Felipe Rosa

Casting a ballot – SAG Awards 2012

January 26, 2013 by Felipe Rosa

Let me start by saying that I’m not a member of SAG (or any other of the organizations I’ll be casting a ballot over time, for that matter), and if I was, I probably would not make my vote public. Sadly, there were a few performances I didn’t have the opportunity to see yet. Looking at the full list of nominees, there’s only one I think doesn’t belong, so this is a strong group. With that introduction out of the […]

Categories: Non-Reviews • Tags: awards 2012

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Hyde Park on Hudson

January 24, 2013 by Felipe Rosa

Hyde Park on Hudson: sometimes choosing an unusual point of view in telling a story has appealing results. The angle, however, must be interesting itself, which is not the case here. This film struggles to find the proper tone, going from light fantasy to straight to caricature within a beat; sadly, it works best exactly at the tone used the least. Visually the inconsistency persists, and the choices certainly do not match the material. The most memorable thing about it […]

Categories: Film reviews • Tags: biopic / historic

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Top 10 movies – 2012

January 22, 2013 by Felipe Rosa

Below is the list of the top movies I watched, roughly, in the past year. It’s coming this late because I wanted to see a few titles before closing the list. Looking back to 2012, I veered very seldomly off the beaten path, sadly. Without further ado: 1) Seeking a Friend for the End of the World Delicate story. As usual, sci-fi movies (yes, this is one) allow the storyteller to create a window to look […]

Categories: Lists

Amour (2012)

January 21, 2013 by Felipe Rosa

Amour: a great acting duet with Emmanuelle Riva and Jean-Louis Trintignant, both marvelous. There is something to be said about not slipping into melodrama, but Michael Haneke, not surprisingly, veered too much in the other direction: the sad, delicate story is told from a great distance, emotionally. Visually, the film is consistent with the emotional distance with the camera mostly quiet, observing the action as if not to interfere. (No complaints in that regard, as long takes are a long-standing […]

Categories: Film reviews • Tags: drama

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Les Misérables

January 20, 2013 by Felipe Rosa

Les Misérables: a famously good story, defended well by its cast. Anne Hathaway indeed shines the brightest in her small role. Despite those efforts, however, this is not a well-told story. A cardinal sin for a musical, the songs are not consistently interesting. More relevant, however, is that this must be one of the most irritating films visually I’ve seen in quite some time. The shot selection by director Tom Hooper is simply poor: by either shooting most songs with shaky, […]

Categories: Film reviews • Tags: musical

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Broken City

January 19, 2013 by Felipe Rosa

Broken City: old-fashioned to the point where it would be more at home with grey suits and fedoras, rotary phones and high-contrast lighting. The few elements that were introduced that don’t belong to that world feel out of place mostly because they don’t add anything of consequence. The low-key, B-movie roots result in a film that is somewhat entertaining but not as edgy as it would have been.

Categories: Film reviews • Tags: crime

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Gangster Squad

January 16, 2013 by Felipe Rosa

Gangster Squad: consistently, the feeling that this has been done before comes from the trailers, and throughout the film, nothing shakes it away. It goes beyond the story (even thought that has also been told before). The end credits fan the longing for 1950’s LA more than the whole movie. However, despite the lack of originality and the excess of glitz and violence, it is somewhat entertaining. The cast is good looking, if uneven.

Categories: Film reviews • Tags: action

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Zero Dark Thirty

January 16, 2013 by Felipe Rosa

‎Zero Dark Thirty: impressive by its cold, sheer efficiency in storytelling, much like the group of people doing its job portrayed. There’s no space for anything else here, just a look at the complex procedural. Jessica Chastain doesn’t play a character as much as a driving force (quite strongly at that). There’s no telling what the movie would have been like had that decision been different; but the story and the film are engaging enough as they are.

Categories: Film reviews • Tags: thriller

Promised Land (2012)

January 16, 2013 by Felipe Rosa

Promised Land: there is a certain dishonesty in play, when a character is introduced in a certain light and everything that follows that shows something diametrically opposite. Such disrespect for storytelling suggest this is, indeed, little more than a propaganda piece. While Matt Damon is one of the most earnest faces around, he got thrown (or threw himself, given his other roles in this) into a very thankless position.

Categories: Film reviews • Tags: drama

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Fifth about The Seventh

Author Archives: Felipe Rosa

Casting a ballot – SAG Awards 2012

Hyde Park on Hudson

Top 10 movies – 2012

Amour (2012)

Les Misérables

Broken City

Gangster Squad

Zero Dark Thirty

Promised Land (2012)