Articles + Quotes on Film & TV

Director and writer Destin Daniel Crettin has crafted a truly beautiful film, based on his own experiences working in a group home, for teenagers with nowhere else to go. Its painfully realistic, but with small moments of humour, that don't feel forced or corny. Those in the film business, no matter what position you hold, film students also, should take note. Every aspect of this film is perfect. Including the handheld camera work, its personal and it moves but you don't feel dizzy. The acting also - Brie Larson, John Gallagher Jr, Keith Stanfield Kaitlyn Dever and Rami Malek and the other kids are utterly brilliant and believable, especially the two leads, Ms Larson and Mr Gallagher, understated and excellent. Its not a pretty picture, but the hope that comes from all of them is worth the retail price alone.

Before seeing this film, I saw a review which included the criticism that it was "...lightweight entertainment, that doesn't make you think too hard." Within five minutes of my viewing of this fine film, it became increasingly obvious that the reviewer making this remark had obviously been watching something else entirely. Mel Brook's The Producers perhaps. (No offence meant to this film or to Mr Brooks, the film is of the highest quality comedies, as its director.) George Clooney, wearing many different hats as director, producer, co-writer and main character, shines under all of them, bringing a little known story to life. Co-writer Grant Heslov also has a small cameo, as does the great composer of this movie: Alexandre Desplat. That of the thousands of art stolen from all over Europe, to be placed in the Fuhrer Museum. And the lesser known story of the Monuments Men, men chosen for their expertise in the field of art, architecture and sculpture. They were...

From experience of other Jason Reitman directed films, I was halfway expecting another circular storyline, whereby the main character goes through some major experience but emerges at the other side only to return to his or her life without any changes. Of course, the experiences for young Henry, son of Adele (portrayed by Gattlin Griffith and Kate Winslet respectively) one Labour Day weekend, aren't exactly of the norm, i.e. a teenage pregnancy or mid-life crisis. While out in the Price-Mart store, he is accosted by a man, later identified as escaped convict Frank Chambers (portrayed by Josh Brolin) and notices immediately, as do we, that he's bleeding. Frank subtly makes Henry and his mother go to the car and he gets her to drive them to their house. The first quarter of the film is quite tense, the score very reminiscent of the one from The Proposition, but as the not very circular storyline develops and progresses, it relaxes a little, only to be upped up a few (thous...

There have been many productions over the years where one actor is making up half or at least a quarter of the whole cast. Jim Carrey as both Charlie Baileygates and Hank Evans in Me Myself and Irene, Toni Collette as Tara Gregson, Alice, Bryce, Buck, T, Chicken, Gimmie and Shoshana, Nina Dobrev as Elena Gilbert, Katherine Pierce and Amara (Sorry Spoilers!), to name but a stunning few. And now Orphan Black, where Golden Globe nominee, Tatiana Maslany is Sarah Manning, a girl living on the streets and off her wits, who discovers Elizabeth Childs, Alison Hendrix and Cosima Niehaus, all identical to her and she finds that they aren't related, technically - they're clones. Clones is another very interesting theme to tackle, you have the ethics, the science, the consequences to look at and examine. In this show, the clones are under threat from something or someone unknown. Jordan Gavaris portrays Sarah's foster brother, Felix and Kevin Hanchard is Detective Art Bell, El...

From what I could see from the IMDb lukewarm response, it appears that British humour doesn't necessarily translate that well when it is presented to American audiences. (Especially when the accent, local vocabulary are both a bit tricky to get into). Anyone who loved Snatch, Lock Stock and Two Smoking Barrels will be completely won over. Which is sad, because this is one highly entertaining film. I was laughing at every well crafted joke in the film, and loved every moment. Based on the TV series, in 1975 its a cops show in essence, tough guys being rough with suspected and known criminals. Ray Winstone is the main character, DI Jack Regan, proving that age doesn't slow a guy down (not too much at least) and making wisecracks at every opportunity. Plan B (Ben Drew) is his right hand man, DC George Carter and the two work well as the head of the team, the Flying Squad, which the rest of the crew are portrayed by Hayley Atwell, Caroline Chikezie, Allen Leech, Ronnie Fox,...

Since (and probably before) Bram Stoker wrote Dracula, we have always been fascinated with the supernatural. But who would have guessed that a book first published in 1897, based on a real person: Vlad Tepes III aka Vlad the Impaler, who lived back in the 15th Century , would have spawned such a huge range of other stories, all devoted to the undead, even the lycanthrope, two hundred years after Dracula was first published? (Quick note - in the TV series Da Vinci's Demons, the character of Vlad is actually used in one episode, correctly portrayed as the ruler of Wallachia. Funnily enough, the actor who portrays him is Paul Rhys, who had a small recurring role in some episodes of a TV series: Being Human. More on that later) Not me. Now, staying with the undead to begin with, at one at the scale, (staying with the best known for now) we have the Twilight Series. This end of the scale, named the G rated area, we have the vampires that "sparkle" in the sun instead of ...

This films tells the story of a young girl who's parents divorce and what occurs in the aftermath. What I found interesting, is that the story echoes not just the themes of the films Wah Wah and Irreconcilable Differences, but also that they focus on what the child can see, and tell the film from their point of view .     For such a film to work well, the actress/actor portraying the child has to be capable of essentially carrying the film on their shoulders, as that is where the audience, hopefully - has most of their attention focussed. In the films referenced above, Zac Fox/Nicholas Hoult and Drew Barrymore  respectively, do a more than excellent job in that respect. Onata Aprile who is portraying Maisie, does this in spades.  Her almost constant fighting parents, portrayed by Steve Coogan and Julianne Moore, before, during and after the divorce proceedings, become more and more vicious, low and neglectful of their daughter. Ms Moore's character, bringing he...