Having announced his retirement from directing, Academy award winner Steven Soderbergh has managed to cheat his announcement by producing a made-for-TV film based on the life of Liberace: Behind the Candelabra. Released in cinemas outside of the US, this biopic examines the relationship between Liberace (Michael Douglas) and his young chauffeur Scott Thorson (Matt Damon). … [Read more...]
LOL (2012) review by That Film Brat
Teen movies have not exactly had the best of reputations in the past. Sure, there are some genuinely brilliant ones like Mean Girls or Clueless, but for every great teen movie there seems to about a dozen bad ones. The one we're looking at today firmly fits into that category, as it's a remake of an already not very highly regarded French film, and it stars Miley Cyrus. Now I … [Read more...]
The Great Gatsby (2013) review by That Film Guy
Arguably the greatest American literary work, F. Scott Fitzgerald's jazz-age love tale The Great Gatsby has seen four previous film adaptations all of which failed to capture the essence of the famous novella. These bring us to director Baz Luhrmann and his attempts brings his undoubted eye for style and excess to this latest version, reuniting with Leonardo DiCaprio for the … [Read more...]
Another Earth (2011) review by That Film Guy
Timing they say, is everything. Imagine director and co-writer Mike Cahill's reaction when he found out that his bold, low-fi science fiction drama Another Earth was to be released mere weeks after Lars von Trier's similarly themed Melancholia. You wait for a neat, original idea for ages and then the same one appears in two films in two weeks. Even more frustrating for Cahill … [Read more...]
Nothing But the Truth (2008) review by That Film Geek
Nothing But The Truth is a political drama that takes it's inspiration from the 'Plamegate' case. It deals with the heady themes of journalistic freedom and the First Amendment of the U.S. Constitution vs. national security, and has a tight script and excellent performances. The film was denied a cinematic release by it's distributor filing for bankruptcy, and is far above the … [Read more...]
Bernie (2011) review by That Art House Guy
Richard Linklater's Bernie was completed in 2011 and had its debut at the LA film festival. It wasn't until April 2012 that it had a limited release run in the USA, and now, another year on, it is finally arriving on screens in the UK. The release schedule is not the only curious thing about Bernie. Based on a true story (and in this case it seems that for once, a film … [Read more...]
The Place Beyond the Pines (2012) review by That Art House Guy
The small town of Schenectady near Albany in upstate New York is known as ˜The Place Beyond the Pines' in Mohawk language. This is the setting for Derek Cianfrance's new movie, the follow-up to 2010's Blue Valentine, in which he again teams up with Ryan Gosling for a tale of fathers and sons, violence and consequences. … [Read more...]
Bully (2001) review by The Documentalist
Bully is the chilling true story of the murder of Bobby Kent by a group of high school friends from Florida following years of relentless psychological, physical and sexual abuse. Adapted from the book Bully: A True Story of High School Revenge by Jim Schutze, Larry Clark (Kids, Ken Park) takes the directing reigns and creates his usual gritty, dark world full of hopelessness … [Read more...]
Erin Brockovich (2000) review by The Documentalist
When Julia Roberts was at the peak of her career and commanded more box office than most male actors in Hollywood there was a certain expectation that went along with her films. Most were highly successful and there was little complaint from anyone despite the monotony. Erin Brockovich was released just about in the middle of this period sandwiched between crowd favourites … [Read more...]
Promised Land (2012) review by The Filmologist
If you want a movie about hydraulic fracturing, commonly known as fracking, watch the documentary Gasland. If you want a drama about fracking, then you are fortunate Hollywood's oft self-righteous piety will turn any ˜special interest politics' into a film. Gus Van Sant's Promised Land, written by and starring Matt Damon and John Krasinski, is, for the most part, more than … [Read more...]