REVIEW: Invictus
Saturday February 6th, 2010
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This certainly isn’t Eastwood’s strongest directorial effort, for Invictus doesn’t offer an especially probing look at Mandela, but it is a very classy prestige pic, and far from the Oscar bait it will doubtless be monikered as. It is a testament to Eastwood’s talent, after such a strong streak of films over the last decade, that a film as robust as this can rank among the lower end. It’s regardless an inspiring and engaging film that’s bolstered by two stellar, recently Oscar-nominated performances. Though Freeman’s showy turn trumps Damon’s more stoic performance, the palpable chemistry between the two makes Invictus, for fear of cliché, a joy to behold. Full review. **** (out of five) |
REVIEW: Youth in Revolt
Saturday, February 6th, 2010
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It’s likely that you’re going to know quickly – given that Michael Cera can be heard masturbating over the film’s opening “Universal” logo - whether you’re going to enjoy Youth in Revolt. Cera’s awkward nerd persona has become rather long in the tooth by now, and so in this adaptation of C.D. Payne’s acclaimed novel, he thankfully sends it up, supplementing it with something a little more challenging. Full review. *** (out of five) |
REVIEW: The Princess and the Frog
Saturday, February 6th, 2010
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The Princess and the Frog adds more fuel to the fire that Disney is set to embark on another Golden Age of Animation. After last year’s Bolt proved that - for every horrendous straight-to-DVD sequel that Disney has churned out - they still have something unique to offer, they have jumped in with both feet, this time regressing the medium back to the classically-animated, 2D style that Disney is still best known for, and what a trip it is. Full review. *** 1/2 (out of five) |
REVIEW: Precious: Based on the Novel Push by Sapphire
Thursday, Feb 4th, 2010
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Redemptive stories of inner-city youths trying to overcome their dire circumstances have surely become trite and well-worn by now, and in many ways, Lee Daniels' Precious is a very familiar story. However, solid writing and exceptional performances can go a long way, and here they no doubt elevate a film that has had critics and awards folk eating out of their hands for some time, causing it to recently earn six Oscar nominations. Full review. *** 1/2 (out of five) |
REVIEW: Edge of Darkness
Sunday, January 31st, 2010
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Say what you will about Mel Gibson; he is an utterly compelling talent to watch, and personal demons aside, he carries that rare fires-burning-in-the-eyes quality that he demonstrated to such brilliant effect in his trademark Mad Max films. Though those embers have been burning less brightly lately – with Mel withdrawing from the screen and turning to directing the likes of the criminally underrated Apocalypto – Gibson’s Edge of Darkness, a reimagining of the classic 1985 BBC drama, sees the Oscar winner back on top form, delivering one of his most visceral and hard-nosed performances. Full review. *** 1/2 (out of five) |
REVIEW: Brothers
Sunday, January 24th, 2010
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Who knew that Spider-Man could act? Though his Golden Globe nod might be considered a stunt nomination by the Hollywood Foreign Press Association’s star-savvy voters, an underdog Oscar nomination wouldn’t be a far cry for Tobey Maguire, who proves he has more to offer than his CV would lead you to expect. For all of its flaws, Jim Sheridan’s update of Susanne Bier’s Danish 2004 film of the same name, Brothers, is a robust drama that climbs up a few notches thanks to the three dedicated lead performances. Full review. *** 1/2 (out of five) |
REVIEW: The Boys Are Back
Sunday, January 24th, 2010
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The Boys Are Back, the latest film from acclaimed Shine director Scott Hicks, layers the sentiment on thick from the outset. However, it’s redeemed largely by a rare prestige-pic foray by talented lead Clive Owen, who proves himself among the first-rate of British actors working today. As a result, this may well be the most singularly potent examination of a single father since the 1979 masterpiece Kramer vs. Kramer. Owen’s mesmerising performance brings soul to a film that concedes a lot through its predictability and occasionally overwrought tone. Full review. *** (out of five) |
REVIEW: A Prophet
Sunday, January 24th, 2010
