Like a beautiful dream but one that your subconscious is unlikely to produce.
November 29, 2015 at 06:29PM29 November 2015
Assassination Classroom, 2015 - ★★★
A second viewing didn't change my original opinion that this is incredibly funny in places but doesn't stretch out to sustain a two hour film.
November 29, 2015 at 06:21PMNight and Day, 2015 - ★★★★
A wonderful collection of clips taken from 40 years or archive footage and assembled into a 24 hour cycle. There are so many fantastic and surprising moments.
November 29, 2015 at 06:13PMThat's Entertainment, Part II, 1976
An improvement over Part I by having Astaire and Kelly reunited for new segments where they sing and dance instead of dryly introduce the clips.
More background viewing so no rating.
November 29, 2015 at 06:03PMThat's Entertainment!, 1974
Not rating this because it was just on in the background and it isn't really a film. There are obviously some great moments but there's an awkwardness (contractually obliged?) to the links.
November 29, 2015 at 06:00PMBeasts of No Nation, 2015 - ★★★★
It's a shame that one of the most cinematic films of the year will not be seen by many in the cinema. I'm not against Netflix's strategy and I doubt I would have made the effort to see this at the cinema myself but there is a danger that it will go unnoticed.
As for the film, it's really quite brilliant. There are echoes of Apocalypse Now and Lord Of The Flies. It's manages to be sweet, disturbing and terrifying and contains at least two fantastic performances from Elba and Attah. A nightmare of a great film.
November 29, 2015 at 11:11AM25 November 2015
A Syrian Love Story, 2015 - ★★★
An interesting and (perhaps too) intimate look at how a family is really affected by the revolution and conflict. The documentary is fairly unremarkable though.
November 25, 2015 at 11:41PM22 November 2015
Steve Jobs, 2015 - ★★★★★
My favourite screenwriter and my favourite director, why did I doubt them? I was actually bracing myself for disappointment, especially after the poor US performance (and low turnout at the cinema). This is Sorkin's film and it's a shame that Boyle's direction doesn't get more opportunities to shine through, but when it does it's fantastic. I was already fully on board but then the film delivers the most subtle sucker punch of an ending that cemented it's place as my favourite film of the year*.
Oh and whilst everybody else is talking about Sorkin, Boyle, Fassbender and Rogen, it's Kate Winslet that's the real standout.
*Whiplash still feels like it was last year's film.
November 22, 2015 at 11:50PMLIFF29: The Films I Missed
It's never possible to see everything, here are the films I couldn't fit in but still want to see.
- Alice Cares
- Black Mass
- Bone Tomahawk
- Golem
- Goodnight Mommy
- Happy Hour
- Hitchcock/Truffaut
- Ice and the Sky
- Kung Fury
- Landfill Harmonic
...plus 15 more. View the full list on Letterboxd.
November 22, 2015 at 02:44PM21 November 2015
Bill, 2015 - ★★★
At it's best Horrible Histories worked because it appealed to everybody. With Bill it's hard to know exactly who it's aimed at. The plot is hard to follow and doesn't make much sense for an adult let alone a child. They're also pushing the PG rating with "buggers", prostitutes, sex-dances and cojones which sit uneasily amongst the rest of the child friendly material. It's clever-funny rather than laugh-out-loud-funny but at least it is funny, just not the family friendly Python-esque comedy it could have been.
November 21, 2015 at 08:25PMThe Other Guys, 2010 - ★★½
Very funny in places but it suffers far too much from improvisation out of control. It looks like they had more fun making it and nobody stepped up to make sure it all fitted together.
November 21, 2015 at 05:19PMAD 1363, the End of Chivalry, 2015 - ★★★★
Watched on Tuesday November 10, 2015.
November 21, 2015 at 03:23PMThe Reinvention of Normal, 2015 - ★★★★½
Watched on Tuesday November 10, 2015.
November 21, 2015 at 03:21PM20 November 2015
Carol, 2015 - ★★★
The opening scene of Carol tells you everything you need to know. Like the rest of the film, it's wonderfully performed and when it eventually concludes it's really quite magnificent. Unfortunately there's an overlong flashback in the middle of these scenes which I thought failed to add much. The result is the whole thing feels quite predictable and very familiar.
November 20, 2015 at 12:17AMThe Assassin, 2015 - ★★★
Hard to understand either the 1-star of 5-star reviews, it just seemed very average to me. All films are a series of moving photographs but this is in a different way, with occasional fights.
November 20, 2015 at 12:02AMRoom, 2015
Technical problems meant I only saw the first hour or just after what I imagine is a fairly obvious splitting point in the film.
That first hour was fantastic though and that it's climax still managed to be one of the most tense scenes despite the film stopping and starting every few minutes speaks volumes.
If the second half is anywhere near as good as the first I'll be giving it a five star rating when I eventually see it.
November 19, 2015 at 11:53PM19 November 2015
Youth, 2015 - ★★★★
I really enjoyed Youth perhaps having low expectations and knowing nothing about it helped. There was a moment (with a monk) where if it had ended I'd have walked out and given a 5 star rating (Letterboxd 4.5). Unfortunately there's another 30 minutes and these are the worst parts of the film. There are moments in the final half hour which work really well and it felt like there was a good ending in there but not the one that was presented.
November 19, 2015 at 11:43PM#LIFF29 WTF
The strangest films at 29th Leeds International Film Festival.
These are just the ones I saw, I'm sure there were others I missed.
November 19, 2015 at 11:02AMGreen Room, 2015 - ★★★★½
So it's not as good as Blue Ruin and it's covering similar territory to other films but it still manages to be brutally thrilling throughout. There's a sense that anything could happen which is so rare that just makes this an unpleasant joy to experience.
November 19, 2015 at 12:31AMTag, 2015 - ★★★
Lots of really great moments but too loosely strung together. It (perhaps deliberately) comes across as a bad video game and some of the more questionable moments sit uneasily, even in a 'weird' Japanese film. Attempts are made to justify things but it doesn't really change what you've already seen.
November 19, 2015 at 12:21AM
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