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Searching for Sugar Man 2012
An extraordinary story, persuasively told. I'm not convinced that the music itself deserves the praise heaped upon it, but Rodriguez himself is a fascinating figure. Illuminating contributions, too, from those closest to him. Best seen knowing little or nothing about the subject matter.
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The Place Beyond the Pines 2013
A gripping, emotionally engrossing and socially authentic 'sins of the fathers' drama from Derek Cianfrance, the writer/director of Blue Valentine.
A lot of people feel that the film's first act, which focuses on Ryan Golsing's carnival stunt rider, is by far the strongest, and that the film never recovers from the anti-climax. Watching it again, the second act, featuring Bradley Cooper's rookie cop, seems to em the strongest, in part because it cements and broadens, all the themes set-up by…
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Looper 2012
Superior, low-key, grown-up science fiction that prioritises ideas and emotion over futuristic set-dressing. Time travel plot is spoiler-bait. Good performances by Joseph Gordon Levitt, Bruce Willis, Emily Blunt and the ever-wonderful Jeff Daniels. Writer/director Rian Johnson borrows from other sci-fi movies, but makes their ideas and images his own.
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Silver Linings Playbook 2012
An absurdly over-praised, trite and manipulative love story featuring a manic depressive (Bradley Cooper) and a young grieving widow (Jennifer Lawrence). There are some cute scenes involving dancing.
Like Paul Haggis's Crash before it, this is one of those films which, in years to come, will be cited as an embarrassing, over-hyped anomaly on the Oscar roll of honour. Jennifer Lawrence did not deserve her Best Actress gong, and the nominations for her, Cooper, Robert de Niro and Jacki Weaver…
