Collins 1972 A.D (Dark Shadows, Tim Burton, US, 2012, 113 mins) When Tim Burton, not so much the grand auteur, more grand guignol of pestiferous American cinema, debuted with Pee-Wee’s Big Adventure all those years ago, who would have wagered that his sweet spot, that is to say, the span of his best work, would [...]
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International Rescue (Safe, Boaz Yakin, US, 2012, 94 mins) Remember I told you; the American movie is changing. It was ever international; built by immigrants, refined by émigrés, informed by foreign filmmaking cultures –German, Japanese, French; but American movies have always remained quintessentially star spangled. They’ve internalised the raw material sourced elsewhere to bang out [...]
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Olsen’s Twins (Silent House, Chris Kentis and Laura Lau, US, 2012, 85 mins) Warning: This review reveals a plot twist. The trouble with a movie built on a gimmick is that inevitably form smothers content. It’s like a dull tract written with calligraphic finesse. The filmmakers hope that you’ll be so enamoured with their stylistic [...]
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Space Junk (Lockout, James Mather and Stephen St. Leger, US, 2012, 95 mins) Question: What do you get if you feed Guy Pearce, outer space and Escape from New York’s script into B.A.N.G: The B-Movie Action Narrative Generator (the screenplay software that’s been the silent writing partner behind Hollywood hits for years)? Answer: Lockout. No, [...]
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The Main Event (Marvel’s The Avengers, Joss Whedon, US, 2012, 142mins) There’s never been a release strategy quite like it; a series of movies, five in all, acting as character introductions for an epic on screen meet up. Marvel are coy; they call it their cinematic universe, but we know it’s a super-franchise, a property [...]
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No Great Sheikhs (Salmon Fishing in the Yemen, Lasse Hallström, UK, 2012, 107 mins) One of the charges levelled at British films is that often, in ambition, in composition, they’re indistinguishable from television. That needn’t be surprising; TV has a huge stake in UK celluloid – it’s half the industry and shapes the thinking; but [...]
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Rape Threat: The Movie (Gone, Heitor Dhalia, US, 2012, 94 mins) Much has been made of the inability of Amanda Seyfried and her seductive orbs (I refer to her eyes) to open this reluctant vigilante movie. How to explain it? Writer Allison Burnett has astutely tapped into the fear of sexual violence that stalks the [...]
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A Big Surprise (The Cabin in the Woods, Drew Goddard, US, 2012, 95 mins) Warning: This review discusses the plot in depth and reveals the fate of a major character The question for horror filmmakers for the last 16 years has been what do you do with the teen slasher movie after Scream? It probably [...]
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War Games (Battleship, Peter Berg, US, 2012, 131 mins) Warning: This review discusses a key scene. What nation possesses naval might sufficient to take on the United States? That, one assumes, was the question that dogged the men with the unenviable job of, I suppose you could say adapting, the Hasbro game Battleship for the [...]
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Tourist Trap (The Cold Light of Day, Mabrouk El Mechri, US, 2012, 93 mins) Warning: This review reveals some details of the film’s plot I’m at a loss to understand why any American travels to Europe at all. It’s such a foreboding place, full of language barriers, murder, missing relatives… From The Vanishing to Frantic [...]
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