Going Clear: Scientology and the Prison of Belief, 2015 - ★★★★

One of the reviews I've just glanced at stated that this film offered nothing we didn't already know and I have to disagree. The first half of the film covered these familiar aspects of the history (and made me want to revisit The Master). However the second half is much more terrifying with accusations of organised extortion and bullying which I wasn't aware of. If true, it's shocking, depressing and feels like a terrible injustice that it is allowed to continue.

October 08, 2015 at 08:10PM

The Go-Between, 2015 - ★★★

After the disappointment of Cider With Rosie and Lady Chatterley's Lover I didn't have much hope for this final adaptation in the series. However I was pleasantly surprised and thought it covered similar subjects and themes to Lady Chatterley's Lover but in a much better way.

October 08, 2015 at 07:57PM

Cider With Rosie, 2015 - ★★

We started reading Cider With Rosie at school but never finished it because the teacher had misjudged the suitability for the age group. I remember liking it and had read ahead but never did return to find out how it ended. This film was incredibly dull and overly familiar, similar to so many other TV series and adaptations, that I wish it had been this version rather than the book that had been prematurely taken away from me.

October 08, 2015 at 07:53PM

Lady Chatterley's Lover, 2015 - ★★½

Dull, lacking any real passion and completely overshadowed by the far superior adaptation of The Go Between later in the series.

October 08, 2015 at 07:45PM

The Walk, 2015 - ★★★½

The mixed reviews meant I wasn't sure if I really wanted to see The Walk but I figured if I was going to see it I may as well go and see it in Imax 3D. It's only fair because it was the 3D trailer that made it look like a rare film that actually benefited from stereoscopy. The 3D is really effective and I was surprised to find myself wanting more. It's a shame that there were no full screen Imax sequences, especially as the Imax release was a week earlier (all these different formats are getting quite confusing now). All the visually wizardry creates actual special effects which are used to compliment a story but they still feel very much like a theme park ride.

The story is engaging and manages to capture Petit's charm not only in the performances (the accents never bothered me) but also the overall feel of the entire film. I'm still not sure if things would be as spectacular in 2D but in 3D I couldn't wait to get to the next sequence climaxing in the titular walk in a most satisfying way.

October 07, 2015 at 08:40PM

Macbeth, 2015 - ★★★

A magnificent opening only raised my expectations higher which were then never really satisfied until a similar wonderful finale. Perhaps I wasn't in the right mood to appreciate Shakespeare but I found most of this version dull, plodding along without any urgency and just ticking of the key points of the story and performances.

The Scottish accents (although at one point Cotillard sounds Australian - although her real accent is all over the place), Shakespearean language and possibly bad sound design made it difficult to follow, even though this is perhaps the Shakespeare play I know the best. It feels too theatrical despite all the beautiful outdoor shots which ultimately serve no purpose and quickly become repetitive - look some more hills.

I appear to be alone in my disappointment and perhaps it's because I expected more. I thought these were the actors and director who could make a great, accessible, cinematic version of the scottish play.

October 04, 2015 at 10:43AM

Left Behind, 2014 - ★★

So bad, it's good? Well, not quite. There's no way Left Behind can be described as good. It's badly written, badly acted and badly made. Nobody seems to change or even learn anything which makes you wonder what the purpose of the film is supposed to be. However it easily passes Kermode's 6-laugh test albeit unintentionally which is one of the many reasons why it is entertaining. Surprisingly the climax does feel quite tense even if you are expecting Otto the autopilot to pop up. It also features one of the best final lines which begs for a sequel before the atrocious end credit music reduces you to giggles again.

October 04, 2015 at 10:27AM

The Gamechangers, 2015 - ★★

At a time when we're fighting for the BBC it's a shame that nearly everything about this film goes against what we should expect from the corporation. It's terribly written, badly performed, horribly cliched and that scene in the police station just comes across as badly misjudged rather than the clever sequence it was obviously intended to be. Things did seem to get better in the second half but not by much.

