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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
Twilight – An illustration of the importance of music in movies
If Twilight had a decent score, it would have been a really good movie. Instead, it had a strange and irritating score that sounded like 25% Seattle grunge and 75% hokey, semi-atonal, new-age witches music. Plus it had weird and … Continue reading
Posted in 2008
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Frozen River – a good, low-key film
I was beginning to despair of finding any decent movies this year but then finally saw Frozen River. It’s a really well-done film. Melissa Leo should have TROUNCED Kate Winslet for the Oscar; it’s a lovely, understated performance in a … Continue reading
Posted in 2008
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JFK (1991) / Executive Action (1973) – Mixed attempts at the ultimate political thriller
As someone fascinated by the Kennedy assassination, it is a must that I review the two feature films that have attempted to deal with the intricate and fascinating details of this subject: The Oliver Stone spectacular JFK, and the little … Continue reading
Posted in Films of the 1970s, Films of the 1990s
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Don’t Look Now (1973) – the pinacle of the horror genera
Nicholas Roeg’s Don’t Look Now is visual masterpiece. It is simply mesmerizing in its nuanced artistry. But what is all this artistry in service of? I have come to the conclusion that although the film seems to want to make … Continue reading
Posted in Films of the 1970s
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The Parallax View – Pakula Disappoints.
Alan J. Pakula is quite a revered figure here at Irreviews. Klute (1971) and All the President’s Men (1976) are landmarks in the art of the psycho-political thriller, and hopefully I will soon get a chance to review them here … Continue reading
Posted in Films of the 1970s
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4 months, 3 days & 2 weeks – palm d’BORE
Okay, Palm d’Or winner here. I lasted about half an hour. Two jerky, weirdly unsympathetic women trying to get an illegal abortion in Communist Romania. They meet up with a drone-like thug who apparently gives abortions and go to a … Continue reading
Posted in 2007
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The 2009 Oscars – who will win?
These are NOT my picks – these are who I think the Academy will choose. Best Picture and Director: Slumdog – a new low in Oscar history: a game show wins best picture. Best Actor: Sean Penn -they finally give … Continue reading
Posted in 2008
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New In Town – A subversive little diversion
A light romantic comedy, not super funny, not super romantic, and with a leading lady whose face does not move. However, the ending of the film throws an interesting twist to the viewer that is quite subversive in this society … Continue reading
Posted in 2009
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Juno – snappy, watchable, but not a great film
One of the best films of the year (2007)? Hardly. Juno is written with quirky, snappy dialog that is a lot of fun to listen to, and Ellen Page has a great voice to deliver the lines with. The story … Continue reading
Posted in 2007
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Vicky Christina Barcelona – not too bad, for Woody Allen
I lost interest in Woody Allen in the mid 90s. I decided that I hated almost all his work (including his early “good” stuff) in early 2000s. This film is somewhat of an exception, and might be the only Allen … Continue reading
Posted in 2008
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