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Reviews
Side Effects (2013)
" Dosage. Take half with food ,the other half with a pinch of salt"
Definitely a film of two halves. Being aware that the film was marketed as a thriller I was truly intrigued to see how the story would develop, the first half being a deliberate, serious look at the impact of new anti-depressant drugs on lives. Well acted, it teases out the issues and ramifications of wrongly administered drugs in a compulsive, sober manner. But then... then the film takes a headlong dive into implausibility, becoming a pretty standard thriller with a number of credulity stretching situations.
This would be fine as the bare bone plot really isn't that bad and would have been quite entertaining if the film had maintained that tone throughout, but after such a promising start I could only feel slight disappointment.
Can't quite decide if this shift was an intentional "red herring", wrong footing the audience into thinking they are watching one kind of film ,when in fact they are watching something else.This coupled with the fact that all the characters are greedy and unlikeable (a convention of many noir thrillers)may lead me to believe "Side Effects" is actually far more clever than first viewing would suggest.
Clever?.. maybe, unsatisfying?...yeah.
Cloud Atlas (2012)
A movie spanning a thousand years and you will feel every minute.
It's surely wrong to review a film you have'nt sat all the way through but after two hours of Cloud Atlas and faced with the prospect of another hour i decided to cut my losses and leave.The feeling of liberation as i left was more thrilling than anything i'd seen on the screen.
Having read some reviews i was hoping to see something of an inspired mess,flashes of brilliance in an ambitious,undisciplined sprawl,in fact i was just bored.It's a very difficult film to engage with,perhaps the episodic way the stories are told does'nt help as the individual stories are not that remarkable and more time would need to be spent coaxing out interesting levels. Another hindrance is the distraction of Hollywood stars plastered in unconvincing make up giving the viewer a barrier too difficult to overcome.It also takes itself terribly seriously,i think a lighter touch would have been more persuasive.Certainly there's some striking imagery (pretty much all included in the trailer) but aside from that we are left with a ponderous,dull story.
I applaud the films ambition but unfortunately thats about all i can recommend.
The Man Who Laughs (1928)
Maybe this talking picture fad is not the way forward after all..
I had been familiar with the image of Veidt grinning for years and had always presumed this film to be a horror/dark thriller picture.In actuality it's a sweeping costume epic but with an extraordinarily unusual central story.Written down the story would seem melodramatic, even corny ,yet the strangeness of it's performances,the bizarre beauty of it's imagery combine to make a truly unforgettable experience.My expectations of a creaking story with perhaps some interesting scenes were replaced by an awe struck entertainment.Afterwards i was surprised how well a reasonably complicated story was told without dialogue and a minimum of title cards,Paul Leni had developed a truly sophisticated visual story telling technique.Watching you realise how the advent of sound actually restricted the development of film in the following decade.
Around three quarters of the way through the film looses its footing somewhat and becomes a little unfocused but rallies in time for a rousing climax. A film of stunning imagery and great performances.
Sound It Out (2011)
No room for spotify here!
Very funny and engaging documentary that offers us glimpses into the lives of the staff and patrons of an independent North Eastern record store.They are characters most people would recognise and a lot of wry humour is wrung from their particularly male obsession.But as well as a nice character study the film is also a look at how important such shops are in their community,showing how a physical space is important for people to congregate,socialise,educate themselves or even escape to.Thankfully the film never polemiscise ,prefering to just observe. Occasionally i felt the subjects were intruded on a little to much,perhaps edits could have come a little sooner but "Sound it out" remains for the most part a worthwhile ,thought provoking,well observed entertaining documentary.
88 Minutes (2007)
Enjoyably ridiculous
I almost switched "88 minutes" off after an opening ten minutes of tasteless violence and poor acting,yet after watching the whole film was glad i did'nt.After a while i settled into the movies trashy eighties style shenanigans and found myself guiltily enjoying it!It moves at a pace that seems to be designed to keep you from looking too closely at the ridiculousness of it all,although it does fail several times to do just that.It's an entertaining throwback to the days of nefarious serial killers exploiting the soft side of the judicial system,those "Dirty Harry" clones that clogged up video store shelves back in the day.It's also in the proud tradition of movies such as "D.O.A.",movies whose kineticism drags you along for the ride.
To be fair to Al Pacino i'd like to think his involvement generously provided the mostly young cast the opportunity to work with one of Americas finest actors whilst in return he himself gets to be surrounded by a bevy of beautiful young women, not a bad deal at all. Best watched with your brain in neutral,not a great film by any means but an enjoyable one...and what the hell is going on with Pacino's hair?
Barbara (2012)
Subtle thriller
A little understanding of the political background to this very good film would be helpful as the audience is dropped into the story with the impression that significant things have happened in the characters recent past and yet these events are not made overly explicit, we are left seeing only the shattered remnants of lives.The title character doesn't articulate her frustration and bitterness through expositional dialogue,rather it is etched on her unsmiling face as she chain smokes her way through the days. An atmosphere of paranoia pervades the film but cleverly the film chooses not to force this across ,rather a subtle air of distrust hangs over the film.Subtle also describes the look of the film which is sensitively photographed making good use of natural light sources,the film does look quietly beautiful.
However as the film progresses events begin to become more dramatically focused and although in some ways satisfying it's a little disappointing that a film that has carefully avoided the usual trappings of similar films resolves itself in a slightly pedestrian manner.That said an optimistic conclusion does make the film a more palatable experience given the sombre nature of the situation and the title characters growing self realisation provides a welcome positive climax.
The film abounds with excellent performances that brilliantly convey both the banality of evil and the pressures of living under such a regime.
To Rome with Love (2012)
Pleasant lightweight fare.
To Rome with love is a perfectly agreeable comedy ,which although it wont change your life will provide an entertaining couple of hours.Tipping it's hat to the European portmanteau films of the nineteen sixties its four separate stories all take either a fantastical or absurd turn and the lives of it's characters are turned upside down. After an unsure start the film settles into a consistently amusing tone which occasionally moves up a gear into the very funny .The stories themselves are quite slight,no more than extended gags in some cases and given the light tone of the film this is perfectly acceptable,however as the film has an almost two hour running time i felt that perhaps ten or fifteen minutes could have been pruned to maintain the light atmosphere.I'm sure also that natives of Rome would take issue with the authenticity of the portrayal of life in that particular city!
It's obviously the film of an older writer director and as such probably wont connect as readily with younger audiences,but a pleasant experience never the less and it's sunny ambiance makes it a tonic on dark wintry evenings.