Category: Movie Reviews
-
Tyrannosaur, reflection
Paddy Considine made his directorial debut in the 2008 BAFTA winning short film Dog Altogether about a violence-fuelled man and a charity worker. Tyranossaur is an expansion of that film and explores the relationship in which the charity worker’s character is being abused. Olivia Colman’s role in Paddy Considine’s new movie is not a surprise.…
-
A single man, some thoughts
A gay man in sixties America goes through an important day and we follow. His long term partner has died and he is trying to cope in a world that has rendered him invisible. He is judged as something abhorrent and yet the world that others describe as normal is unbelievably cruel. Sometimes awful things…
-
Julia’s Eyes (Los Ojos de Julia)
This isn’t a Guillermo del Toro movie in the way of Pan’s Labyrinth but it is a product of a team which includes the famous director who was responsible for the Orphanage. Guillem Morales co-wrote, with Oriol Paulo, and directed Julia’s Eyes (Los Ojos de Julia), his second full length movie and while the directing…
-
Husbands by John Cassavetes
Peter Falk was drafted in to help write and star in the movie Husbands (1970) which he says was ahead of its time. The critics call it a movie about middle aged men confronting their mortality. John Cassavetes, the director and writer, says “Think of it this way: When you’re an old guy, you can…
-
Watershed chief backs away from film ban fight
The British Board of Film Classification has been in the news these past few daysafter banning the film Human Centipede II. Apparently no amount of footage could be cut to make the film suitable for any classification so it can not be seen or distributed in the UK legally. The original movie is about a surgeon…
-
The banning of Human Centipede II
My initial response to the British Board of Film Classification’s ban of the Human Centipede II was ‘good’. I was glad that the film cannot be bought on DVD or downloaded legally anywhere in the UK because it is “sexually violent and potentially obscene” [see reasoning]. The Human Centipede is about a surgeon who obsesses about…
-
Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde, one dimensional at best
I sat in the theatre thinking, it will be alright, after all he doesn’t need to do ‘sexy’ in this production. Oh how wrong I was. Turns out that Mr Hyde is all about sleaze and physical lust and cruelty and that’s something that the main actor just couldn’t do. I saw Marti Pellow at…
-
Honeymooner, a reflection
For a movie that begins with the line ‘no one should be alone on their wedding day’, Honeymooner is spectacularly uplifting and fun. Filmed on a £45,000 budget it takes director, Col Spector’s, script, some brilliant acting and intersperses it all around the pubs and pretty locations in Camden Town. The giggles start early when…
-
Black Swan, A Reflection
We all know the story. Virginal girl, pure and sweet, trapped in the body of a swan. She desires freedom, but only true love can break the spell. Her wish is nearly granted in the form of a prince. But before he can declare his love, her lustful twin, the Black Swan, tricks and seduces…
-
Dogtooth at the Academy Awards
The Greek movie, Dogtooth, has received its ninth nomination, among its five wins, since its release in 2009. This is no ordinary announcement however, because unlike the Montréal Festival of New Cinema or the Mar del Plata Film Festival, we know that the whole world will be watching when the results are announced for Best…