Reviews
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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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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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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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DVD Releases: ‘Freakonomics’
Based off the bestselling book by Steven D. Levitt and Stephen J. Dubner, Freakonomics (2010) brings together five documentary film makers – each tackling their own unique chapters loosely relating to an aspect of the human condition – including Morgan Spurlock (of Super Size Me [2004] fame), Seth Gorden (King of Kong: A Fistful of Quarters [2007]) and Alex Gibney…
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DVD Releases: ‘Deep Red’
Continuing Arrow Video’s campaign to reinvigorate ageing ‘giallo’ exploitation cinema with the freshness of high definition, Dario Argento’s Deep Red (1975) is released today on Blu-ray disc. Beginning with the violent slaughter of a psychic, Argento’s cult thriller soon develops into a gripping detective murder mystery following music teacher Marcus Daly (David Hemmings) and his flirtatious,…
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DVD Review: ‘A Serbian Film’
★☆☆☆☆ There are, it would seem, a growing number of films that can claim to have at one stage carried the hallowed moniker ‘the most controversial film of all time’. Controversy is, of course, entirely subjective – Mel Gibson’s The Passion of the Christ (2004) was controversial in the context of its religious content, whilst David Cronenberg’s…
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Theatrical Releases: ‘The Way Back’
Inspired by a true story of almost unbelievable magnitude, The Way Back (2010) marks Peter Weir’s return cinema after a seven year hiatus following his 2003’s historical romp, Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World.Taking place in 1940, The Way Back sees a group of men escape from the Siberian Gulag and journey…
