Lone Survivor – the re-telling of a real-life military operation that took place in 2005 – sees director Peter Berg on a mission to atone for his involvement in Battleship, the multi-million dollar blockbuster flop. He succeeds in part, yet Lone Survivor, no matter how intense and true-to-life it’s brought to the screen, can’t help but feel overblown, particularly thanks to the slideshow epilogue that brings it all to a mawkish close. Continue reading “Review: Lone Survivor (2013)”
A rom-com presented from the point of view of three callow, commitment-phobe serial daters, That Awkward Moment has oodles of potential, not least thanks to the combined talents of its up-and-coming cast. Yet the fact that the film is unable to mine any insight or meaning from its slapdash, cliché-ridden and relatively unfunny screenplay renders this an experiment that’s watchable, yet blatantly unremarkable. Continue reading “Review: That Awkward Moment (2014)”
Deserving of more awards attention than it’s received, Inside Llewyn Davis – Joel and Ethan Coen’s follow-up to the very different True Grit – is a very heartfelt and rich piece of cinema, perhaps even one of their best. Melancholic and somber, yet imbued with a tremendous amount of heart, insight and humour through its realistically flawed central character and soul-stirring use of folk music, this is one intoxicating parable that shouldn’t be missed. Continue reading “Review: Inside Llewyn Davis (2013)”
Matthew McConaughey turns in a phenomenal, committed performance in the credible Dallas Buyers Club, further cementing his shift from rom-com doormat to serious, respectable actor. Based on the real-life story of Ron Woodroff, an AIDs victim-turned-activist during the deadly diseases mid-to-late 1980s peak, the film is somber and potent in its portrayal of Ron’s undying courage, yet ultimately hampered by an all too too hooey finale. Continue reading “Review: Dallas Buyers Club (2013)”
Out Of The Furnace, Scott Cooper’s follow-up to the award-winning Crazy Heart, boasts a all-star ensemble cast and accurately barbed, but not much else. This revenge thriller, if you can call it that, suffers from a conventional, extremely plain narrative that trudges along drearily, flinging cliches every which way, but never offers anything meaty enough to sustain its lengthy run time, nor its deserving-of-better cast and the qualities it emits through its production credits. Continue reading “Review: Out Of The Furnace (2013)”
Inspired by the universal success of The Hangover trilogy (Todd Phillips’ films have amassed a whopping $1.4M at the worldwide box office), Last Vegas assembles a quarter of Hollywood’s most revered actors for a sleek R-rated comedy. Unfortunately, and in spite of its best intentions and heavyweight credentials, the film never quite lives up to its potential, resulting in a film that’s flat and uninspired. Continue reading “Review: Last Vegas (2013)”
August: Osage County, adapted by Tracy Letts from his own Pulitzer Prize winning play, has awards bait written all over it, from its spectacular ensemble cast to its succession of ravaging put downs. It’s a shame, then, that the force and effectiveness of the film, then, is let down by drab, staid direction and a tendency to be as boisterous and melodramatic as possible where a little more poignancy would have better done the trick. Continue reading “Review: August: Osage County (2013)”
Marking the fifth collaboration between director Martin Scorsese and star Leonardo DiCaprio, The Wolf Of Wall Street is an exhilarating and derisive black comedy that’s miles away from their previous efforts The Gangs Of New York and The Aviator. Based on the memoirs of real-life stockbroker Jordan Belfort, played superbly by DiCaprio, there’s not much to the film in terms of depth. But as a piece of no-frills entertainment, with a touch of social commentary, it’s a blast. Continue reading “Review: The Wolf Of Wall Street (2013)”
A couple of week’s back, I saw 12 Years A Slave as part of a Scottish press screening event. I’d read a lot about the film, had come to be a Steve McQueen admirer on the back of his previous films Hunger and Shame, and was a fan of many of the actors the film sported. So, it came as a bit of a surprise to me that, even though I liked the film a lot and felt Steve McQueen achieved exactly what he wanted to achieve (a forceful, no-holds-barred depiction of slavery like we haven’t seen before), I couldn’t help but feel underwhelmed. Continue reading “Further Thoughts On 12 Years A Slave”
The third feature from acclaimed British director Steve McQueen, 12 Years A Slave is a brutal, visceral and well-executed, if overdone, portrait of slavery in the stark plantations of antebellum America. Removed of all Hollywood purification (aside from its heavyweight, and often distracting A-list cast), the film depicts its contentious subject matter with all its vehement barbarity, through explicit imagery and endless scenes of torture, yet often feels stiff and perfunctory as a result. Continue reading “Review: 12 Years A Slave (2013)”
Empty Screens 