by Felipe Rosa
The Debt: very conventional thriller that seems to have more lost than converted opportunities to be interesting. It feels overlong, which suggests a bad pacing. Of course, with such a strong cast, it can’t be all that bad; they certainly deserved to be better used.
Categories: Film reviews • Tags: drama
by Felipe Rosa
Detective Dee and the Mystery of the Phantom Flame: one of the most appealing summer movies is also one of the most unusual. A “high fantasy wuxia”, it’s beautifully done (but deserved a better digital copy), and fun to watch. It’s main strength is the mix of genres, with a whodunit playing the most important part.
Categories: Film reviews • Tags: action, fantasy
by Felipe Rosa
Colombiana: as far as gun-porn movies go, this is not too bad (faint praise, I know). There’s no need to bring a brain to this one, as the story makes very little sense, but if I expected that to happen I would be dumber than most of the characters here. That said, it’s still fun enough to watch and reasonably well done. (I had flashbacks to Eartha Kitt in Mission: Impossible, not a bad thing.)
Categories: Film reviews • Tags: action
by Felipe Rosa
Rise of the Planet of the Apes: as far as summer fare goes, this is indeed an above average effort. The special effects look great, and the story is good enough, with some Jurassic Park vibe to it. However, they really should have either get rid of Freida Pinto’s character or making it meaningful, as it serves no purpose whatsoever.
Categories: Film reviews • Tags: sci fi
by Felipe Rosa
The Help: here’s an example of an “important” movie that also happens to be entertaining and touch the right emotional chords. The performances are for the most part quite solid (Bryce Dallas Howard is a bit too broad for my tastes), and the only minor drawback is that the costumes and art direction are too manicured.
Categories: Film reviews • Tags: drama
by Felipe Rosa
Kiss Me Deadly: pretty solid noir, with a great brute of a protagonist. The acting in this is all somewhat weird, and the story depends a bit too much on a deus ex machina providing the necessary clues, but the character and the courage to make this brutal film, in addition to a great shot selection make this an above average example of the genre.
Categories: Film reviews • Tags: noir
by Felipe Rosa
The Whistleblower: sometimes I make the exercise of wondering how a movie could be better. I don’t have a definitive answer for this one; the annoying cinematographty could go, the acting could improve. That wouldn’t solve the main issue, I think, since the story seems to be as “important” as it’s uninteresting.
Categories: Film reviews • Tags: drama
by Felipe Rosa
One Day: the arbitrary choice to tell the story showing just one date throughout the years weakens the movie, as the whole thing feels too sparse. A solution would be to have more interesting characters, but that was nowhere to be seen either.
Categories: Film reviews • Tags: romance
by Felipe Rosa
Cowboys & Aliens: in addition to an almost absolute lack of real character, the main flaw of this is that it takes itself quite a bit too seriously. With such a preposterous concept, a bit of sense of humour would have been some improvement; Jon Favreau has that touch, so this felt like a wasted opportunity.
Categories: Film reviews • Tags: sci fi, western
Fifth about The Seventh