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
by Felipe Rosa
The Bank Job: above everything else, entertaining. If the story is close to the truth or not is beside the point; this is not supposed to be a documentary and even those eschew from it sometimes. All the elements, and there are a lot of interwined ones, are clear, which is a nice little feat.
Categories: Film reviews • Tags: crime
by Felipe Rosa
Finding Neverland: every film, perhaps every piece of art, is manipulative. The trick is to not let the trick be seen through the seems, and this film is one fine example of this. Extremely well-made, with good acting turns by the principal actors, it leads you without making you feel lead. In that regard, it works quite well. It may be one of the best of the typical Miramax products.
Categories: Film reviews • Tags: biopic / historic, drama
by Felipe Rosa
Shutter Island: the second view doesn’t push this past a decently good movie category, despite the fact that the credentials are first notch. It certainly is too smart a story for its own good, one that may not work all that well after all. Can’t say (and don’t care) why people say they “saw it coming”, even knowing it already. Still love the fluidity of the camera. See what I wrote before: Shutter Island
Categories: Film reviews, Revisit • Tags: thriller
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