Unforgiven (2013) review

11/12/2013

 
It is rare for the reverse situation, where the international community remake Hollywood product. Clint Eastwood’s masterpiece has been transposed from the Wild West of America to the dying days of the samurai in 19th century Japan.
My review of UNFORGIVEN (2013): http://www.filmaluation.com/unforgiven.html
“Kill and kill and kill, and then be killed in return. That’s all I thought my life was,” Jubei Kamata (Ken Watanabe)
 

Bad Words review

11/12/2013

 
A masterclass in driving a vitriolic verbal stake through the heart of adversaries. Bravo to Jason Bateman for his hilarious directorial debut, BAD WORDS.
My review: http://www.filmaluation.com/bad-words.html
 

Godzilla (2014) - first trailer

11/12/2013

 
GODZILLA (2014), please be everything PACIFIC RIM wasn't, and avoid so much of what it was.
 

Girls - season two

11/12/2013

 
GIRLS [season 2] ★★★☆☆ Messy and too often feels derivative. Dunham’s Hannah Horvath and Karpovsky’s Ray Ploshansky standout and elevate.
 

Chinese Puzzle

11/12/2013

 
CHINESE PUZZLE ★★★★☆ Third part after SPANISH INN (aka POT LUCK) and RUSSIAN DOLLS. A sublimely nutty and energetic rom-com trilogy.
 

Jupiter Ascending - first trailer

10/12/2013

 
From the directors of THE MATRIX and CLOUD ATLAS, JUPITER ASCENDING of course looks stunning. The dialogue shown here though looks clunky. Hopefully it's just snippets of something more poetic. Out July 2014.
The first trailer:
 

Out To Own Today: The Croods and Kick-Ass 2

09/12/2013

 
Out to own today:

THE CROODS

Picture
“Eep, stay within the family kill circle,” Ugga (Catherine Keener)

The nuclear family has a rich heritage in cartoon form. Portraying a prehistoric unit has pretty massive shoes to fill… THE FLINTSTONES. Maybe the filmmakers are counting on short-term memories? THE CROODS does not come close to that benchmark; nor recent animated doozy, THE INCREDIBLES. Little mind appears to have been paid to story or character, instead AVATAR-esque visuals are the dominating force. Crazy animals (e.g. flying turtle things) and fauna, saturated in a hallucinogenic colour scheme, should sate the appetite of the youngest audience members. Anyone else will be along for a bland sub-ICE AGE, sub-BRAVE (no corker in itself) ride. [To read more, click here.]

KICK-ASS 2

Picture
“Try to have fun; otherwise what’s the point?” Colonel Stars and Stripes (Jim Carrey)

Opening on Dave Lizewski a.k.a. Kick-Ass (Aaron Taylor-Johnson) getting shot in the chest, though wearing a bulletproof vest, by Mindy Macready a.k.a. Hit-Girl (Chloë Grace Moretz), echoing the movie’s predecessor. Mindy has taken over from her father, the deceased Big Daddy (Nicolas Cage), as the most lethal superhero on the streets of New York. There are plenty of reverberations from the first film, sometimes necessary to show some kind of grudging character progression, but its main use is lazy – to make the two main leads regress from their initial desire for adventure and justice, and instead take turns to question whether they are on the correct path. [To read more, click here.]
 

Oldboy (2013)

09/12/2013

 
OLDBOY (2013) ★½☆☆☆ Redundant. Inferior to the original in every way. At least execrable eight volume source manga was again sidestepped.
 

The Drowned Man: A Hollywwod Fable

08/12/2013

 
THE DROWNED MAN: A HOLLYWOOD FABLE [theatre]  ★★½☆☆ Movie dream turned nightmare. More unfathomable, repetitive grandiosity from Punchdrunk.
 

In Fear

08/12/2013

 
IN FEAR ★★★½☆ Nattily crafted low budget chiller. A lesson in economy, though stretches believability.
 
<< Previous