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Carlos 2010
Watched by Jacob Powell 23 Mar, 2013 Assayas delivers a compelling, unglamorous fictionalised portrait of the well known 'celebrity-terrorist' who came to be known as 'Carlos the Jackal'. Anchored by Édgar Ramírez's solid performance this biopic dramatisation of the life of Carlos eschews grandiose myth-making in favour of a more honestly complicated mixture of arrogant idealism and louche fame-courting. I suspect I would score this higher if I'd seen the full 5.5hr miniseries (I'd have preferred that) but as it is I've seen the 'theatrical' cut (or,…
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Café de Flore 2012
Watched by Andrew Robinson 29 Dec, 2012 1 Music making an emotion more clear than any wonderful narrative
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Safety Not Guaranteed 2012
Watched by Jacob Powell 10 Oct, 2012 1 Excellent indie rom-com with more feel-good factor than I expected but it carries it well. Ostensibly a time-travel piece (genre flavour of the month!) the film's primary interest is in subverting mainstream rom-com tropes and character stereotypes; a goal which it achieves most admirably. Fun, funny, and possessed of an honest warmth lacking from many Hollywood productions of this nature, even the broad, physical comedy in this worked for me. Well worth seeing. Also, Aubrey Plaza...swoon.
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Looper 2012
Added by Cam Williams Every successful musical act eventually puts together a “best of” collection. ‘Looper’ is the time travel film equivalent of a “best of” album. Writer/director Rian Johnson excellently takes the best elements of time manipulation and brings those ideas together in a volley of bullets and drama.
Read the full review thepopcornjunkie.com/2012/09/22/review-looper/
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50/50 2011
Watched by Tyler 19 Jul, 2012 6 A decent, well-made comedy that trudges into moving drama and does it well. Though I was skeptical when Bryce Dallas Howard showed up (I hate, hate, hate her), she quickly moved off screen where she belongs and the film became less a comedy about sex than a drama about facing cancer. Not quite the achingly poignant drama I'd hoped for, nor the laugh-out-loud comedy, but something in between that manages to be a decent film.
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Shame 2011
Watched by Ryan 19 May, 2012 10 Another fantastic film from Steve McQueen starring Michael Fassbender. Both give the best effort of their careers in this compelling, well-told character study.
McQueen, in particular, shows much more restraint than in his debut film, Hunger, and feels generally more comfortable with the cinematic medium than before. I can only imagine the great films he will give to us in the future.
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The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel 2012
Watched by EricAnders 16 May, 2012 The film has a lot of structural problems... Major characters disappear for uncomfortably long lengths of time, and because there are so many strong characters vying for screen time, we never get to explore any one person nearly as much as I would have liked.
However, every performance is utterly fantastic, and despite the issues with pacing and plotting and whatnot, the performances more than carry the film. Judi Dench is a revelation as a recently-widowed elderly woman. Maggie Smith…
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The Dictator 2012
Watched by Dylan Moran 14 May, 2012 The Dictator is a film which will benefit from the pop-culture hype machine of Sacha Baron Cohen.
The Brit has managed to carve out a name for himself - any film he puts out will instantly be a must-see for anybody under 30, sight unseen.
But Bruno was no Borat. Where Borat offered an entertaining socio-political commentary, Bruno instead spent 82 minutes trying to force you to be offended.
The Dictator finds the middle ground, but only picks up the…
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Carnage 2011
Watched by DrewSA 28 Mar, 2012 Hilarious movie based on the play...All four actors here are so amazing. It's wonderful how much Jodie Foster's character is so annoying, but in a good way. Christoph Waltz is hilariously lizard-like. And John C. Reilly...well, let's just say he's one of our most under appreciated performers. With a short running time of about 78 minutes, I almost wish it ran longer.
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Dr. Horrible's Sing-Along Blog 2008
by EricAnders 28 Mar, 2012 1 I truly believe this is a perfect piece of entertainment.
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The Raid: Redemption 2012
Added by DaveChen I want to say this is the best movie I've ever seen in my whole entire life, but I feel like that would take away from my credibility....
