Posts Tagged Film Review
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November 12, 2019 by Simon Sweetman
The Kindergarten Teacher: DVD
The Kindergarten Teacher Director: Sara Colanelo Madman Sara Colanelo’s remake of the 2014 Israeli film of the same name seemed to generate nothing but positive praise for Maggie Gyllenhaal in the lead as a 40-ish kindergarten teacher stuck in a unsatisfying marriage, with grown children and searching for something. She finds it in one of […]Archive
October 18, 2019 by Simon Sweetman
Joker: Film
Joker Director: Todd Phillips Warner Bros. Pictures/DC Films/Join Effort/Bron Creative/Village Roadshow Pictures There’s very little to unpack about Joker – unless you’re fascinated by the idea that a potentially compelling mental-health/system’s broken/America’s burning riff had to be hidden inside a comic book anti-hero/super-villain origin story. Anyone thinking that it’s a piece of Trojan Horse brilliance […]Archive
September 19, 2019 by Simon Sweetman
Rambo – Last Blood: Film
Rambo: Last Blood Director: Adrian Grunberg Millennium Media / Balboa Productions / Templeton Media Sylvester Stallone successfully resurrected the Rocky franchise – twice – so here he is with a second crack at bringing back Rambo. And just as the Rocky Balboa and now Creed movies succeeded on many levels [John] Rambo and now Rambo: […]Archive
July 18, 2019 by Simon Sweetman
The Lion King: Film
The Lion King Director: Jon Favreau Walt Disney Pictures/Fairview Entertainment This version of The Lion King is so technically dazzling, so bereft of heart, so wide-missing of any emotional mark, so utterly digital and soulless that even though I knew Jon Favreau was the director going in I was still stunned to not see Peter Jackson’s […]Archive
July 17, 2019 by Simon Sweetman
Poem: Film Review – ‘A Star Is Born’
I watched that new version of A Star Is Born – it features Bradley Cooper as a nose fetishist and Lady Gaga as a nose. He was the bad side of Kris Kristofferson, none of the wisdom or insight in the lyrics, none of the heft or deft or breadth – fucking plod-happy nothing-songs that apparently get a crowd. (He fingers the nose to an Allman Brothers song. And 12 first cousins […]Archive
July 2, 2019 by Simon Sweetman
Vox Lux: DVD
Vox Lux Director: Brady Corbet Madman Vox Lux comes from actor/director Brady Corbet. It’s the 30-year-old’s second full-length feature and it’s something of a Sunset Blvd. for the me/#metoo generation; a 21st century masterpiece. Spanning 1999-2017 and narrated – brilliantly, exacerbating the fable-like quality of it – by Willem Dafoe, the film tells the coming of age and then comeback of Celeste Montgomery. Played […]Archive
June 25, 2019 by Simon Sweetman
Matangi / Maya / M.I.A: DVD
Matangi / Maya / M.I.A Director: Steve Loveridge Madman The Amy Winehouse documentary was devastating – of course. But what was amazing about it – as is the case with documentary subjects that came of age across the last two decades – was the gathered footage. Home videos, goof-offs, early social media…Archive
June 19, 2019 by Simon Sweetman
Jeff Beck – Still on the Run: DVD
Jeff Beck: Still On The Run Director: Matthew Longfellow Eagle Rock Ask any guitarist – they’ll tell you Jeff Beck is one of the greatest. Many will tell you he is the greatest, certainly he’s peerless in terms of his quest for exploration and expression given he’s forever linked to his Yardbirds-colleagues Eric Clapton and Jimmy Page. […]Archive
May 17, 2019 by Simon Sweetman
Wine Country: Film
Wine Country Director: Amy Poehler Paper Kite Productions/Netflix Wine Country is funny and sweet and thoughtful, both light-hearted and subtly impactful – but it’s getting the pass-mark only from a lot of critics, damned by faint praise because the expectation is Bridesmaids.Archive
January 4, 2019 by Simon Sweetman
DVD Review: The House With A Clock In Its Walls – Reviewed by Oscar Sweetman (age 7)
The House With A Clock In Its Walls Director: Eli Roth DreamWorks Reviewed by Oscar Sweetman (age 7) Hi guys, it’s me again, Oscar. Happy New Year and I hope you all have a great 2019! I’m going to review the Cate Blanchett and Jack Black movie, The House With A Clock In It Walls. I wrote a […]Archive
December 29, 2018 by Simon Sweetman