Film Reviews Blog

This page only shows films that have a review. By default in date order of reading with newest at top

Saturday 15th January 2022

Canada 2013

Running time: 99 mins

Tom at the Farm

Director : Xavier Dolan

Film Summary :
Macho gay power games after Tom's lover dies and Tom visits the family for the funeral.

Reviewed by rogerco, DVD proj @ home on 15 Jan 2022

Why on earth did he stay?

After a promising start I found it completely implausible that Tom, even allowing for his grief over loss of his lover, would hang around being abused by the repressed homo brother. It just didn't add up. The story about the homo-erotic repressed relationship has been done far better elsewhere (Brokeback Mountain and Power of the Dog spring to mind for starters)




Saturday 8th January 2022

UK 2013

Running time: 83 mins

Locke

Director : Steven Knight

Film Summary :
Building site manager drives to birth of his child whilst on the phone (handsfree on the M6) fielding problems at work and telling his wife about the other woman
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Reviewed by rogerco, DVD proj @ home on 08 Jan 2022

Review Summary :
Might have made a passable half hour radio play

A boring drive down the M6 at night

A boring half story about a boring man.  There was nothing interesting about the character, why make a film about him? An attempt to make a technically clever film - only one person in shot and only one location with the story told through the medium of phone calls - but frankly what was the point. Might have made an ok half hour radio play, but has no merit as a film.

Gets a second star because I briefly worked as a concrete engineer and so knew some of the technical stuff he was talking about and met someone a bit like him.




Thursday 6th January 2022

UK 2020

Running time: 103 mins

Limbo

Director : Ben Sharrock

Film Summary :
A group of refugees billeted on a Scottish Island awaiting results of asylum requests.

Reviewed by rogerco, Streamed proj @ home on 06 Jan 2022

Review Summary :
The gentle end of the refugee experience

Humorous, but slow paced and how true?

Well acted and beautifully photographed and well written - but at times a little pointlessly slow. Alright so they are in Limbo where time does pass slowly, but sometimes the photography of scenery seemed to delay the narrative.

It is gently funny, not laugh out loud, and comes across as somewhat truthful - although how many asylum seekers are billeted on a remote Scottish island rather than in detention centres with prison like condidtions.




Saturday 1st January 2022

France 1995

Running time: 98 mins

La Haine

Director : Mathieu Kassovitz

Film Summary :
A day in the life of three young men from the Paris suburbs in the aftermath of a riot
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Reviewed by rogerco, DVD proj @ home on 01 Jan 2022

Review Summary :
No surprise there was a riot, and no surprise that the victims of the riot are largely the community that rioted.

No surprise there was a riot

Slightly reminiscent of the (20 years later) Victoria. The B&W presentation feels right, the camerawork is quite fluid matching the edgy feel of the action. Perhaps it fails to delve into the pressures that the protagonists are under, and there 'hate' seems to be ust between the pigs and the kidz - but why? 




Wednesday 29th December 2021

USA 2021

Running time: 135 mins

Don't Look Up

Director : Adam McKay

Film Summary :
Satire on our civilisation's response to climate change.Sort of.
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Reviewed by rogerco, Streamed proj @ home on 29 Dec 2021

Review Summary :
Good fun in lots of ways, but ultimately a comet strike is a singular event whereas the collapse of Gaia will be billions of distinct events

Entertaining, but slightly misses its mark

Some of the dialogue a bit inaudible - an increasingly common complaint, are my ears fading I wonder. An entertaining riff on political expediency, media dumbing down, and tech hyperbole as the Prof and Kate have to deal and sometimes compromise with various forces with vested interests in not telling the truth.

The comeupannce of the tech billionaire both when his mission fails and in the coda 22000 years in the future when they arrive at a new planet only to discover they are a food source to the creatures there is satisfying

Ultimately though as a satire on the response to climate change it doesn't really work as eco-climate collapse doesn't have the salience that a comet appearing in the sky has.