Short Reviews

A Prophet

It may not have matched the hype, because there was so much of it, but it is still a brilliant movie. Grubby in the most beautiful way – it is tense, raw, exhilarating and extremely modern in comparison to every other crime/gangster film out there. Tahar Rahim put on a great performance, but the standout guy here is the director, Jacques Audiard, who proved he was no less than an expert in his craft.

The Lovely Bones

A promising premise and good performances are the only positives here. Peter Jackson has no idea how to balance the psychologically pounding concept of a child’s murder with the dreamy “sentimental” heaven sequences. In the end, it was overly-long missed opportunity with a paper-thin feux-arty plot, complete with terrible non-ending that failed to provide a proper conclusion or justify itself.

Ninja Assassin

This was so much fun to watch. The gore was made so cartoonish you were decentertised from the very beginning. You aren’t supposed to be disgusted or grossed out – you are just supposed to look in awe and count the limbs as they are cut off. That said, fans of gore might not find it realistic enough, and there may just be too much generic revenge plot to annoy anyone. The trick is to expect mindless fun, not a good film.

Precious

How much misery can you cram into one film? Really? It just got to the point where they were throwing out nuggets of sadness for no reason. Aside from that, a really good film highlighted by exceptional performances which in the end isn’t quite heart-warming, nor uplifting, but at least justified. It isn’t a fairytale, it is a reality-tale, and well worth the watch.

The Road

A dark and interesting film which is hurt somewhat by the post-apocalyptic setting, which I for one am getting a little bit sick of. It isn’t quite No Count For Old Men, but connections can be made. Nevertheless, Viggo Mortensen is puts on a great performance, as does Kofi McPhee in all fairness. It is haunting, compelling and powerful to the point where one watch is enough; I certainly won’t be putting it on again anytime soon.