Moviedex » ★ ★ ½

Act of Valor (Review) | By Tom Clift

Tom Clift — Fri, 04 May 2012 02:38:43 +0000

Every time I think American action films can’t get any more ludicrously jingoistic, Hollywood goes and proves me wrong. Act of Valor, a production over which the US Navy had final cut, made me yearn for the nuanced screenwriting of Battleship, the moderate politics of Transformers 3 and the versatility and range of Sam Worthington and Taylor Kitsch. A twelve million-dollar military recruitment ad tailor-made for the videogame [...]

Wish You Were Here (Review) | By Tom Clift

Tom Clift — Tue, 24 Apr 2012 01:40:06 +0000

A montage of colour and sound, of wide smiles, street vendors and beach parties that stretch long in to the night, Wish You Were Here’s opening credit sequence captures exactly why it is that Australian tourists go to South East Asia to lose themselves. Sometimes, however, it’s a more literal disappearance than others. Centred around four friends on holiday in Cambodia who return home one man short, the first film [...]

The Pirates! Band of Misfits (Review) | By Anders Wotzke

Anders Wotzke — Tue, 10 Apr 2012 01:42:08 +0000

Forget the rum; it’s the fun that’s running dry in Aardman Animation’s The Pirates! Band of Misfits.

While it’s pleasing to see the British animation studio return to their stop-motion roots after dabbling with CG in Flushed Away and Arthur Christmas, it would have been even more pleasing had this high-seas adventure been more memorable than middling. Aardman’s clay craftsmanship is still second-to-none, but the colourful array [...]

A Dangerous Method (Review) | By Tom Clift

Tom Clift — Wed, 04 Apr 2012 16:14:54 +0000

Of all the words in my vocabulary, I never thought I’d use “bland” to describe a film by David Cronenberg. One of the pioneers of the so-called body horror genre in the seventies and eighties, the Canadian director’s fascination with corporeal corruption led to the creation of such cult favourites as The Brood, Videodrome and his oozing masterpiece, The Fly. Admittedly, the new millennium saw a certain restraint – what [...]

Wrath of the Titans (Review) | By Tom Clift

Tom Clift — Sat, 31 Mar 2012 03:36:30 +0000

It may have been beyond woeful, but a $500m box office return pretty much guaranteed that Louis Leterrier’s Clash of the Titans was going to get a sequel. Picking up ten years later, the new story – if you want to call it that – follows Perseus, the mortal son of Zeus, as he is once again forced to do battle with mythological monsters to save humanity from annihilation. [...]

Safe House (Review) | By Tom Clift

Tom Clift — Fri, 24 Feb 2012 01:20:20 +0000

Even the combined charisma of Denzel Washington (The Taking of Pelham 123) and Ryan Reynolds (Green Lantern) can’t make Safe House seem like anything other than the derivative and unengaging nonsense that it is. After being captured in Cape Town, traitorous CIA agent Tobin Frost (Washington) is transported to a local safe house operated by low-level agent Matt Weston (Reynolds), a man frustrated with the lack of career [...]

When the Lights Went Out (IFFR Review) | By Tom Clift

Tom Clift — Mon, 06 Feb 2012 07:30:20 +0000

Any ghost story that claims to be “based on a true story” is already fighting an uphill battle, but when it’s as middling and generic as Pat Holden’s When the Lights Went Out, it’s even easier to dismiss. A stock standard haunted house story, the film follows an English family who experience paranormal disturbances upon settling in to a new home. Although not entirely lacking in creepy images or suspense, [...]

Chronicle (Review) | By Anders Wotzke

Anders Wotzke — Wed, 01 Feb 2012 13:53:15 +0000

You know, if it wasn’t for the gigantic sea monster stomping its way through New York City, I can’t imagine it being terribly difficult convincing someone that Cloverfield is a real home video. That’s what I love about found-footage films; they lend credibility to the incredible, creating an illusion of reality that is far more immersive than that of a conventional film.

Well, that’s the idea anyway. Sometimes they end up [...]

Room 514 (IFFR Review) | By Tom Clift

Tom Clift — Tue, 31 Jan 2012 12:34:14 +0000

In Room 514, a young, idealistic military investigator tries to get to the bottom of alleged abuses of Palestinian civilians by a decorated Israeli commander. A minimalist low-budget drama set largely in the eponymous interrogation room, the picture is earnest in its attempts to explore the difficult issues it raises, and is at times compelling in its storytelling. But the ugly camera-work and unpolished script are such a constant hindrance, [...]

War Horse (Review) | By Tom Clift

Tom Clift — Wed, 25 Jan 2012 04:41:10 +0000

Boy meets horse. Boy looses horse. Boy gets horse. It’s the classic formula for a Hollywood love story – albeit with a slightly equestrian twist –and also the plot of War Horse, the latest film from director Steven Spielberg (Tintin), based on the novel by Michael Morpurgo and the award-winning stage production by Nick Stafford. The story follows a horse, named Joey, in a war, named The Great War, [...]