Letterboxd — Your life in film

Well... that was a load of old balls. I know a lot of people seem to like these kind of faux-profound films but, my gosh this was nonsense. There is something vaguely interesting about the central notion that people from different times and places are somehow "cosmically connected" however Cloud Atlas deals with the subject matter in the most banal and heavy-handed manner and when it finally all came to an end nothing more had been elucidated.

The dialogue is…

Promising a story that will make us believe in god, Life of Pi reveals its hand very early on in proceedings. Consequently the level of enjoyment and fulfillment available to the viewer will greatly depend on the individual's spiritual inclinations and receptiveness to the central religious philosophies explored herein. For me it was all a little too heavy-handed and self-important with an ending that draws a decidedly explicit conclusion based on rather fatuous and flimsy assumptions. I found that this…

I went to see Intouchables with a certain degree of trepidation, as when a film meets with near unanimous praise it is often bland or emotionally manipulative. However, here what could have been a real insipid melodrama, was a lovely, gentle and genuinely funny buddy movie.

Sure, the comedy plays very broad and didn't elicit the same guffaws from me as it did from the rest of the audience (incidentally I was the youngest person in the theatre by at…

“It's turkey time...gobble, gobble” - actual line from the film

I don't often intentionally seek out bad films, my feeling being why waste time with such a pursuit when I still haven't seen every Bergman or Fellini film? But the knowledge that Gigli is considered one of the worst of all time had me intrigued.

At over two hours it is at least thirty minutes too long for a bad film, making hard to recommend that anyone should check it…

Director Martin Mcdonagh follows his debut feature, In Bruges, with Seven Psychopaths, an exceedingly self aware satire on Hollywood screenwriting, in particular action movie narratives and tropes.

However, the argument could be made that the director is having his cake and eating it too. Hollywood cliches such as: extended scenes of choreographed, graphic violence, poorly developed female characters and casual homophobia are all indulged and then riffed upon by the main characters, to varying degrees of success.

The main narrative…

Shot lavishly in Technicolor and with gorgeous set and costume design it is difficult to believe that The Life and Death of Colonel Blimp was made in wartime Britain. Spanning four decades and three wars, the grand ambition and scale of the production is matched by the performances of the three leads. Particularly that of Deborah Kerr, who is positively enchanting, playing the three important women in Clive Candy's life.

The character of Clive Candy (Roger Livesy) is initially seen…

Enjoyable crime drama oozing with machismo, Lawless captures its rural depression-era setting beautifully. The male dominated cast is strong, featuring as always, a great physical performance by Tom Hardy and a sadistically unhinged one from Guy Pearce. Even Shia LaBeouf does well to atone for past sins (still, his stupid face was initially distracting, but that's more to do with my own issues). Unfortunately the two female leads, Mia Wasikowska and Jessica Chastain, are largely relegated to sideline roles with…

A deliciously acerbic satire on British aristocracy, Kind Hearts and Coronets has been on my radar for a long time and what a pleasure is was to finally catch up with it. Before viewing I had no idea of its plot, but I knew it was regarded as one of the best Ealing comedies and was rated highly by some of my favourite comedians.

The humour is not drawn from 'jokes' or physical comedy, but rather from its unrelentingly witty…