Director: Joseph Kosinski Stars: Olivia Wilde, Garrett Hedlund, Michael Sheen ***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 …
Review: Somewhere
Director: Sofia Coppola Stars: Stephen Dorff, Elle Fanning, Karissa Shannon ***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 …
Review: A Town Called Panic
Directors: Stéphane Aubier, Vincent Patar ***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 …
Review: The Social Network
Director: David Fincher Stars: Jessie Eisenberg, Andrew Garfield, Armie Hammer ***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 …
Review: The Town
Director: Ben Affleck Stars: Ben Affleck, Rebecca Hall, Jeremy Renner 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. …
Review: The Other Guys
Director: Adam McKay Stars: Will Farrell, Mark Wahlberg, Eva Mendes ***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 …
Review: The Illusionist (L’illusionniste)
Director: Sylvain Chomet ***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 …
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Review: Scott Pilgrim vs. the World
Director: Edgar Wright Stars: Michael Cera, Mary Elizabeth Winstead, Ellen Wong ***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 …
Review: Gainsbourg
Director: Joann Sfar Stars: Eric Elmosnino, Kacey Mottet Klein, Laetitia Casta ***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 …
Review: Toy Story 3
Director: Lee Unkrich ***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 …
Review: Predators
Director: Nomród Antal Stars: Adrien Brody, Alice Braga, Mahershala Ali ***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 …
Review: Inception
Director: Christopher Nolan Stars: Leonardo DiCaprio, Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Tom Hardy ***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 …
Review: The Killer Inside Me
Director: Michael Winterbottom Stars: Casey Affleck, Jessica Alba, Kate Hudson ***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 …
Review: American – The Bill Hicks Story
Director: Matt Harlock ***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 …
Review: The Bad Lieutenant: Port of Call – New Orleans
Director: Werner Herzog Stars: Nicolas Cage, Brad Dourif, Xzibit ***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 …
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