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jim-1543
Reviews
Mr. Turner (2014)
a great film
I was transfixed by this movie. You can say if you want that it is a film which lasts 2 and a half hours in which nothing happens. But, on the other hand, every frame is conceived as a sort of Turner painting. The result is breathtakingly beautiful, I have never enjoyed a movie more. The film starts in 1825 or so and shows the last 25 years of Turners life, so he is already an established artist when the film begins.
The film shows incidents in the artist's life. One or two are superfluous like the scene where the Queen and Prince Albert are looking at paintings, including Turner's at the Royal Academy. This should have been left on the cutting room floor as it adds nothing to the film. There is also a minor goof when Turner is woken by his housekeeper having slept in his clothes and it looks like his shirt was freshly pressed that morning.
But, a couple of minor goofs aside, this is the most visually beautiful film I have ever seen. I was in tears at the end and screen deaths don't normally affect me at all.
Gravity (2013)
mistakes in other reviews
This is a great film for teenage boys because it really gets to grips with what it is like to be in space. And as Sandra Bullock has to carry most of the film, it may suit teenage girls too. But many reviewers on this site seem to have forgotten the simple physics they learned at school. Yes, objects are weightless in space. But objects still have mass. And mass times velocity is momentum. That is why Matt has to detach himself. His momentum is too high. Weightless yes, but too much momentum. Notice that whenever anyone opens an airlock, the pressure of the residual air in the airlock means it bursts open and you have to cling to the handle.
Labyrinth (2012)
historical inaccuracies
1) When Trencavel is parleying with Simon de Montfort he speak of inquisitors. The conversation takes place in 1209, but the inquisition was not created until March 1233 (by Pope Gregory IX). 2) Simon de Montfort was not officer in charge of the crusader army which took Carcassonne in 1209. He was just one of several knights in the army. The officer in charge when the crusaders took Carcassonne was Arnald-Amaury, abbot of Citeaux. Simon de Montfort accepted the viscounty of Carcassonne in a council held by the victors in the taken Carcassonne. 3) Various scenes where swords are seen to penetrate chain mail are bogus, swords of that era could not do that.
Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy (2011)
A disappointing version
This film is deeply disappointing. It may be fair enough to shorten the story for the film but why change strong dialogue in the book into weak dialogue in the film ? Why have all the good actors sitting around staring at each other with nothing or almost nothing to say ? We are told very little about Tinker, tailor etc as characters; in this film they have no reputations.
Almost the only good acting in the movie is a couple of good scenes by Mark Strong as Jim Prideaux. But you could make a pastiche of this movie with a lot of the characters played by shop dummies. Forget this film, just read the book.
Proof (2005)
Maybe a good short film in there somewhere.
The problem with this movie is that there isn't enough material either in script or action for 99 minutes. Maybe heavily edited it would make a great short film. Evidently it had been a good play.
It explores issues of loving too much, self-sacrifice and the line between madness and sanity.
The acting is competent by all the leads but Hope Davis carries off the acting honors as Claire, the controlling sister. Jake Gyllenhaal is miscast simply because he is too good looking so it becomes implausible that his character Hal would bother endlessly with the screwed up Catherine (Gwyneth Paltrow) when clearly he could have just about any chick on the campus.
Don't go expecting any maths. A woman's picture but everyone is short changed by this movie.