biopic / historic | Fifth about The Seventh

Goodfellas

January 30, 2014 by Felipe Rosa

Goodfellas: this film tells a story that is, at the same time, very entertaining and revealing of

Categories: Film reviews • Tags: biopic / historic, crime

The Wolf of Wall Street (2013)

December 26, 2013 by Felipe Rosa

The Wolf of Wall Street: bold by choosing to be so forthcoming with its excesses; they are, however, either serving the story and the characters or defining the world. This film is an absolutely fun, if flawed, ride (assuming one is able to not be horrified by the excesses); the pace is somewhat uneven, but that’s because most scenes and sequences have such a high degree of energy that whenever one doesn’t reach those levels, it sticks out. Martin Scorsese is in […]

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

Dallas Buyers Club

December 25, 2013 by Felipe Rosa

Dallas Buyers Club: while it’s an interesting and inspiring story, this film is so schematic and simplistic in its approach that it almost defeats the purpose. Characters are underdeveloped, so it’s almost surprising how good the acting is; of course, a good part of the effectiveness from both Matthew McConaughey and Jared Leto come from the extreme physical transformation they went through, but both of them (Leto in particular) are able to infuse humanity into the roles.

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

Saving Mr. Banks

December 19, 2013 by Felipe Rosa

Saving Mr. Banks: a film of two mismatched halves; one half is so joyless that it takes away (some of) the pleasure of the whole. What is worse, from a storytelling point of view, it’s a clunky resort. It does, however, portray well what can be behind creativity and how painful the process can be. Emma Thompson, at first, seems to be doing a one-note curmudgeon (oh, but how well she plays that one note!), but her character rounds out […]

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

Philomena

November 26, 2013 by Felipe Rosa

Philomena: as it usually happens with fact-based stories, this is at the same time unbelievable and sadly believable. The screenplay smartly mixes comedy with the drama, but is unable to sidestep its bias (warranted or not) or to hide its manipulative tendencies. The best reason to watch it is the masterful presence of Judi Dench, who created a great character, well-rounded, flawed and very touching; Steve Coogan is better than adequate in a role that doesn’t require all that much. […]

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

The Wind Rises

November 17, 2013 by Felipe Rosa

The Wind Rises: Hayao Miyazaki imbues magic in this tale, even as it is, for the most part, a very realistic, but always rich story that is at the same time like and unlike what is seen in an animated feature nowadays. This certainly could have been an non-animated film at all, but thankfully it is: the animation and the character design are gorgeous and detailed, the colors are great to look at. Miyazaki has been one of the premier storytellers […]

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

12 Years a Slave

November 9, 2013 by Felipe Rosa

12 Years a Slave: a brutal experience, as a realistic film about the slavery needs to be. (One has to wonder if, and why, modern audiences need to be reminded of the cruelty of such obviously evil institution, but I digress.) The story is more emotional than the film, but probably it’s just as well, as it is quite powerful without the need of additional accentuating. Beautifully directed by Steve McQueen, from the superb acting by the whole cast (but […]

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

Captain Phillips

October 17, 2013 by Felipe Rosa

Captain Phillips: very strong, tense thriller; very efficiently told by Paul Greengrass, who as usual makes great use of handheld camera (Barry Ackroyd is one of the best in the business) and taut editing to keep the suspense up. Most importantly, the acting by Tom Hanks is superb, reaching high emotional notes in a few scenes; Barkhad Abdi also is able to create a very good, believable character (but the rest of his crew doesn’t have so much luck). Here is […]

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