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Epic 2013
Epic it ain't. Whimsical and ecologically correct it most certainly is. Strictly for children under the age of 10 and their long-suffering parents. An anodyne, over-plotted and often irritating adventure from the makers of Ice Age and Rio. The voice talent includes Beyonce Knowles (as Queen Tara), Colin Farrell (as Leafman warrior Ronin), Christoph Waltz (as the villainous Mandrake) and Chris O'Dowd (as a snail called Grub). Based on William Joyce's book entitled The Leaf Men and the Brave Good Bugs, which would have been a much better title for the film.
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The Hangover Part III 2013
Dull, unfunny conclusion to the trilogy of 'stag night from hell' movies. The best that can be said is that it doesn't simply re-work the same plot as the original, as Part II did. Instead it tries to be an action/caper movie, and fails.
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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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The Great Gatsby 2013
The cinematic equivalent of a Jack Vettriano painting, with a psychological depth to match.
Tobey Maguire's voice-over (as Nick Carraway) almost saves it, but his and the other actors' stilted dialogue delivery, together with an insistence on spelling out or repeating every significant line, kills F Scott Fitzgerald's deathless prose stone dead.
Leonardo DiCaprio is adequate but insufficiently enigmatic as Gatsby; Carey Mulligan is not beautiful, brittle or vapid enough as Daisy; Joel Edgerton's Jack Buchanan is too one-dimensionally brutish.…
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The Purge 2013
Reviews embargoed until day before UK release, 31st May.
Here's a link to the trailer: www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=h78L6eqif2o
Star rating is nominal. Full review to follow.
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The Reluctant Fundamentalist 2013
Mira Nair's adaptation of Mohsin Hamid's 2007 novel starring Riz Ahmed, Liev Schreiber, Kate Hudson and Om Puri.
My review for the Film 4 web site is here: www.film4.com/reviews/2012/the-reluctant-fundamentalist
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Dead Man Down 2013
#deadmandownrightboring
Full review on-line here: www.film4.com/reviews/2013/dead-man-down?down
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Iron Man 3 2013
Four words: Sir Ben (of Croydon).
NB: Star rating is nominal as reviews are embargoed.
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The Lords of Salem 2013
My Time Out review of Rob Zombie's latest horror offering: www.timeout.com/london/film/the-lords-of-salem-2012
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Evil Dead 2013
Although the Joss Whedon-scripted 'Cabin in the Woods' recently eviscerated the eponymous sub-genre, exposing its glistening innards and its inner workings, this re-boot of Sam Raimi's infamous 'video nasty' exhumes its disembowelled corpse. Yet despite abundant old school splatter, it's seldom frightening and oddly humourless. The only hint of the 1981 original's cartoon-ish sado-slapstick lays in sly glimpses of the implements (hypodermic needle, nail-gun, chain-saw) that will later pierce, puncture or tear through flesh and bone.
The first to be…
