Whilst the historical buildings may be impressive, there’s certainly nothing to feast one’s eyes upon. It feels like the filmmakers chose only to use natural lighting, and thus the nighttime scenes are almost entirely indiscernible. The camera itself never does anything exciting, either.
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Continue reading Mozart’s Sister
The film is pretentious, overblown and overlong, and quite frankly I
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Continue reading The Tree of Life
I have to be completely honest here. I understood nothing in this film. Nothing at all. I was completely adrift in an ocean of “what the hell’s going on?” with no narrative buoy on which to cling, and I’m not entirely sure why. Perhaps I should have paid more attention to the opening title card.
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Continue reading The Lost Bladesman
The film is a little too disciplined – holding back the court intrigue, the humour and the sex – when maybe it should have let such things flourish. By not doing so, the film ends up being a tad too dry – this was a situation where I almost wanted it to veer more into melodrama.
Rating: Hoopla Factor: Continue reading The Princess of Montpensier
The real standout, however, is Helena Bonham Carter. It seems like aeons since I’ve seen her play a character that isn’t completely off the wall, and her performance as Queen Elizabeth is both sincere and hilarious.
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Continue reading The King’s Speech
I’ll be curious to see how this film fares in the long run, as it’s impossible to say just how significant the social networking site will be in a decade or two. Imagine if a Myspace film had been made – copies of the DVD would be clogging up the bargain bins right about now…
Rating: Hoopla Factor: Continue reading The Social Network
This really is a strange film. The historical sections are pitch perfect, and it’s such a fascinating story that it’s a pity they had to be sullied by the regular intrusions of the embarrassing present. Worse still, the final section of the film seems like it will never finish until, miraculously, it ends on an incredibly touching note.
Rating: Hoopla Factor: Continue reading Sarah’s Key
Neil Marshall has again been denied the success he deserves as Centurion breezes in and out of a select couple of cinemas in Melbourne in the space of two weeks. Indeed, the timing of this review will be too late for many to catch it in the cinema.
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Continue reading Centurion
Miranda Otto’s performance carries the film, essentially, and it’s fascinating to watch such a shy, lonely and eager to please person as Meredith try to survive on a remote island with a population of exactly eight people.
Rating: Hoopla Factor: Continue reading South Solitary
This has got to be one of the best films about the theatre that I’ve ever seen. The week leading up to opening night is fantastic, coloured with the motley collection of thespians and all their idiosyncrasies. Anyone who’s ever been on stage will recognise everything here.
Rating: Hoopla Factor: Continue reading Me and Orson Welles