Felipe Rosa

Leviathan

January 18, 2015 by Felipe Rosa

Leviathan: Andrey Zvyagintsev tells a great story, which has many themes that are universal, but also mingled with specific elements that give the film a particular flavor; it all results in a powerful drama. Acting is very solid and Aleksey Serebryakov, as the main character, stands out. The locations are great-looking, and well used by the no-frills camerawork of Mikhail Krichman (who also makes great use of natural light). The spare, moody music of Phillip Glass matches the landscape beautifully.

Categories: Film reviews • Tags: drama

Exodus: Gods and Kings

January 17, 2015 by Felipe Rosa

Exodus: Gods and Kings: Ridley Scott presents a sumptuous spectacle; the use of locations, the set design (including visual effects), costume design, all create a great-looking physical world. That, however, does not a good movie make; the storytelling is stale and stiff and it carries no beauty or subtlety whatsoever. The characters are all unappealing, uninteresting; the overblown, over-the-top acting further complicates matters, wasting the strong names in the cast. (In fact, the interesting choice of using a child as a major player […]

Categories: Film reviews • Tags: action, drama

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Whiplash

January 4, 2015 by Felipe Rosa

Whiplash: Damien Chazelle presents a film that is a great joy to watch, from beginning to end; a crowdpleaser, in the best sense. It’s thematically intriguing, equally cruel and sound. Acting by the central pair is superb; J.K. Simmons gets more attention for having the lion share of the great lines (and reading them beautifully), but he also displays nuanced, quiet moments; Miles Teller is pitch-perfect as well, mixing all of his character’s traits with great energy. Great camerawork by Sharone Meir […]

Categories: Film reviews • Tags: drama

Big Hero 6

January 3, 2015 by Felipe Rosa

Big Hero 6: Don Hall and Chris Williams present a typically polished and entertaining (if not completely inspired) animated movie; the story is touching and funny, but not fully earnest. The animation, by the other hand, is spotless; the environment is rich and great to look at, while the character design is varied, making each one of them unique. In particular, Baymax is a great character, with his looks greatly complementing his personality traits. The accompanying animated short, Patrick Osborne’s Feast, a lovely and great-looking […]

Categories: Film reviews • Tags: adventure, animation, sci fi

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Locke

January 2, 2015 by Felipe Rosa

Locke: minimalist experience that it is, Steven Knight’s film is also a very engaging one, thanks to the strong acting of Tom Hardy. It is a simple, no-frills human drama, easy to relate to. Given the single (of sorts) location, Justine Wright’s editing make great use of Haris Zambarloukos’s varied images. However, there’s no denying that Hardy is the main reason to see this; he has limited instruments to use (his voice’s modulations, his posture and his eyes, mostly) but even so […]

Categories: Film reviews • Tags: drama

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Federal Bank Heist (Assalto ao Banco Central)

January 1, 2015 by Felipe Rosa

Federal Bank Heist: despite being based on actual events, Marcos Paulo’s film presents itself unashamedly as a derivative work. However, the tone never settles, swerving between gritty and funny without doing either very well. Furthermore, the characters are uninteresting and hard to relate to. The large, interesting cast is wasted and acts too broadly (furthering the idea that the characters are mere archetypes) and unappealingly. José Roberto Eliezer’s camerawork is slick and polished, but also generic.

Categories: Film reviews • Tags: crime, thriller

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Ida (2013)

December 31, 2014 by Felipe Rosa

Ida: Pawel Pawlikowski tells a simple (but far from simplistic) story; it also tells it rigorously, ponderously. Agata Trzebuchowska and Agata Kulesza, as the central characters, interact beautifully, even if only the bare minimum is known about the characters. What truly sets this film apart, however, is the amazing cinematography of Ryszard Lenczewski and Lukasz Zal; every image is nicely (and expressively) framed, and the lighting is always beautiful.

Categories: Film reviews • Tags: drama

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Kill the Messenger (2014)

December 24, 2014 by Felipe Rosa

Kill the Messenger: Michael Cuesta tells a powerful, interesting story; the sort of fact-based tale that should be too hard to believe, except it’s not. The pace, however, is somewhat uneven, which degrades from the overall experience (in particular as the first half of the film is the most memorable one). Jeremy Renner is solid as the central character; the rest of the cast, attractive as it is, doesn’t have all that much to do.

Categories: Film reviews • Tags: biopic / historic, drama, thriller

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The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies

December 24, 2014 by Felipe Rosa

The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies: there’s no denying that Peter Jackson’s film is a grand visual spectacle and makes great use of the picturesque locations, character, set and costume designs; however, perhaps underlined by the High Frame Rate 3D format, there’s a great sense of artificiality to some of the special effects and patterns. The storytelling is heavy-handed (which naturally affects the acting as well; Ian McKellen and Martin Freeman are the only members of the large cast […]

Categories: Film reviews • Tags: action, fantasy

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Fifth about The Seventh

Author Archives: Felipe Rosa

Leviathan

Exodus: Gods and Kings

Whiplash

Big Hero 6

Locke

Federal Bank Heist (Assalto ao Banco Central)

Ida (2013)

Kill the Messenger (2014)

The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies