What.
The.
Actual.
Brilliant.
Fuck.
Starts off brilliantly but struggles to keep the momentum for the whole 90 minutes.
March 11, 2017 at 03:55PM11 March 2017
09 March 2017
O.J.: Made in America, 2016 - ★★★★★
Completely fascinating
5 episode TV version on iplayer (although they paired up the first four episodes)
March 09, 2017 at 08:48PM05 March 2017
The Man from U.N.C.L.E., 2015 - ★★★★
A nice reminder of why people once got excited about Guy Ritchie films. This is slickly put together, stylish, funny and much better than the often overblown nonsense of Bond. I guess a sequel is unlikely which is a shame because I'd like to see more.
March 05, 2017 at 06:19PMFree Fire, 2016 - ★★★★
After a brief setup up this is essentially a feature length (75 min?) gun fight and it's all incredibly good fun. It's a simple concept, masterfully executed (and mapped out in Minecraft before filming) which I don't remember seeing before.
It did feel like it was lacking something (but I don't know what) to make it truly great. I suspect I'll like it more on subsequent viewings which at 90 minutes I'm likely to do unlike the bloated Hateful Eight.
Q&A with Ben Wheatley and Sam Riley
March 05, 2017 at 06:12PM02 March 2017
Christine, 2016 - ★★★
It's Rebecca Hall's haunting portrayal of depression that's the reason to see this film. How well it works as a whole is questionable because if you already know what's going to happen it feels rushed and if you don't, it comes out of nowhere. This is one time when I think I would have preferred the film to end much earlier with some title cards explaining what happened next.
March 02, 2017 at 07:25PM27 February 2017
20th Century Women, 2016 - ★★★★½
Just beautiful. I can't decide if it's life affirmingly brilliant or depressingly sad but it all feels so very real.
February 27, 2017 at 09:16PM26 February 2017
The Lego Batman Movie, 2017 - ★★★★
Probably the best comic book film of recent years, definitely one of the better Batman (Batmen?) films. It's just a huge amount of fun from the opening studio logos to the closing credits. It occasionally threatens to become too schmaltzy but never crosses the line.
I can't wait to see it again.
There appeared to be no reason (apart from the end credits) to see this in 3D and I wonder if the 2D version also has weird background focussing.
February 26, 2017 at 04:08PM22 February 2017
La La Land, 2016 - ★★★★
I thought I might like this more away from the expectation and after listening to the soundtrack so much over the last month. However I'm not sure if I did, I still think it's great and was happy to defend it when it didn't go down so well with a lot of the Keswick audience.
February 22, 2017 at 09:53PMToni Erdmann, 2016 - ★★★★
Appreciated this a lot more but can't buy the director's comments that we have to put up with so much tedium to be rewarded with the good stuff. The middle 90 minutes could easily be edited down, removing every other irrelevant scene to make a much slicker, leaner and altogether better film.
February 22, 2017 at 09:49PMWhite Mischief, 1987 - ★★★
Quite a strange little film but also very enjoyable. Another Q&A with Greta Scacchi was a wonderful experience as well.
February 22, 2017 at 09:45PMThe Salesman, 2016 - ★★★
Festival fatigue set in early for this one, as I sat down I realised I hadn't eaten anything all day and suddenly felt really hungry. That might be the reason why I struggled to engage with this in any meaningful way. It looked like it was a much better film than I was experiencing and think it's one I need to give a second chance at some point in the future.
February 22, 2017 at 09:43PMThe Player, 1992 - ★★★½
I'm not sure how well this has aged. It's still impressively made and surprisingly (yet disappointingly) relevant though.
Followed by a Q&A with Greta Scacchi where she provided wonderful and entertaining insight into working with Robert Altman.
February 22, 2017 at 09:36PMThe Unknown Girl, 2016 - ★★★★
I'm still not sure how much sense any of this made but it didn't stop me enjoying it although that may have just been a result of developing a crush on Doctor Davin.
February 22, 2017 at 09:31PMManchester by the Sea, 2016 - ★★★★★
Part of the reason I liked the film so much the first time was the slow reveal behind all the grief. Knowing what happened from the start just made everything more devastating. When it got to the "I haven't got anything big to say" scene I wondered if I could actually sit through it again, I did and it's phenomenally good.
February 22, 2017 at 09:28PMTanna, 2015 - ★★★½
One of the reasons why I love film is getting to see parts of the world and cultures without all that travelling malarky. Tanna is a great example of this and it's great to see a glimpse of life on the titular island. Others have commented on how good the non-professional actors were but apart from the leads I thought they seemed a bit off (but that might have been a result of the sound sync problems in this screening). I have to mention the volcano shots just because they are stunning. I wish I hadn't seen the film compared to another famous story because that flagged up how the true story was going to turn out.
February 22, 2017 at 09:22PM21 February 2017
Mahana, 2016 - ★★★
Great opening film for Keswick Film Festival. Manages to jump between light and dark moments and even makes sheep shearing exciting.
February 21, 2017 at 08:39PM20 February 2017
The Films of the 18th Keswick Film Festival Ranked
All the films shown at the 18th Keswick Film Festival which I've seen but not necessarily at the festival.
- Casablanca
- Manchester by the Sea
- Son of Saul
- La La Land
- Arrival
- Toni Erdmann
- Paterson
- Life, Animated
- American Honey
- The Unknown Girl
...plus 8 more. View the full list on Letterboxd.
February 20, 2017 at 06:34PMMy 18th Keswick Film Festival: Ranked
Everything I saw at the 18th Keswick Film Festival.
February 20, 2017 at 06:23PM16 February 2017
Prevenge, 2016 - ★★★★
A brilliant debut and a hugely satisfying dark horror comedy drama.
Introduced and Q&A with Alice Lowe.
February 16, 2017 at 02:27PM13 February 2017
Loving, 2016 - ★★★★
I'm just going to agree with Mark Kermode's words "A very very impressively low key work".
February 13, 2017 at 09:46PM12 February 2017
The Rack Pack, 2016 - ★★★
An entertaining but somewhat familiar rock biopic only with a snooker player (who I only knew from the Amsoft World Of Snooker computer game - which I was disappointed didn't feature)
February 12, 2017 at 06:26PM07 February 2017
T2 Trainspotting, 2017 - ★★★½
It is Trainspotting but it's nae Trainspotting.
I wish I had liked it more, Danny Boyle is definitely one of my favourite directors but this just feels like it's trying too hard. Compared to the subtly of Steve Jobs the visual flairs really stand out here and the overuse of the freeze frame quickly becomes annoying. For me it never came together and feels too fragmented but I did enjoy it and there are many great moments.
February 07, 2017 at 10:49PM05 February 2017
The Lady in the Van, 2015 - ★★★★
A lot better than I was expecting. It fumbles the ending(s) a bit but I'm willing to forgive that because I enjoyed everything that came before.
February 05, 2017 at 08:38PMTrainspotting, 1996 - ★★★★★
Still just as good as it was twenty years ago. There isn't a wasted moment although I was surprised by the order in which things happened as I'd remembered it slightly differently.
I fear watching this again may have damaged my chances of liking the sequel.
February 05, 2017 at 08:33PM02 February 2017
Amazon Prime Video* in the UK
*or whatever the service is actually called
- Gimme Danger
- Chi-Raq
- Wiener-Dog
- Dheepan
- Chocolat
- Girlhood
- Interstellar
- The Hateful Eight
- Eye in the Sky
- The Dark Knight Rises
...plus 2 more. View the full list on Letterboxd.
February 02, 2017 at 09:43PM
Subscribe to:
Comments (Atom)