Reviews written for films released in the UK in 2010
***originally written 17 December 2010*** I want to add a strong caveat right up front on this one that I might not be the best person to take an opinion from on this movie as, for a period of about 10 minutes in the middle I think, I simply gave up, closed my eyes and … Continue reading Review: Tron Legacy
***originally written 14 December 2010*** Complaining that Somewhere is slow is foolish. It's like complaining that a Michael Bay film has explosions. Sofia Coppola has made her name with slow moving, thoughtful pictures, absorbed in the minutiae and nuance of human behaviour. Her films thus far have been exquisitely framed, languid and poetic, heartfelt and … Continue reading Review: Somewhere
***originally written 27 October 2010*** Due to the unusual nature of the subject matter, this review shall be slightly different than normal... AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA … Continue reading Review: A Town Called Panic
***originally written 21 October 2010*** "Is there a land speed record for talking?" one character asks somewhere in the middle of this movie. No kidding. The Social Network is the latest movie from director David Fincher, from a script by celebrated screenwriter Aaron Sorkin. Sorkin has made a name for himself writing dense, talky and … Continue reading Review: The Social Network
So it's a film called The Town and it's directed by Ben Affleck. Not only does Ben Affleck direct the movie, he co-authors it's screenplay and he's the lead. You'd forgive me for not going weak at the knees over this proposition. But hold on. His previous directorial effort Gone Baby Gone wasn't too bad, … Continue reading Review: The Town
***originally written 3 October 2010*** The consistently funny American comedy movie is, really, pretty rare. There just aren't that many of them. There are a whole bunch that come close, or have one particular sequence that sticks in the mind (There's Something About Mary's dog-revival scene for instance), but very few seem to work all … Continue reading Review: The Other Guys
***originally written 13 September 2010*** This is not the 2006 movie with Edward Norton. I haven't seen that movie. I was told it wasn't very good. No, this particular Illusionist comes from the same peculiar pocket of French animation that gave us Belleville Rendezvous back in 2003. That pocket belongs to Sylvain Chomet, and what … Continue reading Review: The Illusionist (L’illusionniste)
***originally written 24 August 2010*** It had to happen eventually. Someone let Edgar Wright loose in Hollywood. After finding acclaim with both Shaun Of The Dead and Hot Fuzz, two fine and particularly British comedy movies from the last decade, Wright was always going to be lured away. Thus the triumvirate of Wright, Frost (Nick) … Continue reading Review: Scott Pilgrim vs. the World
***originally written 10 August 2010*** Gainsbourg the film, a biopic of Lucien Ginsberg - who became Serge Gainsbourg - is based on a graphic novel by Joann Sfar. Indeed Sfar directs this interpretation too, which is quite an achievement by itself. Clearly a fan of the man and his life's work, Sfar's film is warm … Continue reading Review: Gainsbourg
***originally written 26 July 2010*** Right. How in the world am I going to review this? Usually I start one of these things off knowing more or less what I want to say and how I'm going to try to articulate it. People who know me know I don't have a particularly good history with … Continue reading Review: Toy Story 3
***originally written 17 July 2010*** Let's just forget the Alien vs Predator films shall we? They are two of the worst films I have ever had the misfortune to sit through. So let's say they never existed. That leaves us with 20 years since the last Predator movie. And Predator 2 was good. Really, it … Continue reading Review: Predators
***originally written 16 July 2010*** Christopher Nolan is largely without compare in the modern cinema landscape, in that he dares to sculpt intelligent, densely-plotted stories on the canvas of the multi-million dollar summer blockbuster. After The Dark Knight, when Inception was first announced, it would have been forgivable to expect a much smaller-scale movie as … Continue reading Review: Inception
***originally written 25 June 2010*** Odds on, if you've heard of Michael Winterbottom's new film The Killer Inside Me, based on the book of the same name (which I have not read) by Jim Thompson, then you've heard that it's courted controversy for it's graphic scenes of violence. In Empire's review they called it 'a … Continue reading Review: The Killer Inside Me
***originally written 17 June 2010*** I'll admit it upfront; I didn't know a whole lot about Bill Hicks. Truth be told, I hadn't really seen or heard much of his work. Clips here and there. Half hour of a televised set one night years ago. But what I'd seen gave me the sense of a … Continue reading Review: American – The Bill Hicks Story
***originally written 3 June 2010*** "You explore the notion that cop and criminal are really two aspects of the same person. See every cop movie ever made for other examples of this." So says Nicolas Cage whilst portraying Charlie Kaufman in Spike Jonze's exceptional film Adaptation from 2002. The remark is part of a scathing … Continue reading Review: The Bad Lieutenant: Port of Call – New Orleans
