New York is the quintessential film city. It's iconic skyline, famous architecture and yellow taxicabs make for sometimes stunning, but always-functional backdrops for film narratives. Also, its film-friendly economic policies make it relatively easy (and cheap) for filmmakers to close streets, hire vehicles, to commandeer subway stations. As such, many films have used the city … [Read more...]
The Howling: Reborn (2011) review by That Film Geek
As a long-time fan of The Howling series... wait, that came out wrong... As a long-time fan of 1981's original and a lover of werewolf films in general (bah, who am I kidding, I really like Howling V as well), I was pretty interested when they announced a new Howling sequel, over 15 years after the previous disaster, and 30 years after the original. … [Read more...]
The Impossible (2012) review by That Film Fatale
True stories are a difficult genre of film to portray in an accurate light. They should be respected and tell the story of that persons journey in a dignified manner. When it was announced that a film, The Impossible, was being made based on the tsunami that hit Thailand and surrounding countries on Boxing Day, 2004, it appeared a dubious prospect. There's always a fear that if … [Read more...]
The Sessions (2012) review by That Art House Guy
A festival hit, winning the Audience award at the 2012 Sundance Festival, and tipped for Oscar nominations, The Sessions is the latest film from director Ben Lewin. The opening scenes suggest that this is typically award-friendly material. Based on a true story, The Sessions' main character is Mark O'Brien (John Hawkes), a poet and journalist, who is paralysed from the neck … [Read more...]
V/H/S (2012) review by That Film Gal
You have to respect the vision of V/H/S. Five stories, five directors, five found footage tapes. It's a neat idea. Each director gets their plot of land to plough and till, and they plant some pretty ghoulish seeds. The shorts are, of course, framed by a central story arc which puts the found footage into context. This arc follows a bunch of petty criminals as they are given a … [Read more...]
Monsters, Inc. (2001) review by The Documentalist
The fourth feature from Pixar marked the second departure from the Toy Story franchise and the first time that John Lasseter had relinquished the director's chair. Despite having the biggest budget to date for Pixar, Monsters, Inc. was another huge commercial success proving once again that the kings of animation were not a one trick pony and paving the way for more unique … [Read more...]
Les Miserables (2012) review by That Film Guy
One of the most famous musicals of all time, Les Miserables has been adapted to the big screen for the first time since 1998 with the help of The King's Speech supremo Tom Hooper. Based on the 1862 novel by Victor Hugo it was adapted to a stage musical by Alain Boublil and Claude-Michel Schonberg and was first performed in Paris in 1980. … [Read more...]
Gangster Squad (2013) review by That Film Guy
In the ever-growing history of the genre of LA noir films comes Gangster Squad. It's the 1948 and righteous police officer Sgt. John O'Mara (Josh Brolin) is on the trail of Mickey Cohen (Sean Penn), the most powerful mobster in Los Angeles. Constantly frustrated by the lack of backbone shown by his superiors and the courts, O'Mara accepts a covert position at the behest of … [Read more...]
Hitchcock (2012) review by That Film Guy
Alfred Hitchcock might just be the most famous director of all time. His works, now many decades old are still looked upon with great fondness and you'd be hard-pressed to find someone who doesn't like any of his back catalogue. Hitchcock has a reputation that is at least, partly based in reality, for punishing his leading actresses to get the best performances out of them, … [Read more...]
Texas Chainsaw (2013) review by That Film Guy
It is a tougher job than one might imagine, being a film reviewer. There are so many films released each week and finding the time to write a review for each one you see is a tough thing. Sometimes it's worthwhile when you find an unexpected gem and sometimes you just know going into a film that it's just going to disappoint you. While the ideal situation would be to go into a … [Read more...]