Felipe Rosa

12 Years a Slave

November 9, 2013 by Felipe Rosa

12 Years a Slave: a brutal experience, as a realistic film about the slavery needs to be. (One has to wonder if, and why, modern audiences need to be reminded of the cruelty of such obviously evil institution, but I digress.) The story is more emotional than the film, but probably it’s just as well, as it is quite powerful without the need of additional accentuating. Beautifully directed by Steve McQueen, from the superb acting by the whole cast (but […]

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

Moonrise Kingdom – Revisit

November 8, 2013 by Felipe Rosa

Moonrise Kingdom: a revisit confirms that the cute, charming story told by this film is its main asset, along with the central pair. Visually, the film is loaded with balanced, well-manicured frames. In other words, this is very clearly a Wes Anderson film: a universe of great precision, where characteristics (both for the world and the characters that inhabit it) are well-defined but the displayed emotions are small, subdued. The cold, distant tone and the very particular aesthetics are an […]

Categories: Film reviews, Revisit • Tags: comedy, drama, romance

The Counselor

November 2, 2013 by Felipe Rosa

The Counselor: gloomy film that, on paper, seems to be great fun. The reality is different, as it’s as drab as it can be. The main culprit is the writing, where all characters are both unappealing and uninteresting, always a bad combination; the great-looking cast can do very little with the material they are given. The dialogue, pretentious and monotonous, doesn’t at all help matters, and it’s treated with too much respect.

Categories: Film reviews • Tags: crime

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All is Lost

October 22, 2013 by Felipe Rosa

All is Lost: the story told here could hardly be much simpler, or more powerful. The film would not be as effective, however, if not for Robert Redford’s commanding presence. His acting isn’t showy, but his quiet confidence tells a lot about the character (We learn what we need to learn, and not more). The cinematography, both underwater and above water, is great (yet another example on how to use a handheld camera effectively and justifiably). The sound design, along […]

Categories: Film reviews • Tags: drama

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Captain Phillips

October 17, 2013 by Felipe Rosa

Captain Phillips: very strong, tense thriller; very efficiently told by Paul Greengrass, who as usual makes great use of handheld camera (Barry Ackroyd is one of the best in the business) and taut editing to keep the suspense up. Most importantly, the acting by Tom Hanks is superb, reaching high emotional notes in a few scenes; Barkhad Abdi also is able to create a very good, believable character (but the rest of his crew doesn’t have so much luck). Here is […]

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

Gravity (2013) – Revisit

October 14, 2013 by Felipe Rosa

Gravity: a revisit to this film showed how enthralling an experience this film is. In general, particularly when the second view is so close to the first one, the mind takes precedence over the heart and the attention is on the technical aspects instead of the story. However, while still absolutely in awe of the visual choices, the story was even more gripping and the anxiety level, higher. The banter, which at first seemed the weak spot of the film, […]

Categories: Film reviews, Revisit • Tags: drama, sci fi, top

Cabaret (1972)

October 8, 2013 by Felipe Rosa

Cabaret: while the narrative structure of this film is somewhat uneven (mostly because the musical interludes are used to comment, not advance the story), the story itself and the setting are so interesting that they make up for it. Liza Minnelli gives life to a great character, while Michael York was somewhat bland (even thought the character somewhat required it). The songs are all beautifully executed, but also somewhat uneven: a few are memorable, a few are readily forgettable. The […]

Categories: Film reviews • Tags: drama, musical

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Runner Runner

October 6, 2013 by Felipe Rosa

Runner Runner: it is a capital sin for a thriller to have no thrills, particularly when not much else in the film works. Characters, story, logic, proper motivation, all seem an afterthought; the question is, if that was the case, what were Brian Furman and the writers actually thinking about? The film looks slick, but generic. Needless to say, the cast is wasted.

Categories: Film reviews • Tags: thriller

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Gravity (2013)

October 5, 2013 by Felipe Rosa

Gravity: this film tells has, at its core, a simple but very powerful tale of survival. It is, however, the gorgeous execution that raises this to the rank of extraordinaire. Alfonso Cuarón’s style (long, uninterrupted takes; which, I might add, is a personal, well-known bias of mine) lends itself perfectly for the setting. Emmanuel Lubezki’s camerawork (I’ll call it so for simplicity, but the images are a mix of cinematography, editing and special effects) is mind-blowing: the camera dances around the […]

Categories: Film reviews • Tags: drama, sci fi, top

Fifth about The Seventh

Author Archives: Felipe Rosa

12 Years a Slave

Moonrise Kingdom – Revisit

The Counselor

All is Lost

Captain Phillips

Gravity (2013) – Revisit

Cabaret (1972)

Runner Runner

Gravity (2013)