September 20, 2015 at 09:51PM

An Inspector Calls, 2015 - ★★★★

Somehow I've made it this far without ever knowing the story of An Inspector Calls although towards the end I realised I did know part of how it ends. I found this to be a joy to watch, well put together and performed and surprisingly relevant today as it has been in the past.

September 20, 2015 at 09:38PM

45 Years, 2015 - ★★★★

Despite all the praise, I was struggling to find the motivation to actually leave the house to go and see 45 Years, it just didn't feel like it was a "cinema film". Fortunately my favourite arthouse kept playing it and so I eventually made it. In it's small unassuming way it may not appear cinematic but it does benefit from an intimacy and a lack of distraction that the cinema brings. The result is really quite remarkable with Rampling's magnificent performance holding everything together (or pulling it apart?). It's the kind of film that feels like a reflection of humanity along with all the complexities life brings but never feels like it's trying too hard.

September 15, 2015 at 11:04PM

Mission: Impossible – Rogue Nation, 2015 - ★★★½

A huge amount of fun with a smart script holding the action together. Once again I find myself wondering if it was really that great or just great in comparison to most other mediocre films. Rebecca Ferguson was by far the best thing in the film delivering yet another strong performance in what is turning out to be a great year for female roles.

September 14, 2015 at 10:02PM

Mad Max: Fury Road, 2015 - ★★★★

When I first saw Fury Road I struggled to get into it straight away. On this second viewing I understood (or already knew) what was happening in the first half and could enjoy it a lot more. It's not particularly confusing but it isn't always clear why certain things are happening.

I've also been listening to the soundtrack a lot and this meant I also saw the film as almost a musical. There's certainly an operatic or perhaps balletic feel to many of the amazingly choreographed action sequences. If there are problems then they're probably dialogue related, it's often difficult to make out some lines (even in a newly refurbished Imax screen) and other lines are quite cheesy, it's perhaps a good thing that nobody really says too much.

This (retro-fitted?) 3D adds very little, in fact in some places it makes the film look worse and there are one or two moments when the 3D looks really bad.

September 10, 2015 at 10:29PM

The Diary of a Teenage Girl, 2015 - ★★★½

I've been trying to think what to say about The Diary Of A Teenage Girl for 24 hours now. The best I can come up with is "honest". Everything about the film feels authentic and it manages to be funny, sad and heartwarming without ever being preachy or condescending.

I don't normally like to think of things being gender specific but I do think this would have resonated more with me if I had once been a teenage girl.

September 06, 2015 at 06:50PM

The Scandalous Lady W, 2015 - ★★

It may have been both shocking at the time and shocking to look back at how women were treated but this television film was dull and repetitive and did little justice to either scandal.

September 06, 2015 at 06:20PM

The One I Love, 2014 - ★★★★

It turned out I knew nothing about this film apart from the two stars and that's almost certainly how you should approach it.

Once things do start happening you become aware that it's the type of film that probably can't have a satisfactory ending. However it does just about manage to pull it off which is quite an achievement on top of the interesting premise.

September 06, 2015 at 06:14PM

The Watch, 2012 - ★★

Not good. Richard Ayoade is the best thing about the film but even he gets tiresome long before the end. There is one genuinely funny moment with some packets of walkie talkies but it's such a small moment it may have been accidentally funny.

September 01, 2015 at 09:44PM

The Five-Year Engagement, 2012 - ★★½

A really great cast let down by a disappointing film. I didn't actually know it was a Judd Apatow production but this became quickly apparent as the film drags on into self indulgence far too often. In this article it states that Apatow's films "always start with a strong script, no one is too precious about changes if they can lead to a better end result" the problem seems to be that nobody is realising that the changes aren't making things better. I watched This Is 40 last week and Five Years isn't as bad is suffers from many of the same problems. Everything starts off well with a good idea, interesting characters, good performances and funny moments but they all get lost along the way.

ps Is the poster a spoiler?

