Film reviews | Fifth about The Seventh

The Grand Budapest Hotel

May 21, 2014 by Felipe Rosa

The Grand Budapest Hotel: despite its peculiar brand of humor, emotional detachment and gallery of weird characters, the intricate story told by this film touches the right (mostly sorrowful) notes. Anchored by a convincing performance by Ralph Fiennes, the whole (enormous) cast is all a pleasure to watch. Visually, as one can expect in anything by Wes Anderson, this is a great example of precise and stylized (but not overly precious) filmmaking; the same can be said about Alexandre Desplat’s score. […]

Categories: Film reviews • Tags: comedy

Getúlio

May 8, 2014 by Felipe Rosa

Getúlio: in spite of the name, João Jardim’s film offers little insight into the main character, his motivations and actions; in fact, while there is a large gallery of characters, little reason is given to get connected to any of them. That, in addition to an uneven pace, makes this film somewhat monotonous. Acting is unimpressive at best; Tony Ramos, in particular, doesn’t have the acting chops or the physique du rôle to be convincing. Walter Carvalho’s restless camerawork is competent and […]

Categories: Film reviews • Tags: biopic / historic, drama, thriller

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Django Unchained – Revisit

April 22, 2014 by Felipe Rosa

Django Unchained: violent, profane and extremely fun, this is a typical Quentin Tarantino film. The writing is partially great: it is a good story (full of references, as usual), with interesting characters speaking lively lines of dialogue; the main problem with the writing lies in the structure (linear and conventional for his standards), which has a weaker last third. Scenes balance beautifully tension and humor. The cast is in great shape, particularly Christoph Waltz, Samuel L. Jackson and Leonardo DiCaprio. Robert Richardson’s camerawork […]

Categories: Film reviews, Revisit • Tags: western

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Divergent

April 18, 2014 by Felipe Rosa

Divergent: wearing its influences in the sleeve, this film results both a minute variation and a minor version of them. The main problem is that the dystopian society portrayed in the film is dull, and its dynamics don’t seem very relevant. The lack of imagination extends to the visual aspects chosen by Neil Burger: costume and set design, as well as the action scenes, are all pedestrian. Shailene Woodley doesn’t have much to do with her role (the rest of the cast, needless […]

Categories: Film reviews • Tags: action, sci fi

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The Way He Looks (Hoje Eu Quero Voltar Sozinho)

April 15, 2014 by Felipe Rosa

The Way He Looks: certain stories call for a light, delicate touch and Daniel Ribeiro delivers it in spades in this film. Beautifully written, it intertwines its ideas seamlessly and creates a group of characters that are engaging and belieavable, as is their environment. The whole cast works beautifully, and the three principals, Ghilherme Lobo, Fabio Audi and Tess Amorim, are simply tone perfect. Visually simple, unadorned, what puts the focus where it should be: the story. It’s an expansion of a likewise lovely […]

Categories: Film reviews • Tags: drama, romance

The 400 Blows (Le Quatre Cents Coups)

April 14, 2014 by Felipe Rosa

The 400 Blows: François Truffaut tells a simple story, and it’s a delicate, earnest, touching journey, told naturalistically. The characters (particularly the main one, wonderfully played by Jean-Pierre Léaud) are looked upon without any judgement. There is great control of the tone of the film; a low-key sense of humour permeates the film, a great counterbalance to the sad story. Henri Decaë’s camerawork has some strikingly beautiful images.

Categories: Film reviews • Tags: drama, top

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Captain America: The Winter Soldier

April 11, 2014 by Felipe Rosa

Captain America: The Winter Soldier: this film’s story is relatively grounded (for the genre, of course; that’s not to say that aspects of it are not properly outlandish); the main character is appealing, for being so earnest and vulnerable. Likewise, the Russo Brothers shoot the action scenes, mostly, in a gritty way, appropriate for the nature of the main characters and villains. It’s a good-looking cast, even if they don’t have all that much to do; the recurring cast (Scarlett […]

Categories: Film reviews • Tags: action, super hero

Rio 2

April 10, 2014 by Felipe Rosa

Rio 2: the weakest link in Carlos Saldanha’s film is the story, which is excessively busy; the messages that are supposed to be conveyed, however relevant they are, end up being poorly displayed. The voice cast is very diverse, but Jesse Eisenberg and Anne Hathaway (not trying to do too much and being perfect fits for their characters) are the highlights. That is not to say, however, that the film is not a pleasant journey; the animation is beautiful and colorful (Busby Berkeley being […]

Categories: Film reviews • Tags: adventure, animation

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Noah (2014)

April 5, 2014 by Felipe Rosa

Noah: even thought it would be basically an opposition of terms, this film is not a particularly subtle epic. The brutal, allegorical story is pure Old Testament, but some of the undertones inserted by Darren Aronofsky (preservationism and religious fanaticism chiefly among them) are a product of our time. Well-done, with solid special effects and good performances from the cast (Russell Crowe, with the most conflicted character, is the stand-out). However, at the end, the heavy hand ends up being somewhat excessive.

Categories: Film reviews • Tags: adventure, drama

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