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With the Oscars little over a month away, pundits are eagerly staking their bets for the Best Foreign Film gong, a famously divisive category that often results in left-field winners (such as last year’s Departures over the excellent Waltz with Bashir) due to odd voting regulations and other technicalities. However, the race this year is clearly cut between two contenders – Michael Haneke’s Golden Globe winner The White Ribbon, and Jacques Audiard’s A Prophet. Full review. *** 1/2 (out of five) |
REVIEW: Up in the Air
Saturday, January 16th, 2010
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This year’s Oscar race has been inundated with so many left-field “populist” films (such as Avatar, District 9, Inglourious Basterds and perhaps even Star Trek) that there’s almost been a surfeit of conventionally “classy” Oscar films, but Thank You for Smoking and Juno director Jason Reitman delivers with a legitimate Best Picture contender, in the sublime social drama Up in the Air. With the help of a triumvirate of actors at different stages in their careers – one an established and bankable name, one a burgeoning actress that has proven herself in several quietly compelling roles, and one who is virtually an unknown – Jason Reitman proves himself a vital voice of his generation, and an Academy-grade writer and director. Full review. **** 1/2 (out of five) |
REVIEW: 44 Inch Chest
Saturday, January 16th, 2010
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You may not know the names Louis Mellis and David Scinto, but you might well know the 2000 gangster comedy Sexy Beast which they wrote. It turns out the twosome haven’t done much in the last decade, but they have finally gotten round to writing another gritty gangster flick, in 44 Inch Chest, an odd, darkly, sickly comic film that doesn’t hit all the sweet spots, but covers its weaker bases with telling performances. Full review. *** (out of five) |
REVIEW: The Book of Eli
Saturday, January 16th, 2010
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In a year that has had so many post-apocalyptic films, such as Terminator Salvation, Zombieland and the masterful The Road, do we really need to add another to the pile? You may have seen the uninspired trailer for The Book of Eli, and while the film, helmed by Menace II Society directors The Hughes Brothers, is hardly a great entertainment, it is far more amusing and smash-mouth than the toothless marketing would lead you to believe. Full review. *** (out of five) |
REVIEW: All About Steve
Saturday, January 16th, 2010
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Theatrical legend Bertolt Brecht once famously devised the concept of the “distancing effect”; a method by which the audience fails to become immersed in a narrative because of some overly strange or alienating artistic device. Brecht certainly never knew it, but what he describes applies perfectly to Sandra Bullock’s latest comedy, a film so alienating in the depiction of its protagonist that it’s difficult to call it a comedy at all. Full review. * 1/2 (out of five) |
REVIEW: Daybreakers
Saturday, January 9th, 2010
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Rarely do a few weeks go by when we’re not reminded yet again of the tropes of the vampire film. I wonder what legendary Nosferatu director F.W. Murnau would have thought of the Twilight and Underworld films for one. Given how commoditized the vampire has become, it’s immensely satisfying when a refreshing take comes along, such as in the excellent 2008 Swedish vamp flick Let the Right One In, and while The Spierig Brothers’ Daybreakers is certainly rough around the edges, it’s probably the most satisfying vampire film since. Full review. *** (out of five) |
REVIEW: It's Complicated
Sunday, January 10th, 2010
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Much has been written about Nancy Myers’ previous films, and indeed, though she virulently represents the interests of the undemanding white middle-class (undemanding white middle-class women in particular), that doesn’t mean she can’t be edgy. With an all-star cast and an interesting premise, it’s all the more shameful that It’s Complicated actually isn’t. Full review. ** 1/2 (out of five) |
REVIEW: Post Grad
Thursday, January 7th, 2010
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The post-grad malaise has likely affected anyone who has ever returned home after the completion of their degree, and it’s a premise that takes unto itself a whole new meaning in the wake of the present economic downturn, where the graduate market is incredibly tight for even the most able students. Combine this with the rare perspective of an Art student (a different take to The Graduate’s Benjamin Braddock, who was surely a Scientist), and you find Post Grad, a film with a solid premise that any half-decent screenwriter could have knocked out of the park, making it all the more disappointing that the end result is so calamitous. Full review. ** (out of five) |
REVIEW: Did You Hear About the Morgans?
