by Felipe Rosa
Hanna: a little bit of discomfort with such a violent (if not that graphical) film featuring such a young main character. However, the strong cast (top to bottom) and the very fluid camera work (in particular the lovely tracking shot -or two, but well masked- that goes from the bus station to the subway station) makes this more interesting than the regular actioner.
Categories: Film reviews • Tags: action
by Felipe Rosa
Rio: visually beautiful, the music is (for the most part) quite nice, but the story is disappointing. The stereotypes were not as bad as I expected, but as expected they were still there. In short, fun, but not to par with the best out there.
Categories: Film reviews • Tags: adventure, animation, comedy
by Felipe Rosa
The Wolfman: not much in this movie in addition to the excessively showy, but well-done makeup work. The story is just a shred, really; an excuse for very graphical scenes of a wolfman having its teethy fun. I remember when most of the cast worked in decent movies; one has to pay their bills, I suppose.
Categories: Film reviews • Tags: horror
by Felipe Rosa
The Pride of the Yankees: old-fashioned biopic that doesn’t quite deliver. It’s always a bit unsettling when the subject of the biopic is painted in divine lights, because one can’t fail to see past it and realize the fakeness. Still, it’s a solid cast; in particular, it’s great to see Walter Brennan not wearing a gunbelt. (As it is to see him wearing one!)
Categories: Film reviews • Tags: biopic / historic
by Felipe Rosa
Sullivan’s Travels: not a great farce but a good one. This movie does it right both ways: it has great moments of dialogue, and great, extended periods of visual action without dialogue at all. While it may be a bit “self-preachy”, it’s not wrong about that idea.
Categories: Film reviews • Tags: comedy
by Felipe Rosa
The Conspirator: correct, but ultimately uninspired accounting of a story that is “perfect” ending to the Civil War. The performances are a bit too theatrical, and the visuals, with the movie presented in a milky/grainy style makes it look a cheap, old product. Which in a way it is.
Categories: Film reviews • Tags: drama
by Felipe Rosa
The Lincoln Lawyer: certainly better than it appears to be, even if this seems a backhanded compliment. It’s not much of a mystery, indeed it’s nothing much new at all, a classical defense lawyer type of story. It entertains, but it flies away from your mind as soon as it’s over.
Categories: Film reviews • Tags: thriller
by Felipe Rosa
Dangerous Moves: it’s interesting as it’s something somewhat unique, a chess-thriller. One does not have to know the game to follow all the plot’s gambits, sacrifices, attacks and counterattacks, but it sure helps. The movie does lack, however, a bit more of character. We know them in broad brushes, but something else would have made this better.
Categories: Film reviews • Tags: thriller
by Felipe Rosa
Meek’s Cutoff: the issue is not so much that the pace of this movie is too ponderous; sometimes the story calls for it and it’s the right choice. The main problem, truly, is that there is just a sliver of a story here. Kudos to Michelle Williams, however, for her continued effort to make interesting role choices.
Categories: Film reviews • Tags: drama
Fifth about The Seventh