chrisgilbey Reviews

Mad Max: Fury Road (2015)

Nice visuals and terrible dialogue

[5/10 · 30 May 2015]

Its probably a given to not expect much in the way of dialogue from this kind of a movie. However where there is dialogue it would be nice if it was delivered by the actors and the director so that it is not totally wooden. It's not the stars that fail to deliver. It's the supporting actors. They sound like they have never ever had any training.

The visuals are great. The scenery is stunning. The plot is non-existent. But whoever went to see Mad Max for the plot. It's all post apocalyptic road rage with lots of mutant humanoids, right?

If you want ultra violence, no dialogue, and lots of action you might consider John Wick instead. At least all of the supporting actors talk believably!

The Trip to Italy (2014)

An Acquired Taste - my taste

[9/10 · 1 August 2014]

I absolutely loved this movie. My wife absolutely loathed it. How can this be so? I thought Rob Bryden was fabulous. She thought he was a bore. She like Steve Coogan. I thought Steve was alright.

My sense is that you will either love it or hate it. I think its a great format - a road movie about food with two guys who are actors, and like most actors they are utterly obsessed with themselves.... The food that they encounter along the way - well it would have been perhaps a better movie if we had found out more about it. It certainly looked brilliant. It would have been good to have found out more about the wine too.... And the lack of information may be the real failure of the movie. Nevertheless, this was a movie that brought out the belly laughs (no pun intended).

Seven Psychopaths (2012)

Black, Black, Black

[10/10 · 15 March 2013]

I am sure there are a lot of people who won't get this movie.

But I think that is what getting a 10 rating is all about. If you can score a ten it means that for some people to absolutely love it must mean that there are going to be a lot of people who will just turn up their noses up and move along.

What is it all about? To be honest you don't really need to know to enjoy this. But here goes in a couple of short sentences: Someone is making money out of stealing dogs and then collecting the rewards that are on offer. Someone else is trying to write a screenplay. Someone else is a mobster.... And they all fit together to create utter mayhem. You really don't know any more...

This film has enough blood spatter to keep Dexter fully occupied if he were around and a lot of four letter words.... so if those offend better not watch it.

If on the other hand you superlative writing, black comedy, an extraordinarily devious plot line and some great acting, you are going to love this. Woody Harrelson and Colin Farrell are sensational together. Christopher Walken is a delight. But for me the stand out piece of acting is Sam Rockwell. He is super! But then so is the whole cast. Its black, black, black all the way....

There Be Dragons (2011)

At least the DOP did a reasonable job...

[1/10 · 8 March 2013]

There are reviews in IMDb that praise this movie. I don't know by what standard they measure movie making, but I would have to say that this movie is one of the worst movies I have seen in a long time.

Lets take the music. It soars, but in all the wrong places. It emotes, with all the wrong signals. It is woefully inappropriate. It is so full of choral voices that I truly have to believe that the composer and arranger were reading a different script or watching different rushes when they wrote the score.

Lets take the script. It is full of utterly trivial dialogue. There just isn't very much that I can say other than it is horrendous.

The cinematography is not bad. The DOP did a fine job.

The acting. Why is it that we haven't seen the lead actors in other movies? Could it be that when they put footage from this movie in their show reels they were automatically dropped out of contention? Good looking actors with poor scripting, and worse storyline. You have to sympathise with them.... really.

So what on earth were people like Charles Dance and Geraldine Chaplin doing in this movie? You would have to believe that they owed the director or the producer a favour. I can't believe that they could need the money that badly!

So do yourself a favour and return the DVD to your local store before you waste the time to put it in your DVD drive....

Hope Springs (2012)

Better than going to therapy!

[9/10 · 13 January 2013]

This is definitely a movie that you should only ever see with your wife, husband, partner.

It has the capacity to help blow the embers of your relationship back to life, to help you rediscover intimacy, to reach out and touch each other, to realize that in spite of all the wrinkles its the laugh lines that give the best to the character that you each wear on your faces.

Merryl Streep and Tommy Lee Jones don't look attractive in the movie. They look downright ordinary in fact, just like many of us do - as we head towards - I hate to say it - old age.

As many of the reviews have said, Steve Carrell is just wonderful. He plays the role of the therapist so carefully and considerately. The actors who are so well known who had the smallest cameos are clearly all there for the love of the stars, the script.... certainly not for any level of career advancement! If you are like the characters in the movie who, when they are asked what they got for their anniversary present, say that they got a different level of cable subscription.... oh, the sheer banality of cable! then this is for you.... You will find new creativity in your sex life, in the gifts that you give each other, and in the way that you relate to your kids and their husbands, wives and partners.... This movie is a real treat! If Frank Capra were alive today he would make this

Arbitrage (2012)

A bit simplistic, but nevertheless a good movie

[7/10 · 14 October 2012]

I read an interview with Richard Gere about this movie and saw that Susan Sarandon was in the same movie too and thought, "This has to be a good one..." It is OK, but its definitely not great. There is a lot of dramatic tension, but it seems like the script was dumbed down for the Hollywood mass market. Totally understand the rationale of the approach, but I think that, as a result, the movie fell short of being compelling.

When the English do this kind of movie, or the Europeans, what you get is dark tragic theatre. When the Americans try to do it, I think that they end up doing too much test marketing and as a result the movie suffers.

With the really serious depth of talent in the cast, you would have to think that there was much more that could have been put on the screen (and may have been on the cutting room floor for all I know).

There is one redeeming feature though. This movie does reveal a darkness, and offers a comment on the culture of today, of capitalism, of markets, of law etc... It doesn't pull any punches in that regard and that is a really good thing!

Perfect Sense (2011)

A surprisingly good movie

[9/10 · 17 March 2012]

This is one of those movies that you pick up at the DVD store and see the star names on the cover (Ewan McGregor) and assume it must be a movie that wasn't up to scratch since it hasn't been widely reviewed in the news papers. Not true.

Let me tell you: this is an excellent movie! It is so dark, that at times you wonder whether there will ever be a point at which there will be some relief for the protagonists. But then it doesn't set out to be Hollywood.

The supporting cast is excellent - all unknowns, at least to me. Really beautifully crafted - Eva Green is absolutely delightful. Ewan McGregor goes up several notches in my book. Virtually faultless movie.