2011
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DVD Releases: ‘Catfish’
Catfish (2010) is unlike anything I’ve ever seen; even defining its genre proves problematic. I’d like to settle on docu-thriller, but its ever-changing tone means you don’t really know what you’re watching until the film’s conclusion. The problem with reviewing it also is, the less you know, the more you’ll enjoy it.Henry Joost and Ariel ‘Rel’ Schulman…
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DVD Releases: ‘Gainsbourg’
If there’s one thing that Joann Sfar’s Gainsbourg (2010) – an innovative biopic of cult French singer-songwriter Serge Gainsbourg – told me, it’s that he smoked…a lot. And sometimes, he didn’t shave for a few days. He also had an extraordinary allure for women since pre-pubescence. However, this was about all the insight provided by…
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DVD Releases: ‘I’m Still Here’
Knowing in advance that I’m Still Here (2010) is in fact a mockumentary does little to help in making sense of Casey Affleck’s up-close and uncomfortably personal documentary. Following Joaquin Phoenix after his declaration of retirement from the acting world in order to become a fully fledged rapper, Affleck and his crew track Phoenix and…
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Barbican Film: ‘Seven Samurai’
Proceeding last month’s brilliant Takeshi Kitano programme, it was typically appropriate for the Barbican to round off the Akira Kurosawa Directorspective season with a screening of the hugely popular and critically acclaimed Seven Samurai (1954).Kurosawa’s fifteenth directorial outing is a film which since its initial release has gone on to receive numerous awards, being consistently…
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Film Review: Season of the Witch
★★★☆☆ Death, plague, Nicolas Cage – what could possibly unite such an unholy trilogy. Could it be… witchcraft? Dominic Sena’s plumping for a big fat yes with his ridiculous titled effort Season of the Witch (2010) (not to be confused with the 70’s Romero shocker of the same name). Even more ridiculous is the film itself,…
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Film Review: ‘127 Hours’
★★★★☆ Foresight is a wonderful thing. With the gift of foresight, British director Danny Boyle – perhaps best known for the cult classic Trainspotting (1996) and 2008’s Academy Award-winning, feel good hit Slumdog Millionaire – would probably have thought twice before choosing to adapt Alex Garland’s novel The Beach (2000), a spectacular flop both critically and…
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Total Film Awards 2011: Vote CineVue for Best Overall Blog
We’re extremely excited and proud to announce that the CineVue site has been officially nominated for Best Overall Blog in the Total Film Movie Blog Awards 2011. A huge thank you has to go out to all of you who nominated the site in the opening round of voting at the end of last year…
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Film Review: ‘The King’s Speech’
★★★★☆ The King’s Speech (2010) delves deep into the relationship between two men – one a common man and the other a royal – by exploring the romance of true friendship and asks us to invest ourselves emotionally in such a relationship. The film traces the turbulent and painful accession to the throne of King George…
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Film Review: ‘The Next Three Days’
★★☆☆☆ An argument at the office holds horrifying consequences for Elizabeth Banks’ Lara Brennan in Paul Haggis’s The Next Three Days (2010). After police raid her idyllic family home – where she lives happily with husband John (Russell Crowe) – and following a cruel judicial process, John is forced to come to terms with his…
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Special Feature: The Most Anticipated Films of 2011
Happy New Year one and all and welcome officially to 2011! The last twelve months have arguably been a great cumulative year for cinema, but with new films scheduled for release from British Oscar winner Danny Boyle, dynamic duo the Coen brothers, Darren Aronofsky and the seldom-seen Terrence Malick, 2011 is shaping up to be…