Tuesday, January 5th, 2010
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Did You Hear About the Morgans is not a good film. It isn’t an offensively bad one either, though, and falls into that rare category of just not being very funny without being aggressively terrible. It is a film mired in inertia, and in many ways it would be more admirable as an abject failure having just tried to push the boat out, but instead, this by-the-book treatment ensures that a talented cast is wasted on routine, fish-out-of-water material. Full review. ** 1/2 (out of five) |
REVIEW: Sherlock Holmes
Tuesday, January 5th, 2010
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In recent years, we’ve seen numerous stagnant franchises revived from the doldrums of mediocrity and obscurity, but typically this blockbuster treatment only works if the character you’re clamping the defibrillators onto was born in the blockbuster tradition. Arthur Conan Doyle’s Sherlock Holmes does anything but adhere to the prescribed statement: though insanely clever, he is also a drug addict, and while gangster-pic maestro Guy Ritchie makes an attempt to highlight the wily Detective’s more sordid side, this is a film that reeks of studio sanitation. Above all else, it is a property that deserves something edgier than a comfortable 12A treatment. Full review. ** 1/2 (out of five) |
REVIEW: Nowhere Boy
Thursday, January 7th, 2010
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Many films have been made about the circumstances of John Lennon’s demise, and documentaries have examined his life’s work, but Nowhere Boy is the first film to focus on the musician’s formative years, observing his difficult upbringing and the connections he made that would inform his later artistry as a member of The Beatles. Though not quite the probing biopic many will have expected, director Sam Taylor-Wood has crafted a loving ode to Lennon’s life, controlling traffic with a wink and a nudge, while coaxing an exuberantly charismatic performance from 2010’s sure-to-be breakout star, Aaron Johnson (who also stars in Kick-Ass this Spring). Full review. *** 1/2 (out of five) |
REVIEW: Alvin and the Chipmunks: The Squeakquel
Tuesday, January 5th, 2010
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The first Alvin and the Chipmunks was just about cute enough to work, while managing a slight satire of the music industry at the same time. Nevertheless, it wasn’t without hiccups, and as if the idea couldn’t get any clunkier, this cringey-not-cutesy “Squeakquel” places the rodent trio – Alvin (Justin Long), Simon (Matthew Gray Gubler), and Theodore (Jesse McCartney) – into the American high school system, yet lacks the light satirical touch that made the original mildly engaging. Full review. ** (out of five) |
REVIEW: Nine
Tuesday, January 5th, 2010
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On paper, Rob Marshall’s lavishly-produced musical Nine is a no-brainer for Best Picture contendership at the Oscars: Marshall’s previous musical, Chicago, won the 2002 Oscar for Best Picture, while Marshall himself earned a Best Director nomination. What’s more, the cast boasts a ridiculous fleet of Oscar winners, including Daniel Day-Lewis (for here Will Be Blood and My Left Foot), Marion Cotillard (La vie en rose), Penelope Cruz (Vicky Cristina Barcelona), Judi Dench (Shakespeare in Love), Nicole Kidman (The Hours), and the legendary Sophia Loren (Two Women). If that doesn’t whet the appetite of your inner film-buff, then perhaps the fact that it is a “spiritual remake” of Federico Fellini’s seminal 1962 Italian Neorealist film 8 ½ might. Full review. *** (out of five) |
REVIEW: Avatar
Tuesday, December 22nd, 2009
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We’ve all heard the rumours, and by now we’ve all taken a stance based on the wealth of footage released online. Is James Cameron’s first film in over a decade a dodgy amalgam of Ferngully and Dances with Wolves, or does it preserve Big Jim’s critical and commercial winning streak, which culminated in 1997 with his monstrous $1.8bn blockbuster juggernaut Titanic. It is safe to say that James Cameron has lost none of what has caused him to become affectionately known as the Martin Scorsese of action films. Full review. **** 1/2 (out of five) |