by Felipe Rosa
Rabbit Hole: this was a very painful movie to watch, and I mean this in the best possible way. The movie is very good, but it’s about what must be the most painful experience possible to a human being. Both Nicole Kidman and Aaron Eckhart were fascinating to watch. The structure, in particular the ending, could be a bit more interesting, but the quality of the acting makes this a minor qualm.
Categories: Film reviews • Tags: drama
by Felipe Rosa
Somewhere: many will say incorrectly that this is a film about nothing. This is a film about feeling displaced, even in a “world of dreams”. Sofia Coppola is quite consistent thematically, all her movies are about that same feeling. Many will also say that she makes the same movie all the time. If they are all this interesting, by all means, keep doing them.
Categories: Film reviews • Tags: drama
by Felipe Rosa
L’Illusionniste: a great proof that one can tell a story well with just good visuals and well-chosen music. One can actually see a lot of Jacques Tati here (Old x New, some very nice and low-key visual gags); a bit of Sylvain Chomet as well, with the peculiar physical types. I think it was a good choice to tone that down, it fits better the bitter-sweet story. Very very nice.
Categories: Film reviews • Tags: animation, drama
by Felipe Rosa
TRON: Legacy: the visuals are certainly trippy (but quite dark and tiring after a while), but the story is just a sequence of mumbo-jumbo that belongs to a bad videogame. Which, of course, I suppose is the point. Also, the young Jeff Bridges does not convince me at all; it’s one of the fakest visuals I’ve seen in some time.
Categories: Film reviews • Tags: sci fi
by Felipe Rosa
The Town: a revisit confirmed what I thought before. A solid entertainment, that probably got even a bit better the second time. There’s not much extraneous fat; of course, there isn’t much that is all that original either, but it is so well done that it doesn’t really matter. See what I wrote previously: The Town
Categories: Film reviews, Revisit • Tags: crime, drama
by Felipe Rosa
Inception: a review didn’t completely put away my issues with the movie (a few, maybe 2 or 3 lines, could be cut from Ellen Page’s character). Some of the details of the proceedings make even less sense to me now; by the other hand, the emotional punch the movie carries is even greater upon the second view. Of course, the craftsmanship remains spetacular. See what I wrote previously: Inception
Categories: Film reviews, Revisit • Tags: action, adventure
by Felipe Rosa
The Fighter: one of the most entertaining movies of the year. Served by a cast in ship-shape (among the best of the year, in fact), the story is not that far from the usual boxing-movie fare, but that does not in any sense reduce how interesting it is. The presence of his “crazy family” certainly is a great addition to the whole thing.
Categories: Film reviews • Tags: biopic / historic
by Felipe Rosa
The Tourist: there is a certain elegance to this film (it has good pedigree after all: interesting writers, great cast, nice location and a director whose previous work I loved), but it’s certainly missing a spark. The movie is sadly bland; not exactly bad, but certainly not at all exciting in any level.
Categories: Film reviews • Tags: action, romance
by Felipe Rosa
Paths of Glory: what a wonderful little gem of a movie. It’s “smallness” refers not to its value, but at how tightly packed all the elements are, reduced to their essences, almost sometimes to the point of caricature. It fits perfectly the absurdity of the story (which is absurd not because it couldn’t or didn’t happen, but exactly because it did). Oh, and those beautiful tracking shots!
Categories: Film reviews • Tags: drama, top, war
Fifth about The Seventh