Here is part 3 of my film reviews series where every 4 films I give a rating out of 5 stars. This is my honest opinion and I’ve tried to stay as true as possible to that 1st vibe that hits me as the credits roll up. I am going to review every film I see this year. Youth In Revolt was a smart, fun and catchy film that played to Michael’s Cera’s strengths by inventing a new persona for him as a bad-ass chain-smoking French doppledanger to Cera’a classic nerdy routine. Really feel good, if a little slight (***). Limits Of Control, a surreal, meditative occult-ish thriller that moved at a pace of deep slowness and featured the mind-melding tones of Boris, Sunn and Earth as a sonic back-drop. It got a tiny release and widespread critical disdain but to my mind this was one of those films that you live in and never forget. Sparks of feedback dashed against the sun, Tilda Swinton appearing to Boris’ ‘Farewell’, ochre’s, browns, red hues some excellent cameos (notably John Hurt), cinematography to die for and Isaac De Bankole at it’s magnetic centre. Magnificent (*****). The Crazies: you can give or take most 70’s remakes. But for this one. Timothy Olyphant led a gritty, lavish updating of Romero’s classic. The ‘zombies’ were more like crazed rampaging ghouls of darkness than the actual undead. They could think and speak. The less I say the better. The set pieces are intelligently mounted and knife point creepy/ violent. The horror is more implied and no less powerful for it. Thoroughly recommended (****). Tim Burton, like perhaps PJ Harvey, Nick Cave, Aneesh Kapoor, Jarmusch and Tom Waits, is incapable of making bad art. His work is a cult in itself, a string of hit films that are fiercly individualistic, in some cases misunderstood, and oddly immortal (he’s only 51!). Alice In Wonderland was no exception, yet for all it’s greatness and perfectionism, the sense of 3d immersion and excellent performances somehow left me slightly cold. It was almost too slick. But it was ‘Tim Burton too slick’, which means despite all this it boasted all the wild fantasy, beauty and gothic melodrama you can and do get with him. I was with someone in the screening who had come along but I kept worrying he wasn’t into it . Somehow I couldn’t let go into the film I couldn’t let it fill me and cover me. Shame. On your own is the real way to go (****).
Posted on Monday, 8 March 2010
