July 2010
5 posts
6 tags
Three Documentaries: How Little We Know of Our...
Admittedly I watch relatively few documentaries, though I enjoy them. Why the seeming contradiction? Possibly it’s a lack of availability, though that’s a strawman argument: if one seeks out documentaries, they may be be found. I suppose the main reason I don’t see a lot of non-fiction film (or television programmes)—except when I’m in certain...
3 tags
Inception (2010) review
Words like “brilliant” and “masterpiece” are being freely tossed at Inception, and while I liked this clever, intelligent, and well-produced film a lot, I don’t think I’d go that far. One reviewer suggested Christopher Nolan’s latest should be seen twice for full comprehension…hey, I paid eight bucks to see it, and the film runs two and a half...
4 tags
[Rec]2 (2009) review
[Rec]2 is another film in which form takes precedence over content. Blair Witch Project, Cloverfield, Paranormal Activity, [Rec] (the original)—all were films consisting largely of “found” footage (let’s not mention The Fourth Kind, a horrible mashup of fake “actuality” footage and fake “recreated” scenes).
Face it,...
4 tags
Predators (2010) review
I’ve been eagerly anticipating some summer films this year, but Predators wasn’t one of them (for the record, I want to see Inception, The Expendables, and Machete). Predators is one of those “oh, nothing much to do tonight, let’s see a movie. What’s convenient and inoffensive?”
I saw the first Predator, way back in 1987. They tell me there’ve been...
3 tags
Exam (2009) review
Some filmmakers enjoy a challenge, sometimes simply for the sake of the challenge. For example, long takes. Alfred Hitchcock’s famous Rope consisted entirely of a series of long takes, the opening scene of Touch of Evil (Orson Welles) is an involved long-take shot, and there is a single, incredibly intricate long-take martial-arts sequence in The Protector; all of these required extensive...
