by Felipe Rosa
Django Unchained: very entertaining film, particularly for the first two-thirds or so, when the screenplay runs out of steam. Tarantino displays great control over the film’s visuals, music and cast, which is perfectly able to read the fun-as-ever dialogue. Christoph Waltz is once more the stand-out.
Categories: Film reviews • Tags: western
by Felipe Rosa
Life of Pi: visually quite impressive, almost dream-like in the way it feels, but the story behaves as if it didn’t want to be told. In a way this makes sense, since stories of beating adversities require them to exist in the first place; sometimes the pain may be too marked. The spirituality is earnest, but heavy.
Categories: Film reviews • Tags: drama
by Felipe Rosa
The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey: as a fan of the source material, the ponderous pace and the somewhat vacuous story is not really a problem, given how rich the characterizations are. The visual and tonal consistency with the original trilogy is both good and bad (since the tone of the original source differs). “Riddles in the Dark” is a wonderful piece, showcasing how great a character Sméagol is.
Categories: Film reviews • Tags: adventure, fantasy
by Felipe Rosa
Killing Them Softly: the whole intent of this film seems to be a speech one character gives at the end; while there’s nothing intrinsically wrong with that, it all depends on the message and the execution (no pun intended). The execution has glimpses of brilliance, but what really stands out is how heavy-handed the whole thing is.
Categories: Film reviews • Tags: crime
by Felipe Rosa
Tokyo Story: a simple, touching and, more relevantly, very realistic story. While some of the relantionships’ particulars are, perhaps, very specific to that place and time, the core of them is as universal as it can be. Very powerful.
Categories: Film reviews • Tags: drama
by Felipe Rosa
Wreck-It Ralph: more earnest, and better for it, than the average animated film nowadays. It fails, however, to show a rich world, choosing instead for loud visuals, sound and voice acting (with the exception of John C. Reilly, who knows better). The excesses are even more evident because of the lovely, whimsical short that preceded it, Paperman, quiet and precise visually and aurally. Watch it here.
Categories: Film reviews • Tags: adventure, animation, fantasy
by Felipe Rosa
Silver Linings Playbook: it sounds obvious, but the rarity of it suggests it’s a well-kept secret: interesting, engaging characters help a film immensely. The main trio in this one are very interesting, rich and well-played by the actors. (Robert De Niro hadn’t been this good in a long time.) The story itself is little more than a romantic comedy (not that there is anything wrong with that); raised above the average by those elements (and the use of “Unsquare Dance“).
Categories: Film reviews • Tags: romantic comedy
by Felipe Rosa
Hitchcock: centered around 2 strong performances; Helen Mirren is powerful as usual and in fact upstages Mr Hopkins’ showy turn. They serve an entertaining story, filled with great quips. However, there are lows, and they are proportional too how far the film moves away from the making of Psycho.
Categories: Film reviews • Tags: biopic / historic
by Felipe Rosa
Anna Karenina: the big question for this film is, do the unique, stylized set and blocking choices enhance the story? There are a few moment that they do, but for the most part they feel mostly like an empty trickery, albeit a marvellous-looking one. Aaron Taylor-Johnson seems like a poor choice, given how flat and lifeless he is.
Categories: Film reviews • Tags: drama
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