Film Reviews Blog

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

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      Saturday 21st January 2023

      USA 2005

      Running time: 121 mins

      North Country

      Director : Niki Caro

      Film Summary :
      Sexual harrassment in an Iopen-cast iron mine leads to landmark legal case. Based on true story.

      Reviewed by rogerco, DVD proj @ home on 21 Jan 2023

      Review Summary :
      Good, but not great. Josie not believable and courtroom scenes, particularly at end, OTT

      Good but not Great

      Obviously this is a difficult true story to dramatize as in real life its a slow burn that can't easily be compressed into 2 years. Two main quiblles with the film - firstly that the character of Josie didn't seem tough enough to have done that - especially played by a slender beautiful woman. Secondly the courtroom scenes, particularly at the climax, were a bit ridiculous - I don't believe a lawyer would be allowed to browbeat a witness in quite that way even in the US.




      Saturday 14th January 2023

      Korea 2003

      Running time: 120 mins

      Oldboy

      Director : Park Chan-wook

      Film Summary :
      Oh Dae-Su is kidnapped and held for 15 years before being released to seek revenge, but the truth behind his kidnapping sours the taste of revenge.

      Reviewed by rogerco, Streamed proj @ home on 14 Jan 2023

      Review Summary :
      Hitchcockian exposition with a few eye-closing scenes and a bit of OTT martial arts fighting.

      Visually impressive,

      Sometimes I had to close my eyes (teeth being extracted etc) and some of the fight scenes were overly cartoonish, but the mise-en-scene was impressive and the unfolding of the plot was satisfying. Hitchcockian in that it keeps you too wrapped up in the lead character's point of view to see what in retrospect is obviously going on. Not suspenseful though.




      Saturday 7th January 2023

      USA 2022

      Running time: 107 mins

      The Unbearable Weight of Massive Talent

      Director : Tom Gormican

      Film Summary :
      Nick Cage takes a gig at a wealthy fans birthday party on a Mediterranean isle and gets involved in a kidnapping plot.

      Reviewed by rogerco, DVD proj @ home on 07 Jan 2023

      Review Summary :
      If Only there was massive talent involved then the title would be appropriate.

      If Only

      It is almost a meta-film about the film industry, but mostly its just another excuse for some action sequences involving cars and guns and jumping off cliffs etc. Once he gets to the island it starts off on a wisecracking buddy track as Nick and Javi circle around each other, but sadly it declines into a routine 'straight-to-video' (or nowadays straight-to-streaming) flic of no great value.

      It is entertaining in parts, but there's more than a touch of misogyny in the treatment of the female parts, and the cartoon CIA operatives and black clad baddies are risible. Not quite unbearable but pretty ponderous.




      Saturday 31st December 2022

      Germany & US 1984

      Running time: 145 mins

      Paris Texas

      Director : Wim Wenders

      Film Summary :
      Travis wanders out of the desert and is recued by his brother. He gradually fills in the lost 4 years re-discovering his son and an (ex) wife.

      Reviewed by Roger CO, Streamed proj @ home on 31 Dec 2022

      Review Summary :
      It may be intended as a symbolic journey, but it doesn't carry us with it and it never gets to Paris.Texas

      A Slow Trip that doesn't get there

      The mystery and promise of the opening with Travis appearing from the desert is not satisfyingly resolved. Some of it is good to look at, and Harry Dean Stanton can act ok, but for the most part it is just not very interesting.




      Tuesday 20th December 2022

      Iran 2018

      Running time: 100 mins

      3 Faces

      Se rokh

      Director : Jafar Panahi

      Film Summary :
      Aspiring young actress trapped in her village life sends video to famous actress to get her to rescue her.
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      Reviewed by rogerco, DVD proj @ home on 20 Dec 2022

      Strange, but again unsatisfying

      It starts by concentrating on two faces, for the first few minutes we only see Marziyeh  filming herself talking to camera, then we cut to Behnaz's face for a few minutes as she is in Jafari's car heading north and they are discussing the video.

      It then opens out to more conventional shots as they get near the village, but the people they encounter seem alien to my western eyes and their motives and meanings are unclear. As the truth about Marziyeh unfolds through her family and friend, Maedeh (?), we see an ancient self contained community living in what seem tumbledown homes and the incipient conflict between the pressure of the modern and the rock of community and culture.

      In the end Marziyeh does 'escape' with Behnaz and Jafari - but isn't she escaping to a more gilded and less substantial cage? Perhaps this is the meaning of the unseen third face of the old pre-revolution actress who has retired to live alone and isolated in the village and who has befriended Marizyeh..