Indie Film Chat - Film and DVD Reviews

DVD Review: Frost/Nixon

Fri, 19 Jun 2009 12:58:03 +0100

Frost/Nixon is a political drama starring Frank Langella, Michael Sheen, Sam Rockwell and Kevin Bacon. Direct by Ron Howard. Until George W. Bush came along, the great political �villain� in recent American history was [[Richard M. Nixon]]. The Watergate scandal, in which aides to Nixon broke into Democratic National Headquarters to obtain personal information on Nixon�s political enemies, resulted in the greatest public humiliation ever suffered by an American political figure (I personally can recall on the day Nixon died, a caller to CNN proclaimed that �This a truly great day. The flags should not be at half mast, they should be flying higher.�)

DVD Reveiw: The Machinist

Tue, 16 Jun 2009 10:02:47 +0100

The Machinist. A psychological thriller starring Christian Bale, Jennifer Jason Leigh, Aitana Shanchez-Gijon, Micheal Ironside and John Sharian. Directed by Brad Anderson. �That�s obviously not Christian Bale.� I actually said that to the person I was viewing this film with during the opening few minutes. The frighteningly gaunt, emaciated figure with the sunken face couldn�t possibly be the same actor who played Batman. It wasn�t until the character looked into a mirror that I realized, shockingly, that it was Bale.

DVD Review: Burn After Reading

Tue, 26 May 2009 16:11:28 +0100

Burn After Reading is a black comedy/political thriller starting Francis McDormand, Brad Pitt, George Clooney and John Malkovich. Directed by the Coen Brothers. First off, I love the [[Coen brothers]] and always look forward to their next movie. I can always count on it to be original, have doses of black comedy and be completely unpredictable. However, though the Coens have made classics like Raising Arizona, Fargo, O Bother Where Art Thou? And No Country For Old Men, they also have occasional missteps like The Man Who Wasn�t There, The Ladykillers and, unfortunately, this one.

DVD Review: The Reader

Tue, 12 May 2009 14:19:20 +0100

The Reader. A drama starring Kate Winslet, David Kross, Ralph Fiennes, Bruno Ganz and Lena Olin. Directed by Stephen Daldry. The Reader, one of the best films of 2008, starts off as the story of an older woman�s affair with young man, yet uses this story as a springboard to ask its audience harsh, difficult questions concerning guilt and responsibility. It never lets the audience off the hook with a simple answer and still crafts a story that is, at the end, profoundly moving. In post war Germany, a woman in her mid-30s named Hannah (Winslet, in her Oscar winning role) has an affair with a 15 year old named Michael. The boy, carried away with his first sexual experience, develops a helpless crush on the woman. Hannah never conveys that she loves Michael back, yet the relationship does fulfill a key and curious need for her-it is more important for the young Michael to read classic literature to her than to satisfy her sexually (indeed, the sex is pretty much a reward to him for reading to her).

DVD REVIEW: Fissures (Ecoute Le Temps)

Fri, 01 May 2009 10:31:43 +0100

Fissures (Ecoute Le Temps). A thriller starring Emilie Dequenne, Lumilla Mikael, Matheieu Demy and Jaques Spiesser. Directed by Alante Kavaite. �Sometimes, when something happens, it leaves a trace of itself behind. Like when someone burns toast.� The above line, from Stanley Kubrick�s [[The Shining]], applies perfectly to the French thriller Fissures as well. Who hasn�t wondered, if the walls in nearly any home could talk, what they would say? Does it not seem feasible that an action involving intense emotion, be it happiness, anger, extreme sadness or horror, could create such a core of energy that a trace of such energy could remain, long after the event has passed?