Alter Egos (2012)
You might not think superheroes lend themselves to the ultra-low-budget indie treatment, but where there’s a will there’s a way, and clearly writer-director Jordan Galland had a will.Read more here.
American Hustle (2013)
“Don’t put metal in the science oven!” If you’ve seen that bit, you’ve seen the most successful thing American Hustle has to offer. Possibly a victim of hype, it’s an over-long disappointment.Read more here.
Touch of Evil (1958/1998)
This is not film noir as many think they know it. Instead of a doggedly determined wisecracking PI solving a slightly seedy case, Touch of Evil is suffused with a sweaty and disquieting atmosphere. It’s like a terrible fever dream, with events and characters that sometimes seem disconnected, but nonetheless interweave through a dense plot.Read more here.
Up (2009)
You know Up: it's the Pixar movie where everyone talks about how amazing the first 10 minutes are, and never seems to have anything to say about the rest of the film. Which sums it up pretty well, to be honest.Read more here.
Plus seven were new to the new blog...
The Blues Brothers (1980)
Cult comedy musical, with a more-than-healthy dose of the surreal... its insistence at being random, crazy, and incessantly silly throughout is beautifully anarchic.Read more here.
Children of Heaven (1997)
a charming little number, with a simple story about a brother and sister that nonetheless runs itself on inventive incident — the amount of (pleasingly light-hearted) drama it can ring from one missing pair of shoes is, in many ways, quite extraordinary.Read more here.
Field of Dreams (1989)
it’s almost unremittingly pleasant. The lack of anything hard-hitting is no doubt why some have such a dim view of the film... [it] won’t shock you, it likely won’t make you think very hard, and any moral message or meaning it has is positive and reassuring… but what’s so wrong with that?Read more here.
The Game (1997)
Having seen it a few times over the years, I've come to the conclusion that The Game is by far at its best on your first viewing, when you don't know how it will end and it's stuffed with mysteries and twists... a lot of the film's enjoyment comes from being played with, the back-and-forth of what the truth is.Read more here.
The Lady from Shanghai (1947)
Even more attractive are the skills Welles brings directorially, on display throughout... the cruise offers many of the best bits — the hot, sweaty foreign climes are conveyed brilliantly, aided by sumptuous location photography, and these sunny scenes contrast nicely with the noir plot.Read more here.
Lethal Weapon (1987)
my mind frequently wandered during Lethal Weapon — often to Die Hard. This may predate the Bruce Willis franchise by several years, but it’s a testament to the fame of that film’s Christmas setting that my first thought was they’d ripped it offRead more here.
The Woodsman (2004)
recently released paedophile struggles to fit back into the world and avoid recommitting former crimes... Kevin Bacon manages the tricky task of eliciting sympathy and understanding as the paedophileRead more here.
More next Sunday.
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