by Felipe Rosa
Anastasia: elegant, well made, but ultimately a bit unsatisfying film. The game of smoke and mirrors played by the characters makes them unsympathetic and not very interesting. They are well played, however, in particular by Ingrid Bergman. The main problem is with how the story develops: while we may care about how things happen, the direction it takes seems mostly contrived.
Categories: Film reviews • Tags: drama
by Felipe Rosa
Blancanieves: to call this film original is somewhat misleading, since this tale is centuries old and has been told, in fact, three times in the last year alone; the style is not original either, since it was the only way films were made for over 30 years. It is, however, an interesting translation to a place and time which keeps enough elements to be recognizable and makes enough changes to feel fresh. Silent films, of course, depend a lot on […]
Categories: Film reviews • Tags: drama
by Felipe Rosa
Rise of the Guardians: while it’s not a new idea to create an “out of context” group of superheroes (Alan Moore’s The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen came to mind, even thought it’s certainly not the first implementation of such idea either), it is a good one. Execution is strong, as usual, with character design (as well as their ancillary effects) generally (but not universally) interesting. Camera work (so to say) is very dynamic, consistent with the genre. But, most importantly, […]
Categories: Film reviews • Tags: adventure, animation, fantasy
by Felipe Rosa
Spring Breakers: a sliver of a story, which is neither interesting, exciting nor funny, concocted together by almost random, abstract, exploitative images. If there is any rhyme, reason or irony to this film, I missed it. (I have no qualms with amorality tales, but I prefer the ones that have any qualities in them.)
Categories: Film reviews • Tags: bottom, crime
by Felipe Rosa
The Croods: colorful, good-looking animated film (nowadays it seems to be harder to make a bad-looking animation than a good-looking one), that, however, fails where they usually do: in telling a story with heart. The main issue is how heavy-handed the story gets; and while the name of the film suggest it, the brand of humour is not crude (nor, as DWA films usually have it, so heavily dependent on pop-culture references). It’s a fun ride, but for the most part […]
Categories: Film reviews • Tags: adventure, animation
by Felipe Rosa
Zero Dark Thirty: a second view shows how tight and well structured the whole movie is; there is not much here that does not serve to show how the story unfolded. It does so with clarity, but without hand-holding the viewer. There is not much space left for character development, but there is some, strongly defended by Jessica Chastain. The film is quite expertly done, directed with strong hand, well shot and edited. It remains solidly in the list I […]
Categories: Film reviews, Revisit • Tags: thriller
by Felipe Rosa
Seven Days in May: tight, efficient and above all, realistic political thriller. A big part of the realism comes from the camera work; it’s not one thing all the time, it shifts as the needs require. At times, its nervous like a documentary; at times, long takes that let the actors breathe and work. It is quite a cast, and they are effective; most surprisingly, Burt Lancaster, not playing a charismatic rascal for a change. Very well-written, as well.
Categories: Film reviews • Tags: thriller
by Felipe Rosa
Gentleman’s Agreement: this film’s theme, by all means an important issue, is dealt with at turns elegantly and heavy-handedly, making this a movie that is both good and “important”. The great cast defends beautifully an interesting, rich set of characters, that are above all very well-written (particularly the female ones): Celeste Holm, in particular, lights up every frame she is in: her character is probably the best written and sympathetic of the whole bunch, and she plays it beautifully. Gregory […]
Categories: Film reviews • Tags: drama
by Felipe Rosa
The Professionals: one would expect that, with a cast of this charisma (Burt Lancaster, Claudia Cardinale and Lee Marvin) and a story with its roots on a classic setup, this would be a great Western. However, the writing falters early on: despite the limited number of characters, they are neither well-developed nor particularly interesting, and both the drama and the action are pedestrian, at best. The whole cast seems to be playing small and lesser varations of other roles they […]
Categories: Film reviews • Tags: western
Fifth about The Seventh