August 31, 2015 at 02:20PM

This Is 40, 2012 - ★★½

Judd Apatow really needs to make friends with some editors. Like many of his films This Is 40 is way too long but it's also badly put together. Related scenes often seem to contradict each other but most of the film feels like a collection of unrelated moments. It's a shame because whilst it would be hard to describe the characters as likable, they are relatable and often quite funny. Instead we're presented with what feels like a compilation of outtakes from a better TV show like Modern Family.

August 24, 2015 at 06:35PM

Mistress America, 2015 - ★★★½

My opinion on Baumbach (and Gerwig) seems to jump all over the place, often within the same film. I had hoped this might be the film that tied everything together in a more satisfying way but sadly it isn't. It feels like the films we've seen before: jumping between charming and irritating, amusing rather than funny, a forced plot forcing characters down unnecessary paths when we'd happily watch them just talking to each other.

But I did like it.

August 20, 2015 at 08:45PM

Man with a Movie Camera, 1929 - ★★★★

So the most interesting piece of filmmaking I've seen for quite some time is a 86 year old experimentation in the cinematic communication. That experimental nature means it's something which is easier to admire or study than enjoy but it's still a fascinating piece of work. This version was a soundtrack by Alloy Orchestra which added so much, especially to the invigorating finale which was just crying out for a round of applause.

August 20, 2015 at 08:31PM

Wet Hot American Summer, 2001 - ★★★★

Ridiculously brilliant.

August 16, 2015 at 01:00PM

ParaNorman, 2012 - ★★★½

It's interesting to glance at other Letterboxd reviews and see many people saying how much better this film is on repeated views. Even as I was watching there was feeling that the entire thing was a lot more impressive than it initially seemed. At the start it didn't have my full attention and came across as a stylish looking film with a fairly standard story and not on the same level as Coraline or Frankenweenie. However as it progresses it seems to find it's place and I now look forward to seeing it again, perhaps one Halloween.

August 12, 2015 at 01:38PM

Lava, 2015

Watched on Friday July 24, 2015.

August 07, 2015 at 02:02PM

Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade, 1989 - ★★★★

For a long time The Last Crusade was my favourite Indiana Jones adventure. This was mostly because I was 12 when it came out, not that I remember seeing it in the cinema. I do remember @boysmithers telling me all about it in the cloakrooms one breaktime. I also have fond memories of the 8-bit computer game and a tie-in book (which may have been the story or a making of - possibly both).

When I last saw the trilogy Last Crusade was a big relief after the disappointment of Temple Of Doom, this time around I skipped the middle film and perhaps that was part of the reason why it didn't feel as great. It's still good but never feels magically like the first film did. I've read a few things lately about the making of Jaws and Raiders that left me with the impression that Spielberg was a director who did go too far and needed to be reined in and that's something that didn't happen here. There are (far too) many ridiculous moments that just make no sense and in the past I'd happily overlook but on this viewing the just chipped away at the enjoyment. I was reminded of all the nit-picking reviews of Jurassic World, a film I really enjoyed and had no problem overlooking the flaws. Sometimes I feel you just need to be in the right mood to experience and enjoy a film and when that isn't happen it's too easy to be critical.

August 04, 2015 at 10:45PM

The Railway Children, 1970 - ★★★

I didn't expect to say this but The Railway Children is one of the weirdest films I've seen recently. I know it's loved by many and I have vague recollections of watching and enjoying it as a child but watching it today it's apparent how all over the place the film really is. Perhaps something is taken away by knowing how old Agutter and Thomsett were and the much repeated tale of them sneaking off to a night club during filming.

The story is just a collection of moments that jump around in an almost haphazard way. Things happen without reason and that beloved ending makes next to sense. A piece of the time it was filmed and also written, it's hard to imagine today's children appreciating it but there didn't seem to be any complaints from the largely family based audience.

It's still charming in a quaint way but for me it was an odd experience this time around.

August 03, 2015 at 09:41PM