer
Tweet Killing Them Softly – Andrew Dominik One of the deepest and most interesting issues in Philosophy is that of knowledge of other minds. How is it that we can come to know, understand, care, hate, love another person? Indeed the idea of what it is to be a person is an […]
Filed under: 2 star, Action, Andrew Dominik, Drama, Gangster, General, Hollywood, Philosophical, Political, Thriller | No Comments »
Posted on September 16th, 2012 by Zettel Film Reviewer
Tweet To Rome With L0ve – Woody Allen Domestic disagreement on this one: my wife, who liked Midnight In Paris much more than I did was lukewarm about Woody Allen’s latest comedy of manners, mores and the absurdity of love and life. I am the opposite. To Rome With Love for me is […]
Filed under: 3 star, Comedy, Drama, General, Hollywood, Romance, Woody Allen | No Comments »
Posted on September 14th, 2012 by Zettel Film Reviewer
Tweet Lawless – John Hillcoat Stupid men, doing stupid things, in very stupid ways, for pretty stupid reasons. Hillcoat and screenplay writer Nick Cave re-unite after the gratuitously violent The Proposition to delight us with the gratuitously violent Lawless. I wrote this of that first film, much admired by some. “A new genre – […]
Filed under: 1 star, Action, Drama, Gangster, General, Hollywood, John Hillcoat | 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 […]
Filed under: 4 stars, Action, Drama, General, Hollywood, Sci-Fi, Thriller, Tony Gilroy | No Comments »
Posted on June 2nd, 2012 by Zettel Film Reviewer
Tweet Prometheus – Ridley Scott When did the octopus first become the template for space-monsters? I get why: they carry all the repulsiveness of the snake – multiplied by 8; and they are very what we might call grapho-genic. Wave the arms about a lot and our imagination comfortably believes in flying octopi […]
Filed under: 3 star, Action, Drama, Fantasy, General, Hollywood, Horror, Ridley Scott, Sci-Fi | No Comments »
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 25th, 2012 by Zettel Film Reviewer
Tweet Rampart – Oren Moverman When did the Hollywood Dream factory re-tool to produce nightmares? Was there a key year; a definitive film? I always feel the repressed misogyny in largely male directed movies finally crossed a borderline with Brian de Palma’s 1980 Dressed To Kill: the first film I remember where I was, […]
Filed under: 2 star, General, Hollywood, Oren Moverton | No Comments »
Posted on February 22nd, 2012 by Zettel Film Reviewer
Tweet Man On A Ledge – Asgar Leth Workmanlike thriller with a central device that generates tension at first then gradually suffers from the law of diminishing dramatic returns. Nick Cassidy (Sam Worthington) is an ex-cop jailed for stealing a legendary diamond from ruthless tycoon David Englander (Ed Harris). Claiming he was framed, […]
Filed under: 2 star, Asgar Leth, General, Hollywood | 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 »