Ratchet and Clank ***
An enjoyable but too safe reproduction designed to introduce us to the characters. Now we’ve met them, can we please give our unlikely heroes a meatier, more substantial adventure to go on next time around?
Tag: Paul Giamatti
San Andreas ***
Clichéd, predictable and rather daft sometimes, but its cast is easy on the eye and characters promote family values – with a little shake up of the earth beneath their feet. It’s an easily digestible flick that ultimately makes some of us relieved we aren’t living in the Sunshine State for once.
LFF 2013: Parkland ***
Writer-director Peter Landesman’s Parkland gives another relatively new angle on tragic events following the death of US President John F Kennedy on 22nd November 1963 in Dallas, Texas, offering the hospital portrayal at Dallas’ Parkland Hospital. It’s a solid piece of drama set to provoke the same disbelief from those who remember on the day …
Rock of Ages ****
Sometimes being entertained happens in the most unexpected way. On first thought, a musical in itself is enough to make the toes curl, but one sold on dodgy rock anthems of yesteryear, overly camp costumes and cringe mullets will divide opinion further. However, go into Rock of Ages without any high expectations or an ounce …
LFF 2011: The Ides Of March ***
George Clooney’s fourth directorial film, The Ides of March, is an enticing ode to yesteryear political thrillers, but it’s also a delightful exercise in intense acting exchanges played out by his stellar main cast of Ryan Gosling, Paul Giamatti and Philip Seymour Hoffman. Although Clooney stars in this, it’s in a supporting capacity. His talent …
The Hangover Part II ***
The wolf pack is back in another pickle, having not learned their lesson last time, it seems. What is it with weddings that it brings out the worst in Phil (Bradley Cooper), Stu (Ed Helms), Alan (Zach Galifianakis) and Doug (Justin Bartha), resorting them to drink themselves into oblivion and make amends afterwards in the …
Win Win *****
At the start of the Win Win trailer, the young daughter asks: what’s Daddy running away from? It’s this kind of probing question that many of us have asked from time to time, and this is writer/director Thomas McCarthy‘s great talent: observing reality and picking up on daily human reaction and resilience, without resorting to …
Ironclad – 4*
Now and then, there are films that need to show raw violence, in order to recreate the reality of a situation, contrary to the sensitivity of some. Writer/director Jonathan English may have never experienced 13th Century Britain, but it’s safe to suggest that the blade resolved most disputes – be that of the sword or axe …
Barney’s Version – 4*
Thankfully, Paul Giamatti won Best Actor Golden Globe for Barney’s Version, considering the shameful overlook at the Oscar nominations. ‘Best Achievement in Makeup’ nod for Adrien Morot perhaps, but Giamatti is pure dramedy gold as impulsive, self-depreciating and sarcastic love saboteur, Barney Panofsky. This film touches all the right notes and offers some highly animated …