by Felipe Rosa
The Beaver: can’t quite say what it is about this one that didn’t go down all that well. It may be the Mel Gibson negativity, but it has Jennifer Lawrence’s positivity riding against it. It just may be that, for a movie about people unable to communicate, maybe the movie itself, ironically, can’t quite say what’s the point either.
Categories: Film reviews • Tags: drama
by Felipe Rosa
Seven Samurai: as perfect a film as one can be. There’s not one scene of this movie feels out of place; they are there either to advance the (deceptively simple, yet quite powerful) story or flesh out the characters. Each new view allow for new discoveries, new understandings. This is magnificent filmmaking in all levels.
Categories: Film reviews • Tags: action, drama, top
by Felipe Rosa
Thor: neither bad not good, just plain. This is riskless cinema. We know there can be character in super-hero movies, but someone forgot to tell the writers for this one. Warm beggining to the super-hero summer. Also, I need to remember myself to ignore the 3D showing as much as I can. It’s usually there for gimmicks only, and the film loses its visual edges due to the darker feeling.
Categories: Film reviews • Tags: action, super hero
by Felipe Rosa
Michael Clayton: upon review, without misplaced expectations, this is a more interesting movie. Anchored by solid performances and an appealing visual sense, but its highest point are two of Tom Wilkinson’s (mostly offscreen) speeches.
Categories: Film reviews • Tags: drama
by Felipe Rosa
Fast Five: dumb fun, and it would be dumber to expect more. It’s a guilty pleasure for sure, especially for stating that you either have to be a criminal (or a parrot) to want to go to Rio de Janeiro. It still bugs me that they have to use Spanish speaking actors, however. At least the radio chatter and street-speaking was in proper Portuguese.
Categories: Film reviews • Tags: action
by Felipe Rosa
Heaven Can Wait: there is a reason Ernst Lubitsch has a touch to his name, and while it may not be easy to explain, when one sees it one recognizes it. This is a great example of his wit and delicacy, and a great way to tell a story that may sound banal. The cast works perfectly, and it’s always a pleasure to see Charles Coburn working.
Categories: Film reviews • Tags: comedy, drama
by Felipe Rosa
13 Assassins: as far as action movies go, this is top-notch; nevermind that the action is appropriately old-fashioned, since this is a quite traditional samurai film. It also has a bit more to say than the usual action fare; it deals quite beautifully with the “two sides of the same coin”. But, with so many characters and so little time, a lot of them feel too generic.
Categories: Film reviews • Tags: action
by Felipe Rosa
The Red Violin: while the whole is nice enough, and the structure is interesting, some of the segments are a bit sub-par, which detracts from the whole. Also, the choice to run the auction scene over and over again from the different perspectives is a bit excessive. After we understand what’s going on, it could have been cut down. Great great music, it should be mentioned.
Categories: Film reviews • Tags: drama
by Felipe Rosa
Water for Elephants: just plain uninteresting, bordering the boring, even. The story is just not very gripping, the characters are not at all well built. The better character arch belongs to the elephant, probably for the first time since Dumbo.
Categories: Film reviews • Tags: drama
Fifth about The Seventh