We’re in luck in this brand new year of 2015 – fine films coming out in droves, with the three below a taste of some of the best. One gentle, the second electrifying and the third a Zen experience. Get to the movies and enjoy great cinema! Still Life (Une belle fin) **** This is […]
Mr. Turner; Coming Home
Mr. Turner *** Character-actor Timothy Spall won the best acting trophy at Cannes and at the European Film awards for his portrayal of the English painter William Turner. It is well known that the esteemed British director Mike Leigh has an unorthodox method of making films – there is no script, just an idea of […]
Of Horses and Men; Timbuktu
Of Horses and Men **** (vo Icelandic) We are back in the Northern climes (after the brilliant Norwegian Refroidis/Kraftidioten), this time in Iceland, where at times they come up with superb cinema – mostly of the poker-faced, comedic style at which they excel. How can one describe this one by the talented first-time director Benedikt […]
Nightcrawler; Dark Star
Nightcrawler (Night Call) **** Jake Gyllenhaal deserves an Oscar nomination for his powerful performance here as a determined psychopath whose main drive is ambition and achievement. He portrays a serious young man who wants to find a job, learn a trade, more than eager and willing to do anything to get ahead. He stumbles onto […]
A Most Wanted Man; Refroidis (In Order of Disappearance)
A Most Wanted Man **** Except for a few moments of greenery, an imposing private bank and a grand hotel bar, the elegant city of Hamburg has never looked so grim. But we are, after all, in the grey world of John le Carré, a universe of tired spies with few illusions of grandeur. Our […]
Film reviews: Der Kreis (Le Circle); Strange
Der Kreis (Le Circle) **** (vo German) Switzerland’s selection for this year’s Foreign Film Oscar and winner of every festival it has entered, including the Teddy award at the Berlin film fest, this is a brilliant docudrama about the first gay men’s magazine and organization created in Zurich in the 1940s when it was extremely […]
Interstellar
Interstellar ** This hugely-hyped, so-called “intellectual” blockbuster is being touted as the space film of the year, or decade. It was even on the cover of Time magazine! Yet it is an extremely loud (Hans Zimmer’s music has never been so over-blown) mishmash of incomprehensible physicist lingo, post-ecological nightmare and soppy father/daughter melodrama. And it […]
Magic in the Moonlight
Magic in the Moonlight **** It is often said that most Woody Allen films have the same look and feel, but I would say that his great ones are like diamonds, each one just a different facet of the diamond. He has been creating a film almost each year since 1966, many of them comedic […]
The Salt of the Earth; Gone Girl
THE SALT OF THE EARTH **** Wim Wenders has a definite knack with documentaries. He brings them to life with both charm and intelligence, like his inimitable classic, The Buena Vista Social Club. Here, he retraces the steps of the renowned Brazilian photojournalist, Sebastiao Salgado, who has witnessed all forms of international conflicts and isolated […]
The Equalizer; Still The Water
THE EQUALIZER *** (VO English) We all know how intense and great an actor is Denzel Washington. There is also a quiet majesty to the man. He’s back once again with his Training Day director, Antoine Fuqua, in this satisfying and thrilling film which manages to be both peacefully Zen and ruthlessly violent. Denzel […]