Tag: USA

Logan Lucky – Short Review

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for Cinetalk.net

Once asked why he resumed his directing career, legendary filmmaker Ingmar Bergman said it was because he was cured. Apparently, Steven Soderbergh is not. After a short hiatus he hits back the big screen with Logan Lucky, a foray into familiar territory, the heist movie, a genre he tried to redefine (pretty successfully), as far back as in 1995’s The Underneath (which was more of a take on the Brink’s job gone wrong type), also in Out of Sight and of course the Ocean’s Eleven franchise.

Logan Lucky stars Channing Tatum and Adam Driver, as the Logan brothers, trying to pull off a smooth robbery during a NASCAR race. Supporting cast includes Daniel Craig, who’s main purpose seems to be Daniel Craig in an unusual role, and Continue reading →

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Fantasia 2017: 78/52 (US – 2017)

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for Cinetalk.net

78/52 is a film tribute to the infamous shower sequence in Alfred Hitchcock’s Psycho (1960). Hitchcock devoted an entire week to film the three minutes iconic scene which required 78 camera setups and 52 cuts, hence the title of the documentary .

Director Alexandre O. Philippe (The people VS George Lucas) illustrates the influence of the segment with interviews, archival Hitchcock audio commentaries (some excerpt from the landmark Hitchcock/Truffaut tape) and simulations.

The spectator gets every angle (fact is you never see the blade penetrate the skin) from Saul Bass’ shot by shot storyboard comparison to great editor Walter Murch (Apocalypse Now) exposing its influence when he Continue reading →

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Fantasia 2017: A Ghost Story

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for Cinetalk.net

Do it simple, Do it Right. And with A Ghost Story, in which a recently deceased soul comes back to haunt the house he shared as a living, it is exactly what writer-director David Lowery does, while re-uniting again with the Rooney Mara & Casey Affleck duet (after 2013’s Ain’t Them Bodies Saints).

Lowery took the gamble to introduce a ghost character simply dressed with the white cloth of our childhood, from these days when we looked under the bed and in the closet. And it works because we relate.

The rest is all about doing the right things Continue reading →

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Baby Driver [US – 2O17] – Short Review

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Nick Cabelli for Cinetalk.net

Baby Driver is a ‘car chase’ movie by Edgar Wright with only 2 brief car chases and 1 scene of mild parcour. The guy from Madmen is one of the thugs, Jamie Foxx is another thug, Kevin Spacey is the head thug, yadda yadda. Two whitebread leads [Ansel Elgort and Lily James], terrible lip-syncing, a selection of tunes so facile that a cursory search for “top 10 [genre] songs” would generate most of the film’s soundtrack, and a plot that is pure convenience leaves this flick full of good performers delivering terrible dialogue until they can get to the next plot point. For a movie that is both narratively and stylistically centered on music, Continue reading →

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It Comes at Night (USA – 2017) – Short Review

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for Cinetalk.net

It Comes at Night is Trey Edward Shults’ second feature starring Joel Edgerton (Black mass, Midnight special) Carmen Ejogo (Selma, Alien: Covenant) and Christopher Abbott (A most violent year, James White)

A world threat, coming under the form of a virulent disease, forces a family to isolate itself under a set of rules. The sudden arrival of another family seeking refuge puts their domestic order and empathy to test.

It Comes at Night is your behind closed doors – let-them-come-I’m ready- minimalist take on the end of civilization. It shares the pessimistic views on the subject of pictures like Time of the Wolf (2003), The Road (2009) Take Shelter (2011) and countless others. It pretty much covers known territories to film buffs of the 21st century, basically making honest and efficient use of what looks like a shoestring budget. Yet it is not totally successful in Continue reading →

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