by Felipe Rosa
Scarlet Street: good little drama with noir sensibilities, mostly on the characters with (darker) shades of grey (at best). Edward G. Robinson, once more, plays nicely a character that is not his usual métier; Fritz Lang seems to able to extract vulnerability of him. Not particularly engaging visually, however; Lang has certainly much more interesting films in that regard (or in other regards as well).
Categories: Film reviews • Tags: drama
by Felipe Rosa
Still in my early teens, before the love for films had taken its firm roots, I already had a keen interest in Westerns. Those days, one of the networks used to have on Saturdays, near lunchtime, much to the chagrin of my family, a session where Westerns were broadcast; generally cut down to fit the 2-hour slot with millions of advertisements, badly dubbed. They were, nevertheless, generally Westerns of good quality. It was one of those Saturdays early afternoon that […]
Categories: Non-Reviews • Tags: people
by Felipe Rosa
Hatari!: pleasurable and entertaining, as one would expect out of Howard Hawks. The two distinct halves mingle well, and they are both very successful on their own. The action scenes, if one can get past animal rights activism (which incidentally I did), are exciting, well shot and edited. But, as is usually the case, it’s when the film pauses to let the characters breathe, that it all comes alive and makes us truly care for the group of characters and […]
Categories: Film reviews • Tags: adventure, drama, romance
by Felipe Rosa
Appointment with Danger: a run-of-the mill crime drama with a good ear for tough-talk dialogue, but harmed by a story that doesn’t make much sense at the particulars. Character motivation is illogical for the most part. Visually, this is unremarkable in every sense, without any shots that stand out. This is a Film B in every sense of the word.
Categories: Film reviews • Tags: crime
by Felipe Rosa
Frankenweenie: the inspiration of this story is obvious, and it is, for the most part, a nice little re-imagining of the story. As this is a Tim Burton’s film, it has the expected mix of bizarre and slightly perverse, which nevertheless feel a bit out of place. Visually, this is an interesting case: while the style is similar to what Burton has showed before previously, the shot selection, camera movements and to some extent the lighting feel “real” (as in […]
Categories: Film reviews • Tags: animation, fantasy, horror
by Felipe Rosa
Game of Thrones – Season 2: while beautifully produced (the diverse locations are a marvel, costume and set design are strong and diverse), this season was uneven and unfocused, with too little time for the stronger, more interesting characters. The problem may be with the source book. Probably with a 10-episode season, one can’t do much better, but the choice to tell it in that many episodes (while economically understandable) is to blame. As the source material continues to expand, […]
Categories: Non-Film Reviews • Tags: fantasy
by Felipe Rosa
Game of Thrones – Season 1: quite an accomplishment: impressive production values, tonal consistency throughout the whole season and an able display of navigating the big set of characters. (They have their work cut out for them, as the number of characters and settings grow exponentially in the following volumes.) There’s something to be said about the excessive violence, but that’s keeping pace with the original material.
Categories: Non-Film Reviews • Tags: fantasy
by Felipe Rosa
And with that song, this cycle has ended. It’s been an interesting one; my opinions on the winners can be guessed with some accuracy if you have read my previous posts on the subject: the ballot and the guesses. It’s not, therefore, any surprise how happy I am for Argo. Some circles usually choose to dismiss a film if it’s too entertaining, as if that’s either easy or undesirable. There is more to Argo than some lead to believe. The […]
Categories: Non-Reviews • Tags: awards 2012
by Felipe Rosa
As I promised before, here’s the list of who I think will win each of the categories in the ceremony later tonight. I invite you to post your own picks as well in the comment session below.
Categories: Non-Reviews • Tags: awards 2012
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