Change Your Image
denisejatkins
Reviews
How to Get Away with It (2017)
Dark comedy indie gem
A great little indie thriller with a blackly comedic tone that builds to a satisfying conclusion. Recommended!
Andrew Dunlop is certainly a young filmmaker to watch out for.
Noah (2014)
Much better than the haters want you to think
I felt I had to review this as there are so many unjustly scathing reviews on here. Noah is a well made film based on a Bible story. It is flawed, hence a 7 star movie not 10, but worth an awful lot more than the 1 star many people are giving it - mostly over enthusiastic Christians trying to stop people seeing it because it doesn't tell quite the version they want it to tell.
The film presents some genuine moral dilemmas, which given the subject matter seem perfectly understandable. Noah believes that the planet has been corrupted by humans and would be a better place without them. As a result he starts to doubt whether his own family deserves to survive the flood if he is to follow the creator's instructions correctly. This adds to the drama, as does the sub plot with one of his sons starting to doubt his father's methods. They needed to take some liberties and extrapolate from the brief source material or there would be little human drama, and it is inevitable there would be disagreements among the family in such circumstances.
The film is beautifully shot and generally well acted. Some of the dialogue is a little weak and a couple of scenes feel unintentionally silly, which loses it a couple of stars. But it never shies away from the inherent darkness of the subject matter and presents it for the messed up story that it really is - there's not really any other way to portray genocide! The bits showing the horrors of the flood and the sins of man that brought it about are truly disturbing.
I'm an atheist but was raised with Christian stories and I felt the film was true to the source material but balanced it well with a more modern viewpoint, neither taking the bible too literally nor dismissing it completely. You can't make a film like this without courting controversy but I think Darren Aronovsky has done a very good job of balancing history, myth and science to create a compelling story. It's very well acted for the most part and stunning to look at. The costumes are also worth a mention as I thought they were really good, believably handmade looking without being too primitive for what was a pretty advanced society.
My advice is to ignore the haters and make up your own mind!
Lo imposible (2012)
Impossibly good
I thought the film was brilliantly made and extremely moving, it really stays with you. Tom Holland was superb as the young Lucas and the rest of the cast was also fantastic.
While I understand the criticism about the focus being on a western family and keeping indigenous victims in the background, I liked the simplicity of the narrative, following this one family's story. It wouldn't have had the same impact if it had knitted together lots of story threads. It avoided the traps of other films like it, letting the action and emotion speak for themselves, without the need for uncomfortable exposition explaining the wave (I don't think the words tsunami or earthquake even get a mention) or telling us what happened to the characters later over the end credits. There was no need for names, long introductions and back story for the supporting characters – there was too much distress and chaos for anyone to dwell on those things and it would have felt unnatural. The audience doesn't need to have it spelt out that the devastation was far-reaching and that this family's story was exceptional – it's all there on screen.
I think it's been terribly overlooked in the awards, for both technical and acting categories. It should surely be up there for sound and effects, and the hair and make-up category shouldn't be limited to period dramas! Tom Holland should certainly have been nominated for the Bafta Rising Star.
It was tough to watch but contained enough moments of hope, human kindness, and happy reunion to make it enjoyable too. Definitely a film to see on the big screen.
Jennifer's Body (2009)
Surprisingly Excellent Entertainment
I saw this at an advance UK screening and was pleasantly surprised. Although it's a bit slow to get going, once it does it's a huge amount of fun. The characters are likable and Mamma Mia's Amanda Seyfried is great as Jennifer's best friend Needy.
The poster describes it as Mean Girls meets Lost Boys and that's a pretty good summary, though it's better than I'd imagined. There's more than enough here to keep both men and women amused, whether or not you like horror films or teen comedies! The gore factor isn't too much and there's just enough of Megan Fox flesh for the boys.
If you're not sure about whether or not to go, give it a shot!