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Recent Reviews
- Good Kill – An artistic exploration of drone assassinations
- Citizenfour – a fascinating and important topic, but a disappointing documentary
- Interstellar – Probably the best film of the year, certainly the most enjoyable!
- Laggies – a delightful little film about late-blooming misfits
- Two Days, One Night – it’s (almost) exactly what you expect it to be
- Whiplash – a disgusting, stupidly manipulative piece of absurdity.
- Still Alice – big stars, big production, but still just a Hallmark movie of the week
- Wild – it’s surprisingly well-made and fun to watch
- Black Sea – diverting, but sadly predictable
- Birdman (Or the Expected Emptiness of Pretension)
- Mr. Turner – Planet of the Ape
- The Imitation Game – It’s an abomination
- A Brief Word on the 2014 Oscar-Nominated Animated Shorts
- Kill The Messenger – The important and tragic story of Gary Webb, the mainstream media, and the CIA
- This is Where I Leave You – the latest in a long line of “family reunion” movies
- A review of summer cinema – it was pretty grim!
- The Trip to Italy – It never should have been made
- A Most Wanted Man – Superficially entertaining, but poorly-made and overrated
- Magic in the Moonlight – It’s pissing me off!
- The Purge: Anarchy – Surprisingly, it’s rather good
- I Origins – ambitious and entertaining
- Boyhood – a bit one dimensional, but its one dimension is lovely, impressive and fun to experience
- Obvious Child – cute, dignified and gutsy
- Snowpiercer – a fantastic, riveting science fiction action allegory
- Edge of Tomorrow – it’s fairly entertaining
- Begin Again – confronting the future of pop music head-on
- The Fault in Our Stars – not super-moving, but definitely enjoyable
- Hellion – a gritty tale of fucked up parents and children
- Night Moves – a cool, subtle portrayal of hippy-liberal activism turned violent
- Cold In July – an outstandingly fun and unusual film, and a paean for the 1980s
- Austenland – so horrible, I’m speechless
- Elena – 80 minutes of torture
- Lucky Them – Toni Collette takes center stage and lights up the screen!
- Belle – it means well, but God is it slow (and dull)
- Finding Vivian Maier – an okay documentary on a fascinating artist
- The German Doctor (Wakolda) – Diverting, but feels more than a little contrived
- Chef – it’s heart is in the right place
- Jodorowsky’s Dune – a bizarre and amazing documentary
- Hateship, Loveship – it goes down well
- Divergent – entertaining, but there’s a lot wrong with it
Author Archives: roguespirit
And While We Were Here – fresh and interesting, but ultimately a bit disapointing
And While We Were Here is about a couple staying on the Amalfi coast for two weeks while the husband performs in a classical ensemble. The opening 15 minutes is pretty standard “marriage on the rocks” stuff. American Kate Bosworth is married to … Continue reading
Posted in 2013
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The World’s End – another outrageous conception from Simon Pegg, but it falls a bit flat
Simon Pegg and Nick Frost are a very underrated comic team, and their movies are bizarre, off-beat, edgy comedies with a golden heart. The World’s End is no exception – a bunch of 40-something guys attempt to complete a failed pub … Continue reading
Posted in 2013
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Closed Circuit – fun, but kind of average
Often on this blog I will differentiate between a film’s story idea and its story, usually to point out how great story ideas (which sell the movie) are usually completely wasted by lazy and cynical screenwriting. Well Closed Circuit takes … Continue reading
Posted in 2013
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The Lifeguard – mixed, but dignified and somewhat interesting
Ever since Kristen Bell’s glorious turn as Veronica Mars ten years ago, I have been waiting for someone to write this very deserving actress a fabulous movie to star in. As the years have gone by, I’ve dropped the “fabulous” … Continue reading
Posted in 2013
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Passion (2013) / Love Crime (2010) – DePalma remakes a so-so film into a terrible film!
Short Review: Love Crime is okay; Passion sucks donkey balls. If you must see one, see Love Crime. But trust me, you’re not missing much if you see neither of them. Masochistic Review: I went to see Brian DePalma’s Passion because it … Continue reading
Europa Report – maybe the best space exploration thriller I’ve ever seen
Europa Report is probably the best damn realistic space exploration thriller I’ve ever seen. It’s story reminds me a lot of the incredible historical tales from the initial western explorations of the source of the Nile, the interior of Australia, … Continue reading
Posted in 2013
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Fruitvale Station – a quiet, contemplative film about a life that ended in senseless tragedy
All I heard from everyone about Fruitvale Station was that it was “depressing.” This summary really does the film a disservice – in fact, Fruitvale Station is crafted so skillfully, and which such obvious care, that the depressing ending of the film … Continue reading
Posted in 2013
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In a World – a cute little B-film about the strange world of Hollywood voice-overs
In a World has an charming innocence about it that’s a throwback to the good-natured indie films of the 1990. My wife and I both really enjoyed it. It’s quirky, funny, well-cast, and paints an interesting and amusing picture of … Continue reading
Posted in 2013
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The (Not So) Spectacular Now
The Spectacular Now has a fantastic trailer, which emphasizes the charisma of the two leads, and sells it as a teenage falling in love story, successfully hiding the film’s true core story line: a dreary and unrewarding tale about the … Continue reading
Posted in 2013
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Elysium – Unremittingly awful
I went to see Elysium because it seemed like it might be an interesting political allegory, and Matt Damon was in it (if there’s one guy in Hollywood who tends to pick decent scripts and good characters, it’s him.) What … Continue reading
Posted in 2013
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