Amour is the latest film from Austrian writer / director Michael Haneke. Like many of Haneke's most successful movies, such as Hidden and The White Ribbon, it is set in France rather than his native Austria and features a French cast. Amour is a small-scale, claustrophobic film, set almost entirely in a single apartment “ that of Georges (Jean-Louis Trintignant) and Anne … [Read more...]
Review: In Bruges (2008)
Fucking Bruges. You'll hear this several times, from various characters in this superb black comedy from writer/director Martin McDonagh (responsible for the excellent Seven Psychopaths). It's hard to find a pairing of words that better summarises the unique appeal of what is one of the strongest debuts of any recent British film-maker. … [Read more...]
Review: Ikiru (1952, Japanese)
Akira Kurosawa tends to be best remembered for his period samurai films, particularly Seven Samurai, often considered one of the best films ever made. His films set in the modern day have consequently been rather overlooked, which is a real shame. Ikiru, meaning to live, is one of his best, rivalling Seven Samurai for the top spot, and is particularly noteworthy because it was … [Read more...]
Life of Pi (2012) review by That Film Guy
Based on the best-selling novel of the same name by Yann Martel, Life of Pi was initially courted by M. Night Shyamalan, Alfonso Cuaron and Jean-Pierre Jeunet before Ang Lee took on the task of filming a seemingly unfilmable book. A Canadian author (Rafe Spall) is sent in search of a mysterious Indian-born Canadian called Pi (Irrfan Khan) because he's told that he has a story … [Read more...]
Holy Motors (2012, France) review by That Art House Guy
On stumbling out of Holy Motors, my head was full of questions. Not least of which was ˜how do I write a review of this?' Director Leos Carax has eschewed traditional review fodder, such as structure, character development and suchlike, making it tricky to know what to write about. So, by way of review, here are a few of the questions that were rolling around my addled brain … [Read more...]
Beasts of the Southern Wild (2012) review by That Film Guy
Produced by the self-proclaimed "grassroots, independent filmmaking army" Court 13 and very loosely based on the one-act play Juicy and Delicious by Lucy Alibar, Beasts of the Southern Wild is the directorial debut of Benh Zeitlin. A magical realist fable about a potential 'end of days' storm and the return of mythical creatures, Beasts of the Southern Wild is quite unlike any … [Read more...]
Wordplay (2006) review by The Documentalist
The New York Times crossword is an American institution and is completed by millions of players every day. To most, it is just an easy way to pass some free time and how well they do is not important. To others however, the speed of completion and how this compares to others is incredibly important - enough in fact to have spawned the sport of competitive crosswording. While … [Read more...]
Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon (2000, Taiwan) review by That Film Dude
Martial arts films had been big business in China for decades, but they never really caught on in a big way overseas until relatively recently. The Matrix drew a great deal of influence from the style of Hong Kong action cinema, and proved fairly conclusively that there was a market for these sorts of films in English speaking countries; and so a new wave of martial arts epics … [Read more...]
Carrie (1976) review by That Film Guy
Stephen King is one of the most famous authors in horror and latterly fantasy fiction. His books and short stories have been adapted into a variety of Hollywood films including IT, The Shawshank Redemption, Pet Cemetery and The Green Mile. The first adaptation of his work came in 1976 when Brian De Palma has handed the reigns over King's first ever novel Carrie. A huge … [Read more...]
Skyfall (2012) review by That Film Guy
With the legal wranglings finished and the shonky Quantum of Solace left firmly in the past, the film-makers at EON made their intent clear during pre-production. On the 50th anniversary of the franchise, they wanted a James Bond film of such quality that it would do what no predecessor has managed and bag nominations in the big categories at the Oscars. So the stakes are high … [Read more...]