Diplomacy (Diplomatie)
by Felipe Rosa
Diplomacy: Volker Schlöndorff’s film has an interesting story to tell (it’s beside the point how close to true it is);
Categories: Film reviews • Tags: drama, war
Tag: war
Beasts of No Nation
by Felipe Rosa
Beasts of No Nation: war is horror, but rarely has it been more horrific than in Cary Joji Fukunaga’s film.
Categories: Film reviews • Tags: drama, war
Fury (2014)
by Felipe Rosa
Fury: long in violence (particularly of the graphic type) and brutality, David Ayer’s film is efficient in portraying the hell of war.
Categories: Film reviews • Tags: war
American Sniper
by Felipe Rosa
American Sniper: Clint Eastwood is reverent and efficient as he tells this story. The tension and clarity of the war scenes
Categories: Film reviews • Tags: biopic / historic, drama, war
Unbroken (2014)
by Felipe Rosa
Unbroken: Angelina Jolie’s film portrays a journey that is very interesting on paper; however, the many different parts don’t match well (and the arbitrary structure doesn’t add much) and are not particularly engaging or exciting. There’s not much sense of the characters, which is further aggravated by the generally indifferent acting. The film is, however, very well crafted, even if somewhat squarely so; Roger Deakins’s cinematography is, as usually is the case, beautiful and classical.
Categories: Film reviews • Tags: biopic / historic, drama, war
The Great Escape
by Felipe Rosa
The Great Escape: John Sturges makes one incredibly entertaining film, all the more impressive since the story (against all appearances) is based on historical fact. One of the factors that make this such a spectacle is the great, instantly recognizable, score by Elmer Bernstein; in particular the main theme, but all of it resonates (even if he borrows from another collaboration with Sturges, another great action score). However, it’s undeniable the film would not connect so well if not for the […]
Categories: Film reviews • Tags: action, top, war
Letters from Iwo Jima
by Felipe Rosa
Letters from Iwo Jima: Clint Eastwood sets the mood beautifully in this war film, with (his own) simple, delicate score and great all-around acting from the cast, in particular from the two central actors, Ken Watanabe and Kazunari Ninomiya. The classic, linear structure and the respectful, balanced tone were good choices to tell the story, furthering the themes. Tom Stern, once more, shoots this film beautifully, but the color palette (excessively cold and desaturated, for the most part) is distracting. Read also: Flags […]
Categories: Film reviews • Tags: drama, war
Flags of Our Fathers
by Felipe Rosa
Flags of Our Fathers: the back-and-forth structure muddies the story of this film (of one of the iconic images of its century); it is, nevertheless, a delicate war movie which avoids the typical jingoistic tone as it portrays the hell of war (not only the combat, but also ancillary aspects of it). Clint Eastwood extracts subtle performances from his cast; but other than the main group, most of the other characters are virtually undistinguishable (even physically, which aggravates the confusion created by […]
Categories: Film reviews • Tags: drama, war
Lone Survivor
by Felipe Rosa
Lone Survivor: this film has a decent story (truth-inspired, but not particularly original), in spite of its terrible title. The characters are so poorly written that, if they were not played by recognizable talent (which don’t have much to do), they would be virtually indistinguishable. Peter Berg shot the action scenes efficiently (the sound design is, indeed, rather strong), but they are also repetitive and unimaginative; furthermore, they lack geographical clarity, letting the viewer more disoriented than the characters. Jingoism and […]
Categories: Film reviews • Tags: war
Fifth about The Seventh 