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Tag Archives: Film noir
Review in Brief: Nightmare Alley (2021)
Following his Oscar win for THE SHAPE OF WATER, Guillermo del Toro could have done anything; Hollywood was his. He eventually decided on NIGHTMARE ALLEY, mounting a twisty and epic in scope noir-psychological-thriller based on an obscure novel from the … Continue reading
Review: Bad Times at the El Royale (2018)
Drew Goddard clearly loves genre storytelling, but in a sideways manner. His films aren’t really spoofs or pastiches, they’re twists and re-jigs. The essential elements that make a genre recognisable are all there, but arranged in a pattern you’ve never … Continue reading
Review: Kiss Kiss Bang Bang (2005)
Nobody writes stupid as well as Shane Black. Much like his contemporary Aaron Sorkin, he doesn’t write people talking how people actually talk, but within his own distinct worlds his dialogue for bewildered characters crackles almost as much as Sorkin’s … Continue reading
Posted in Film, Film Review
Tagged Black Comedy, Film noir, Kiss Kiss Bang Bang, Michelle Monaghan, Mystery, Robert Downey Jr, Shane Black, Sunset Boulevard, Val Kilmer
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Review: Zootropolis (2016)
ZOOTROPOLIS (which has the much better title of ZOOTOPIA in the States) is not only the best film of 2016 so far but also may well be the most important. It’s the usual pristine, vibrant and peppy animation from the … Continue reading
Posted in Film, Film Review
Tagged Academy Awards, Animation, Chinatown, Disney, Film noir, Frozen, Ginnifer Goodwin, Idris Elba, Jason Bateman, Jenny Slate, Maurice LaMarche, Mystery, Oscars, Straight Outta Compton, Zootopia, Zootropolis
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Review: Risen (2016)
I don’t think we’ve ever had a Roman film noir before (please tell me if I’m wrong on that). If RISEN had lent more on these distinctive tropes or even retained a modicum of ambiguity by the end, it could … Continue reading
Posted in Film, Film Review
Tagged Cliff Curtis, Film, Film noir, Historical Drama, Joseph Fiennes, Kevin Reynolds, Life of Brian, Movies, Mystery, Peter Firth, Risen, Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves
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Review: The Nice Guys (2016)
Watch THE NICE GUYS for a wonderfully shambolic Ryan Gosling teaming up with Russell Crowe playing a tank in a leather jacket. Remember it for Shane Black’s unique and sharply self-aware take on film noir. Black has been Hollywood’s go-to … Continue reading
Posted in Film, Film Review
Tagged Angourie Rice, Black Comedy, Chinatown, Drive, Film, Film noir, Get Carter, Half Nelson, Iron Man 3, Keith David, Kim Basinger, Kiss Kiss Bang Bang, Movies, Mystery, Russell Crowe, Ryan Gosling, Shane Black, The Long Goodbye, The Nice Guys, Ty Simpkins
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Review: Hail, Caesar! (2016)
The problem when you have a really good run is that even the slightest stumble becomes very noticeable. Over the last decade NO COUNTRY FOR OLD MEN, A SERIOUS MAN and especially INSIDE LLEWYN DAVIS made you forget that these … Continue reading
Posted in Film, Film Review
Tagged A Serious Man, Alden Ehrenreich, Bob Hoskins, Channing Tatum, Charlton Heston, Comedy, Eddie Mannix, Film, Film noir, Gene Kelly, George Clooney, Hail Caesar!, Hollywoodland, Inside Llewyn Davis, Josh Brolin, Movies, No Country for Old Men, Ralph Fiennes, Richard Burton, Roger Deakins, Singin' in the Rain, The Coen Brothers, The Ladykillers, The Majestic, Trumbo
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Review: Inherent Vice (2014)
Usually, a film’s plot or lack thereof is something I can rant on for hours about. Usually, if the plot doesn’t work, the film doesn’t work. That said, this is not a usual film, and I can say with absolute … Continue reading
Posted in Film, Film Review
Tagged Benicio del Toro, Black Comedy, Comedy, Drama, Elliot Gould, Film, Film noir, Inherent Vice, Joaquin Phoenix, Josh Brolin, Katherine Waterston, Movies, Owen Wilson, Paul Thomas Anderson, Reese Witherspoon, Robert Altman, The Big Lebowski, The Coen Brothers, The Long Goodbye, The Master
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Review: Surrogates (2009)
SURROGATES suffers from the same problem that a lot of middling sci-fi films suffer from (besides being derivative), namely that it has a solid and interesting central premise which doesn’t hold up to much, if any, additional scrutiny. It’s a … Continue reading
Posted in Film, Film Review
Tagged Bruce Willis, Film, Film noir, I, In Time, James Cromwell, Jonathan Mostow, Minority Report, Movies, Radha Mitchell, Robot, Rosamund Pike, Sci-fi, Star Trek: First Contact, Surrogates, Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines, The Matrix, Total Recall, Ving Rhames
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Breaking Bad: A Very Filmic Television Experience
BREAKING BAD has now come to a glorious end, and it really was a television marvel. The show, about a cancer-stricken chemistry teacher cooking crystal meth to secure his family’s future, was thematically layered, beautifully performed, perfectly paced, artfully filmed and … Continue reading
Posted in Film, Film Feature, Television
Tagged Aaron Paul, Anna Gunn, Betsy Brandt, Breaking Bad, Bryan Cranston, Crime, Drama, Film, Film noir, Movies, Rian Johnson, Steven Soderbergh, TV, Vince Gilligan, Western
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