Everest (2015)
by Felipe Rosa
Everest: Baltasar Kormákur’s film tells its sad tale carefully, respectfully, without great
Categories: Film reviews • Tags: biopic / historic, drama, thriller
Tag: thriller
Mission: Impossible
by Felipe Rosa
Mission: Impossible: Brian De Palma creates a stylish, slick thriller that is constantly exciting despite
Categories: Film reviews • Tags: action, thriller
Mission: Impossible – Rogue Nation
by Felipe Rosa
Mission: Impossible – Rogue Nation: Christopher McQuarrie presents a relentlessly summer-ish film: the action sequences are engaging,
Categories: Film reviews • Tags: action, thriller
The Imitation Game
by Felipe Rosa
The Imitation Game: Morten Tyldum tells a story that is worth telling; it has the dubious quality of being important (the direct historical value as well as the implications championed). It is entertaining and efficient; it’s also edulcorated, excessively traditional, unengaging (almost something that would be produced by a Turing machine). It’s well done; Óscar Faura’s cinematography is unsubtle, but displays the production values to their full. Benedict Cumberbatch plays his character well, even if it feels a manufactured, forced performance; the same […]
Categories: Film reviews • Tags: biopic / historic, drama, thriller
Federal Bank Heist (Assalto ao Banco Central)
by Felipe Rosa
Federal Bank Heist: despite being based on actual events, Marcos Paulo’s film presents itself unashamedly as a derivative work. However, the tone never settles, swerving between gritty and funny without doing either very well. Furthermore, the characters are uninteresting and hard to relate to. The large, interesting cast is wasted and acts too broadly (furthering the idea that the characters are mere archetypes) and unappealingly. José Roberto Eliezer’s camerawork is slick and polished, but also generic.
Categories: Film reviews • Tags: crime, thriller
Kill the Messenger (2014)
by Felipe Rosa
Kill the Messenger: Michael Cuesta tells a powerful, interesting story; the sort of fact-based tale that should be too hard to believe, except it’s not. The pace, however, is somewhat uneven, which degrades from the overall experience (in particular as the first half of the film is the most memorable one). Jeremy Renner is solid as the central character; the rest of the cast, attractive as it is, doesn’t have all that much to do.
Categories: Film reviews • Tags: biopic / historic, drama, thriller
Nightcrawler
by Felipe Rosa
Nightcrawler: Dan Gilroy’s film greatest asset is the central character, at the same time despicable and absolutely interesting. Jake Gyllenhaal is absolutely superb, oozing charm and peril and fully dominating the particular speech patterns (which define who and what the character is, therefore not gratuitous). The plot is hard both to watch and to turn away from; in that sense, the levity that permeates underscores the absurdity of it all and makes it more engaging. Robert Elswit’s camerawork captures the dark underbelly of Los […]
Categories: Film reviews • Tags: crime, drama, thriller
Trash (2014)
by Felipe Rosa
Trash: Stephen Daldry tells with great energy this fantasy in a hiper-realistic setting. The smart editing by Elliot Graham, camerawork by Adriano Goldman, as well as the sound design, are all important factors to move the plot (which is intriguing) and portray the film’s world. The characters are not as important as the plot, so it’s not a surprise that the cast, despite attractive, is not given all that much to do; the exception are the kids (Rickson Tevez, Eduardo Luís and Gabriel Weinstein), who display […]
Categories: Film reviews • Tags: thriller
A Most Wanted Man
by Felipe Rosa
A Most Wanted Man: Anton Corbijn weaves this tale, even if there is a certain emotional distance in the final result. The film has not so much a plot as a sequence of events that serve as basis for a character study. The gallery of characters leans towards shades-of-grey, therefore more interesting to watch. Philip Seymour Hoffman has a great, nuanced performance; the whole cast is, indeed, solid. Beautifully crafted: well edited by Claire Simpson and shot by Benoît Delhomme (the handheld style is thematically […]
Categories: Film reviews • Tags: thriller
Fifth about The Seventh 