Pirates of the Caribbean: Salazar’s Revenge (3D) **
A CGI triumph and a character fail, with a story/adventure worth telling far, far better.
Tag: Javier Bardem
The Gunman ***
Perhaps Sean Penn is hoping that Taken director Pierre Morel will help turn him carve out an ‘aging action hero career’ – like he has Liam Neeson – in The Gunman, based on a novel by Jean-Patrick Manchette? Penn certainly has hit the gym for the part (and a tanning salon), never missing a …
The Counsellor ***
It’s hard to fathom the big picture of the anticipated Ridley Scott-Cormac McCarthy collaboration, The Counsellor, apart from the obvious that greed is bad news, as is being embroiled in the drugs trade at any level. As a thriller, it’s stuffed with well-intentioned but wordy statements uttered by a crowd-pulling cast looking rather grand, including …
Skyfall ****
The origins of Bond are the subject of this highly fitting 50th Anniversary release to mark Britain’s ultimate spy character. Those expecting the usual slick chase and high-tech gadgetry will not be disappointed by the first part of the film with its gravity-defying manoeuvres at breakneck speeds. However, things come to an intriguing and abrupt …
LFF: Biutiful – 4*
Javier Bardem receiving a Best Actor Oscar nod for Alejandro González Iñárritu’s haunting Biutiful, after his Cannes Film Festival Best Actor triumph was hardly a great revelation to most. The haunting film in true woeful Iñárritu style, and one set for the first time in his native Spain, is a definite awards contender by any …
Eat Pray Love – 3*
A film adaptation of a popular book held dear to many loyal fans, globally, is always a difficult feat to pull off, considering all the nuances and thought processes involved in the latter. So, the honest true about Eat Pray Love: Ignore the cynics out there, many of whom haven’t even read the book, let …