There’s an initial rush to get the journey underway that simply feels forced, despite the best efforts of Pål Sverre Hagen as Heyerdahl, and the film is in such a rush to get to the ‘good bits’ that we miss some of the minutiae of life at sea that made reading the book such a gritty, tactile experience.
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Continue reading Kon-Tiki
Seeing someone portray King George so soon after Colin Firth’s Oscar win is just plain weird. West is fantastic in the role, but it’s impossible to put Firth’s performance out of your mind when watching him. This, however, is the least of the film’s worries.
Rating: Hoopla Factor: Continue reading Hyde Park on Hudson
Unsurprisingly, the film is also way too long, with a runtime of 165 minutes. This may be par for the course with Tarantino, but in this case, I could actually pinpoint the section that could have been excised in order to bring the film down to a reasonable length.
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Hoopla Factor: Continue reading Django Unchained
Crucially, the film is pitched as an underdog story, and whilst the man did indeed face battles with studios and censors, its hard to believe that this really is a story of the ‘little guy achieving greatness in the face of adversity’, even if the likes of Vertigo weren’t appreciated until years later.
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Continue reading Hitchcock
There’s a tension that runs throughout the entire film, culminating in a final half hour that is literally edge of your seat stuff. This is up there with some of the best moments of tension you’ll ever see in a Hitchcock film; it’s that good.
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Hoopla Factor: Continue reading Argo
The Sapphires is an incredibly ambitious outing. Any film that tackles racism, the Stolen Generation and the Vietnam War is going to have its work cut out. Even more impressive is that fact that the film ends up being such a feel-good experience.
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Hoopla Factor: Continue reading The Sapphires
Alois Nebel leaves a lot of blanks for the audience to fill in. The stylised nature of the film itself meant that I wasn’t even sure of the timeframe in which the film was set until I heard mention of the Berlin Wall coming down.
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Continue reading Alois Nebel
The critical acclaim surrounding the film leaves me wondering if it is purely the thematic content of the film that had such an impact. Hugo is a film that looks and sounds great, and it’s clear that a lot of love went into making it, but the humdrum storytelling leaves a lot to be desired.
Rating: Hoopla Factor: Continue reading Hugo
There are several startling sequences that really prove Spielberg hasn’t lost his touch. Whilst the slower, character-driven moments can be awkward – like everyone is posing for the camera – the action is masterfully orchestrated.
Rating: Hoopla Factor: Continue reading War Horse
5 Days of War contains face-to-camera segments of victim’s families, detailing the plight of their loved ones, yet also features our hero reporter walking away from an exploding building in slow motion without batting an eyelid. It just doesn’t gel.
Rating: Hoopla Factor: Continue reading 5 Days of War