Sunday, 28 February 2016

this week on 100 Films

4 brand-new reviews were published to 100 Films in a Year this week, and they were...


AfterDeath (2015)
A low-budget British single-location thriller with a mostly unknown cast... mainly trades on the mystery established by its situation. The characters are quickly sketched and somewhat archetypal, and the twists in their storylines aren’t all that surprising, but combined with the relatively brisk running time this means they crack on with trying to solve what’s going on.
Read more here.


Heaven Can Wait (1943)
It starts brilliantly: the bookend scenes are excellent, and the early parts of the plot are buoyed by consistent wit and enjoyable characters, particularly Charles Coburn as a slyly raucous grandfather. As it heads into its second half, it loses momentum and focus
Read more here.


Paddington (2014)
a fine example of why you can’t judge a film by its marketing, because the critics were right: this is a joyous, funny movie; a delight for all ages. It also shows that sometimes euphemistic PR phrases like “creative differences” or “we agreed he wasn’t right for the part” aren’t actually euphemistic at all: Firth would’ve been all wrong for Paddington [...] Whishaw, on the other hand, nails it
Read more here.


Star Wars: The Force Awakens (2015)
at this point, one or two other people on the internet have written the odd word about The Force Awakens — you have to really go looking, but trust me, there are some articles out there. [So,] for an angle of moderate uniqueness, I’ll talk about the five elements of the film that have been singled out for recognition by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences.
Read more here.


Also, my 100 Favourites series continued with 2 more posts...


Bloody Sunday (2002)
The British Army don’t come across in the best light, with Tim Piggot-Smith’s Major General Robert Ford issuing hostile orders, and the troops eager for a fight. The depiction is tempered by Nicholas Farrell as Brigadier Patrick MacLellan, battling his conscious even as he must carry out his orders.
Read more here.


The Bourne Identity (2002)
Perhaps the Paul Greengrass-helmed sequels have been even more influential... but for me this first film is still the best of the bunch: an engaging mystery-thriller adrenalised by excellent action sequences.
Read more here.


More next Sunday.

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