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Paris, I Love You 2006
The whole thing kind of feels like a student project with extremely high production values. Some of the shorts are lovely, some are ropey, and collectively they feel more tiresome than charming.
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The Celluloid Closet 1997
A wonderful work of curation, which is often touching and sometimes revealing. (Ben Hur's a gay movie?!) It prompted me to add dozens of films to my LoveFilm list and held my interest despite being 100 minutes of talking heads. All the incredible film clips helped.
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Cosmopolis 2012
This film is as encumbered as its protagonist's search for a hair cut. And it could definitely do with a trim too. Uninteresting performances fail to rescue DeLilo's characters from the endless dialogue and none of its numerous stars seem to have noticed how outrageously pretentious the whole thing is.
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The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo 2011
This review reportedly contains spoilers. I can handle the truth.
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Black Hawk Down 2001
This review reportedly contains spoilers. I can handle the truth.
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Rudo and Cursi 2008
Between them, Alfonso Cuaron, Guillermo Del Toro and Alejandro Gonzalez Inaritu have made some of my favourite films of the last decade so I was delighted when I heard they were teaming up to create the production company Cha Cha Cha. I only thought it was a shame that Speedy Gonzalez wasn't available for the most Mexican film venture of all time (he was too busy perpetuating racial stereotypes). Needless to say, I had high hopes for Rudo Y Cursi,…
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The Square 2008
Second film of the letterboxd film festival.
'Oh what a tangled web we weave when first we practise to deceive!'
Nash and Joel Edgerton deliver a morbid tale of a married man's descent into criminality - a deftly written neo-noir stocked with well-drawn characters and surprising plot contrivances. Whilst po-faced Raymond (David Roberts) slides further and further into chaos, the Edgertons maintain control of the film throughout.
The Square was at its best when it was funny and may have…
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Moonrise Kingdom 2012
This review reportedly contains spoilers. I can handle the truth.
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The Avengers 2012
What. A. Pay-off.
Unsurprisingly, the best thing about this movie is its super-powered characters, each of whom Whedon manages to develop without overwhelming the plot - probably because the story is so simple. Still, Avengers Assemble pulls out all the stops (read: set pieces) and gives the 6-for-the-price-of-1 movie experience that everyone's been hoping for.
Mark Ruffalo is the best Hulk yet (perfectly downbeat), Tom Hiddleston's Loki is both pitiful and demonic and I am dying to see more of…
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Winter's Bone 2010
It's like True Blood IRL.
An it's-grim-down-south quest story superbly acted by Jennifer Lawrence and the other more grizzly cast members. At times, the film feels like it's going to stray into horror territory but it never does; each scene is perfectly judged and it has one of the best closing scenes I've seen in a while.
