Seeing Robert Redford, Julie Christie, Susan Sarandon, Nick Nolte, Chris Cooper, Stanley Tucci, Richard Jenkins and Brendan Gleeson together in the same film is a pretty good reason to get excited. Such a cast, however, did make me realise how much of Hollywood’s output these days is only concerned with younger stars.
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Hoopla Factor: Continue reading The Company You Keep
Audiences will be thrilled by the depiction of a ruined world, and the action sequences featuring Harper in his flying machine are as exciting as they come. This is truly a film to see on the big screen, and the bigger the better.
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Fresh faced younger viewers and non-sci-fi geeks will probably be surprised and challenged, others less so. It really depends how willing you are to overlook the obvious lack of originality, because on its own terms, the film is excellent.
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Hoopla Factor: Continue reading Oblivion
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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Hoopla Factor: Continue reading Kon-Tiki
The narrative is a tough sell, since we’re put in the shoes of a man breaking all the laws, yet we’re asked to sympathise with him. It’s difficult to reconcile to a certain extent, but if you view the film as a morality tale then you may feel a little more comfortable.
Rating: Hoopla Factor: Continue reading Arbitrage
The last 40 minutes or so practically comprise another film in its own right, as we follow the special forces unit that infiltrate the compound in Pakistan. It’s masterfully handled and a tense piece of filmmaking, despite the fact we all know how it ends.
Rating: Hoopla Factor: Continue reading Zero Dark Thirty
He has a reasonably clear moral code but isn’t afraid to get his hands dirty, and has no qualms about killing a man if he feels they deserve it. Cruise handles the intimidation side of the role well, even though he never gets to be physically imposing. (One gets the feeling that he spent most of the shoot in platform shoes.)
Rating: Hoopla Factor: Continue reading Jack Reacher
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
Gyllenhaal and Peña are brilliant and work off each other skilfully. I don’t know whether they were lucky enough to get hours and hours of rehearsal time, or whether Ayer simply shot a tonne of takes, but their banter is incredibly authentic.
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Hoopla Factor: Continue reading End of Watch
There seems little point in introducing characters to the story if their outcomes are going to be skipped over with such little care: why should the audience feel shock, surprise, sadness or joy, if we are given only the briefest suggestion as to what has happened?
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Hoopla Factor: Continue reading Alex Cross
The Awakening is a great ghost story and a must for horror fans. Subtle without being sluggish, it boasts many tense moments, and even once or twice allows itself to become gloriously silly (but in a good way). Central to the success of the film is Hall’s performance.
Rating: Hoopla Factor: Continue reading The Awakening