A film like Julie and Julia must be savoured, attempting as it does to bring to life the struggles of two women, flawed as they are, to succeed in their chosen fields and, more importantly, in life. That it mostly succeeds is the real joy.
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Hoopla Factor: Continue reading Julie & Julia
I’m not sure what angle the sound designer was going for, but – together with the digital video – it makes the feature seem like a student film. The sound was so bad that it was difficult to focus on the rest of the movie.
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Hoopla Factor: Continue reading Public Enemies
The film is shot beautifully, with the French landscape vividly brought to life and the small town lifestyle under the shadow of two World Wars and the Great Depression evocatively demonstrated. Costume design and art direction allow the sense of reality to pervade this biopic and do justice to Provost’s vision.
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Continue reading Séraphine
Amazing Grace is a moving yet flawed film that is lifted by a cast containing Albert Finney, Michael Gambon and Ciaran Hinds. Were it not for their stirling efforts, Amazing Grace may have become bogged down in mawkish sentiment, but this cast is universally superb.
Rating: Hoopla Factor: Continue reading Amazing Grace
James Mangold’s Walk the Line wisely chooses to focus only on a short portion of Johnny Cash’s life. All the predictable musician biopic moments here: the repercussions of a childhood tragedy likely to stay with our lead character for the Continue reading Walk the Line
I think it is important to always attempt to rate a film on its own merits, in isolation from the historical and/or sociological implications that have come before. Of course that’s always going to be hard with a film like Continue reading The Passion of the Christ
With an astonishing soundtrack and a wonderful story of struggle and triumph, Ray may well be the best biopic I’ve seen. Growing up in Georgia as a black child in the time of segregation, Ray Charles Robinson had enough to Continue reading Ray