Change Your Image
rgiblett66
Reviews
This Must Be the Place (2011)
Road movie without a driver
This film could have done with a severe edit. At almost 2 hours long, it should have been an hour. The film's plot doesn't really begin until half way through. The plot when it does surface isn't driven by conflict. It seems to be a road movie without a driver. Sub plots that don't lead anywhere, unnecessary characters that float in and then out without any consequence, dialogue that is written to deliver a one liner. Frances McDormand is a light in this film but her character is useless to the plot. The music selection is erratic and used too much; probably to help give the film some emotional pitch as it would have been incredibly slow and inert without it. Cinematography was quite lovely in places but not enough to save a crappy storyline. I saw this on DVD. Waste of $5.
Holy Motors (2012)
Too strange for it's own good...
I've just come back from seeing Holy Motors, and while I haven't fallen asleep in a movie at the cinema in quite some time, I did indeed for this strange, somewhat boring film. So I missed a big chunk of the middle, probably just as well, only to wake up in the middle of it to see Kylie Minogue singing a cheesy musical number... I didn't really know where I was! This is a really bizarre film, but not in a good way. I'm all for strange films that get you thinking about what its all about, but this seemed kind of gratuitously strange, not dream like, just the weird musings of its writer/director I guess. I just couldn't see the point of some of the scenes, or the point of the whole movie in fact. I have read in reviews that the movie is a nod to the history of cinema, which is all well and good, but it perhaps comes off as a bit of an in joke for cinephiles which most punters would not understand. Many people have raved about the 'art house' quality of it, and I have nothing against so called art house films, but this is just plain silly, not to mention quite boring, with cheesy bits thrown in and a truly wacky ending (is that end segment meant to be funny??... I was half cringing, half snickering, I didn't really know what to feel!). See this piece of work at your own peril, I was pretty disappointed as it seemed to promise a lot and there was some hype surrounding it, but it really is a very odd film that leaves you pretty empty and wishing you had spent your hard earned $$'s on something else.
Café de Flore (2011)
Strange parallels beautifully filmed
Cafe de Flore proposes two somewhat strange parallel story lines, that of a single mother of a Down's Syndrome boy in 1960's Paris, alongside that of a narcissistic professional DJ living in modern day Montreal, Canada. Throughout the film I expected these two disparate stories to somehow meet in some tangible form, but this part of the film remains a bit of a mystery... perhaps staying in some kind of spiritual realm. That aspect of the film is somewhat confusing, and may be a bit off-putting to many viewers. I thought it a bit strange, but overall I think this is a great film. Even though this parallel story line is pretty bizarre, the filming, especially the Paris scenes, are superb, the acting is great, and the connection between mother and son is incredible. I thought the character of the young Down's syndrome girl could have been fleshed out a bit more, but apart from that its a very watchable film with great music and well crafted performances. Nice work.
Ecstasy (2011)
I fell asleep on Ecstacy
Just went to see Ecstacy last night... luckily I had a free pass to a media screening of it as if I had spent money on seeing this rubbish I would have felt pretty ripped off! Where to begin? Trainspotting was great; funny, topical, great acting and well made. None of these can be attributed to Ecstacy, it seems like a weird Trainspotting rip-off, very dated (nostalgic?) and none of the threads of the characters stories seem to go anywhere. Wooden performances, uninteresting storyline, terrible writing, the only saving grace for this turkey of a film is the lovely views of Edinburgh... makes me wanna visit! I wanted to enjoy this film, but the dialog was so cringe-worthy, the acting sub-standard and the story so utterly boring that I just gotta say avoid at all costs, don't even bother watching on DVD.